Hi All,

I'm just about to start stripping down my donor car (Sierra), and wonder if anyone has got any hints or tips on doing this. Also, is there any special tools that would come in handy during this process.

Thanks

Scott

i wrote a bit on my web site...

Just a few tips, probably pretty basic stuff.

I found a small ratchet socket set was useful as
well as a large one.

When undoing the driveshaft from the diff loosen
each bolt but don't take any out till they are loose,
otherwise you'll never undo them as the twisting
of loosening them locks them in place!

One of the rear wheel nuts has the opposite
thread to normal. It took some effort to *tighten*
those nuts I tell you!

I had the haynes manual and just followed the
instructions. All of the dismantling seemed
straightforward.

The special tools I had/borrowed were:
Ball joint splitter
Torx bits
Large socket for rear wheel nuts.

I took the engine out with some rope, poles and
a few mates, after the gearbox had already been
removed.

Cheers,
Tim

Label EVERYTHING on the loom, 18 months later, you may not remember the even the most obvious things.

A tree felling axe is great for reducing the size of the shell for disposal, 30 mins will do a shell into small enough bits to fit in the boot of an average car.

Loosen the rear hub nuts whilst they are still on the car, they are very, very tight, and a b***ard to undo off the car. IMHO

John

If you are taking the diff out,
Remove the through bolt at the top which is hardest FIRST, by whatever means nessesary.
you could try undoing the nut and knocking the bolt out but you could save some time by undoing the nut, knocking the bolt out a bit, grinding its head off, knocking the cut end back in, grinding the thread end off and then knocking that in.
Get the big hammer and get the bit remaining in the centre of the diff out when you have the unit oout of the car and on the floor

If the access is a little tight on the rear axle, open it up with the tree felling axe! Be careful with want you need to, anything else - use the tree felling axe - I LIKE TREE FELLING AXE'S

Sorry to be pedantic, but id be surprised if fitting ABS made the wheels lock up???

Isnt that what it does away with??!!

Although i suppose the relative bores of the front and rear calipers would affect the brake balance, and hence the ABS might be very twitchy on the back??

Ed.

[Edited on 18/10/04 by ed_crouch]

so why not use the delete feature!

atb

steve

I found a sledge hammer very useful while stripping my donor


Shit cars must die

How did no one mention the angle grinder??

you can't beat a pulsating nine incher!(ooooooerr-sound like a dirty old man)

tom

enough said

shortly after someone phone asking about a sierra shell for sale.. oops

[Edited on 2/11/04 by macspeedy]
Rescued attachment convertible ford sierra.jpg