Another Sierra Project

[Stixy]

Who in there right mind would bother ?  1989 Sierra Ghia 

 

  

 

A friend of mine bought this in 1999 as scrap for a few spares as the head gasket had gone 

 

and it was parked up a few parts removed and it was left 

 

 

September 2012  i bought it to use as spares and loaded it up and took it home 

 

 

 

 

 

Once it was unloaded i gave it a quick look over and a rinse as my intention was going to be to use it for spares for an early D reg Mk2 i have 

 

The interior was grotty as in the last 13 years the windows had been left partialy open 

 

 

 

There was also a dead rat in the glovebox !

 

The engine hadnt been touched for ages and the distributor was missing 

 

 

 

after a rinse it still looked  horrible 

 

 

Next step was to get it running  , i took the plugs out and filled the bores with diesel  and left it for a week . When i went back to it i tried a socket on the crank pulley and gently moved the engine back and forth until it had done a few turns on the socket  so i was happy it was  not seized , so i fitted a distributor and timed it up  but as the car had air con i had to move the a/c compressor out of the way just to get the belt cover off .

 

 The next bit was messy as put a battery on it covered the plug holes with rag and turned the key and after a few turns the oil light was out .  The electric fuel pump was also missing so i fitted a replacement then poured some petrol in and primed the fuel system .

 

After a few turns the engine started and sounded ok but as there was no water in it as the rad had rotted out i turned it off  

 

I moved it out the way and got on with other jobs

 

April 2013

 

even though it was running it diddnt run well due to the head gasket problem so off with the head

 

 

 

It all looked very good so with a quick clean up , some new stem seals and a gasket it went back together 

 

I removed all the air con stuff in front of the rad as it was very rusted up , there was no pressure in the system anyway . I fitted a decent radiator and now it runs lovely 

 

 

 

While the sun was shining i also swapped the bonnet as the original was rotten and replaced the headlamps  

 

 

It was at this moment i realised i had started repairing a car that i had bought as a  breaker  

 

March 2014 

 

Time to make a final decision what to do with this  break or fix 

 

So it was time for a very hard look at it 

 

The rear inner sills were as i expected

 

 

 

The outer sill to floor seam has rotted on the passenger side 

 

the front wings were better than i expected

 

 

 

Next step was to get all the grotty trim out and have a look at the inner sills and floorpan

 

 

 

And thats all the rot !  For a car thats been parked up in a field with the windows open for nearly 15 years not bad at all.

 

All 4 doors had rotted out as well so i replaced them with some sapph doors  the whole car needs paint but that will be later so it has a blue bonnet , magenta doors, and the original bit is olympic gold 

 

 

Like i said who in there right mind would bother ?    I think the term "right mind" says it all  

 

  Its time for this one  to wait its turn again now for a while   before any more gets done

[Lankytim]

This looks great! Cant wait for more updates!

[af1]

Looking good

[saucedoctor]

Outstanding. Poor old Sierra back from the dead. Nice one.

[Charlie Croker]

Good stuff this. Im well impressed

[trigger]

Brilliant! 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

There was also a dead rat in the glovebox !

They changed this to a rechargeable torch for the Mondeo.

[oman5]

Excellent job- it's always good to see someone saving a non-cosworth sierra, and the pinto with efi is a good lump too. 

[Jim Bergerac]

Wonderful stuff here. Not many people would put in the effort on something like what you started with. Simply heroic.

[fordperv]

Excellent, people need to be saving the regular models so that in years time the general public won't just think they only made cosworths and xr4x4's.

[Rusty Pelican]

Superb save 

[Stixy]

Thanks everybody  

 

 I havent touched this for a few months now but i hope to be starting the welding in the next few weeks 

 

I have another Ghia  which is past the point of no return that will be the donor car car for the trim and a few other parts  .

 

The basic build plan  is Rosso red paintwork grey Ghia trim & pepperpot wheels .

 

 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

That colour scheme sounds great, a mate had a Rosso 2.3 Ghia manual on Pepperpots when it was only 3 or 4 years old and to this day it's probably my favourite looking Sierra. Alas ,I've had a couple of Rosso GLS' and a 1.6 L Saph but only a gold and purple 2.3 and they were both autos.

Can't wait to see a single tone red hatch with no spoilers.

[Rusty Pelican]

In the 80s when i started driving I used to see loads of chod driving about with odd coloured scrapyard sourced panels , doors , bonnets etc , You just dont see this anymore , no-one fixes cars nowadays , just chuck it away and buy new , I miss the odd panelled days of motoring .

Id almost be temped to leave it as it is as a testament to better times .

[Ghosty]

That looks unexpectedly good on the dartboards! 

I'd be tempted not to paint it 

[Parky]

Like! Did these ever come with Dartboards as standard? I always thought they were Cortina wheels?

[fordperv]

In the 80s when i started driving I used to see loads of chod driving about with odd coloured scrapyard sourced panels , doors , bonnets etc , You just dont see this anymore , no-one fixes cars nowadays , just chuck it away and buy new , I miss the odd panelled days of motoring .

Id almost be temped to leave it as it is as a testament to better times .

I really wish I could find a picture of my dad's 2.3 mk4 cortina when he was fixing it up while it was his daily, every bolt of panel was a different colour, it had a 1.6 badge on the back and was a real hoot to be a passenger in

[Grundig]

 I like it   " Man and machine in perfect harmony" as the Ford pr bods said at the time 

[dollywobbler]

SIERRA HARLEQUIN.

[Shep Shepherd]

 

I, Chef Jeffrey Guido Dimitry Excellence consider this to be An Excellent Project!

[Lord Sterling]

Excellent stuff Stixy! Your really are a saviour of Ford Sierras.

 

Do I hear a vote from the house on renaming Stixy - SierraSaviour?

[Albert Ross]

Dartboards? You mean Tinilites.

[Guest nothing]

What a shitbox. Good work.