Puma 1.7 Rebuild Mk II

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raggamuffin

New member
Joined
Feb 2, 2012
Messages
443
Location
Cambridgeshire
Hi all,

Let's get this project restarted and avoid what occurred previously. Plus rewriting this allows me to summarise where the project is up to without the need to scroll through 4 pages worth of thread. Efficient eh? Maybe I was German in another life. :-D

So as many of you know I took ownership of my third ford Puma. This is my second one in silver. 105k on the clock for £550. Very good service and maintenance history with many of the more costly replacements already covered. Such as clutch within the past 10k miles.

A work colleague's husband is a mechanic and is doing a full engine rebuild for me. As expected with projects the time and costs wound up differing, but at the end of the day he wants me to wind up with the best possible engine and I'm thankful for that as well as the small fortune he's saving me compared to going to a garage.

The car was picked up the end of May. When he got the engine apart he said it was in average condition. He had said a rebuild might be overkill, however I want this project to be a long term one and whilst a full engine rebuild at 105,000 miles might be a bit frivolous, I want this car to have a solid foundation - so a full engine rebuild it is. :grin:

Once a parts list was made up I got most of the engine rebuild components from eBay. I bought the cam kit and water pump direct from a Ford dealership in my home town of March. Yes it cost x3 more than the eBay equivalent (that I'd struggled to find and obviously found after buying the OEM items) - but there's nothing quite like having a few boxes of genuine Ford parts to go in a project as opposed to 3rd party copies.

Speaking of 3rd party parts I've probably invested more money than the rebuild parts and labour costs combined on aftermarket performance parts. Some I bought from Lightning Motorsport - including a custom made, high flow oil pump, LM2 cams (fast road cams machined by Newmans) and a fitting kit for their own custom made inlet manifold that I won off eBay as well as winning x3 OMP struts and saving £100 off the RRP.

Last night I also picked up a Mondeo Silvertop throttle body that I will eventually get sent off to LMS for machining before installing it on the Puma at a later date.

The cams are due in at LMS mid next week so they should hopefully arrive before next weekend. I've been advised once all the bits are in the rebuild should take 1-1.5 days work to finish as he'd rather focus on it when everything is there and ready as opposed to doing the rebuild sporadically whilst waiting for parts to arrive etc.

I'll be honest I don't know how far I'll be taking the project. My last Puma had a full set of Powerflex bushings along with a Piper manifold, sports cat and full exhaust system fitted by OC motorsport. I know I'd like to get another exhaust system again although I'm tempted to go with the FRP one from Pumaspeed as I found the 4" slash cut Piper system to be a little too brash.

Once the rebuild is done the next bit on the agenda will be to address the rear arches. Although first I need to get out of my overdraft which will probably take until January. But it'll all be worth it in the end.

Whilst waiting on the Puma I also won some eBay front and rear door cards from the Puma Millenium Edition. Hopefully I'll eventually get my hands on a set of decently priced Millenium edition seats as well. J will let me know how the rear arches look when he fits the rear door cards. At present there are a couple of patches of bubbling - he said it's certainly not the worst he's had to repair over the years.

Still got a big old shopping list to get through as the project continues. Whether I wind up with an impractical daily driver come track toy, a decked out show car with the Pumaspeed FRP body kit, resprayed in white with uprated head unit and speakers or a sleeper car which draws no attention to itself from the outside, but under the bonnet it's a cat with a rocket up it's posterior. I'm personally leaning more towards the 3rd option.

But who knows at this point, it could go 1 of 3 ways or wind up a mixture of them all. :cool:

I'll keep you posted as ever when I get more updates my way.

Ed
 
Millennium seats you say Ed.....

I know of a set near me front and back for £150
 
Are these on eBay too? I recall seeing a set priced for £150 although they were fairly worn. Quotes I've got for seat refurbishing is extortionate :?

Ed
 
tuonokid said:
Hi James
If it's the same set I'm thinking of they may have gone to Rob.

You’re right Barry, Rob got them! Sorry Ed!
 
raggamuffin said:
No worries. Can't do anymore spending on the project at the moment anyway.

Famous last words.

Ed

Spending is an addiction on these cars!!!
 
Speaking of spending, I sent the photos below to Chris @ LMS who confirmed the throttle body I won on eBay (£40) was the right one. Just waiting on him to confirm pricing to machine it.

Mk I Mondeo 2.0l Silvertop throttle body
Part no: 958F-WA

Plenty available for sale online and cheap too.

s-l1600 (1).jpg

s-l1600.jpg

As a performance mod £40 is a bargain, but you know full well the costs for machining and modifying it won't be


tenor.gif


Ed
 

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Hi all,

Throttle body is arriving tomorrow via UPS. J said there's no need to port polish the throttle body as it won't affect the diameter of the throttle body and the machining of the TB is good enough as it is. He did ask me to query with Chris @ LMS the following, not sure if any of you know off the top of your heads:

Is an alternate throttle position centre required?
Would the bolt holes need resizing?
Does the bracket require any machining or modifications?
Would this require a different throttle cable?

He recommended getting all the performance mods installed before getting a remap done. I've asked him to confirm the ECU type so I can let Chris @ LMS know. I reckon I'll drive down there and get the remap done at LMS. It'd be good to meet Chris finally and get the final modification done. I've still got the cold air induction and manifold/exhaust system to get before I can get the remap done to bring it all together.

One final question - all these performance mods could potentially add another 40+ bhp. Is the IB5 gearbox and the clutch going to be comfortable with this?

Ed
 
Seems that Pumaspeed no longer sells the Milltek exhaust system for the 1.7 and FRP.

Looks like I'll need to go with Allison Automotive for a custom fabricated one instead.

Ed
 
According to Chris @ LMS it'll need the Mondeo throttle position sensor. Does anyone know the part number for this as there appears to be several variants?

Ed
 
Yes that’s it. From memory when I did mine you took the TPS of the puma throttlebody as it points in the direction needed to allow the connector to fit properly.
I might be wrong though my memory isn’t as good as it once was!! :grin:
 
You leave the throttle cable bracket where it is and you use the existing Puma cable. However you have to take the throttle mechanism off the Puma throttlebody and use it to replace the one on the Mondeo Throttlebody otherwise the throttle cable won’t fit. Bit fiddly but just take your time as you do have to make minor adaptions to get it to fit.
I think I remember seeing a guide in the “How To” section.
 
Thanks for the info I sent it over to J.

Cams have yet to arrive. Had a decent chat with J yesterday. He's been doing lots of research on the engine and asking Ford tuners and enthusiasts about tuning the 1.7 Puma engine. I was getting a bit lost in how much technical detail he was going into the engine. Was great to see and hear the dedication and enthusiasm though even if I was getting a bit confused with the amount of things I had no idea about in terms of the engine and tuning.

He recommended I focus on what I'd like end game with the car so I know what to do about remapping the Puma. After I get it back there'll only really be the air induction and exhaust/manifold to get. As much as I'd love to go down the ITB route, and it may eventually happen I do need to think about future mods to ensure I get the most out of what I'm spending on the car and the performance modifications.

I know I'll need to confirm the ECU type. J said a piggyback chip might not be the best course of action as a custom map by someone well versed in tuning the 1.7 engine would be the way to go to get the most out of what's going into the project. Is the FRP ECU any better for remapping? Would an Omex or other standalone ECU be the best way to go? Either way I know getting the map done properly won't be cheap - but it will be critical and I won't want to scrimp.

All in due time. I'll ring LMS on Monday and chase the lead time on the cams then drop off the throttle body. I still get the distinct feeling I'll get the car back soon. :grin:

Ed
 
Chris @ LMS let me know there'd been a delay with the cams from Newmans. They should be delivered this Friday at the workshop. I'll be dropping the throttle body off their this week too.

Ed
 
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this thread. Spoke to J yesterday and he said he should be starting on the Puma next week. The past fortnight I've been regularly calling and texting.

He previously said with all the bits the rebuild should be 1-2 days work. So provided there aren't any setbacks it should be done by the end of November.

I'll post again once I get the Puma back as there's no other updates to give other than I've knocked £900 off my overdraft in 2 pay cheques. Set to be out of debt by January/February.

Ed
 

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