Tracy's Puma Project

Those of you who track the “For Sale” and “Newbie” areas of this site may know that I took the insane/sentimental decision to get my Puma back on the road after she failed her MOT.

For various reasons she sat a lot on the drive last year which had some devastating effects on her undercarriage. That’s my fault and now I’m paying the price :-( .

Looking at some of the other projects on here I’m envious that you guys have the knowhow and skills to do your own projects. My project, on my 1.7 Puma (mine from new with 40,412 miles on the clock), is a totally “hands-off” one with the exception of entering my pin number in the garage card machine.

It’s a three phase project as follows:

• Phase 1 – Pass the MOT Plus
• Phase 2 – Prevention is better than cure
• Phase 3 – Finishing touches

Currently, I’m still on Phase 1 which is taking longer than expected and costing a small fortune. After a slow start it’s now progressing well. She’s currently in a state of nakedness at TrustFord’s:

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She needed a new sub frame to pass the MOT so had to be stripped down. As that involves a lot of labour it made sense to deal with the advisories at the same time so she’s now got new coil springs as well … and so began the snowball effect! The shock absorbers inside the springs were ok but not great so I might as well do that now to save another strip down next year. Then there was a need to replace a brake pipe on the o/s/front where it secures to the shocker as the bracket had rusted (the pipe comes with the bracket).

Everything is being built back up now … with new bolts as the originals were seized up. She’s also having new tyres all round.

They found a small hole in the floor which requires a bit of welding work which they don’t do at TrustFord’s so, when she’s back in one piece, they are going to take her to the garage next door for that. Apparently, that “shouldn’t be a big job”.

Steve at TrustFord has been really helpful. He’s taken her under his wing and has been sourcing the parts and overseeing the work. I think he has an emotional investment in her too now; he’s been having nightmares about her and the escalating costs! He took some photos for me as I’ve been away on holiday and also away with work so haven’t been in to see her.

I’m ashamed and embarrassed to post this particular photo of her rotten cross member which has been consigned to the bin. I should get a laminated sign version of this for her saying: “Take me for a spin or I’ll end up like this again”.



I’m hoping to get her back on 12 October when I can draw a line under Phase 1 (Pass the MOT Plus) and can move onto the next phases.

Plans for Phase 2 (Prevention is better than cure) … I’ve been advised to find someone with a small garage with a ramp who can spend a couple of hours with a wire brush to take off some surface rust, put a layer of black paint over it, and then re-spray it with wax oil underneath. Does anyone have any advice for me on this preservation phase?

Plans for Phase 3 (Finishing touches) … I’ve had a recommendation for a skilled person who will do a good job touching up the back wheel arch/es so I'll get him on the case when I reach this phase.

More news soon ...

Some good work there! Steve is a top man who really cares (plus he's one of Mrs Oilburners customers!) I was really considering making you an offer but I'm glad you've stuck with her

tracyb said:

....................... Plans for Phase 2 (Prevention is better than cure) … I’ve been advised to find someone with a small garage with a ramp who can spend a couple of hours with a wire brush to take off some surface rust, put a layer of black paint over it, and then re-spray it with wax oil underneath. Does anyone have any advice for me on this preservation phase? ............

Click to expand...

Looking at the state of that subframe, it will probably take more than "a couple of hours"!
Once the surface rust has been taken off, it should be treated with a "rust converter", better still, where it can be done, take it back to bare metal.
Have a look at my thread over on PumaPeople, it may help:
http://www.pumapeople.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97645" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One thing I do know, once the work starts, there will be more rust than was first seen!
I removed the exhaust and fuel tank, to make things easier. Once the tanks off, you'll probably find it rusting, and needing treatment.
As my Thunder was built towards the end of 2001, and I started the treatment in August 2009, there wasn't as much rust as you will find.
I used Bilt Hamber products, but there are plenty of others in the market:
http://www.bilthamber.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I took plenty of pictures, let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks Rick for this advice and for the links to your thread and recommended products. I will investigate this further and may come back to you later with questions.

I don't think everything is as horrific as the sub frame but I suspect you will be right about the "couple of hours" with the wire brush being optimistic. So far, everything else has taken longer than expected and thrown up other issues so I'm sure Phase 2 won't be any different. I'm in for the long haul now though.

Looking forward to this :grin:

Keep the updates coming k:

Hoorah! She passed! :grin: :grin: :grin:

I'm liking the look of this clean bill of health:



I collected my Puma from the garage today and the natural order of things is now restored on my drive.

Everything listed in Phase 1 is complete! It's good to have her back.

So, now for Phase 2.

Excellent :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

Congrats :thumbs:
Barry

nice!

Phase 2 (Prevention is better than cure) is now complete.

Actually, I discovered that some of this work was already done during Phase 1. The garage that did the welding to fix the hole in the floor did the wire brush and wax oil treatment on all the underneath that was visible at the same time. Given that part of the job was done, I took it back there and had them complete the work on the parts that are not visible. So they spent a few more hours on it and removed all the wheels and arch liners, etc., and wax oiled all those parts.

So, I didn't go as far as Rick suggested for my Phase 2 but the advice was that this should do the trick for the moment. I did have the underneath treated about four years ago so that probably helped.

The garage who did the work gave me some advisories about the wheel arch and sill starting to corrode which I knew already and which is in the plan for Phase 3 (Finishing Touches).

For me Phase 2 was a necessary one but not the most exciting. I'm looking forward to completing Phase 3 but that will probably have to wait for a few weeks.

I've really enjoyed having her back. She's been out for quite a few spins now. Phase 3 will be the icing on the cake.

Nice progress, keep it up!

Hi Tracy, good work so far. If you are in need of a decent clean front subframe at any point, I've got one you can have.

I don't need one at the moment and have nowhere to store one for future but thanks very much for the offer; it's appreciated.