greengartside

Yup, earliest production month is October 1992 AFAIK. Obviously other were built for test purposes before that date.

Nan borrowed my Merc the other night….

If Homer Simpson took up vehicle recovery (there is a similar photo story on the web somewhere which I found highly amusing)

”You plonker, Rod-boy”.

*laughing in swan*

I absolutely love these.

@flat4alfa what program are you using for these masterpieces?

PM’s (and soon to be I’d guess) Motors.

On 23/03/2024 at 06:31, Peter C said:

I wrote to the previous owner but he didn’t reply and there was nothing in the document pack (I’m not calling it a service history) to reveal anything about the Sierra’s early life, so no, I have no idea which dealer supplied it.

I would have thought this was the original number plate on the back, so it may well have been a Haynes of Maidstone car.

Glad to see good progress on this fine machine.

You’ve just reminded me of the fact that there is an estate sat in my local scrapyard at the moment. Not sure what’s left of it but I know it’s a 1.8 CVH, L-spec.

And whilst we’re on the subject, K2 BDD in that list has a reg date of 2.8.93 - making it an L-Plater.

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of Slim’s passing.  He would have absolutely loved to see this I think!

Congratulations on your retirement dude. 

Update: Sierra now gone sadly. Bumhats,

18 hours ago, adw1977 said:

The mirrors certainly aren't original because they would have been grey.

Whether it had dangly mirrors originally depends on the trim level.  Body colour slatted grille (if original) makes it an L (dangly mirrors) or GL (non-dangly mirrors).

It is an L-spec. So yeah, dangly mirrors would have been fitted. 

Communications via eBay messenger seem to be non-existent. Might go and chap on the guy’s door one day after work.

Also noticed that the scrap Sierra should have had the dangly mirrors when it was new. Sadly no longer on the car.

Right, this is in the yard next door to where I work. A December 1982 build/registered Sierra!

For spares, engine and box have been removed. The rest of it is there apart from the O/S rear lamp as far as I can see. Reg is JDY 573Y for all the car check guys out there. Last taxed 1997. 

The auction find Fiesta is still going strong…

…..I decided to treat the old girl to some instant 10,000bhp modifications.

Yes, it is a shitbox and it identifies as a Manchester Bee.

I had a small issue with the EML coming on after some heavy downpours. Apparently there’s an issue with the engine wiring loom chafing the block and the most vulnerable point is the wiring loom for the crank sensor. Water got into it, killed the rev counter and popped the light on. A quick five minute session with the OBD Scanner (that I found in a scrap car at the scrapyard) cleared the code and it’s never came back. The rev counter did die briefly then came back and all is well. I’m now typing this and realised I forgot to get a section of crank sensor wiring from a car at the yard this morning.

Oh and this happened yesterday.

Welcome to the 100k Club! Badge of honour duly awarded. Well done little car.

Last one, I promise.

Decided to treat the old girl to a car wash and I then hoovered the inside out and made it smell a bit nicer.

Rocker cover gasket turned up today so that’s the next job.

What’s this???

this can mean only one thing….

She’s on the road! Frontline transport!

I taxed and insured it last night. Only £27 a month TPFT and £17 a month for tax. A change in circumstances means I need to travel a lot more now and I don’t particularly want to knack up my nice Fiesta so I thought sod it, why not. It’s also better on fuel too.

One small stumbling block before all this became a reality.

One leather steering wheel procured from a 2002 Fiesta (a very early one to boot). Didn’t need the airbag as mine was all good. A quick YouTube sesh told me how to remove my old airbag and replace the wheel. A simple 10 minute job.

2 hours later I manage to wrestle the airbag off the wheel. The only issue was that I gorilla’d the airbag off and in the process, destroyed the airbag wiring plug which smashed into a million bits. Long story short is that £20 later, I now had a new airbag and wiring. The new one went on straight away and the airbag didn’t blow up in my face.

Now on for the Christmas duties! What a car!

On 06/11/2023 at 16:36, greengartside said:

MOT booked for December 4th at 10am!

And here is December 4th!

Not gonna lie, I was pretty restless sleeping last night. I’ve put a few man hours into this thing and like I’ve said previously, I would be gutted if it didn’t pass. Here it is ready for the off. I did have to do a few last minute jobs such as a missing bulb in the number plate light (the contacts had been busted off, probably when Darren fitted his MEGGER LED’Z and removed them for sale). Also a front indicator bulb that had lost most of its orange-ness. Little things like that might just win the MOT tester over.

Anyway, I drove it to the test station - it drove absolutely wonderfully, not a single rattle or knock anywhere.

Let’s hope it was all worth it….

Our survey says….

ONE PASS!!!! I could not believe it!! The MOT guy said it had been looked after and was “a really nice car”. I just looked on in a state of disbelief and shock. One very happy guy with an equally happy Fiesta, WHAT A FUCKING CHAMP.

The fleet together at last! Summer and Winter cars ☺️

Thanks to all of you who’ve liked this little journey blog, she’s good for another 12.

Another SMOLL update on the Fiesta from t’auction.

I put on my brave pants and decided to tackle the blue smoke issue with this one. I’d pre-empted that the air filter and plugs were going to be absolutely gopping. I was not disappointed.

That’s some serious neglect, the air filter is fucked! The plugs were terrible, this is after I’d cleaned the plug threads of oil, they were all absolutely saturated - I’d say the rocker cover gasket’s given up.

So after a quick set of new parts, it was time to sort this once and for all. Armed with a can of Wynn’s stop smoke snake oil, I poured the gloop into a warm engine (which was more responsive after I’d replaced the air filter - what are the chances?!) and then I let it do it’s thing.

After 10 minutes of running, this is at idle. I’d call that a win. It still produces a bit of condensation but the blue smoke has virtually all gone. I’m hoping it’ll scrape an emissions test and then we will be good to go for a year.

MOT booked for December 4th at 10am!

1 minute ago, catsinthewelder said:

AFAIK trailer wiring is only checked on the MOT if it's the new type of 21 pin connector.

Ah didn’t know that. I thought it was a blanket check on all pin types. Thanks! One less thing to worry about.

More progress on the Fiesta today.

I decided to tackle the towbar wiring on this beast.

A quality* installation of the wiring. A rat’s nest looks more appealing than this madman’s work.

Ok, so this is the O/S rear lamp - all wiring present and correct, even though scotchlocks of doom have been applied in this instance.

Here is the offending loose wire, which on closer inspection the yellow is the wire for the left hand indicator. Coupled with the length of the wire, this is likely the wire going to that. It seems that when Keith removed his 73” SUBWOOFAH and MEGGER SAHND INSTOWL from the boot, he’s knocked the wire off.

Let’s have a look at the other side.

Bingo. That’s where the wire’s come from then.

Fixed. I pushed dad’s trailer round to the back and connected things up. Because the trailer hasn’t been on the road for 20+ years, I’d imagined all the wires to be corroded and bulbs not working. 

But no. Lights came back to life with the exception of……the left hand indicator. FML. I don’t know what Keith has done but no dice on the wire. Unless I’ve not put the scotchlock together properly. I’ll sort it another day and if it fails the MOT for it then I’ll ask nicely if the tester could sort it out for me, he’s good like that.

More worryingly, when I was running the car for the trailer wiring faffing, there is a few wisps of blue smoke coming from the back, and on closer inspection it does seem it’s burning a bit of oil. I think this is the reason why it was at the auction now, Keith has absolutely ragged the bollocks off it and flogged it on. A bit of a shitty thing to do but I guess I’ll have to deal with it at the MOT. I’m hoping it’ll just scrape the emissions. As long as I can get a year out of it, I’ll be very happy. What I may do is stick some smoke additive in before the test and fingers crossed it’ll do enough to make it through.

I did check the PCV valve out of curiosity and it rattles so that’s working according to the interwebs. The hose going to the valve had a huge split in it, so I’ve expertly* repaired it with tape. This may be a contributing issue towards the smoke? I also took the air filter off and it’s absolutely fucking filthy so I’ll order up a new filter along with some plugs and a tin of snake jollop for the journey to the MOT place.

I won’t lie, I’ll be quite upset if it fails. Poor little car deserves a second chance on the road IMHO and it’s absolutely ideal for what I need it to do, especially with the towbar.

Another SMOLL update on the ORKSHUN FIND Fiesta.

First job was to sort out the buggered bonnet latch. Unhelpfully, my local scrappers has just had a mahoosive clearout of old vehicles, many of which were Fiestas. There were just two of my shape left there and one of them yielded the bonnet latch we were after.

New one on the right. Spot the difference? The spring for the release mechanism is completely missing on the old one. That may have something to do with the issue. Parts swapped over and a bit of latch adjustment and hey presto, the bonnet opens and shuts as it should. It’s also a good job I took the bolts from the donor car as the sizes were completely different on mine.

A quick check over on the car and a blown sidelight bulb on the front passenger side was attended to and rectified.

What else? The drivers seat latch was broken which is common on these. Thankfully the bay of E came to the rescue and for just £9 I had a pair of latches in my hand. Only fitted the drivers one as the passenger one is still operational. If it ain’t broke and all that….

And now the seat tilts and shuts like a good’un.

Lastly, my OCD was killing me and I had to do something about the lack of TRIMZ on this fine machine. Again, the bay to the rescue and I actually bought the trims that were pictured on here in the last segment of this journey. Just £10 and the last piece of the puzzle gets fitted. There’s a broken clip on the drivers front but I’ll throw a cable tie on it to stop it doing the falling offs.

BETTER.

There is one more job before it’s MOT, to sort out the towbar wiring as someone has cut a wire in the back and is laying in the boot. Might have been from a fancy sound system but I think it’s probably the indicator buzzer or something. Who knows.
 

More next time.

14 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

@egg Not only do I have photos of the K-reg Ghia near to me, I spoke to the owner and I have news about it.....

 

Bodywork looks very straight and tidy.

 

 

As is the interior. Mileage up to 54k from 52,991 at its last MoT in 2008.

 

Battery was flat, so I didn't hear it running.

Period plates front and rear plus dealer sticker all from the same Suffolk dealer, but I doubt they would have sold it brand new on that 'AR' registration. Were Ford pre-registering them back then?

Apparently it's had a long-term owner. More recently the brother of the chap I saw had it on a farm, then needed space and it got moved to where it sits now. It will be for sale, at something like £2,000 with a fresh MoT. Seems like a good buy to me for that money.

It's very local to me on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, I can pass on details if required.

It wouldn’t have been sold new by John Grose, more likely it was sourced from Ford directly as a lot of them were in the day and sold when it was nearly new.

A fantastic survivor and if I had the room I’d be very interested. I hope it goes to a good home.

A SMOLL update on the Auction-find Fiesta.

Whilst it was having a snooze, I got bored and attempted to sort any gremlins out that I had found.

First up, the drivers seat fabric was torn on the bolster with a smaller hole next to it for good measure.

A quick needle and thread session later and it’s better. I’m not a seamstress but that’s not a bad job I think.

I’ve found out it’s also great for storing all your worldly possessions (well, some of them.)

Further de-snagging - it had no brake or clutch pedal rubbers which is an instant MOT fail IIRC. A quick trip to the bay of E sorted me a brand new pair for under £4. I was astonished when they plopped through the postbox the very next day, that’s amazing delivery make no mistake. Bunged them on and they fit like a glove. Unlike O.J. Simpson’s.

I’m after a set of these hubcaps if anyone’s got a set going spare?
 

Has to be these ones as they are TEH SEX. Ford really know how to make a good set of trims. Not just of this era of Fiesta, take a look at the Escorts, Mondeos with the GLX swirly trims. Fucking peachy.

Bonnet up and let’s have a look at that catch.

It will release, but very very slightly. It doesn’t seem to feel as free as it should.

Verdict: FUKD. Get a new one, greengartside.

So just assessing the engine bay in general. Nice and tidy, and looks honest for 99k miles.

Not su…..WAIT, what’s that?

A white wire? Hmm, let’s have a look then.

Speaker wire! Someone’s been bodging! It came from down near the N/S headlamp & the horn. Both of those work though, and the wire was chopped at that end. Let’s follow it and see where it goes.

The fuck is this bodgery? I’ve already removed one side of the earth wire by this point. I also found this cut gubbins atop the headlamp screw point.

So I carefully* removed this fire waiting to happen and disposed of it in a sensible black bin manner. I kept the fuse holder though because hoarder.

All I can surmise is that the speaker wire led to one of those LED light bars that Nicky or Luke like putting on the front of their cars to make them look like a Transformer, or a Hyundai. Fair play that they actually used proper spade connectors, and not twisted the wires together and taped them like someone used to do 20 years ago. I did that with fucking stereos 😳 - I think this would also explain why there are no wheeltrims with it. Nicky or Luke fitted some 17 INCH SICK RIMZ I guess and chucked the trims away.

Anyway, more updates as and when and all that.

11 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

'Kin ell, over a third in fees on top? Auctions know how to make £££

Yep, it’s a bloody disgrace in that respect. My dad used to buy cars out of the auction in the early ‘90’s and it wasn’t anywhere near that much. They did have the fees displayed on the notice board so it wasn’t too much of a shock when I went to pay.

1 hour ago, HillmanImp said:

"Hi, I'm looking for a new dress to wear on the telly" 

"Sure, what kind of thing are you looking for?" 

"Hmm, something that looks like the trim out of a 1990s mid range family car please" 

"I got you fam" 

I see you. Nissan Micra K11 dress.