Sierra cosworth estate

[rustyoldford]

Hi all,
I aquired a Granada cosworth back in september last year that had the 2.9 24 valve cosworth engine as i have for a long time wanted to do an engine conversion to an old sierra.
I gave myself a budget of £1000 to complete this conversion which invokes buying the Granada £500 and the sierra of my choice. After a lot of looking and waiting i managed to find a reasonable 1.6 L sierra estate one owner from new for £450.
The donor Granada cosworth after i brutally attacked the front end !



And the rather standard looking sierra which is how i wanted it



I stripped the Granada of all parts that i needed and scrapped the car and started to clean all wishbones driveshafts act ready to be fitted to the estate



i also used the 5 stud wheel hubs rather than fords usual 4 stud on the sierra as these days there are a lot more wheel choices in 5 stud fitment.



Got the old v6 cosworth engine back to my garage ready for a good overhaul and clean



Took the old pinto out and got my new spruced up engine in place



With everything bolted up i made a start at converting the cosworth engine loom and ecu to fit the sierra its pretty much a stand alone loom with 2 relays one for power and the other for the fuel pump.
First turn on the key it fired into life all be it a few little issues which i have sorted as i mixed the polarity around on the mass air sensor !

 

[rustyoldford]

The engine suddenly decided to start knocking after the 4th heat cycle i ran it through so i took the engine back out and rebuild the bottom end which was a pain but is now running as sweet as.

As i knew the car had to have a fair bit of welding i shopped around for a decent mig for auto repairs so was looking for a 180amp unit and came across a snap on 160 on ebay as spares or repair for £80 as it was advertised as welding but results poor,



Thinking it was an issue with the diodes on the rectifier i bought it and got it home and found there to be no issue at all with it ! i put a new 15kg of G3Si1 0.8 wire and a new tip and using co2 found there to be no issue at all !

As for the welding i have patched up a few bits around the rear of the car













An a small patch on the boot lid that was under the handle that you couldn't really see but i did and it had to be removed







Small patch on the drivers side rear



I used some red oxide paint over the bare metal and then filled and primed over the top of its not an area where your going see behind the bumper so the finish isn't amazing but it is rot free





Ive also decided to go for front adjustable suspension top mounts that i can adjust the camber and castor of my wheels so i can get the car to handle as i want.I have cut the original turret tops and bolted the top mounts from underneath the car just to get the ride height at the correct level before i turn down the new weld in steel turrets



Now i had the chance to take the car for a little test run it was quite fun 1st gear and into second it lit the rear tyres up lol but the gearbox has a slight whine as the guy i bought the manual rwd gearbox from had not put new bearings in it so it was bit of a punt but i had it cheap.

Now i had it drivable i could get it in and out of the garage to fit new rear arches.
I started with a 1mm grinding disc and cut the new wheel arch about 40mm more than the rusted area on the car,after it was cut out i then fitted it on the car and scored the outline on the car and again using the 1mm disc cut the rusted arch off



The inner arch lip had pretty much dissolved so I've cut that away to clean steel.
I read that its much easier to blend welds in on a curved area as oppose to a flat area so i have tired to cut the new arch into the contours of the car to avoid less filler and a near to factory result for painting







rubbed it all back with a 240 grit wet and dry and gave it a skim of filler tonight





Im quite pleased with the result so far and i have not needed much filler at all which makes it more satisfying with the prep work that you put in getting the panel to fit just right.
Just need to do the other side and then the inner arches before i can tackle the inner and outer sills.

 

[arceyered]

Nice Job looking good
Are you going to leave the 16L on the back ,great sleeper car to suprize boy racers at the lights

 

[Tosseef Hussain]

That they are, used to have a white 2.8 V6 4WD. Good fun pulling away from little civics and the like once stripped out.

 

[rustyoldford]

Going to keep the 1.6 L badge on it will make a few people look twice the thing with these cars is that this one is the basic model and weighs in at 1025kg ! so the power to weight ratio will work out close to 200bhp per tonne next year its going to have a single turbo and forged engine for around 500bhp thats the plan and its easier to build the engine than it is to do all this welding lol !

 

[arceyered]

Crikey you won't drive it you'll aim it.

Have Fun

 

[Highway_Star]

That takes me back!

My first every company car in 1991 was a 2.0CLX Estate, white just like yours. But had low profile tyres, headlamp washers and lots of other toys. It was a really nice big car, easily carting us and all our kit around without struggling up hills.

Even better, the local plod had two identical looking Sierras, operating as unmarked cars on the then new Fife regional road. The number of times other drivers got rapidly out of my way, or better yet when one of said police cars gave me a wave as he went the other way

H769 PMS, I wonder if you're still on the road?

 

[cecotto479]

That takes me back!

.......

H769 PMS, I wonder if you're still on the road?

Died in 2002 by the looks of it:-



Date of Liability 01 12 2002
Date of First Registration 20 12 1990
Year of Manufacture 1990
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1998cc
CO2 Emissions Not Available
Fuel Type PETROL
Export Marker N
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour WHITE
Vehicle Type Approval Not Available
Vehicle Excise Duty rate for vehicle
6 Months Rate £123.75
12 Months Rate £225.00

 

[rustyoldford]

Beat me too it i was just looking on the dvl a site lol !

 

[KemppiFrog]

I used one of the Granada Cosworths for a bit, good fun. But I was also told that the cam chain is prone to stretching and causing probs. Anybody else know anything?

 

[rustyoldford]

I used one of the Granada Cosworths for a bit, good fun. But I was also told that the cam chain is prone to stretching and causing probs. Anybody else know anything?

Its not really the chain its the chain guides that disintegrate and end up in the sump i have rebuilt the bottom end and all is well.
The engine uses a single chain with one hydraulic tensioner the newer scorpio engine used 2 chains and 2 tensioners (one chain for each head)



see how the main guide has ridges this is the problem part



Bad big end bearing on its way out lucky i got to it before it damaged the crank !

 

[bullet]

you cant beat a wolf in sheep skin, lol
looking good mate

 

[Spot the welders dog]

Nicely done
I hope you checked that the old granny had a organ doner card before you ripped her heart out!

*Any chance you could load the pics to this is site and not through PB *

 

[jpmillermatic]

very nice work...looking forward to seeing it in its final form!

Jp

 

[rustyoldford]

Been busy accumulating some parts ready to replace the inner and outer sills on the old estate and I've also gone for new strut tops for my adjustable front suspension,spent 5 hrs machining the turret tops out of 7" mild steel only got to drill a 5 hole 5 1/4" pcd on them tomorrow will post more pics up soon of the welding in progress

 

[rustyoldford]

Turrets all welded in place making my front end suspension now adjustable for caster and camber



The inner sills needed repairs so the rot has been cut out and new metal added






Passenger footwell rotten



outer sill fitted



Weld on inside of door to make it easier to blend

 

[BrokenBiker]

I love those cossie engines.

had a mate that put one in an xr2. couldn't fit a fag paper down the sides of the engine and the gearbox took a lot of work to get it to fit. that had a Granada rear axle too. went like a stabbed rat off the lights. unfortunately it kept on going right into a river...

 

[cresad67]

Hi

Great conversion. I actually run granada cosworth as my daily driver , it's now on about 165/170 thou and runs like a steam train. The other 'main' problem seems to be the rocker / cam covers leaking , I changed mine last year along with fitting a new chain tensioner.

I did a similar conversion with an old '70's toyota fitting the later engine , box and running gear to it and had fun with the wiring and the ecu's etc.

Adam

 

[rustyoldford]

Hi

Great conversion. I actually run granada cosworth as my daily driver , it's now on about 165/170 thou and runs like a steam train. The other 'main' problem seems to be the rocker / cam covers leaking , I changed mine last year along with fitting a new chain tensioner.

I did a similar conversion with an old '70's toyota fitting the later engine , box and running gear to it and had fun with the wiring and the ecu's etc.

Adam

Yeah the conversion should be good I started it a year ago this month and I've nearly completed it with all wiring systems and abs fitted myself.The welding has been a massive task and is so time consuming.
The engines are prone to the rocker covers leaking what you can do is machine about 1mm off the rocker bolt tubes then you can compress the covers down which helps seal them again easy shortcut,but like you i bought new gaskets.

 

[rustyoldford]

Blended the sill in very well the old flap wheel does itself justice again