While my Capri is off road at Chizfab being turned into a 24v linked up competitive fully sorted beast I've got myself this Sierra. The idea is to have a budget temporary drifty toy to keep me amused/skint, and most of all hone my skills for when I get behind the wheel of the main event. These pix are excerpts from two Fast Ford features documenting the story.... Starting off I found it a lot harder than expected to find a cheap MOT'd 2.0 Sierra..... most were well over £500 and far away. This one turned up on the Bay in Thurso of all places (round the corner from bloody John O'Groats!). Some last minute bidding got it for £275 with 6 months test. So we set off for the north coast of Scotland in Tom's stupid old Merc...... It didn't last long.... We got to Pitlochry before a halfshaft started to self desctruct! Back on track with an Astra blagged from Pitlochry Hire Cars we headed north.. A bit of haggling with the seller and it was mine for £250. (a wing was beyond fucked and I'm quite sure he was well aware that the pix in the sale didn't show that up properly!). All set for 300 miles south now! It made it back totally fine, real comfy to drive and a genuine 72k on the clock, all backed up with MOTs and service history! Next day was a Classic Ford shoot at Crail which I took along the Saph as firstly it was the only car I had out of my 5(!) which was working, and I was sure I could get a cheeky skid in too.... Shoot wrapped up so lets go play! Really tall wobbly suspension and an open diff was never going to be great but it was still MILES better than my Capri already! Scandy flicks and actual handling more like a real car rather than a broken shopping trolley was possible! I was really impressed with it! Only thing I felt could be a problem was the steering which was really slow, laggy and jerky. The PAS resovoir even overflowed! I really should have taken some spare wheels, but the car was ram packed with photo gear, and I'm used to the Capri which takes a full day's skidding to kill tyres! Next stage... mods.....
A few days later we undertook project 24hr drift car! The plan was basically to do some budget key drift mods and tart her up The main men, Chizfab & Toole.... Ren enthralled by wet n dry... Tyre shopping Tramp style Fitting tyres the cool way... Weller Steels, 15x8J ET4 Had to try out the new welded diff! Shonky battered wing gives Toole no fear! Euan Begbie's 180 odd MPH bumper.... gotta add a few brake! Dodgy door replaced... essential Cossie style spoiler!
Badges binned, towbar cut off... Random bumper tug of war Working into the night, Cossie kit fitted... pointless number plate trimming! Toole in action! Result! 24 hours after it arrived at Chizfab we're at Crail for a big track drift day.. Massive huge thanks to Chizfab, Toole, Jeek, Ren, Two Sheds, Salmon, Rosco, Harris, Tom, Stuart, Pete and K...... Apart from the slipping clutch it did pretty well.... totally different from the forgiving barge like behaviour of the day when it was up 100% stock, but had far more potential. Next stop was Ford Fair at Silverstone! New clutch fitted, geometry sorted, cool plates, half a ton of stickers added and we're ready to go It might have been massively underpowered for such a huge track but it was fun just throwing it into corners and using up the whole track to get it back together! A long drive home for Kyle....
Since then I've been taking the Sierra to nearly every day at Crail.... Apart from ripping a gearbox mount apart from constant shift locks it's doing just fine! Skills are progressing, delaminating tyres are killing bumpers, all is well I've even been going up in the most ridiculous of weathers.... lol (no picture could describe how wet it was this day!). This week as my Alfa is away getting paint I've been using it daily.... and trying to resist temptation Here it is looking out of place... which it does pretty much everywhere very well
I love that The Weller's are a great touch and I love the way this is clearly getting all of the coal chucked in, wherever possible. Good work. Out of interest, did you buy the wheels direct? If so, were you able to specify the offset?
Cheers man! Sadly Weller don't make 15s any more.... I've got two sets of 8s. First set came from my mate's Capri which I bagsied at the side of the road just after he poked a rod out the block! Nothing like preying on the vulnerable..... LOL
Ah.............the walk of shame! Nice Thanks anyway.........I'll keep an eye on the Sapphire. I'm really smitten with that.
Quality write up Ade, I think it looks even better on the white Wellers! You going to Crail on Sunday?
Cheers guys! Yep, Sierra just love a good bit of width in the rim department... crazy so many owners don't see that! Yeah going to Crail tomorrow Dave, you up just now?
Cheers guys! Did me proud at Crail today.... couple of bumps due today, but nothing the good old Saph couldn't shrug off!
So on Friday I took the Saph to Simon's Custom Exhausts for some adjustments and budget speccing up. As well a better hanging system I opted for a proper 4" outwardly rolled tailpipe (only thing that can go on a Saph!) and the centre box chopped out Looked great.... Just a shame that I smashed it backwards into the tyre wall at Crail on Sunday! So today it was a trip back (with the much dirtier Saph which was wearing a few more battle scars) to Simon's to get it fixed... Sorted!
theirs 6 weller steels 15x7's in a local scrap yard in sittingbourne been their for ages in ford fitment i think their £15 or £20 a wheel and have slicks on the breaker yards called bobbing car breakers!!! dont know if their of any use to you
