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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.

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.