My F reg Ghia Saff

mk22door · April 28, 2013, 11:39:05

Well, thought I may as well show you what I have been up to for the last couple of years or so.

It's been done in little bits here & there as I don't get much spare time and the Saff lives in my friends garage about 25 miles from where I live.

For about 5/6 years or so I had my eye on this Saff that was down this road which was part of my regular commute, kept thinking I'm gonna knock on this guys door but never did.

Then out of the blue I went to work and it was in the car park

turns out it was owned by the elderly father of a bloke I worked with!

A deal was done and I got it in the August of 09 and drove it about into March 2010.

It was a 2.0 Ghia Pinto with auto box. A bit neglected, rough around the edges.

Then I find out that Mike's Grandad had originally bought the car, passed it down to his Dad and the he gave it to Mike, so I liked the way it was from the same family.

mk22door · April 28, 2013, 11:46:40

At that time I saw a lovely Mercury grey Sapphire on e-bay that I felt I just had to have!

So 'Dag' as I came to know it was sold on and eventually broke for spares.

And I thought that was that........

mk22door · April 28, 2013, 12:02:39

So, I wanted to do a 5 stud conversion on the Mercury grey Saff, but the individual prices of the hubs and associated parts where a bit silly considering you could find a whole Granada for around the same price.

When I started to look around to my surprise I found a 24v right on my doorstep.

It was battered and rotten, and had been sat under a big bush for three months with the rear window open, but it had all the important parts

I thought I could sell on the engine and diff and probably get my money back.

BUT........... I liked the idea of 24v power since reading an article in either Performance Ford or Fast Ford entitled '24v Thrash' this was years and years ago but it left a big impression.

And a lot of my mates were trying to convince me to put the engine in the Mercury grey Saff.

But I thought it was too nice and original to rip apart.

mk22door · April 28, 2013, 12:08:28

Searching for some Sierra 4x4 shocks to fit the 24v hubs took me back to G.S Motorsport who I had sold the 'Dag' to in order to buy the other Saff.

It was near enough a bare shell, having donated parts to kit cars and other local Sierra's I think the near mint carpet ended up in a Cosworth.

It looked real sorry for itself and I started to feel sorry for it too

mk22door · April 28, 2013, 12:35:39

I kept going to Graham's for parts for parts for my grey Saff and kept seeing it over & over for months & months, but no-one wanted to buy it - I mean who would?

After a year or so I went and he said it's had it's chances and would be sent for scrap sooner or later.

So I broke.... bought it back for £75 I think?

Went back down there with a spare axle I had and a crossmember, roll bar, TCA's, hubs, shocks etc and got it rolling again so I could take it down to my mates place where the Granada sat waiting (under another bush)

whiteestate · April 28, 2013, 15:06:35

Nice looking shell hows it looking now ?

doga-ot · April 28, 2013, 17:52:51

Oh so this what they look like lol...

wes

Lemon-Ade · April 30, 2013, 21:28:10

Nice to see you saved it mate it looks in really good condition.

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 13:16:01

Quote from: whiteestate on April 28, 2013, 15:06:35
Nice looking shell hows it looking now ?

Yeah, it looks nice doesn't it.

Quote from: doga-ot on April 28, 2013, 17:52:51
Oh so this what they look like lol...

wes

Yeah, I do have a Sierra... honest lol! (well too many any how)

Quote from: Lemon-Ade on April 30, 2013, 21:28:10
Nice to see you saved it mate it looks in really good condition.

It does look in good condition doesn't it!

Cheers chaps.

The reason for wanting the five stud hubs is I had a set of five of the wheels on the left & then found the diamond cut version on the right, plus there are loads more aftermarket wheels going for 5x112.

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 13:40:05

The Granada had covered 118 thousand miles and was weeping oil from the cam cover gaskets.

I was thinking it's probably eaten the chain guides and would benefit from a new oil pump?

So me and a couple of friends started to strip the Granada down.

I would like to stress that this Granada was in a really bad way body wise, it was rotten all over the rear end - it had been shunted by another vehicle and suffered a poor repair job - I wouldn't have broke it if it was decent - I'd probably have just used it - I have nothing against a big ol' comfy auto to get around in

And as I was short on money for a manual conversion the plan was to re-shell the Granada into the Saff!

With the exception of the shocks and springs - A lot of reading up and asking on FSOC made me buy some Escos front struts. I sat in on some standard Sierra springs for the meantime.

This was a few days in September 2011.

Basically it literally was just slapped in & on the Saff so it could be started and moved around in and out of the way in my friends garage. But as ever you run out of time and it sat in the corner of his garage whilst I got hold of a tank and a few other bits and pieces.

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 13:59:34

Gearbox crossmembers for auto box!

Can you believe the Granada one is smaller and doesn't fit the Saff tunnel?

Bastard! Now I thought I'd have to go back to G.S Motorsport and buy back the crossmember that was originally on the Saff!!!

Luckily Graham isn't a tight arse and gave it to me - not much call for auto stuff lol!

So cleaned that up and stuck that on

So could remove the big wooden mount!

Used a DOHC auto prop to connect up box and diff

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 14:05:28

So we then set about the fuel tank.

I managed to score an e-bay bargain - a brand fire £10 DOHC EFI tank

I wanted to fit the innards of the 24v tank into the DOHC tank - to rule out the debate on fuel pumps between the two.

But the unit as a whole will not fit into the DOHC tank so My good friend Scrag took the 24v pump and put it in with the DOHC sender.

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 14:16:14

Lots of wires in a 24v Granada Ghia!

You will all remember Taps' 24v Xr4i? In which he fitted a Granada dash?

Well I thought as I'm using everything Granada I may as-well do the same - I was wanting a black leather Recaro affair when it's done and this Granada dash is black!

So lots of wires....

When it was in an orderly state all of the bits and bobs from the dash were plugged in so it wouldn't complain too much when we go to fire it up.

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 14:25:17

I do have the ARB bracket problem though.

Dags ARB was a thin one so the captive nuts will need modding in the future

A few random shots of Dag on the ramp

The drivers door had been sold and the N'S front had been bent over in attempted theft when Mikes Dad owned it. So I got a pair of silver doors off a 1.8 Estate - they aint in too bad nick but I've got all odd rubbing strips and stuff now - might get some more?

Also picked up a seized engine for a fair price - thinking that I'm doing the cam cover gaskets - I might strip the spare one down and paint up the cam covers and plenum, plus a good few other spares for the engine if I need them, sensors, wiring etc

doga-ot · May 01, 2013, 18:07:49

Looking good bud!

whiteestate · May 01, 2013, 21:59:21

Very nice dude why use the granada dash ? think its too wide isn't it ? Another 5 studder i do like the granny cosworth wheels of sierras i really like the 80-90's styling.
Did not also know that the arb mounting holes are also different on certain models too what a ball ache !

mk22door · May 01, 2013, 23:17:29

Quote from: doga-ot on May 01, 2013, 18:07:49
Looking good bud!

Cheers Wes!

Quote from: whiteestate on May 01, 2013, 21:59:21
Very nice dude why use the granada dash ? think its too wide isn't it ? Another 5 studder i do like the granny cosworth wheels of sierras i really like the 80-90's styling.
Did not also know that the arb mounting holes are also different on certain models too what a ball ache !

The Granada dash is too wide but a bit of a trim would see it in. I was going to use it as it might be easier to do that and retain the rev counter, my wiring and soldering skills might make a turd of butchering a 24v rev counter into Sierra clocks! Also, it's black & I want black, so it's here and that is cheaper than buying a black Cosworth dash. I'd be getting rid of the naff wood effect bit on the N/S end of the dash - I don't like that bit. Lol.

I don't mind the 24v alloys but they will be going I'm afraid I'm going for those 7 spokes above at first and then demote them to winter when I find some thing better.

The ARB's are a bit of a twat but there are a few different ways around it.

mk22door · May 03, 2013, 13:39:37

Okay so Dag looks good in the earlier pictures yes?

Well, they all look good don't they!

Underneath was just dirty and looking like most Sierra's when I had it.

It had had a couple of patches here and there on the sills etc. But when I came to have a proper look I wasn't at all shocked to find it quite rotten!

Drivers floor had gone a bit (it had been stood rotting away for some time at this point)

Rear chassis rail on O/S

And the obligatory sill ends.

Nothing that can't be sorted.

mk22door · May 03, 2013, 13:57:55

I finally got around to securing the 24v radiator in place properly, instead of using tie wraps!

You end up with a big gap between the captive nuts on the ends of the chassis rail on the Sierra and the 24v radiator's plastic mounting lugs.

I was going to get my old man to help me weld up some brackets but a very nice bloke on FSOC by the name of Stixy said that Sierra DOHC alternator bolt is just the ticket.

So borrowed one from the grey Saff and went down the iron mongers. Stixy then said to simply cut a bit of copper pipe and using some big washers make a spacer for the bolts to pass through. Great. It is a budget build after all lol!

Unfortunately all i had to hand was some chrome stuff ! I hate chrome bling LOL!

So that brought me to the DOHC Sierra fans.

When reading up prior to starting all this - it is the norm - it seemed to be no trouble for everyone else. But they don't fit for me

I have 3 inch to play with. HAHAA!

At the time a few people suggested moving the radiator forwards on the captive nuts - but it already was! So bought a couple of Ken Lowe second hand bargains from eBay - which I have yet to try - they are still somewhere in the shed or garage or loft I can't remember!

mk22door · May 03, 2013, 14:18:05

So I bought some 25mm H&R wheel spacers.

And a K&N kit.

Random sunroof shot!

whiteestate · May 03, 2013, 21:07:18

Got your work cut out there with the welding pal !

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 17:50:57

Yeah! That's why I got someone else to do it

'Andy the welder' made a start at it

The bit of grot on the rear chassis rail.

The rail at the other side

Looking down the B pillar, doing the O/S first

And the outer sill cut off at the bottom looking through to the inner grot!

After that it was getting the N/S sill cut out ready for him, I got some metal cut and bent to a right angle ready to drop in from inside, and a straight/flat piece along the box section to drop down through that gap to help form the lip under the sill for the outer sill to all join together, I also had to sort the fuel tank area and fit that properly.

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 17:55:04

So went and got some tank straps and all the relevent nuts and bolts - thought it best to have a spare set, they came to £70-something, apparently these were getting harder to find from Ford.

One source/supplier wanted £75 for just one strap!

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 17:58:54

Then after the main welding tasks were complete at the rear end I spent some time with a wire wheel taking all the little rust scabs off and any under-seal or whatever to make sure it was reasonable for painting.

It looked better than the photo when I had finished, had neck ache when I'd finished, wanted to get it cleaned up for the tank going on.

Did the tank

Painted the back end as far as the anti roll-bar, when the axle comes off again I'll do all the rest too.

Did it in zinc 182 primer, will paint over it all again in the final stages of the mini resto

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 18:06:03

This welding was all done in bits as and when I had some spare cash to pay Andy the welder.

So more done..

Arches cut out

A few little plates to tidy up the inner arch and the repair panel can be trimmed down

New stuff going in N/S sill

and O/S

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 18:07:34

A little more done...

Bit by bit....

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 18:10:10

And more..

This is a replacement sill having been prepared

An arch getting some fresh metal,

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 18:20:55

And here's a few for the diary..

Andy at work

It's looking good I think, another visit after I've saved up a bit more cash and that might be the welding done and I can move the job on, so that just leaves a few patches around the trans mission tunnel and a few holes in the O/S front floor pan to sort a bit at the rear end which requires the back end to be dropped off - which while it is off I can get all the back end refurbished - beam, diff (not internally not got that much cash!) arms, half shafts,bushes, brakes etc.

Oh the few remaining holes and grot

mk22door · May 04, 2013, 18:44:23

All of the above - right from the top took place over the last few years just here and there, and what I didn't expect in the middle of all this was to end up buying a 24v XR4x4!

It came up just as my mk3 Mongdeo estate wanted £600 spending on it around a year ago, now what really drew me in was it had a brand fire-direct from Ford-pallet engine put in around 35,000 miles ago.

Which is nice

It looked a lot like this when I got it

And after a bit of love ended up like this

So having driven that for a year I'm going to remove the 24v and put it in 'Dag' with a hybrid box.

That's the current plan, and that's me up to date with this thread for now

whiteestate · May 05, 2013, 18:35:02

Nice the 4x4 looks really shiny and cool why are you taking the engine out of it ?