Hi all,

Next year i will be in a position to buy a Sierra Sapphire cosworth, i will have around £7000- £8000 to spend on buying the car and fixing any problems with it/returning back to standard, I would like to know;

Any issues/problems i should know about or look for, i know the headgaskets can be troublesome but that is about it.

Day to day running of the car, the car i purchase will be getting used sparingly, what issues have people found with using the cosworth occasionally?

As for modifications, what would make you avoid a car? i ideally want a near standard example as i think they are perfect just as they are

Colour choice, do certain colours command a higher premium? I would love a magenta example

If you had the choice, would you pick 4WD or RWD? I am leaning very much towards RWD at the moment

What is the situation with OEM parts? Are they readily available or proving difficult? And if they are difficult, which parts should i look to purchase when they are available?

Would people recommend the wasted spark conversion?

Tyre choice, would you stick with the Pirellis, dunlop etc?

Cheers for any help chaps

Mike

 

they rot in the arches and sills. i like the 4x4 buts thats me

 

Due to the age of the car RUST is a big enemy, usual places rear arches sills, drivers floor area.
How it's been looked after will determine to a extent reliability.
As for 2wd or 4wd try and have a drive in each, they drive very differently, don't know about magenta mercury grey is the bets in 2wd!!(guess what I've got).
Tyres are again what people prefer, I am currently using Hankook Ventus Evo V12 K110, don't let the name fool you, awsome tyres, I use quite a few a year so have chance to try new ones that come along.
If wanting to keep it std don't bother with wasted spark, if the oe system is in good order it will be fine, it would benefit from a better set of plugs and a group a coil.
You can still have it appear std but be at stage 1 power around 270bhp, this brings a lot more torque and makes a much nicer drive.
Looked after they can be 100% reliable, just redoing my engine at the moment(waiting on flywheel slotting) after it covered 200,973 miles.
If you want to do anything else there above a std spec car there's some pretty universal mods that work well, air filter exhaust for a start.
You may have trouble finding a std one, I know of one near Attleborough, Norfolk which has 3000 miles from new a mercury grey 2wd sapph, but this is rare to find even high mileage std ones are rare.
If you can take along someone who knows cossies, 2wd and wet can be a handful, even worse when more power is added.
Std handling is fairly shit due in no small part to the crappy rear beam or rather it's mounting a poly one here(about £100) makes no end of difference.
tabetha

 

buy one for around £4-5 leave the other 3K for sorting to the way you want
Or buy something like my saff were the engine been done and the bodywork is not to bad !

 

What would you all avoid modification wise? I dont mind the usual filter, exhaust, chip etc, but i just want something i can drive at the weekend, and if im honest 200 bhp is plenty for me.

 

Well the minimum is 204 (2WD) although even new many were higher than this, you want to see a decent history and whose done the work especially tuning, avoid any car that's been messed around with, excessivly lowered for example or just looks as it's lead a hard life or driven through the local Halfords window!

As said theres nothing wrong with the ignition system, provided it's maintained correctly there should be no problems.

Parts wise can actually be quite difficult as I have found over the years, alot of the parts are NLA from Ford and so your stuck with trying to find new old stock. I use a RS breaker and find him to be most helpful. An example of this is the shocks they were NLA from Ford but got some from the latter. Like at the moment I am trying to source standard springs but there no longer avaliable so I don't hold much hope seen as there is no demand for them either!

To be honest providing you get a decent one there no need why you should need to be concerned about major parts as there strong cars!


Martin

 

Brilliant, thanks, i just want as close to standard as possible, i have heard a few rumours about reliability with the engines etc, but this car will be my standard posers car as i am building a turbo mk1 fiesta for track use and general thrashing about

What companies do people use? I am in the greater manchester postcode so i am guessing Motorsport developments are the obvious choice?

 

they arnt unreliable as people think if you buy one thats been worked on by proffesional companys and not messed about with then aslong as you keep it reglary serviced ect it should be fine for £7-8k you should get a good example been a few nice ones recently for around the £6k mark

 

Just treat everything you are told by owners as bullshit, as well as the paperwork with some.
Mine had 3 files loaded with history, odd how you can fit a a series timing chain and a transit diesel injection pump on a cossie, but these were just some of the receipts in my folder, I just binned the folders.
Had a odd running problem on mine, prior to myself two different "specialists" has owned it, loads of dyno printouts from Interpro, trying to find the problem of 167bhp.
Oddly enough when I did my super service as on any new/sh car I get the problem went when the 12 YEARS old fuel filter was changed!!
Brakes(pads) were held in with a mix of nails, house wire, and tie wraps, wheels had the smaller headed nuts when they should have been the larger ones, only holding on by 3mm.
Brakes had SIX seized pistons out of 8, but I buy on what I see in front of me and paid an appropriate price for the condition, even had original Dunlop D40 tyres on it, all shagged/barely legal apart from the never used spare d40.
They can mega mileage if looked after, major mistake is short runs lack of use using gently, oil needs to get HOT to burn off contaminants, I thrashed the living daylights out of mine, hitting the 7300rpm rev limiter almost daily, but sometimes just poodled at 30mph 5th gear for 30-40 miles!!
tabetha

 

it will be very much a pootle about car mainly, with the odd thrash and track day thrown in with it, gotta show the local barry's whos boss from time to time.

Tabetha that cossie sounds like it was fun! Sounds a lot like my mk1 fez, when i bought that all of the front brake components were loose, made me thank my stars i had trailored it back not drove it..

 

With the budget you have I would not be excepting anything other than perfection tbh and either a near or totally standard one!

Martin

 

That is very reassuring to hear it is a total of 4 years hard work for me so i want the best i can as i intend on keeping it.

 

I can recommend that should you find one with standard air filter to have a look inside before and after driving her. Get her above 3k revs and see if there is any signs of oil being pushed through the filter. A sign of wear will be a wet casing, need lift out the filter and look under it. Just from my experience...

Can fully back up the comments about how much fun they are - oh and check your sunroof,if its seized thered a good chance the seals will be questionable this can lead to leaks and or a rusty roof.

G

 

Is this just wear on the part of the airbox?

I have seen a few with what im told are works airboxes?

 

No any signs of oil in the airbox suggest wear and engine breathing oily fumes caused by excess crank pressure, the std breather arrangement was done for eco reasons about the last thing you want on a cossie even std is a std breather system, they simply are not up to the job.
tabetha

 

So it seems as if its one of those mods you have to do regardless?

 

Well im going to look at one tuesday, earlier than expected but when the right one comes up you cant mess about, only problem is its a bit of a common colour..all standard too bar an alarm and an s/s exhaust.

 

Just looked your location as I never knew where it was as I was going to offer to come along if you wanted someone to go along with you which unfortunatly isn't that near me, funny enough I brought mine from near you.

Edit: Forget that LOL just realised your in Manchester when I quickly glased over I noticed Rochdale which is also in Essex.

Martin

 

This one is from an old school friend of my dads, has been garaged the past few years and only brought out for summer, colour is white and its an E reg,are there any facelifts etc i should be aware of?

Thanks for the offer Martin, it looks like it will be my dad and a local ford teccy going as its a bit difficult for me as i live in bristol at the mo due to uni.

 

thats a good amount for a cossie but spend it wisely .in my opinion you should find a car with shity engine and good shell.3500max. then send the engine an gear box for a rebuilt so you ll know that you ve got a very good standart car. i wouldnt trust if someone told me that the car i m interested in has been rebuilt.no no no.both 4wd and 2wd need to be driven in a special way its up to you to choose depending if you like str8 lines or twisty roads.parts in the uk is a piece of cake to find.good luck mate

 

With the budget you have you should not be expecting to have any trouble what so ever. It will have cloth interior and early ones diden't have a front splitter either.

Facelift was in August 1989 and included subtle changes.

Martin

 

Top, will have to see what happens tuesday, i wanted 2wd originally as i heard that you can have a lot of grief with the 4wd system?

 

2wd certainly cheaper to fix when tranny things do go wrong.
Remember there are others so keep mr sensible head on and not let your heart rule.
tabetha

 

Very nearly let heart rule head today but resisted and gonna have a look at a few more i think, all i can say is WOW, what a car

 

well, despite me looking to purchase one next year, you cant wait for the right one to turn up and i have provisonally purchased a rouse sport 304-R cosworth

 

I love the rouse saffs. Its not the moonstone blue one on pistonheads is it.

 

If cossies have been looked after they will be very reliable. I keep serviceing mine and keep lookin after it and its been spot on for the last 4 years of ownership.

 

yes it is, i should be picking it up friday, i just need to get an original tape deck for it or the ford optional cd player.