1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Defective bling - see page 48

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, JakeT said:

For let’s say a 2.0TDi Golf the parts would be £800, then probably the same in labour and other bits again.

 

With the lack of export markets many owners sell them for scrap at that point where they go to donate their parts to keep other ones running.

 

same thing with rust, where the labour cost is far more significant.

£1600 for a Golf clutch? Fucking hell im in the wrong job, at £60ph I make that a 13 hour job! 

[JakeT]

Clutch and flywheel, and finding labour at £60/h anywhere in the Home Counties doesn’t really exist (further north it is cheaper, granted).

Putting just a clutch in a fiesta locally to me was just over £500 over ten years ago.

[IronStar]

2 hours ago, JakeT said:

For let’s say a 2.0TDi Golf the parts would be £800, then probably the same in labour and other bits again.

 

With the lack of export markets many owners sell them for scrap at that point where they go to donate their parts to keep other ones running.

 

same thing with rust, where the labour cost is far more significant.

£800 in parts? 😳 Is it OEM DMF kit? It was under 500€ for 159, and another 3-400€ labor when mine blew up.

Rust is mostly terminal here as well, good bodywork shops are €€€€ so not viable unless you’re throwing money out the window on a project (see Yugo Cabrio), willing to wait indefinitely for a better rate (also - Yugo Cabrio) or you crashed a newish car. 
How much would a full respray for a midsize car cost? It’s between 1000 and 1500€, parts + labor here.

[sierraman]

5 minutes ago, IronStar said:

£800 in parts? 😳 Is it OEM DMF kit? It was under 500€ for 159, and another 3-400€ labor when mine blew up.

Rust is mostly terminal here as well, good bodywork shops are €€€€ so not viable unless you’re throwing money out the window on a project (see Yugo Cabrio), willing to wait indefinitely for a better rate (also - Yugo Cabrio) or you crashed a newish car. 
How much would a full respray for a midsize car cost? It’s between 1000 and 1500€, parts + labor here.

A good respray at somewhere reputable £3-4k minimum. A blow over could be £1k. 

[IronStar]

Just now, sierraman said:

A good respray at somewhere reputable £3-4k minimum. A blow over could be £1k. 

So double here essentially.  1-1.5k is for cash in hand for a very decent work.
Properly registered reputable business that gives receipts and pays tax and all was 200€ par part 2 years ago, so probably upwards of 2.5k for an entire car.

Blow over no idea, probably 500-1000.

[Peter C]

Promptly following my return home from Poland (yesterday afternoon), I fired up the Sierra, W123 and E46.

All three started on the first turn of the key and ran sweet as a nut. 

I thought that the Sierra might need a bit of cranking to refill the float chamber (I assumed that some fuel would evaporate in 2.5 weeks in warm weather) but no, it started immediately. I haven’t said anything recently but the strong fuel smell problem that I had a few months ago is no longer an issue. It either fixed itself or my tinkering has helped.

Whilst starting the engine I paid particular attention to the exhaust pipe, expecting at least a small puff of blue smoke, but it was all clear. Seems I have a very healthy Pinto.

All being well, I will get a chance to drive the Sierra this week. More soon.

[Wibble]

5 hours ago, Peter C said:

Promptly following my return home from Poland (yesterday afternoon), I fired up the Sierra, W123 and E46.

All three started on the first turn of the key and ran sweet as a nut. 

I thought that the Sierra might need a bit of cranking to refill the float chamber (I assumed that some fuel would evaporate in 2.5 weeks in warm weather) but no, it started immediately. I haven’t said anything recently but the strong fuel smell problem that I had a few months ago is no longer an issue. It either fixed itself or my tinkering has helped.

Whilst starting the engine I paid particular attention to the exhaust pipe, expecting at least a small puff of blue smoke, but it was all clear. Seems I have a very healthy Pinto.

All being well, I will get a chance to drive the Sierra this week. More soon.

I have been playing with the Cortina, so hope to meet up soon.

[Peter C]

We had some crazy rainfall here today in Buckinghamshire, I'm talking biblical amounts of torrential rain in the space of 30 minutes.

The Sierra got a bit wet, the carport wasn't able to provide sufficient cover.

Not to worry. Looks like I will be selling my E46 this weekend and the Sierra will be moved into the garage beneath the house, where it will reside indefinitely.

As much as I miss driving the Sierra, I'm not taking it out in this weather.

 

[MantaGTE85]

I've just this minute remembered that I used to get lifts to junior school from a friend's dad who owned a blue Sierra. It was a mk1 Sierra L in Ocean Blue, identical to the scrap car you pictured on page 43 except their car had the 4-lamp Ghia grille. I'm such a sad bastard that its registration number conveniently returned to my brain at the same time. C924DOD.

It's better than I thought. The trusty* al' DVLA site reckons C924DOD was a 1.3 Sierra! 

I thought that the 4-lamp Ghia-grilled non-Ghia facelift mk1 Sierras were at least 1.8-powered, in L or GL trim. And Base models, 'lesser' engines and diesels remained with the 2-lamp slatted grille.

The 1.3 in Pinto form couldn't have been in production for long, starting from launch in 1982 and then dropped in early 1987 for the mk2. The irony being that the 1.3 was the only 'all-new' engine on offer at the time of the Sierra's launch. Its predecessor was the 1.3 Kent in the Cortina.

[ruffgeezer]

@Peter C I have a niggling thought that there is a Saphire in my local scrappers, I'll have a neb at it when I go in the next week or so.  Do you have a shopping list for me?

[Peter C]

10 hours ago, ruffgeezer said:

@Peter C I have a niggling thought that there is a Saphire in my local scrappers, I'll have a neb at it when I go in the next week or so.  Do you have a shopping list for me?

That’s good of you.

@mk2_craig is sorting out the rear door ashtray for me.

I desperately need a rear nearside (passenger) tail light.

Huge if, the front and rear bumpers were good, I would love those but that’s a big ask.

If you source the tail light I would be extremely grateful.

[Peter C]

A friend of mine has been enjoying a BMW M240i for the past couple of years. A VERY quick Q car.

He needed to free up some cash and decided to sell the 240i but left himself a £5k budget to buy another BMW coupe. That's where I stepped in and offered him my E46 325Ci M Sport. A deal was done and after two years of cleaning and tinkering and approx 2k miles of fun, I am now Bimmerless.

Good bye E46. It really was a good 'un but it was not as fast as my Cooper S and nowhere near as comfy as my W123 and whilst I admired it, I never really loved it. 

As soon as the E46 left the garage, the Sierra was cleaned (not washed) and tucked into its new home. Hopefully it will never get wet again.

The adjoining (shorter) space remains free and I have idea what to put there but I probably won't start looking properly until late 2024 / early 2025, as I have a few holidays booked in the coming months and don't want a new toy sitting unloved in the garage. Watch this space.

In other news, the Sierra's fuel gauge keeps displaying a broader range of readings. It's not quite fixed but getting there. 

 

 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Peter C said:

As soon as the E46 left the garage, the Sierra was cleaned (not washed) and tucked into its new home.

Home? Looks like it's got it's own lounge! 😀

[R Lutz]

Going off on a tangent,  my first taste of Eastern Europe was of taking a new fangled easyJet thing from Luton (genuinely new fangled as they were filming 'come fly with me') and we went to Poland. You could still buy a brand new 126BIS then, which from memory would have cost £3,500 converted. I was semi-serious about buying one on my Barclaycard and driving it back (I was in the trade at the time) but my mate (not a car enthusiast at all) talked me down. 

My second time in Poland was going out with Keith Adams to bring his SD1 home. The cheap labour rates and enthusiasm that he enjoyed for the restoration seemed to have evaporated by the time we collected relative to taking it out. 

[Peter C]

Friday the 13th!

WCPGW?

The weather wasn't great, 4C at 7:30am!

I hate the cold so I took suitable precautions.

I took the Sierra to Windsor first. Nothing interesting happened there.

Then I went to Marlow to meet with a client, who is a total petrolhead and has a cool Merc for daily duties.

Then I popped into the office in Maidenhead.

And came home.

All good, no Friday the 13th incidents, the Sierra was a joy to drive. As the weather for next week is supposed to be warm and dry, I hope to clock up more miles in the old Ford.

 

@ruffgeezer Any news about the tail light?

@mk2_craig Any news about the ashtray?

 

I'm off to Beaulieu tomorrow, let's see what bits I can find.

 

 

[ruffgeezer]

I did have a good traipse around, but sadly no Sierra to be found, sorry.

[Peter C]

9 minutes ago, ruffgeezer said:

I did have a good traipse around, but sadly no Sierra to be found, sorry.

No worries, thank you for looking.

[155V6]

2 hours ago, Peter C said:

Friday the 13th!

WCPGW?

The weather wasn't great, 4C at 7:30am!

I hate the cold so I took suitable precautions.

I took the Sierra to Windsor first. Nothing interesting happened there.

Then I went to Marlow to meet with a client, who is a total petrolhead and has a cool Merc for daily duties.

Then I popped into the office in Maidenhead.

And came home.

All good, no Friday the 13th incidents, the Sierra was a joy to drive. As the weather for next week is supposed to be warm and dry, I hope to clock up more miles in the old Ford.

 

@ruffgeezer Any news about the tail light?

@mk2_craig Any news about the ashtray?

 

I'm off to Beaulieu tomorrow, let's see what bits I can find.

 

 

I saw you on the A404 at around 1.30.

Looking good 😎

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, 155V6 said:

I saw you on the A404 at around 1.30.

Looking good 😎

How exciting! That was me driving from Marlow to Maidenhead.

What were you driving?

[155V6]

A plain white Nissan Interstar,I'm sure you would have noticed it 😂

[Peter C]

9 hours ago, 155V6 said:

Nissan Interstar

I wouldn’t know what one is if it ran me over!

[Peter C]

So, I went to Beaulieu today and within the first ten minutes of skulking I found the holy grail - a nearside rear light for a Sapphire.

Boxed, never used, mint.

The right side unit was also available, it’s on the table in the photo.

I creamed myself when I saw it and checked that it was the correct part (not a hatchback unit).

The seller approached me and asked if I’m interested in buying one or both units. I confirmed that I would rather just buy the one I need. The seller said that he would prefer to sell them as a pair. Ok, fair enough, I could make that work. I almost fainted when he told me how much he wanted for the pair. £400. That’s right, four hundred pounds. I thanked him for his time and walked away. The search continues.

I didn’t find any other Sierra bits but I did buy a car. Yep, that’s right, I bought a car at Beaulieu. It’s about time I got myself a new project. New thread coming soon.

[Wibble]

£400?! He’ll have it forever, I hope. Greedy bastard.

[Peter C]

29 minutes ago, Wibble said:

£400?! He’ll have it forever, I hope. Greedy bastard.

NOS prices are always high but £400 was a piss take.

[tooSavvy]

12 hours ago, Peter C said:

I wouldn’t know what one is if it ran me over!

You'd recognise the 'Geordie version' 🤣

Letters 'skilfully rearranged' to spell out...

INERS ARS

*Troo... seen it 😉

🚙💨

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Wibble said:

£400?! He’ll have it forever, I hope. Greedy bastard.

This!

Old skool Ford m8 bullshit at its finest there I’m afraid. I bet he didn’t sell much!?

I got a pair of NOS Capri mk2 tail lights, never used still in Ford boxes for significantly less than that a few years back. I got them from a chap in France who was much more realistic with his prices than the muppets in the UK. Maybe worth looking abroad for yours?

[mk2_craig]

On 13/09/2024 at 16:21, Peter C said:

 

@mk2_craig Any news about the ashtray?

Got as far as boxing it up but not as far as making it along to the Post Office. Should get a chance early next week - and don’t worry, I don’t want £400 for it. 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Peter C said:

So, I went to Beaulieu today and within the first ten minutes of skulking I found the holy grail - a nearside rear light for a Sapphire.

Boxed, never used, mint.

The right side unit was also available, it’s on the table in the photo.

I creamed myself when I saw it and checked that it was the correct part (not a hatchback unit).

The seller approached me and asked if I’m interested in buying one or both units. I confirmed that I would rather just buy the one I need. The seller said that he would prefer to sell them as a pair. Ok, fair enough, I could make that work. I almost fainted when he told me how much he wanted for the pair. £400. That’s right, four hundred pounds. I thanked him for his time and walked away. The search continues.

I didn’t find any other Sierra bits but I did buy a car. Yep, that’s right, I bought a car at Beaulieu. It’s about time I got myself a new project. New thread coming soon.

You went for a light unit, and bought a whole car? Top shiting!

[Wibble]

Can’t wait to see what it is

[High Jetter]

ADO 16 or Maxi?