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Memoirs from the Hard Shoulder: bASeman's Spot of the Year award.


BorniteIdentity

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4 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Honestly, it's daily agonising.  I'd like just one car to "not look shit" and look like someone loves it.  But maybe it's good enough as it is.

If it wasn't for the time effort and money you have put into it then it would look a lot more shit.

I think carrying on replacing what is realistically needed as you have been doing is sensible.

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2 minutes ago, loserone said:

If it's impossible to buy a 406 which isn't a rotten ex taxi, how hard is it to find a used rust free door for a sierra?

I do actually have two.  I had to drop everything and drive 100 miles for them there and then - and they were £100.  But I've got them.

The problem is they've got trim on them, and the front is from an electric car - so I need to find someone more patient than I am to "manualise" it.  But for the time being it's ok.

 

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10 minutes ago, loserone said:

If it's impossible to buy a 406 which isn't a rotten ex taxi, how hard is it to find a used rust free door for a sierra?

With great difficulty I imagine. I stand by what I say that a lot of 406 left are old sheds, but you never know you might find one that some old codger has had from new! 

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13 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

I do actually have two.  I had to drop everything and drive 100 miles for them there and then - and they were £100.  But I've got them.

The problem is they've got trim on them, and the front is from an electric car - so I need to find someone more patient than I am to "manualise" it.  But for the time being it's ok.

 

It's scary how different the doors are from car to car on Sierras, I recall replacing a door on a 1993 Sapphire with a door from a car within a couple of years, can't remember if older or newer. It required quite a bit of creative modification to get it to work. 

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56 minutes ago, TheDoctor said:

It's scary how different the doors are from car to car on Sierras, I recall replacing a door on a 1993 Sapphire with a door from a car within a couple of years, can't remember if older or newer. It required quite a bit of creative modification to get it to work. 

Must have been older as 93 was the very end of Sierra production

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Righto. All taxed and on front line duty. The clutch is dreadful; even I’ve lost my sense of humour with it - so it’ll have to be done soon. It’s four spanners in the HBOL so will require someone with an ounce of talent. ie NOT ME. 

Bumper time tho. I’ve managed to get a clip for £3.70 from eBay thanks to @egg. Chuffed with that. Now I need some bolts. It looks like 4x M8 22mm and 1x M8 15mm.  I can find these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254058956029

But no 15mm and no washers. And do I need nuts? Diagram posted up thread didn’t indicate so - unless I read it wrong. 
 

 

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Can't see the clutch being astronomically expensive at a classic friendly garage.  Probably the biggest headache for a DIY job crawling around under it is that the Pinto weighs about as much as the Titanic if memory serves.

Realistically it should be a few hours work on a lift with the right tools and experience on hand. 

If it were mine at this point in its life I'd aim for sympathetic restoration.  Getting it looking presentable will make you enjoy it more and will help slow the bodywork degredation.  It will also make keeping it looking decent easier.

It's being unloved and working itself to death every day of its life chapter is done now.  It's been well documented, and I see no harm in showing it some love. 

No, I'd probably not throw it at a professional restoration company and splurge £30K restoring it to showroom condition...but no reason the rust can't be seen to etc.

 

If memory serves you've recently changed the carb and the engine is now in decent health, so once the clutch is done hopefully the only bits should be okay for a good while given it's not exactly going to be doing a 100 mile rush hour commute into London every day.

Regarding the dash top, I'd have a word with a trim specialist.  It might well be possible to repair the structure from behind and then fill the cracks and cover the top with a material with a texture a close match to the original.  I know that would make me want to scream if it were my car, so I'd be willing to spend a few quid sorting it.

So no... don't over-restore her.  Absolutely don't feel bad about fixing her up though.  The car's earned it.

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On 6/8/2020 at 3:34 PM, sierraman said:

With great difficulty I imagine. I stand by what I say that a lot of 406 left are old sheds, but you never know you might find one that some old codger has had from new! 

Sorry to thread divert. @loserone this popped into my head when you mentioned the above. I noticed it on autotrader the other day. 
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202002277782326

 

CEB5BA6E-4796-4CF7-A03E-D250187FC1CF.jpeg

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  • 2 weeks later...

The beguiling @alf892popped in for a socially distanced brew earlier on - promptly bollocked me for doing half a job on EVERYTHING - and then left again. But I did realise I was neglecting to drive all of these cars littering the place, so tonight I hit the road to Cambridge. The sunset popping off Kings was immense so I promptly turned around to ruin the view. 


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Inb4 “LOL 3 Dustbins”

It’s annoyingly tricky to get a good car shot here as there are so many posts, and the visitors are now coming back for photos etc. Still - golden hour is great innit. Just need a decent camera now! 

 

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Managed to find my "good" camera after 5 years - first time I've seen it since we moved house.  What's on the card though?  Err - me interviewing Phil Mitchell from Eastenders under a low rent gazebo in the pissing rain. You're welcome

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The lass on the right is also on the TV - and I wanted to make the love with her.

Anyway - we're having a little "LOCKDOWN MOTORSHOW" in the village again today - so with the promise of Triump Vitesses and a Lotus Elise - we're out lowering the tone.  Again.

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I need a new fucking hobby. 

When washing the Avensis easier I spotted two very small areas of surface rust where the wheel arch meets the sill. No worries says I, and I crack out the Vactan. Job done in 5 minutes, but look! I’ve poured out too much. Rather than decanting it back into the bottle, I thought I’d smear a little in the Sierra arches where paint is lacking. An hour later and I’m mentally writing an eBay advert for a Sierra and pricing up a set of golf clubs and membership at the local course. 
 

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It’s not great from front to back on that sill. The arches are ok for now so I’ve slapped some around a bit and will endeavour to get some red oxide and wax. 

Now - I was in the zone. So time to whack off the Battery and have a look at the tray.


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Vactan and chill. 
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Got some red Hammerite already in stock so that will go on ahead of some wax and then the battery can make a triumphant return. 

Preparations also continue with the replacement rear bumper. I’ve already vactan’d the brackets and tonight I spent 10 minutes painting them up. I’m not sure if it will help, or whether anyone else would bother, but it made me feel good about myself - giving it a better chance of long term survival. 
 

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I think I will need the services of Ken the Weld again later this year which is a bit of a shit, but such is life. 

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Vactan is marvellous stuff.  There's so much of it on my Princess now that I'm starting to think I might just hire a crane and  dip the whole car in a skip full of it to save time.  

That Sierra has come on so much since it was first rescued off the streets, it's great to see it improving little by little.

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I like how this is gently improving while being used rather than just getting blasted into a full on restoration.  It really doesn't matter that it's not perfect yet because of what it is.  You're never, ever going to see another one so it really doesn't matter what it looks like, it's remarkable enough that it survived without at least getting 'improved' with higher spec trim and the like.

Just keep on doing what you're doing, it's all moving the thing forward in a positive direction.  It's great seeing things like the new bumper getting assembled and inching closer to installation rather than it being pushed into a megabucks restoration.  The whole process of it getting saved and gradually rehabilitated is part of the charm, and part of the story of this unlikely survivor.  It also looks just right alongside the Mini.

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This rear bumper is a bit confusing, and I wonder if you can offer any advice?

The Nissan one came off with just the two self tapping screws removed!! It’s actually a very smart fit, and I’ll likely keep it in case of emergency.

However, the replacement isn’t just a slide in affair. 

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Where the locating arms go - there is no hole. That metal crash plate thing is there in the way. 66B55ED6-A021-4845-A575-08F7A4BE1081.thumb.jpeg.d98e0cb7a9130cef52dac31f70fdd8a3.jpeg

I think if I remove it then I will be able to get in, but I’m not sure. The weird thing is my new bumper is all plastic and no metal plate. I assumed that the black metal plate is from the original Ford Bumper? 

What I don’t want to do is crack it off unnecessarily because the bolts will snap and it’ll be a few days until I can get replacements. All while the driveway looks like a fucking scrapyard. 
 

Thoughts?!!F5B30D40-8194-46EF-98E9-0CE96F41BE8F.thumb.jpeg.a7acb54783c083903abf1e430a2fa3cd.jpeg

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