TRANSMISSION

Your choice of engine will help you to decide what’s suitable for your needs here.The most common swap is to use the Type-9 five-speed, but it’s not necessarily a straightforward swap and there’s fabrication work to be done due the increased size of the ’box. If the car has still got the steering box set-up then there are sometimes clearance issues with the bellhousings; a problem that doesn’t occur on rack-and-pinion set-ups. For the solution you can either try another bellhousing or raise the engine marginally to gain clearance.

Three-rail

The standard three-rail four-speed gearbox found in the 1200 and 1500 (and even the GT) has ratios designed for everyday drivability — once you start tuning the engine you’ll find these ratios woefully inadequate.To improve the situation and keep it period, you can use a 2000E (above) or early 1600E gearbox, which comes with much closer ratios and can be fitted straight in without any mods using the original tailshaft (or with the GT or Lotus remote). Despite the easy fitment though, they’re increasingly harder and more expensive to find.

Type-9

As five-speed swaps go, the Sierra/ Granada-based-Type-9 gearbox (right) still makes a lot of sense. However, due to its size, the Cortina’s transmission tunnel will need enlarging by removing and creating a new top section, which will need additional strengthening.You can replace the whole tunnel by fabricating a new one from scratch or fitting the larger automatic tunnel. Custom mounts will then need to be made or adapted although Retro Ford sells a universal gearbox crossmember for around £100 which can be bolted on and plated through the floor to save on some of the hassle.

The ratios on Type-9s aren’t ideal for some people but there are companies, including 2 spec Transmissions, 3J Driveline and BGH Geartech, who will mix and match the ratios to create a better-suited ’box.

MX-5

The five-speed gearbox from the Mazda MX-5 (below left) has become a popular alternative to the Type-9 in recent years, especially for Zetec engine swaps — it’s smaller, has better ratios and can be picked up cheaper. In fact, it will fit the Mk1 Cortina’s transmission tunnel with only minimal cutting and reworking to the top section.The downside is that you’ll need an adaptor plate, bespoke crossmember and hydraulic clutch release bearing kit amongst other things — Retro Ford can help here.

Axles

All Mk1 Cortinas come with the 47 inch English axle, and there’s really no need to swap it for anything else in this day and age — unless you’re planning an engine swap in excess of 300 bhp.The axle is easily upgraded if needed, with thicker, Atlas-style halfshafts installed with minimal mods thanks to Rally Design and Retro Ford, and its easily removable diff housing means ratio (and LSD) swaps are a cinch.