I'm new, so be nice.

[David_17]

Hi everyone.

I've just joined up to gain some knowledge, before starting my build.

I've got the book, i've got the enthusiasm, my problem is workspace. I only have access to a single garage, so having a donor isn't really an option for me.

I plan on using a zetec engine, so won't be needing the engine from the sierra anyway. Anyone have an idea of how much the sierra parts i need would cost roughly, if buying seperatley? Eg. uprights, gearbox etc.

Thanks in advance.

Dave.

*EDIT* thinking about it, what else would i need off the sierra, besides brakes, uprights, gearbox (+ diff) and steering column?

[HandyAndy]

welcome to the forum David, :)

you can get most parts needed from ebay but takes time to source them all,
gearboxes are approx £50 to £70, uprights / brakes etc tend to sell as a job lot, you can of course buy brand new front uprights from Rally Design, i think they are £99 a pair.

good luck with your build, any questions then have a search on here or ask away, its a very friendly forum & everyone is willing to help .

cheers
andy

[David_17]

Thanks for the welcome and quick reply :)

I think that's how i'll go about it then, instead of buying a donor car. Saves the hassle of getting rid of the scrap left over too :p

[twinturbo]

A not fully comprehensive list of sierra parts is...

Front Hubs
Steerign Column + UJ Shaft
Front Calipers
Rear Shafts
Rear Drums or calipers
Handbrake
Diff
Stalks
Dash
Gearbox
Engine
Engine Loom
Steering wheel
Handbrake cable

You will find some bits cost a fair bit unless your luck ( steering column for example )

Good luck on the build

TT

[Tatey]

David, where in the north east are you located?

I am building my car in a single garage at the moment and decided to go down the buy parts separately route. I managed to pick up the following in one go for £125:

Engine
Gearbox
Driveshafts
Diff
Front hubs
Front callipers
Rear hubs
Rear drums

I then managed to pick up a complete sierra column the other week for £12.07. So the bargains are out there.

I was going to be going down the CVH engine route as I got it chucked in with my donor parts, but it was going to prove too costly to get running again as it required a lot of work. I managed to pick up a 94 1.8 zetec engine with 70,000 miles for £40 from someone local to me. It is a known runner as he was going to be putting it into his car.

So if you are local to me then feel free to come round and have a look at my build as it sounds as if you will be going down a similar route to me.

[David_17]

Hiya.

I'm in Redcar (cleveland).

That sounds like an amazing bargin all that lot! Where did you manage to find that?

[Tatey]

What is it with Roadster builders being located in Cleveland? :p.

There are a few other builders near by you, including Spud69 of Saturn Sports Cars, so you're sorted for a local supplier of Roadster parts and no doubt inspiration if Spud takes you out in his car, as I can tell you, once you've been out in the real thing, you really want to get yours on the road.

It was a tip off from a fellow builder on here, the guy was going to be building his own kit car but then never got round to it, so decided to sell it all. I was initially struggling to find donor parts, and I was going to be going down the donor car route until that deal popped up.

[David_17]

I'll have to keep my eyes out. For bargins and fellow builders on the roads :D

[MightyMouth]

You don't really need a garage for the donor, if you have a drive or even a front lawn you can park it on you can have it stripped over a weekend.

[HandyAndy]

What is it with Roadster builders being located in Cleveland? :p.



:D there,s a few of us in Cleveland building..... must be something in the air .

I,m local to you david, happy to help in any way I can, my car is getting close to being finished, welcome to pop over & talk " Roadster" anytime :cool:

cheers
andy

[CaptainCrash1971]

Welcome to the forum David.
I'm also quite local (Durham) and will be building in a single garage. I've bought a chassis and donor parts off a guy who doesn't have time to finish the build so managed to get quite well set up.
I've posted a link on this section last night about someone selling donor parts, the only problem is the distance, I think it was somewhere like essex.
Also, Birch Brothers in Yorkshire will supply a full door vehicle pre-stripped. Can be quite expensive, about £500, but all the works been done for ya.
The final option is to just keep watching ebay. If you look in the car section, car parts, then scroll down the list of manufacturers names until you come to kit cars. That section's full of useful stuff.
Once again, welcome to the forum, and if there's anything I might be able to help with, just gimme a shout.
Alan
p.s.well worth a visit to Saturn Sportscars in Hartlepool, really nice guys, can supply everything roadster related from an engine mount to a full car, and a ride out with big Andy (spud69) in his roadster is a real eye-opener :eek: as to what can be achieved on a budget. Just take a spare pair of pants!!

[twinturbo]

We are going to have some good club meets up here in the norf :)

TT

[Enoch]

Mine is being built in a single garage. I stripped the sierra first and stashed most of the bits in the middle of the garage, I built my build table over it. The longer thin stuff (exhaust, prop, steering column etc) stacked up against 1 side wall. The other bits sat at the end of the garage. It's not ideal but quite workable. I will add that I have a seperate workshop where I made the wishbones and uprights etc, they could have been done in the garage though if I didn't have the workshop.

[David_17]

Thanks for all the nice replies. Seems like a nice friendly forum. Can't wait to get started :)

One question. I know the chasis is made on a board so it's flat, but is there any reason why people do it on a table, and not just a board on the floor??

Cheers.

[twinturbo]

The board needs to be constructed on straight timber or metal frame. It does not matter if it's on the floor or on legs. But to save you stooping or kneeeling for ages it's easier on legs.

TT

[Tatey]

Personally I would recommend building it on a table instead of a board on the floor, especially in a single garage, you don't realise how much room it takes up, until its in there, and i've got everything stored under my table, including my engine, drive shafts, gearbox, diff, hubs, brake callipers, wheels, i dont think i would be able to find the space for it all if i didnt have the build on the table.

[DStanley1809]

I don't even have a garage! My donor car is sitting on the driveway to be stripped as and when I need parts. My mum isn't happy with it being there but prefers it to having random car parts stored on the drive . My dad doesn't have a problem with it though lol. All my tools are in the back of my living room.

I'm hoping to move house soon to one with a garage. If not, I shall have to either build outside in the garden (which will limit me dry days only :() or construct some kind of shed.

[Bonzo]

Thanks for all the nice replies. Seems like a nice friendly forum. Can't wait to get started

One question. I know the chasis is made on a board so it's flat, but is there any reason why people do it on a table, and not just a board on the floor??

Cheers.

Firstly

A very warm welcome to the forum David :)

I look forward to following your progress :cool:

Can see that you have had plenty of sound advice.

One thing I would say in agreement with Tatey .... Try not to give into temptation & have your buid table on the floor !! You'll regret it once you start.

With the table at a decent working height, tacking up the chassis will be so much easier & without too much stretching, trying to reach cetain places ;)

As Tatey says, you'll be glad of the space under the build table .... I know I was & my workshop is reasonably large .... Unfortunately, brimmed full of stuff ( Mostly junk !! ) :D

[Bonzo]

I don't even have a garage! My donor car is sitting on the driveway to be stripped as and when I need parts.

I'm hoping to move house soon to one with a garage. If not, I shall have to either build outside in the garden (which will limit me dry days only :() or construct some kind of shed.


You may find that a cheapo B&Q Gazeebo could come in well handy if you are going to have a crack at building outside ;)

You'll not be the first forum member who started their build outdoors :) :D

[DStanley1809]

Hmmm....I have a gazebo, why didn't I think of that?? That's a brilliant idea, thanks.

I'll have to get some sides for it and find a way to keep it on the ground in the wind. My garden doesn't have grass/soft surface for pegs. It's just gravel on what seems to be concrete - rented houses are awesome :(

[Bonzo]

Buy 4, 99p buckets from B&Q .... Put the legs of the gazebo into them & fill with concrete or gravel. ;)

Then buy some of those cheapo plastic tarps for the sides :)

It'll probably not survive a real nasty gale but surely we should be away from those by now !!?? :rolleyes: :D

[Tatey]

What about a large weights at each corner, which is then tied to multiple point of the gazibo. You then have no need for pegs and it should fly away in strong wind. Where there's a will there's way :D.

[DStanley1809]

You guys are full of clever ideas! I think I'm favouring the buckets idea, I can fill them with the gravel from the floor which will also provide me a flat, smooth surface to build on :D

10 more days of revision and exams then uni will be finished and a I can focus my mind on having similar genius ideas :D

[twinturbo]

Buy this.

http://forum.fordsierraclub.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=45423

TT

[gingea1pom]

David,

I have just noticed this one having been bedded down for a few days,

Welcome to the forum and the world of kit car building,

The thought that crossed my mind whilst reading the thread was if you get all the parts of the bay or from separate sources you will end up with a ‘Q’ plate as you will not be able to ‘prove’ that everything has come from a single donor.

Lots of people have ‘Q’ plates and there is nothing wrong with them but likewise lots like an age related plate, just thought you might like to know.

I have done all my building and stripping in a single garage, started with a build table and got the chassis 80% finished before a donor turned up then put the chassis on the roof of the Sierra pushed the lot in the garage, stripped the Sierra then pushed the Sierra out (on a trolley (that I still need to return to a member in Salisbury, sorry Steve)). Chassis back in and cracked on.

It can be done, depending on how much you have messed about with Sierra’s it will help you work out how every thing works.

Enough waffling from me (quiet week at work, this week I will be spending way to much time on here)

Cheers Ginge

[David_17]

Thanks for the advice.

What's the disadvantage of a 'Q' plate?

[twinturbo]

You can't transfer another private reg onto a Q-Car.

But buy the car listed above an dyou can use it's registration.

I am not bothered..

TT

[David_17]

I wouldn't be bothered about private plates. So would it get a '10' plate?

[gingea1pom]

Not a lot really, probably just peoples point of view, historically ‘Q’ plates sell for less, I don’t know if that is the case any more.

With a ‘Q’ plate you can’t tell how old the vehicle is, which could be argued as a plus point, my car should end up with a ‘J’ Plate despite everything that wares being new, because the doner was a 'J' Plate.

Not that helpful an answer now I have read back through it, will try harder next time.

Cheers Ginge

[twinturbo]

I wouldn't be bothered about private plates. So would it get a '10' plate?

No, you would have to build from virtualy all new parts to get a 10.

You will get the Donor car reg if you can prove you have used most of the major components needed from that donor.

You will get a Q if you can't prove the origin of the donor parts were from one source.

TT

[spud69]

Hi everyone.

I've just joined up to gain some knowledge, before starting my build.

I've got the book, i've got the enthusiasm, my problem is workspace. I only have access to a single garage, so having a donor isn't really an option for me.

I plan on using a zetec engine, so won't be needing the engine from the sierra anyway. Anyone have an idea of how much the sierra parts i need would cost roughly, if buying seperatley? Eg. uprights, gearbox etc.

Thanks in advance.

Dave.

*EDIT* thinking about it, what else would i need off the sierra, besides brakes, uprights, gearbox (+ diff) and steering column?

Just noticed this one David, we're all nice on here...;)

Another local North East builder plus a first time pass (see we're not all thick)

If you need to see anything close up you know where we are, more than welcome just for a chat and coffee if passing - can even have a ride out (any excuse to get out)

Regards.....AndyH

[David_17]

That'd be great. i'm sure i'll pop over some time in the near future.

Just had a browse of your site, and noticed you sell a complete car with 2.0 zetec on carbs and megajolt (which is exactly what i plan for mine).

Just wondering - how do you pass the iva emissions test with this? I've made a thread here... http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=4263 if you'd prefer to reply to that one.

Thanks ;)