Thunder Track Car

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MrNoisy

Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2016
Messages
34
Bought a silver 1.7 Thunder in need of some TLC over Christmas last year; since then have replaced a broken headlamp, changed the front droplinks, and ripped virtually the whole interior out to fix a bunch of rust issues, which included having to get 4 fairly big patches of rust cut out and welded up. The rest is a work in progress and being treated as I go.

Purchased a set of new lower wishbones, front roll bar bushes and rear trailing arm bushes to try and sharpen up the handling which is next on the cards as well as a full service.

After that will likely be a set of lowering springs.
Interested to hear from anyone else who does these as a weekend fun, they're truly fun great little cars.
 
Things are progressing nicely.
After doing Combe in the driving rain in February I didn't fancy repeating the big spin that was largely attributed to the 3 varieties of budget tyres on the car, so at the start of the year I picked up a set of part worn Michelin Pilot Sport 3 tyres for a bargain (noticeable improvement), and a few months after a set of part worn Toyo R888's and a second set of fanblades for a bargain price. Track wheels done!

In April I changed the droplinks on the car, and then started trying to address the rust issues in the normal places, so anywhere I could see easily accessible on the sills and floorpan got the Bilt Hamber treatment.

A week later I popped to a mate's and swapped out the rear bushes for Powerflex polybushes, and then he helped me fit the new lower wishbones (went for genuine ones from FordPartsUK). Two of the bushes on one side had actually deformed and one had nearly popped out so this explained the rather wishy washy handling we'd seen previously.
A customer cancelled the same day so I was lucky enough to borrow the ramp and got busy with the anti rust and protective coatings; anything visible got the treatment, so hopefully this should stand me in good stead for the next few years, the underbody looked a whole heap better afterwards.
Only thing I didn't do was remove and wash out the arch carpet to treat under it; that'll have to be later this year.
Also gave the old girl an oil change and new spark plugs.

Finally, in June I swapped out the ARB bushes as well with a bit of persuasion to the brackets rather than dropping the subframe out of the car thanks to a handy tip from a facebook group member.
Had a 4 wheel alignment and it was a completely different car, in the corners it really does hang on now.

I also managed to pick up a pair of very light bucket seats for the car, and am waiting on a set of OMP subframes so I can fit em.
The car also needs a cambelt, water pump and probably a few gaskets as it has a minor oil weep, so I need to find a reputable specialist who can do it in the Berks / Surrey area.
Want to do another trackday before winter hits but also trying to move house so funds are tight and all in all it's difficult getting time to work on it right now!
 
I'm moving house soon, so in order to try and make some progress on the car before all my money gets spent on the new house, I've dropped a few quid on the Puma in the last few months before I take it to Bedford next month.

Having initially sorted out the bushes and alignment, I switched my attention to the remaining engine bits, plus interior and a bit more on the bodywork.
In July I managed to pick up a second hand set of Motordrive hybrid carbon/kevlar seats to replace the leather interior, so once I've given that a clean it'll likely be going up for sale on here / Facebook / ebay. I also purchased 2 sets of side mount brackets and a set of sliders for the driver's side off JJC rally on eBay.

A mate who has a brain tumour gave me his harness bar and full set of 4 point TRS harnesses as he'd had to sell his car as he can't drive any longer. Lovely fella and thankfully the progress of the tumour appears to be at a standstill so fingers crossed!

In August I managed to find a local guy who races Pumas and Fiestas who is virtually on my doorstep, so the car went to him for:
- New water pump
- New rocker cover gasket
- New cambelt and idler pulley
- New alternator belt
The existing cambelt wasn't actually in bad condition at all but to be on the safe side we changed it anyway.
...also bunged new coolant and an air filter on and changed the cabin filter which was the filthiest example I've seen!

We then removed the seats and seatbelts, and a metre of tubular rollcage was welded between the rear strut towers to double as a strut brace and harness bar. Bars with captive nuts were also welded in to take the new mounting brackets / sliders, and the seats went in, along with eyelet bolts for the harness mounting points.

Shortly after, a set of Fiesta ST150 brakes came up on eBay for £60. I'd actually owned one of these a few years before and still had an unused set of Pagid pads for it, so bought them, along with a set of 280mm MTEC crossed drilled and grooved discs, then set about rubbing the calipers down and re-painting them in Halfords silver!
It's not perfect by any means but suits my purpose fine and having put these on along with Black Diamond braided hoses and Motul RBF600 fluid, the brakes are now really sharp. Honestly, the previous ones, being the late 260mm ones were still capable, I just fancied upgrading :).
Also managed to find and fit a genuine brand new Ford aerial on eBay for £11 posted to replace our one held together with gaffa tape, and a pair of aftermarket boot struts for £13 as the seals on ours were leaking and didn't work well.

At the start of this month my mate and I had the car up on stands, removed all the arch carpets and set about washing the inner arches down and treating any rust that was visible with Bilt Hamber before applying the anti-rust sealant coating. Long job and we were lucky with the weather - only got soaked once! :)
All in all the car isn't too bad. The rear arch where it meets the sill may need some welding in a few years' time but hopefully the anti rust treatment and underseal applied will halt that progress somewhat.
I then extensively pressure washed all 4 arch carpets, which surprisingly have come up very well for a 15 year old car.
Again, got lucky and it was a sunny day so they all dried completely before I re-fitted them. So that's most of the car protected as best I can. I'll do the rest when the shocks come off and coilovers go on.

A member on one of the Facebook groups had a Miltek exhaust from a Fiesta modified to fit a Puma so I bought that and put it on the car. The fitment isn't exact but should be good enough for what I required. Car sounds a bit throatier on idle and lower revs, and it's stainless so shouldn't rust anytime soon.
Amazingly, the original Ford backbox was still on the car, although the centre section was very rusty and the downpipe bolts had seized so had to be cut off.

Last few items I've ordered are:
- AP Coilovers - yes, I could have gone for Gaz or Weitec but they're another £80-200 more and for what I need these should be fine. I drew the line on the TK Technix ones having read scathing reviews on various sites about them basically being too solid for road driving, so hopefully the AP's will be a good budget compromise.
- OMP lower strut brace - for £35 to improve cornering why not.

I appreciate this is nothing without pics and I have taken a fair few so will try and get some up in the near future.
 
You certainly keep busy!

I am loking forward to the pics.
 

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