1987 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8L - No thrill on trip to Brill Mill - see page 54

[wesacosa]

https://www.catcar.info/ford/?lang=en&l=bWFya2V0PT1ldXJvfHxjYXRfaWQ9PTQwNHx8Y2FiYnI9PUREfHx0aGs9PTB8fHN0PT02MHx8c3RzPT17IjIwIjoiRXVyb3BlIiwiMzAiOiJTaWVycmEgREQgMTk4Ny0xOTkzIiwiNDAiOiJKIEVsZWN0cmljYWwgU3lzdGVtIiwiNTAiOiJKMDQgRWxlY3RyaWNhbCBTeXN0ZW0uUmVhciBMYW1wcyIsIjYwIjoiSjA0MDEwIFJlYXJcL1N0b3AgQW5kIEZsYXNoZXIgTGFtcHMifXx8YWxwaGE9PUp8fGdyb3VwPT1KMDR8fHNlY3Q9PUowNDAxMHx8c2V0PT1EREowNHx8aW1nPT1aMDAxMTcyMzAwfHxmMTI9PTIxMDM1NjgwKzA%3D

[junkyarddog]

16 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Am I right that the Mk2 tail lights are the same on the saloons and hatchbacks?

Different.

[Peter C]

Externally, they look the same.

[Richard_FM]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

The 2.3 diesel in that ‘saloon’ trim must have been horrendously grim. 

I imagine they were aimed at the taxi market.

[Dobloseven]

1 minute ago, Richard_FM said:

I imagine they were aimed at the taxi market.

Didn't they do an actual "taxi" spec? I'm sure they did with the Granada, certainly the Mk 2 with, initially ,the 2.1 Peugeot diesel.

[Richard_FM]

10 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Didn't they do an actual "taxi" spec? I'm sure they did with the Granada, certainly the Mk 2 with, initially ,the 2.1 Peugeot diesel.

I was wondering that as well.

[adw1977]

There was a specific taxi spec Granada from 1979 until at least 1990, but not a Sierra as far as I know.

[lisbon_road]

54 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Externally, they look the same.

 

I seem to remember that you can fit hatch ones but they sit at the wrong angle and look really odd.

[junkyarddog]

4 hours ago, Peter C said:

Externally, they look the same.

The lens is a different depth,deeper on the saloon.

[Dobloseven]

Looks to me like the saloon ones are more upright.

[stuboy]

6 hours ago, Peter C said:

@sierraman

Am I right that the Mk2 tail lights are the same on the saloons and hatchbacks?

no

 

[stuboy]

4 hours ago, Peter C said:

Externally, they look the same.

look at the side/ corners

[stuboy]

[stuboy]

i remember it from when i had my sierras

[egg]

difference much more pronounced on Mondeo MK1

[R Lutz]

Didn't the first Orion have Cortina rear lamp clusters?

[stuboy]

On 04/02/2024 at 16:41, Peter C said:

they literally are attached to my unit where i work

[stuboy]

15 minutes ago, R Lutz said:

Didn't the first Orion have Cortina rear lamp clusters?

https://www.buysellcortina.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/27704-orion-rear-lights-into-mk5/&tab=comments#comment-251893

[egg]

4 minutes ago, stuboy said:

https://www.buysellcortina.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/27704-orion-rear-lights-into-mk5/&tab=comments#comment-251893

great stuff

[sierraman]

I’d love a Turkish Taunus, I don’t believe there are any in the U.K.?

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 10/02/2024 at 13:28, Peter C said:

@sierraman

Am I right that the Mk2 tail lights are the same on the saloons and hatchbacks?

NO they sit at different angles

[Peter C]

Now that my big birthday celebrations are behind me, I can focus on fixing up the Sierra.

The plan was to pressure wash the underside and arches before doing any remedial work to the bodywork. I started by removing the battery and covering up the complicated* electronics and the carburettor. 

I put the wheels back on, dropped and pushed the car out onto the driveway. Once there, I jacked it up again and took the wheels off.

All five wheels and the arch mouldings were also due a good scrub.

An hour later, the underside was clean. Surprisingly little crud came off, the underside was cleaner than I expected and much cleaner compared with all the other cars that I treated to the same process in the past.

Bits of flaky paint came off but what is left now is not just solid but also clean.

The plastics responded well to the pressure cleaning and a fair bit of the blue overspray also came off in the process. The road wheels will need a lick of paint, however the spare looks great. It's also fitted with an unused Good Year tyre.

I let the underside dry for a while before I put the wheels back on again. I pushed the car back into the garage, where I jacked it up AGAIN and took the wheels off AGAIN! 

I didn't have time for a proper inspection but first impressions are good, everything looks a lot cleaner.

Time permitting, I might start on the bodywork repairs tomorrow.

In other news, I wrote to the previous registered owner over a week ago and had nothing back. Never mind.

I received a period Sierra badge from @Six-cylinder and a set of four coasters from @Pat Earrings. Thank you both.

More soon.

[MJK 24]

£3,600 is looking like much better value already!

 

[Rustybullethole]

Cracking work there looking loads better already.

[Dobloseven]

Looking forward to seeing how it ends up.Looking very good so far.It must have lead a very charmed life to have survived so long so well.I can remember when they were needing welding for their first Mots.

[Peter C]

I spent half my Sunday (yesterday) stripping flaking paint and underseal and preparing surface corrosion for undersealing and painting. I used a circular wire brush attachment fixed to the end of a drill, which made the process a lot easier and a LOT more messy. Good news is that I did not uncover anything nasty. I didn't take any photographs as you have all seen the affected areas before.

The idea was to paint over the underside and low level exposed areas with the matched blue Rust-Oleum paint. I painted a bottom corner of a door and this morning, once the paint had dried, I found it to be a completely different  shade of blue.

I then sprayed over the same patch with the matched aerosol and...

Just about a perfect match. Not bad for a colour that is a bitch to match.

I popped back to the paint shop today, showed the man who mixed the paint for me the above photos and he added some grey and yellow to the mix, to make the colour brighter. When I got home, I applied some of the newly mixed paint and it looks a better match but I won't know how much better until the paint dries. The plan is to use the brush on stuff for the areas that aren't so visible and use the aerosol to repair the damaged paint higher up along the flanks, then cut and polish the lot.

In other news, I received a switch blanking plate from @wesacosa (thank you!) to replace the front fog light switch that has no right to exist in an L spec Sierra.

More soon.

[lisbon_road]

This is heroic work.  And all the right stuff to do for sure.  On my new shell, there were loads of bits underneath that needed seam sealing as they'd done a really poor job of it in the factory.  You may know all this - sorry if so.  Might be worth getting a tin, if you know the stuff (one of the pros on here might know the better brands):

[sierraman]

I’d be inclined to no mask so closely, it’ll build a ridge up which you’ll have the devils own work cutting through. 

[dome]

On 10/02/2024 at 11:06, sierraman said:

The 2.3 diesel in that ‘saloon’ trim must have been horrendously grim. 

Nah, they're not that bad. I used to tow an auto test car around behind one. Slowly, but capably.

[Tenmil Socket]

When I was younger and foolisher I fitted MK4 Escort rear lenses to a MK3.

Looked shit!