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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.

In the UK I would expect a Prince Henry to have more chance. Vauxhall was still a British company then. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Prince_Henry

Kick down control to the filter? Controlled input to air filter from hot round the exhaust or cold air from in front of the rad for more power. I might have this wrong as it is a long time ago when I worked on these.

When I had this engine in a sierra the idle air control valve was often the culprit. It is an electrical solonoid valve that bypasses the throttle butterfly to set the tickover speed and would stick either fully closed or fully open. Held on by 2 screws and one electrical connection if I recall correctly. A good blast of carb cleaner normally fixed for 6 to 9 months, I was too tight to replace and it only took about 2 mins to clean.

The RH rear coil overs were Mini rear shocks with Springs mounted over them. I bought them but soon binned them as the mounting bolts and rubber inserts were too small. The replacement coilovers required bigger mounting holes but have lasted 65,000 miles. The rear shock mounting lugs are plenty strong enough.

My 96/97 modified sierra now registered as a robin hood from 97 does not qualify even though registration says 83 first registered date. But I am interested if any one can save me a few quid.

I have fitted dolomite dials to my car. The speedo is 1000 turns per mile which is the same as the sierra speedo so if you are using wheels with the same rolling radius as ford fitted and the gear box and diff are the same then calibration will not be a problem. The Ford speedo connection can be forced onto the smiths speedo but I got speedy cables to make me one to suit. The dolomite dials used a mechanical voltage regulator for the power to the fuel and temperature dials so try to get this as well as the dials.

second the looks great. Classic looks are rare.

Ballast resistor and crank sensor are mutually exclusive in most cars. Ballast resistor was a way to get a better spark when starter motor was cranking a points distributor. Crank sensor is needed for electronic control, if you have electronic control then electronics protect the coil/coilpack and still allow for volt drop when cranking. Electronic ignition with distributors came along (eliminating ballast resistor) long before EFI which needs a crank sensor.

Heater looks like an old landrover one.

Worth while checking inlet manifold gasket as the heater circuit goes through this.

1 most thermostats are just ON/OFF contacts. 2 Modern boilers controls work at low voltage. 3 The thermostat is designed to switch mains up to a max power. If your wiring center still works after connection then I do not see any problem as high voltage switching to low voltage inputs causes immediate destruction of the low voltage input and a puff of smoke. I know that my under floor heating controller (a similar model) normally works on a sensor buried in the floor with a back up air sensor, in the event that the under floor sensor dies it reverts to just the air temp.

This sounds like a problem I had on an old mini with the A series engine. Turned out to be a cracked exhaust valve, have you checked compression?

I have fitted single smiths guages I got from a scrapped triumph dolomite. Fortunately the standard ford mechanical drive works at 1000 turns per mile. The Smiths guages were marked in small letters on the dial as 1000 so an exact match. Of course if you change the diff ratio or change the rolling radius of the wheels you loose the calibration.

Is that last pic the Ausie version?

When this happened to me I managed to start from stopped in first gear and speed matched to change to second and managed to get 10 miles home with the hazards going and some anticipation of traffic at junctions. Not the easiest drive but it worked. Cable I have now is for 2 wheel drive sierra cosworth.

Number plate will be illegal anyway as it has to be vertical. Of course this only matters if Mr Plod takes exception

Electrical gauges need to run off a stabilized supply, often 8 volts. If connected to the 12 to 14 volts from the battery they over read. A resistor can work but the gauge reading will vary a bit with battery voltage. This is why the fuel gauge is always operated off a stabilized supply.

Faulty alternator can be a cause. When running it charges the battery but discharges it when stopped. A quick check is to feel the alternator before starting the car, if it is warm then this is almost certainly your problem.

My Exmo has been fitted with clam shell wings since the build in 96. These are grandfarthered in and thus OK with the law. I think that your car had clam shell wings when built in 96 and thus will be OK.

The sender had other connections that ford used to give MPG and low fuel warning. (MPG was a joke). There was a separate earth spade terminal the should be connected for the gauge to work correctly.

I am guessing that the wire from the coil to the tacho has worn through its insulation at some point. Try disconnecting from the back of the tacho and again check for shorts, problem with this is often disconnecting a wire moves loom and hides the short so try to move as little as possible when checking.

Robin hood manifold normally went down then through the side panel. Could be a bugger to fit. On mine take the head manifold studs out, then fiddle about for ages to either remove or fit the manifold. I do wonder about boiling fluid as new fluid has to get really hot to boil, would flushing the fluid fix?

Remember that the main thing you do replacing brake fluid is to remove the build up of water in the fluid. Water boils and removes braking so it is a good thing to remove water. The water is dissolved on the fluid (except DOT5) so changing the fluid dilutes the amount of water but some will always be there, the trick is to keep the amount low.

Just be careful reversing over curbs. Mud flap trapped between wheel and kerb will detach a lot