Shandylegs

I know it's a bit late in this case, but single best thing I did was to completely unwrap the loom so I knew which wires went where and therefore didn't have to rely on the awful diagram supplied.

Good to see you got them the right way round on the list

Bl00dy hell, missed this! Unless he has already been in contact can you add me + the plastic pig driving welsh wizard (Steve Allen) to the reserve list. Thanks Duncan YOU ARE 1 AND 2 ON THE RESERVE LIST

My last kit used a bike engine & I was having problems balancing the carbs. Someone recommended trying to build a manometer. 50 pence spent (I already had the pipework), 30 minutes and a bit of experimentation with the liquid viscosity it was working perfectly. Provided your carbs have a vacuum take off I would try this route rather than paying someone £70-00 to do exactly the same!

I like the series 7 & 3 sierra based cars. Main areas: - As with any kit, check build quality - Moncocque construction: Check for cracks around the front suspension rocker area and bulkhead areas - Most will have been modified by now. - Suspension requires work to get the best from the car. Do a search on here and all will be revealed.

John Despite my best efforts the car is still in lots of little bits. If there is a list of willing reserves then please put my space up for grabs. Thanks Duncan

Andy Have sent you a message on locostbuilders re the 45's. Thanks Duncan

The first car I owned was a 1982 Fiesta 1100 Popular Plus. The car was eventually sold as I couldn't afford to run it when going back to college. 20 years later after wanting a change in direction from Kit cars what did I find .............. It may not be the same car, but it's same year and model. The only difference is now I can afford to do everything I wanted to do to the original car (and a little bit more!). If the new engine is fitted, I hope it gets it's first run at the next Barkston meet.

John If there are any spaces left can you add my name to the list (Will give me an incentive to finish the car) Cheers Duncan Your on the list

Always good to see a bit of lively debate if pushed I do think Steve has raised some valid points. Most of the comments are the same as when this conversation last cropped up a couple of years ago, but perhaps put in a slightly more forthright way. Since that topic has anything changed within the club - No Has the number of hoods on the road gone down - No Has club membership gone into decline over the last couple of years...? (Do I need to answer that one) Like me many others have sold their hoods and moved onto different cars, but why are the new owners of the cars not being picked up? Personally I have never had any problem with any club member and have even enjoyed a couple of beers /banter with a few. Perhaps the way Steve has been rounded on for raising a few areas that could be improved (The Tim comment has been explained) is perhaps systematic about what he is talking about? In the interests of the club, if required I'm happy to expand on any of the comments! Cheers.....

I was really looking forward to gaining less style points than a certain 'yellow plastic pig' driver but am flying to Florida on the 10th so there is no possible way I can make it. Still I now have more shed time to make a few more improvements for September!

Can only Echo the sentiments of the others. I have attended a few of the trackdays (Barkston onwards) organised by John for the club and find it hard to believe anyone who attended would be responsible for this. All I have ever encountered is friendly banter and a willingness to help each other out when problems have occurred. Anyway, don’t make any hasty decisions re: rhocar because of one idiot. Thanks Duncan N.B. Hope the trailer has been ok!

Have a little look on locost builders site, this should tell you all you need to know about GTS! Luckily most do seem to get a refund.............eventually

have both a 9-3 convertible and tintop (Albeit the last of the old shape up to 2002). There is a noticeable difference between how the 2 cars drive. Tintop still feels taught to drive at approaching 90 thousand miles (60k of those putting up with my driving), yet the convertible is noticeably more loose/crashy over bumps/does not handle as well, at approaching just 45k. Don’t want to be alarming and I do not know if the problem was carried over to the face lifted cars, but the 98 to 2002 cars (particularly convertibles) are synonymous with bulkhead separation, where literally the car splits the seams between the bulkhead and inner wings. Apparently this is due to the steering rack mounting not being sufficiently strong. Although my convertible was out of warranty and did not have a main dealer service history SAAB GB covered the full cost of repairs. May be worthwhile having a look on saabscene.co.uk for a list of the common problems. Thanks……

Bad representation of a series 2 Jaguar E -Type F.H.C?

Was meaning to attend....again, but various things managed to get in my way! How many turned up?

Ditto. Given the crap weather I still had a fantastic, albeit wet, day. Special thanks to Bill & Joey for taking the time to forward on a couple of quality shots of my car in action. Anyone else got further pictures from the day? Thanks Duncan

It's taken 3 years but tonight I have finally got the car in a godd enough state to take to Barkston. This will be the first time the car has turned a wheel so will be taking things very steady for the whole day.................not. Just hope too many bits don't fall off in the process. Plan to camp over Friday, but if it's raining that plan may be shelved. Then again, if the rain is as bad as forecast on Saturday I may have to give it a miss totally as towing a car with no windscreen or cover isn't really practical. Fingers crossed the weather man has got it wrong again!

There are a couple of us are over in Barnsley. Might have a run over tonight, weather dependant. I'll also give Steve Allen a ring to see if wants to double the amount of road miles his car has done in the last 3 years (Only joking Steve ) Thanks Duncan

RS200 = 4WD Group B rally car, so doubt this is the one! Escort RS2000 used a 2.0 pinto engine but the gearbox is only 4 speed (and standard box as put in a cortina), so many owners upgrade to to the type 9 box as currently fitted to your car (i.e. From a Sierra). The type 9 is usually a fairly hardy box unless you are pushing lots of power/torque through it. As this is your second box are you sure there is no other underlying fault with the car? Thanks Duncan

Basically as Gordon replied, but: -not all XR4i's were fitted with an LSD -Also late madel Sierras also came fitted with a 7.5" non LSD diff -V6 XR4X4 =3.6. Rare 2.0 model =3.9 Thanks Duncan

There are a few additional areas that need to be looked at over and above the norm for later kits, such as: seatbelt mountings, seating, and rollbar, but plenty have passed since the SVA was introduced. Thanks Duncan N.B. Good luck with the build. I didn't want to put you off in previous posts, just wanted to ensure you knew some of the problems that may be encountered!

Just spent the last 30 minutes to type out a long reply, which has been perfectly summed up by Longboarder in 4 lines! As another guide, along with a friend I took on an abandoned Series 7 (The kit was complete with all parts) and the total cost through to and including SVA was still just over £2k. This car was built to a good standard using many new parts, but used a standard 2.0 Pinto engine. I don’t doubt things could be done much cheaper, but as we both had prior experience of building/modifying cars we also knew what to spend where to maximise resale value (Car was built as a bit of fun in winter). If you are determined, don’t be put off, but in my opinion this one should perhaps have been left to someone who needed to re-shell an accident damaged S3, not build from scratch. Thanks Duncan

Andy As has been said I think this is a series 3 tub, not a S7. In the last picture I think I can spy the sierra bottom arm with the anti roll bar attached. The slight problem is that I have never seen one where the arb passes through the inside of the engine bay (I have owned both a S3 and S7 - Albeit the S3 was converted to tie bars) as they normally fit underneath. Is it just the tub you have bought or does the fibreglass come with the car? I don't know how experienced you are with cars, building kits or the facilities available to you, but if this is your first project it will not be simple (Or cheap for that matter). Give it some careful consideration before investing a sh1tload of money into this, as the last thing you would want to be doing is trying to sell an incomplete car on Ebay 6 months later and £2-3k out of pocket!

Rob I May be wrong but you will probably find RH no longer supply the vg looms they now supply the same one used by most other Kit car manufacturers/suppliers. These are usually supplied with relays/instructions where necessary. As with most other things if you take a methodical approach any of the looms kits are not too difficult to install. The worst problems appear to be around the switchgear. Ford used several different versions during the life of the sierra with slightly different wiring colours/pin connections. Cheers Duncan