Track project

[Daveyca55]

About a month a go now, picked up an r reg 1.7 puma for the pricely sum of 200 pound.
Went to pick it up expecting it to be a pile of poo (bought unseen on a bit of a gamble) and i was shocked to see very little rust (none on the n/s and only a small patch on the o/s) and just 76 k on the clock, ran sweet as a nut.
Anyway, the plan is to build it into a track car that i can use on the road (my 190k 1.4 isnt too long for this world!).
Heres the only pics i have at the moment of when i got it into the workshop im renting to build it. Will try and get a pic of it in it's current state soon!

 

[aberdarepuma]

thas good buy for £200 mate, alot of potential for that price!! i recently bought a puma powered tec s for the same price and its fair to say it was that price for a reason

 

[Daveyca55]

Thanks! Its not all been good unfortunately. The whole front end (wheels, suspension, engine) have all been removed and its fought me nearly all the way! Lots of scars, swearing and broken bolts
On the plus side, the head is pretty much brand new as well as the flywheel and cambelt, no play in big ends and v little endfloat (if anyone has the tolerance for endfloat, i would appreciate it so i can decide whether to change the thrust washers or not).
Timing belt, clutch and gaskets being done in the next couple of weeks!

 

[Scott134]

Good buy mate!
What are your plans?
They do make a good track car! :grin:

 

[Daveyca55]

Not plannin on goin mental with it just yet as my budget aint high. Will have a 40mm drop all round, pollybushed all round, focus 1.8 clutch, a/c thrown in the bin and the usual cleaning, rustproofing and painting of every bit of the top quality steel ford used on pumas! lol

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Thanks! Its not all been good unfortunately. The whole front end (wheels, suspension, engine) have all been removed and its fought me nearly all the way! Lots of scars, swearing and broken bolts.

Nice to know it wasn't just mine that fought the whole way!

That looks to be a great purchase for £200!

 

[Daveyca55]

Thanks! Its not all been good unfortunately. The whole front end (wheels, suspension, engine) have all been removed and its fought me nearly all the way! Lots of scars, swearing and broken bolts.

Nice to know it wasn't just mine that fought the whole way!

That looks to be a great purchase for £200!

Ye it was a v good buy, especially since i didnt see it till after i handed over the cash. He who dares wins... sometimes!
Ye it's not stopped fighting me, sump bolt was the most recent thing. Would not shift for love nor money! almost certainly wont be the last problem either.
Fitting the new timing belt kit next week, should be fun :/

 

[Scott134]

Not plannin on goin mental with it just yet as my budget aint high. Will have a 40mm drop all round, pollybushed all round, focus 1.8 clutch, a/c thrown in the bin and the usual cleaning, rustproofing and painting of every bit of the top quality steel ford used on pumas! lol

Sounds like a decent plan. If you get around to binning the air con before I do, a guide would be helpful! I'm still trying to source the power steering parts needed to move the pump!

 

[aberdarepuma]

I've binned mine on my project so I got to get an engine with powersteering on the fron too lol

 

[Daveyca55]

Havin the same problem, most fiestas that are being broken round me have a/c.
I cut all the pipes out of mine and have thrown the lot in the scrap bin, just make sure you progressively llosen the bolt that holds the pipes onto the a/c pump progressively otherwise a load of orange or green die will spray everywhere! lol
If i cant find a pump, the power rack will also be going in the bin and good old keep fit steering will be going in!

 

[aberdarepuma]

If i cant find a pump, the power rack will also be going in the bin and good old keep fit steering will be going in!

Haha! Thas what I did first! Soon changed my mind though lol

 

[Daveyca55]

If i cant find a pump, the power rack will also be going in the bin and good old keep fit steering will be going in!

Haha! Thas what I did first! Soon changed my mind though lol

I had keep fit steering in my old fiesta. It actually felt much better than the power steering in the puma, bit more feel on the road. Was a b@stard to park after i replaced the 13" steelies with fat 15's lol!

 

[Daveyca55]

So, after a couple of days, i got on with the job of stripping the whole front end down. Engine/gearbox out and suspension/brakes removed.
It looks like ive been very lucky with this car (touch wood!). The engine has no play in big end/main bearings, very little end float, nearly new flywheel and brand new head! Now begins the big clean of everything prepping for engine/ engine bay painting.

Cambelt kit, gaskets, service bits, fiesta power steering set up and focus clutch all on order and to be fitted in the next week or so!

 

[aberdarepuma]

Wow! Nice to see it moving along alread

 

[Daveyca55]

Thanks Loosing the workshop space at the end of january so gotta pull my finger out me arse and get it all back together soon!
Just taking a bit of time cleaning everything up. Have been very lucky that the guy im renting the workshop off of has been really helpful and has let me use his parts cleaner along with a load of other bits which has saved me plenty of time & money!

 

[aberdarepuma]

ah fp tha must of been a huge help! i do all my work my self if i run out of something or aint got it i gotta wait tough pain in the arse

 

[Daveyca55]

Payday has finally arrived!!!
List of parts ordered and to be fitted in the next week or so are as follows:
-Service bits
-gates cambelt kit
-all engine gaskets
-a load of alluminium oxide grit for the sand blaster in the workshop
-Lots of paint for the engine, engine bay and other bits
-lots of nuts, bolts, washers and other crap.
and, after a bit of research i decided not to get a focus clutch and went for a standard 1.7 puma unit. Cheap and nasty for now unfortunately until i can afford sachs or the like.
Pics to follow (hopefully!)

 

[Daveyca55]

So, have looked into the power steering set up from the fiesta, if anyone is interested, here is the parts list:
-Fiesta pump & bracket
-solid pipe from cooler to bottom of pump
-flexi pipe from cooler to reservior
-Flexi pipe from top of pump to reservior
-aux. belt tensioner
I used bits from the mk 4 fiesta si. Would also like to add if you remove the air-con evaporator, get the black plastic cover that goes over the matrix from the car you get all the pipework from, saves having to silicone the crap out of it to cover the holes

 

[blot]

You got an absolute bargain there for £200, Theres some cheap Pumas about, I picked up a 2000 1.7 last week for the ex-wife, 2 owners, 68K, Full ford service history, 10 months MOT, Recent cambelt kit, Over 4K of bills over the years and all MOT's etc, Apart from small scab on O/S/R arch its mint, Under the bonnets like a time warp! It needs a clutch though, I paid £460 for it! Was going to keep it and give her mine but its in bits and ive got a personalised plate and cant be @rsed changing it over!

 

[Daveyca55]

You got an absolute bargain there for £200, Theres some cheap Pumas about, I picked up a 2000 1.7 last week for the ex-wife, 2 owners, 68K, Full ford service history, 10 months MOT, Recent cambelt kit, Over 4K of bills over the years and all MOT's etc, Apart from small scab on O/S/R arch its mint, Under the bonnets like a time warp! It needs a clutch though, I paid £460 for it! Was going to keep it and give her mine but its in bits and ive got a personalised plate and cant be @rsed changing it over!

You got a good deal there mate!
I agree, there are still some absolute bargains out there. The bloke i bought mine off of just picked up another one. Full ford history, 110k, siezed water pump, taxd and motd for 80 quid!!!! 12 pound water pump later and it was up and running perfectly!