After a little encouragement (hi Linc) I thought I'd start this thread with my car ... a 1986 Moonstone Sierra RS Cosworth.

I bought the car five-six years ago after several small fords: a 1.3l two door mk11, a 2.0l mk11 rally pack and my AWD TX3 Turbo, but it was a Cosworth that I always wanted after seeing Dk Johnsons RS500 at the Geelong Speed Trials a long time ago.

I got the car with a full service history and genuine milage. I got it with a full folder of receipts spent on it and I am going to continue to keep all receipts from what I spend (although I will never add them up ... I really do not want to know how much that is!)

I want to keep it looking as standard as possible, but I will choose quality and performance over Ford items as required. Everything I do shall be reversable so if one day I want a totally original car again I can.

As I tackle a project I try to keep it 'small' ... as I want the car on the roads as much as possible, and I know if I tear it apart I'll never find the time to get it back together (young family and shift work).

Well here she is ...

Bear with me as this thread has a bit of catching up to do.

In 2005, getting a clean (back when we were allowed to use water!) and how the engine bay did look ...

Nice car. I was just looking at this on PF, I like all the little bits you are tiding up.

Jealous!

Looks very clean mate Im looking forward to updates[:p]

Hey Rudeboy,

Nice to see on here as well.
Looks better in the flesh. Looked great at SFS last week.

Chippa

Thanks santa ... yeah slowly slowly! PF been good ... been a couple of issues that have come up that would have done my head in trying to solve!

Juiceman, Phil ... thank you boys, many an update on the way ... this thread is presently in 2007!

Chippa ... hi Marc ... theres a few familiar 'faces' around here actually!

I have driven it often in good weather whenever I could ... and its street presense in Australia is awesome.

Then then one day whilst I had it parked (securely) at work I came out to find a puddle of coolant under the car. Long story short: my water pump was leaking from the shaft seal so it was off the road for the car and time for a newy.

I had a few other issues that needed sorting so this was the time. I knew that to make this car reliable I need to replace any 20 year old (original) perishable items (hoses,belts etc) that might let me down at the worst time. Things I wanted to do included

1. replace the water pump
2. power steering fluid lines were seeping (the ones at the bottle) ... they needed to be replaced before they failed
3. fix up any messy electrical wiring (particualy at the battery. I'm not an electrician but i am very fussy and I HATE messy wiring
and a general tidy up was in order.

So the car ended up like this ...





I didn't even have a garage to work in

Whilst the bottles were out I gave them a good clean (inside and out).

Before ...



After ...



For those who don't know ... the header tank bottle (the larger one) is unique to the early 2wd Cosworth Sierras, are prone to cracking and definately NLA. Worth a pretty penny if you find one.

Quite a few parts are looking scabby, so whilst I was in there they were either rapaired or replaced. For instance;

MAP sensor bracket and PS bracket sand blasted and in my makeshift spray booth ...



Ta Daa ...



Bonnet catch was nasty ...



But sourced a new one ...



And bonnet stay rod was sanded and repainted and installed with a new fitting kit ...





... and yes, I have polished the inside of my bonnet [:o)]