RE: Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth | The Brave Pill
Discussion
cerb4.5lee said:
I was always told that the transfer boxes on them are very suspect though, and because of that the car eats through tyres at an alarming rate.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there but the 4x4 system was actually pretty advanced for its time. There’s two main reasons for transfer box failure and both are linked to poor maintenance and/or lack of understanding. The first relates to the tyres not being kept at similar tread depths front to rear which then causes the clutch plates in the transfer box to wear prematurely, overheat and then fail. The second is with regard to lubrication of the transfer box. The box actually has two separate chambers and both need to have the correct oil levels maintained. What happened normally is garages only ever replaced the oil in the one larger chamber and ignored the smaller second one. This then meant that oil ran dry or became gunged resulting in overheating, wear and ultimate failure.Keep on top of these two areas and the boxes are fine.
Stussy said:
You could also pull fuse 19 or fit a switch to turn it into FWD.
The torque steer was fun at times
My old one, probably my favourite car I’ve ever owned
It was a thing of wonder to have a 6-speed box back then. Local police had a white unmarked oneThe torque steer was fun at times
My old one, probably my favourite car I’ve ever owned
The body kit on them looked just right to me
That dodgy car sales place in Keighley seems to be collecting them at the moment
s m said:
Stussy said:
You could also pull fuse 19 or fit a switch to turn it into FWD.
The torque steer was fun at times
My old one, probably my favourite car I’ve ever owned
It was a thing of wonder to have a 6-speed box back then. Local police had a white unmarked oneThe torque steer was fun at times
My old one, probably my favourite car I’ve ever owned
The body kit on them looked just right to me
That dodgy car sales place in Keighley seems to be collecting them at the moment
I thought they were awesome on white - however I remember viewing two at dealers (not Vauxhall) that were non-functioning 4x4 and that was 20+ years ago. Also remember some salesman BS. along the lines of 'they drive better as 2WD anyway.. you dont need 4WD in a road car".
NotNormal said:
cerb4.5lee said:
I was always told that the transfer boxes on them are very suspect though, and because of that the car eats through tyres at an alarming rate.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there but the 4x4 system was actually pretty advanced for its time. There’s two main reasons for transfer box failure and both are linked to poor maintenance and/or lack of understanding. The first relates to the tyres not being kept at similar tread depths front to rear which then causes the clutch plates in the transfer box to wear prematurely, overheat and then fail. The second is with regard to lubrication of the transfer box. The box actually has two separate chambers and both need to have the correct oil levels maintained. What happened normally is garages only ever replaced the oil in the one larger chamber and ignored the smaller second one. This then meant that oil ran dry or became gunged resulting in overheating, wear and ultimate failure.Keep on top of these two areas and the boxes are fine.
s m said:
Stussy said:
You could also pull fuse 19 or fit a switch to turn it into FWD.
The torque steer was fun at times
My old one, probably my favourite car I’ve ever owned
It was a thing of wonder to have a 6-speed box back then. Local police had a white unmarked oneThe torque steer was fun at times
My old one, probably my favourite car I’ve ever owned
The body kit on them looked just right to me
That dodgy car sales place in Keighley seems to be collecting them at the moment
My dad sold his Sapphire Cosworth on the same day I passed my driving test so I never had the pleasure of driving one.
I like others on here was a massive Sierra Cosworth fan and nagged my dad to get one, but he wouldn't entertain one. When the Sapphire came out he bought one as he was a Ford fan and I was too big to fit in the back of the Porsche 944 he had.
His was an early 2wd one which he bought new from a Ford dealer at Formby. After a few months of ownership he had it modified by the Ford dealer at Skipton (Peter Clarke Autos) who 'chipped' it to 240 or 270 bhp and who would maintain the Ford warranty if they serviced it.
As an impressionable teenager I thought it was awesome. He frequently got it up to 150mph including one Christmas day with my uncle, cousin and I in it.
My dad however 'fell out of love' with it as he found it undriveable as it would spin its wheels in first, second and sometimes third gear if the roads were damp. Coupled with the fear of theft he left it sat in the garage for a year as the prices plummeted.
He sold it for less than half he paid for it when it was only a couple of years old and bought a Porsche 964 instead.
I have very fond memories of it and it seemed such a quick car at the time.
I like others on here was a massive Sierra Cosworth fan and nagged my dad to get one, but he wouldn't entertain one. When the Sapphire came out he bought one as he was a Ford fan and I was too big to fit in the back of the Porsche 944 he had.
His was an early 2wd one which he bought new from a Ford dealer at Formby. After a few months of ownership he had it modified by the Ford dealer at Skipton (Peter Clarke Autos) who 'chipped' it to 240 or 270 bhp and who would maintain the Ford warranty if they serviced it.
As an impressionable teenager I thought it was awesome. He frequently got it up to 150mph including one Christmas day with my uncle, cousin and I in it.
My dad however 'fell out of love' with it as he found it undriveable as it would spin its wheels in first, second and sometimes third gear if the roads were damp. Coupled with the fear of theft he left it sat in the garage for a year as the prices plummeted.
He sold it for less than half he paid for it when it was only a couple of years old and bought a Porsche 964 instead.
I have very fond memories of it and it seemed such a quick car at the time.
Edited by PH5121 on Wednesday 27th November 10:54
Loved mine.... Almost 70k miles in 3 years
It was debadged and I remember flying past a parked up battenberg coming down the A38 late one night...
They caught up with me where it meets the A5. I knew I was going to get a tug, so I gave it some beans round the roundabout...
When they pulled me over the first words were 'We thought it might be a Cosworth but when you left us going round the roundabout, we were sure'
After a look round the car & a few friendly words of advice, they let me on my way....
Still miss that car....
It was debadged and I remember flying past a parked up battenberg coming down the A38 late one night...
They caught up with me where it meets the A5. I knew I was going to get a tug, so I gave it some beans round the roundabout...
When they pulled me over the first words were 'We thought it might be a Cosworth but when you left us going round the roundabout, we were sure'
After a look round the car & a few friendly words of advice, they let me on my way....
Still miss that car....
PH5121 said:
My dad sold his Sapphire Cosworth on the same day I passed my driving test so I never had the pleasure of driving one.
I like others on here was a massive Sierra Cosworth fan and nagged my dad to get one, but he wouldn't entertain one. When the Sapphire came out he bought one as he was a Ford fan and I was too big to fit in the back of the Porsche 944 he had.
His was an early 2wd one which he bought new from a Ford dealer at Formby. After a few months of ownership he had it modified by the Ford dealer at Skipton (Peter Clarke Autos) who 'chipped' it to 240 or 270 bhp and who would maintain the Ford warranty if they serviced it.
As an impressionable teenager I thought it was awesome. He frequently got it up to 150mph including one Christmas day with my uncle, cousin and I in it.
I have very fond memories of it and it seemed such a quick car at the time.
Nice story I like others on here was a massive Sierra Cosworth fan and nagged my dad to get one, but he wouldn't entertain one. When the Sapphire came out he bought one as he was a Ford fan and I was too big to fit in the back of the Porsche 944 he had.
His was an early 2wd one which he bought new from a Ford dealer at Formby. After a few months of ownership he had it modified by the Ford dealer at Skipton (Peter Clarke Autos) who 'chipped' it to 240 or 270 bhp and who would maintain the Ford warranty if they serviced it.
As an impressionable teenager I thought it was awesome. He frequently got it up to 150mph including one Christmas day with my uncle, cousin and I in it.
I have very fond memories of it and it seemed such a quick car at the time.
Cosworth had intended the car to have around 270bhp ( as per your Dad’s car once modded ) so there were a lot of people offering that level of tune. Seems amazing now when we’re used to Merc A-classes with 400bhp and saloons with 500bhp but it was the Ford product liability department that thought it was crazy to unleash a normal Ford saloon with that power onto Joe Public
It would certainly have been a pretty quick car back in the late 80s......even if we are blasé about it now
Autocar tested the Turbo Technics car back in 1988
Fast diesel poke nowadays
s m said:
Nice story
Cosworth had intended the car to have around 270bhp ( as per your Dad’s car once modded ) so there were a lot of people offering that level of tune. Seems amazing now when we’re used to Merc A-classes with 400bhp and saloons with 500bhp but it was the Ford product liability department that thought it was crazy to unleash a normal Ford saloon with that power onto Joe Public
It would certainly have been a pretty quick car back in the late 80s......even if we are blasé about it now
Autocar tested the Turbo Technics car back in 1988
Fast diesel poke nowadays
Pretty much 340i numbers. I've always wondered why the Escort wasn't more powerful though. Cosworth had intended the car to have around 270bhp ( as per your Dad’s car once modded ) so there were a lot of people offering that level of tune. Seems amazing now when we’re used to Merc A-classes with 400bhp and saloons with 500bhp but it was the Ford product liability department that thought it was crazy to unleash a normal Ford saloon with that power onto Joe Public
It would certainly have been a pretty quick car back in the late 80s......even if we are blasé about it now
Autocar tested the Turbo Technics car back in 1988
Fast diesel poke nowadays
Same numbers, but I’d bet the power delivery is very different!
My mate had a 700bhp V12 Merc, and against my 500bhp Audi S4 the S4 “felt” a lot quicker on the road. The Merc was obvious quick, but the power was so smooth it was boring and refined.
The S4 has an amount of crash bang wallop like older turbos had, bucket fulls of boost, and great fun keeping it on the boil
My mate had a 700bhp V12 Merc, and against my 500bhp Audi S4 the S4 “felt” a lot quicker on the road. The Merc was obvious quick, but the power was so smooth it was boring and refined.
The S4 has an amount of crash bang wallop like older turbos had, bucket fulls of boost, and great fun keeping it on the boil
Stussy said:
Same numbers, but I’d bet the power delivery is very different!
My mate had a 700bhp V12 Merc, and against my 500bhp Audi S4 the S4 “felt” a lot quicker on the road. The Merc was obvious quick, but the power was so smooth it was boring and refined.
The S4 has an amount of crash bang wallop like older turbos had, bucket fulls of boost, and great fun keeping it on the boil
Definitely. I had a 200bhpish A4 1.8T that was poorly mapped and had a bigger turbo strapped onto it. The power delivery was a big lump at 3k thrown in your face which made it feel very quick even though it wasn't particularly. Although as you'd expect from a £300 Audi with a big turbo and cheap map, it lasted around 200 miles My mate had a 700bhp V12 Merc, and against my 500bhp Audi S4 the S4 “felt” a lot quicker on the road. The Merc was obvious quick, but the power was so smooth it was boring and refined.
The S4 has an amount of crash bang wallop like older turbos had, bucket fulls of boost, and great fun keeping it on the boil
aaron_2000 said:
Pretty much 340i numbers. I've always wondered why the Escort wasn't more powerful though.
They were going to do a more powerful special edition of the Escort towards the end of production Rumours are it was going to be called the Acropolis and available in yellow with around 280bhp. The yellow Escort Cosworth in the Ford Heritage collection was a test mule at one stage
Never came to pass though as the insurance worries etc hit home
Just came across this one, looks like a...
but with TVR V8 looks like a work product, nice, not expensive.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1396974
but with TVR V8 looks like a work product, nice, not expensive.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1396974
GTRene said:
Just came across this one, looks like a...
but with TVR V8 looks like a work product, nice, not expensive.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1396974
Looks nice, it is registered as a 3.5 howeverbut with TVR V8 looks like a work product, nice, not expensive.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1396974
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