RE: Ford Sierra XR4x4i 2.9i: Spotted

[832ark]

A nasty, wheezy, underpowered piece of st. Hideous.

[AC43]

ZX10R NIN said:

I know someone who has a stroked out one of these (3.7 litres if I remember correctly) &

When I dropped my S14 off at some tuning place in west London in the mid-90's they gave me a Granada Scorpio with that engine as a loaner - it was hilarious.

The previously used to supercharge the 2.9 but there were problems with the suppliers so they ended up importing stroker kits from the US (I think).

[s m]

AC43 said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I know someone who has a stroked out one of these (3.7 litres if I remember correctly) &

When I dropped my S14 off at some tuning place in west London in the mid-90's they gave me a Granada Scorpio with that engine as a loaner - it was hilarious.

The previously used to supercharge the 2.9 but there were problems with the suppliers so they ended up importing stroker kits from the US (I think).

Power Engineering used to do those 3.7 Ultimax stroker conversions - not loads of power but used to really pull from low revs
They replaced the Sprintex supercharger conversions they used to offer - those were brilliant to drive

[s m]

jsf said:

Different company.

Castle Performance were in Newcastle Under Lyme off the A34, Turbo Systems which was the other major Ford tuners were just up the road too.

I had a 2.9 4x4 in the mid 90's, great car, i used it a lot as a chase car on BTRDA rallies, you could really chuck it about even with a lot of weight onboard. I replaced it with a 2WD Sapphire Cosworth with an Ahmed Bajoo 360BHP conversion and T34B turbo, proper sideways fun.

I think i paid £2K a year for the cossie insurance in the mid 90's. Manchester post code didn't help.

Your 2wd Sapphire was a really late one iirc Jsf - an H plater. Lovely car that was

[anonymous-user]

Cosworth made a 24V head for the 2.9 engine used in the Scorpio, Roger Duckworth, son of Kieth put one of those highly tuned up in his Sierra 4x4 rally car, it was epic.

[Boosted LS1]

s m said:

AC43 said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I know someone who has a stroked out one of these (3.7 litres if I remember correctly) &

When I dropped my S14 off at some tuning place in west London in the mid-90's they gave me a Granada Scorpio with that engine as a loaner - it was hilarious.

The previously used to supercharge the 2.9 but there were problems with the suppliers so they ended up importing stroker kits from the US (I think).

Power Engineering used to do those 3.7 Ultimax stroker conversions - not loads of power but used to really pull from low revs
They replaced the Sprintex supercharger conversions they used to offer - those were brilliant to drive

From an engineering perspective it was hideous. The crank was from the 4.0, the block had to be notched, rods were stock but with smaller gudgeon pins to suit the Opel pistons. The compression was far to high. A customer had one of these engines and I advised him to get rid and use turbo's an a stock engine. That was a far better option imo.

[anonymous-user]

s m said:

Your 2wd Sapphire was a really late one iirc Jsf - an H plater. Lovely car that was

December 1990 registered, one of the last 2WD cossies ever built, H58 CCA. It's still going strong, passed its MOT a couple of weeks ago. I sold it to the chairman of one of the RS Owners club regions and its still being shown at the various shows, it does very few miles a year, i put 100K on it, cost me a fortune to keep it in top nick with the miles i was doing, but my fuel was free via the company. It had Recaro leather seats, which are still the best seats I've experienced in a road car, just perfect.

When i was running my Westfield Cosworth at Silverstone one weekend i melted the throttle cable and borrowed it off my old cossie for the day, that was on a show stand. Last time i saw it in the flesh was at the Nurburgring, i offered to give it a lap but the owner wasn't having any of it. I used to peddle it a lot quicker than he does.

[s m]

Boosted LS1 said:

From an engineering perspective it was hideous. The crank was from the 4.0, the block had to be notched, rods were stock but with smaller gudgeon pins to suit the Opel pistons. The compression was far to high. A customer had one of these engines and I advised him to get rid and use turbo's an a stock engine. That was a far better option imo.

I preferred the old Sprintex conversions to the Ultimax but, yeah, as you say they really flew with turbo(s) on

Alan Jeffery in the Southwest used to do a fair few of these as well - Minker 323 type engine was really quick
In a Sierra 4x4

[BFleming]

fttm said:

1988 , I had a XR4x4 estate company car which was replaced with a Sapphire Cosworth 2wd , tbh I thought the XR was a nicer everyday driver

I never knew they made an XR4x4 estate.

[aaron_2000]

BFleming said:

I never knew they made an XR4x4 estate.

Think it was the same story as the Orion 1.6i Ghia/XR3i. XR4x4 without the branding, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[f1nn]

They never made an XR4x4 Estate.

They did make a 2.8i, and perhaps the later 2.9i, but I seem to think they only offered a 2.0 twin cam later in the production run, 4x4 estate in the Ghia trim level.

Essentially the same thing of course.

[AC43]

s m said:

AC43 said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I know someone who has a stroked out one of these (3.7 litres if I remember correctly)

When I dropped my S14 off at some tuning place in west London in the mid-90's they gave me a Granada Scorpio with that engine as a loaner - it was hilarious.

The previously used to supercharge the 2.9 but there were problems with the suppliers so they ended up importing stroker kits from the US (I think).

Power Engineering used to do those 3.7 Ultimax stroker conversions - not loads of power but used to really pull from low revs
They replaced the Sprintex supercharger conversions they used to offer - those were brilliant to drive

Thanks!

I've been trying to remember the name of that place all day. I stumbled across them one day as I'd been going to Torque Developments (TDI) across in Barking and it was a long journey there and back from Ladbroke Grove. Uxbridge was much easier. By memory TDI did the HKS cat-back zorst, HKS induction kit, quickshift, springs and dampers. Power Developments fitted the Powerflex bushes and did a few other things.

At this point (96/97) they'd given up on Sprintex for a while and switched to the 3.7 conversions. I had a week tooling around in it and liked the combo of a large capacity motor, Ayer's Rock torque curve, revvy top end, World of Leather seats and auto box so much that when I sold my 200SX I bought and AMG C43. I've stuck to that basic formula ever since. Just gone from 3.7L to 4.3 to 5.0 to 5.5. Must get a 6.2 some time......

Edited by AC43 on Sunday 25th February 18:07

[s m]

AC43 said:

s m said:

AC43 said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I know someone who has a stroked out one of these (3.7 litres if I remember correctly)

When I dropped my S14 off at some tuning place in west London in the mid-90's they gave me a Granada Scorpio with that engine as a loaner - it was hilarious.

The previously used to supercharge the 2.9 but there were problems with the suppliers so they ended up importing stroker kits from the US (I think).

Power Engineering used to do those 3.7 Ultimax stroker conversions - not loads of power but used to really pull from low revs
They replaced the Sprintex supercharger conversions they used to offer - those were brilliant to drive

Thanks!

I've been trying to remember the name of that place all day. I stumbled across them one day as I'd been going to Torque Developments (TDI) across in Barking and it was a long journey there and back from Ladbroke Grove. Uxbridge was much easier. By memory TDI did the HKS cat-back zorst, HKS induction kit, quickshift, springs and dampers. Power Developments fitted the Powerflex bushes and did a few other things.

At this point (96/97) they'd given up on Sprintex for a while and switched to the 3.7 conversions. I had a week tooling around in it and liked the combo of a large capacity motor, Ayer's Rock torque curve, revvy top end, World of Leather seats and auto box so much that when I sold my 200SX I bought and AMG C43. I've stuck to that basic formula ever since. Just gone from 3.7L to 4.3 to 5.0 to 5.5. Must get a 6.2 some time......

Edited by AC43 on Sunday 25th February 18:07

I think Power had supply problems with the FTD Sprintex charger kits that they got via Dennis Priddle Racing in the South-west so they switched to the Ultimax conversions.
Dennis Priddle used the Sprintex chargers on the E30 325

240ish bhp certainly used to lively up the XR4x4

[Mr Tidy]

Ford did all sorts of mix and match versions of the Sierra IIRC.

The 2.0 Si of 84/85ish with the injected Pinto, the 2.0i XR4x4 of 1990/1991 (Sapphire only I think), the 2.9 GLSi 4x4 of 1989/1991 (hatch only possibly) to name a few!

I'll admit I was a Ford fan back then, having had a MKII Granada 2.8 Ghia, MK2 RS 2000 Escort, 2.8i Capri (x2), Granada 2.8i Scorpio and finally a 2.0GLSi Sapphire - but then it was all FWD and I lost interest.

[s m]

Mr Tidy said:

Ford did all sorts of mix and match versions of the Sierra IIRC.

The 2.0 Si of 84/85ish with the injected Pinto, the 2.0i XR4x4 of 1990/1991 (Sapphire only I think), the 2.9 GLSi 4x4 of 1989/1991 (hatch only possibly) to name a few!

I'll admit I was a Ford fan back then, having had a MKII Granada 2.8 Ghia, MK2 RS 2000 Escort, 2.8i Capri (x2), Granada 2.8i Scorpio and finally a 2.0GLSi Sapphire - but then it was all FWD and I lost interest.

Think they only did the XR badge level in 5-door format ( U.K. at least - Europe got a 3-door still ) with the 2-litre Mr T.
They did do a Sapphire 4x4 2 litre though

[bangerturner]

Loved mine
I can't believe it only had 147BHP it felt so fast at the time! (probably less as it was the last of the 2.8's)

[Turkishwaiter]

When i was a young boy a family friend had an estate version with a turbotechnics conversion, it was the first fast car I'd been in, the way it accelerated seemed incredible at the time and probably cemented my love of fast cars

[s m]

Turkishwaiter said:

When i was a young boy a family friend had an estate version with a turbotechnics conversion, it was the first fast car I'd been in, the way it accelerated seemed incredible at the time and probably cemented my love of fast cars

They used to do them in a few different states of tune

200bhp - single turbo
225bhp, 250bhp and 280bhp twin turbo

[legacy4cam]

My Dad had 2 , Nimbus grey 2.8 (D419 FOR), and White 2.9 (G578 OFM). I was late teens and early 20's, everyone was in Golf GTi's , XR2/3, RST, R5GT, Pug 205/309 GTi's, but the Sierra had me smitten, so much so I decided I wanted one. Cue Autotrader search and a run to Peebles to view a Nimbus Grey XR4x4, described by its owner on the phone as low mileage and 100% genuine. Arrived to find it was D419 FOR showing significantly fewer miles than it had had when sold 3 yrs previously....I mentioned this to the seller, who promptly announces he's the local policeman and was certain I was mistaken......!

Went home, convinced old fella he should move up to a Granada 4x4...and bought his G plate off him. The best all rounder I've owned. Quick enough, anyone who says otherwise was either filthy rich and in a Cossie, or didn't drive one against the cars I list above. R5 Turbo would run away from me at the lights, but reeled back in by 80. 205 1.9, neck and neck up to 100, and then the Sierra could ease away. Nothing in it between my car and a mates Cavalier GSI 4x4. All repeated time and again, and none of us were sparing the horses!

I had it on various wheels and tyres, Stealths/Sapphire Lattices and a mint set of Speedline Allessios (16") which were gorgeous on it. ...but If I'm honest , it probably handled / rode better on it's original 14's .

Ran it up to 130k miles, liked a rocker cover gasket or 2 , but nothing transmission or engine wise. Ford replaced the AFM's under warranty, and I think the originals are still in the garage somewhere!.

For me the appeal was it gave 80% of its performance from zero revs, and mid-range flexibility is great in my opinion. It was comfy, roomy handled and gripped well enough, and fuel consumption wasn't high on my priorities, although it was no worse than the Legacy Turbo/A6 2.7T that followed it.

I have a memory of Car and car conversions running one and modifying it subtly in the quest to out do the original Quattro. If I remember they reckon it succeeded, need to hunt the net for that. I doubt any magazine would attempt to take a Ford or Vx now and suggest it could be made better than a S/M/AMG version of anything....

Off to search for a barn find Sierra .....

[TheAngryDog]

832ark said:

A nasty, wheezy, underpowered piece of st. Hideous.

Compared with what?

Mr Tidy said:

Ford did all sorts of mix and match versions of the Sierra IIRC.

The 2.0 Si of 84/85ish with the injected Pinto, the 2.0i XR4x4 of 1990/1991 (Sapphire only I think), the 2.9 GLSi 4x4 of 1989/1991 (hatch only possibly) to name a few!

I'll admit I was a Ford fan back then, having had a MKII Granada 2.8 Ghia, MK2 RS 2000 Escort, 2.8i Capri (x2), Granada 2.8i Scorpio and finally a 2.0GLSi Sapphire - but then it was all FWD and I lost interest.

The 2.0 XR4x4 was hatch only
GLSi 2.9 4x4 was hatch only
There was a Sapphire Ghia 4x4

There was a 2.0 XR4i as well, but that is for another discussion.