3 door sierra project.

[bangernomics]

Blah blah 6 month visa…more garage time…

Nice purchase and enjoy the time that you have doing things you love.

[Ianlea73]

Back over in Spain at the moment so cracking on with the old Sierra.

1st job was to strip out the complete rear end. I then replaced subframe bushes & trailing arm bushes.

I was surprised to see an original parts sticker on the subframe.

    v 

Really surprised that the underside is so clean. I then sprayed it with tfr & pressure washed to get it even better.

  

Fitted new bushes & cleaned up & rebuilt the brakes. 

    

Next job was to finish cleaning up the diff fitting new seals.

This week I hope to get the rear end rebuilt.

 

 

 

[Ianlea73]

Decided I couldn't leave the fuel tank untouched. I've also removed the fuel pump cradle.

Clean up & paint the tank later.

[Ianlea73]

Fuel tank stripped, cleaned & painted at the weekend along with the fuel pump cradle. Installed today along with the subframe, lower arms, 40mm lowering springs & the new shocks.

 

[sierraman]

Superb! 

[Tenmil Socket]

Isn’t it wonderful how those warmer climates preserve such cars that would dissolve in the UK. 

[Ianlea73]

18 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Isn’t it wonderful how those warmer climates preserve such cars that would dissolve in the UK. 

I was on a uk sierra fb page earlier & a guy was asking for rear springs. He posted a pic of the underside of his car & I delighted in the condition difference between the two cars. His looked like it had been pulled from a river.

Horrible I know but I've dealt with plenty of rust in my time. Especially my old nissans!

 

[Tenmil Socket]

25 minutes ago, Ianlea73 said:

I was on a uk sierra fb page earlier & a guy was asking for rear springs. He posted a pic of the underside of his car & I delighted in the condition difference between the two cars. His looked like it had been pulled from a river.

Horrible I know but I've dealt with plenty of rust in my time. Especially my old nissans!

 

When I was younger I wanted to own a Datsun Cherry Turbo… do any even exist anymore? 

[Ianlea73]

On 08/04/2025 at 15:47, Tenmil Socket said:

Isn’t it wonderful how those warmer climates preserve such cars that would dissolve in the UK. 

This was the wanted post I found on fb.

 

[Ianlea73]

Fitted the diff today & copper slipped all the bolts. Then fitted the black diamond braided brake lines & cleaned up original metal lines.

 

[High Jetter]

My God that's clean! Coming on well, wish I could do work like that.

[Ianlea73]

Back end all done.

New seals in the diff, fresh diff oil. Complete new driveshafts,  new hub bearings & seals, painted back plates, new wheel cylinders,  new brake shoes & adjusters. Skimmed & painted the drums.

New subframe & trailing atm bushes & new braided brake lines. 

Unfortunately due to the new driveshafts having wider cv boots I couldn't fit the boot protectors but none the less it looks great.

Bleed the brakes tomorrow & start on the front end stripdown & tidy up.

 

[danthecapriman]

Lovely work. 
It’s a real joy to work on cars this clean. I found it when putting my Capri back together. They’re so clean you don’t get all the decades worth of dirt and grime all over you, you don’t get rust flakes and crap in your eyes, all the nuts and bolts work without seizing from rust and dirt etc etc.

Anyway, great stuff. Keep it up👍

[Dyslexic Viking]

I can't believe how nice it is underneath, most 5 year old cars here aren't even that nice.

[Ianlea73]

Can't wait to get it back on the floor to see how it sits on the 40mm lowering springs. The front end should be a lot quicker to do as the bushes have already been done.

 

[Ianlea73]

Back end on the floor. I just need to torque the hub nut. I've decided I want 16" wheels with a bigger tyre to fill the arch gap a bit better.

I then cracked on & stripped the front end. I'm doing a 300mm focus brake upgrade & fitting lowering springs, so decided to strip the lot. Steering rack bellows are shot to bits & I'm fitting braided brake lines anyway.

[Ianlea73]

Today was a love, hate day.

I removed all the interior.  Nearly everything broke, nearly every bracket snapped, the panels are knackered, the seats are sagged, the carpets are ripped. I knew it was sagged anyway but........
I think the best option for this car is I'm just going to fit a set of recliner buckets & a cage & call it done.

Even the window guide channel on the drivers side was snapped!!

The next job is to remove all the sound deadening & inspect the floors.

I've also decided to drop the gearbox & inspect the clutch. 

I'll eventually remove the engine & rebuild it too.

[Westbay]

Won't it get very hot with no interior ?

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Westbay said:

Won't it get very hot with no interior ?

And noisy. 

[tooSavvy]

GR9 endeavours with this..... 👍

I recall, as a pimply yoof, taking a pair of MM1000 front drums in to my factory and asking an old hand to 'just lick' a skim of the inner....

Few days later got them back, wire brushed them, lick of black enamel >> fitted and as I drove down the street the brake pedal was modulating and a thump, thump, thump came up the steering = stupid dick had nipped up the drum by the outer ring rather than using a centre spigot hold 🤬🤬

..... ruined >> just fitted a scrapyard pair 🙄.

🚙💨

[Ianlea73]

1 hour ago, Westbay said:

Won't it get very hot with no interior ?

 

14 minutes ago, sierraman said:

And noisy. 

Yes I've had a stripped out car when I owned a nissan 200sx s13. It was awful!!😃

I'm just feeling sorry for myself. All the panels need the fabric glueing, because if the Spanish sun the door handle/ arm rests have crumbled to brittle dust.

The steering column surround is broken in pieces & held together with tape & self tapers & the speedo gauges surround has 3 of the 4 clips snapped.😡

On a positive note, I do own a rust free 3 door sierra!😉

I have been told that if the older generation live up in the hills or near an old rambla (dry river), they have a car that gets bashed around & a going to town car. I think in its previous history this may have been the former.😳

Anyway this weekend I'm going to brush out the interior & inspect the floor.

[sierraman]

A lot of those bits like the column shroud you should be able to get in the U.K. maybe? 

[Ianlea73]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

A lot of those bits like the column shroud you should be able to get in the U.K. maybe? 

I've got a list of parts I need, hopefully I won't get scene tax raped!!

[Ianlea73]

I pulled all the sound deadening & gave the floor a wipe over with petrol then brake cleaner.

Gearbox out next, then I'm going to pressure wash & clean all the underside & in the rear quarters & front doors.

[Ianlea73]

Box out.

 

[vaughant]

I may have a set of Cossie leather fronts for it, but obvs 4dr? Might look cool with nice leathers and a roll cage. They're incredibly comfortable as well ❤️❤️.

I do have a load of sierra cossie bits, but I'm reluctant to let many go as I have no idea what I'll need for my own one just yet, however I'm sure I've got a set of those clocks somewhere and their pretty mint. I'd not want silly money for them.

We're looking to do what you're doing out in Spain, which is where I'll restore mine that's also reasonably rust free despite always being here in the UK, I suspect it had a new shell at some point, but maybe on the non lucrative visa instead, even though we're only 50 🤣🤣🤣, but that seems the easiest one to get for staying beyond the 90 days in one hit. I know France do a 6 month extension but Spain don't seem quite so welcoming under Sanchez. 

I'm still thinking Portugal might be the better option as it's easier to get out there on the non lucrative visa, only need £800/month passive income but she's adamant it has to be Spain, who need more like £1600. Either would be doable as you only need to prove you have the funds for 2 years in the bank and we won't be doing it until the house is sold anyway.

Portugal you can still effectively buy* a golden visa for £168k but that goes into "investments" which I'd be pretty sure you'll never see again. 

How do you find the 90 day rotation? That could possibly work for us as I still think I'll need to work at some point and I'll find contracting employment work in the UK a lot easier than out there, which we couldn't do on the non lucrative visa. There's also a self employed one but I've no idea how hard any of those are to get. 

My lad is currently out there living in Cartagena and loves it. Lovely city that.

 

[Ianlea73]

90 days on & off works for us at the moment. My wife is semi retired, I'm self employed so just work when we're back in England.

Cartagena is only 1h30 from us. We're a little further South. I live in a remote, quiet village away from the tourist stuff.

I'd be interested in the seats & clocks depending on price. I don't actually need a full set just the plastic surround. I've been offered a set from a guy on Bristol for £30 & he's local too.

Pics of the seats & a price would be great. 👍

[vaughant]

54 minutes ago, Ianlea73 said:

90 days on & off works for us at the moment. My wife is semi retired, I'm self employed so just work when we're back in England.

Cartagena is only 1h30 from us. We're a little further South. I live in a remote, quiet village away from the tourist stuff.

I'd be interested in the seats & clocks depending on price. I don't actually need a full set just the plastic surround. I've been offered a set from a guy on Bristol for £30 & he's local too.

Pics of the seats & a price would be great. 👍

Nice, some lovely little places around that area. Coastal would be great for us but the inland prices are incredibly tempting. We'd be looking at something with a bit of land to do something, not sure entirely what yet, maybe a little campervan stop, camping, grow something, as you can see, really well thought out 😅 😅 😅 😅.

Yeah I'll dig them out, I've got a few sets of Cossie stuff. I'd say get the surround locally as for me to dig it out might take a bit longer. 

Car looks ace by the way, can't wait to see it on the road again 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻.

[Ianlea73]

We bought a ruin in 2009 & have been using it as a habitable home for about 6 years now.

Really appreciate you digging out the seats. I've got a small list of interior bits I need too.