December 2011

• Been a busy month at work and spent all my money on keeping my commuting car running so progress has been slow this month. I have spent what time available cleaning up the braking components from the donor and the front hubs. While part way through this I contacted Steve Hughes at Fury Sports Cars to enquire about the lead time for a chassis build and a few other points, during this chat I found out that Steve is having trouble sourcing someone to make the tops for the Sierra from struts and is using Escort ones at the moment. The trouble is that the calipers that I am currently cleaning up do not fit the Escort struts so not sure which way I will go with this at the moment, hopefully by the time I get to this phase Steve will have sourced someone to carryout the fabrication job to the Sierra struts.

  

November 2011

• As stated last month, the cleanup and checking of the donor parts like the diff and gearbox has been the ongoing project for now. Both are now done with a fresh coat of paint and an oil change carried out both have now been wrapped up for the winter and stored until they will be needed.

  

October 2011

• With the last few parts removed from the donor it was time to free up the garage and get rid of the Sierra shell. Prior to putting the Sierra in the garage I had purchased four heavy duty castors from Castors-online.co.uk and made a large flat trolley for the shell to be lowered onto, this could then be pushed out of the garage allowing it to be taken away. To be honest it worked a treat although I had to tow it out rather than just push it as I was on my own and it behaved just like a Tescos shopping trolley. I will use the castors again and make another trolley with trestles on so I can wheel the kit around in the garage while it is under construction. Once outside I jacked it up and put it on bricks waiting for the scrap man to come and take it away. The boys and I had become quite attached to the Sierra over the past few months and they have really enjoyed getting stuck into it but elements of it will live on.

  While waiting for the latest price list from Fury Sports Cars and still saving I have made a start on cleaning up the donor parts, inspecting them to ensure everything is ok and giving them a fresh coat of paint. The differential and gearbox are done so far and look very good in mechanical terms with very little pickup on the mag plug and no real stepping on the spline drives, however time will tell when they are finally installed.

  

September 2011

• 26 Sep 11 -

  Well I finally got round to removing the last few parts from the Sierra but these were the major components engine, gearbox and front uprights.

  Having borrowed an engine hoist and load leveler from a friend (thanks again Warren...) Chris my eldest and I set about removing the engine and gearbox. When I put the car in the garage it seemed like a good idea as we could take our time breaking it apart and not have it littering the driveway, however I didn't think about trying to to get the engine out and as soon as we connected up the hoist it was plain to see that the engine just wouldn't come out with car jacked up as it was without hitting the car garage door. Leaving the rear up on the large axle stands I gradually dropped the front down to virtually floor level which was just enough to allow the engine and gearbox to clear the front slam panel (with a little creative brute force).

  While I had the hoist I lifted the newly purchased Zetec into the engine stand purchased in July. Cleaning and doing the maintenance on that will be my project over the winter months.

  

August 2011

• 21 Aug 11 -

  I have had a week off work to spend with the family but this has also allowed me to make some more progress with the donor. Have jacked the car up fully in the garage, I have been able to take off the fuel tank, Prop shaft, rear brakes, drive shafts and the differential. All but the fuel tank and prop shaft will be reused in the Fury.

  I did find on Ebay a 2.0ltr Zetec from a 1999 Mondeo but was outbid for this just as the auction closed but wasn't too bothered as there are plenty around although this did come with all the ancillaries still bolted on except for the loom and ECU. However, about a week after the auction ended I was given the offer of a second chance bid as the original bidder had still not collected from the seller and had already messed him around three times. Excellent news, so I accepted the offer and went to collect the engine on the following Friday. The guy I was collecting it from had an engine hoist so getting it into my Mondeo Estate was ok but getting it out was a different matter as I haven't got a hoist yet! To achieve this required a little engineering/physics creativeness and brute force using beams and step ladders to fashion a crane to get it out of the car! Thankfully my wife was around and able to assist in the moving around of a trolley to put it on.

  

• 7 Aug 11 -

  Some more progress made with the donor over the past week or so. Had to purchase a 41mm socket for the rear wheel bearing nuts as the biggest I had was 38mm. With those cracked off while on the floor the car is now up on axle stands and the real job of dismantling the major components for the Fury can start. The bonnet and boot have both been removed to make access a little easier so if anyone wants these give me a shout? The exhaust and prop-shaft have been removed ready to gain access to the diff which is the main job to do this week.

  The visit to the Fury Factory went really well and Steve Hughes was fantastic, spending all morning showing me around and answering all the questions I had about the various aspects of the build. It seems as though there have been a multitude of different ways people have done things to their own build and Steve appears to have seen most of them. He is more than happy to provide advise throughout as to the best way of doing things. The main thing is that it will have to comply to the IVA regulations! Having taken over Fury Sport scars since January Steve is now investigating updating various little elements over the coming months to bring them up to date. An interesting element coming soon will be the availability of a heated front screen negating the need for a heater to be fitted for screen de-misting.

  

July 2011

• 25 July 11 -

  Nothing heard about collecting the fascia parts that I have taken out from the donor yet but still hoping they will get in touch and collect those soon. A couple of nice days has allowed me and the boys to strip out the rest of the interior including the dashboard and switches. Just need to take the stalks off for the steering column and that will then be ready for removal. Had a lucky break while searching around on the Locost Builders Web site, managed to find someone who was selling a used engine stand for £30 but made him an offer and got a little off of that, as I say it all helps. Also purchased some skin pins for doing the paneling work. These, if you have never heard of them are used to hold sheet metal in place while drilling and riveting to ensure you get a secure fixing and are in-valuable when doing paneling work. I have often used them when fitting panels to aircraft and only cost a few pence each.

• 12 July 11 - Well a successful and productive weekend overall. Had a couple of days off work and managed to stain all the shed panels, finally erect the shed itself (in between the frequent downpours) and get the roof on. Lifting the 10ft by 4ft roof panel nearly killed the poor wife I think but at least it's on now and she is happy about that. Still, I did make it up to her and let her watch the British Grand Prix as well. When will McLaren ever get someone who can sort out their strategies for quali and the race, or even someone who can look out and see what the weather is doing? Also managed to clear out some of the junk from the garage so I can get the Sierra in and started to break that down. My eldest son and I spent the evening removing the bumpers (so the car will fit in the garage with my workbench) and the fascia from the dash. Have had contact from a member on the Locost Builders Web site who wants the central fascia and the electric window switches for a Royale Sabre so they came out first. Now I've made a proper start I can't wait to really get stuck in. I Have also arranged for a visit to the Fury Factory for the end of the month so that should really get me spurred on.

  

• 05 July 11 - At last, the refund from DVLA has come through for the tax disc, £34.16 in total better in my pocket than theirs and that at least covers the cost of the angle grinder bought last month. The shed base is laid now and a few days off at the end of the week should allow me to finally get the shed erected so I can get the Sierra in the garage. Have had a couple of enquires for parts from the donor car some of which I need and others I don't, selling these should also bring in a little bit of extra cash.

June 2011

• 30 June 11 - No progress made at all this month on the donor car as I am still building the shed and base so I can move all the bikes and junk out of the garage so it will not be in the way. Unfortunately, with the weather being very wet so far apart from a couple of dry days, that has put a stop to me laying the concrete for the base.

• 10 June 11 - Purchased a new angle grinder from Screwfix, hoping that I won't need it for the kit but probably will for the donor car. I also need it to cut in the flashing for the shed roof so that was a good excuse to buy it. The V5 documents arrived back from DVLA so have sent that back with the tax disc and declared the donor car SORN now. Not sure how much I will get back from DVLA for the tax disc but it all helps.

May 2011

• 29 May 11 -
  

  Well that's it first item purchased, a 1990 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.8GLX CVH white with 85000 on the clock. The MOT's cert's go back quite a few year and seem to match up but that doesn't mean the speedo cable wasn't disconnected in between MOT's!!! Still, it ran fine to get me home, the gear change was smooth, no noise from diff and ran very quietly really, even all the electrical bits still work. Ended up paying £350 for it which was over my original limit of £300 but there are so few that come up now and it wasn't too far to travel to. Has got two and a half months tax left so I will send that back to DVLA as soon as possible to see if I can get any money back on that but have to wait for the V5 documents to come through first though.

• 21st May 11 - Two coats on both sides of the garage floor now and it does make a lot of difference keeping the dust down and moping up any spillages. Having four bikes in a double garage would not normally prove a problem but also having a table tennis table in there does make things a bit of a squeeze and I don’t want things falling onto the car through the build so the next step is to build a lean-to shed for the side of the house to put the bikes into (and some of the junk that we just can’t seem to shift). That’s the next job while also keeping an eye out for the Sierra donor, there used to be so many on the roads and now they are as rare as a Christmas bonus…(I’ve never had one but maybe that’s something to do with me).

• 7th May 11 - Ok, I am in the lucky position to have a double garage (because that was my only spec into what I wanted when we moved) but as you know, the more space you have the more clutter and junk it gets filled with. Considering we have only been here almost three years there does seem to be an awful lot of junk. First job is to tidy up, clear the junk and then get the floor prepped. It was something I always meant to do but one of those jobs that gets left behind. After several trips to the dump and a pile of stuff for the car boot sale (a job for the boss) one half of the garage has been cleared ready for painting. Garage floor paint doesn't come cheap but I managed to get 5 litres of Gray floor paint from Screwfix for just over 20 quid which is half the price for the Ronseal stuff. Not sure quite how tuff it will be but seems to be just as good as the stuff I have used at work and for half the price it can be patched up if it doesn't wear well, every penny counts. I have now started to actively look around for a Sierra donor now, checking the local papers and obviously E-bay.



• 1st May 11 - Visited the Stoneleigh Kit car show to try and help me make a definite decision on what I am going to build. I think about 90% of me is sure that it will be the Fury but I just want to have one last look around and see what is out there. From my searches it does’t seem like you can get hold of the Sylva (SSC) Stylus kit anymore which is a shame as I really do like the look of it although the Le Mans style bonnet of the Fury is nicer. The new Jeremy Philips J15 is lovely but wasn’t at the show (or I didn't see it) but would have been good to have a look over that properly, although I think the lack of ability to weather proof it would put me off as I want to be able to drive my car as often as possible. I did manage to have a good chat with the Steve Hughes the new owner (although long time employee) of Fury Sports cars, which I think has swayed me in the Fury’s direction. An offer to go down and have a look around the factory soon will be taken up, just as soon as I can take some time off to get there.