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Hello all, welcome to a very long post. First of all I'd like to apologise in advance for any mistakes I make with regards to my spelling and grammar; I am not a native English speaker. And I like to thank you as well for the advice, solutions and ideas I've found on this forum.
After considering if I should post for a while I finally decided to do it, so here it goes:
The 5th of December 2017 I sold my E30 and bought my 2.0 DOHC "93 Sierra which was first registered at the 22nd of April 1993 (which leads me to believe that this might have been one of the last sold Sierra's in the Netherlands). Also according to the RDW (Dutch Car Registration) there are only 610 Sierra's left in the Netherlands which is quite sad, but I'm not sure as to how accurate this is.
Anyway I bought the car to use at as a starter race car. The car being cheap, parts being readily available and all information that could be found on the internet led me to believe that this would be the perfect car for me to start racing in (If only I knew then what I know now..) Also at my young age of 19 this seemed to be an acceptable car when it comes to monthly payments like insurance and taxes.
My trusty rust bucket E30 and the new sierra How it looked just before I got it Trusty DOHC
After 5 days of owning it, it snowed like crazy which meant only one thing: play time. And oh boi did I have some fun. Ofcourse 2 days later my starter motor failed and I had to replace it. Snow + RWD = a lot of fun
Ofcourse I wanted to go racing as soon as possible so by the time it was the 24th of December I cleared out the interior because at the 31st she was to be brought away and get a fully welded FIA licensed roll cage installed, since I knew a guy who is really good at flocking dashboards I also brought that away while on my way to the welder. Ofcourse I didn't have a trailer nor a vehicle that could pull the car, nor a license which would allow me to drive a trailer.. So I did what any sane teenager does.. I removed everything but the steering wheel and the drivers seat and drove 80 km to the welder.. The 6th of January I went and retrieved the car and dashboard and ofcourse drove it back. The car immediatly felt way better as it was know way stiffer due to the cage. In the main time I had gone to get a FIA licensed drivers seat and 6 point harness. How I drove to the welder... Emptied out Sierra interior How I came back with the cage in And with my seat in
I decided that I needed new controls and switches for some of the interior bits (ofcourse I had to wire in a FIA Death Switch to comply to competition rules), a new steering wheel, a passenger seat and harness and I got some carbon sheets to fill some holes, so after a bit it started looking like this: Full interior
Ofcourse to get I had to weld some brackets, fix some rust (ofcourse it's a Ford what did I expect..), and a whole bunch of other stuff. And then I decided to drive it for a bit. Being teenager with a saturday job and still being in school money was and still is the most difficult part about this project (as is for most people I guess) so in between me saving up and buying new parts I would just drive it around as is. At the first I thought I would do some small upgrades when I got the money: rims and tires, coilovers etc, so I could go racing with the bare minimals.
So after driving around for a few months I found a nice set of OZ Superturismo in 16" that needed some love and decided I need to get my hands on them; so I bought them, brought home, test fitted them and guess what: they are still sitting next to the car waiting for me to finally fit some tires onto them. A few weeks later dissaster had struck, after a terrible crunching noise my left front wheel suddenly looked out of place. Apparantly the TCA bush got ripped out by the anti roll bar which later turned out to be a bigger stronger one. I'm always of the opinion that if something breaks you replace it with something better/uprated, especially if it's a race car. So while my wallet and girlfriend were crying I ordered some Powerflex Black bushings for the whole suspension. After taking everything out, cleaning and painting it and replacing all bushings I found out what a giant pain in the ass it is to get TCA's back in place.. Thats one hell of a strong anti roll bar. The new wheels Test fitting Bye TCA Bush
After that it was MOT time.. Which wasn't fun to say the least. I had to weld some big pieces because it was rusted out. My transmission bushing broke which once again had the car making a horrible noise. And the rear cone which the rear spring falls in was rotted. Because I didnt want to spend time fixing the rear cones I once again went for an upgrade; I bought some nice GAZ Gold coilovers, which meant not only the handling improved but in my opinion the car now also looks nicer due to its lower ride height. Hello there beautys Old trans bush Nice and low
After it finally passed MOT (believe me, it took a while), I did a few more modifications: I got some more carbon and made some doorcards (the holes in the door were a death trap for elbows), refurbished the OZ wheels and swapped the rear axle for one with an LSD and disc brakes. This would be the last of the modifications for a while.. Refurbished OZ New rearaxle Oh do I love carbon
After those modifications I drove around for quite a while and noticed some issues with the car not blowing hot air (which btw is really nice in the winter without any interior), sometimes overheating and pressure build up in the coolant reservoir. So I thought I should fix and went for a new waterpump, thermostat, belt and headgasket. It is the 27th of september when I take the engine apart for the headgasket and put it back together. I then break the tiny little nozzle of the fuel pressure regulator which turned out to be stupid expensive so with some new found space available and a slightly bigger budget I bit the bullet. The Sierra would be thrown into the shed, I would buy a new daily and I would take the whole and built it from the ground up, properly this time. First thing on the agenda: the engine needs to come out, there's very little to no aftermarket support for the 8V DOHC so I had the wish to replace it with a Pinto engine due to budget restraints. In the mean time I also bought a nice big Volvo V70 Classic which would come in handy for hauling all sorts of parts. After the DOHC was taken out of the Sierra I sold it and with the money I bought a Sierra with a Pinto EFI which I removed from the car within a day. Struggles with the waterpump and thermostat Headgasket fun And it's out Bye 8V DOHC the "Sierra-hauler-2000" The rustbucket Sierra holding the pinto Pinto out and stripped
Being the crazy person I am, I wanted to rebuild and upgrade everything even though I have a budget tighter than a ducks backside (how fun is it to find out English sayings by typing in "Tighter than a" in google and see some ridiculous results come up). So I tore the Pinto down, cleaned her good, repainted her, gave her all new service items and as cherry on top I fully rebuilt the head with some very nice goodies and I did like all sane teenagers: in his bedroom at his mums and dads place.. at 2 in the night... I actually managed to built a pretty nice engine if I may say so. Disgusting engine All apart Painted block All the goodies Head taken apart Head rebuilt Almost there Quite nice
Ofcourse all of this took several months once again to budget constraints, so inbetween I would spent al lot of time refurbishing the underside, doing alot of welding, painting and grinding.. Oh and fantasising of course. I cleaned up my workspace and got the sierra on some nice and high jackstands. I also managed to start designing a intake manifold I would love to run since all I wanted since the beginning is ITB's. I also restored both front and rear subframe and since the front already had Powerflex bushings I decided to do the rear aswell.
Before After Hello empty boi Hmm wondering if this might work refurbished diff all of the rear axle parts including new Powerflex bushings all toghether Bottomside fully welded and painted underside with rear axle
Then disaster struck! Well sort of, for my wallet at least. A very nice Cosworth YB head popped up for sale on Facebook marketplace. So ofcourse I had to get it! This meant my brand new fully rebuild Pinto head was for sale, which sold quickly and went to Super Seven kit car. I also found someone who had a RS front bumper and sideskirts, which were free! Only one problem; I had to go and take them off myself and they were in Belgium about 150km's away.. which ofcourse isn't a problem at all, just throw some tools in the volvo and go and get them. In the mean time I also went more crazy: I removed the battery tray, welded all holes in the engine bay, grinded them all down, filled them and painted the engine bay.. all in my shed! The YB head The free bumper Test fitting on the 205 Welding (almost difficult to imagine something with more pimples than me as a teenager but here ya go) Welding and grinding Primer Its red! All done and sealed
Next issue were the brakes. I was fine using the stock rear caliper with some good race pads and discs but using the stock calipers up front.. I dont think so. So after being a very rational person I decided some Mitsubishi EVO 8 Brembos would probably fit nicely, along with some Focus RS Mk1 discs and some custom made brake adaptars which were a pain in the rear it actually fits great. Ofcourse I rebuild the calipers. I opted for a nice gold, because the I think it fits great with the red, black and white of the rims. Also for those of you who aren't yet convinced that I'm fully sane: I had this gaping hole in my roof were the sunroof used to be so what does a sane person like me do: exactly! You just cut the whole roof of because of weight reduction and then place a carbon seat in its place. While I had the grinder out I also removed because the door inserts because why not and weight reduction. completely sane 21 year old. Yes thats right at this point I've gone up 2 life levels and it still hasn't seen a racetrack. These things are huge! Testfit Size difference? Where? Gold All ready to go back in the car Hmm nice I really love the colour scheme I'm perfectly sane Believe very sane Not crazy at all Really not crazy
Took a while to save up for all of the brake stuff but I'm quite happy with it. Ended up using Ferodo DS300 Pads upfront, EBC Bluestuff in the back and and the EBC discs. With my love for carbon and wanting to have things looking at least a bit nice I decided to cover the floor in carbon because why not. I got a nice OBP pedal box and had that setup. I made a carbon bracket for the reservoirs and heatshielded the firewall. Last piece of the brake puzzle were the flexible hoses which I ordered in a nice red. Rear brakes rear brake Front flexible hose Reservoirs Heatshielding carbon everywher pedalbox
At this point it's almost the end of 2019 and the engine is still out. So being the mad lad I am, I ordered all remaining parts and went to get the engine in before 2020 would hit. Which I did.. at the 30th of December. I did put a new clutch in and hooked up the transmission on the floor.. for those of you wondering: yes that is indeed a 205 pinto engine with a Cosworth YB head. We will see how this plays out.. clutch kit all together and it is in! December 30th 17:56
After the engine was put in. I opted to paint the cam cover the same colour as the brakes. Which looks great in my opinion. I will be doing a coil on plug conversion so I also put those in. I managed to put my ITB's and fuel rails on. engine in with COP and ITBS
Well the next bit only happened a month ago. I started working on the fuel system, wanting to created a reliable and sufficient fuel system for now and the future; I went with a high flow 404 pump, AN fittings and decided to fit it al in the spare wheelwell. I'm not allowed to run a non OEM fueltank. Also did the cooling, new radiator, 2 spal fans and a carbon fanshroud. Before First step Starting to get there All the goodies Sexy imo More carbon!
And well.. thats where the story ends for now. I only have one more picture to post for now. But I'm pretty sure many more will come. I need to save up some money again and due to COVID-19 all progress is slow. But next up is finishing the fuelsystem, the cooling system, the exhaust system and my favourite off all: the electrical system.. I got something special in mind for that. As for now I hope you enjoyed reading this very summarised version of my project. With some luck I might get it to drive this year but it will still be long from finished. I also know many of you might frown upon the steps I took, they way I made things or the way I am wanting to do things and you are more than welcome to give feedback! I've I can answer any question I'd be delighted to help if I can.
Funny side note: believe it or not in the time it took for me to get to this point I went from a complete noob with little to no knowledge about cars to a fully certified technician which even led to me winning a price! https://www.bd.nl/uden-veghel-e-o/th...omst~a8ff2cd4/
And I managed to get a small sponsorship with Mishimoto and Motul which is amazing to have their support!
I hope you all have a good one and look forward to any comments, enjoy this last picture
Fair enough! One question, Is that carbon panel flat against the radiator?
Once again good eye haha . but no it's spaced out about a 8mm for flow but I'm thinking of moving it back a bit further. Probably something 12mm or 15mm
If you have any about spacing suggestions I'd be pleased to hear them
I used the electric fans and shroud from a (bug-eye) Scorpio 2.9 on my Sierra 24v. It fits the original radiator perfectly and guides the air much nicer than a straight plate will ever do.
I used the electric fans and shroud from a (bug-eye) Scorpio 2.9 on my Sierra 24v. It fits the original radiator perfectly and guides the air much nicer than a straight plate will ever do.
Thats actually quite smart, going back to OEM is not in my interested but I'm wanting to replicate the design of the shroud in alumunium or more preferably carbon fiber.
Love the effort, well done.
On the engine, did you change the auxiliary pulley as well to Cosworth from Pinto? Different belt shape and pitch.
Yes I changed it. I was almost done rebuilding the engine when I found out it didn't fit... so a quick trip to a guy who had the parts and it got changed
I got the Samco silicon coolant hoses in and fitted them on the car. They are looking great, now to figure out a few routing issues.
Also this weekend my oilcooler stuff came in from mishimoto, my exhaust manifold came in and I finally managed to get some Toyo R888 tires for my OZ rims so for the first time in well over a year she has been rolling again! First time on the R888's Poke much
I test fitted the NA Cosworth YB exhaust manifold made by Ashley Exhaust for the Escort, bought it as a guess but luckily it fits in case anyone wonders!
I will probably wrap the exhaust in some titanium wrap to keep some heat out of the engine bay.
as said I also got my mishimoto oil cooler in, I am very pleased with the quality of the products and absolutely love it when companys spend time and attention to packaging. Thermostatic sandwich plate
And last but not least, I had to clean up my little workshop again to make some space for the Sierras Brother from another mother my classic mini
Sierra Sapphire Race car project
) Also at my young age of 19 this seemed to be an acceptable car when it comes to monthly payments like insurance and taxes.
The 6th of January I went and retrieved the car and dashboard and ofcourse drove it back. The car immediatly felt way better as it was know way stiffer due to the cage. In the main time I had gone to get a FIA licensed drivers seat and 6 point harness.
), I did a few more modifications: I got some more carbon and made some doorcards (the holes in the door were a death trap for elbows), refurbished the OZ wheels and swapped the rear axle for one with an LSD and disc brakes. This would be the last of the modifications for a while..
). So I tore the Pinto down, cleaned her good, repainted her, gave her all new service items and as cherry on top I fully rebuilt the head with some very nice goodies and I did like all sane teenagers: in his bedroom at his mums and dads place.. at 2 in the night... I actually managed to built a pretty nice engine if I may say so.
As for now I hope you enjoyed reading this very summarised version of my project. With some luck I might get it to drive this year but it will still be long from finished. I also know many of you might frown upon the steps I took, they way I made things or the way I am wanting to do things and you are more than welcome to give feedback! I've I can answer any question I'd be delighted to help if I can. 
