A Big hello to everyone and heres my car which is a 1986 moonstone blue sierra cosworth






Specs of the car are its running with the sapphire 4X4 engine and running gear, stage 3 tuned at 330bhp (though ive personally not had it on rolling road yet), RS500 cut out in front bumper, Genuine RS500 front splitter and lower boot spoiler, delocked boot and doors, escort cossie alloys on gaz coilovers so it sits better and little bits of shiney stuff under the bonnet

Bought to enjoy and take to shows the plan soon changed when after a couple of months of ownership I noticed a crack running along the inner wings of the car and around the suspension turrets which turned into this




After finding all the grot under the bonnet decision was made to go to town and bring the car back up to standard by replacing the inner and outer front wings for genuine bits and so the engine bay was stripped ready for the removal of the engine and gearbox




After few days the car was ready have engine dropped so my mate arrived in his pulling machine (not the sort that attarcts the ladies) and the car was taken to a unit with ramp to have the engine dropped straight out the bottom



As is the way come the next day couldnt get into unit as keys had been lost. Unaware of this I turned up the following day to have shock of my life when I saw the car looking like



Not a recommended idea using a fork lift for this but as needs must the brake and fuel lines were disconnected, engine mounts undone and fingers crossed as the car was lifted in the air and car and engine parted company





Once high enough the engine was wheeled out from underneath and the car loaded up and taken to mates where work commenced on those wings, next update will be just that

 

Good luck with the car mate . id be gutted if i found that grot

 

So engine removed and car back at mates work began on those inner wings. Due to the state they where in I wanted to replace the whole lot, however I had no idea at this point how hard the inners were to get hold of in the end after thinking we'd have to work with what was there got a call from geoff at chorley street garage who had a sierra in he only wanted roof off for his, great this was snapped up and the whole lot brought back





Can see a lot better than what was there, having been able to source 2 new outer wings work set about to remove the inners. The outer wings were ground off to access the inner wings then a lot of spot drilling of the welds were required to get the inners off with minimal damage




Eventually after a lot of drilling/prying/swearing both wings where safely off and ready for use

 

Cheers Harris, luckily its bit down the line now, been meaning to join up for a while so just going through the pictures now get up to speed. At the time was kick in teeth for sure but weve had worse down the line as you'll see

 

So wings ready to go could concentrate on getting front end of the car sorted. Car was brought back to mates and put on railway sleepers to keep the car level while work was going on



The dashboard was removed along with 20 odd years of wiring and add on's



With all wiring out of the way could have a proper look under the bonnet and be sure nothing was going to be accidentley cut in the process, had a bit more banging and poking around the front end of the car to see how bad things where and.....




On the face of it the nearside doesnt look to bad, amazing what a bit of bog can do though




So both sides gone as bad as they where just as well I pulled the car off the road when I did, and refused temptation of a lap around silverstone at ford fair 2 weeks previous due to engine problems

Next step was getting the lot out of there, Car had been bogged and failed to stop the rot so if a jobs worth doing its worth doing properly. And where any cossie's concerned this has to be the case so outer wings where removed and cleaned up to find the spot welds




Can see how bad now the inner wings where. a bit of this was now carefully cut out to give better access to the spot welds, now you see it



and now you dont



this gone any spot welds where cleaned up with a wire brush along the chassis leg and body of the car



Until again we where able to pry the remaining piece off and expose the chassis leg




this process was repeated for the near side until the front end of the car was looking just a bit bare



Next updates the refitting of the wings its fag break now though all this typing isnt good

 

Blimey i dont envy you drilling them welds,many would have given up long ago ,well done for keeping going

 

Firsty, welcome Jay, and youve opted for the best colour too,

Your cracking on with that nicely by the looks of it!!

Keep them pics coming.

 

Its not a job id recommend anyone doing but keys to take time finding them and drilling deep enough, once you've done few its not to bad just a bit time consuming but needs must cheers for the comment

Thanks for the welcome ste, I thought id better join up here now after buying a proper car after some ive had and we wont go into, lol

I was looking for a black one at first but glad I opted for a moonstone, like you say I dont think theres a better colour especially in fading light as the blue starts popping more. The cars coming along nice, been bit of a mission from how it started out but the lights at the end of the tunnel, more pics and updates on the way

 

Fook that poor cossie was a mess, i'd of thrown the towel in with that, fair-play to you Jay.....

 

Thats some serious resto m8, well done for sticking with it, by far the best colour.

Steve

 

Great work so far fella...Welcome to the family

 

Will follow this, Makes me worry that the fronts that bad though, whats it like underneath?

Do you think youre going to be chasing rust for a while, You certainly seem to have the commitment to get it done.

I would have given up after about half one of them wings.

Forget how old these cars are getting now

 

So following day got on with trial fitting the wings to make sure everything lined up right, cue excitment as we offered the new wings into place




Looking good and already miles better than what was there, before welding the wings back on though the jacking points of the car where now exposed after the removal of the wings, over the 20 odd years of cars life these have been flattened and crushed so while accessable these were knocked back down



The wings where then cleaned then lined up and my mate (being a better welder than me) set about welding them back onto the car




The spot weld which had been drilled out where filled back in and a long time later the inner wings where back on the car




The bonnet had been left on throughout this process and so the outer wings where placed and clamped on and the bonnet shut to check everything was still lining up as it should, and im delighted to say everything did, better than expected really for 2 people with no experience in this




At the front where the headlights sit again for the life of me couldnt find the 2 required pieces, thought id hit gold on an internet site only to be told the parts where now obsolete. Luckily being an engineer I have some experience in sheet metal work so went about making a paper template from the old part, transferred that to cardboard then traced the shape onto a piece of sheet metal



This was then bent and shaped to match and welded onto the car




as last job with the inner wings all the little holes where filled with weld and the bigger ones had pieces made and welded in to give a clean base for after spraying and get rid of some of the holes which were not being used, a dust of copper spray was applied to protect the wings from going to rusty while the car was outside under a sheet



With that cue the cheesy grin and thinking the worse of its over now at least, how those words came back to haunt me the following week

 

Thanks for that pete, nice to know works appreciated but I should be in the right place unlike some forums on the net. Id of loved to of bought one that didnt need the work but need keep them on the road in the face of jap spec cars that seem to rule roost now

Thanks for that ste, I had to stick with it, I love the cars, think it started with my dads 2.8 ghia estate as a kid so always had soft spot for the sierras to many now are being broken for bits so I like the idea of being able to keep another from going down that route, again thanks for the comments

Again sir thanks for the welcome and comments, been to a few ford fairs and think its certainly the best family car wise to be a part of

Cheers ebony, nice to have someone following. The cars been on the go since september last year now so we have been chasing it for quite a while, Ive meant to sign up here for a long time but always had something to do and forgot. Currently im off work after getting out of hospital so seemed a good time join in with the fun here as I said to ste its a case of loving the cars and wanting to see it back on the road, 80's fords in general have the worst metal ive ever come across so its been one long trial but the lights there now, stay tuned for the underside coming up next and yeah it was as bad but as you said you forget the cars are now 24yrs old so you have to expect it I suppose

 

nice to see one not just rung over or reshelled, rare now, lots of people give up.

 

So next day with weather taking a turn for the worse we decided while the car was looking like it did would make no sense to not give the rest of it a proper check over and make sure the rust hadnt spread, on the face of it the rest of the car didnt look to bad but on the safe side the rear subframe and petrol tank where removed for a closer inspection



And heres me looking slightly worried under the car where the subframe mounts



At this point decided best way to go about things was to invest in a jig to rotate the car and get better access and viewing of the underneath, a quick call to rick at Mk2Mania and the following week was in possession of a jig which the car was put on ready for the next stage




A bargin at Ł200 if only for the ease of not having to crawl on back, his website details are here if anyones looking at buying a jig for their project



with car now on its side could see to what extent the rust had spread and it didnt make for a good picture



Could see straight away where the subframe mounts was rotten and it had already been patched up further along. cue of s**t. with that hot air gun was plugged in and began heating up the underbosy sealant to make it easier to scrape off, unfortanatly it was actually the underbody sealant holding the chassis leg together so the more I scraped the worse the situation got






So not good when the whole subframe locates on a pin thats floating in midair but in finding this at least decision to buy the jig had been justified. It was at this point I was ready for throwing the towel in until a chance look on ebay brought me across one of the members here selling a complete genuine ford chassis leg, not quite believing my luck for a change this was quickly snapped up and was on way to me. few days wait and next part was started removing the old chassis leg

 

It did come close to looking for a replacement shell at times during this but felt that would take away from the car so stuck with it, I certainly wouldnt give up on the car because as you said to many people are now giving up on them, makes it worth while when you get on a forum like this with people who appreciate the work to keep them on the road

 

great thread jay,i cant wait to see her finished mate as the effort your putting in is second to none .

keep the pics coming

welcome to the site mate

 

Just read the whole thread and pics, what a nightmare!!!!!!
Full credit to you tho mate, and I really hope all goes well with the repair, at least you will have a solid car when done.
Good luck and will keep watching the rebuild

 

hello and welcome to the forum

Well done on carrying on with the project and it will be stunning when finished

 

While waiting for the chassis leg to arrive scraping continued with the rest of the car, the other rear chassis leg was scraped back and though not brilliant was in a lot better condition than the other side



eventually the whole car was scraped of sealant and could look at what was lurking underneath





so more bits of rust



more bits flattened by quick fit fitters



and more bits we'll cover as we go along by the time this point had been reached chassis leg was here and work began on removing the old one. As the full section was being replaced and the car was currently located on the jig via the chassis leg the car was blocked up on wood to hold its weight while the leg was removed




Once any rock in the car had gone set about like the front wings wire brushing along the chassis leg to find the spot welds which where then marked up clearly




where possiable the centres where punched to help the spot weld drill locate and each spot weld was then drilled out





where access proved difficult sections of the leg where removed to make things a bit easier




eventually after a fair bit of messing around and banging the leg was removed from the car



and again because nobody can resist th new piece was put roughly into place to make sure it would fit directly on



It did and so the next part was welding the new leg onto the car

 

Keep up the good work mate ,will be worth it in the end

 

Cheers for that james help keeps mojo up on something like this as I said knowing people who like fords as much appreciate the work, makes it more worthwhile, and cheers for the welcome

Again cheers for taking an interest jason, was certainly a nightmare to begin with which got progressively worse the more that was uncovered but as you say at least the works been done right and should remain solid for years to come, cheers again

Hello to you and thanks for welcome and encouragement Im hoping it will be after the work thats gone into it now anyway, I suppose the big test will be when its been sprayed back to moonstone and seeing it all in one colour again lol

 

wellcome mate, were did you get the new leg, did you get both sides?
cheers shaun

 

Hiya shaun and thanks for the welcome, I got the leg off ebay but im pretty sure the lads a member on here (charlieluciano), I only got the 1 side and repaired the other as it wasnt as bad, but a week after buying it he had another for sale on ebay, If anything id track him down he seems to be the man Ive seen 2 up for sale since on ebay from him, hope that helps you out pal and you can track one down

 

And i thought mine was stripped, lol

A serious amount of work going into this...Good luck with it mate and keep the updates coming

 

cheers jay, im after driver's side, which i don't think are available anymore!
great thread mate, keep up the good work, best colour 3dr aswell!
cheers shaun

 

welcome mate doing a great job there keep up the good work

dooge

 

And so moving onto the fitting of the new leg and first things first the side which meets the sill behind the chassis leg was looking a little worse for wear as you can see here



This piece was cut out and removed to eliminate any chance of the rust returning and a new piece cut and welded in to replace it




With this in out came the angle grinder and the area where the chassis leg locates was cleaned up and deburred



The chassis leg was then drilled for welding in the same way the inner wings where attached, then measurments taken off the subframe to get the distance across and the existing leg on the other side for position




The leg was then held in place using the seat belt bolt and other nuts and bolts to pull the leg tight to the cars body




then one by one all the holes where filled with weld and the leg was seam welded in other places for added strength as this is something I dont want to take a risk with





and with that another big tick and another big headache was crossed off the list, next up the cars sills oh yes it goes on, lol

 

Now thats what i call a project good work

 

Anythings difficult now to get hold of on them, I did want to replace it completley but unfortanatly as you quite rightly pointed out trying to find chassis leg for drivers side just seems impossiable luckily it wasnt as bad as the other so repairing it was viable, i just personally prefer old for new where i can, ill the best with getting yours sorted as well

Lol it seems the way with 3drs, though its putting them back together with how much their worth in bits. The work shall be worth it to see it on the roads again, cheers for comments gav

Cheers for the welcome and comments dooge, looks like a nice moonstone 3dr you have as well there, actually in one piece unlike mine, lol
I thankyou again sir for the kind comments, it wasnt meant to be a project initially, and as I found the rust I certainly used words worse than project to sum her up, but when it became one the theory is do it right and make it last rather than do it again in a few years time

 

so chassis leg ticked off the list moved onto the sill on the same side, with being able to get hold of sills quite easily and being another spot prone to rust had decided ages ago I was going to replace them, plus somebody had already done a bit of welding to them which was visable without the bodykit which was bad enough anyway as you can see from this picture



The new sill was placed on and marked out




This was then cut out all the way along so the full piece could be used



after getting the sill off became obvious the car had some work to the floor in the past, the sill was floating in mid air and the lip of which we needed to weld the replacement sill to was none existent



a piece of angle inch x inch angle was bought from auto crash parts and welded into place



after this strips from another length where cut and welded on to reattach the inner sill to the car body



Before refitting the outer sill the inner sills were wire brushed down and given a coat of POR-15 rust preventative paint to help protect them in the future




Once dry the sill was put into position and carfully welded into place to avoid distorting the rear quarter panel




the sill now on finishing jobs where to grind the weld flat and cut the plate at the back to match the size of the sill



and looking underneath was slowly starting to make headway at last on the car




Next up was taking the wooden supports out and flipping the car around the other way to repeat the work on opposite side

 

Well done for sticking at it mate great work

 

There have been times its gotta be said, lol, cheers for that whitey

 

So car now back under strain of jig was brought around level so the inside of the sill where the door is could be shaped correct with the weld





the whole process was repeated on the drivers side, out with the old



In with the new




little bits of rot where then removed from various points on the car and replaced, so a bit on the drivers rear wheel arch



a piece was cut out at the back on the drivers side and replaced




new pieces where made for the rear wheel arces near the sills



bit of work on the wheel arch



more work at the back of the car where there was rust



and a slightly bigger plate a bit further along to sort it out where someone had botched the car up in their wisdom



With most of the welding now complete moved onto wire brushing the floor back to bare metal making sure there was nothing that had been missed, update to follow of the next process

 

Most loborious job of the lot this one and was done over the course of a few weeks, after first few nites raised question of why i was doing it but paint i was going to use needed to bond to bare metal, so over first few nights got the front section done with






Turned the car back over and at this point had to make decision on other chassis leg. Had held off for as long as could do hoping one would turn up but as a few people have found if and when they do there not about for long. As this side wasnt as bad we went about repairing the section, so here it is from an earlier post as reminder (the cars also the other way around on jig at this point)



Not as bad as the other side but still a concern, therefore as much was removed as possiable. the chassis leg here is double skinned and so 2 pieces of sheet metal (thicker than original) were cut and shapped, the first piece was welded in place and ground back



then the second piece was welded over the top and edges rounded off to match what was there in the first place




That done I could carry on brushing the back end of the car so by the time thats was done the difference was 100x times better than what was there



as one last bit of welding for the underside the crumpled jacking points further under the car (again think those garages that flatten your floor, of which if you look at the floor now on this weve knocked it out again ) were now letting it down badly, had tried jack hammer and not got anywhere but ripping the metal rather than pulling it, rather than leaving them crumpled welded a new piece over the top, so again from an earlier picture heres how they looked and how they ended up





again a marked improvement, I dont think its going to be a concourse car because as I said i like driving it to much but I would like to know having the chance to do something about it that it was done

So heres a picture of the car bare metaled underneath



thats a lot better than when I began posting this afternoon, In that picture its just drying off after being degreased and that leads me onto the final post before were at where the car is at the moment thankgod I really should of joined sooner, lol

 

Fair play to you. . . Your work looks spot on Keep up the good work

 

lol fair play jay , lot of had work gon into this so far ,

and i though i had it bad baremettaling my floor beofre it was welded into the car lol ,

credit to all your had graft matey

will keep an eye on this one ,


beef

 

ohh and i reckon you should spray it black lol

 

Im hoping this is my last progress update of the night now, with the car bare metaled I began process of applying POR-15 to the underside. For those who dont know of it its a rust preventative paint so I thought if any car needs it its got to be this one

step one, use POR-15 marine clean and degrease the car, dont use normal degreaser on any rust paint, few of mates have found out to cost most degreasers cause the paint to react, wash off after half an hour and leave car to dry



Step two, use metal ready which leaves a zinc coat over the metal, dissolves any bits of surface rust and gives the paint something to bite into, can see it as blue liquid pooling in corner of this pic



step three, get the paint brushed on and hope it does exactly what it says on the tin




sills, rear windows, rear arches and petrol cap recess got the same treatment





that done the remainder of the front was wire brushed and painted in the same way










this was done on the inside of the car as well along the floor




a before and after here



the inside quarter panels were sprayed in eastwoods rust encapsulator then covered in grey schultz for sound proofing






And im pleased say that thats where the car currentley is at the moment, If you've read full thread then cheers for sticking with it be less from now on as can update as go along though its not far off going to be sprayed. Again thanks all for looking and comments tonight, appreciate them all