FIRST CAR! And it's a good one!

[Posmo]

Originally Posted by darkshark0159

Looking good. The interior seems like it's in good condition for its age. Sorry about the MOT.

The interior is in quite ok shape. The seats are pretty much perfect, but there are still quite a few little things wrong with the interior:

-Drivers side doorcard handrest thing has collapsed. I only noticed after owning the car for over a month, so hardly noticable.
-Passenger side door slot thing has cracked. -Its just hanging there with its connectors, need to fix it with some superglue, and it'll be as good as new. Fixed.
-Dashboard has cracked in 2 places.
-The cubbyhole next to the clock has superglue stains on it (put a tube in there and it leaked overnight )
-The rubber thing around the gearlever has a few cuts in it, but it's getting replaced next week. Fixed

Apart from those issues, the interior is in perfect condition.

@ public, the orginal licence plate of the car was: EBS-445, does that say anything to you? (As in where the car was originally bought, etc.)

[public]

No, sorry, I don't have a clue I only know some, like Uusimaa (B), Kymi (R), Savo (M) and Lappi (L).. Shame, that they got rid of the system by the '90s.

[Posmo]

Originally Posted by public

No, sorry, I don't have a clue I only know some, like Uusimaa (B), Kymi (R), Savo (M) and Lappi (L).. Shame, that they got rid of the system by the '90s.

Ok, the car was originally bought in Vammala according to some old papers in the glovebox.

Bought a cheap piece-of-shit polishing machine thingy, new exhaust manifold gaskets and a set of jackstands today. I'm going to spend the whole of tomorrow trying to get the car MOT ready. I also got a hint from a friend about an inspection station that is a little "less" professional than the place I went to yesterday. According the www.katsastushinnat.fi (a site that lists prices and has ratings for service, etc. on the stations), the one I was hinted about is cheaper, has better service, is more laid back, and has barely no queues.. , so I'm going to have another go next week

EDIT: It's going to rain tomorrow so I'll tackle the car on monday.
EDIT2: Propped the car up on jackstands (they only cost me my father 5€ ) for tomorrow, I tried buffing the windshield, but I really don't know if I can get a good enough finish on it Im going to buy some heavy duty window polishes on monday, and go for a last do-or-die attempt.. Also, the battery had gone flat overnight

[Posmo]

Exhaust manifold&downpipe are back in the car with new gaskets and some exhaust sealant for good measure, going to leak test it as soon as the battery has filled up (charging at 4A atm..) God I hope it doesn't leak, also I fear I may have sheared one of the nuts holding the manifold on

Please god let it be leak free.

EDIT:

I did shear one of the nuts/bolts that connect the manifold to the cylinder head


..But..

I fired her up, and I'm pretty sure there are no leaks it's a bit hard to tell when the fan is on (need to get an electric one..), but there were no obvous leaks, and I pasted all the connections full of sealant for good measure I didn't want to leave her on for too long to fill the battery up, since a car with just a minfold and a downpipe isn't exactly silent, so it's going to be recharged overnight

Also gave the interior a clean today, and fixed the passenger side door card slot thing with some zipties and my old soldering iron. I'll tackle the windshield tomorrow.

EDIT: Fixed the gearstick surround, and further examined the exhaust system for leaks.

..Aaand..

It's leaking from the manifold/downpipe joint I only need to get it sealed for the MOT emissions test, so I'm accepting any suggestions to make it airtight. The exhaust sealant I bought doesn't stick to cast iron (manifold) that well, so I need something ingenious. Also, I wouldn't want to take the downpipe off, since I have sealed all the other exhaust connections, so I need some sort of paste/sealant that I can stick on there and that lasts for at least a day..

[HatePersonified]

Do the 5.0 Swap!

[sifu]

i passed two MOTs with sealant (cant remember the brand, ill check when i visit my parents house again) when i had a crack in the exhaust manifold.. with that sealant it sticks/seals better when the manifold is hot/warm...

[Posmo]

Originally Posted by HatePersonified

Do the 5.0 Swap!

There are only 2 different engines I would consider swapping into my Sierra, the Cosworth YB (pointless, since ohc turbo is cheaper and nearly as good), or a Cosworth Boa/b (very hard to find, expensive for what it is)

I would never put an american engine in a european car, especially not when there are lots of powerful engines available that slot right in

@Sifu, please do, I've been trying to use "King chemicals" brand sealant (sounds like high quality stuff) and it's crap, simply won't stick to the manifold. It's ok for joining steel exhaust pipes, but just not good for my application :\

EDIT: My grille bending rig (made out of beer crates and old schoolbooks ) has managed to bend the grille to a better fitment in the last few days. The sides fit almost aswell as the ones in the stock grille, infact, the only place where it's not fitting aswell as it should is under the drivers side headlight. The fiberglass POS grille is not tall enough, so I either get a huge panel gap with the bonnet, or light shining under the grille:

Light shining under the headlight:


Pic not showing for some weird reason..

Fits great when compared to the first attempt: (and yes, I know I haven't gotten round to painting (or even sanding the filler flat on the front wing yet, I'll do it after a fresh MOT since I'm lazy.)


I can't resist turning the foglights on for every pic I take, they look great IMO (and no, I don't ever drive with them on)

[Posmo]

Found more rust under the drivers side doorseal It has probably been letting in water for some time, and there were some previous botched repairs apparent.. It's quite an easy place to weld, and only a little steel needs to be replaced, so it's not too bad. Justa shame I don't have a welder :\

EDIT: Tapped all of the loose rust off, and treated the rest with rust remedy, I'll put primer on it to keep it from rusting more, need to go to friend and weld it up sometime..

[HatePersonified]

Originally Posted by Posmo

There are only 2 different engines I would consider swapping into my Sierra, the Cosworth YB (pointless, since ohc turbo is cheaper and nearly as good), or a Cosworth Boa/b (very hard to find, expensive for what it is)

I would never put an american engine in a european car, especially not when there are lots of powerful engines available that slot right in

Yes, like the aforementioned Windsor V8, which is no power slouch, ask the fox body guys.

"Uniquely, the South African market also saw the introduction of a 5.0L XR8 between 1986 and 1988. A limited number of 250 Sierras were made for the purposes of homolgation, as this model was the premier Ford used in Group N racing."

Anyhow, your car, your choice, I'm just throwing this out there as the 302 (5.0) is a cheap engine to run and rebuild, (..Seriously I could pick up a working one for like 700 bucks at the local scrapyard..) and with heads cam and intake you're looking at 400+ horses no problem.

[Posmo]

Originally Posted by HatePersonified

Yes, like the aforementioned Windsor V8, which is no power slouch, ask the fox body guys.

"Uniquely, the South African market also saw the introduction of a 5.0L XR8 between 1986 and 1988. A limited number of 250 Sierras were made for the purposes of homolgation, as this model was the premier Ford used in Group N racing."

Anyhow, your car, your choice, I'm just throwing this out there as the 302 (5.0) is a cheap engine to run and rebuild, (..Seriously I could pick up a working one for like 700 bucks at the local scrapyard..) and with heads cam and intake you're looking at 400+ horses no problem.

a Ford 302 would be very expensive here, and the Xr8 was just used in racing in South africa, I don't really consider it an original Sierra engine, besides, registering a Sierra with that engine in Finland would be next to impossible.. I could pick up a 2.9 12 valve engine for about 500€, and a Cosworth Boa for about 1500€, a Cosworth YB would be around 3k€. Im willing to pay a bit extra for a camcover/intake manifold that says "COSWORTH" on it

Besides, who doesn't like the sound of a blow-off valve?

[sifu]

not in Finland tho...

[airmenair]

As far as possible engine swaps go, don't forget the US spec 2.3T!



The least most rev-happy 4 cylinder ever!

...i've got a spare.....

[prizrak]

Pftt listen guys, SBC is the way to go in any car

[HatePersonified]

Originally Posted by prizrak

Pftt listen guys, LSx is the way to go in any car

FTFY

[Posmo]

Do you guys think I should remove the tints from the rear windows? I've been fighting myself about this for 2 months now. Part of me sort of likes them, and someone paid money to put them on there.. But honestly, im not a "tinted rear windows on a 3-door car" sort of person.. The rear wing is enough of ricer action for me I need your input on this, infact, is there anyway to add a poll to the thread to see what the general opinion is?

[Spectre]

If the tint films are intact and not purpling, leave them alone. I realize it almost never gets above freezing in Finland and that most of the year you have 40 meters of snow and such but unless you can get the glass out of the car you're going to have a big mess to deal with. And if you have a rear defroster there's always the chance of killing that while removing the film.

[darkshark0159]

Originally Posted by Posmo

I need your input on this, infact, is there anyway to add a poll to the thread to see what the general opinion is?

http://forums.finalgear.com/poll.php...&polloptions=4
That is the link, but the thread must be no more than 15 minutes old.

I say remove if it is easy, because ricer crap = no.

[MXM]

I've grown to dislike tinting on most cars. Especially old cars. It's not too bad, but I'd still vote for remove. Unless it's difficult or has potential consequences, as Spectre mentioned.

<- payed for tinting on his Civic back in the day

[prizrak]

Originally Posted by darkshark0159

http://forums.finalgear.com/poll.php...&polloptions=4
That is the link, but the thread must be no more than 15 minutes old.

I say remove if it is easy, because ricer crap = no.

Why is tinting considered ricing? I like tints on cars I think it makes them look better (judging by most car ads having non-transparent tints on cars I'd guess I'm not the only one) as long as you don't go insane with some blue tints that you can't see crap through I think its fine.

[sifu]

depends a lot in what car the tints are.. + in finland you cant tint windscreen and front door windows as much as the rear ones so they tend to look bad on some cars.