Robmatheson

Hi guys. I've been absent from the forum for a while mostly due to playing around with Vauxhalls and Hondas for the last 2 years.

Anyway I'd been hankering for an XR4i for years and when I saw this for sale locally I couldn't resist.
It's a 1983 A reg XR4i in Caspian Blue (best colour by a country mile) with 100950 showing on the odometer. Very clean bodywork with only a little bit of blistering at the bottom of the driver A pillar. Apparently it's had a Power Engineering 3.1 conversion but I have no proof apart from on one of its service invoices from power engineering it states 'XR4i 3.1'.

It's got several mods like a fibreglass boot & bonnet, Janspeed manifolds and a full system, K&N filter, lowered shocks and springs up front and turreted rear with GAZ coilovers.

Someone's fitted it with a mk2 facelift dash which is missing most of its trim. The lower half is mk1. So i'll be on the hunt for an early mk2 dash at somepoint to tidy it up.

Here's a wee pic of it just now (sorry for the sh*te quality:



I've got a few plans to sort it out, namely to find and fit a better dashboard, source foglights, change the wheels, new brakes and fix anything else I come accross that isn't 100%

jc2000e

looks alright that does fella!
I like the wheels, better if you could get centre caps, tsw stealth?

Cos500

Great car and best colour, looks a nice project

Robmatheson

Aye they're Stealths. I'm not sure what I want for it yet tbh.

Thanks mate

turbo m

iTrader: (2)

I do like a xr4i
I remember seeing these new when i was a kid before the 3 door came out and just loving that bi plane rear spoiler....

Robmatheson

Today's updates: Flat battery & flat tire. Woohoo.

I'm going to say the battery's tired as when I bought it it needed a jump but was charging when checked with a multi-meter, plus it's been sitting for a while before I bought it.

Tire was gubbed though. Steelie to the Rescue. :/

Took some better pics though.







The motor - very busy under here. Definitely needs tidying.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Cool car matey. Does it have a modded air box.

stevos

Thread subscribed to,love xr4i and they are few and far between now.
Looks very nice mate.
What's the knob on the driver side engine bay next to the expansion bottle.

mk22door

NIce XR4i that.

I bet that knob is to do with a Ken Lowe fan kit?

Robmatheson

It does aye. Not had a good look at it but it seems to do the job!

Thanks, as mk22door says it's part of a Kenlowe fan kit. It allows you to adjust when the fan kicks in.

Thanks mate. You're bang on with that.

Robmatheson

Last weekend I drove the 4i up from my digs in Glasgow to my home up in Stornoway. A journey of about 240 miles. I was a bit hesitant as it's not been used much recently but it made the journey up without skipping a beat

Wee photo of it on the Inverness to Ullapool road



First thing I did was fit some Pro Race 3's with proxies that i had in the garage. Makes it look a bit smarter for the time being anyway.



With my Onion, a long term WiP



I knocked up some foglight blanks from an old cavalier grille I had in the shed just till I sort some fogs.

Robmatheson

Here's a wee update on my XR4I. Recently got back from a 5 month stint at sea, so I've started to potter about with the car.

First thing I did was strip the grubby seats, carpet and what was left of the mk2.5 dash some clown had fitted.



Gutted! No rot found either so I'm happy !!


Decided to have a look under the boot seal as it's usually a major rot spot... I think the picture speaks for itself



Sent the seats and the carpet to a local valeted to be 'aqua mist' cleaned. I'm over the moon with how they came out ! They looked like something you'd see at the dump beforehand !!

Drying the seats in front of the stove in the kitchen lol



Managed to buy a 2.8 xr4x4 off my pal for a parts donor. It'd been lieing in his dad's yard for ages with plans to turn it into a track car or something but the plans never happened.



Main bits I need from it are the full dashboard, LSD / disc rear beam and a good fuel tank, other handy spares will be a spare engine, fuel pump, MFI bits, mirror caps, spare wheels, hundreds of clips and annoying hard to find bits.

It also had a full set of proper fitted Ford floormats and 4 ford mudflaps.

My pal Richie gave me a tow down the road



It's probably savable but it's a no from me. She'll keep mine and probably a few other local Sierras on the road though.


Rear end removed from the xr4x4, came of without much drama other than getting crowbar'd in the cheek when trying to free the beam to body mounting bushes lol!

Said mounting bushes are absolutely snagged, as well as them, I need a new handbrake cable and rear pads as they're almost on the metal..


Indoors ready to strip, clean, paint & fit new bushes.


4i's tank is weeping and the tank from the xr4x4 looked like it'd been replaced recently, so it made sense to use it. Here tis after wirewheeling, a coat of red oxide and a link of silver. Tankstrap received the treatment too..


I fitted the dashboard from the xr4x4 into the 4i today as well. I'll throw some pics up tomorrow.

Apologies for the horrific phone pics, my laptops busted

cossie4i+

iTrader: (15)

Keep going with it mate, not many left now.


Steve

bigryrs

iTrader: (10)

Looks solid! Lovely wee project

Robmatheson

Thanks Steve and Biryrs !

Got some electrical gremlins, hopefully nothing major though...

Like I said i fitted an early mk2 dashboard into my XR4I yesterday as when I bought it, someone had robbed the mk1 dash and thrown a late curvy mk2 dash in without switches or the surround!*

The problem I've had before I changed the dash was no dash backlight illumination (but the gauges worked and the full beam and battery lights show) or any other interior illumination bar the maplights in the roof and for some reason the illumination behind the fan switch.*

But now the illumination behind fan switch is also off.*

I also had a problem with main beams not working which I thought was a stalk, I tried the stalks from my mk2 xr4x4 donor car on but they didn't work and the wash/wipe was permanently on!! So I've changed back to the mk1 stalks and now the headlights and indicators won't work.*

What have I done ? Something relay or fuse related perhaps..*

One step forwards & two steps back*

Anybody been in my situation before?

Robmatheson

Yesterday's antics: was debating just patching up the battery tray but decided to do it properly and chop it out, glad I did as I could pretty much pull it to bits piece by piece. Cleaned up the bulkhead beneath it with a wirewheel and gave it a lick of anti rust paint.

Before:


Tray:


Bulkhead:


Just waiting to hear back about availability of a battery tray, turns out they're a pita to get a hold of.

Something else I did yesterday was to fit a bonnet stay slot in the bonnet. Being a glass fibre bonnet it didn't have any were in particular for the stay to go. The donor carbonated it's bonnet stay also as it turns out mk2s have longer ones! Another little touch that makes a difference Imo.

Exciting


Some pics of the dash seeing as I didn't upload any




Added a retro sticker too


Will update as I progress, hopefully I'll have my laptop fixed so I can upload some decent quality pics soon an awl.

2wdsaph ben

Nice looking 4i. Not many on this forum.

I have a silver 4i, how hard was it to fit the dash? The dash I have is the later mk2 with the double step on the a pillar cut outs so your left with a gap.

Robmatheson

Thanks Ben. Fitting the dash was a lot easier than I imagined. I removed the dash from the donor car in the morning and had it fitted in the afternoon, and that was me taking my time so as to not make lose any bolts!!

If I were you I'd try to get an earlier mk2 dash, just for looks sake

Zetec_mk4_XR3i

Nice Wee project mate, always liked the 4i.

Will the mudflaps from the mk2 fit the mk1 or would you sell the rears?

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Cool update matey. Can you not chop the battery tray out of the XR4x4 and put it on the XR.

The wheels need to be silver too lol.

2wdsaph ben

Thanks mate, I had visions that it was s tricky job and would take ages. any plans on coming down south to ford fair/ classic ford etc? Don't see many of us 4i's about. This is my one

Robmatheson

I actually did chop it out a few days ago as I couldn't source a new one it's away at my father's work to get a wee patch, other than that it's good!

Robmatheson

I think they're mk2 specific. I was going to throw them on ebay as a set of 4, but feel free to make me an offer!

Robmatheson

Tidy 4i pal, I mind reading a thread on it a while back. Love the Azev's!��

Doubt I'll make it to any shows this year. I'm a hoor of a distance away anyway up on an island of the north west coast of Scotland ��

2wdsaph ben

Cheers mate, took me ages to find a decent set of alloys for it.

A proper mission of a journey! I moan about fordfair and classic being 150 miles each way for me

Zetec_mk4_XR3i

Sent you a pm buddy

Robmatheson

Pulled the fuel tank off earlier this week and managed to break all 3 captives 😂so ordered a new set on ebay ! Did later Sierra's get tinted tail lights ? Notice my odd set 😠


I also stripped the front suspension down to for a tidy up. Wirewheels and flap discs were harmed in the making of this !



Much hammerite later:


The battery tray I cut out of the xr4x4 that I'll be using. It's since had a patch welded in as it was a bit thin at that corner.


Pinched the back seat levers from the 4x4 as somebody had cut the cables on the 4i's 😡

Put some rear speakers in anawl as they were missing.



Rolled outside to give the garage a spring clean, she's not been washed since June 😳



Got matching taillights now!


I'll check the flaps for you tomorrow bud.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

The suspension looks well matey.

PaulinhoT

Very nice project, well done, a huge fan of the 4i, and would love one myself

Robmatheson

Not been up to much since the last update. I've mostly been just gathering bits and pieces.

I've stripped the xr4x4 rear beam down, grinded the rust and treated it to some anti rust paint. I'll give it a coat of black hammerite yet. The calipers and the xr4x4 anti roll bar have been cleaned up and given some red paint too.


I bought a new glass lense for the cracked NS headlight and made one decent drivers headlight out of 2 as the casing and a mount was broken on th 4i's so I bought a headlight from a breaker for the casing only. I got it forpennies as it the chrome had rusted out and the glass was smashed.

Finally bought some very good foglights on ebay and a roll of 4m universal rubber seal to go round the grill & complete the front. Couldn't justify the 50 odd quid people are asking for the proper seals so Ł4 seems like a bargain and it looks legit too!

No more dodgy gaps round the front now




Cleaned, de-moulded and back indoors.


Another thing I did was add boot struts as the fibreglass boot had no holes for them. Drilled and tapped the Holes, fitted struts from the xr4x4 and jobs a good un.

(Note the now redundant broomstick in the foreground)


Mirrors given some Caspian Blue. Still to be wet'n'dried mind


Last week I got word of a rusted out xr4x4 with Escorts cossie wheels going for Ł?00 so I didn't hesitate and bought it unseen.

Picked it up the other day. It's buggered shell wise. Inner + outer sills, rear chassis legs, front crossmember, bumper supports to name a few. The cars got a BOA swap, runs sweet and goes like stink it's got an Escort Cosworth rear beam + brakes all round, full stainless, Recaros, RS steering wheel plus lots of other swag!

I'm going to break it and look into 24v'ing the 4i at a later date. So that's taken an unexpected turn!



Had to throw the Cosworth wheels on the 4i. To give me motivation. Or something ����


That's all for now

mk22door

Looks nice on the Escos wheels, I want some for my base model.

Your making this a nice Xr4i.

mk22door

Which type of 4m universal rubber sealdid you get?

Was it the D-shape?

I googled it but there are a lot of different choices.

Any close ups of the seal around the grille?

Cheers

Fordmad!

Very nice, one of the rarest fords left id say!


Id stay with the original engine myself as they are so rare.


Good project though, keep going!

cossie4i+

iTrader: (15)

I would like to know as well please.


Car coming on well


Steve

Zetec_mk4_XR3i

Car looks brilliant on the Cossie rims Rob, will be a proper tool with the BOA as well

Is that rear flaps on the red one as well?!

Robmatheson

Yeah, twas the D shape one, I'll get some close up pics round the grill for you later on.

Thanks , 221919311299 that's the ebay item number

I'll be staying with the current engine for a while yet as I've not really used it and it seems fun enough being a tuned 3.1

Thanks for the kind words


Cheers pal, they need a refurb but the whole xr4x4 cost less than what they're worth so I'm no complaining. Yeah it he 24v fairly makes it go. It'll be a hoot driving just the rear wheels!

Yeah just universal jobbies 👎

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I love escos wheels. Shame the red sierra is rotton.

mk22door

Thanks for the tip

Robmatheson

Wee update again. The car was needing a few bits welded; n/s rear sill, battery tray, drivers footwear and mk2 rear antiroll bar mounts retrofitting. I hummed and hawwed for a while about renting a welder or getting someone to weld it for me. In the end I bit the bullet and decided to buy my own. After doing some market research ie; joining the welding forums and checking out reviews I went for a Clarke mig welder. A 135te to be precise.

*

While waiting for it to be delivered i removed the rear end as well as the tank and fuel pump so I wirewheeled and wax oiled the rear floor area. I prepared the repair panels and areas to be welded. Chuffed with it, after a playing about with it on some scrap to find the settings I cracked on with the rear antiroll bar mounts that I cut and trimmed from my donor xr4x4

Tidied up a bit with the grinder and seam sealed. Not pretty but it's functional ! Apologies for cack photo quality



Sill repair:
Offside sill and a bit of the arch was pretty crusty
*

I cut out the rust from the rear of the outer sill and a rusted piece of the inner sill. Handily I was given some outer sill repair panels with the red xr4x4 so I cut a piece to size and made a piece for the inner sill.

Mocking up
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Finished, primed and sealed. Form over function
*

With that welded it meant I could mount the rear beam again. New bodymount bushes were fitted into the beam and swing arms have been cleaned up and painted with hammerite black. I stripped down and cleaned the callipers & RARB too before giving them a lick of red paint. A new set of pads, new arb links and a new handbrake cable went on too.

All back together
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Back out and running again.
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Main things left to do right now are welding the driver footwear, bleed brakes properly, fix blowing exhaust, amongst other petty things.

Will try to update.

2wdsaph ben

You have done a great job of the Sierra mate. Looks good and should make it drive so much better with the mods you are doing