My Puma 1.7, more than a year on (A works in progress)

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With a bit of a window in the weather I finally got around to starting to fit my AVO coilovers from my scrap car.

030220173151_zpsvbgnmodw by barry wilson, on Flickr

First off I lubed the locking grub screws off the height adjusters (not totally necessary as they're nylon) and then set them to the highest setting.

240120173143_zpsuv1yrh0f by barry wilson, on Flickr

Having a look at my existing brake hose bracket set up I knew I had to cut the front bracket off the coilovers as it could snag the brake hose



After taking off the calipers I noticed that the pads were sticking in the carrier bracket so I cleaned out the sliders and filed off the rust at the end of the pads and gave the slder a quick wipe over with copperslip.

030220173148_zpsqdpatpmt by barry wilson, on Flickr

I also took the opportunity to de-rust the discs and then mounted the coilover then I noticed the coilover was a larger dia than the existing strut so I need to make a new brake hose bracket.

030220173149_zpsjdhbrozh by barry wilson, on Flickr

Once back on the floor I turned the steering a few times to settle it down and then checked the ride height which turned out to be about 6mm more than it was before but I won't know for sure until I get the other side done.

030220173150_zpsznxsxejw by barry wilson, on Flickr

Now I have a standard strut (with lowering spring) and a coilover so putting them side by side it looks like the coilover is about an inch shorter than the strut. I think that the crap ride on mine with the lowered springs is because it's hitting the bump stops and I don't think the coilovers will do that so I'm a bit worried about contact with the tyres on the inner wings. 2 things left to try now, winding up the springs even more and putting a spacer under the coilover where it fits into the knuckle.
 
Great work barry i bet you have saved thousands doing all this work yourself and for bringing a puma upto A1 condition,well done! :)
 
Finally got round to catching up on this thread, great work mate, makes me feel very guilty as all I am doing is very basic re-commisioning to get my Millie back on the road this year, I should really look at doing some more serious work on it, especially if it is to be scrutinised at FITP later on.
 
Hi Zinc
Thanks for that and if it makes you feel less guilty I've been retired for some time now so I've got lots of time on my hands and the cars never had to be an everyday driver.
Barry
 
With another bit of good weather today I managed to make a new brake pipe fixing bracket for the LH side coilover and finish installing the RH side coilover.

070220173152_zpsaaa5raud by barry wilson, on Flickr

After I got the car back on the ground I wanted to start it to move the car up and down the drive to level off the front suspension so I could check the ride height but it wasn't cranking over fast enough. I think the battery must finally be on it's way out as I last run the car about a fortnight ago and charged the battery after I ran it. I suppose it's not bad though getting 16 years out of a battery!

I've also got a much shorter scrap car now. It took 6 cutting discs to take off the front end so I also now have a spare front panel just in case.

170220173157_zpsr2g9gjnm by barry wilson, on Flickr

As soon as the weather warms up I'll get the cutting torch out and take the rest of it to the tip :)
 
tuonokid said:
[post]360267[/post] With another bit of good weather today I managed to make a new brake pipe fixing bracket for the LH side coilover and finish installing the RH side coilover.



It's funny how clean it looks without a front end Barry!!

After I got the car back on the ground I wanted to start it to move the car up and down the drive to level off the front suspension so I could check the ride height but it wasn't cranking over fast enough. I think the battery must finally be on it's way out as I last run the car about a fortnight ago and charged the battery after I ran it. I suppose it's not bad though getting 16 years out of a battery!

I've also got a much shorter scrap car now. It took 6 cutting discs to take off the front end so I also now have a spare front panel just in case.



As soon as the weather warms up I'll get the cutting torch out and take the rest of it to the tip :)
 
Hi James
You're right there :grin: but it also goes to show how strong and rot resistant the front end of the car is compared to the rear. It's completely Kaput at the rear but the only rot I can find in the front is where the firewall meets the scuttle (a bit like old MK1&2 Escorts)
 
Nice brackets there Barry.

I have found the same with my new silver one.. rust at the back, sills etc. Not much at the front. Various small holes in the floor.
 
Cheers Ben, when I get the chance I'll post up some photos of where the front rot is and I might even turn it on it's side to show where the rot is prevalent underneath.
 
Hi Sinisa
I think even if the floorpans are still available it's probably easier just to cut out rot and weld in new metal because the floor structure is so complicated with all the strengtheners etc.
 
Wild E. Coyote said:
[post]360401[/post]
moondustka said:
[post]360384[/post] Nice brackets there Barry.
Various small holes in the floor.

Ben, I know all too well what you are talking about. I even wondered if the floorpan is still obtaineable from Ford, just in case....?

Long gone I'm afraid Sinisa. Tried a few years ago when doing the floor on mine :-(
 
My sources at Ford claim it is normally orderable, if we are talking about finis code 1127861. That is theory, though, as only actual order would give definitive answer to that question. Sometimes things are marked as deliverable in the system, but a order gets rejected if the item is not deliverable anymore.
Good thing, up to a point, is that all the floorpan parts are interchangeable with fiesta so there are much more cars circluating around and Ford might feel more motivated to supply them than only puma which was produced in 140.000 units (give or take few).
Barry, sorry for the hijack! :cry:
 
After discovering that the coilovers I'd got off my scrapper were adjustable I decided that I'd try and get some fixings on the adjusters so I wouldn't need tools to adjust them.

260220173161_zpsfzplosum by barry wilson, on Flickr

The adjusters are the hexagons right at the top

250220173159_zpsd8vttrui by barry wilson, on Flickr

I had some motorbike fork pre-load adjusters kicking about in the garage so I got those and some M10 nuts.

260220173162_zps0nqqjxay by barry wilson, on Flickr

So I filed out a hex shape on the hole through the M10s and then ground out a slot at each side of the nuts for the grub screws to come through.

260220173160_zpsnkxticd2 by barry wilson, on Flickr

And this is the finished result.
I also spent hours separating the scrappers front panel from the chassis rails that I'd cut off with it so now I've got a spare front panel, just in case.

170220173157_zpsr2g9gjnm by barry wilson, on Flickr
 
Nice going Barry, great to see your Puma 'in the metal' as it were the other day, v.v. nice it is & now funky, shiny adjusters too! :grin:
 
Random question Barry.. do you still have the inner wings and rest of the car shell? I need some parts of the body work to repair mine with.
 
Thanks for the reply, I'm after about 2ft of the centre section of the bulkhead panel including 4 inches or so of the scuttle panel above, the handbrake cable holder plate left attached to the floor panel and the jacking panels underneath if any good?

These are all a pain to get so please just say if inconvenient as I can always go fmdown the scrapyard and I still possibly have Ben's old shell I can cut sections out of if it doesn't move on as a whole.
 

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