Great to see you on board Moser. The car is a credit to you, but seriously, get a move on with the updates - you've got four years to cover!

Nice car Moser.

I've also had a number of Fords before including a KH AWD Turbo Laser but always wanted a Sierra ever since I saw DJs car. Thankfully I still get to see them quite regularly between visits to the DJR museum, which is only 10 minutes from home, and Bowdens mueseum at Buderim.

I'm keen to get a fairly standard Sierra and just make it reliable to use, much like yourself. Hopefully I'll have something to add to this section shortly :)

BTW, are you located in Victoria?

Paul.

Thanks for the welcome Simon ... and sorry (to all) expecting updates ... wont go into it but oh god what a month. Those with young families will understand! I'll try to catch up.

Hi TCR! and thanks ... I love my TX3 Turbo ... just so much fun I cant get rid of it. Really, its totally impractical for me now (read: two doors) ... but I enjoy every time I drive it ... hot days or wet days. Yes mate, I'm in Melbourne.

Righty'o time to get serious ...

One of the things I had to do was get stuck into the PAS system ... the return line (small dia) from the metal cooler line to the reservoir was seeping fluid ... in a year (with not much driving) it had gone from 'max' to 'min' and you could see it was wet with fluid ... not good enough for me. Also the supply line from the reservoir to the pump was cracked ... sure to fail one day.

Whilst I had the PAS system open it was time to replace all rubber hoses so nothing (fingers crossed) would let me down. Also the cooler line was terribly crusty and looked poo pooe ... (it looked worse in real life) ...



Out came the pump for a clean up and this was the line that was poor and my greatest concern ... at the time a new replacement was not available and I lucked a v good second hand one on ebay, but now Roose Motorsport reproduce it in silicone.



some piccys of what I could see on the hose, the cracking ...





Arrggaahhh those clamps ... next was to replace all rusty clamps with these awesome full stainless clamps (you don't want to know how much time I wasted trying to find these) I actually found the listing of these clamps in the 'concourse' section of PF and discovered they are made in Australia by Tridon ... solid band, smoothed edged and all stainless steel (how I get hung up on the details) they dont cut your hose and with a bit of metal polish come up SHINEY ... fully recommended. I get Warburtons to order them in for me and I use them on both my cars.

The plan is when I 'open' a system I want it to go back together in the best condition ... so I wanted to replace all the perishable hoses in the power steering ...

I got onto Ford UK and the only hose I could get was the main one from the pump to the rack (the only one that wasn't leaking BTW), heres the old and new ...



With the metal cooling pipe it was blasted, zinc primed and engine enamaled. I got new hoses from a hydraulic hose specialist (HIS Hoses) and reswaged them on using solid band clamps (as I was trying to look standard ... I know the 'ears' are to large but oh well) ...



and how sad is this: I even removed and polished the Ford identification plate to put on the hose [:o)]) ...



Here's the pump cleaned up (surface rust was disolved with rust eating acid), painted and with it's replacement hose (check out that polished clamp) ...



Heres a box o' bits ready to go ...



and the new hoses in place (note the ID plates) ...



... that is now all rubber hoses replaced and metal items sprayed and protected in the PAS system (reservoir and fluid yet to go in), no more leaks or loss of fluid.

OK I have now removed everything that I need to ... the offending water pump is out ready for the new one, I've taken out the thermostat for a clean up and a newy. I've removed all the hoses around the turbo (in and out) for a clean up and for access ... now was a good time to check that it was in good nic to

Some dirty bits ...



and this is not quite the extent of the bay strip down (since this pic the airbox came right out to give me access for another job ... photos later). I was going to remove the alternater for a clean and a respray but I soon discovered that the lower mount bolt is to long to come out without removing the radiator fans ... I'll just have to save this job for when I 'overhaul' the cooling system



Good news is the turbo compressor blades look good to me ...



... and if there is one thing I've seen a few of in my time are compressor blades (although on a slighty larger scale!)



Heres my makeshift spray booth in use again ... this time for the water pump pulley and bolt heads and I thought I'd give the lifting eyes the once over. You'll see one of the bonnet catch screws from the slam panel there ... I have repainted those and the alarm sensor mount at the front of the bay ... so everything is the colour it is meant to be

I must say that I was more than impressed with the condition of the cooling system on my cos (except of course the water pump which had decided to drop its guts) The coolant was clean, the components weren't rotten and the hoses were in pretty good condition.

I got a new water pump sent out with new bolts from the UK ... although only one of the three bolts were correct so I went to a local engineering joint and put the old bolts on the bench ... and he came back with new identical bolts (same head markings) for the total sum of f@#k all! I think next time I'll just source bolts locally and not get so hung up on 'Ford originals'.

Anyway here's the new pump and new hardware ready to go on plus a Cometic reuseable gasket ... and the pump was cheaper than my TX3's (who said Cosworths were expensive ... or that Lasers were cheap ?!)



... and all bolted up ...



all ready for a set of new belts to drive it

So when I peeked down behind the lower airbox I could see the wiring harness had seen better days ... so now was the time to get in there so I took the airbox right out so I could have a proper look.

I'm not an electrician but I've seen a few electrical cable runs before and I hate messy wiring [:(!] (and I know that sort of frustrating issues it can cause)

With the airbox out I was faced with this, pretty good really as all the wiring and insulation was in good condition it was just the harness protection that had fallen away ... it was a fabric type material and clearly couldn't handle its environment , and it was time for better (oh and furtunately the inner wing was in good nic to).



I had been recommended to (find and) use this stuff by a sparky at work (he use to use it on Navy Helicopters), Scotch Tape 23 ... it sh#ts on PVC tape. When you stretch it, then wrap it, it sticks (fuses ) to itself. It lasts longer and offers far greater protection than vinyl tape (although it is quite thick) ...



which gave these results ...



then I realised that someone (surely Ford wouldn't [:0] ) had decided that a bit of gaffer tape to the strut was good enough to hold the harness ... not good enough for me though ... I had to do this properly. Results:

Now that I was happy with the electrical harness, the airbox got a good clean, some Autoglm vinyl protector, a new decal and some new shiny hardware (sourced locally this time [%] ) oh and a spanking new K&N panel filter ... stock looks remember

ready to go ...



... and all bolted up



... oh and I couldn't help myself [:o)] with a trial picture with the header tank and its new decal and black cap put in postion (details) ...

When I walked out to my car and found the puddle of coolant under it the first place I could find that was wet was the thermostat elbow ... so I thought the gasket had let go. After I got the car home I took off the cam belt cover off and saw that the water pump was leaking and the cam belt/pulleys had thrown the coolant back up onto the thermostat elbow even though it (probably wasn't) leaking but I had already decided to take it apart and change/reseal it anyway so here we go ...

heres the old one taken off ...



Pretty cruddy.

When I had ordered the pump from the UK I had also orded the theromostat (and new seal and retaining ring) ... just as well 'cause I had a right pain of a time getting the old one out. After 25 years it was proper stuck [:(!]

On the outide I was surprised how good it looked but when I tried to take out the retaining ring ... oh my god ... the seal under the thermostat had swollen and hardened and I couldn't get the ring out. I took it to work and got the assistance of an extra pair of hands, a heat gun and a couple of screwdrivers plus a pair of pliers ... and finally got out the retaining ring.

Long story short ... I cleaned up the thermostat housing inside and out, and got it ready for new seals and a splash of paint ...



Then I got all the new bits together (seal, ring thermostat and bolts) ...



... and assembled it



Here she is, bolted up with some paint-on 'Hylomar' instant gasket. How long do you think those belts will stay lined up [x2x] Note the new coolant hose, clamps and bleed plug (no clamp on this yet ... I'll do this after I've bleed the coolant system when I first run it



Oh my those pulleys [V] ... a job for another day ...