Decided after 99% finishing the silver one that I was going to buy another cossie aswell, did see some ok priced 4x4's but i didn't see the point in having another alleged "gay wheel drive" so i decided on a rwd saph instead.
I couldn't really wait long as I'm abit impatient, and i missed the silver one while it was away for 2 and abit weeks getting painted, so I ended up buying a white 2WD from Dundee.
First impressions of the car were good (from half way up the street ) However, on closer inspection it has ALOT wrong with it but it's 21 years old so some of it can be forgiven.
I will put some pics up, but i can't do it while I'm at work as photobucket is blocked so I apologise if there's nothing to see yet!
Basically the wiring is probably some of the worst I have seen in a car, EVER, it needs 4 replacement doors and front/rear bumpers as well as some welding in the footwells, but again i have seen FAR worse cars that have been saved. The shell is actually pretty clean apart from that and i was actually surprised TBH as I did consider just ripping apart and scrapping if it was beyond bothering about.
I should manage to do most of the work on the car myself having done the silver one apart from the physical machining of the engine and paintwork with help from a few GOOD mates, one of them is an elecronics tech. and is 110% spot on with that so the wiring will be better than standard when it's done, as for the welding i can get that done aswell so all in all it should basically just sting me for paint/doors/bumpers/front seats.
Engine isn't running too sweet but I've already sorted a few things out there so it's a lot better already however if money is avalaible i'lll just swap it out for another lump.
I have a few pics of the car nd i'll include the nice ones of some of the ridiculous things i've found so far, should be an interesting read when i get the pics up.
Oh and a BIG thanks to my mate Ian for helping me out picking the car up, and TABETHA for giving me LOADS of helpful advice about the wiring, i'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.

 

good on you mate.

 

Nice one mate

 

Here's a couple of quick pics I aim to get a few more, particularly of the rough workmanship.
Tucked away in the garage (where my newly painted 4x4 should be )


A couple of pice of me tried to suss out the wiring issues, take some of the dash out but i think i'll have to strip most of the interior out too to make sure it's sorted properly, I'm sure there's a few nasty surprises i still haven't found yet.

 

Ouch....I hate wiring.

I stripped the old alarm system out of my Cossy. It took me ages and most of it was fitted with scotch locks

It's all sorted now though,

Best of luck

 

Your mad

Good luck mate.

 

doesnt look to bad!!

 

Lol you should see the rest of it then.......

Sticky,just had the urge to get another coz, i think if i manage to fix and sell this one on i'll aim for a 3 door further down the line. 4x4 isn't worth selling on as it's owe me too much and I'd never break it.

 

Good on you mate.
Looks like alot of work,but will be worth it in the long run.

Keep the updates coming.

 

good project rog

 

RIGHT LADIES!!!!!!!!
Check out this little lot of wiring madness!
Firstly I did wonder why it broke down at the end of my street, so i popped the bonnet and found this "modified" coil lead, i drove the fucker all the weay from dundee to aberdeen and it never misfired at all, took it out and drove it 50yds the next day and it cut out LOL.
This was "plugged" into the coil, but i have loads of spare sets so it's been replaced with the proper one.


And then there's the rear lights






But THE best of them all has to be this (there's a hint with the yelow wire in the pic above)



Yeah you guessed it, no point in wasting all that money on a proper uprated fuel pump loom, just wire a +ve to your lights and onto the fuel pump and you're in business!

 

thats fukn unreal,the fuel pump one

but they joints on rear clusters are typical,xmas tree back lights on sierras over the years ,ive seen loads

 

Ok been at it again for a bit today, here's some more issues I've found!

 

Two cossies,you're mad m8.

 

The wiring!

 

Surprised it didnt catch light

 

Bloody hell mate.There are some right bodgey bastards about.I hope you get it all sorted.

 

oh dear,the wiring is just plain crazy..
good luck with it mate

 

Thanks for the replies, got a few things I need to get for the car to put it right, hopefully have most of the bad bits fixed by the end of the month all going well. I've managed to sorce about everything i need for the car, just a question of price and time really.

 

A lot of work ahead mate,good luck with it all

 

Yeah thanks, I'd like to get it all sorted sooner rather than later so once i get the wiring fixed i won't be hanging around, not bothering with much else till thats right. No point in having a nicer looking car if it still doesn't run properly.

 

cant beat a nice bit of twist and tape

 

Lol that's what the rear speakers are like, the wires are twisted onto the terminals, no tape, no solder, just 30 seconds work.

 

Update:

Had a couple of mates round last night to help me with a few bits and pieces, one is an electronics tech. so he tackled some wiring, but did say it'll take him a few sessions to sort it all out. He looked at the car and said "where do you want me to start"
I decided the thing that was pissing me off the most was that the fuel pump was wired off the lights, so that's what he got cracking with.
Fuel pump is now wired into the car loom again and looks factory, but with the cutout switch removed as i was unsure if this was working or not (might put it back in later). Anyway tested the whole thing before he wired it up, got rid of the old wiring, and fixed it, connected it back up and now it doesn't get anything...

I'm not bothered though as it's all progress as far as I'm concerned. We spent the remaining time cheking over the other wiring and think we've found out the cause so i'll hopefully get that sorted this week.

NOW, the better bit, my other mate who's a mechanic was round helping me strip the car of all the crap panels. the shell is in pretty good condition, alot better than most I've seen, but for some reason the panels are all fucked. So we set about stripping off all the doors, bootlid, bumpers and bonnet so i'm just left with the good bits. Getting replacement panels already in white delivered on sunday so i can start putting it all back together again and it'll look a million times better.
I was going to take some pics last night but clean forgot until i rolled it back into the garage, promise i'll get some next time though!

 

O. MY. FUCKING. GOD!! That wiring is pretty messed up.... wiring a fuelpump from the rear lights........ *shakes head in disbelieve*
Wouldn't it be a lot easier swapping the entire loom rather than fixing that P.O.S?

Good luck with it m8!

 

Another update of todays progress, found out where the wiring to the fuel pump is buggered, so that'll easily sort, it's getting voltage upto the multiplug behind the bootlock, but not at the pump so it's jut somewhere in that small section of wire that there a problem, easily fixed once i get the time.
As for the bodywork, got the doors/bootlid/bonnet and rear bumper off and stripped of any useful bits like seals and side strips etc....
Here'sa few pics of the parts i've removed, the shell is in good nick but for some reason the panels arent...

The car as it stands now








Here's the panels i've taken of, the bonnet is the STD 2WD one and it had a couple of small dents, being replaced with a 4x4 one. Lots of seals i took off from the doors, always come in handy.



Rear bumper is scrap, all mounts broken and the bumper is badly cracked



Bootlid looks ok in this ic but there is a whole around the centre spoiler mount



Reason i had to replace all the doors, totally rusted and holed along the top, 3 were all like this, passengere side front was just starting to rust so binning that aswell





Rear arches are both like this, totally mint, maybe need a lick of paint but it's a reflection on the rest of the shell, the chasis rails still have paint on them too, so it's defo wrth saving.

 

Nice work mate.I love my old fords but they rust like fook.

 

New Update:

Took delivery of my new panels yesterday evening (Bootlid/4x4 Bonnet/Rear bumper/4 doors) all in white. The panels are all mint, and look like they match pretty well as they're off the same car I think.
I haven't put the doors on yet but the bumper is on (just needs bolted on in the boot) and I also put on the bonnet and bootlid last night and it looks MILES better already. Took us a few attempts to get the bootlid sitting right but it looks good now, the bonnet seems to sit high at the front but i'll have a mess around eith that tonight and see if i can get it sitting better.
Hopefully by the end of the week i'll have all the panels back on and i can give the car a clean up to see how she looks.

As for the wiring, I have now fixed the fuel pump side of things, it is now powered off the car loom as Ford intended and NOT off the rear lights, there's still a problem somewhere as it won't start, BUT the pump is definately working, so i'm happy that's been sorted out. Also we sorted out the fuel pipes yesterday, mate noticed that the plastic line off the pump was kinked and severely retricting the flow so I swapped it out for a good one i had off the silver car when i aqeroquipped that.

All in all a productive weekend but you awlays want to get more done, i was at it almost all day and at 9pm i just wanted to keepp going but I had to call it a day at that. Will try and get some more progress pics up in a couple of days.

 

Took some more pics last night but i forgot to bring my camera with me today to upload them!
I have now fitted all the new panels to the car and it looks alot better, not a sign of rust anywhere!
I spent about 2 bloody hours cleaning up the adhesive crap on the drivers side that holds on the black door strips as these were taken off the doors before i got them unfortunately, and then i went and clay barred the doors to get all the black marks and tar off. I kept the old door strips off the rusty doors so i can put them back on.
So what i intend to do this week is doe the same with the passenger side and fit the wing mirrors and replace all the window seals. Once i do that i'm going to polish it to death to try and get rid of all the faded paint as it's got that matt finish to it in some places.
At the moment I am considering getting it sprayed since i have the door strips off, BUT this is supposed to be done on a budget so i'm trying to resist but i'm a fussy bugger when it comes to bodywork and there is a bad scratch on one of the front wings
It defo needs a front bumper, but unfortunately the one i have spare is flint grey, so i'd have to pay to get that painted, thats another reason that i'm thinking i might get most of the car painted.

 

that looks well exiting..cant wait to get my cossie project up an running..i would respray it,as your selling it on,it will be nice to sell it like new,rather than as it is,im picky aswell,so know the feeling..iv seen alot worse wiring,and fink 2 myself,y create shortcuts and risk blowing your car up?..too save money,y not strip the paint off yourself,thats wat im gona do with mine,im no good at putting fings back together,but i am a dab hand at stripping.....

 

Looking much better now, here's a pic of it from today, I've fitted all the new panels so it's now non-rusty!

 

fair play to you rog ,thats a hell of a project you have taken on there mate

cheers james

 

Thanks, I'm trying to get as much done as i can in a short space of time, i've got a list of what needs doing to the car so i'm trying to address atleast one or two things a week. Cosmetically it's fine now apart from a scratch on the front wing and it could ideally do with a new front bumper aswell.
The wiring issues are pretty much sorted, and the car runs fine now, i just have to sort out the dash as there's a bad connection somewhere, i reckon I know which wire it is, but i can't find the bad bit, yet.
Plans for the next while are;

Replace the black door strips
Wire up the doors (doors are off a 4x4 so different wiring)
Replace dash and interior trim
Change drivers seat (replacement sourced)
Replace steering rack (replacement sourced)
Replace x3 electric window motors
Might have to change locks
Fit new speedo cable
Fit new clutch cable (got told clutch was buggered but it drives fine and pedal is just really high, not looked at adjuster yet)
A few random other bits no doubt....

 

nice 1 rog

 

looking good, keep it up

 

Some very interesting wiring in that car...

Keep up the good work!!

 

Great little project there!

Shocked at the fuel pump wiring... Unbelievable!!!

I remember the 'paint or not' dilemma; replacement panels matched ok but they're never perfect so thought sod it do it while it's all bare... But I'll be keeping mine for ages so easy decision really!

Keep it up!

 

Thanks for the encouragement!
Hopefully plan to get a few more bits done over the weekend weather permitting!
The fuel pump wiring is sorted now and back as Ford intended it to be.
I just have to remove some connectors for the stereo wiring and the rear lights and it'll be perfect and tidy again.
Gonna have to sort out the door wiring though, not entirely sure about that yet, need to do a bit of research on here to see what goes where.

 

List is getting smaller......
I'm awaiting delivery of a good drivers seat and steering rack which i should get next week. Fitted another electric window mechanism and motor to the drivers door at the weekend, i was really hungover so i took my time but it works.
So that just leaves
Replace the black door strips
Wire up the doors (doors are off a 4x4 so different wiring)
Replace dash and interior trim
Replace x2 rear electric window motors
Might have to change locks
Fit new speedo cable
Fit new clutch cable (got told clutch was buggered but it drives fine and pedal is just really high, not looked at adjuster yet)
A few random other bits no doubt....

Easy jobs to do!

 

To think rog i was trying to buy this to CUT UP lol,you still needing seats etc,pm me

cheeRS stu