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1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Completed it mate - see page 46


Peter C

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38 minutes ago, robt100 said:

Clutch replacement might be easier than you think, depends on the output shaft on the gearbox, whether it is a rubber doughnut or one of those sleeved joints where the prop can just be pulled out. If its the latter, I believe there is enough play to just loosen the mounts, pull the gearbox back and swap out the clutches with the box in place. I know thats how the garage did one on my Capri, took them all of 20mins 😅

Best I can do is raise the Sierra on axle stands and balance the gearbox on a trolley jack. One false move and I end up with the gearbox on the floor, maybe a life changing injury and no chance of getting the ‘box back on. For that reason, I’m out.

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15 minutes ago, SiC said:

Keep the old cable as you may need it in the future to make up a replacement or get someone else to make a replacement. 

I will hang on to it until the new cable is on and doing its job. Replacements are readily available and cheap.

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12 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Fucking peer pressure!

I will have a go at removing the pedal box tomorrow and check out what state the quadrant is in.

Sorry mate, just saying.   And you only have to take the pedal off, not the whole pedal box.

But you clearly don't need my ideas, so I will delete my posts and leave you to it.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Sorry mate, just saying.   And you only have to take the pedal off, not the whole pedal box.

But you clearly don't need my ideas, so I will delete my posts and leave you to it.

 

 

Don’t overreact. I was joking.

I’ve come this far and it makes sense to remove the pedal box and find out what is going on with the quadrant.

It looks like it will be easier to remove the whole pedal box than just the quadrant.

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I've taken advice from those who suggested that I should remove the pedal box to investigate the condition of the quadrant.

@Joey spud You were right, removing the pedal box was easy.

445.JPG.c97a1f9dc0aea0d3786265203ec9fd83.JPG

@Mr Pastry You were wrong, the quadrant has all its teeth in place. Everything looks good here.

446.JPG.cd4249b5fbded79f2d81946b76ca401a.JPG

I have checked the operation of the quadrant, it rotates from end to end and locks in every position. 

@Joey spud This is the plate that acts as a stop for the clutch pedal. It is welded to the pedal box, it has no adjustment.

447.JPG.993c10911f29442e4fa401c8de85ce95.JPG

The clutch pedal is at its highest point when the plastic part of the adjusting mechanism comes into contact with the metal stop.

448.JPG.decaf3af534db62bc5ecfae9384b065a.JPG

Assuming that the quadrant is working ok and the replacement clutch cable will not improve the situation, I could drill a couple of holes in the metal stop and secure a small metal plate, that would act as an extension to the stop, which would reduce the height of the pedal. Theoretically, the quadrant should be able to take up the slack in the clutch cable, assuming that it can adjust that far. If not, I could fit a cable adjuster at the gearbox end, which would reduce the length of the cable.

449.JPG.a8bac8728b28818daa4989c4124804a2.JPG

Both mods would be 100% reversible. 

I could also drill two holes through the side sections of the pedal box and extend a nut and bolt through them, which would pass through the quadrant, which has numerous openings that would allow the bolt to pass through. The bolt would pass through the quadrant with the quadrant adjusted to the maximum extended position. This would force the height of the clutch pedal down.

All very exciting. 

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That's a good bit of progress and next logical step.

If there's room drilling,bolting and extending the pedal stop tag makes good sense and won't cost anything but time. Looking at images online the tag looks longer does it look like the tip could have broken off of it at some point in its life ? 

If it were me I would extend the tag to level the pedal with the brake one fit a new cable and go from there.

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4 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

does it look like the tip could have broken off of it at some point in its life ? 

 

 

Nope, the metal stop looks mint and 100% original.

I think that I prefer the option of drilling through the pedal box and locking the quadrant with a nut and bolt.

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I'm trying to work out what part the welded on metal stop is in this diagram - can't quite work it out.

z001160300.png

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26 minutes ago, egg said:

I'm trying to work out what part the welded on metal stop is in this diagram - can't quite work it out.

z001160300.png

Where did you get this diagram from?

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8 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Where did you get this diagram from?

it's here Peter with FINIS codes. Interestingly 18 is the only part that doesn't have a number!

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9 minutes ago, egg said:

it's here Peter with FINIS codes. Interestingly 18 is the only part that doesn't have a number!

Looking at the diagram and having a reasonable idea of how these things work, I think part 18 should come with part 1 -  (bracket assembly thing finis  code 6713933 ) 

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11 minutes ago, Marina door handles said:

Looking at the diagram and having a reasonable idea of how these things work, I think part 18 should come with part 1 -  (bracket assembly thing finis  code 6713933 ) 

yes, and I have no clue about engineering, but does feel a little like that plate is a solution they worked out to solve a problem they designed in!

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This arrived today. The letter confirms that the Sierra was built in March 1987. 

IMG_6028.jpeg.8c1891e59af8dfec6993de6fc65384d2.jpeg

According to the logbook, it wasn’t registered until the 30th June 1987.

IMG_6031.jpeg.3ae36f3d3231fd7fce38791aefc6d9bc.jpeg

According to Wikipedia, the face lifted Sierra was launched in February 1987 and I presume that the Sapphire came out at the same time. If that’s the case, my Sierra must be an early model. Nice.

What is odd, for a brand new model, it took a long time, about three months, for the Sierra to be registered. Perhaps they didn’t sell like hot cakes?

The clutch cable also arrived today. It came in packaging that features a handy coat hanger.

IMG_6029.jpeg.f22cf7d137fbe0ff8dbdd2fd04062453.jpeg

First impressions, it looks ok.

IMG_6030.jpeg.f0a10126f68dd9d6e6005cfe43136a3d.jpeg
 

More tomorrow.

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2 minutes ago, Peter C said:

According to Wikipedia, the face lifted Sierra was launched in February 1987 and I presume that the Sapphire came out at the same time.

Yes, the Sapphire came out at the same time as the facelift. 

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54 minutes ago, Peter C said:

What is odd, for a brand new model, it took a long time, about three months, for the Sierra to be registered. Perhaps they didn’t sell like hot cakes?

Same for my Mondeo, also a new model, built in Genk 23-24 March not registered until 2nd June.

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59 minutes ago, Peter C said:

The clutch cable also arrived today. It came in packaging that features a handy coat hanger.

IMG_6029.jpeg.f22cf7d137fbe0ff8dbdd2fd04062453.jpeg

 

I always hang my clutch cables in my wardrobe with my shirts and trousers, I though everyone did this? 

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It's 6 months older than I am 😂

And they weren't massively common when I grew up enough to know what cars were either. A friends dad had a same colour blue estate that I never went in and that's all I remember! Was all 405s and modeos and xantias and escorts/orions (dad briefly dated someone who had a black non bubble shape orion) when I was growing up

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I started today by fitting the new clutch cable. It fitted perfectly, however it made no difference to the clutch pedal height or the biting point.

I opted to change the upper position of the clutch pedal by fitting a metal plate to the existing, non-adjustable, stop.

I carefully bent the stop a little so that the extended plate that will be fixed to its side will line up with the white part of the adjustment mechanism. I then drilled two small holes, the bottom one not too close to the edge of the metal.

450.JPG.0557c4e07c5ccc25f89e69e187137ab2.JPG

I secured the metal plate with two nuts and bolts. The nuts and bolts do not interfere with any part of the clutch mechanism.

451.JPG.3e2603430d5c72efa3e1f220ad45acce.JPG

Here comes the science bit.

If I made the extended plate too short, the pedal height would not be lowered by the desired amount. 

If I made the extended plate too long, the pedal would be located too low, the adjustment mechanism may not have enough range to take up the clutch cable slack and, as lowering the height of the clutch pedal reduces the pedal travel, there could be the possibility that the clutch would not disengage fully with the pedal depressed, causing clutch drag. 

The new plate extends from the stop by approx 12mm. I did no measuring, it was just a guesstimate. If the extended plate was to be too long, I could remove and shorten it. If it was too short, I had more spare metal brackets to make up a new one.

452.JPG.8dd20084781c18b2ef8f5daf9d73e936.JPG

With the pedal box in a vice, I could already see that the clutch pedal stopped below the stop height of the brake pedal. Looking good.

453.JPG.fc60d65f03220d47698f38c94324c25c.JPG

I refitted the pedal box and hooked up the clutch cable. Still looking good, the clutch pedal was situated a good three inches lower than before.

454.JPG.6cc7862910fc8c68403e414c82dd181a.JPG

I slowly depressed the clutch pedal a few times, the quadrant clicked itself into place and it ended up here.

455.JPG.c0fcc0645a9aa5b07ee24f211f536f89.JPG

There is no slack in the cable and the quadrant still has a fair bit more range (I pressed on the upper part of the quadrant to find out). The latter is important as it means that the quadrant mechanism has not been forced to its maximum working position and there is room for further adjustment, if required.

I fired up the Pinto and checked the position of the clutch biting point. Perfect. The clutch bites nicely at just below half pedal travel and all gears engage smoothly with no crunching, which means the clutch is fully disengaged with the clutch pedal down. 

Win!

@sierraman was right, that the clutch biting point was normal, after all there was no method of adjusting the height of the clutch pedal and the quadrant was found to be working ok. I guess I improved on Ford's design. To celebrate, I refitted the bottom of the dashboard etc and cleaned the mud stained pedals.

456.JPG.8f38a52e60a16d85b2b55afb20a97a74.JPG

Next issue.

Even with the Sierra parked in a dry garage, whenever I switched the engine on, condensation would blow out of the exhaust pipe.

457.JPG.2f848ca32158e4a1071d033fa43125c8.JPG

When I posted on here a few months back regarding how to prevent mild steel exhaust systems from rotting out, I recall being advised that I should drill small holes in the lowest point of each silencer, which would allow moisture to escape (drip out) from the silencer.

I did just that, drilled a small hole in the bottom of each silencer.

458.JPG.b494907cd7910bfef397bfcb66cc6dae.JPG

The original wheel brace is missing and I wanted to pack a few essentials for my maiden voyage, just in case something went wrong.

I prepared this selection, which includes 5 litres of water, engine oil, brake fluid, tyre pump, 19mm socket on extension bar, basic tool kit, gaffer tape and gloves.

459.JPG.db2737f64130700160e1773005fcf25b.JPG

Apart from the large water bottle, all the bits fitted snuggly in my handy and very fashionable Borg & Beck plastic bag.

460.JPG.02bc6451cf344f66f5a2cde98cf57203.JPG

So, I've done all I had on my to-do list (and more!) and the Sierra is ready for its maiden voyage.

461.JPG.403e78b995edc3e8a6b5f55071b9b491.JPG

Whether I go anywhere tomorrow, the 1st April, depends entirely on the weather. At the moment it is looking a bit 50/50 according to my iPhone app and guaranteed rain all day if the BBC weather app is to be believed, followed by more rain each day next week. Great. 

I am very apprehensive about the first drive in the Sierra. The very first short drive from the main road to my house was too stressful, with the Sierra looking like a shed and barely making it home with the exhaust blowing out of both silencers, my mind was focused on a refund rather than on having fun. Ditto last weekend's drive to the end of my road and back, wasn't enough to get to know how the Sierra behaves.

Fact is, whenever I will get to drive it, I will end up feeling disappointed. Chances are, it is suffering from a fault that I am yet to discover, such as pulling brakes, vibrations via the drivetrain, clonks, rattles, etc. Even if it doesn't suffer any major issues, I doubt the carb fed Pinto will provide the levels of performance that I am accustomed to, bearing in mind I drive a brand new Nissan Qashqai daily and one of my toys is a perky E46. The unassisted steering will be too heavy, even compared with my W123, which has power steering but which is nowhere near as light as what I am used to. I suspect the Sierra will feel heavy to drive and difficult to stop, with no ABS.... Ok, ok, I'm not being fair, I can't expect a 37 year old base model Ford to perform like a modern car.

Let's hope the nostalgia kicks in and I forget about the rest.

 

 

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  • Peter C changed the title to 1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Ready for first drive - see page 24
7 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Fact is, whenever I will get to drive it, I will end up feeling disappointed.

If you expect it to drive like a modern car, yes.  If you expect it to drive like a 1980s car, hopefully not.

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17 minutes ago, Peter C said:

I started today by fitting the new clutch cable. It fitted perfectly, however it made no difference to the clutch pedal height or the biting point.

I opted to change the upper position of the clutch pedal by fitting a metal plate to the existing, non-adjustable, stop.

I carefully bent the stop a little so that the extended plate that will be fixed to its side will line up with the white part of the adjustment mechanism. I then drilled two small holes, the bottom one not too close to the edge of the metal.

450.JPG.0557c4e07c5ccc25f89e69e187137ab2.JPG

I secured the metal plate with two nuts and bolts. The nuts and bolts do not interfere with any part of the clutch mechanism.

451.JPG.3e2603430d5c72efa3e1f220ad45acce.JPG

Here comes the science bit.

If I made the extended plate too short, the pedal height would not be lowered by the desired amount. 

If I made the extended plate too long, the pedal would be located too low, the adjustment mechanism may not have enough range to take up the clutch cable slack and, as lowering the height of the clutch pedal reduces the pedal travel, there could be the possibility that the clutch would not disengage fully with the pedal depressed, causing clutch drag. 

The new plate extends from the stop by approx 12mm. I did no measuring, it was just a guesstimate. If the extended plate was to be too long, I could remove and shorten it. If it was too short, I had more spare metal brackets to make up a new one.

452.JPG.8dd20084781c18b2ef8f5daf9d73e936.JPG

With the pedal box in a vice, I could already see that the clutch pedal stopped below the stop height of the brake pedal. Looking good.

453.JPG.fc60d65f03220d47698f38c94324c25c.JPG

I refitted the pedal box and hooked up the clutch cable. Still looking good, the clutch pedal was situated a good three inches lower than before.

454.JPG.6cc7862910fc8c68403e414c82dd181a.JPG

I slowly depressed the clutch pedal a few times, the quadrant clicked itself into place and it ended up here.

455.JPG.c0fcc0645a9aa5b07ee24f211f536f89.JPG

There is no slack in the cable and the quadrant still has a fair bit more range (I pressed on the upper part of the quadrant to find out). The latter is important as it means that the quadrant mechanism has not been forced to its maximum working position and there is room for further adjustment, if required.

I fired up the Pinto and checked the position of the clutch biting point. Perfect. The clutch bites nicely at just below half pedal travel and all gears engage smoothly with no crunching, which means the clutch is fully disengaged with the clutch pedal down. 

Win!

@sierraman was right, that the clutch biting point was normal, after all there was no method of adjusting the height of the clutch pedal and the quadrant was found to be working ok. I guess I improved on Ford's design. To celebrate, I refitted the bottom of the dashboard etc and cleaned the mud stained pedals.

456.JPG.8f38a52e60a16d85b2b55afb20a97a74.JPG

Next issue.

Even with the Sierra parked in a dry garage, whenever I switched the engine on, condensation would blow out of the exhaust pipe.

457.JPG.2f848ca32158e4a1071d033fa43125c8.JPG

When I posted on here a few months back regarding how to prevent mild steel exhaust systems from rotting out, I recall being advised that I should drill small holes in the lowest point of each silencer, which would allow moisture to escape (drip out) from the silencer.

I did just that, drilled a small hole in the bottom of each silencer.

458.JPG.b494907cd7910bfef397bfcb66cc6dae.JPG

The original wheel brace is missing and I wanted to pack a few essentials for my maiden voyage, just in case something went wrong.

I prepared this selection, which includes 5 litres of water, engine oil, brake fluid, tyre pump, 19mm socket on extension bar, basic tool kit, gaffer tape and gloves.

459.JPG.db2737f64130700160e1773005fcf25b.JPG

Apart from the large water bottle, all the bits fitted snuggly in my handy and very fashionable Borg & Beck plastic bag.

460.JPG.02bc6451cf344f66f5a2cde98cf57203.JPG

So, I've done all I had on my to-do list (and more!) and the Sierra is ready for its maiden voyage.

461.JPG.403e78b995edc3e8a6b5f55071b9b491.JPG

Whether I go anywhere tomorrow, the 1st April, depends entirely on the weather. At the moment it is looking a bit 50/50 according to my iPhone app and guaranteed rain all day if the BBC weather app is to be believed, followed by more rain each day next week. Great. 

I am very apprehensive about the first drive in the Sierra. The very first short drive from the main road to my house was too stressful, with the Sierra looking like a shed and barely making it home with the exhaust blowing out of both silencers, my mind was focused on a refund rather than on having fun. Ditto last weekend's drive to the end of my road and back, wasn't enough to get to know how the Sierra behaves.

Fact is, whenever I will get to drive it, I will end up feeling disappointed. Chances are, it is suffering from a fault that I am yet to discover, such as pulling brakes, vibrations via the drivetrain, clonks, rattles, etc. Even if it doesn't suffer any major issues, I doubt the carb fed Pinto will provide the levels of performance that I am accustomed to, bearing in mind I drive a brand new Nissan Qashqai daily and one of my toys is a perky E46. The unassisted steering will be too heavy, even compared with my W123, which has power steering but which is nowhere near as light as what I am used to. I suspect the Sierra will feel heavy to drive and difficult to stop, with no ABS.... Ok, ok, I'm not being fair, I can't expect a 37 year old base model Ford to perform like a modern car.

Let's hope the nostalgia kicks in and I forget about the rest.

 

 

Reading through this thread I've been impressed at how much you've achieved in the time, recommissioning and restoring the car. Anything that's been laid up or seldom used for a time will come with 'shakedown' issues for which the packing of basic tools is definitely sensible. Get the engine nice and warm, blow off the cobwebs, and see what happens. It's natural for there to be something that will need attention. And if something comes up during the test drive  - it'll just form the next page of this thread!

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Tax purchased, however the government website still states the Sierra is SORN.

tax.jpg.c812f7d71275c87f50317cc68898eb58.jpg

I have taken photos of the on-line application and have confirmation that the Sierra is taxed.

The forecast for this morning is ok but we had some rain overnight and the road looks wet. It's bright and sunny now so hopefully it will dry out soon. I plan to set off at around 10am for a 20 mile trip to Maidenhead, via the A404 and back over Cookham bridge. 

Very exciting!

 

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  • Peter C changed the title to 1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - First drive delayed but achieved- see page 24

GR9 👍

'its a pile of fraud $hite' = LOVE IT (... It's not a tattoo = you can change your mind 🤣🤣)

Tinkering brings you closer (... says SWMBO 😁)

🚙💨

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