Project my mk1 sierra base

[fordperv]

well heres a short get up to date on my mk1 3 door sierra, my father bought me her as a project when i was 16 as he knew i wanted a 3 door and saw a small local advert in the local paper i knew absolutely nothing about it, we went to view and buy it on fathers day. she started life as a dog rough 1.6 base that was really only fit for scrap but we both saw something in it as it was fairly solid, the engine was screwed the running gear was in dire need of replacement, the interior was mismatched and eaten, the exhaust was a scaffold pole clamped to the front pipe with no brackets along the length of it, but somehow it had an m.o.t the best part of it was the guy had been driving like a knob and smacked the quarter panel into a lamp post smashing the bumper and rear window also pushing the quarter panel in as you can imagine, we pulled up at home with it and my mum nearly had a coronary she asked him what the hell he was playing at buying me a knackered deathtrap, the neighbors curtains were twitching because of the hellish noise of the car of it ticking over at 2000 rpm.

 

i wasnt a big picture taker and have lost a lot over the years

 

the earliest pictures i can find are these, which were taken after i had fixed the body damage and was fitting the sideskirts

 

 

i put the mirrors safe in the shed when i took them off and my mum dumped them

 

 

after i had done the mechanical and body work i sent it into the bodyshop for paint

 

please excuse the monstrosity of a spoiler, for some reason i couldnt get a whaletail at the time and was being impatient for it to be painted so my mum bought me it as a gift as it was around the same size lol to be replaced by a whaletail when i got one

 

this picture was taken the day it was back from the bodyshop

 

 

i unfortunately had an accident in it involving a sprinter (not recorded), i cried like a girl when i looked at the damage because of all the graft i had done on it, then i lost heart with it and blew the engine, i then left it under a cover untouched for a while but couldnt bring myself to sell it for sentimental reasons, eventually i put new wings on it started rebuilding and buying things for her (my mate also gave it a flashover in between for me) , because i had a car anyway she became a labour of love so i only worked on her from time to time spending money where i could, i went through 4 different engines in different state of tune to what it has now which is a very hot pinto with a spec list as long as my arm which i have built, i have spent alot of cash on the spec of the whole car to get it where it is today. i have boosted my mojo for getting it finished so i can drive it again, over the past week i have done any welding it required, just a few parts to order then it can go into my mates bodyshop for paint

 

the back arch and skirt was off in this pic due to me welding a sill back on

 

 

 

 

bought these to boost my mojo to get her finished, they had to have a custom offset to fill my archs and clear my front brakes, but theres not any stretched tyres or camber going on here lol

 

 

 

thats 13 years of blood sweat and tears compressed into a couple of paragraphs, i know a cosworth replica isnt really in the spirit of autoshite but i thought id share it, ill try to keep this updated and actually take pictures

[Lacquer Peel]

Y U DO THIS

[fordperv]

why did i turn it into a replica or why did i post it up?

 

if is the 1st i turned it into a rep as it was the only way it was getting saved, the things that were specifically base were shagged so it was easier to do this to it, i guarantee if i hadnt had it, it wouldve been turned into bean cans 13 years ago

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Your mum threw away genuine Sierra Danglemirrors

[Lord Sterling]

Would you be tempted to turn in back into a base-spec? It'd be first!

[overrun]

Fuck that. Keep doing what you are doing, fp!

 

Love it.

[fordperv]

^ its getting a yb once ive collected the parts and built it   the suspension and brakes are done to take it

 

i do love a standard base but it could be worse guys, i couldve banger raced it (runs and hides)

[Al Bundy]

Another vote for keeping it as it is,looks great

[RoadworkUK]

Cossie Replicas are about the most early '90s thing you can possibly drive.

 

Yo' off da hook, dawg.

[mat_the_cat]

 i know a cosworth replica isnt really in the spirit of autoshite but i thought id share it, ill try to keep this updated and actually take pictures 

 

The best thing about this place is there's such a range of stuff, and I can appreciate hard graft even if I wouldn't do exactly the same myself. I like the fact that you've had it for so long, so there's a bit of a sentimental background to the story too. Similar to what I'm doing I guess, keep it up!

 

Do you reckon you would come to Shitefest in it?

[Parky]

I like. Was sort of hoping to find a bog standard pov spec orangey red Sierra on steelies but I do like what you have done with this. Certainly an improvement on when you first got it so I am pleased to see it living on!

 

SEAL OF APPROVAL

[fordperv]

The best thing about this place is there's such a range of stuff, and I can appreciate hard graft even if I wouldn't do exactly the same myself. I like the fact that you've had it for so long, so there's a bit of a sentimental background to the story too. Similar to what I'm doing I guess, keep it up!

 

Do you reckon you would come to Shitefest in it?

I like this place for the difference in motors, I would seriously consider going along if it's finished in time.when is it?

 

I'm hoping to get her finished and road legal for fathers day to take my dad for a cruise around

[fordperv]

well progress has slowed up a bit on this as a few things have popped up, but i have been doing jobs where i can

 

i have fitted a n.o.s copper cored rad with a pair of cooling fans so it should keep its cool

 

wired them up today (correctly with relays and fuses) to a capillary fan switch, im ordering a new pair of seats on friday im really excited cant wait to have them, only a few more jobs now then its time to go in for paint

[philsford]

I like it. In fact I have a bit of a thing for 90s mods which is what tipped me over the edge into buying my 90s fireblade. I would go for satin black on the rs500 front spoiler instead of colour coded and is that a glass fibre rs500 rear lower spoiler or a genuine item? Genuine top one? Keep up the good work.

[fordperv]

cheers phil, yeah the splitter is going to be satin, the old pic when it was all painted one colour is the day i got it back from the bodyshop all those years back, the whaletail is an excellent replica, the lower is a rubber ford item i hate how the replica lowers look they just never look right

 

oooh a 90s fireblade i have an rf600 

 

turned it from this (pictures make it look alot better than it was)

 

to this

with lots of upgrades   

[philsford]

Your lucky you got the parts back in the day as the prices now are stupid, I would love a genuine rs500 lower rear on mine but could never justify what they want for them.

 

Your bike turned out nice too.

Heres mine.

 

[fordperv]

love the paint job on the blade it looks super,  i wish i had a picture of my mates fzr1000 exup it was bright metallic green with what looked like airbrushed jam splats it was really lairy and looked excellent, i went conservative on mine so its easy to repair when (not if) i drop it

[stuboy]

thats lovely

 

 

keep with it

[fordperv]

Holy thread resurrection batman, the impending addition of that lovely survivor red sierra base to the autoshite fold reminded me that I actually started a thread on here, the progress has been slow really as my mate at the bodyshop still hasn't had a space free, I've just kept on buying and fitting anything I've wanted really to make it my perfect spec,

 

Fitted a 21mm rear arb from a granada cosworth, first thing was to make some mounting blocks for the chassis

 

 

This is where they go, I took the picture before I dressed the welds and painted the underside, you can also see the uprated diff mount I fitted

 

 

To attach them to arb drop links to the arms I made 2 of these

 

 

Where they go

 

 

Got bored so stripped and rebuilt the axle with polybushes and a rare ratio LSD I bought myself for my birthday

 

 

 

New axle mounting plates

 

 

Bought myself something I had been looking for for a while 3 door cosworth front hubs as they correct the roll centre when you lower the car. Here's a comparison between the 2 types the cosworth hub is on the left

 

 

I have also fitted a H14 arb from a sapphire cosworth (also fitted to 3 doors and rs500 on a factory recall if the owners chose because the H13 gave skittish twitchy handling) it gives a greater castor angle over the standard one

 

Here it is painted

 

Fitted, notice the wheel slightly further forward in the arch

 

 

Mrs fp had this made for me for Christmas for it, stepspeed is a bit of a laugh I came up with years ago as my nickname is steppy (because apparently I'm mental, a couple of steps short of a ladder)

 

 

I've done quite a few other things as well but this was the only stuff I pictured

[Cavcraft]

Ordinarily turning a 3 door into a Cosworth replica sounds awful, but to be fair that does look good.

[Faker]

Keep up the good work. More pics required though!!

[reanimation-films]

Oooh, i'm loving that looks great! Nice colour and looks well finished.

Is that a half cage/rear hoop in the back? I've had a full cage welded in! 

[fordperv]

Yeah I only wanted a half cage as all the full ones I saw didn't look right installed, I'll see what else I've got picture wise, as for the quality of work looking good, that's because I've got a bit of an ocd with things,

this is my on road use as much as possible sierra which I should really update the thread for.

 

 

cheers for the positive comments folks, i agree Cavcraft what pops into my head when people say cosworth replica is the thrown together cars of yesteryear which people tried to say we're replicas but in fact didn't look like one

 

I can give you all a teaser of what I'm building for it

 

[fordperv]

Here's a picture of the wheels fitted

 

[reanimation-films]

Wheels look like the right fit. When bodykit painted should come together great. Nice one. Maybe you will like mine.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You could build a 1.3 Pinto based YB. 

[sierraman]

I remember when cosworth replica parts were big business, you'd only need look in the back pages of Max Power and there would be pages of adverts for fibre sports kits and the vents. Still unlike most people back then you've done a good job - you got the memo that said fitting a body kit might take much more than a morning pop riveting a grp kit to some badly rusted arches then subtly blending it in with filler so think you needed a trowel and a plasterers hawk to apply it followed by that most common of mistakes - applying your NACA duct on the piss.

[danthecapriman]

Good to see so much Sierra love on here at the moment!

 

Great cars you've got fordperv, looks like a hell of a lot of work and time gone into them. Nice that you've had the 3 door so long too, I can totally relate to that with my Capri.

[fordperv]

Cheers fella, I've got a Capri laser to give the same treatment to as well, I'll start a thread on it when the work begins

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Looks ace that! Love a 3 door sierra