The £650 Puma

[quest63]

Just like they should have made them all :thumbs:

My front top mounts came today

 

[The Arch Bishop]

I don't understand Fords obsession with whacking great arch gaps. Just that tiny drop makes the car look nice and tight and a lot more purposeful. For some reason, it looks tiny sat on the drive now! Best money spent ever. Well, unless it turns out that it drives like crud obviously.

 

[quest63]

Mine appears to be on its original supension so I'm expecting mine to be massively transformed

I'm also expecting to have to be chasing down more door clip rattles and other rattles though

Any plans for rear axle spacers Mr ArchBishop? your holiness say 30mm ones? :-D

 

[The Arch Bishop]

No, to be honest, I'm really happy with how it looks. I need to start doing some of the smaller jobs like spraying the centre caps and sorting out the rotten interior. I also have to save for some of the more urgent things. I'll be booking in with Steavie for cambelt and rear brake lines hopefully during the Summer. Also need to start some rust-proofing, maybe some modest in car entertainment. Oh and I need a new gearbox at some point too...

Jegger is shiny and well hung now (fnar), but there's still a fair amount of faults. Probably still only worth what I paid for the him originally!

 

[quest63]

I wish I had gone nuts and bought one or more of those new FRP gearboxes off ebay last year for £250

Pricewise who knows thay might catch up with us if we keep them long enough, think positive you'll have a great well sorted car that wont be worth siezing in a divorce settlement

 

[slayllian]

cars lookong really tidy!

 

[The Arch Bishop]

So, as a gentle bit of tinkering, today I decided to have a go at my mouldering seats.

I removed the seats entirely this time to make life easier. It's not difficult to do and it had the added bonus or meaning I could give the carpets a damn good hoovering.

I set to the seats with a nice powerful Vax and, after an hour of wet-cleaning, the water in the Vax looked like this;

inkeye:

Again, I think I'm still dredging out make-up from the last owner. Still, on the plus side, my seats now look a lot healthier;

Now just need to investigate my so far elusive pre-tensioner fault... Connectors are clean so I'm wondering if I have a break in the wiring.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Today was more Spring cleaning.

Started off with another hour on the front seats. Still haven't gotten out all of the oily make-up... :roll: Still a great deal better than they were but you can see on the bolsters where it is.

Also gave my tired and marked mats a wash over as well;

Still, cracked on with a purchase from evilrob. A very nice condition rotary knob 6000 CD to replace my old 5000 tape deck. I had fitted an after-market stereo from Rob previously, but I didn't get on with how it looked in the dash and it went in my daily car instead. The Ford stereos may not be the latest in audio entertainment, but they do look right in the dash and I like the original look.

Fitted my Connects-2 mp3 jack to it;

Fitted;

Sorry, it's a bit dull at the moment but I'm trying to get it all habitable for the end of next week where hopefully, I'll get to drive it again!

Having seen Rob's rather lovely Thunder yesterday, I decided that Jegger needed some further sprucing up, so I went and bought a few cans of Ford Moondust Silver and some plastic primer for the flaking wheel centre caps. My painting is not the best, so this should be more interesting...

 

[quest63]

I use a spot of white vinegar in the suds when cleaning my seats

 

[The Arch Bishop]

I used a big old Vax with a tonne of suction and some cleaning shampoo that usually gets anything out. Sadly, I think it's just too ingrained. They look half decent again now though so it'll do!

 

[quest63]

They do indeed, having said that plenty of trim sets have been available here for free or buttons so who knows what may develop :-D

 

[The Arch Bishop]

I'd like a set of Millie seats, but there are more urgent things to spend cash on. Had a sit in Rob's Racing Puma seats which were very nice too... :grin:

 

[quest63]

Me too however in reality I dont think I would find a set in good enough condition. Ive been considering for some time getting some cloth recaros and recovering them in the Puma cloth, however getting escort fiesta rs2000 recaro's with good bolsters and intact seat pans at a reasonable price isnt too easy either.

Time will tell :-D

 

[evilrob]

I ruddy love Jegger! :thumbs:

Stereo looks much better installed than in the box it's been in for a year!

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Works a treat too Rob, so a big thanks for it (even if I had to force you to take some money for it!). I just can't get on with an aftermarket one in there sadly so this fits the bill nicely! I still do use CD's!

 

[slayllian]

looking good im thinking of fitting a connects 2.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

It's a pretty good bit of kit! Stick it in the back, route the cable and you're done. There's plenty of room to the right of the stereo between it and the steering column for the control box to fit it without interfering with anything. Very quick and convenient mod!

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Started on my centre caps tonight. They had been shedding paint for some time and had become noticeable!

Spent some time with some wet and dry and got all of the flaky paint off - rubbed down any ridges etc. Worst bit is around the raised sections that denote the wheel nut cut-outs. Very difficult to get that roughed up.

Bar some wiping over with white spirit, they're ready for the plastic primer.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Plastic primer on... Sorry, slow progress!

 

[quest63]

Its like watching paint dry

Oh right it is watching paint dry :-D