1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - Engine & gearbox removal - Part 1 - see page 55

[Peter C]

21 minutes ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Great to meet you ,my pleasure to help others if I can & keep older cars in use . I'm having a big sort out so  better this stuff is put to use than scrapped.

Thank you again for all your help yesterday. And thank you to your friend too.

Any chance you can find and post to me the window surround trim from the driver’s door?

Mine is knackered and the one on the door that I got from you is different - it doesn’t have the silver trim.

[Peter C]

6 hours ago, Bren said:

Panel gaps? You need to see an SD1.

@Wibble and I demonstrating the size of Rover SD1 panel gaps at the Basingstoke Festival of Motoring.

[sheffcortinacentre]

8 hours ago, Peter C said:

Thank you again for all your help yesterday. And thank you to your friend too.

Any chance you can find and post to me the window surround trim from the driver’s door?

Mine is knackered and the one on the door that I got from you is different - it doesn’t have the silver trim.

No problem see when I can get down.

[sheffcortinacentre]

7 hours ago, sheffcortinacentre said:

Great to meet you ,my pleasure to help others if I can & keep older cars in use . I'm having a big sort out so  better this stuff is put to use than scrapped.

There's some other stuff mainly 80s ford if anyone needs anything  

[Wibble]

It was great to spend time with you again @Peter C and to get another close look at your beautiful Sapphire, thank you. @Sir Chocolate Teapot must have been on a winner, as we didn’t see him again😉

[Peter C]

@Wibble Agreed, it was a great afternoon.

@Sir Chocolate Teapot Did you score?

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

19 hours ago, Wibble said:

It was great to spend time with you again @Peter C and to get another close look at your beautiful Sapphire, thank you. @Sir Chocolate Teapot must have been on a winner, as we didn’t see him again😉

 

19 hours ago, Peter C said:

@Wibble Agreed, it was a great afternoon.

@Sir Chocolate Teapot Did you score?

Great to meet up.

Sorry for.so short a time, my first kind of date ( should add with a lady) after divorce 5 years ago so could not say no, went well another date on the cards. Am I ready for all this again !

Dating or dealing with rusty old drum brakes ?

Edited May 11 by Sir Chocolate Teapot

[Wibble]

10 minutes ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

 

Great to meet up.

Sorry for.so short a time, my first kind of date ( should add with a lady) after divorce 5 years ago so could not say no, went well another date on the cards. Am I ready for all this again !

Dating or dealing with rusty old drum brakes ?

Both can be tricky but good luck!

[timolloyd]

23 hours ago, Peter C said:

@Wibble and I demonstrating the size of Rover SD1 panel gaps at the Basingstoke Festival of Motoring.

At least it’s only your finger that you are sticking in that gap.

[Peter C]

1 hour ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

 

Dating or dealing with rusty old drum brakes ?

No brainer really.

Have you thought about a disc conversion? 

[Peter C]

I was keen to remove the good moulding strip from the nearside front spare door.

A heat gun and a scraper were the right tools and I had the strip off in less than five minutes.

I managed to remove the strip without causing any distortion, which just shows that with a little ingenuity it is possible to remove a piece of trim without wrecking it.  

@grogee

I have a bottle of this stuff but it was useless.

White spirit did a better job of removing the old adhesive.

The strip is now safe and sound, ready to be fitted.

I then proceeded to completely strip the door down, theoretically, making it ready for preparation for paint.

Everything came off easily, apart from the electric window motor and regulator, which, Ford, in their wisdom, felt the need to secure to the door frame with rivets. Wankers. 

Bearing in mind that these doors will now reside in my workshop until I am ready to do up the Serra's bodywork, which won't be until it becomes MoT / tax / ULEZ exempt, which won't be for another couple of years, I had to give them a bit of a clean. The doors were stored in SCC's storage facility for the past 15+ years and they were absolutely filthy.

Once stripped, the doors and associated bits will take up a lot more room than if they were stored complete. I will therefore defer the disassembly of the remaining four doors until I am good and ready. 

Now I've cleaned the doors, I can see exactly what I've got. Each door needs a little bit of TLC to make perfect but none of them have any rot. Unfortunately, the grey nearside front door has a gouge in it that might be difficult to repair. Not to worry, the same black door is perfectly useable. 

So, I now have five doors for a Sierra, which I will eventually need, a tailgate for the MGB, which I do kind of need  because mine is rusty but then again so is the rest of the car and I don't have the motivation to prepare, paint and fit the spare tailgate and I have a set of four doors for a W123, which I've had for coming up to ten years now, which I am unlikely ever to need because my 230E has a mint set of four doors and I don't drive it enough for the doors to become damaged.

I'm off to Beaulieu this weekend and one thing is certain, I am not buying any more panels.

More soon.

 

[666jjp]

1 hour ago, Peter C said:

I am not buying any more panels

famous last words!!

[Peter C]

MoT test about to commence.

[beko1987]

The way you keep it ill be more surprised at a fail than a pass tbh... 

But good luck anyway, nothing like some mild mot nerves first thing in the morning 😂 

[Peter C]

So far so good.

[grogee]

Is this its last MoT? Exempt soon, Shirley? 

Best of luck, which you definitely don't need! It's AOK, I'm certain. 

[Peter C]

1 minute ago, grogee said:

Is this its last MoT? Exempt soon, Shirley? 

This one and at least one more next year, then it will be exempt.

And don’t call me Shirley.

[Peter C]

And she’s good for another 12 months.

No advisories, no issues to report.

[Peter C]

I don't recall driving the Sierra much over he past twelve months, especially over the Christmas break whilst I was recovering from my shoulder operation but somehow I've managed to clock up 1,501 miles between MoTs.

Ok, I've been to Silverstone, twice I think, last week I met up with @Wibble in Basingstoke and there was that trip to St Albans a couple of months ago but that's nowhere near far enough to amass that many miles.

Most odd.

[beko1987]

It does it so effortlessley you don't notice 👌 

(maybe reset the trip on a known journey and check the milometer isn't counting fast?) 

[Peter C]

My plan is to remove the engine and gearbox and attend to the following:

1. The crankshaft rear oil seal is leaking and leaving a mess on the garage floor.

2. Because of the above, the clutch plate has become contaminated with oil, causing it to judder in certain conditions.

3. The clutch sometimes doesn't fully disengage, particularly when its cold and the car hasn't been driven for a while. I suspect that the the old grease has solidified on the gearbox input shaft and is preventing the clutch from operating correctly.

4. I want to replace the gearbox oil.

5. I want to investigate what is causing the oily smell, that finds its way into the cabin when the car is stationary, left with the engine and heater switched on.

6. I want to investigate what is causing a smell of petrol. This is an intermittent issue, which I suspect has something to do with the carburettor.

6. I would like to properly refresh the engine bay, all the way down to the floorpan and chassis legs.

I have found a company in Maidenhead that hires out engine cranes for reasonable money. I am planning on hiring the crane on a Friday afternoon, removing the engine over a weekend and returning the crane on a Monday morning. I get to have the crane for the whole weekend and the hire company is happy to charge me for just one day. Win.

It was hot today and as I was planning on draining the coolant and engine oil first, which were bound to cause spillages, I was working outside under the car port.

I was surprised at the colour of the coolant. I flushed the cooling system and filled it with fresh water and antifreeze not that long ago.

I managed to remove the radiator, fan shroud, fan and all associated hoses, as well as the alternator and associated bracket and the air filter housing.

Over the coming days and weekend, I propose to remove the exhaust manifold and downpipe, inlet manifold and carburettor, fuel hoses and whatever small number of electrical cables extend to the ancillaries. 

Initially, I proposed to remove the engine and gearbox as one, however a number of people on the Facebook Sierra page advised me to separate the engine from the gearbox in situ, remove the engine first, then remove the gearbox. 

The Sierra's engine bay is huge when there's only a Pinto nesting under the bonnet. In Europe, the biggest engine we got in a Sierra was a V6, however those pesky South Africans squeezed a V8 in without trouble. 

It's been a while since I've taken an engine out from a car but I doubt there are many easier engines to remove than a Pinto from a Sierra, so I'm not anticipating any major problems. Once the engine and gearbox are out of the car, I will take my time to replace the clutch and oil seal and get everything looking clean and fresh before I hire the crane again and put the engine and gearbox back in.

More soon.

[Mally]

Yes just remove engine. It's very heavy as a complete unit, and you need massive head height. I don't see why you need to remove the gearbox?

[Peter C]

15 minutes ago, Mally said:

I don't see why you need to remove the gearbox?

I want to have a look inside, remove the rubber hose that dropped inside when I added some snake oil and I want to change the oil and give it a good clean.

[Wibble]

Could you not just drop the exhaust and leave the manifold on, to avoid stud breaking issues and potential extra ball ache?

[Peter C]

1 minute ago, Wibble said:

Could you not just drop the exhaust and leave the manifold on, to avoid stud breaking issues and potential extra ball ache?

All the studs are brand new, I replaced the lot last year.

😎

[Wibble]

Ah, fair play but I’d still leave it on for less spannering/laziness🙂

[Peter C]

12 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Ah, fair play but I’d still leave it on for less spannering/laziness🙂

I want to remove as much stuff as possible to have access to the entire engine bay and transmission tunnel, which I want to clean and paint.

[Peter C]

@Wibble

PS - I also want to check whether the replacement downpipe that I bought last year actually fits.

[Wibble]

Maybe it’s the heat but leaving the manifold on the engine, when removing the engine, still leaves a clear engine bay?🙂

[Peter C]

1 minute ago, Wibble said:

Maybe it’s the heat but leaving the manifold on the engine, when removing the engine, still leaves a clear engine bay?🙂

You’re not wrong my friend but taking the manifold off will take five minutes and once removed, I will have better access to clean and, maybe paint the engine.

Were Pintos painted when new - anyone?