Big Jim

Trying to get hold of Peter Bell about camber wedges. Have tried PM's and email, unfortunately not answering either. Has anyone any idea how to contact him, or alternatively, anyone got a spare set/

If it's been hitting the bottom of the sump, then the answer is obvious, cut another 1/4" off the end of the pick-up pipe.

NO NEED TO SHOUT!! Yours is a Zetec, different engine characteristics, I also have 45's on my Vauxhall redtop (I'd put Jenveys on if I had my time again) But the number of Pinto engines where webers are reported as running good with decent fuel economy, I can count on one hand! I also speak from experience with 40's on a Pinto, When I had the pinto in, I spent a lot of £££'s to fit new webers, had them set up on a rolling road etc. Yes, it went like stink afterwards, but it was like one of those taps that you press down, all or nothing! and fuel consumption as as low at 18mpg. There's always plenty of Pinto / weber set ups for sale on fleabay, does that not tell a story? On a pinto, stick with the 38DGAS.

Mick has got it right, 38 DGAS is the correct choice. It will give you similar performance to twin Webbers, is easier to set up, and more fuel efficient. Webbers are a pain, they will keep going out of tune, and drink fuel. That's why you see so many Pinto sets on fleabay. Bike carbs are much better once sorted, but you've got to sort them first.

Is it one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIRSTLINE-FEM3257-ENGINE-MOUNTING-RC219382P-OE-QUALITY-/291729137502?fits=Car+Make%3AFord%7CModel%3ASierra&hash=item43ec695f5e:g:YOwAAOSwAvJXAoz~ Or one of these, (Early Sierra's had this type of mount) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOR-FORD-ESCORT-REAR-LEFT-GEARBOX-ENGINE-MOUNTING-1993-/150657173424?hash=item2313de07b0:m:mMEU4bqftzBUJFi4IRLmCzw Or even one of these (they were used on some) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-CORTINA-GRANADA-FRONT-ENGINE-MOUNTING-PAIR-QH-Quinton-Hazell-/221879973807?hash=item33a913b7af:g:RM8AAOSwDNdVgts5 You need to be aware that during the life of the sierra, Ford made loads of changes, you can't just ask for a particular part without knowing which one it is. Engines, gearboxes, diffs, instruments, switches, alternators, carbs, engine mounts, radiators, wiper motors, brakes shoes, drums, disks,wiring etc etc. loads of changes throughout the lifespan of the sierra build.

It all depends on which year you mount comes from, as is normal Ford change things over the years. Take a photo then we know which you're on about.

Ebay item http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=191502614206&_sacat=0 £43-50p same again http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=191502614206&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X.TRS0&_nkw=321457103713&_sacat=0 £34-17p. slightly cheaper http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=321457103713&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X.TRS0&_nkw=400785599180&_sacat=0 £23-37p. And again at http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=400785599180&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X.TRS0&_nkw=271399288315+++++&_sacat=0 £25 Make sure that you're sat down before you see the price on the poly ones http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=271399288315&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X.TRS0&_nkw=281766391556&_sacat=0 Price is coming down, http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=281766391556&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X.TRS0&_nkw=252376134561+&_sacat=0 £17-80p

From what you now say, you could have a head gasket problem. Sort out all the leaks, then put the overflow pipe into some sort of catch tank, take it for a run, then see how much water it's put out after being hot for some time, normally they move about ½ pint'ish, much more than that and you could be looking at a head gasket job. So then you need to check with a tester as has been said..

99% of systems will work fine with just an over flow bottle and the correct rad cap, mine on the other hand, maybe because I had to mount the overflow / expansion bottle so far away from the rad, it just wouldn't suck the water back into the rad when it cooled, I got around that by fitting a normal 13lb double acting cap on the rad, but with a 2lb cap on an old Rover expansion bottle. which then helps by pushing the overflowed water back into the rad. YOU SHOULDN'T NEED TO DO THIS. just showing you that there's always an answer.

Lots of information there, but let's get things in the right order. FIRST thing, is the temp sender the correct one? Ford make 5 different temp senders, each for a particular set of clocks, so if you have the wrong sender, you have no chance of it reading correctly. Ford senders are colour coded. (this is a Ford sender with a green marking. there are, black, brown, white, orange as well). You need to know which car your clocks came out of, or alternatively if they are aftermarket clocks, you need to get a sender to match them If you find that you have the correct sender, then change it, put a new one in anyway. the wrong sender will give incorrect readings. Fans & Radiators. you say that the fan pulls? We all assume that it then pulls the air from the front of the car, through the radiator then through the fan itself? If so, this is correct. In the days of the Mk3s & 3A's. RH was including a fan in the kit, but it was a piece of crap, it was actually a pusher type fan, but you wired it so that it became a puller. Basically the blades are formed incorrectly to pull efficiently, check this. The radiator that you have, is the basic single core cortina radiator, it is just about adequate for the standard pinto RH for Normal driving. You want as much of the air that comes in through the nose-cone to go through the radiator, you need to stop it from going around the radiator by blocking off the gaps, or fitting a cowl. A 82ºc thermostat will allow water to flow from the engine to the radiator earlier, but will only delay overheating if the radiator & fan etc are not doing their job good enough. NOTE; The thermostat for the pinto can be fitted the wrong way around, see here; http://nw.rhocar.org/thermostats.htm The Mk 3 is a monocoque design, and the engine floor is mainly covered unlike the 2B which is open, so you need to think about assisting the airflow by getting that hot air out from under the bonnet, most of us did this by fitting louvers into the sides of the bonnet, these are mine, But check out these louvers, much nicer IMHO; http://nw.rhocar.org/parts2.htm Now you need an overflow bottle, and a double acting radiator cap (13lb) This is a double acting cap, as the pressure builds up, it will release water to the overflow bottle, as the water cools down, the 2nd valve opens and the vacuum sucks the water back into the rad. It's therefore better if you can get one with a rubber seal around the main fitting face as well as under the spring. 9the one in the pic doesn't have that seal) You then need an overflow bottle where the leak off pipe from the rad goes to the bottom of the bottle. I would suggest that you wire up the fan as per this diagram, I DO NOT recommend relying on a switch on the dash that can easily get forgotten. (Drawing also here; http://nw.rhocar.org/fan%20wiring.htm As many of us have mentioned, you need to block all escape routes for the air coming through the nosecone, make it so that it HAS to go through the radiator. This is my setup now. 82ºc thermostat, remote switch in top hose at 93ºc, wired as above. the car will run all day at 82ºc providing vehicle speed is over 40mph. but temp never gets higher than fan setting. Note the gap over the top of the radiator is blocked off .

The Ford sender works ok, but I did modify the arm to give me the best reading possible, as I said before, it's not completely correct, as it only shows 3/4 when the tank is full, but it is correct showing empty when it is near enough empty. How I set it, I removed it from the tank, make a basic 2 level wooden jig so that when it was sat on the top, the bottom was the same measurement as the depth of the tank, with it connected via a couple of extra pieces of wire, I bent the float wire until I got the best that I could. then refit it to the tank, It works Ok

NO, Mine was built with the standard sierra dash, but I remade the dash using Smiths clocks all round. Wired them up myself by following the Haynes wiring dia, and apart from having to get a genuine smiths temp sender, and adjusting the arm on the tank fuel sender, I've had no problems.

Which gauge are you talking about? If it's the temp gauge, I rewired the whole dash as per Haynes shows as a unit, but using all separate gauges. I can't give you the wire colours as you haven't got the crappy sierra loom which mine is. If you have a reading on the gauge when it's not connected to the sender, then you have that side of the clock going to ground somewhere, take -ive the wire off the gauge and just run a temp wire to the sender. (MUST be a Smiths sender to get the correct reading) Only one sensor is for the gauge, there is one for the cooling fan, and possibly one for oil temp or/and pressure. (I know where each is on the Pinto, but not on your engine)

We are talking Sierra rear calipers here aren't we? if so, the caliper must be mounted wrong, the nipple should be on top.

You'll struggle to get the Ford fuel sender to match the Smiths clock anything like, the best that I've got is when it's full to the brim, the gauge reads 3/4, but it reads empty when it should. I did this by bending the wire arm so that when it was very near to the bottom of the tank, the gauge read empty The temp gauge MUST have the Smiths temp sender to match it. The gauge needs a stabilized 12v to one side, then the other side goes to the sender, this I've had no problems with once I had the correct sensor. Check your wire joints, if you've got any of those blue squeeze on connects, junk them immediately, solder & heat shrink. I also don't like the crimp-on connects, mine was built with these bloody things, and they've given me no end of problems when I put it back on the road recently. I must have cut dozens out and made proper joints!

The biggest problem with our cars is cooling, you need to make sure that as much air is going through the radiator that can do, to do this blank off as much as you can around the outside of the radiator to stop air going around it, rather than through it. The thermostat opens around a specific temp (marked on it) allowing hot water to exit from the engine into the top of the radiator, also allowing cool water from the bottom of the rad into the engine. As yet the fan should not come on. Once this cycle has gone on over and over for some time, all the water in the rad could become just as hot as the water in the engine so the over-all water temp starts to build up. Depending on what temp the sender for the fan is (usually about 5 - 10º higher than the stat temp), this should then switch the fan on which pulls / pushes air through the radiator at speed to cool it, hopefully! Other things that influence cooling or lack of it are, blocked radiator / pipes, bad thermostat, too small a radiator. but mostly poor air flow. To stop the fans running on after switching off the ignition, you'll need to check the wiring to the relays, ideally the feed to the relay should only be through the ignition (or the ECU correctly) so that it's only live when the ignition is on. The main feed to the relay that will drive the fan is also best from a fused ignition 'on' feed. The sensor is not in the live side of the wiring, but in the 'return' or -ive side, as it switches to earth.

Try this http://nw.rhocar.org/fan%20wiring.htm

Just to put another slant on this, if you breakdown on a motorway and don't have any cover, you have a maximum of 2 hours to get your vehicle moved, after that it can be statutory recovered, and that is only either to the nearest place of safety, services, layby / car park etc. off the motorway, that's if you can pay the fee. The minimum cost is £150 + £20 / day storage. If you can't, and you don't get the car back until you have paid the bill. If you want the recovery drivers garage to fix it, or recover you further, then you need to negotiate the ADDITIONAL cost with them. This is why breakdown cover is a must! But when you get it, READ THE POLICY, especially the exclusions. Certain recovery clubs will charge you if they have to attend for....................running out of fuel. .......or.........punctures when the car was designed with a spare, and you don't have a legal serviceable one. (IE. the spare is flat or illegal, or there's no spare because spare wheel well has a gas tank now. ) Certain ones will not attend if it's due to an RTC (Their answer is, they're a BREAKDOWN recovery service, not accident recovery) Some will attend, then will send you the bill a few days later, which you then forward to your insurance. So for recovery after an RTC, check your insurance policy, it gives you a number to call.

see here http://nw.rhocar.org/reardiscs.htm

According top the latest news yesterday, it's supposed to be getting better, with some fuel deliveries getting through as a couple of refineries have started to produce again. Certain areas of France are better than others to get fuel. Check out this website which is real time updated (it's better today than it showed yesterday, so fuel must be getting delivered) https://mon-essence.fr/blog/2016/05/19/penurie-de-carburant/

I'm unsure how much room you'll have behind the engine when it's in the car, but if you intend to change the cam later, it may mean a head off job again, as the cam goes in from the back if I remember correctly from my Pinto days, be aware.

Whichever gauges you get, you must get the temp sender to match the gauge, don't think that the one you already have fitted will be OK, 99% it won't. If any other gauges work with senders, you'll need to match them up.

http://nw.rhocar.org/dashboards.htm

Very few people have ever managed to get twin 40's set up correctly on a pinto, plenty have tried and got rid of them, going back to a 38 DGAS or the 32/36. (This is why you see so many on Pinto manifolds for sale on ebay etc) Bike carbs seem to be an easier option to get running correctly, but again it will cost you. The one thing people forget to say about twin webers on a Pinto, is that you will need shares with BP, Shell or Esso etc, as fuel consumption will be horrendous.