T464 PNB - "Smokey Joe"

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Disaster strikes as I attempt to poison the boy and he won't have it. I put some stale petrol in and now the fuel pump won't work and just blows fuses.

Damn my tightfisted nature! :evil:

So I'll attempt to blow out the fuel lines and try to get the pump turning, as it may be gummed up or something. If that doesn't work then it's tank out time and possibly a new pump, yaaaaaaay...

But in the meantime I'm stuck in a Clio that has no radio code.

Safe to say I'm depressed right now :-(
 
It's fixed! Bit of blowing down the fuel lines, with a jet not my mouth :wink: and it's all good.

Sighs of relief were followed by a lie down.

Now I can get back to the updating. I've been doing some cosmetic upgrades recently, just little things that set it off, so I'll get some photos up in a bit.
 
I've done a bit of painting to continue the monochrome theme, starting with spraying all the bare metal inside black, of which there was a lot to do. With that done I set about the dash, doing the silvers white



I also did the bits around the window switches in black.

Then I detailed the Ford writing on the wheel centre caps; a very laborious task that required a steady hand and patience.



After that was all done I swapped all the light bulbs for LEDs, including both interior lights. It's pretty bright in there now! To finish it off I got some super white headlamp bulbs to get rid of the yellow beam, and I think it looks much better now with cool lights all round.

Reversing light comparison


Attempt at arty shot, not life changing but you can see the headlight colour 8)



Stay tuned for more cosmetic touches over the holiday season, as I will treat the old boy to a few goodies.
 
I come from the borderlands, a.k.a. Altrincham.


P.S. This isn't a totally random statement, I was asked where I was from but that post has disappeared :?
 
Thanks. Unless I'm mistaken you were parked next to me at FordFair so you've seen it in person anyway :eek:k:

If you mean the thing on the steering column then it's an air freshener. Smells really nice actually, but it was the face that sold it.
 
TGPlayer1 said:
Thanks. Unless I'm mistaken you were parked next to me at FordFair so you've seen it in person anyway :eek:k:

If you mean the thing on the steering column then it's an air freshener. Smells really nice actually, but it was the face that sold it.
Yeah! That's true I was next to you at FordFair :oops: :oops: .
 
It's alright, I will forgive you :eek:k:



In car news, I ditched the rear wiper, it's just unnecessary weight and line ruinage. I don't think we need a picture of this, just imagine your car, but without a rear wiper :lol:
 
I'm trying to imagine it.....but just can't...... Damn my imagination!

Great to see progress as it's all gone a bit quiet on this forum at the moment. I guess all the fair-weather tinkerers (me included) have gone into hibernation.
 
Yeah it's a toughie but I'm sure it'll come to you.

Well I'm glad it's appreciated, otherwise I wouldn't bother!
 
Bought the boy an early Christmas present



This pretty much completes the monochrome theme, leaving only the tricky task of the door handles. It's a genuine ceramic billiards ball that's been drilled and tapped, so it feels nice and heavy, won't be affected by UV light and, most of all, won't give me frostbite in the cold mornings. Plus it's as retro as funk.

I also got my hands on a new spare wheel. I got a pristine prop alloy to put the original Goodyear tyre on for shows (the tyre is dated 1998 and has never been used on the road). The wheel came with a tyre, all for the princely sum of £2 and a frankly exhilarating Sunday drive into Cheshire. So I'll stick the tyre that I bought on the steel to use incase I actually get a puncture and keep the prop/Goodyear for shows.

Next thing I'm on the hunt for is a black steering wheel as I'm still using the old blue one. I also might go for something slightly different. I want to stick OEM but not sure whether to go for something from a newer car, like the 4 spoke Mondy wheel. I'll need to look into the airbag wiring and column splines and stuff, but I like the look of those wheels an it'll stand out.

Any suggestions about things I can keep myself busy doing (to the car, ahem) then fire away, I'm basically out of ideas for anything small/cheap.
 
Doing away with cheap ideas, i've decided to venture into the world of track days. Hoping to get my new engine up and running before March, I invested in a set of track wheels.

The journey down to get them was eventful, lets just say there was a bit of bush involved, and some is still on the back bumper :oops: Anyway the car wasn't damaged, except for some light scuffing on the NSF wheel where i mounted the inner curb haha. But after shaking myself down i drove a bit more slowly to the seller's house.

They're Speedline Corse Chronos, 15x6.5J with a lovely ET15 offset, so they sit just flush with the arches. The tyres are 195/45/15 so they're a bit smaller than standard, but that will aid with acceleration on track. They are Pug fitment so i need to get some spigot rings but aside from that they're all good, maybe in need of a refurb but i won't get too excited about the cosmetics.



Stanceness mmmmm




The only thing i'm unsure about is the tyres, they are Avon ZV3s and i have had no driving experience - spirited at least - on these, so i was wondering if anybody has any opinions on them, and if they are naff what would be a good budget track tyre? I'll probably make a separate post in the racing section but if anybody wants to chirp in here that'd be cool.

Till next time :eek:k:
 
It snowed a lot tonight, and the old boy wasn't happy about it, so decided to pack it in at 1.30am. So it's now stranded and I'm cheesed off.



I think the battery froze or something because it was absolutely fine, then some dash lights came on and then all the electrics lost power, basically like when the battery is just about to run out of juice. So hopefully I can jump it tomorrow and get back up and running.
 
After some investigation and a long charge, i've determined the cause of the issue is a combination of factors; slightly tired battery on a car that rarely gets a long drive and is started quite a lot, plus reconditioned alternator of undeterminable manufacture that isn't quite as good as a genuine Ford item, plus having the lights, heater blower, radio, wipers and heated screen on, added with a dash of ridiculously cold weather leads to battery going flat.

It seems that whilst it was on charge it was 'waking up' the battery, and it actually took more amperage as the time went on, instead of going down like usual.

Also i tested all the electrics with a voltmeter on the battery with the engine on, and with everything but the blower on it still showed 13.1V (alternator output), but then when i put the blower on it fell quite quickly to about 11V and continued down slowly.

So after a big charge it should hopefully be ok for a while.
 
The cold weather will show up a tired battery
If you keep having problems when its freezing, give me a shout.

Fair weather tinkerers? you mean, not insane tinkerers!
 
just logged on here as I'm looking at getting another puma!

Ive seen yours about in altrincham as thats where I'm from too! I used to a blue one about 2-3 years ago.

Although I'm currently up in aberdeen and drive a freelander now! haha

Looks like its coming along nicely, let me know if you need a hand with anything.

Think i have a old mk5 fiesta hanyes manual hanging around if your needing one? might have some other bits and bobs left over that your welcome to too if you want?
 

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