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[CortinaD]

Ford’s new TE… A CORTINA THE ENGINEERS LIKE

By Steve Cropley.

Source: Wheels Aug, 1977

This article was typed and submitted by Matthew Woolard.

There have been times in the past when Ford’s engineers have been unhappy with the Cortinas they’ve sold to Australians [off the record, of course]. But this time with their TE Cortina of 77, they’re happy people. If you’re looking for a large light Australian car, the TE might just make you happy too…



If WHEELS is any judge, people who read motoring stories are full about Up To Here with bullish comments about the new TE Cortina – its prospects, its shape and its improved durability. What they want most to know is how it goes.

The short answer is that the TE Cortina goes very much better than the TD did. It goes like a car which has had suspension development for Australian roads as its top priority. It goes like the best behaved of the local cars. It now seems a fit competitor in its handling and road holding for the "Radial-tuned" Toranas, first of which was the 1.9 litre Sunbird.

WHEELS drove both four and six-cylinder versions of the TE Cortina at Ford’s You Yangs proving ground before the car’s public release. We pounded them over what must be some of the most diabolical bumps anywhere, we drove them on smooth dirt, slippery oiled surfaces and ordinary Australian bitumen.

Handling and road holding are clearly Ford Australia’s priorities in this new car. The shape it inherited from Ford of Germany'’ Cologne styling studios, the interior, while new, is very much the Ford norm and interior dimensions are identical to the TD’s. In the past it has also inherited suspension layout and geometry from Ford of Europe, changing only spring and damper rates and saying yes or no to a rear anti-roll bar. It has paid for that approach by suffering vehement criticism for the Cortina’s body durability and its poor road behavior especially over bumps.

This time, Ford has mobilised its best man and a large part of the folding green it set aside for the TE model change, has reviewed every aspect of the suspension’s behavior and has taken a couple of development years to altar nearly everything. Of the TE’s total cost of $16m, a massive $5m has been spent on front suspension development alone.

And after all that, the TE’s suspension system is still the same on paper. It still uses coil springs, twin upper and lower control arms with tubular dampers and an anti-roll bar, but this time the geometry has been fundamentally altered for the better.

The car now has extra wheel travel [21.6mm instead of 19.05mm] brought about by new springs and longer suspension arms. It has anti-drive geometry incorporated at the front to reduce the Cortina’s tendency to dip its nose under brakes. Its scrub radius [the horizontal distance between the wheel’s pivot point on the spindle and the centre of the tyre contact patch] has been cut by 25 percent to reduce steering kickback.

New for Australian Fords is a property incorporated into the front suspension hideously called "jounce recessional geometry". The front wheel is located so that when absorbing a bump it moves rearward as well as upwards. The technique is not new, in fact it is employed on modern European cars, notably BMW’s. Ford claims it improves a car’s ride and damps a high frequency vibe called "impact harshness" in Ford-ese. Apparently the inclusion of this property is all the more valid now because all Cortina’s now have radial-ply tyres as standard. The suspension can be less of a compromise and more accurately tuned [by adjustment of the amount of recession] to cut down on impact harshness.

The Cortina’s steering is still rack and pinion, now with a one-piece aluminium housing. The steering has a variable ratio which varies from 21.3:1 at the straight-ahead to 17.3:1 at full lock. It needs 3.9 turns to swing the wheels from lock to lock. The front suspension also now provides a camber adjustment which it didn’t have before. This obviously improves serviceability.

But that’s not the end of the front end story. Ford has also worked hard to improve the durability of the front end. The body longitudinal members have been lowered and straightened and now have the front crossmember welded to them, not located on rubber bushings. The brake reaction struts [arms which strengthen the front suspension components under forces acting rearward like braking] now run towards the rear of the car where they are in compression under load and anchored in the very rigid centre of the car. They used to run forward and were in tension on the TC and TD.

These changes have also cut down steering vagueness caused by the old rubber mounting. Moreover, there is an improvement in the car’s rigidity through the straightening of the frame rails and the welding of the front cross-member yet there are also better progressive crumpling properties if the car is involved in a head-on collision.

The rear suspension has also had attention, though the changes have been considerably cheaper and more straightforward. Ford’s engineers have opted for the variable rate rear coil springs that are fitted to European versions of the car. They have a rising rate on compression which allows a good ride when the car is lightly laden, yet a minimum of wallowing when more heavy loads are carried. The rear suspension now has an extra 25.4mm of travel, so longer-travel shock absorbers have been used. The TE has a rear anti-roll bar which, together with the front bar, has allowed the car’s roll stiffness to be adjusted for good cornering balance. That is something which is par for the European course and which has recently been employed by GMH on its Torana range.

Ford also now anchors its shockers in a full-width crossmember with larger rubber bushes to improve durability and reduce noise.

Among other engineering changes, the TE now gets vented disc brakes at the front, an increase in rear brake lining area [the rear drums are now 13mm wider; they’re the same rear drums as the six-cylinder wagon always had] and there is a new lightweight aluminium front disc caliper which Ford says provides "minor" improvements in pedal feel. It also gets side-intrusion beams in the doors [to meet the requirements of ADR 29], all Cortina’s get substantially more soundproofing material than before and there are other more minor refinements [such as door handles with more mechanical advantage, an improved ignition lock etc] throughout the car.

The net effect is a car which is 212mm longer and 88mm wider than a TD and which [courtesy of the door beams, soundproofing and rear crossmember] now weighs about two percent [30 kg] more. The Australia-only front suspension actually saves 13kg in the nose of the car which probably provides a slight handling benefit.

All other dimensions are identical or close to it TE and TD, and that includes interior as well as exterior.

But there’s little similar about the two model’s road behavior. When we drove TE six and four-cylinder cars at the You Yangs, we also had access to a TD. The TE’s were alike in behavior, even though the six packs a much bigger and longer mill under its [slightly higher than European] bonnet. A TE feels generally tight in the body and its steering is considerably sharper than before, though it kicks in your palms a lot less over washboard sections and big bumps. The six’s steering was impressively light – in fact not much heavier than the four’s.

On the road holding side we didn’t have the opportunity to punt a TE to the point of breakaway on a bitumen corner, but on fairly energetic treatment the car corned without the scrub understeer it used to have. It’s asking too much for a front engined, rear wheel drive car to have NO understeer, but the condition was certainly quite well under control. On wet dirt, either TE could be cornered confidently at speed without threatening to go off the corner frontwards – in fact the tail could be brought around quite easily with properly timed power applications. The transition from mild oversteer was smooth and predictable, much more so than in the TD we drove subsequently.

The reduction in noise, vibration and harshness that Ford claims for the car is evident as well. Over bad surfaces the TD had numerous resonances which echoed around the interior, whereas the new cars were noticeably short on buzzes and booms.

Unfortunately we were unable to test the new Cortina’s for the old car’s biggest fault – its bad behavior when cornering over bumps. The Ford proving ground had plenty of dirt surfaces, but they were all in good condition and such bumps as were there, all ran in a straight line. Our impression is that the TE would have been much better behaved in these conditions than any Cortina in the model’s history, but we aren’t certain so we must reserve judgement. Certainly any reader considering buying a TE should drive the car hard through some bumps to get a taste of the Cortina in its most vulnerable attitude.

Ford’s TE Cortina is the company’s best chance yet of getting its limited light car volume at least in touch with GMH’s Torana sales. The car looks good, is priced keenly [Ford has, as usual, stacks of iron-clad reasons why this model is better value than the last] and attempts are being made to streamline its assembly and screw it together better. And it has a suspension system upon which $5.5m in development funds has been spent. And they’re confident at Broadmeadows like they haven’t been before.

When WHEELS asked a Ford man recently what kind of sales the company was hoping for he said: "We expect heaps, we hope for about twice that – and we’ll build as many as we can". He wouldn’t have been game to be that flippant about the TD…



New TE Cortina is a shapely car – its chunky lines and clean front and rear ends make the TD look practically prehistoric.
This wagon [picture], a 4.1 litre six, shows what you get with a sports pack. Blackouts, extra lights, and trick wheels all contribute to Ford-aggressiveness of the Cortina with rally pack. Cortina wagon has a large one-piece rear door plus rear wiper on higher-line models. Rear anti-roll bar, peeping out from underneath, is standard equipment.
Cortina seats are comfortable and quite deep in the cushion. Note door handles are the same as used on bigger Fords. More luxurious Cortina’s get a "soft-feel" four-spoke wheel.
Improved front suspension geometry does plenty for Cortina TE’s handling. The car corners well even in wet and slippery conditions like these. Its transition from oversteer to understeer is easier to control than the old model.
Cortina’s two-litre engine still shifts the car along well, even though the TE is a bit heavier than the previous model. Engine is still flexible and lively, despite ADR 27A mods.
Cortina six-cylinder cross-flow engine isn’t the heart and soul of a revver, but it provides torquey effortless power for automatics. It goes hard enough to win at the traffic lights. Note low-profile air cleaner which eliminates the visibility-limiting power bulge of TD.