1993 Ford Sierra Sapphire - Focus Coilovers - Boring alloys

[dude]

I've been MIA for quite a while, due to a massive loss of mojo. But now i'm back!
Sadly my camera is broken, so all pictures are curse word phone pictures :/


I bought a cheap sierra a few months ago, and hopefully it will be worthy of a project thread.
It's a 1993 2.0 injected DOHC.


It had been sitting for 5 years.

I cleaned it up a bit, got some cheap wheels and got it MOT'd.





I also ruined the interior.




"how to install a custom shift knob on a mt75"






I drove around like that for a while, but the height and wallowyness started to get on my nerves.
Loads of sierras in finland use focus mk1 front coilovers, so i ordered a cheap set, and some polybushes for good measure.
People claim that the rears won't fit, but i gave it a try.




Not exactly a perfect fit, but i guess it'll do, if the height adjuster (?) had been steel they would be perfect, as i could just weld them to the suspension arm.
This was mostly a temporary solution, i will install coilovers in the rear as well in due time.

The focus uses a threaded top for the upper damper attachment, so that had to be modified. The bottom mount was also too narrow, which was fixed with a 15mm lenght of pipe.


All together



Here it is at max height with stock front suspension.



Now i'm off to fit the front coilovers, and wind down the rear adjusters...

[qwerty]

Do the front coilovers just bolt up?

Glad to see this done.

[Speedle]

Excellent save! I bloody love Sierra's I've wanted one ever since I was about 4 and had a matchbox one

[Copey]

Awesome, liking the sounds of using mk1 focus coilovers! Keep us posted

[dude]

Thanks guys!

Jan 30, 2015 12:20:42 GMT qwerty said:

Do the front coilovers just bolt up?

Glad to see this done.

They do indeed, here's what i've been up to today.


First you need to remove the front suspension and remove the old bushings.




Here's what the coilovers look like assembled with the sierra top mounts, and fresh painted spindles.
-

I modified the swaybar bushings for a bit more caster.


Assembled. The bushings were intended for a cossie, so the inner control arm bushings needed a bit of... customisation to fit..


In place.


Here's what they look like at about max height. About the same as, what i presume was -40mm springs.



I adjusted the rears to about halfway, and the fronts have about 10mm adjustment left.
The helper springs are quite thick though, so removing them would give more than enough lows.

(Sorry for the open hood )

I'll let them settle a bit and then i'll remove the inner fenders and lower it a cm or two more.


I haven't installed the rear bushings yet, as i don't own an oxy torch.
I've also got some more parts laying around..

[Copey]

Oooooo...tempting!! Sits well too man!

[qwerty]

Excellent work and good to see you back!

[dude]

Some glamour shots from today.






Bonnet open again...


Fixing some "issues"


Don't think i can lower it much more with the balloon tyres and adjusted caster..

Fixed the sagging exhaust as well.

[colintempest]

Nice build! Curious about that Focus setup.

Need to get my Sierra back on the road asap and beat it with a lowering stick!

[heathrobinson]

Interesting! Will that work on an xr4x4?

[dude]

Jan 31, 2015 21:27:47 GMT colintempest said:

Nice build! Curious about that Focus setup.

Need to get my Sierra back on the road asap and beat it with a lowering stick!

Thank you! The front is nice and firm, but the rear is almost too stiff.
These would do good for a drift or stance car, but i'd guess they're a bit on the hard side for the average daily driver.

Jan 31, 2015 22:19:12 GMT heathrobinson said:

Interesting! Will that work on an xr4x4?

No it won't, the 4x4's uses 50mm front struts, rwd uses 46mm. But i guess the rear would fit.
I plan to fit scorpio front knuckles which also uses 50mm dampers, i will make adapter sleeves to make the coilovers fit.


Now on to todays progress.. Seats!

I got a pair of nissan 200sx s14 seats of a friend.



Devising my evil plan.



I cut the whole seat frame off the stock seats and welded it to the nissan seats, keeping the height adjustment and all.




All done!



So much more comfortable, and a lot more side support.
Now i just need to find a complete dark gray interior..

[dude]

Today i did the rear bushings..

Which obviously involved a lot of this..


"I'd like my bushings well done please"
'


Here's a quick tutorial on how to remove the subframe bushings.


Result!


I also wound down the rear adjusters all the way, resulting in a terrible ride, as apparently the dampers are now out of their comfort zone.
Edit - The bump-stop mounts were laying against the adjusters, so i cut them off.

[Robinxr4i]

Excellent stuff Mr. dude, you know my perversion for the Ford Sierra HAHA! Will be keeping an eye on this thread!

[dude]

Feb 9, 2015 21:29:01 GMT Robinxr4i said:

Excellent stuff Mr. dude, you know my perversion for the Ford Sierra HAHA! Will be keeping an eye on this thread!

Thanks dude, your latest thread's bookmarked as well. Actually all of your sierra threads


Not much has happened lately, a friend turned some adapters so i can get the focus coilovers bolted to the scorpio knuckles.
But before i install those i modified a pair of stock hubs to see how i liked close to zero ackerman, and how much to shorten the distance between the steering joint and ball joint.





I also tried the OZ mag wheels. They didn't fit at all, tyres too big, studs too short, and probably needs some spacers as well.





In other news, traded the e38 for a dirty derv e39. I have a set of aero wheels which where destined for the pontiac, but it looks like they just got a new home..

[Tommy_940]

cant wait to see that sierra with them comps on should look good!

Any plans for the engine?

[dude]

Feb 23, 2015 19:50:40 GMT Tommy_940 said:

cant wait to see that sierra with them comps on should look good!

Any plans for the engine?

The thought of a saab engine has crossed my mind ones or twice..
As it's a low-emission car you can't really put whatever you want under the bonnet if you want to keep it legal here, but the right saab engine would be both legal, cheap and plenty of tuning potential..

So if the perfect donor pops up that's probably the route i'll take

[galway1990]

What power ford focus and year is the coilovers from?

[dude]

Mar 19, 2015 21:31:18 GMT galway1990 said:

What power ford focus and year is the coilovers from?

I think all mk1 focus coilovers fit, altough i'm not sure about the RS ones.



I got some cheap alloys under it. Desperately needs some lower tyres tough.










Could use a new bootlid aswell..

[randombastard]

Looks nice man!

[Copey]

Looking good! Fitted some Focus coilovers to mine today work a treat! Though a TCA is now goosed!