Polar Puma

[wip3]

Greetings from Finland!

My Puma "project" isn't going to start for a month or so because of the snow, but I'll make a thread anyway.

I bought my Puma the first day of 2012 so I've had it for 1,5 months now. It has worked well and even tough roads are covered in snow it's been huge fun to drive. It's a -98 model, done 86tkm and I didn't get it very cheap to be honest, but I do believe this is one of the best Pumas here in Finland. :wink: We have a few snowy months here so most Pumas have just rusted away.

Pictures

I haven't done anything other than changing the oil today, but I ordered Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels for it and I'm going to get AP coilovers for it soon. I might also get a splitter, better brakes and so on, but I haven't decided yet. I'm going to drive this everyday and also do trackdays. I'm not aiming for as much speed as possibly but rather as much driving pleasure as possible. I've understood that Puma has pretty weak brakes. What brake mods would you suggest? Will different pads be enough or do I need to update the discs and pads as well so they won't fade in the track?

Finally here's a shot to show how my Puma goes in snow

 

[red]

Welcome to the site, it sure looks in nice condition

The mods you've suggested sound good, being a 98 model it'll (unless changed already) have the smaller discs and callipers. ~240mm whereas the later Pumas had ~258mm which adds a bit of extra force. Howver since you've using it on a track it might be worth considering the Fiesta ST150 or Mondeo 300mm upgrades as a lot of people find these make a good difference for reasonable value (before getting into race spec callipers etc).

Anyway enjoy!

 

[Severio]

Hey, im liking your cold cat!
As Red has said (beat me to it!!)
In regards to upgrading your brakes alot of people go for the mk3 mondeo calipers with st170 disks (300mm) or mk 6 fiesta st150 setup (280mm disks)

A problem you have if your new wheels are 15inch is fitting the bigger brakes under the wheels, you'll need atleast 16inch unless you want to grind the calipers to make them fit.

My mrs puma is a 99 reg an had 240mm disks but i managed to get her a later setup an is now running 258mm disks an are an improvement without changing the wheels size!

Heres a link to the 300mm setup but using search you'll find other guides..
http://www.projectpuma.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=7991" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[wip3]

I knew that if I'd get the 15 inch wheels I wouldn't be able to fit 300mm brakes, but I decided that they will be lighter and give me better handling. I'm probably going to try and get some 258mm ones as well. I only run short (20min) sessions so they should be fine. At least I didn't have any problems with my stock Focus 1.6 (Maybe because it was so slow braking wasn't needed) or MR2 SW20.

Aiming to beat my Focus by a big margin in the summer
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjj7fVqbwZI[/youtube]

 

[wip3]

I got this just for sounds. There's no difference when driving normally, but it makes a nice growl while accelerating.

Of course it started to rain when I was fitting it so had to use an umbrella to not get wet.

In place. I hope I fitted it right. I didn't remove the lower part of the original airbox because of the rain.

Here's a comparison video between the original panel filter and the new cone filter. The mic in my camera is rubbish, but the difference is still noticeable. I'm really pleased :roll:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ylotSfkMw[/youtube]

Ordered some AP coils today. It'll take at least 3 weeks for them to arrive. Now I'm afraid my clutch is failing and Ford told me that it'll cost 1050 euros to replace it with original parts

 

[evilrob]

Now I'm afraid that my clutch is failing and Ford told me that it'll cost 1050 euros to replace it with original parts

HOW MUCH!? :shock:

 

[wip3]

HOW MUCH!? :shock:

Excatly my reaction :| Parts cost 600+ euros and work almost 400 euros.

 

[fefu17]

That's way too expensive...I bought a LUK clutch kit for mine (200 euro) and the mechanic charged me 100 euro

 

[evilrob]

Do you have strict import laws or couldn't one of us ship you one over? Even with shipping the parts wouldn't be anywhere near 600 euros - a genuine Ford clutch kit and slave cylinder is about £250+VAT - so roughly 300EUR plus shipping.

You might as well get a Helix if you're going to all that trouble and still not come anywhere near 1000 EUR.

 

[zedder]

My Puma is also a Melina Blue ´98 1.7. The difference is that mine is one of the worst in Finland I guess... I have already welded it few times myself. But still going strong.

Few years ago a local Ford garage charged 350 € for clutch replacement (work, no parts included). I´m pretty sure you can get decent clutch cheaper than 600 €.

Question for wip3: Does your Puma pull hard to right when accelerating on snowy/icy conditions?

 

[wip3]

Question for wip3: Does your Puma pull hard to right when accelerating on snowy/icy conditions?

Not that I've noticed. Nice to see another Puma enthusiast from Finland :wink: Very under rated car here.

Do you have strict import laws or couldn't one of us ship you one over? Even with shipping the parts wouldn't be anywhere near 600 euros - a genuine Ford clutch kit and slave cylinder is about £250+VAT - so roughly 300EUR plus shipping.

If the clutch goes and I have to replace it I'll surely order the parts online. Hopefully I can find one for 300e or so. The 600e they are asking is just ridiculous. All I can do now is to wait and see if it gets worse. It has slipped just a few times and never more than 500rpm. Hopefully it'll hold for some time, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to replace it sooner or later.

 

[boospuma]

pumaspeed :wink:

http://www.pumaspeed.co.uk/car-Puma-17_2_14.jsp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

all you ewer nead

 

[ScubaSteve]

Hi nice car, u got any fit bitches round your way?

 

[slayllian]

pmsl

 

[Zara]

Welcome!!

 

[slayllian]

Its strange how you don't see many pumas in Europe, we travelled to Italy by road in the summer and Switzerland at Christmas and outside the UK I could count the number of pumas we spotted on one hand.

looking forward to following this thread, keep up the good work!

 

[wip3]

Hi nice car, u got any fit bitches round your way?

Of course. Streets are filled with smoking hot blonds.

Damn roads are still snowy and icy for few weeks...

edit: Ahh finally remembered to ask this... I should probably get some tires soon but 205/50 or 195/50 for 15x7 wheels? Am I going to get rubbing issues with 205/50 and will the 195/50 even fit to a 7 inch wide wheel?

 

[wip3]

Clutch died and is slipping all the time now. Luckily I was able to make a deal with the Ford dealer i bought it from 2 months ago. I'm paying the clutch and they're paying the labor.

It's been a month since I ordered my wheels from Wheelbasealloys.com and it seems they don't know if they're coming from Team Dynamics factory at all... I should order the tires, but can't because I've no idea if I'm getting the wheels or not :-(

 

[wip3]

Went to a shopping mall today and when I returned to my Puma found this:

I was gone for only 10-15 minutes and the car next to me was still there when I returned. Doesn't seem like an accident to me. Going to have to wash the car and see if there's damage somewhere else.

Clutch broke, wheels missing and now this

 

[Ginger Tom]

Sh*t mate, there are some proper idiots in the world with very envious eyes. Could you not contact team dynamics themselves and ask if they have recieved an order for the wheels from the company you brought them through?