1992 Ford Sierra GT - why making a car slow may make sense

In reply to therealpinto :

Congratulations to Kajsa! I can not imagine loving anything enough to drive 5+ hours at 30 km/h. 

Yeah, quite a few people trailer their tractors to these events...we toyed with the idea but it would have meant dual trips towing (since we can´t tow the caravan and the car trailer at the same time) so I am happy she was OK with this. Not sure she would do it again though :-)

Initially (2020) she planned to have a friend along for the ride but she had to work this year.

Gustaf

Yesterday Kajsa called me at work saying there was a sawlike sound that was worse when steering. She thought it might be the power steering so I asked her to check the fluid level - low. She said there were oil stains but no apparent leak. As she was in walking distance of the only gas station in the city center (but also one of the few that actually has some car stuff still) she bought a bottle of ATF and topped it off. That made the noise go away and she could drive home.

After dinner I looked to see what I could find. An engine compartment well marinated in oil, but I could see no leak. Until we operated the steering with the engine running...a pin hole in the high pressure hos for the power steering. Of course, the hole was perfectly aimed at the accessory belt that happily sprayed the oil...everywhere.

My plan for the evening was to get the Capri from storage and prepare it for the weekend track event. Plans changed...

A half-hearted attempt to fix the leak with some self vulcanizing tape, a piece of slit hose and hose clamps of course did not work. Then I remembered...the extra steering rack I had for the planned 4x4 conversion, did it not have hoses still? Yes, it did. Not exactly the same, but close enough. Fixed but over two hours lost... But I also went an got the Capri.

...and, this morning Kajsa called and blamed me for the dead battery. Um well yes, I might have left the key on the radio mode for a while. Or some hours. Guess the amps did their job of draining it. Jump start pack was drained last night by me, as was the extra battery I keep for the QuickJack. So she had to wait for the Ctek to add enough electrons...and be late for work.

As a side note, I "lost" Monday night too, with the Chrysler tractor I have been involved in. It would hardly move and smelled hot. I suspected a molten catalytic converter. Not the most convenient thing to work on in a 2002 Grand Voyager 3.3. Finally I resorted to sawsalling (?) the downpipe after the cat. Same noise level as with the entire exhaust in place. Yep that is the problem. A long drill bit open up the converter and then it roared into life. The reason? The speed limiter cuts spark but not fuel, and unburnt fuel for a longer time + cat = molten mess.

As a tractor it does not need to have the converter working. So it is "fixed"...sort of.

Gustaf

Last week Kajsa finally passed her real driver test so now it really is time to move on. We have the "seller wheels" put on, some small niggles adjusted and the ads are out...

Deciding on an opening price was hard but finally I just sort of matched the few other air-ride equipped tractors for sale right now. Some are much pricier but built on newer cars, some are much less "built" than this one but we´ll see. It would be nice to sell before we leave for California and SEMA in the end of October though.

Gustaf

In reply to therealpinto :

My daughter at that age got her fingers caught between a running sanding belt and it's worktable. She would probably have killed someone with an angle grinder. Kudos to you both!

Fantastic story sir.  I just love the way you and your daughter connected over a fun project!  Fantastic Dading sir.

Well, it took from October to February, but now it is sold and on its way to the new owner, a fair amount of hours south from here.

The buyer is a 15 year old kid, who is soon to get his license for a moped/A-tractor. A kid that was just over 10 years old when we started this build :-)

The whole deal felt a bit better since it turns out one of my colleagues know the father, as they have worked together and he could vouch for him. They did get a "fair" price, I am certain we could have gotten a bit more by waiting until spring but it feels nice to be done with it. 

Looking back, it has been a great experience. Hard work, yes, some money, of course. But I have enjoyed it and as you all have noted, it has been a good father-daughter bonding exercise.

Now what? We need to get going on the black Sierra (probably when the Capri has a gearbox fixed to it again). Then we'll see. 2/3rds of the family feel there might be room for one vehicle now but not everbody agrees :-)

Gustaf