Matty

Bumpers are improved.



Kinda wished I'd got the Matt black paint now. Or maybe I shouldn't worry and wait until they are on the car again. 

Got high as ole Sass mate on some P40 today.
Because I used a fair bit of a tub on the door cards. Not sure what these are made from, do know it does degrade badly. It turns to powder if it suffers any damage. Happy I've managed to something to stabilise these. Again saves me more effort to find replacements.

I'll scuff this mess down another day.
On to the bumpers. A good clean with some G101 and a green scratchy pad first.

Then force dried with a space heater. Knocked down any scuffed bits with 140 and wiped with panel prep. Filled anything I considered deep with flexible plastic filler. Left this to cure for now.

The last picture is of me doing a test section with the texture paint. My phone couldn't pick up the finish I got. Which I'm actually happy about! It blends in nice! Once I've spot sprayed the repaired areas and coated it all in the plastic dye I have, I'd dare say it'll give me the 10 footer look I wanted.

What we need now that you've perfected the car idling video is a good driving video. Come on @Dyslexic Viking, make it happen pal!

Just love the sound of an old Merc diesel.

Christ almighty was that a fight getting it back in. A helper would have been very useful in doing it. I really did not want it taking nearly two days to do. I had the weekend to myself and I really wanted to get on with my Midget. Right now I have a backlog of things left to do in the house and not going to get any more car time this evening.
Also these bastard clips kept falling apart. They go into the metal body work and the trim fixing screw goes through it. The threaded nut thing kept falling out and into awkward places. Usually as I just got one side in then the other side fell out. 

Also discovered the screw cover on the jesus handles acts as a prop when open to stop them closing up. Neat little bit of design there.

 
Anyway it's now in and fully tightened up. Definitely not a job I'd be in a rush to do again.
Colour is obvious different but it's a million times nicer than it was. The headliner is more ivory (even though it was supposed to be beige) and the standard type you usually get in lighter coloured interiors. I'm sure the other trim pieces could be had (or redone) in ivory to make match as it looks like standard VAG light coloured interior. Beige in the Golf I think was a one year option and very rare anyway.
As is, is certainly not horrendous though and a million times nicer than it was. At the very least it's nice not to have it raining foam into your hair every time you close the door. 
 

Unhelpful 🤨

Ticks over like a Swiss watch pal. Absolutely lovely 👍

£900
140k miles
MOT to October
110dci 6 speed
£0 road tax
Drives like a big Clio
Those awful wheel trims will go in the bin tomorrow .

Ticks over like a Swiss watch pal. Absolutely lovely 👍

Sharing my exploits with you scallywags is half the fun of owning a 37 year old Ford.    

Today is actually spring and warm, so can now open up the garage for the first time since October.
The first job was to add a diesel additive and then change the fuel tank cap as the old one was leaking.
Old one don't look so good.
 
The only new one I found was this which a Mercedes specialist said would fit and it did.


 
Then it was time to start it for the first time since October and it started quickly this year, faster than last year but as always was a bit grumpy in the first few minutes.

 
My current phone doesn't film as well as the last one so this isn't the best but it's something.
 
Now got the charging tested after I made a completely new charging system this winter and the result is 14.56 at idle without headlights and 13.10 at idle with headlights, so can call this a success. The next thing is to look at the cooling system and change the coolant and maintenance and it is ready for the road again. Hope it happens within 2 weeks waiting for the roads to be clean and safe from salt.

My dream has come true, I’ve driven the Sierra up the A413, heading north west. The only issue that I’ve noticed is an erratic fuel gauge. I know the tank is almost full but the needle keeps dropping to zero, then rises and drops again.
First destination reached. A Gulf petrol station in Whitchurch, located between Aylesbury and Buckingham. Before I bought my first Sierra from my then girlfriend’s dad, he let me borrow it for a very extended test drive and I remember putting fuel in the tank at this very station, which, remarkably, still exist today.

I’m heading further up the A413 towards Buckingham. 31k miles will tick over shortly.

More very soon.

Potential bargain to be had ...  BIN @ £3500 ono  .. like my own this is one of only 700 build with manual + overdrive.  Body panels / door shuts look straighter than mine which suggests the sills are original and it's unmolested.   Need recommissioning and frayed edges sorted but you can have that with a car costing three-times as much.



https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276414789371?itmmeta=01HTW4KBGYN6J2E88J4XAJW9WQ&hash=item405b9af6fb:g:W3gAAOSweoFmEab~&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwFFUwr5i1sARc%2B3kxbjjA5GxNR%2BRh3LwMiA6WZAROu2MlIvVSTBA6NkC8TfiUXWBPewsUVuFcRxFj6EUxd1g%2BEROc4u4lT2HEGlEPufX%2FQaUoSIiegL9dnMT28KnNH5EMBI%2FVDQYM71A%2Fa2V5otGZhvcqoYwWq5FJGGRT3Fo5KjoYSQlO2umvs2%2BGLnZfnSYUNGmzocVvLpHaEOe64J6USTfVke4enx9T3%2Fj1mZGl%2B%2FcvZXLhEoA7FDdw2Dm5vFEkg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR8i4zYTXYw

I wouldn’t worry too much about the E5 being a rip off. I run every single petrol vehicle I own (lots of motorcycles ya see) on it, as E10 is basically liquified dogshit, so it’s a no brainer. Also you WILL get better consumption so when you add up the higher price per litre it’s about same

awesome. I'd like the idea that this might become another forum bike. If I was ever in the position I'd love to get a shot at it 😍

Well it's not a keeper for me but intend to fettle and enjoy and it's definitely worthy of bike status!

As I said last night, and will say again now, , thank you so much @DirtyDaily for all this help.  I would never have got this far without you.

Oh and amusingly as I was leaving I couldn't get in to my Saab as my key wasn't working... Thankfully just a dying battery in the fob and Tesco round the corner from my hotel had some on hand so that's fixed as well!

I am hoping we are on the right track.
For the geeks among us I found the following:
Air filter housing wasn't fully clipped in meaning air getting in after the air filter.
Maf sensor was VERY dirty and could see no metal exposed. Black.
Maf cleaned, throttle blade cleaned as that was dirty too.
Was getting a too lean code on the ECU so checked for any vacuum leaks and pretty confident there is none.
As Eddy said we took it for a 30 min or so drive and all is good other than the air suspension light which I think took much longer to come on. The struts all seem to be holding air as they didn't sink on the drive after the light came on which with a leak it would normally do.
The tank holds no pressure after the pump stops but reaches 7/7.5 bar when it's on so the pump is kicking out enough pressure but as soon as it is off it goes to 0 within 10 seconds. I believe there is a shut off valve in the compressor which when the pump stops it closes to hold pressure. I don't think this valve is shutting causing the massive loss of pressure in the reservoir. My instinct is therefore a compressor unit failure. I am however not 100 % on this and have put the question to a forum I am on to see if anyone can weigh in on it. The only other thing I think it could be would an issue with the valve block but these rarely go wrong. Definitely want a second opinion though!

Pleasure to meet Eddy and glad I could help in some way. Always nice to meet up with fellow enthusiasts. I may be returning at some point with a new compressor but we shall see!

Bloody hell,Pete,that bought a tear to my glass eye!

I guess it comes down to one's mindset and approach to the task. If you think of it as a job (unpaid and for an unappreciative boss - a grumpy yourself ! ) then it's a chore. Even more so when you see the bodges of prior owners and the 'mechanics' as x_ _ _s. 
But....  if you like old cars and you 'just potter around'  for an hour or two,  ..as n' when you choose to (mostly in the afternoons for me) without an impending deadline, ..and you take some sort of satisfaction out of loving / improving the old girl,  ..and you look on those bodges as quite funny reflections on humanity and our culture - then the tasks become a hobby.
Every part of the car becomes a little wonderment.  Fk me this part is 56 years old and I'm cleaning it and putting it back on.!    Lucas, Smiths, Lockhead, Girling, GKN, Triplex Dunlop, and every other sub-contractor's component takes on its own life.  Whether mechanical, electrical, a piece of wood, leather or fabric trim  ..whatever can be be saved and reused becomes a thank-you  to motor industry men and women whose names have long since been forgotten.     
Once done, most of these rectifications last for decades and don't need repeating.  With one task after another done n' dusted - in time the car become useable, reliable and a pleasure ...all for minimal running costs.  After major structural and major-mechancal and paint., with no road tax and cheap classic car insurance - it does, in the long-term, become inexpensive.
     
Personally I hate being in the limelight, so I don't tidy up the car to be admired.  I do it because I feel these old girls deserve a bit of loving care and attention ..after years of abuse, neglect and making do.. When I go somewhere ; I park the car and walk away. She's the centre of attention.  I can do that because I'm a sentimental old sod who loves her ..even her shortcomings.  I wouldn't want to swap her creaks & wrinkles for a soulless manikin or an electric car.  
I like my cars to be decent autoshiter drivers rather than a polished restorations, so originality is less important to me than function. Then, driving the 'maintained' rather than 'precious' car becomes a nostalgic pleasure ..as if I'm driving a ten-year-old car back in the 1970's.   And any other old fart who happens to see you driving down the road also derives pleasure from seeing her still being used. Not at necessarily to shows ..but just around around town and to the shops. 
I'm not interested in bodging the car to sell and make a profit.  Indeed I'm of an age where I know that anything i have will be dispersed within a month or two of my passing. However if I can get each car into a useable and reliable condition before I go, then I'll be gifting them to best friends.  For those friends to own and enjoy a nice TR4, or a Daimler 250, or a sailing boat ..even if just for a year or two (before they sell them on) then that's more a lovely gift than its monetary value.    
The other half of my hobby is to share what I've been doing. It's a therapy for me to see that I'm achieving something. That I'm not yet on the scrap pile. And through these forum blobs - I very much hope inspires and helps others.
win + win + win whichever way I look at this hobby.  
Pete
 

Because I had some leftover vouchers I could use, I dropped into Halfrauds this morning.  Their system listed two possible battery codes for this car: 013 and 027.  013: nothing in stock.  027: doesn't appear to offer any advance over the battery I have (which, incidentally, charged up last night fine).  So I bought a bigger, more powerful one, taking care to make sure it wasn't going to be too tall for the boot.

DD has now been round and we've had the afternoon on it, starting with fitting the lovely new battery (five year guarantee!  That'll come with it...).  He then investigated the valve block and air tank, which I never knew live in the boot under the spare wheel.

They seem to be OK.  However the system still loses air, he now suspects the compressor itself.
With that established, he turned his attention to the Restricted Performance message.  A bit of fiddling about under the bonnet including a good clean of the MAF sensor enabled the code to be cleared.  And time for a test drive, so we went for a bit of a cruise, in a variety of traffic conditions, using a range of throttle openings.  So far so good.
It's still throwing up the Air Suspension Fault message, but does pump up; we may have more to do.
As if I needed a sign about this car...

...Guess which of my coffee mugs broke this morning!
I'm going to try the car for my local running over the next week or two and see what it does.
 

@DirtyDaily absolute top man. This place etc etc. Eddy I'd have to agree with @SiC. Nowt to say that having the wrong size battery is the cause of problems, but no sense in looking for the source of problems if somethings out of spec. Stick the right battery on it and start again. And don't give up on the car as its all mendable!

I doubt I'll be able to retire completely from old cars.  They are, after all, so much better than new in so many ways.  But yes, you're right, a break is definitely in order. 
I'll still enter the odd Roffle, and history shows that they are something I can win occasionally.  But the old cars that have the familiar technology are now way beyond my means.  I've bought Marinas (for example) for two-figure sums; in fact I've never paid three figures for one!  You pay as much now for a Vanguards Marina model as I did BITD for the whole car.  My last Cortina, the excellent mk5 2.0GL auto, was a whole £200.  But that was 1991 and it was ten years old.  Now... ten year old cars are positively repulsive, and if you can find one under £2000 it's either knackered, stolen or a miracle.  There isn't one of them that would be as nice to drive as that Cortina.  Find a halfway-decent Cortina now and you're spending double the value of this Jag.  Even projects that will need four years of welding are in four figures.  Ditto Marinas.
Anglia?  Herald?  A40?  Been there, done them all.  Fiat 500?  Had three!  But all my comments above about pricing still apply.  And ok, paying £6000 for an Anglia makes a bucketload more sense to me than paying the same for a KA, but you've still got a tiny, puny shopping trolley.  So buy a Zephyr, Cresta, Humber Super Snipe?  Well they are much more my style, certainly, and my chance of getting a Gentleman's Gearbox improves immensely; but again, they've well-outrun the Jag on price.
American?  Again, the chance of automatic takes a massive leap, but garages don't want to know and I'm not capable any more.  And inflation has done its dirty work there too.  I bought a 1980 Buick Century in 2003, for £300.  You can't buy a photo of one now for that!  And that car isn't even one of the glamorous ones, it's a reduced-size (3.8V6) sedan that few people even recognise.  On the road it's no bigger than the Jag (when I bought it I still had my first Jag, the Daimler S2 LWB).  It was really comfortable in exactly the way that ALL the manufacturers have totally forgotten how to do, and yet perfectly practical for daily use.  It was also, crucially, RWD and body-on-frame, which makes everything pretty darned simple.  Something else that's been forgotten...
But for all these things, my comment above about four years of welding applies.  That's something I'm not willing to take on again.  I've been there enough times.  It's way too expensive, and I hate a car being away from me for extended periods.  Again, I've been there.  I am not the best custodian for a sickly car, especially now, but when you send a car away, even if it's only a couple of miles, you're always fretting.  Nobody looks after your car like you do, it's your baby.  Which would be a viable attitude if I had a driveway, but I haven't.
I'm ridiculously sentimental.  I take on the lame ducks, and I fall in love with breathtaking ease.  This is how I've had so many cars in my life, and usually paid so little for them.  And the variety!  How many people do you know who can say they've owned a Cadillac and a Lada at the same time?  If you know me, then you know at least one!