IanS

A number of cars passed by fitting the original sierra stearing wheel, this made it a bit tight getting in and out but was a certain pass.

Not lnowing how much has been chopped off the sump this cannot be answered directly. Snapperpauls post at the top of this gives the levels required. I would use a cable tie as a measure. Get one long enough to touch the bottom of the sump and mark where it enters the tube, measure the length of the tube and then you will mknow where the max and min marks should be. Fill a bit at a time untill level is between marks and note how much oil went in.

"The noise level deemed to be inappropriate is yet to be decided. " Time to write to your MP

My old vectra had clear indicator lenses and yellow bulbs as fitted new by GM, never had a problem. I have failed a MOT on a cracked rear light showing some white, a bit of red tape proved a leagle fix.

You might have connected the ECU power to position 1 which is audio feed and is dropped whilst cranking (prevents tapes tangling) ECU ignition live would be position 2

60,000+ miles running on unleaded on an 83 head. I am still waiting for any valve seat erosion. I decided to just see what would happen ............... nothing.

I do not understand, all petrol sierras had electronic ignition. Points ignition pintos would be from older cortinas in the mid to late 70's

The sierra haynes manual in older editions told everything about gearboxes. I have 2 copies the older one covers the first 2 years of sierra production and is good, the newer one covers all years of sierra production and it more or less says get exchange gearbox. Haynes manuals have gone downhill over the years. given time I can copy the type9 bits from the older manual for you.

Its always the way that come the sunshine and something goes wrong. Good luck with the repair.

I am not clear, is the car moving when the clutch is pressed and the noise stops? I was thinking that the noise was there when stopped and the clutch being pressed stopped the all movement in the box. I only know the mono cars where it is engine out gearbox out.

If it changes with 5th then it is probably internal to the gearbox, I am trying to remember how ford grafted 5th onto that box but suspect that the fork to select 5th is being hit by something and when it moves to select 5th it is clear. Does reverse still work as this might be the the problem. Either way it sounds like a gearbox out and remove the top cover to have a look see.

That looks to me like a lenght of threaded rod, nothing special.

97-99 was series 3 mono cars 95-96 was exmo 93-94 early sierra mono with swept or cycle wings as options.

Rear drum break cylinders probably are the same as still fitted to the latest small cars that still have drums at the back, if it works well dont redesign.

From the bottom picture Oil pressure light has its own switch at the end of the adaptor with the guage sender screwed into the side. Out of curiosity what happens when we know that there is no oil pressure? Unscrew the sender and remove the PTFE tape to make certain that there is no trapped pressure and see what the guage reads. Second thought is regarding the PTFE tape, does this system require an earth through the body of the sender and is the tape preventing that, test by connecting a wire from the body of the sender back to the battery negative.

Lets not forget the wire that is not shown. The negative of the battery (earth) needs a good connection to the alternator. This is often the mounting bracket to the engine and an earth strap to the battery and/or the body of the car. Painted engine blocks, alternator mounting brackets etc. mess up the return path. Try a wire from the earth post direct to the battery -ve.

Tonneau does not always work well when parked. Unless the zip is supported on top of a ridge, rain pools on the flat top and pores through the zip leaving puddles on the transmission tunnel.

I found it easy to mask off the bottom rail and scuttle with masking tape. Fill the gap with Polyurathene sealant and smooth off inside and out. Wait for the sealant to set and remove the tape. I am unsure what masking tape does to wrap as I have never used wrap.

Bring back the dynamo and mechanical control box. Old tech worked. Modern tech has too many variables. Only thing wrong with dynamo was shaft length limiting revs.

Alternator bulb needs to light both ways. Ordinary bulb does not care about polarity LED does. You can get LEDs that are actually 2 side by side in one package that work both ways but sounds like that this is not what you have. Operation of ignition light is switch ignition on engine is stopped, 12V from ignition switch to one side of switch and current flows from switch through light to power rotor of alternator. Light glows. Start engine and current through light kick starts alternator which brings alternator connection up to 12V so now both sides of light at 12V and light goes out. Stop engine by switching ignition out and alternator still providing 12V to light but switch side now pulled to 0V by ignition load. bulb will not provide enough current to keep sparks going so engine stops and light glows until engine stops when it goes out. It sounds like you have one side of LED to alternator which only starts on residual magantism in rotor when revs build and the other side still earthed. Check that switched live brings non alternator side of to 12V before engine starts.

Some alternators come with a W connection, this gives an unrectified signal that can be used to drive a tacho. Check if your alternator has this connection. The temperature guage might be a thermal movement (wich is well damped) in which case the connections are not polarity sensitive and one goes to the sender which normally has its body earthed to the engin block and the other goes to either a satbilised supply or a switched live.

The bad news is that the stainless was probably sanded to provide a key for the paint. Once abraded it is almost impossible to get a mirror finish back. You could try paint stripper but I think that you will be disappointed.

Back in the early 70s I remember having the wheels of my ford 105E balanced on the car. They jacked up the car with the wheel on and had a driving wheel against the side of the tyre and spun it up to about 60 with the car bouncing on the jack and a strobe showing where the deflection was biggest. Fit some weights and repeat to get it right. I was told that it was better as it took into account unbalances in the hub and break drum, yes it was drum breaks all round. I only saw this twice then never again

The rear sub frame sticks out on the series 2. The Exmo and all versions of the series 3 had the wider tub that covered the rear sub frame. The picture appears to show a fully covered rear sub frame therefore it is a series 3.

Vacuum advance is mainly an improvement in MPG and not essential for running.. At large throttle openings there is little vacuum so the slight leak from the small take off point on the carb will have little effect. Reading your post I understand that you now have a 32/36 DGEV twin choke carb fitted. The first question to ask is what cam is fitted as DCOE40s on thier own will not do much so the cam is probably an upgraded one, is it timed right? Then the jets on the carb will need changeing to suit the cam and any changes to the porting work in the head. Also the advance curve of the distributor will need checking, does the ignition advance when the revs build up? More information is needed to say what is wrong.