Handbag Legerra Developments

[James Doulton]

After getting the Legerra home a few weeks ago, I have been using it as my daily commute. I have done a few things to it to 'improve' it:

1) I have removed the centre console because I could not take my foot off the clutch with it in place because I have to get my knee next to the steering wheel and my calf was hard against the edge of the console. I have still got to find a place for the dials and switches that were there. When removing the heater controls I found that the outer sheaths of the cables were not fixed, so moving the levers did nothing. I don't think that the heater control works at all. So that is another job on the to-do list before next winter.

2) I have moved the main instrument cluster up about 2 inches so that I can actually see the majority of the dial face of the speedo and the rev counter. The speedo is badly out of calibration - the mile-o-meter is currently registering about  3% low but the speedo is over 25% low. How can that be? It is a Czech dial, not the original Ford one so I guess that it must have always been wrong. I just have to remember that it is 900rpm per 20mph in fifth. Moving the instruments higher meant cutting the dashboard to clear the speedo drive. I now have a gap of about 2 inches below the instruments where I could site the dials and switches from the centre console.

3) I have removed the exhaust and welded up the holes where it seems to have leaked ever since it was fitted. I welded some patches made from bits of bike tube. It was quite difficult with my arc welder but I eventually managed to fill the holes that I made too. The exhaust is still loud and tiresome - it sounds really good when I rant it, but for the other 99% of the time it is an irritation. The local stainless exhaust place will make a bespoke system for £330.

4) I have replaced the original 13" cobra alloys that had 205/65 tyres with 15" wheels from a Ford Focus with 195/60 tyres. They only just fit in the rear arches and one touches the body occasionally over big bumps. The wheels were replaced because the old tyres had very poor grip in either the dry or the wet. The use of larger wheels increases the gearing about 11% and, more importantly, increases the ground clearance over local speed bumps - the exhaust used to touch before.

5) I have removed the radiator in order to cure a leak caused by the way that the electric fan was fitted using bolts through the radiator matrix. The fan had been moving up and down and wore a hole in the front of two of the cores. As a temporary bodge, I fixed it with Araldite. I'm going to weld up a frame to hold the fan in place and fix it on the radiator mounting bolts. I have bought a new in-line thermostatic switch for the top hose.

6) I had noticed that the car sometimes pulled to the left under breaking. I have now found the culprit - a leaking damper. It seems that the leaking fluid drips onto the disk when the car is parked and the brakes pull the first time that they are used. I will have to get the unit off the car to measure it to get a new pair. I don't know whether to change the springs too.

I still need to sort out the seat and I would like to move it back a couple of inches further but I think it is tight against the bodywork.

I also want to get or make a hard top or targa top - I can't be doing with struggling to get the soft top on and off all of the time, with all of those pesky poppers and the stiff locking pins at the front.

[Adrian Southgate]

It would appear that you missed the point Daryl. However, I know you better.

The unsprung weight on the Sierra is horrendous, those 15 inch steelies weigh twice as much as an original escort rim, the silly rubber does not help. They are 0 offset rims so the lateral strain on the bearings is minimal, cornering stress is another matter. I keep a spare set of wheel bearings in the garage. :-)

[Adrian Southgate]

I have been looking at alloys for the Sierra and really took a fancy to these but they are currently way over budget. A set of those with summer tyres, low profile jobs and the big steelies I have now fitted with something chunky for the winter and for off roading, doing events on fields in our climate means I need grip.

[James Doulton]

I have a 16mm one that is held in place by the 24mm one on top of it. The 24mm is held on by wheel bolts and it has its own studs for the wheel. That was the only way that I could get a solution without ridiculously long wheel studs. I was aiming to get as close as possible to the 36mm offset of my wheels. The 24mm spacers are steel (2.5kg) but the 16mm ones are ally (500g). That is quite a lot of extra unsprung weight.

[Adrian Southgate]

I thought I was pushing it with 24mm hubcentrics all round... 

[James Doulton]

This week I got some new wheel spacers for the front wheels. Previously I had universal spacers and I had two sets on top of each other to give 52mm of spacing. The new ones are Ford specific hub-centric ones which locate the wheel centrally to eliminate the 'out-of-centre' vibration I was getting. As my wheels are 36mm offset, then I thought that the old spacers were too thick, so this time I got two spacers for each side which now make 40mm. I fitted them and was very pleased with the improvement.

However, the next day I discovered that the wheel rim fouls the adjuster on my damper on the nearside when on lock with the steering pointing to the right. I suppose that the simple answer will be to turn the damper around to face the other way.

More seriously, the wheel wobble under braking is still there. I also noticed that the nearside wheel is a lot dirtier so I guess that the calliper is sticking a little. I have occasionally had the brakes pull to one side too, but I can't remember which side. So I decided to replace the discs and callipers (they are ventilated discs from a 2.8 Capri!) but although I have the parts, I just didn't get the time over the weekend to do it.

I spent most of the weekend replacing the oil cooler on my V6 Omega. I had a guy from the Omega Owner Forum come and help but even so it took all Saturday afternoon to do the replacement. Then it took most of today to flush out all of the oil/water sludge from the system and then clean the mess off my drive.

I did get to drive the Dutton around the Bristol Ring Road to my step-son's to babysit last night which meant I had a nice clear road when I came back at 1am and I took the opportunity to check that the cooling system is working properly when I push the car. The ring road has about a dozen roundabouts with dual carriageway between them, so lots of third gear acceleration 25 - 75mph with the pedal to the plastic - the temperature didn't waver from 90C. I like it.

[James Doulton]

Hurrah! After tinkering with the new water pump, I have finally got my cooling system leak-proof. I took off the water pump to see if there were any signs of the leak route and it would appear that it was caused by casting marks on the tube where the bottom radiator hose fitted. I filed them smooth and refitted it all and took the car for a little run and there were no leaks. At last.

Of course, it could just be a temporary reprieve...

Next job is to sort out my instrument lights and to get all of the gauges working properly and to fit a sounder to the indicators so that I don't leave them on, as I frequently do. Then I guess that I should see if I can do something about the demisters as the fan makes quite a noise.

[James Doulton]

Well, after trying various flexible hoses, I ended up fitting another new Cortina bottom hose and this time I remembered to use tie-wraps to hold it out of harm's way. I also managed to get a shorter fan belt on, which also improves the clearance slightly. So everything would be fine ... if it wasn't leaking still. The water is coming from somewhere near the water pump but I cannot see where. It is only leaking slowly so I took the car to work today to avoid walking again.

It rained on the way home. I have had no problems with the windscreen wipers before but today they managed to get tangled. Luckily I had an adjustable spanner on me so that I could reposition them so that they didn't tangle again. Unfortunately, it happened while I was leaving my work so I had to stop near the exit where everyone would notice me as I fiddled with it as the rain tumbled down on me. I don't really like providing entertainment for my colleagues :-(

[James Doulton]

Good to hear your car's okay now, Daryl.

Yes, that had occurred to me too, Martin. Maybe that is part of the reason that they go on so long.

[James Doulton]

You know why my car keeps losing water, Daryl? It is so it can overheat, like yours!

[Adrian Southgate]

I ended up running my bottom hose through the fan belt! couldn't get the bend on any other way.