1987 Ford Orion 1.6 daily

[aaron_2000]

I did have another thread about it when I was running it with a diesel Sierra, however I quickly came to realise that running a 60bhp Diesel Sierra is in no way fun So I'm starting this thread solely for the Orion.

Backstory:
I bought it in April after around a year of searching for another, I rebuilt one last year that sat since 2004 but ended up selling it for a 205 GTI. I regretted it since and decided that if the right one came up, I'd have it. The issue being that my ideal one was:

1.4
Rosso red
LX with black lower painted section
RS spoiler
Sub £2500

Fast forward to April 2022 and I find this for £2995, the pics were poor on the ad but I knew as soon as I saw it that I wanted it. I got him down to £2k without the wheels and went to collect, the drive home was uneventful but I realised it didn't like to rev over 4k and the tattiness really let it down. I had a lot of regret the next day but knew it would be the project I wanted, so I set to work.

The wheels I agreed to buy without

The steelies it came on


First job was to paint the steelies until I found a set of alloys


Black spray paint to clean the tyres seeing as I was giving the wheels away anyway


I managed to find a set of ST24 wheels and agreed £125 for them, the seller had a couple of absolutely immaculate XR3i's


Went to a car gathering in the meantime before fitting and parked next to a stunning Esprit


Wasn't sure they'd fit but they fit perfectly




I'll continue on another post

[aaron_2000]

The wheels fitted gave me the drive to actually get started going through the many many jobs that needed doing


I chose at this point to daily it and said goodbye to my 320d shed


Which turned out to be a mistake when it broke down in traffic the next day in the middle of a 420 event in Headingley


The tow of shame home


Decided I needed a new daily as a stop gap until the Orion was fixed. Enter the £1300 diesel Sierra, around 800 miles of driving a car with a 30+ second 0-60 was enough for me and it was quickly moved on



The next jobs were to reamber it, repaint and fit the front red trim strip and rebadge it. Clear indicators do nothing for me



The headlights are one of the many previous owner botches that I need to set right before the MOT in a month or two



Despite being a 59k example, the carpets were filthy. Yet another sign of neglect, so I gave them a going over before fitting the Recaro seats, I'll give them a proper deep clean soon. Despite a fabric tear they're in great shape with no bolster damage. They are however very firm on a run



I wanted an RS wheel but couldn't find the 4 spoke for a sensible price, so I got an S1 RST wheel. Not a big fan in all honesty and may replace it but the extra thickness and 3 spoke makes it much better than the droopy thin thing Ford fitted. I need to wire in the horn to a button and diagnose the indicators



Breakdown number two for the same issue. A new battery fixed the poor ignition timing but it then returned, the battery is either draining or not charging. Will be diagnosed this week

[stevemcs]

You have to love the Ford onion, many years ago I had the 1.4 Equipe, fitted TSW stealths, lowered, Jetex exhaust, RS1600i cam cover modified to fit, RS S2 bumper 1600e rear number plate panel ... it went very well.

Is yours the LX or is it the L with painted bottom ? I thought the LX came on the facelift around 88/89 where they changed the front bumper and interior ?

[aaron_2000]

The paint wasn't great so I decided to detail it while it sits waiting for the carb work and electrical work






Next was to fit the spots. They're 6" 3/4 and I probably fitted them too close together but I'm happy with them. I'll wire these in once I get round to the horn and other electrical jobs


And that leads us to today. Still need to do some electrics, sort the running issue out, fix a couple of small bits here and there but it's nearly there. Hopefully someone finds this interesting

Edited by aaron_2000 on Wednesday 18th May 15:35

[aaron_2000]

stevemcs said:

You have to love the Ford onion, many years ago I had the 1.4 Equipe, fitted TSW stealths, lowered, Jetex exhaust, RS1600i cam cover modified to fit, RS S2 bumper 1600e rear number plate panel ... it went very well.

Is yours the LX or is it the L with painted bottom ? I thought the LX came on the facelift around 88/89 where they changed the front bumper and interior ?

Mine is the LX, my last one was too. I wanted a carbed one so didn't look for a Ghia, they were too costly anyway. The facelift had nicer upholstery that didn't give you carpet burn

[J4CKO]

Brings back memories, used to have a few Orions come through at the pitch where I worked, remember picking up a 16 Ghia injection up from the auction, was nearly new and felt super posh.

I worked in Air Freight for a bit on the cargo centre, the boss and the rep had Ghia Injections as company cars, the warehouseman/driver went over to the airlines to drop some docs and a package off on the forklift, he left the warehouse doors open. I was in there getting my bike and putting my waterproof on as it was tipping down, the boss appeared and drive into the warehouse as he had forgotten something.

The warehouseman came back, at speed into the warehouse not expecting an Orion to be right in the middle, he saw it, but not in time and there was a horrible moment as he realised and locked the wheels on the damp, shiny floor and skewered it just above the bumper, made a right mess. Boss was by no means impressed, warehouseman was crestfallen. It got repaired but it was away for a fair while.

[300bhp/ton]

I had a 1.6 Ghia Orion. Tidy car for its age. Not too bad to drive. But it felt one, maybe two generations behind my MG Maestro 2.0, despite being a year or two younger.

[stevemcs]

They look so much better with spots and orange indicators.

[Paul S4]

Looks in good condition for the age.

It is always a debatable issue.....but if it were my car....I would delete the spoiler....!
The Orion has such clean lines ..that IMHO they look sleeker without the boot spoiler.

Are there any plans to 'tweak' the engine or is it more for practicality ?

[Mr Tidy]

Looking good and it's great to see one getting some TLC.

I never drove an Orion but MK3 Escorts drove pretty well back in the era. Must be quite rare now!

[aaron_2000]

Engine wise it started as a 1.4, then it had a Zetec and now a 1.6 CVH. It's got a 4 branch mani, stainless exhaust and filter on it atm with a standard carb. The carb needs a potential rebuild so I may upgrade to a twin choke

[Zetec-S]

Lovely car, and nice bit of nostalgia for me. Growing up my neighbours had a 1.6 Ghia which I always quite liked.

And the shed of a Sierra also brought back memories, my dad had a hatch in that colour, albeit with a 1.8 petrol

[austinsmirk]

Didn’t some models have a dash joystick so you could move the centre/ sound balance of the speakers around.

Utterly useless really.

[Andy 308GTB]

I had 2 1.6 Ghia's at the same time, both black.
One through my father (Ford Management Lease) and I then got one as a company car (when they were a Bank perk)

Both had their windows smashed and the radio/cassettes stolen more than once (I was living in Hackney).
Both no longer with us.
C845LVX
D382JML

[Waynester]

Nice, that was like a journey down memory lane.. I remember going with my grandad to buy his then new Orion 1.4 Ghia in 1987.. He was so excited to have a 5 speed gearbox!

I never had an Onion but I did have a S2 Escort RS Turbo in 1994, close enough

[Missy Charm]

Nice car, and brings back memories. I used to have a diamond white 1.6 Orion on the 'G', with a carburettor engine and fairly basic specification. I liked the car at the time.

Re the joystick: some posher Fords did have one to adjust the speaker balance. Our XR2 was one such, although we never used it. Same with many of the bells and whistles on eighties hi-fi equipment, most of us never bothered with anything beyond volume, radio station and tape controls.

[aaron_2000]

An old owner just got in contact to tell me he rebuilt the engine a few years ago apparently, explains why it doesn't smoke like every other CVH

[LordGrover]

Fond memories... my first new company car - G551 MYC.
Budget was £11,000 - 1.6 Ghia was £10,870 plus £130 black paint.

Loved it at the time, way better than the Rover 216EFI Vanden Plas it replaced (which stank of cigars and dogs, thanks to my predecessor).

[surveyor]

I remember my dad having one for a week. A motorbike hit it side-on, which as well as the rider did not do the car much good.

[Darren390]

Fantastic, great to see another Orion. I had a few in the early 90s after I passed my test. I decided to to relive Orion ownership around 4 years ago, absolutely love mine! Keep up the good work.