RE: SOTW: Ford Sierra XR4X4

[Shropshiremike]

Justayellowbadge said:

collateral said:

Wasn't there an official Saffa version with a 302ci?

XR8

2WD I think though.

Yes just rwd - they had the twin wing spoiler like the rwd V6 XR4i

[SimonSaid]

Justayellowbadge said:

collateral said:

Wasn't there an official Saffa version with a 302ci?

XR8

2WD I think though.

http://www.sierra-xr8.co.uk

Quite an interesting website from an amateur Sierra-phile.

EFA

Edited by SimonSaid on Friday 12th February 11:33

[Chris_w666]

Cracking shed, Sierras generally were damn good cars and despite their (by modern standards) light weight they felt like battleships. I saw a mint black one for £1495 a few weeks back and thought it looked amazing value compared to sapphire cosworths of the same age, it is just a shame so many sierras have became cossie replicas or kit cars.

My all time favourite sierra would definetly be one of these



4x4 estate with a Turbo technics twin turbo conversion, proper sleeper if you resist the cossie style bodykit.

Edited by Chris_w666 on Friday 12th February 11:36

[MarJay]

That car is begging to have a vaaast supercharger bolted on to it.

Good shed!

[pSyCoSiS]

I had this version of the Matchbox model!!

http://images4.speurders.nl/images/36/3677/3677100...

[sidaorb]

Great shed, I had a silver XR4i and then a black XR4x4, the later didn't seem as pokey but drove like it was on rails. A good conversion was to drop the 2.9 24v Cosworth engine out of the Granada Scorpio, think that was 195bhp and 203lb/ft.

[Shropshiremike]

Jag-D said:

The Trig said:

Where I had my car dyno'd (Alan Jeffery/EngineTuner), had one he used for sprints + hillclimbs, 400+bhp on twin turbos if I remember correctly.

As I said on another thread, my mate Chris runs one in Hillclimbs which is putting out around 375 with the boost untouched.

Geoff Kershaw from Turbo Technics also runs a hillclimb/sprint Sierra based loosely on a XR4x4. Supposed to be north of 550bhp.
He made a good living out of supplying single and twin-turbo kits for conversions by Ford ( and their own dealers ) on the 2.8 and 2.9 cars. They also launched the Minker K1 and 323 road cars ( the name Minker came from the first few letters of his wife's first name and his surname ). Quite well received by the press at the time and Noel Edmonds drove one on the BBC Motor Show programme.

Janspeed also supplied the Legato conversion while Power Engineering supplied Sprintex supercharged conversions

[Shropshiremike]

varsas said:

Renn Sport said:

Also this is the car that frank Williams was paralysed in when it landed on its roof coming back from Paul Ricard race track back in 86. Frank Williams suggested the roof was weak and simply folded in on top of him.

I would suggest it was the driver for putting the car on it's roof in the first place...

Although that incident ( and the similarly high profile crash involving Neil Kinnock in the UK ) was investigated very thoroughly by Ford as there was a strong Mistral on that occasion.
There were many allegations of poor instability of early Sierras in crosswinds, especially when gusty.
I think both the above incidents were put down to driver error/tiredness but Sierra did modify the area around the back of the rear window after a couple of years of production to encourage the airflow to break cleanly from the body

[alfa pint]

Spudler said:

Used to have a white one of these in '86...the same as the police...which could be fun
Years later i had a blue T5, exactly the same as their unmarked car at the time. The marked cars used to wave-up to me for a couple of weeks till they cottoned on the reg No

I used to blast along the M8 every day in a white sierra - put the headlights on, pop the sunroof on tilt so it looks like there's something on the roof and it was amazing how many cars shifted out of the way.

[phib]

This is the 4x4 I wanted, the minker TT

http://www.7-indulgence.com/id24.html

[Shropshiremike]

phib said:

This is the 4x4 I wanted, the minker TT

http://www.7-indulgence.com/id24.html

They did the 323 version afterwards which was a bit less 'extrovert'

Performance Car mag tested one back in 1992 alongside a Testarossa

0-60 4.8 0-100 11.6

Ferrari was 5.2 0-100 11.4

[alfa pint]

Shropshiremike said:

varsas said:

Renn Sport said:

Also this is the car that frank Williams was paralysed in when it landed on its roof coming back from Paul Ricard race track back in 86. Frank Williams suggested the roof was weak and simply folded in on top of him.

I would suggest it was the driver for putting the car on it's roof in the first place...

Although that incident ( and the similarly high profile crash involving Neil Kinnock in the UK ) was investigated very thoroughly by Ford as there was a strong Mistral on that occasion.
There were many allegations of poor instability of early Sierras in crosswinds, especially when gusty.
I think both the above incidents were put down to driver error/tiredness but Sierra did modify the area around the back of the rear window after a couple of years of production to encourage the airflow to break cleanly from the body

They changed the wheel covers too - the early ones had a couple of slats in them and they were blaming them for poor handling in cross winds too.

[sday12]

Oddball RS said:

"and the Sierra itself was just beginning to lose the futuristic sheen that had accompanied the 'aero' design's launch"

What by 1990? futuristic sheen?, the design was seen as old hat and a rebodied Cortina way before this was built.

Pardon me but bks! it was the car that broke the (jelly) mould


This last gen Sierra was pretty spoilt in the styling dept, 1st and 2nd gen cars looked better IMHO.


8.2 secs and 130 mph was quick back in the day, my dad had 6 of these.

[TobesH]

I love fast Fords, not sure what's in the recipe for them but from the XR2 to the RS500 they all have something special. Having owned an XR4x4, XR2, two RS Cosworth whale tails, RS 1600i, RS Turbo S1, Focus RS mk1 and now a Focus RS mk2 I am happy to report the magic is still there. Am I mad? Many of my friends think so, but apart from all the Top Trumps pub arguments about turbo lag, chav styling and front wheel drive, there is still an underling respect for these inspired hot hatches from the Blue Oval.

Please Ford, keep them coming!

[rb5230]

great shed if it is not riddled with rust. i had that yellow matchbox car too. amazing.

[redstu]

alfa pint said:

Spudler said:

Used to have a white one of these in '86...the same as the police...which could be fun
Years later i had a blue T5, exactly the same as their unmarked car at the time. The marked cars used to wave-up to me for a couple of weeks till they cottoned on the reg No

I used to blast along the M8 every day in a white sierra - put the headlights on, pop the sunroof on tilt so it looks like there's something on the roof and it was amazing how many cars shifted out of the way.

I had a white sierra in the mid 90s, had a similar reaction from people, mostly them slowing down which was a pain!

[Shropshiremike]

MarJay said:

That car is begging to have a vaaast supercharger bolted on to it.

Good shed!

Power Engineering used to do a conversion with the Sprintex 'charger that put power up to about 230/240bhp. There was an XR4i with the same conversion for sale in the classifieds a while back.

The early Colognes respond well to forced induction as they have breathing problems because of the siamesed ports. The Arizona/Swaymar heads are loads better

[SimonSaid]

alfa pint said:

I used to blast along the M8 every day in a white sierra - put the headlights on, pop the sunroof on tilt so it looks like there's something on the roof and it was amazing how many cars shifted out of the way.

[philmots]

Excellent.. My dad had one of these on a C plate when i were a kid! Don't remember much of it though as I was very young!

[pd86]

i'd never buy anything from anyone who uses "leccy" in an advertisement