Before I can put the new box in, I’ve got to get the old one out – and as I’m pretty sure that the hole for the gear lever is going to have to move, the first job was to remove the centre console. It was going fine, then I discovered a small box hidden away … a “Gemini 1059” I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with the alarm,…
Right, well … I can’t start taking the car apart yet as it needs to stay on the road for the moment, so I’ve had to satisfy myself with cleaning things up. Before starting, I got hold of a Haynes manual for the Sierra from a local charity shop for 75p and a new gasket and seal set from an outfit on eBay called Main Train Transmissions Ltd. At twelve quid…
The dash lights are still a success and far outshine anything a conventional bulb could provide. Took this one this evening… I’ll be able to see how they’ve done with regards to any heat build-up issues when I take the dash apart again. I’ve just checked on www.ultraleds.co.uk and the lamp units I got for the dash have indeed disappeared from sale. One quick email later and it turns out that…
After getting back from Santa Pod, I started thinking more and more about getting hold of a five-speed gearbox – mainly due to a combination of economy and more relaxed motorway driving. Loads of helpful folks told me I wasn’t being daft and that it made perfect sense The general consensus seems to be that if you put it on the back of a big power engine and do donuts all weekend,…
On the last Saturday in May, we set off for Classic Ford 2008 at Santa Pod Raceway. Three hundred and fifty miles there and back … I’m starting to think that a fifth gear might be nice for the motorways After spending some time buftying up the car, popping to Argos to get a tent, loading up the car with a whole load of stuff we wouldn’t need, failing to…
Hoiked the car up onto the axle stands last night to “quickly” check the gearbox and diff oil levels, which I’ve kind of sort of been meaning to get round to for rather a long time I even had the right tool from Laser but for some reason it didn’t fit the drain plugs Had to shave off around half a millimetre each side for it to go in. Either…
After a nice break to Madrid and then on to the Canary Islands, the obvious antidote to all that lounging around is to spend the day hunched over a Capri with a polishing machine and a bucket of soapy water For want of a better strategy, I’ve continued doing the rest of the car with the Farecla G3 compound using the same basic strategy; wash, rinse, compound, add water, compound…
4drmatt asked “Great read Good to see the car being used too. when you go on your long trips do you take a lot of tools/spares with you? The thought of me driving long distances in my car when it’s on the road scares me “ I knew there were a couple of bits and bobs in the boot but knew it wasn’t excessive, however I couldn’t exactly remember…
I had a look at the short-term section of the “to do list” whiteboard. This was from the start of the year and I’ve crossed more off than is left – see it’s not just random stuff that I do Having put the nice clean carb back on the engine, I couldn’t help noticing how grotty the rocker cover was. As it was coming off anyway to do the valve…
Right, well, erm … with some help from graham I worked out why the engine wasn’t firing It turns out that the float height was set bang on, but when I finally re-assembled everything I put the float in upside down. Easily done as it’s not readily apparent which way is up, but it meant that the little tab that’s normally pointing in towards the needle valve was actually pointing…
Woohoo Got the dash back in, all the panels screwed back on and the car hoovered up and everything still works OK, everything, that is, apart from the ammeter on the top left, which isn’t even wired in. Having driven the car around for a few days with the new dash, though, it’s absolutely no loss that it’s not working as it’s the one gauge that is always impossible to…
As the sun was shining nice and bright this morning I decided to take the car in to work. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that it never goes out in the rain – more that I can’t be bothered juggling the cars on the drive to get it out the garage whilst getting soaked through before I’ve even had my morning cuppa Get to work and there’s the…
Turns out that the “missing” adapter isn’t readily available, so I dropped a note to Carl (who sells on eBay as capri_bits2) to see if he had one knocking about, and as luck would have it he had a couple still on their engines in the yard The old electrical pressure sender’s on the top (and needs a 24mm spanner to undo) and the pipe adapter’s on the bottom (but…
Now, don’t all die of shock, but I’ve gone and spent some money on the refurb. A quick trip to Ultra Leds has bagged me some “mini light tower” LEDs for the dash illumination. They’re actually a small cluster of 9 LEDs on a wedge base for all round illumination, as opposed to the limited head-on range of a single LED. What the heck, it’s an experiment They’re actually slightly…
Continuing with the bargain basement theme of this dash refurb, I picked up a pile of old dash fascias quite some time ago on the off-chance that one of them would be useful … Unfortunately, they were all scrap – some had been hacked about to fit newer radios in, some were just knackered all round and one was mostly alright, but had been sprayed white at some point in…