So far the project has cost me :

£850 for the car
£120 for the head and cam
£100 for the manifold
£70 for the PAS rack
£25 for the matrix
£20 for the exhaust backbox
£10 for the spacers.

Next up is a service and hopefully fitting the shiny bits!

1987 GLSi Sierra project (Hopeless amateur learns as he goes)

To 99.9% of the population, this will be dull as ditchwater, but to a few eccentric gits like me, the simplicity and basic qualities of an 80's Ford have their advantages. And it's one of the cheapest ways into RWD!)

I've had Sierra's since 1992 on and off, and the latest in number 9 all told.
I know there are newer, quieter, faster, better handling cars, but the Sierra does most of what I need well, and with some upgrades I plan to do along the way, hope to turn it into something a little more fun.

I use different forums for help and advice, but "my" home sites are BigPower and FSOC.
When I started looking for a Sierra again, it was after a long line of cars that either went wrong and cost me a packet, or were frankly a right disappointment.

A good friend of mine who runs his own garage and has run highly tuned Fords (A MK1 Escort springs to mind) recommended a Pinto engined model, due to their tough nature and tune-ability.

So off I went and after three months-nothing!

And just when I resigned myself to running about in my MK3 Golf GTI 16v (yawn), I found this:

I travelled to Cambs to drop the Golf off, then tracked across country to Lowestoft to see the 31k, one owner totally standard GLSi.
The poor old thing had done only 300 miles in the last 2 years, and did nt have ABS, PAS, electric back windows, a CD. At least there was less to go wrong I guess :)

I ran it for a month as that, but then dabbled with other wheels. This picture is at one of the BigPower tracknights, sadly I did nt play, but I'd not even done 500 miles in it at this stage.

So by now, it had 3mm spacers on, and these RS2000 wheels. It looked ok , but the offset of the wheels was wrong, and it was a little skittish, so they came off again, and got sold.

I then started a shopping list for more oomph in line with the original plan, standard looks, but a better, punchier drive to bring it up to date a little.

First off was a tubular manifold made by Ashley. These are rare for the injection heads, but I managed to get it for £100 delivered, and as you can see, after a little high temperature paint, came up well.

Next was to try and find another head for potential porting and polishing, and a Kent or Piper cam for more oomph.
After a month or so, this cropped up on eBay for £120!

One head, Kent '32 cam, and alloy vernier.
It needs cleaning up, but was well cheap at that money.

I then got this for the back of the car, and so had assembled a nice little collection to make some improvements.......

I have also changed the heater matrix as the old one was full of sediment and not allowing any hot coolant through it (No a nice cold winter in the car), and changed the standard 4 turns lock-to-lock steering, over to a power rack, which is much quicker at 3.5 turns lock-to-lock.