Old Classic car brakes from EBC work great on a Sierra 4 x 4 in NZ according to driver who gets his parts from Lyall Zohs the EBC Brakes importer in New Zealand

Posted by admin

August 22, 2011

I have a pair of Sierra XR4x4′s. A 1988 2.8 which is my road car. It was owned for 30 days by Ford UK, and was factory lowered. I’ve replaced the shocks, springs, completely polybushed, fitted new discs all round, YellowStuff pads at the front and Green at the back, Quaiffe quickshift, 15″ steel wheels and Toyo T1R 195/55 tyres.

The car had a cracked rear bumper. A panel beater near my work offered to repair it, but it fell apart on removal.

The hatch, 4 door and estate rear bumpers are all unique, and the vast majority of Sierras in NZ are estates.

I eventually found a spare bumper, but when i went to pay and collect it, the owner would only sell the complete car, a 1991 2.9 XR4x4.

U can imagine my wife’s face when i arrived home on a car transporter with a 4th Sierra (i had two Pinto estates i raced).

The owner allowed the car to become de-registered (very difficult to get a de-registered car back on the road in NZ), because it wouldn’t run.

Dropped the tank and extracted the pump. Wouldn’t go. While my friendly garage owner ordered a new pump, i tipped it upside down, gave it a few gentle taps on a block of wood, pumped WD40 into it, repeated the process, then reversed the electrical connection so it pumped in reverse. Burst into life. The garage were adamant it would not produce enough pressure and would soon fail again. A year later….. still going strong.

Recently, i’ve had a cage, race seat and 5 point harness installed, and stripped out the interior. But of course i did fit new discs, and Yellow EBC pads on the front, and Green at the back, as well as 15″ TSW alloys and Toyo R888 tyres.

Because it’s only covered a few kilometres in the last 5 years, i didn’t want to replace the shocks, springs and bushes until it proved itself. Definitely need replacing – see car angle in photo 170).

Got myself a National Racing Licence, the car homologated, and took it serious racing last weekend in the Winter Series RS Cup held at Manfeild Race track in Feilding (lower half of the North Island). This championship runs over 4 months, and each round consists of three races. I finished 12th, 2nd race 6th and 3rd race 2nd in the first round i entered (3rd round).

I run Green pads in all my other cars, and used Red in the Sierra estates, so u can see I’m pretty keen on EBC.

We get fantastic service from Lyall and Annette Zohs (EBC NZ), and when i’ve needed technical help or advice, i’ve had great personal service from EBC‘s experts in the UK.

Now if only EBC could bring the same quality and service to other automotive products (like brake caliper overhaul kits, alternators, hoses, etc).

The cars will feature in upcoming issues of PPC and Practical Classics magazines.

Photo 121 – heading down pit lane for the warm up lap of the first race. Photo 161 – race finish (other cars in the photo – orange Ford Laser / Mazda 323, Holden HQ, much modified Triumph 2.5pi, Sierra).