jim_robson

Thought Id do a thread on my 2.0 Ghia saph. Had her just over 4 years now, it's gone from standard car, to Cossie rep, then track car, then back to road car, then drift car. And now she's going back on the road as a pretty standard car.

Il copy's and paste my posts off another forum

This was October 2011

Picked this saph up at the weekend, taxed and tested. Tidy overall, needs a few bits doing the bumpers are nackered and the doors have a few dents but the arches are solid and underneath is very good exept one inner sill needs a small patch.

















Just in the process of cleaning it up, its had a wash and a clay. Getting it machine polished and waxed tomorrow

Right, more progress tonight. Pulled the bonnet off and mopped it over then gave it a wax up.



Then carried on and mopped the rest of the car, didnt get it all done. Still got the drivers side wing, doors and quater to do.





I then proceded to rip the face of my hatch



Fitted back up mmmmmmmmm.



And a couple of shots of how she stands now





Shes getting there, got the drivers side to mop tomorrow. And i might start fitting the front end up.

Im putting off the dashboard change for as long as possible, but it looks like that will go ahead this weekend, just looking into changing the colour of all the dash lights.

jim_robson

The exterior is nearly finished now, few small bits to do here and there but not far off. Im quite pleased with how its turned out.









Small update, the car has been spot on really so far. Its had a new set of leads and a front shock, and the heater martix burst which wasnt much fun to change


She did a 400 mile round trip to yorkshire about a month ago and neaver missed a beat.

Pic taken outside a yorkshire cafe



She has now been lowered now and ive fitted my lattices and a cossie grille. A few pics after a good wash and a wax today.












Interior nearly finished, got a fit a black parcel shelf, black dash is in, doorcards and centre console etc.





Well that didnt happen!

A lot has changed on this car since my last update.
Found a bit of floor pan and transmission tunell rot which had to be sorted





Then i decided i was going to cossie kit it, so i put the kit on and ran it in 3 different colours for a bit. Bought my old comps back aswell so stuck them on.





I them put the standard bumpers back on so it looked reasonable for the sierra ace cafe day.

Armed with some black 2pack paint i prepped the bumpers up and sprayed them





All done and left to dry for a few days



Kit fitted



Cossie door mouldings half on, and the saph and 3dr staring each other out lol



Ran it like that for a while, fitted a new exhaust system which is a bit too loud really.
Fitted front recaro leather to match the rest.

Then prepped it up for ford fair, 4 new tyres, new discs and pads and a complete strip out for track time. Only decided to do one session this year and there wasnt much left of my clutch.

Gone for ambers all round now as i prefer them.



The evening before ford fair, all loaded up.



A few track shots





Managed to pick up a set of gaz coilovers and a rear strut brace

Old and new





So thats pretty much up to date. Got a 4wd cossie front end to fit along with my front coilvers.
Need to find the time to paint my 4wd bonnet up aswell.

And plans are being made for an engine conversion

jim_robson

Now caged, vented bonnet also fitted.









Spent a few more hours on the old girl.

Front end is now ready to fit, bought 2 new tca's and new inner tca polybushes. Brakes and hubs have been stripped, cleaned, painted and put back together. Gave the anti roll bar a lick of paint to freshen it up also.

Before



After



I have also made a start on stripping the sound deadening off the floors. Ive done it before to the red hatch and its a horrible job, ive managed the boot area so far. Heating it up and scraping it off, then scrubbing it with white spirit/ brake cleaner. Its getting there, ive got a set of aerocatches on order which should be here tomorrow, she should be mostly finished by the end of the month because a big group of us are going to southend on the 1st december.





Spent the past 2 weekends on the saph, and pretty much got most of the big jobs done.

Stripped out the old front suspension, hubs, brakes, tca's and arb.





Had big issues using the 4x4 arb, i couldnt get the tca in on one side.
It altered the tracking slightly lol



So i dug out a polybused 2wd cossie arb that ive had kicking about for years, with the help of a ratchet strap and a couple of mates i finally managed to get it all together. so she is now running 4x4 hubs and tca's, cossie front brakes and gaz coilovers, also a full polybush set.

This weekend i decided to get the fitting of my aerocatches over and done with.

Pinned the slam panel and drilled a hole for the pin in the bonnet. Got the outline of the catch and scratched it into the bonnet, then i attacked it with a grinder.



Fitting the other side



All done



Then i had a play with the coilovers, and decided to slam the old girl.
I also fitted bonnet pins to the front bumper to make it easier when loading the car onto trailers/trucks.





If i get time tomorrow night i will weld the diff, still loads to do but she's getting there

New headlights



Tracking sorted





Typical view of my road lol







And time to do the clutch



Box out and cleaned up.



Had to replace both rear calipers as they were sized solid, fitted new discs and pads at the same time.
Cage has now gone as it was too impractical and the interior is going back in.

Fingers crossed it should be ready for the road friday morning.

jim_robson

Got her back on the road and taxed thursday night, friday morning drove to work and got a puncture and fucked my tyre up.

So i decided to buy 2 new tyres for my comps instead and fit them. Sat afternoon i went out tho the car and had a nail in my tyre! So had to get that repaired.

Big group of us from my area went up to the graffiti tunnel in london on sunday night, spent all day cleaning the car and gave the bonnet another quick coat of satin black.









The graffiti tunnel was pretty shit to be honest, was rammed full of cars so we couldnt get in. And after about 20 mins the popo came over and told us to leave. So we went across the road to the london eye to take a couple of pics.







Good to be back in the old girl!
The new clutch has now done about 180 (very abusive) miles.
Bit of paintwork to do next i think.


(After this the car was playing up and she came off the road, sat on my driveway looking like this)

Long time since i updated this, the last pic i took of the saph at the beginning of August.

jim_robson

(Then it was time to turn her into a drift car)

Few bits done to the saph.

Bonnet vents painted



Diff sorted



Diff and rear strut brace ready for a lick of paint.



The paint



Done



Now on to fitting it, was a right cunt to do. Bearing in mind i had only fitted the lsd about 4 months ago, we had to ruin 5 of the torx bolts and one washer to get the shafts off. Then problems came when re fitting the original 7.5"diff, i had pulled the casing together when i fitted the 7" lsd. So a bit of hammering and bending and a lot of swearing and the pink one was in.

Saph jump started and pulled out the garden



Welded and lsd



All done!!



Was a long day and it took far longer than it should have done but at least its sorted now, loads more left to do and got just over a month to do it!!

Done a few more hours on the saph over the weekend.

Friday night i fitted my new coilovers on the dark!
Sitting very low at the front now.



Then yesterday we gutted the interior out, trying to save as much weight as possible seeing as its not the most powerful car in the world the lighter it is the better.



Then it was time to get the cage in place for a mock up. The b-pillar section needs some boxes welded in with captive nuts as i think its a 3door cage.





Not going to be too difficult to sort the welding for the cage out, i want to try and get it over to work either this week or beginning of next week so i can get all the welding done, get the cage painted and fitted in solid and get the bonnet painted as well.

Loads left to do but should meet my deadline, cant wait!!

2 weeks to finish the car now.

Been busy over the past couple of weeks.

Changed the headlights to ones with no wipers, so painted up a blank headlight strip and grille



Decided to buy a new std system for it as the old one was just too loud
Old vs New



Exhaust heatshield fitted to stop me melting even more of my bumper



Old and new daily together, raised the car up about an inch as it was too low



Seat mount welded up



Bonnet bare metal, was one of those jobs i wish i had never started, bonnet was full of dents.



Filler on



Repair work done, its not as straight as i could have got it, but it was that bad i could have spent another 3 hours on it easily. End of the day its only a track car so dosent have to be perfect. Its black as well so it will show up any imperfection, i hate painting black cars!!



3 thick coats of high build primer and guide coated.



Managed to flat and paint the cage as well, not going to be painting another cage anytime soon, was not fun.



Thats up to date, welding done now, got to re fit the cage this week and will probably paint the bonnet friday eve.

Its just small jobs left to do now, getting the engine running right is next priority!!

I have lost track of the amount of hours that have gone into this car now!!

Bonnet wet flatted



Painted



Got some old scrap OZ wheels that came off my mates saph because i didnt want to ruin my lattices

Trial fitted



The quickest wheel refurb i have ever done, bit of a key up on the spokes and a quick da on the faces and they were ready to go.



Painted



Next day got the bonnet bolted in place so the car could be taken home



Then this old shitter turned up, my bother has finally got a saph, just gotta spend the next few weeks welding it up!!



Back at home, got the cage fully fitted, and worked though all the rest of the jobs

Handbrake cable being sorted



Bonnet after a flat and a mop, vents and aerocatches fitted



Out in the road after her first wash for about 6 months



Nearly there, few little jobs to do after work tomorrow then ready to be loaded up weds lunch

jim_robson

Weds lunchtime, car loaded up and ready to go.



In the lineup waiting to go out, ran my car without a front bumper because of the high curbs. One of my 16s got a puncture so had to put 15s on the front.





Couple of short clips that were taken on my third run





Was really impressed with the car, only problem we had was an ht lead falling off.

Later on in the evening i started getting brave and trying to get the rear bumper as close to the wall as i could, was getting good at it getting it millimeters away, then i clipped it a bit nothing too bad.

The morning after





The little battle scar





Had a brilliant night, well worth all the hard work over the past few months.

The saph wont be getting used again at banger tracks, everyone was saying i was mad for taking it out as pretty much every other car was a smashed e36. So my saph will be saved for santa pod and any other drift days that come up. I may have to build something else to use at arena

Away she goes again, santa pod this time.



Did some serious tyre killing



Vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKtICqo8PY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Smashed another rear bumper, the massive de-lamination and blowout scuffed the car up a bit but she did well once again.

More pics from pod

















Killed another light using the barrel as a clipping point lol

jim_robson

(Then the car sat for about 18 months, then took it over to work and decided to put it back to standard)

Dug the old girl out yesterday, started first time no bother





De spoilered the bootlid



Back on a standard front bumper and given a quick wash, I've got 2 rear doors in black to go on also have a black xr coming in next week il take the doors off. Also taken the Cossie skirts off



I've got a Ghia leather interior to go in. Just got the get some time to rip the cage out and do a bit of welding. Also going to replace the front wings as I mullered them to fit wide wheels when it was a drift car.

3 doors replaced now, just need to find a black passenger front door as I'm too lazy to paint the inside!

Rear suspension changed and cage removed

Got some welding to do on the back of both sills and also got to weld all the holes for the cage up, the I can start to refit the interior.

Going to give her a quick respray before she's back on the road in December

Quick pic




Welding on the drivers side is nearly done now, back of the sill and a few other bits needed sorting. Got a standard bonnet now and also a standard 92 spec rear bumper



I've done a wing on her





Now she's sat in the yard waiting for me to get the time to do a bit more, must admit I've been playing with the drifter instead lol

jim_robson

Dug her out the other day to move some cars about. Got a big list of small jobs that need doing. If I get time tomorrow I might pull the welded diff out and fit my lsd and while I'm there pull the 4" rear box off and fit a standard one, I must be getting old!

Latest pic



Getting more and more standard looking, passenger side front wing changed, painted the inside of a smokestone passenger side front door and fitted that, headlining is in. Just another days welding and I can start on the repaint not much bodywork to do. Bit of wall tap damage and a crease under the fuel cap and just the usual dinks and dents you get on a 23 year old car

On sharktooths now






That's the thread upto date, she should be back on the road by the start of December

anthony lea

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Cool story so far. I like the pic of all the sierras in the street.

I used to have a sierra gt with the 2lt twinky in it. It wasnt the fastest but was ok.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

thats a good read that Jim - the cage is defo a 3dr one as that came out of my white 3dr.

Looks good standard on the sharktooths

Stage6

that was a good little read

looks nice all dirty and 'used' IMO...

really want a sierra now

visa_broke

looked ace as a cossie rep with the cage etc, shame to see it taken back to standard tbh

jim_robson

Not really, I want a nice standard looking 2.0 sierra. I've done the Cossie rep so many times when I was younger and couldn't afford a Cossie.

I've now got a 3dr Cossie and a 2wd saph cossie, so no need for a replica.

Cossie replicas are done to death, it will be a much nicer car how it's being built now then it was when it was a drift car. Was fucking horrible to drive back then

jim_robson

It's being built to be used, can't wait to have it covered in winter shit and road salt.

Adam-M

^^^ totally agree turned into a cracking looking rep love the ambers, what's your plans with it mate?

Adam-M

Sorry mate I took that long to read through it all and then posted what I says without refreshing the page to see if you had replied lol. Least you've got two cossies lucky man

JasonPD

Despite being a car detailer by trade, I actually really like to see pics of the car all shitted up and being used. Cool car

jim_robson

Well this is overdue an update, did some bodywork bits about a month ago as I had a spare afternoon





Then I didn't touch it for a month due to being flat out with customers cars.

But I started again this week











So after a flat out week we got her ready for some paint











Got in to work and painted the car at 8'oclock this morning. Spent the rest of the day repairing and prepping the bumpers. So should get those in primer tomorrow.

I'm hoping to have the car pretty much finished by the end of next week. And down for mot early the week after.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

That looks like a good spray job.

Ive always wanted to learn to spray.

jim_robson

Getting built back up





Quick blow over of the wheels



And nearly done





She's done now and on the road

Vacuman

I just love the fact that you are surrounded with old Fords, you earn your crust working on them and then you spend your spare time doing more of the same. That's true PassionFord.

Rob_DOHC

iTrader: (4)

You the man Jim, that must be the most standard looking Sierra you've owned now!

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

looking good Jim - bet you're glad to get rid of that loud exhaust lol

sierra91

Very nice mate, good choice. I think you should keep the cosworth spoiler, It would be an elegance sport sierra

The black you chose it's standard black? What's the name/code? And for the wheels I have the same question

Sinbad

iTrader: (1)

Cracking read from a great thread, car looks stunning but my favourite version is the Pink and Black theme

155lee

iTrader: (10)

That car has had many incarnations but you would never know.
Excellent work.
Don't suppose you have a mint non vented saph bonnet do you??

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Looking good now.

jim_robson

I can't seem to get away from these old fords! Up next is to do an engine change on my saph Cossie!

jim_robson

It must be rob, she's on Konis though with a nice tight lsd in the back so I can still have a bit of fun

jim_robson

The black is just a straight gloss 2k black from my paint supplier, the silver is just a random silver 2k base

jim_robson

Not at the moment mate, but I do have some fresh stock due in in the New Year so will let you know

jim_robson

So ive been getting some miles on the old girl since she's been back on the road. On Monday she started displaying the twincam head gasket sympyoms she had about 2 and a half years ago when she was last on the road. Twincam engines tend to do a few thousand miles with the hg on its way out. But by Friday morning she had so much water in number 4 cylinder it hydro locked the engine. Pulled the plug out and started her up, plug back in and drove her over to the workshop.

Being so busy at the moment I really don't have time to do the hg, so I just fitted an engine out of stock quickly.

Drove her in the workshop Friday night



Engine out that evening






Put the replacement engine in yesterday and drove her home. Much better now. Even gave the car a wash, she was filthy as you can see in the pics

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

I had one of these engines in my old sierra hatchback. Mine was spot in. It broke down once cause the bracket that holds the dizzy cap snapped.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

You dont have any bulk head seals in your collection of sierra parts by any chance. The big fat on that sits across the bulk head/fan cover panel.

Nostromo

Good thread, very enjoyable read for a lunchtime at work! I'm on the lookout for a saph at the moment with the intention of building a replica like yours. Has the 2 litre twin got much poke?

jim_robson

I really rate the twincam engine, 125bhp, quite a torquey engine. They aren't fast, but make a good daily car. Ultra reliable and pretty economical.

fatboy billy

Must admit when I saw you were going back to a standard look I was a bit unsure but with the sharktooths on looks really smart mind you I shouldn't have doubted you you always build some wicked looking cars

Nostromo

Reliable and economical is good! I'm after one as a daily driver as it happens, something I can drive and fit bits to without the risk of having to take it off the road for days at a time. Would you rate the twincam as better than a 2 litre pinto? I had a cossie years ago and would love to get another but funds certainly won't allow it so am hoping to build something up that I can enjoy then eventually go down the bolt on turbo route when one comes available.

jim_robson

Twincam is far superior to the pinto, to be honest pinto sierras are a bit shit in my opinion, and often have less spec than a later twincam. Pinto sierras are also very thin on the ground, I'm a sierra breaker and even ive not broken that many 2.0 pinto ones