mk22door

So, I kept seeing this old Saff for years & years & years down a street I passed through and thought I'll have to get hold of that one day...years more passed by and then out of the blue I arrived at work and it was sat there, turns out it only belonged to one of the lads Grandad.



I'd obviously seen the ghia badges and knew it was old enough to be a Pinto but I had a sneaky feeling it was an auto.

It was bought new by his Grandad from the local Ford dealer, when his Grandad passed away his Dad got it, then after some scum tried stealing it Mike owned it and was driving it around doing tip runs.

It was run down and in a bad way, no coolant in it, hardly any oil in it and the auto box was dry as a bone.

I think if I hadn't have stepped in it would have been scrapped in no time, I did a p/x with cash my way for a 24v Omega estate - perfect for Mikes tip runs! This was about six years or so ago.

After giving it a mini service and a clean up I ran it for about six months or so until the MOT ran out, I didn't think it was worth putting in for one as I could tell it needed a bit of a tickle with a welder and the auto box was starting to get annoying... as they tend to do

I sold it to my mate Graham who runs a garage, he knew someone who looking for a carpet & sunroof cassette and in the end it got broke, it had it's chances and I couldn't have three Sierra's!



Shame as it had the one family history, and my mates Grandad served on Normandy beach.

doga-ot

iTrader: (1)

I know were there's a few sierra sitting near me!

visa_broke

so you wanted this car for years and years, on the off chance managed to get it then decided because it needed work you'd get rid of it?

You can never have too many saph's, i'd have thought if you wanted that long you'd have kept it or at least stored it so you could do something in the future?

mk22door

Well, we all make mistakes don't we

I think the engine, hubs/steering knuckles and rear axle went for someone building a kit car, someone robbed the bonnet and left a long nosed bonnet behind, there was less and less of it everytime I saw it. I started to regret it getting broken, was looking sorry for itself.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

The poor car.

visa_broke

was it the one on the left in your signiture?

such a shame to see it in that last picture. Hope you got a good price for it the way parts prices are going up

mk22door

Yes, that is the one.

I'm pleased you & Glenn saying it's a shame to see the poor Sierra in a state, it wasn't just me then.

mk22door

I originally wanted to do a five stud hub conversion on my Mercury grey Saff, and after seeing the crazy e-bay prices of just the parts I would have needed I decided to look for a full car, preferably a DOHC manual mk3 Granada (Ideally looking for a rotter & within 100 miles or so) but I just couldn't find one that I would have been willing to break... after months & months of internet dredging finally one turned up right under my nose in Hull


Perfect for Ł250 an entire granada that was quite rotten, it had sat under bushes and tree's for four months or so with the rear O/S window open, needless to say it was very grotty inside!











































....trouble was it had a 24v engine!

doga-ot

iTrader: (1)

I swear you did tread ages ago on these lol

mk22door

I did mate but not on this site.

I figured if I get this caught up to the current point that I'm at then I might get a bit more advice and help than on the quieter sites. I do like the other sites but they are less frequented it seems.

Saying that unless you have a 'proper' Sierra I've noticed not many on here are really bothered - which is fine, there's just a small handful of regulars on here like Dojj, Ade 500, marc sierra(?) and yourself who might just come in handy, plus I don't have to pollute your thread with questions all the time. I might not bother anyway.

jim_robson

Make a really nice car with the 24v, always wanted a 24v sierra, it's one ive never had

mk22door

I can't believe you aint had one Jim, the amount of Sierra's you've had over the years. I'm sure you could knock one up in no time, just need to find yourself a 24v Granada.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

Jim I have a couple of 24v engine

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

Im thinking of 5 stud route too but will prob have to do what you did and buy a whole car which i dont have space for at the mo

mk22door

About time I should bring this up to date

So, at that point some of my mates were trying to convince me to put the 24v in my grey Saff - but I thought it was too clean for that.

What I needed was a blank canvass


A deal was struck and after a year or so I bought back the shell



I think it had the rear bumper and half a dash, not much else.

I went down there with all the necessary bits to get it rolling and take it away

mk22door

I'm not a massive fan of breaking decent cars but this Granadad was actually pretty rotten



So me and a mate of mine started to strip it down

mk22door

Once I'm finished with all my Sierra's I'll probably have some for you

mk22door

I'll try and catch up with where I am now, but there's a few photo's to get through and a boring 24v Saff rep to reach as a goal, although for me, when it's up and running I'll be buzzing my fucking tits off

Anyway, after stripping the Granada down me and a mate fitted up the rear end



We dropped the entire front end from the granada onto a trolley, ready to fit up into the Saff, if I remember right I was wanting to change the cam cover gaskets as they were weeping onto the exhaust heat sheilds - which wasn't pleasent - but, I was given the wrong ones just as Marcsierra had predicted so it just got bolted straight in.



You see, I needed to get rid of the Granny shell from my mates garage and he didn't want bits sat all over the place and the Sierra needed to be in a state where it could be driven out into the yard if it was in the way of a job. So yes, slush box and all went in whilst I got hold of a hybrid MT75 box.

The Granada struts and springs are a bit too tall for a Sierra but the steering knuckles have the same diameter struts as 4x4 Sierra's, so going on Dojj's wisdom I got some Escort Cosworth struts as the spring cup platform is higher than 4x4 Saff Cos/XR4x4 - this would give me more freedom in the future when it came to wheel/tyre clearence.

Escort Cosworth vs Sierra 4x4 Cosworth

mk22door

The granada gearbox crossmember does not fit the sierra so I had to use a good old bit of wood until I found one



With the engine and loom in the bay it left a bunch of other things to sort, fuel, wiring, brakes etc



eventually after hours of messing around it fired up.

It was after spending this much time up close and personal with the shell it was clear to see it might need a bit more welding than I had first thought.

mk22door

So stuff like this was bought



Pieces of steel were bent



Things were drilled



welding was done




Bit of grot on the O/S/R chassis rail



The other side





Looking down the B pillar, doing the O/S first





the outer sill cut off at the bottom looking through to the inner grot!

mk22door

Spent a bit of time taking all the little rust scabs off and any underseal or whatever to make sure it was reasonable for painting.



Fitted the 24v pump to the 8v pick up gear - The granada stuff as a whole doesn't fit in the Sierra tank as it's longer - anyway put it in a new DOHC 8v Sierra tank,which was then painted. Most just use Sierra 8v pump but I thought it wise to put the correct pump in.





Painted the back end as far as the anti rollbar, with the intention of doing the rest when the axle comes off again.



Did it in zinc 182 but not convinced it's much better than normal primer really?

mk22door

New tank went up with new genuine tank straps and bolts





More cutting and welding was done









Repair panels were cut to the necessary size and taken back to bare metal not left with that black coating what so many people seem to paint over.

mk22door

Has had a good bit of work here and there

mk22door

Managed to get a freshly built hybrid MT75 box off ebay at not a bad price if I remember



Then I decided that with a box sorted I'd pull all the Granada loom out along with the engine and slush box.



I'd had a 24v converted XR4x4 which was nice for a couple of years







But, ultimately was very rusty!

So thart got stripped for parts and the full car & engine loom went to the Saff.

mk22door

The wiring loom spent a few months in a mattress bag so needed making sense of...



It started to take shape, can be a daunting task but most things only go in one place if you take your time



There was one more bit of welding done in the footwell



And, like the dick that I am, I decided to paint the floor pan and bay, should have left the wiring ay?

mk22door

Back end had a few dints and bits that needed sorting, only a quick bang about with a bit of wood, wire wheel on a drill, and a couple of rattle cans of etch primer and Stratos silver.













Nothing exciting here, just another 24v Rep

mk22door

Managed to find a 2.8 v6 flywheel, another part off the list





Got a decent back box for her too

yawiejon

Loving this thread, it almost got away and now is getting a well deserved revamp ��

Adam-M

It's taking shape nicely can't wait to see it finished

mk22door

Yes, mate it is, I've known this car for about 15 years, and Mikes Grandad was on Normandy beach so somehow I feel like I should see it through.


Me neither mate, this saga has been ongoing for near seven year now

I'm hoping to make some real progress over the rest of this year

mk22door

Thought it best to get new flywheel bolts, and whilst I was at it a spigot bearing too.

These fly bolts are for the 2.8 V6 in case anyone needs part numbers...

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Top work matey. Nice bit of welding you have done.

mk22door

Not me mate, I wish I could weld.

It was started by a very good welder but he disappeared, so my mate finished it, he's not bad but not a pro car restorer if you get what I mean, I'm more than happy with it- it's solid now and you can't complain when you are getting mates rates.

mk22door

I'm almost up to date now , recently I thought it was time to clean up the engine and take a look in the sump.

Standard oily fucked look for an engine pulled form a Granny...



Sump gasket was welded on and was a bit more of a job than it should have been to clean up the mating surfaces...



In the end it was easier to refit the auto flywheel and stand it over end so I could get at it all properly



I was pleased and surprised to find no bits of the plastic timing guides or other anomlies in there. I removed the oil pump and cleaned it out with petrol along with the sump pan itslef.

mk22door

New sump gasket was helped with a little sealent, it's meant to be good stuff but I won't be surprised if the sump leaks somewher as the half moons supplied by Specialised Engines of Essex were shit, in fact some of the gaskets/seals they sent seemed too big

Anyway, sump back on



And then flywheel and clutch fitted...



I am using a mk3 Granada turbo diesel kit, see how that goes
I've read a thousand different accounts of what bastardised franken clutch mixtures to use... clutch plate from this, pressure plate from that, got fed up of thinking about it and reading poeple arguing the toss about what is best... who knows it might not even work at all?

Box bolted up to the engine...



That's enough catching up for now, the sun is shining out there and my daughter quite rightly wants to go to the park

mk22door

I rubbed down the cam covers and plenum and got my mate to give 'em a quick blast over






Thought I'd uploaded more prep pictures but they seem to have gone missing





Truth is I lost a coin toss

But, it's growing on me!

Should look good with the inlet on...



Might need a touch up along side the left hand badge but it's alright for a quick blast of paint, all in all the cam covers and the plenum are going to be much nicer than the standard 'just pulled from a Granny' look

rooos

that's lovely!
good job!

jc2000e

glad to see you're making progress

mk22door

Thanks, I don't get a lot of spare time so it's slooooow going!

Hoping to get another day this weekend...

mk22door

I got a 2wd Sapphire Cosworth front end...

Steering knuckles, which got new bearings.



ARB, TCA's and the crossmember with what look like some tacky ebay bushes, but I'll give 'em a whirl - no doubt there will be some changes in the future, if the bushes are that bad I'll put something better in.



Also got a refurbed steering rack to go on too.



Have ordered some TRW track rod ends, they're coming over direct from Germany... I had a pair of track rod ends which I had bought years ago but when I opened the boxes they were not a proper pair