Sierra 3d Ecoboost

[capri v8 driver]

Sierra's are getting rare now.

[Jaanus]

Sold the mk1, had no plans for it, no need to keep it :)

Went to the MOT with the mk2, got told its rusted and needs repairs(sills kave koles in it)
Well, i knew it tbh, but i haven't bothered with it. Now that it is cold outside and in the garage, its time to start working :D

[capri v8 driver]

My 20M had much more rust but that's where angle grinder and a welder is for.

  Top job.

[Jaanus]

driver side floor

rear floor

[capri v8 driver]

Looks like your almost done welding.

[Jaanus]

More to do are to sort out the sills(inner and outer), rear arches and should take rear axle out and have a closer look at rear subframe and repair if needed

[Jaanus]

passenger side rear subframe


rear beam mount bolted to the floor and also welded couple pieces so it stays at its place

5x10cm box 3mmm thick



cleaning up to do under the seat mounts

[capri v8 driver]

Almost finisht welding 

[Jaanus]

Almost finisht welding 

Repair one piece, finds 2 more places to repair :D

[capri v8 driver]

Repair one piece, finds 2 more places to repair :D

I know the frustration about rust repair. A small place of rust mostly turns into a much bigger spot or you find a lot more rust that needs to be repaired.

Whit the 20M what started as a simple sill repair turned into a very big job as you could see in my topic about the 20M.

[Jaanus]

Repair one piece, finds 2 more places to repair :D

I know the frustration about rust repair. A small place of rust mostly turns into a much bigger spot or you find a lot more rust that needs to be repaired.

Whit the 20M what started as a simple sill repair turned into a very big job as you could see in my topic about the 20M.

yep, thats how it goes

front seat mounts and seat/prop mounts cleaned, few crusty bits patched



rear seatbelt mounts cleaned and floor patched and rear seatback mount also new



looks liks all panel joints are rusty inbetween panels and need to be cut out

[capri v8 driver]

Cleaning is the most work.

I found after 3 years of searching a Original near rust free hood for the 20M. Sadly with the factory synthetic paint.

I already spend 4 days just stripping and cleaning the inside of the hood to bare metal. Forget about modern paint strippers as they don't work so great. Looks like it doesn't work at all with synthetic or 2k paint. i resorted to the good old angle grinder with a wire wheel and stripping disk and 2 days of some elbow grease just to get the inside clean. Now the outside............   

[Jaanus]

took off the brackets for the fuel tank and rear tow hook


spare wheel well floor cut out

cut open part of the boot floor, need to cut more, to access the beam where diff mount to. that beams mounting flanges need repairs.

[Jaanus]

cut a bit more out of the floor

here you can see the shock tower not being attached to the upper part of the rail and floor. only sealant used in the gap

shock tower only connected to the bottom of the rail

and then i thought, well might aswell take the whole floor out

[capri v8 driver]

Starts to get more  rust then we thought off.

It could be worse. This morning i took my 20m for a drive and both the mountings of the stabilisator sheared of the chassis while going over a speed bump. With some straps to hold the suspension in place i made it to my friends house.

First inspection the mounts are rusted from the inside. The speed bump made sure the mounts broke. So i have some cutting and welding to do.

[Jaanus]

It could be worse. This morning i took my 20m for a drive and both the mountings of the stabilisator sheared of the chassis

Oof, thats rough . You're lucky that happened at low speed.

I went over my stabiliser mounts. When i unbolted it, one nut came loose and one bolt had previously been snapped and then drilled and tapped. I replaced that nut and welded others, so that they wont come loose again.

[capri v8 driver]

First inspection the mounts are rusted from the inside. The speed bump made sure the mounts broke.

When i unbolted it, one nut came loose and one bolt had previously been snapped and then drilled and tapped.

The second inspection revealed that it was the nuts inside the mounts where pulled true the metal of the mounts. These nuts where square 10 mm OD nuts together with 50+ years 2mm old steal this was a metal Fatigue failure.

Still its a scary thought if this would have happend on the motorway at speed as there is nothing else to keep the front end in place as these mounts or bolds break.

[Jaanus]

Slowly making some progress

[capri v8 driver]

All that sheet metal.   Reminds me that i also still have some sheet metal work to do and I'm not looking forward to it. 

[Jaanus]

All that sheet metal.   Reminds me that i also still have some sheet metal work to do and I'm not looking forward to it. 

gotta put some structure back, after i've cut so much out 

so, gonna ditch the spare wheel 


made new fuel tank straps, 1,5mm stainless. originally has 1 strap and 2 bolts.



need to make an extra brace in the middle of the floor for some rigidity and possibly make a bracket orsmth where the orig. fuel tank bolt holes are

[Jaanus]

floor panel


welded in

[capri v8 driver]

Looking good.

[Jaanus]

[capri v8 driver]

When i saw the first picture with the inner rocker it brought me right back to the 20M rusted out double 3mm rockers.

It looks like you have a a full body restauration on your hands.

[Jaanus]

As i said, pretty much all the double/triple layered joint has rust between the layers

Outer skin welded on

[capri v8 driver]

As i said, pretty much all the double/triple layered joint has rust between the layers

Always difficult to protect it from rust. It looks like you are making big steps now.

[Jaanus]

slow progress..

both sides had a nut loose inside (rear beam brackets bolt to there)



mounting place for fuel pump and filter



arches are also done


epoxy primered underside


made a strut brace and ran out of paint

[Jaanus]

an update after some time

steering column bearing fitted:

inside and underside painted



and some stonechip protection

and off to paint:

[Jaanus]

few weeks later got the car back

engine finished too at the same time


and now to try make everything fit together




utilizing some cheap rear beam bushes for engine mounts



main clearance issue. no after pics but ended up grinding the ribs down, heating the intake to mold a better shape, ended up heating and molding the brake reservoir more

[Jaanus]

intercooler piping angles were horrible. engine is pretty much solid thanks to those new bushes so that short coupler at throttle shouldn't be an issue






flipped rad hoses for less piping