1992 Ford Sierra GT on air with my 16 year old daughter :-) The deviation.

[therealpinto]

I haven't done much to my Capri the last two years. However, it is for a pretty good reason.


My daughter Kajsa has been with me in the car hobby since before she could walk. She crawled around in the garage on cardboard sheets when I built the electrics in the old MkI Capri twin turbo back in 2005. She helped out in the entrance booth in the annual spring meets around 2008-2010.


I guess it's quite natural that she also wanted her own project, eventually. In Sweden, the legal driving age is 18. That's a long wait when you are 13 years old. But we have a sort of a loop hole. You can drive a speed limited, two seater car from 15. Sure, it is limited to 30 km/h (20 mph), but it's a car, and a project.


For some reason (I expect it is the XR4x4 I drive when she was little) her dream car is the Sierra. So that's what she wanted to build. Finding a Sierra that is bad enough that you want to convert it, but good enough that it's not tons of work, is not easy. But we got lucky. A friend of mine (a bigger car hoarder than me) had just gotten one in some kind of trade. He warned us that it was pretty bad but it might suit our needs.



Sure, it was a bit rough but I had seen far worse. Then he offered to deliver it to our house (something about wanting it gone - quickly) and in the summer of 2018, my daugther Kajsa, 13 going on 14, got her first car.




After investigating it a bit, it turned we had a Sierra that smoked like crazy, and lit up the oil pressure light at idle. The ABS didn't work (and was obviously the reason the car was taken off the road), and there was rust. But Kajsa saw endless possibilities. And she loved her car!


The rules for these kind of things are a bit complicated and I will not go through it all here. In short, during the time we built it, it was mandatory to have a really low gear available (a tow gear) and that was the most complicated thing to fix. Most people just use two standard gearboxes, one after the other. However, it means that the second gearbox input shaft sees more torque that it is designed for and it usually breaks. I hate things that break.


So instead I thought it appropriate to put a Land Rover transfer box with high/low ratio in a Sierra. Spoiler alert; It doesn't "fit".


But Kajsa learnt a lot while I pondered the transmission. Cutting, panel beating, welding...



Eventually the transfer box mated with the car.


As we worked on, we had the same scope creep that always seem to happen. Would it be cool to learn how to build air suspension?

Yes it was.


Rebuilding the engine is a good thing to practise too. And finding out the reason for the low oil pressure!




Then let's get some cool touches done.
The rear seat needs to be blocked off, might as well use the space...

Somewhere to keep the air suspension stuff!


Sticker bombing!

Off to the paint shop. Scope creep, anyone?

Reassembly, that's a great feeling.







And then, it is, sort of, almost, ready!










This has been a great project, but now we need your help Kajsa has entered the car in a digital show and if you like it, it would be cool if you click into the show event and like her post/pictures;


https://www.facebook.com/events/1144...0673028638840/


Thanks


Gustaf

[katana]

What an enlightened attitude to car ownership and driving - big up the Swedes! Ha Ha Ha - you need to make the too low caravan gear even lower - why? in case she comes across a 60 tonne artic stuck in a ditch LOL! Good looking car for a 14 yr old - hope she enjoys it!

[mrmk2]

So cool, she is going to turn some heads with her Epa traktor You better hide you're Capri

[wildo105e]

brilliant story, it's great to get them involved. My daughter shows interest every now and again. It looks like it has turned out fantastic.

[wildo105e]

This has been a great project, but now we need your help Kajsa has entered the car in a digital show and if you like it, it would be cool if you click into the show event and like her post/pictures;


https://www.facebook.com/events/1144...0673028638840/


Thanks


Gustaf

Done

[alladdin]

[Graham]

[Graham]

you need to make the too low caravan gear even lower - why? in case she comes across a 60 tonne artic stuck in a ditch LOL! !

presumably its in the legal definition of a tractor. with such low gearing i bet theres a few engines that get literally revved to death trying to go a few mph faster

[therealpinto]

Thanks all!

Yes, the low gear demand comes from how this started, after the war, with farmers converting old cars as there was a shortage of farm tractors.

With my ever returning luck though, we got the tractor registered and approved June 2nd and then, July 15th, the low gear regulation was removed... So, the Land Rover transfer box will eventually be removed again. I am happy I kept the propshaft and built it kind of "reversible".

Gustaf

[katana]

Ain't bureaucracy a wonderful thing!

[Graham]

Thanks all!

Yes, the low gear demand comes from how this started, after the war, with farmers converting old cars as there was a shortage of farm tractors.

With my ever returning luck though, we got the tractor registered and approved June 2nd and then, July 15th, the low gear regulation was removed... So, the Land Rover transfer box will eventually be removed again. I am happy I kept the propshaft and built it kind of "reversible".

Gustaf

but i presume theres still a 30kph speed limit? hows that managed, lock out 3rd gear and above?

[therealpinto]

Yes, the limit still applies. I forgot to describe that, it used to be that you would limit the speed with the gearing, meaning that the kids ran around at 5000 rpm all day long. Today, most use an aftermarked speed limiter, that uses a speed sensor and cuts ignition or fuel at the set speed.

We have an inductive sensor at one of the front wheels (because power slides in snow is important), and then the limiter cuts the voltage to the ignition module when the set speed is reached. It also reads the engine speed from the crank sensor, and it has a "bypass protection system" that means if you cut the speed signal, it limits at around 1500 rpm. 4th and 5th gear are locked out so 1500 rpm is around 30 km/h in 3rd gear.

Gustaf