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

The Build Diary
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The SVA
[Did my 2B pass?]

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April 2001

April the first is a red-letter day- 2B 1403 rolled out of the garage for the first time, is this an omen?

The alternator bracket needs to be an early Sierra one turned upside down or as in my case, a 2 litre '87 Capri one the right way up. This requires an 875mm fan belt on mine but I guess they'll vary a bit.

The radiator also went in at this time, it mounts at the top with a couple of RHE's P clips and sits in a U shaped rubber lined bracket at the bottom. A couple of mark 5 Cortina hoses link it all up.

At some point I will fit an expansion tank, hopefully I can find something small and square at the breakers when I am hunting electric fans.

The next job is one that most people find rather daunting, namely the wyrun (for those of you with a southern pronounciation, wireing). I include myself with them, although I did re-wire a couple of motorbikes from scratch in the past so have some experience. I am using the std Sierra loom so all the plugs and things will go straight back where they came from, albeit with a bit of shortening or stretching as required. Photo taken before the job was finished. Initially I plan to run the car with a low flyscreen so I won't need to worry about wipers and heaters as yet, but all the wiring is obviously there when I do (this will probably be after the first bee hits me in the gob at 60 mp/h, and I decide that a windscreen is a good idea!)

Salesman-"well, 'course a Bee's hit ya, it's a Flyscreen innit, don't say nuffin' about Bees on the box, does it"!!!!

The Sierra heater unit is BIG, so that has been eliminated from the considerations and I'll probably go for a mini one eventually, which leaves a nice large space to put the fuse box (stock Sierra, also BIG) behind the bulkhead on the tunnel top. From here, great bundles of cable, much of it redundant, wander off in search of a component to donate their electrons to.

Actually getting all the wires in place has taken 2 days, and looks nice and neat. It is either cable tied to the chassis every 6" or so or held down with self adhesive cable tie bases from B&Q. I was very sceptical about these but I stuck one to the tunnel top to see if it was any good and haven't yet been able to get it off, despite soaking in water and heating it. I suppose a drop of thinners and a screwdriver will lever it off, but they sure do stick well, partner! I will see how they do in the longer term and if they all fall off in autumn, then I'll have to rivet them in place. All the cables are spiral wrapped or covered in convoluted tube where there is a danger of abrasion.

The next paragraph, which I will write in a day or two, will tell you whether any of the electrics actually work, don't hold your breath!

...

Well, I hooked the battery up, turned the key a bit and… Ignition lights, fuel gauge, oil pressure all lit up. I turned it a bit more and the engine turned over, wahay! I didn't start it as there is no fuel in it yet and I want to do a few checks before hand but all seems well with 1403.

One day later.

OK then, with a gallon of the chancellor's best taxed product in the tank I decided I better stop faffing around and give it a go. RRRRRRRRRRR. Oh No fuel in evidence. After bothering to put the brain cell in, I realised that the fuel pickup in the tank was about 2" short, so, suitably extended, I tried again. RRRR, BRRR, Vroom. Actually she started really easy, which I take to be a good sign. I let it idle for about 15 mins to get fairly warm, checking for oil, coolant leaks etc, of which there were reassuringly none. I didn't want to let it run too long as there is no radiator fan yet, but it really does make you feel you're getting somewhere when you hear it going after all those cold weeks of work.

Have now gone round and replaced all the screws with rivets or more screws as appropriate (I wanted some panels easily removable) Next job is to finish the bodywork.

The bonnet is supplied in two halves (as opposed to three or four halves I suppose) which you bolt together, then the nose cone attaches to it with screws, then rivets, it's a bit of a fiddly process but it's easier if you get your girlfriend to balance the whole lot on her head whilst the job is done. See photo and wait for imminent separation. The theory goes that you overlap the edge of the bonnet by an inch or so at the rear, but I found that my nose cone wouldn't allow this, so I had to cut it a little to clear. If you need to do this please be careful where and what you trim off 'cos I've made a bit of a cock-up on mine. I think it looks ok but it could have been better. Any way once this was done the bonnet was hinged at the rear with a couple of 6mm bolts through the chassis. It all wobbled around rather a lot with the bonnet raised so I put some stiffening bars underneath, much cheaper than Viagra I am told. Catches that will pass the sva are a bit hard to find, but those rubber ones you see on battery trays etc are supposed to be ok so I'll find some of them as the main way of bonnet restraint, with the Sierra catch as a back up. The 2B has a large bonnet area and one at least had it's owner upside down after it blew up on the move, so make sure it's well secured.

The rear panel is easy to fold and fit, 'nuff said.

The radiator needed an electric fan as I'd binned the Ford one that added about 15lb to the crankshaft inertia. Well worth losing if you only have a 1600. Due to space limitations, I needed a fan to blow rather than suck (I always wanted to be a rock star you know). The only one I could find in a scrap-yard of a thousand cars was on a Peugeot 205, but it seems ideal. This is wired up to the heated rear window switch from the Sierra, as this had good thick wire to take a high current draw. It sits on a 30mm bracket, as it is quite heavy. I didn't find a suitable expansion bottle so I'll wait and see if I need one (probably!)

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