The bASe has been in the naughty corner for a couple of weeks now. After the disappointment of our absence at Festival of the Unexceptional, it’s been losing quite a bit of coolant into a mysterious vortex – and has been tricky to start. Despite this, I pushed it out of the garage yesterday to make a bit of progress with the paintwork. The plan is to make the entire car as good as possible all over, before letting it all settle down in a uniform pattern. Initially, I was going to replace the two nearside doors and take it back to the guy who did the offside. However, I’m really struggling to find any MK1 doors that are reasonably nearby and that are in decent condition. Also, finances dictate that I do a bit of polishing myself. It’s something I’m perfectly capable of, just don’t particularly enjoy! Being disciplined, these are the things I should do – leaving money for those jobs for which I just don’t have the talent.
QUESTION: Do P100 doors fit the front of a MK1 Sierra? I’ve got a good lead on some of these.
Anyway, things are progressing quite nicely. I don’t trust myself with a full blown machine polisher, so this is just a cheap Argos random orbital poliser, some T Cut, a small amount of G3 and a bit of Turtle Wax I’ve had lying around for about 3 years! No doubt much more impressive results could be achieved with more expensive equipment and products, but for now this is just fine.
The one thing you don’t appreciate about Cardinal Red, until it’s clean, is just how much of a pink tinge it has. This isn’t due to a lack of skill with my polishing, as the side that’s been completely resprayed in “Ford R1” really shows it off. I’ll endeavour to capture it in a picture for next time.
The next job is to get the coolant leak identified and remedied. Naturally, I’m hoping it’s not the headgasket (and not just for financial reasons). Right now, both Chris (friendly spanner juggler) and I are both time poor too – so let’s hope it’s just another leaky hose.
Ford Sierra Base 