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First Things    CBU     Donor Car  Cleaning Donor Parts

First Things First.

Collecting your car from the factory, remember the length of the car.  The Sports is 150 inches long that is 12'6" and the Tourer is 165 inches  that is 13'9" long. You will need a trailer able to accommodate the size of the car that you are collecting.

A boat trailer is not suitable, you will also need rope or straps to secure your kit to the trailer and a net or hap to protect all the various bits that are stowed in the CBU. Also corrugated paper and sticky tape for the windscreen and sidescreen glass.

Alternatively a Transit Luton type van.  The front part of the chassis sits on top of the Luton that is the front part which sits over the cab.   Remember to measure the inside of the van diagonally from the front of the Luton down to the bottom of the back door, for the kit you are collecting, as vans come in varying lengths.   I was lucky being a transport driver and was able to collect my kit in a 45 foot curtain trailer.

(CBU) Central Body Unit 

This photo shows the CBU with the wings attached at the factory. I call it the tub. This was my tub at the open day just before collection. I had to delay collecting it as the garage was still being built.

Various components of the car are stowed inside the tub for transportation, the wings doors windscreen frames etc. The front wings on the Sports are 8 feet long and the Tourer wings are longer still.

Tools you will need; Spanner and socket set; Drill and bits preferably variable speed; various screwdrivers, set of files; hacksaw; axle stands; trolley jack; clamps; pop rivet gun; a bench vice, steel tape measure plus the wife's tape measure, a small angle grinder comes in handy too as does a small bench grinder.                                          

The Donor

The donor car was a 1983 Ford Sierra 2.0 litre saloon which we purchased from a garage near Aberdeen. Remember that the Estate version   is not suitable as a donor.

The components needed are

• The whole back end, except the shock absorbers,
• Remember the Bump stops
• Final Drive Assembly
• The engine complete with starter, alternator, distributor etc. and engine mounts and exhaust manifold
• Gearbox plus mountings and gear lever and all ancillaries
• Exhaust System (can be modified) Plus Downpipe.
• Whole front end
• You do not need the Mc Pherson struts.
• Steering rack, steering shaft, steering wheel and lighting stocks and cowling, anti roll bar etc.
• All brake parts servo etc discs, drums, brake balance valve.
• Wheels necessary for moving chassis around.
• Clutch and accelerator cables.
• Also label and save the wiring loom if you are going to use part of it later, as you do not need it all, remember the reversing lamp cable on gearbox.
• Plus electric radiator fan if fitted and Fuse box.
• Battery and Coil.
• Interior door lock handles and connecting rods.
• Centre Console you may or may not want to use it.
• Keep the radiator and use it as part exchange.
• Bonnet Stay use this to make stays for the Falcon.

My son Kenny used the Sierra for a month to test it out before he started to strip it down. 

Cleaning Donor Parts

Once it was stripped, I cleaned all the parts including engine & gearbox using a degreaser, which I was able to get from my work as it is used for preparing vehicles for their annual MOT plating test. Remember to block off all entry holes into the engine.  I used shrink rap held on with masking tape and left the old spark plugs in place.

However you can buy this degreaser from Halfords. "Gunk" is a good one this can be brushed or sprayed on, then leave it a while to get to work, before washing off with water. If you have one of these Power Washers use this to wash off the Gunk.

Next I used various sizes of wire cup brushes on an electric drill and a wire hand brush to clean up and de-rust the Front & rear assemblies.  Alternatively you can have these parts sand blasted, which will produce better results.
These were then painted with undercoat and finally with black enamel.
Many builders have these parts Powder coated.

Kenny refurbished all the brake parts with new components and did various jobs to the engine renewing parts as required and fitting new cambelts, fanbelt and  new alternator and starter motor. For anybody living in central Scotland I would recommend Shandon Electrical at   Bellshill Industrial Estate. Tel: 01698 843602 for alternators and starter motors.

Kenny also changed the speedometer drive in the gearbox as we would be fitting 15" wheels. The drive we used was a Sierra Cosworth available from any Ford dealer. The Cosworth uses 15" wheels.

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