Dion's Dutch Puma

Hi there!
Since I was browsing here very frequently I thought it would be time for me to start a thread here.
I'm doing the modding of my car in a relatively slow way since i'm 21 and still studying. So money will be an issue so now and then.

After i had a few cars (Fiat Stilo Abarth, Alfa 156, Saab 9-5, Audi TT roadster) I bought a Ford Puma 1.7 which did a lot of miles but was affordable, had a new clutch and no rust. And since i work at a Ford dealership in the weekends also a good choice!

I have a real 1,5 facelift car (2000), which shortly means that it has a digital dash, manually operated seat height (actually it's more like adjustable angle), old type brakes, old middle console, TAPE ecu.
It was like this when i bought it:




Then i bought a Xenon (HID) set 8000k, Apex lowering springs , brakeshoes, Streetka Spacers and OZ super turismo rims, 7J, 16 inch, ET 37. And the TT





Then fitted a Fiesta Ghia X clockwork... only still doesn't have a good temp sensor.


then i thought in a moment of insanity of selling the puma and TT to buy this Fiesta Metal (134hp)



but then realized that a student never buys a new car because thats expensive like hell lol
so i went to invest a little bit further in the project. and bought some sporty items: A Tuninghaus CAI, Mondeo 2.0 throttle body and some Focus ST170 wheels, and front spacers.



Looking for a new cheap project i looked up some new rearlights and converted them into white-red-white ones


Bought an OMP under strutbrace, really good update for the money, car is feeling much more communicative which i missed because i had APEX springs


Then i went shopping in our partsroom and found some Transit connect side repeaters, much better and cheaper then autostyle ones.


With the ST170 wheels on!








Also put a self dimming mirror in and dashboardcase light. Also came a cross a millenium blue steering wheel and a Remus backbox.





At this moment the Puma is on its wintershoes enjoying the winter (Ford Scorpio Cosworth wheels):



at this moment i'm waiting to put my FRP front splitter on and have my new topmounts, wheelbearings and AP coilovers to be shipped here. Then I will be respraying my front grills.

Wishlist for this year:
- Making an FRP airbox
- Flatblade wipers
- Decat/4-2-1 Manifold
- NVR9000 system (had one but sold it)
- Electric mirrors
- Installing a remote locking system (still searching for a good guide to do so)
- Headlight washers from a Mondeo MK2
- More OEM interior lights, by your feet and in the back

Knowing myself there will be coming a lot of more changes And I will be updating it with enough Pics

Nice car and good updates so far.

What is the car like on 17" wheels? I am thinking about getting some for my Puma

With the wheels being ET50, i had to get some axle spacers (25mm) which made them ET25... think thats the biggest difference, it made it more stable and more comfy... think the widening and the bigger wheels are working together to make it better...

Between 16 and 15 inch the difference is also that the car feels better placed on the road!

Did you have to change the wheel studs with spacers that large?

Great project! Thanks for sharing.

oilburner said:

Did you have to change the wheel studs with spacers that large?

Click to expand...

It were spacers like this:

Got a nice package in today... with some Bilstein goodies

Front top mounts incl. bearings off course :grin:


Rear top mounts!



Since I wasn't sure of they needed replacement i read some threads here... And almost in all threads was said that it is better to replace them if you already opened up the suspension... so i did order them Now lets see next sunday how high the old ones are Also bought a new rear wheelbearing, since one of my OZ's was not totally good and made the right rear bearing making whining noises! Just 16 euro

nice starter car you got there i like the mods uve started with nice and subtle/sensible

Wow, looking great! Do you mind passing on the Finis of them clear side repeaters?

When I come home tonight from work I will look up in my documentation :wink:

Looks a great project !

Looking great! :grin:

Great looking car with good subtle mods-Perfect.(Would love those OZ Alloys!)

Bentleya said:

Wow, looking great! Do you mind passing on the Finis of them clear side repeaters?

Click to expand...

Here they are: 4972773

Thank you .

So this weekend I got on with making the FRP airbox mod!

My resonator in the top half of the airbox was already removed by myself a half year ago! Which made not much of a difference but it stopped some noise.


with this already taken care of and getting hold of a 70mm PVC pipe i could begin with the 'action'!
I took al really good look at the how to and started boring out the 70mm around. Then i took a line saw to make the hole it self. When the pvc pipe had enough room I glued it down with hot glue...

then started to take of the left front wheel and took the induction pipe off, on this i capped off the resonator box and glued it straight on. When building everything in the pvc pipe came of so i had to do it again... this time with better "kit" glue.

Then the most important bit.... PERFORMANCE
It's a bit louder when giving it the beans, but still silent enough... After a few miles it was already clear it picked up better and it's a bit stronger in the middle and high Revs. I still think that the Tuninghaus CAI is the best option for power but in words of value for money this is the best solution.

Besides this my mate replaced all the wiring in the headlights which was awful.... almost every wire had no isolation on it. So i have 2 city lights for the first time... also ordered some US modules which i had already but gave them away...
I almost forgot: also fitted my new HID lamps... this time no 8000K but 6000K which is much better when driving at night, the 8000K looked better but was a little "dark".

Some PICS:

Also have a question, last year i went to FITP with Fiestaclub.nl... which was really awesome..

I'm thinking about going this year as well. How many people from here are going? since a saw your stand last year!

I was there last year, and will be going again this year :grin:

I will be there in the FRP pictured .