So following on from my previous thread, I'm now thinking of a Haynes Roadster as follows:

Zetec engine
Bike carbs from something like a ZX9R
Megajolt for sparks
Type 9 gearbox (or maybe MT75)
DIY wiring loom

Does that make sense as a working combination and if so, leads me to think I only really need a few bits from a Sierra mainly:
Hubs, diff, propshaft

Do I really want to buy a donor Sierra? I'm trying to convince myself to forget the donor

youd get ur type 9 from the sierra wudnt ya?

And why DIY a loom when theres a perfectly good one in the sierra? Plus ull get a set of wheels to roll it around on. Plus stripping it down is fun

Yes, maybe the type 9 from the Sierra but probably not if it's an MT75.

I just like the idea of a DIY loom - call me a bit of an electronics geek but automotive electrics are just my thing.

Understand about the wheels but don't agree that stripping (cars) is fun

This was taken from your last post regarding a Donor. I stole it from guinness, post and spells out the best wayto go. If you cant be assed to strip a Donor go and buy the parts seperatly spending more money than you need to.

""I went the donor route. I bought a Sierra off ebay for £75. Stripped everything down, partly cause i didn't know whether to go car engined or bike engined (don't tell hellfire), partly because it was educational (seeing how things come apart helps you visualise how they go back together) and partly to sell the rest on ebay!

I bought a Sapphire for £75, it had £15 of fuel in the tank (even though the gauge was reading empty), £25 of tax left on it, sold the gearbox for £25, got a case of beer for the engine, sold the lights for £17, kept, re-used or scrapped the rest.


The list of parts you need / can re-use is pretty long:-

front hubs, brakes, steering rack (manual), steering column, the steering wheel (for sva), column shroud thingy, stalks, handbrake, all the fuses out the box, all the relays you can find (inc the flasher one above the column but behind the clocks), the bulbs out of the lamps, any nuts, bolts etc that aren't rusted up, prop shaft, diff, rear drive shafts, rear brakes, brake master cylinder (not ABS). Wheels to roll the car round on.

There are four advantages of using a donor that I can see, firstly cost. You have said that this isn't such an issue to you, but adding all that lot up is going to cost you a lot more than £75. Secondly, delivery. All the parts you need are there in one package. Think of the number of trips to breakers yards / ebay / motor factors to pick that lot up. Thirdly, loads of projects get abandoned due to people not seeing progress during the build. My advice would be get the chassis to the stage where you can get it on it's wheels and get it rolling up and down the road (with your mates pushing you) as quickly as possible. If you can't get it to a rolling chassis stage because you are waiting to afford / delivery on a new set of £500 alloys & tyres you can loose heart with it. Finally ease of getting parts. I can go along to Halfords or any motor factors, and give them my donor reg, and they can tell me it was a 1.6l '92 reg Pinto powered Sierra. I can get replacement brake discs, pads etc without any bother about sizes etc etc.

N

column, rack handbrake lever and cable, gaitors, assorted light bulbs, loom or part just for wires if nothing else, wheel nuts steering wheel and anything else that drops off really, registration and plates/bit of stamped chassis.

There is having a donor laying around and a mornings strip down and get rid.

I collected my donor on a trailer during the week. On the saturday morning stripped it on the trailer leaving the engine etc in place so dropped off suspension and butchered interior then just trundled the whole thing down the breakers where they lifted off and dropped into the skip and I kept the paperwork.

Then returned trailer.

No real mess but lots of extras, ie all nuts and bolts that fall to hand, seat belt high tensile fine thread bolts etc.

+ it was cheap, I drove the car to ensure all was okay prior to purchase job done.

It doesn't take long to strip a car - I got the Sierra from driveable to bare in a weekend, though I did get carried away removing stuff I didn't need.

If I do another (which I'm thinking about) I'll just buy the bits I need (front hubs/brakes etc and some push in d/shafts and ends). Everything else will be from other vehicles (well, a bike probably).

ATB

Simon

Based near Reading, Berks

quote:

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Originally posted by Jezzer99
Based near Reading, Berks

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Yes... I can see the point of the donor... where did you get yours in Berkshire then?

I guess the other things I was looking for was a sanity check on the engine, gearbox, carbs 'n' spark configuration. Does that sound reasonable?