1991 sierra P100 traveller-spec pickup

[Dez]

well, ive just got this little project today for the princely sum of 100 quid. i agreed to buy it last week, figuring if its a heap i can weigh it in for quite a bit more.......it turned out to be a lot better than expected!!

the guy i got it off had bought it without a motor, then started to strip/cut it to fit a 5L ford straight 6, then got waylaid by another project, so i bought it off him. he was quite particular in the way he worked, and he saved absolutely everything after removing it carefully. he'd even saved the bits of tunnel he'd cut out, and ile be sticking them back in.
he also included the bits needed to 4-stud the front end (hubs, uprights, discs and calipers) off a sierra sapphire, the complete rear subframe, shocks, springs, and body spring mounts off the sapphire too, and a cortina rear axle.
so my options are wide open for a decent 4 stud rear axle..... IRS or live axle, decisions decisions!
plus, theres a 5 speed pinto box with decent clutch and flywheel with it too.

anyway, general exterior shots-








the cut-out tunnel/bulkhead. the panel is laying inside ready to go back in.




all the interior bits are there-


including a pile of bits i don't want-



complete sapphire axle/subframe/brakes/etc.


and the correct bits to mount it too-

[Mike]

The body looks quite straight (is it the photos?), good buy for a ton!

[Dez]

other pics of stuff-
bonnet, cortina exle, sapphire prop, 5 speed gearbox, good clutch and flywheel.


headlights, indicators, bumper, and a set of 4 13" steel wheels as rollers with trhe possibility of banding them later........


rad, shrouding, discs, calipers, uprights and hubs all off a sapphire to get the front end 4 stud-


heres the motor i bought last week that will get fitted for now. its a fairly clean 2L 20 block pinto from an auto cortina, with 32/36 carb on it. not bad for 50 notes and should be plenty powerful enough to get the end of the p100 swinging about as they don't take much power or provication to get them to step out!




i also got these wheels to go on. theres only a pair, and I'm not sure which end theyll go on yet. 13"x8" compomotives (RXs i think?) offset ET+6


the truck was actually a norwich city council vehicle, city works department. the mismatched colour stripe down the side used to be yellow, and even has stickers on it that have been painted over- i may have to re-enstate them


plans? low, loud, stripped out, but still usable as a shop truck.

[Dez]

May 17, 2008 22:00:40 GMT Mike said:

The body looks quite straight (is it the photos?), good buy for a ton!

it is pretty damn straight to be fair. next to no rust or dents. definately well worth the money

[Davenger]

Love the colour, proper traveller

[gearoil]

Can't loose with this one Dez.

Good find, look forward to seeing this.

(trots off to look at P100's on the bay...)

[grizz]

Perfect catch Dez, I would not know what to do with all the bits for a start, but I like pickups, so a winner there for me.

[trg1984]

i love pickups, i definately votes for re instating the stickers dez, even if it means going down the fake patina route and rubbing the paint off with white spirits on a rag. i think itd pull it off quite well.

i vote for banded steelies too for that shope hack look

[bortaf]

The rear end aint just a bolt on exersise you'll need more than just those few mounts to get it on i'm affraid

Do you have front struts? i'm breaking a 1.8 sierra Monday and Tuesday if you need em £20 the pair

[Dez]

May 18, 2008 14:17:17 GMT bortaf said:

The rear end aint just a bolt on exersise you'll need more than just those few mounts to get it on i'm affraid

Do you have front struts? i'm breaking a 1.8 sierra Monday and Tuesday if you need em £20 the pair

you WAY underestimate my abilities
what I mean was, its handy to have the right size bolts and stuff to attach it, not 'it will bolt straight on with these bits'. I think I may skip a step anyway and go straight to coilovers on the back as I have a pair kicking round.

i, do do need some sierra struts, but i think i may have sourced some locally- thanks for the offer though.

as much as id like to go straight out and blow 500 notes on a set of F+R GAZ coilies, I cant justify spending 5 times the purchase price of the vehicle on them!! maybe in a bit if I get on with it and keep it I will........or, i think ile just use rally design bits and some heavier oil and get the front end sorted for less than £100, and use the coilovers i already have on the back.

I removed the seats and all the interior plastic trim, sound deadening and carpets in a spare hour this afternoon, then proceeded with scraping out all the tarboard sound deadening. man, ford stuff is way tougher than any other manufacturers stuff!! I did half the drivers floorpan then gave up, at least until I find where ive put my heat gun anyway!!

[Dez]

the teardown begins........
i stayed behind for a couple of hours this evening, and ripped the front suspension apart.

undo about 8 bolts and then this lot lands on the floor-


leaving this lot to clean up. i didnt find anything other than surface rust around here.


so i started to go through the front sus and see what condition it was in. lets jsut say the cross member has seen better days-


then this happened, so itll definately be going in the bin and a better one going on.


steering rack and ends are decent though, needs a clean up but no wear/play-


arb. it appears P100s ran the 26mm ones the same as the xr4x4, the fattest one, which is nice bushing are shot but theyll be replace with poly.


left lower arm looks fairly new-


right hand one is shot though, play in the balljoint.

so, i need some new bits before i can do anything.

so i carried on stripping stuff back, this time inside. all the interior out, and i set to with the heat gun and scraper, then the thinners.




i got about half of it done, before i started to get too high to carry on!

[popuptoaster]

top ho, i do like a P100.

[Robinxr4i]

Love it, awaits for updates with excitment!

[penski]

IRS = Camber = Win.

*n

[Dez]

more progress today.
i eventually got the bed off. one bolt was already missing its head, one had been drilled out by the previous owner before he gave up, 2 came out dead easy, i got in to grind the head off one more, and the last one was a total beatch and i ended up slicing the bracket off the chassis with the airsaw as it was rounded out and i just couldn't get to remove it any other way.
then, with a little help, i stood it up on its end on some tyres, then tied it to the roof for safety.


what i found underneath was suprisingly good, only the 2 bits of rust i already knew about. it heads a clean up and repaint, but its not at all bad. i binned a few bits i wont need like the exhaust and the spare wheel rack, and removed the fuel tank and drained the dregs out of it. ive then left the back end for now until i get the front half finished off and rolling again, but its nice to know its all fairly decent under there.


so, i decided to turn my attention back to the front end. i finished cleaning the tarboard off the tunnel and scrubbed off all the residue with thinners, ready to weld it back in.

i then decided to add some lightness to the front end
first, the bumper. its only fairly flimsy plastic, but its filled with dense foam. i hacked it all out with the crowbar and scraped out the remainants. i will be adding a few holesaw holes to it at a later date to get some more air flowing through to the brakes and rad, and it will be made quick release with some bonnet pins and a couple of dzus fasteners.
heres an in progress shot-


then, i turned my attentions to the bonnet. this thing is a really heavy lump. first, ditch the sound deadening-


then mark up the inner skin and attack it with the grinder. i left on a slightly bigger frame round the edge than usual so it doesn't flop around like a limp semi as this thing will be driven more eor less daily.....


and now it weighs half as much as before, hurrah!!

[Ruki]

Nice work !

[Robinxr4i]

You weight saving gives me bad idea! STOP IT!

[trg1984]

that lightened bonnet gives me a great idea for a cleaned bay, smoothing the inside of the bonnet would be genius!!

i wish i could crack on with projects like you do, i never seem to get owt done

[bigrod]

I foresee the method of lightening the bonnet becoming very popular!

That has just been added to my very long 'todo' list.

So was it spot welds you needed to remove or is it bonded?

[Dez]

May 20, 2008 22:08:04 GMT Robinxr4i said:

You weight saving gives me bad idea! STOP IT!

oh, theres much more to come