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What is the 2B
[Or, dietary tips for Sierras]

The Build Diary
['99 - Aug. '00]
[ Aug - Nov. '00]
[December '00]
[Early Jan '01]
[January '01]
[February '01]
[March '01]
[April '01]
[May '01]
[June '01]
[July '01]

The SVA
[Did my 2B pass?]

On The Road
[Whats it like then?]
[And now it's been improved!]

New for 2003
[Suspension Mods]

New for 2002
[Engine Mods]
[Fuel Filler]
[Custom Instuments]
[Rear Shocks]

Tricks & Tips
[including do as I say, not as I did!]

Major Problems
[Or how to talk to the Manufacturer]

So you think you've got problems?

Gallery
[Or,some necessary light relief!]

Wifes View
[Or, are you coming out of that garage....]

Links
[Other maniacs who have tried this]

About the Authors
[If you are really bored...]

The Build Diary...
Why?

Early 1999
I became increasingly disillusioned with driving around in a mundane (and tatty - Ian) everday car. It's amazing how easily one can become bored with 420bhp and 1300 lb/ft of torque but unfortionatly this wasn't in my car, but in a truck which I drive at work. The car was a 340 Volvo with about 55bhp and an automatic gearbox to make things worse. This seemed a good a reason as any to build a kit car.

Looking through the various magazines, I decided that lucious Lisa on page 49 was out of my price range and so turned to car magazines again. I liked the look of the Cobra replicas, but sadly, my Bank balance turned out to be incompatible with this idea as it did with most of the other decent looking cars. In fact, compared with the better Cobra's, page 49 seemed suddenly affordable, if not compatible with my girlfriend. I was thinking of ditching the idea when I came across an article on the Robin Hood Engineering (RHE) Project 2B. Here was a Lotus 7 inspired car which I could actually afford.

March 1999
Started Saving the £2400 for the Kit, this includes the Stainless Steel Option and the Extras pack with such things as wheels and seats (for those of you who are confused at the idea of wheels being optional, you can of course use the Sierra wheels. Leaving them off reduces unsprung weight and performance at the same time.

April 1999 - May 2000
Still Saving and longing for the day when I collect the kit (19th August 2000)... Ahhh such innocence

June 2000
Decided to find donor car (with a budget of up to £200). I set out to find a 2 litre Sierra with good running gear and plenty of rust on the body. Having looked at a few, one of which appeared to contain a 1600 engine, I eventually heard of a 1.6 of 1988 vintage which was going free. As I had a 2 litre engine in my Capri which could be eventually used in the kit, I decided this was worth a look. Imagine my surprise when we found that this innoccuous looking rusty red Ford turned out to contain a Cosworth Turbo engine. Well, ok, it didn't but the thought was nice, it did in fact have a decent (??) 1.6 Pinto engine which would do me to start with. The rest of the important bits seemed ok and the car had only covered 89,000 miles.

July 2000
Started stripping donor car, no major problems encountered. The rear Axle assembly is quite heavy but I took mine out with the wheels still on, saving a lot of lifting. It is also easier to move around like this. The wireing system on a Ford Sierra is apparently designed by an Italian spaghetti fetishist. It is very important to label the wireing loom as an extra hour spent here will save two weeks stress and premature balding later. I have labeled mine with sticky labels which I suspect have all fallen off by now, I suggest you use tie on labels.

NOTE: SAVE EVERYTHING FROM THE DONOR VEHICLE, INCLUDING UNLIKELY THINGS LIKE THE DOOR RUBBERS AND REAR BUMP STOPS

These will all come in useful during the build and also demonstrate to a skeptical environmental lobby your commitment to recycling.

All the major components were stripped and reconditioned as required. The engine and gearbox were basically sound, except for the camshaft which was replaced as part of a top end overhaul. As this 1.6 engine will not be in the car for long it seemed pointless spending any unnecessary money on it. The other components were fine apart from being extremely rusty and dirty. I decided to redistribute this material around the garage and my person with a wire brush and a power drill. I noticed when I was doing this that the number of reddy-brown cats in the area increased dramatically.

August 2000
Finished off stripping donor and disposed of corpse. Cost £30 for a scrappie to take it away ho ho. 'Scooby Doo?' No, 'Scrappie Doo' and indeed they did.

The week of the 19th finally came. I decided to check the van hire arrangements I had made a month or so earlier. I was advised that the van I had booked thinking to be a LWB VW Transporter was in fact a flatbed car transporter and thus no use to me. I therefore rebooked a long wheel base transit which I was assured was long enough. On the Saturday morning I arrived at the hire centre and was asked in passing by the owner why I wanted the van. I told him, and he said 'There is no way that an 11'4" Chassis will fit in that!'. Happily he had a Luton van available. Skipping back briefly to Friday night, I realised that the chap I had arranged to help me collect the car had disappeared off the face off the Earth (or at least Norwich). Dave, if you are reading this, where are you? I then phoned Ian, who now takes up the tale...

'At 9 in the evening, with myself happily contemplating a weekend of nothing more than the usual drunken debauchery, when the telephone berrunged.

It was Glenn. He wanted something. It involved me. No, don't get the wrong idea.

He wanted me to, at a moments notice, go all the way up to Mansfield (150 miles away), so natually I said yes, I wasss............verrrryyy........verrryy.....drunk.

At 8 in the Morning, miraculously, I was awake, I was sober, I didn't have a hangover (and why not - Glenn) and absolutely thrilled at the thought of a trip to Mansfield where I was told they had the best fish and chips in the country (despite being 85 miles from the nearest habitable water).

Glenn appeared doing his impression of white van man, and then we were off...'

and it is at this point that the commentary is again picked up by Glenn...

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