My Sierra XR4x4 Turbo Technics
Discussion
After reading about this week's SOTW, I thought I'd share some pics of my old XR. I owned this car from 1994 to 2003 and sold it to the XROC chairman at the time.
I won't upload all the pics now because I need to get up in the morning!
This car was a labour of love for me and ,at times financially crippling!
More tomorrow.-
I won't upload all the pics now because I need to get up in the morning!
This car was a labour of love for me and ,at times financially crippling!
More tomorrow.-
I'll start with the motor, while impressive for a short time (this was 1994!) I quickly got used to the standard 150bhp and wanted more. I live quite close to Alan Jeffery Engine Tuning in Plymouth and at the time he was the local Ford V6 guru with a workshop full of Sierras in various states of build. I inquired about the usual N/A tuning for the car but he said 'Don't bother, just Turbocharge it'. I was a bit apprehensive as I understood this was going to cost more than I originally planned, but the idea certainly appealed to me and he suggested we take a short ride in his 300bhp Turbo XR4i.
We returned with me grinning like an idiot, it was miles faster than anything I'd been in before. There was no going back now!
At the time they didn't make the XR4 kit anymore but there were lots of Turbo Technics parts available 2nd hand, so sourcing the parts 'shouldn't' have been a problem. The plan was to rebuild the motor to 210bhp spec with an 8:1 compression so further tuning could be done at a later date.
However. As with many things you don't see the problems until you're halfway through the project, key components couldn't be found on the secondhand market(no internet then)and I had a half built low compression V6 with no turbo or air pipes. We sourced a new Garret T3 and asked Turbo Technics to make a one off set of intake and intercooler pipes at great expense. The extra outlay was partly offset by everything looking shiny and new. I ran the engine in for 1000 miles using no boost, and when the wastegate was set to 7psi I loved it.
As you can see I also liked to fanny about with shiny bits under the bonnet! Thanks to the guys at Woodford garage in Totnes, I think the owner was the RSOC chairman at the time and his input was fantastic.
The engine was producing 210bhp or so, and I was happy with that for a while. Like most things though you get used to it and I wanted the car to rev more. The next stage of tuning was some ported and polished heads so Mr Jeffery was consulted and the heads were bought. While the car was in the workshop they found a gudgeon pin had slipped and scored one of the bores badly. A new block was required after just 7000 miles running.
The new block was given as a freebie, but several hundreds were spent taking everything out & putting it all back again. Mr Visa took a huge bashing as I'd just forked out £600 for the heads plus there would be setup costs. The car was off the road for weeks aswell.
About a month later I received a call saying it was running. It was much quicker as the boost was also upped from 7 psi to 1 bar. The engine would go to over 6000 now and the torque was huge, overtaking was hilarious and it had (somehow) been worth the money.
Three weeks later the car started refusing to start. It would eventually catch on 2/3 cylinders and idle really roughly for a few minutes until all 6 ran. This would happen after the car had been left for a few days plus there was loads of water vapour coming from the exhaust. Long story short it was back to the workshop, where porous heads were diagnosed. As the heads were modified there was no warranty from the supplier. New heads at my cost then. Felt like setting fire to the damn thing but as it was in bits in a workshop, probably not feasible.
Another month without a car. Getting serious grief from all sides but I couldn't sell a car with no engine, and I'd already spent several thousand.
When the car came back it was fine, a bit quicker as we were running 15.5psi but I'd lost confidence in it. I became a bit paranoid when the car took longer than a second to start, and had started listening for every unusual sound from the engine. The car was fine and didn't miss a beat, I drove to Goodwood F.O.S in 2003 and had the best trip/weekend, (not) racing a Jaguar XKR on the Saturday morning going to Goodwood was one highlight. When I got home there were 9 messages from the XROC chairman asking to buy my car as he'd crashed his. Talk about a perfect end to a weekend...
I really enjoyed the car but I'd never buy one again!
We returned with me grinning like an idiot, it was miles faster than anything I'd been in before. There was no going back now!
At the time they didn't make the XR4 kit anymore but there were lots of Turbo Technics parts available 2nd hand, so sourcing the parts 'shouldn't' have been a problem. The plan was to rebuild the motor to 210bhp spec with an 8:1 compression so further tuning could be done at a later date.
However. As with many things you don't see the problems until you're halfway through the project, key components couldn't be found on the secondhand market(no internet then)and I had a half built low compression V6 with no turbo or air pipes. We sourced a new Garret T3 and asked Turbo Technics to make a one off set of intake and intercooler pipes at great expense. The extra outlay was partly offset by everything looking shiny and new. I ran the engine in for 1000 miles using no boost, and when the wastegate was set to 7psi I loved it.
As you can see I also liked to fanny about with shiny bits under the bonnet! Thanks to the guys at Woodford garage in Totnes, I think the owner was the RSOC chairman at the time and his input was fantastic.
The engine was producing 210bhp or so, and I was happy with that for a while. Like most things though you get used to it and I wanted the car to rev more. The next stage of tuning was some ported and polished heads so Mr Jeffery was consulted and the heads were bought. While the car was in the workshop they found a gudgeon pin had slipped and scored one of the bores badly. A new block was required after just 7000 miles running.
The new block was given as a freebie, but several hundreds were spent taking everything out & putting it all back again. Mr Visa took a huge bashing as I'd just forked out £600 for the heads plus there would be setup costs. The car was off the road for weeks aswell.
About a month later I received a call saying it was running. It was much quicker as the boost was also upped from 7 psi to 1 bar. The engine would go to over 6000 now and the torque was huge, overtaking was hilarious and it had (somehow) been worth the money.
Three weeks later the car started refusing to start. It would eventually catch on 2/3 cylinders and idle really roughly for a few minutes until all 6 ran. This would happen after the car had been left for a few days plus there was loads of water vapour coming from the exhaust. Long story short it was back to the workshop, where porous heads were diagnosed. As the heads were modified there was no warranty from the supplier. New heads at my cost then. Felt like setting fire to the damn thing but as it was in bits in a workshop, probably not feasible.
Another month without a car. Getting serious grief from all sides but I couldn't sell a car with no engine, and I'd already spent several thousand.
When the car came back it was fine, a bit quicker as we were running 15.5psi but I'd lost confidence in it. I became a bit paranoid when the car took longer than a second to start, and had started listening for every unusual sound from the engine. The car was fine and didn't miss a beat, I drove to Goodwood F.O.S in 2003 and had the best trip/weekend, (not) racing a Jaguar XKR on the Saturday morning going to Goodwood was one highlight. When I got home there were 9 messages from the XROC chairman asking to buy my car as he'd crashed his. Talk about a perfect end to a weekend...
I really enjoyed the car but I'd never buy one again!
Edited by Mark34bn on Tuesday 16th February 21:12
Bearing in mind I bought an XR4x4 because I couldn't afford to buy or insure a Cosworth at the age of 24, I seemed to be spending quite a lot on this substitute. I had the springs, dampers and bushes and brakes changed before embarking on the Turbo project, aswell as the ongoing cosmetic changes which I've always done to my cars.
The nicest mod for me was the seats, Grey cloth Recaro items from a 30,000 mile Sapphire Cosworth.
Anyone familiar with Sierras will know the Sapphire rear seats are a completely different shape to the regular Sierras. So being stubborn I took two sets of rears to Auto Trim in Ivybridge, and emerged with a 'hybrid' Sapphire/XR4x4 mixture. They didn't fold down so I fabricated a 12mm ply bulkhead onto the seat backs which was fixed to the boot floor and the 'acoustic' parcel shelf for strength. A bit of trimming and that was finished.
The nicest mod for me was the seats, Grey cloth Recaro items from a 30,000 mile Sapphire Cosworth.
Anyone familiar with Sierras will know the Sapphire rear seats are a completely different shape to the regular Sierras. So being stubborn I took two sets of rears to Auto Trim in Ivybridge, and emerged with a 'hybrid' Sapphire/XR4x4 mixture. They didn't fold down so I fabricated a 12mm ply bulkhead onto the seat backs which was fixed to the boot floor and the 'acoustic' parcel shelf for strength. A bit of trimming and that was finished.
To further 'enhance' the interior, I wanted to Cosworthise the dash. I sourced a Cosworth clock set and started taking things apart. I knew the rev counter wouldn't be compatible with the V6 so two sets of clocks were dismantled on the dining room table, and one much modified item was built.
I'd seen some footage of a Sierra Cosworth in the RAC Rally and loved the gauges where the centre air vent aperture was. The Demon Tweeks catalogue came out and a week or so later I had three gauges and two senders. No gauge panels existed at the time so I made one from some alloy 'found' at work..
Please excuse the Carbon film, it was the new big thing at the time!
I'm an auto electrician so wiring the gauges wasn't a problem. The first night I went out in the car it was like being in a 747 with all the gauges. I loved it.
I'd seen some footage of a Sierra Cosworth in the RAC Rally and loved the gauges where the centre air vent aperture was. The Demon Tweeks catalogue came out and a week or so later I had three gauges and two senders. No gauge panels existed at the time so I made one from some alloy 'found' at work..
Please excuse the Carbon film, it was the new big thing at the time!
I'm an auto electrician so wiring the gauges wasn't a problem. The first night I went out in the car it was like being in a 747 with all the gauges. I loved it.
Edited by Mark34bn on Tuesday 16th February 19:58
Some exterior pics. Can't believe how weedy it looks nowadays!
The usual Ford rust had been appearing around the sunroof and on the rear arches, so I had the car resprayed not long before these photos were taken. This was the day before one of the Ford shows.
TBH I preferred the car on the previous Sapphire Cosworth alloys.
Now I drive this-
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Old now but it's paid for and will do until something much newer/better comes along.
The usual Ford rust had been appearing around the sunroof and on the rear arches, so I had the car resprayed not long before these photos were taken. This was the day before one of the Ford shows.
TBH I preferred the car on the previous Sapphire Cosworth alloys.
Now I drive this-
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Old now but it's paid for and will do until something much newer/better comes along.
Edited by Mark34bn on Thursday 18th February 09:29
Not seen either of your cars driving around...
The minute I read it was a TT XR4x4, I wondered if Alan Jefferies had been put to work on it.
Very nice & I take it, that's a Cosworth front bumper? Must admit, i've not seen a pre facelift XR4x4 before. Looks nice
Have you ever seen the XR4i going around Plymouth? Usually parked up, down by Plymbridge Woods car park.
If you're an Auto Electrician, do you fancy taking a peak at my bike? It looks like a 5 year old has hacked into the loom
I'm in Ivybridge BTW...
The minute I read it was a TT XR4x4, I wondered if Alan Jefferies had been put to work on it.
Very nice & I take it, that's a Cosworth front bumper? Must admit, i've not seen a pre facelift XR4x4 before. Looks nice
Have you ever seen the XR4i going around Plymouth? Usually parked up, down by Plymbridge Woods car park.
If you're an Auto Electrician, do you fancy taking a peak at my bike? It looks like a 5 year old has hacked into the loom
I'm in Ivybridge BTW...
Edited by Vidal Baboon on Thursday 18th February 10:25
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