Scorpios Last Stand..

Well the scorpio turned it's last wheel under power on Friday, I have now started breaking and the engine was the first port of call.

Hopefully it will all be stripped, gone and ££££ in a few weeks..

Well that's the end of another sierra, The 2.0GT after doing sterling service has been consigned to the scrap bin. She was stripped of everything that may have been usefull and then collected by the scrap man yesterday.

She did me good, lasted 12 months longer than planned and was in all honesty spot on!!! It was a bit of a shame to have to break her bu there was no interest complete even at just £150!!! I have made back nearly double that in parts.. So much so that I covered my year and a smigins driving :)

I decided not to cut this one up, there were hardly any salvageable bits, and time and effort would have not been worthwhile.




The Galaxy has been going ok, I have found that the AIR Con equipment is missing, presumably not replaced after it's crash. So i am looking for those bits and bobs.

The Mondeo is due for MOT next week and it's not ready so that will be off the road for a short while. The golf is now in the garage, and the Scorpio is next on the breaking list.....

Erika the Sapphire now has here fan temperature switch, I have sourced the gearbox, rear door & horn looms... So there's little else now... I even cleand up the plugs the other mornign whilst moving the cars round...

The real family bus!

After experimenting with estate cars and finding they barely met the needs of the wifes perception of holiday luggage, and the realisation that a 24v mondeo was not ideal general transport I decide to look for a People carrier.

A specific modle MK2 2.3 Ghia ( preferably not in silver ) was the goal, Impending dreadful tax laws made the ideal car a pre march 01 modle. but with them ony being introduced in August 2000 this limited the options.

Eventualy something had to give, and I am having to bite the tax bullet.

The new car is an 02 in Dark blue with under 55k on the clock.

Seems quite good!

faults so far are.

Cruise inoperative
Interior lights inoperative
Parking sensors inoperative
Glovebox hinge broken
Radio code not in.

It had no history but at £2350 it's not a big worry.

I am getting ready to sell the GT, am almost finished breaking the Granada and then the scorpio is getting broken too.

FordFair 2008

Another successful trip to silverstone for ford fair. The fordpower stand had an excelent turnout this year http://fordpower.org.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5630

The Mondeo Behaved itself. However the handbrake failed again a couple of weeks back, the self adjusting ratchet is faulty.

No News on the 2.0GT other than I have fitted the hatchback gas struts of the granada and it now stays open properly.

The Granada Cosworth is now very very beyond repair, it has no roof, screen, doors, exhaust, etc.... Just need to finish cutting it up.

Lastly, I am considering doing the sensible thing and getting a 2.3 Galaxy to replace the scorpio... Watch this space...

Fix, Fix, Buy....

Wooo hooo...

Ok, I have now fixed the leaking exhaust on the Scorpio and it's now got it's arse in the air waiting for the chassis welding.

And thisevening I have finaly sorted the Mondeo handbrake, a cable had sliped out of the balencer bar.

And finaly... A new one. A 1994 Granada cosworth :) it looks gr8, but the sills are dradful. It was bought for it's 108K engine. But it turns out it's only 81K and as sweat as a nut. Soon to be broken and possibly transplanted to the GT.

Rob

new wheels on GT

Due to previous poor tracking my front tyres were scrubbed badly on the outer edge.

So I got some replacements off Flebay for £51, 3 very good tyres and one fair + rims... Oh and it cost £25 of fun driving through the lakes to collect..





Think they are Mono rims, look ok I guess.

Handbrake Failure.

We have now been subjected to the mondeo's handbrake failing... This was actualy about 4 weeks ago and we are putting up with it. I replaced the leaver, but it did not help... I suspect the calipers arm has shifted past it's stop... Still to sort. Other than that the mono is still doing ok.

The Scorpio is in the new garage, and I am in the process of trying to get the exhaust re-sealed... It's a pain!!

The golf is untouched, although I am looking at a Polo GT engine for it.....

The sierra is untouched.. She's been abused as a building hack as I re-doo the garden

Erika the sapphire has had a few minor bits done. The ignition lock recoded, abs sensors trial fitted and passing the static tests.

Not a lot realy.

Dejapped

Well the mondeo has finaly gone from jap look to normal look. Halford should rename their paints to "MAYBEE" Stardust Silver...

Water water everywhere... Well except in the engine!

So, the week after getting the Mondeo wheel bearing done we went to devon ( 370 miles ) for our holiday. Appart from a little rubbing from the rear tyres she performed very well.. 900 miles covered, but 90 miles fro home the heater went cold and I watched the water temp climb...

I switched off and coasted down the hard shoulder looking for a phone box, fortunatly I spotted an AA van instead and rolled up behind him...

We dragged the car to the nearest service station an put more water in, she started up cleanly but the rivver of water from under the car was a bad sign. we found a hole in the water pump..

A week later, a lot of swearing and the replacement pump was fitted... No aparent damage was done to the engine.

I have now sourced a pair of good front fogs, a bonnet in silver and grill. I took two bonnets of at the scrappy but the first MINT one was blown over as I scavenged other parts :(

Hopefully tomorrow I will get to fitting it up. I also found a perfect set of heater vents ( commonly broken on MK1's )

The sierra GT has had nothing done bar a pair of rear hatch struts ( which has not helped the head clobering hatch!! )

The golf is getting started every week to keep it fresh.

The scorpio is reluctant to have it's exhaust fixed, I tried yesterday to drill the snapped stud but it was no go!!

The sapphire suffed two battle scars in the last week. I caught the door and scraped of some paint last week, and yesterday a spare door was blown over and dinked the wing :( ... I did fit a late cable release boot latch yesterday though. and last week I pulled the fault codes and there was nothing unexpected :)

The only major purchase has been a 2.0 16V Scorpio engine to play with ........

The garage plans are moving forward :)

Late news....

Well the VIC check was done on the mondeo on the 13th of Jan, she passed no problem. Cool. The drive home was rather noisy. Anyway the car was laid up until the end of the month for the TAX.

In the meantime I found a water leak from the cabin air intake, that was duely sorted.

The first proper drive was OK, but the exhaust was blowing badly and banging on the bodywork. The loud noise was still there.. I took off the CAT replacement pipe and reworked it, that solved the exhuast. But the loud noise was still there, and the battry was shafted too!

After about 100 miles driveing ( replaced the battery by now ) it was suspected that the front passenger wheel bearing was shot. So the garage replaced that. ( well they put a second hand hub on as the old one was U/S )

I have also fitted a better leather wheel as the old one was missing the top bit of leather.

Now that everything is sorted it's running well, driving well. Just needs the bonnet and bumper spraying now.


The Golf has been moved of the neigbours drive and has been run up to temperature a couple of times. Water was found under and ontop of the carpets so drying out has started.


Work started on the scorpio too, the front shock was replaced ( snapped spring ) and the drivers side cat is off in order to reseal it. Unfortunatly the studs on the center box are both damaged so its taking longer than planned.

Nothing has happend on the Sapphire.

The Sierra got a new battery as it was causing trouble, it needs a better alternator which I am waiting to arrive!

Almost ready for the road...

Well the Mondeo is almost ready for the road, the poxy 15" alloys have been swapped for 17" TooRA alloys ( painted dark grey ) which look reasonable but were mainly bought for the rubber. She went for MOT last monday and needed a wishbone, handbrake cable, lamp adjusted ( strangly on the drivers side )... They could not do the emissions untill Saturday as the machie was broken..

But I now have a fresh MOT in my hands and the VIC check is beig booked.

Then I need to consider sprayig up the front end.

Front end of mondeo rebuilt.

Well after geting a set of damaged headlights through the post I went back to the scrappy and picked up a nice set of clear later specification front lights.

With them and thee other parts I spend Saturday morning rebuilding the front end. So now it's back together.

I also got a 6speed intermittent stalk and a power roof. The stalk is on :) .. To sorted the roof yet.

I have a pair of good rear calipers to fit next weekend and with that done and the Exhaust sealed up at the cat BYPASS it will be ready to trundle to the MOT.

BRING IT ON!!!

Well I have spent a little time fixing things...

We got a replacement bonnet grill and bumper for the mono, and started work building that up.... And I got a correct colour lower dash for the scorpio to replace the one damaged in the breakin. I am slowly amassing the parts to get the scorpio through the mot.

Passed :)

I spet saturday morning going to the scrappy and hunting for a decent rack for the GT. Fortunatly a 2.0GLX was in ( only a handful of other sierras though! ) I had to remove the bonnet catch to open the bonnet but the rest was straight forward...

After collecting 2 bottles of ATF, I set about changing the rack, which wouldhave been 15 minuets if it was not for a bolt that did not want to slide back in.

But in the end it went, and the car was taken back to the MOT station and got it's ticket after a quick check over :D YAY!!! total cost £79

I also started stripping down the front end of the mondeo, I worked out how to get the headlights and bumper off, but I could not find them in the right colour at the scrappy. Trying a different place next weekend.

Also sourced a tie rod for the scorpio, not cheap from fordparts but at least it's right!

Rob

Moved, Fixed, MOT fails, new one!!!

Well we got moved with a fair amount of trauma!

The scorpio made it almost to the end of it's MOT without any problems, untill wit 5 days to go it blew out a tyre. It was then laid up till last thursday. I had put in a replacement rad and front disks/pads. Also sorted the horn. And took it for and MOT ( with some nice 17" alloys on it... ) :( she's failed on damaged tyres, corroded brake lines, snapped spring, worn track rod, and chassis corrosion. So she's still off the road being worked on ( Slowley )

The 2.0GT ... I put on a MAP sensor, and appart from nocking out the imobaliser she has run well since august. Covered over 1500 miles now. She has also just failed the mot on a worn steering rack, dangerous rear arch and loose fule lines.. She is getting sorted for the retest.

Erika the sapphire now has a full stainless system fitted up, and that's about all that has happend to her.

The MK1 golf plodds on but needs to come off the road realy.

And the NEWS!

a new Adition..

A mondeo 24V Si. She needs a bit of work. hopefully not too much as I don't have time for fixing 5 cars!!

Another Sierra........

Quote " yes I know I have said twice before that I would never have another twincam!!!"

Ok, so Ahhhemm....

The scorpio is comming off the road in a week or so for mot work so I needed some transport, again Ebay came to the rescue with this 2.0GT

Based 55 Miles away and with QUOTE "Coughs and splutters a bit." I paid £77 which was not bad considering it had 3 months tax/mot and 5 good tyres and alloys.

The drive back was interesting, with the car only realy driveable at full throttle. I was a litlte bit worried on the drive back.

I parked up and had a fiddel the next dary with no improvement, use of a Gunson FCR pointed to the MAP sensor. After getting parts from Freinds at FordFair, and five minuets more work, the car was running sweet! Fan tastic ;)

The Scorpio has been runnign well, no major issues since the break in, but the radiatior is leaking. She made it down to Ford Fair fine, and spent the day on the Fordpower UK stand next to Geoff Kershaws Twinturbo 24V scorpio. As I say, the car is comming off the road shortly as it needs the RAD, Tyres, Horn, Exhaust and a couple of other little things sorted.

We are also moving house, so Erika the sapphire had to move too. We needed to move the car before the hous moving, so she was taken up to marks on a trailer a last week.

She is starting to come together, slowley!

July......

Well, things are a bit up and down at the moment.

The scorpio's MOT is due in a month, but she's developed a water leak from the radiator. So I fully expect it to be off the road for a while whilst I sort that and replace the exhaust and bushes and........ So it could be a while!

The Golf was gr8, even made it to the Carlisle VW meet up. THne some W....k put a big dent in the drivers side rear door.

The sapphire is comming on.. She's got most of the interiro more or less in and has more or less a full coat of paint arround the whole car! She's getting moved in a week in order to facilitate moving house...

Grrrrr.....

Been a very busy three weeks.

Wifes MK1 went for it's MOT, they rang up to say that the front shox were shot and 3 brake lines. Being a tad busy I told them to get on with it. Then they rang the wife and said that one of the springs was snapped, she thought I had a spare pair from the other golf ( I seemed to remember chucking them away!) anyway I rushed home could not find them, so told the garage I would drop of the struts and springs from the other golf in the morning... That was duly done and that car was sorted.......

On the morning of dropping off the shox, we went out to the Scorpio, got loaded up and then found that the drivers window was in a server state of disrepair. As was the lower dash and steering collumn cowling. I was not a Happy chappy.. It was bank holiday weekend and it took from that friday morning until the following wednesday for the glass company to sort it ( so much for emergency glass cover!! )

I was now a little worried about the vunerability of my car, and decided that the drive space where the Golf project was needed to be reclaimed. So, the Sierra was driven onto the drive , and the Golf pushed into the garage where it was cut into manageable chunks and parts stripped.. A sad end.

The garage was then tidied up and the sierra driven back in!!!

Yes she drives, stops and turns. The exhaust is useless but I am getting there!

May is here!

Wow, it's May.

I think I have done the sum total of nothing on the Scorpio. Since the last entry. The horn seems to have packed up though, and the exhuast scrape is getting very annoying! I am getting a second hand Stainless exhaust soon, and I am also going to get another set of wheels and GOOD tyres as mine are wrong and running out of life!

The wifes MK1 golf is due for MOT on Thursday, so I have given it a brife once over. A new headlamp bulb and exhaust mounting rubber should be all it needs.

My MK1 now has the engine temprarily in place ( that was a task!!! ) and I have got the back brakes and a nice mongose exhaust to go on it. I have ( I think ) almaost everything to finsihe her off now.

Lots of work has been done of work has been done on the Sapphire. The engine is now in permenantly and the engine test run. Welding is complete, wiring is almost complete and I have started the preping of the boddy work. Hopefully next week she will be out of the garage under her own steam!

Rob

Keswick Scorpios & SaphWerx

Well today we had another successful scoprio meet at Keswick, nice food in the Oddfellows arms followed by a trip to the Cars of the Stars.. And the more chatting...

Last week was spent on the Sapphy, cleanign up welds, spraying stoinechip, underseal, primer etc.. And modding the fuel and exhaust systems.. Engine has been trial fitted. And I have most parts ready for putting back together now..

And just recently picked up a full leather recaros to repalce the cloth ones :D

So all gooo!!!

Oh and the Golf now has the Vauxhall 16V brakes, VW 100mm Shafts and 16V servo fitted up. It's starting to come back together!!

COOL!!