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

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Ayup Rob
You saved me a message :) I'm not sure if sikaflex is the same as is not that more of a glue? Anyway good to know we're sharing stuff to cut costs.
 
Sikaflex I'm sure is the stuff they used to use in bodyshops to reseal welded seams Barry. My brother gave me a few tubes back when I was doing the 3i, horrible black stuff but sets just like the original gear.
 
You're probably right Rob, I just remember back to the eighties when it used to be used on the rear flange of escort wings. I thought it was a glue then but more probably used as a sealer to stop the door jambs getting blasted. This stuff I've got sticks to anything, especially your fingers and it's a bugger to get off.
 
Well not done much on the Puma lately as I need to strip the Thunder but I've got nowhere to store it so I need to sort that out. This arrived a couple of weeks ago from Ford so there's still some left but if I remember rightly it was about £15 dearer than the last one I got at just shy of £50.

180720173446 by barry wilson, on Flickr

I also managed to start on fixing my Aprilia. This is the bottom of the tank with the fuel pump, if you look closely you can see the flange of the tank bending away from the fuel pump between the fixing bolts. There is an o ring on the fuel pump flange but this can accommodate only a little distortion on the tank.

010720173441 by barry wilson, on Flickr

The tank is made of nylon which is hygroscopic so it will soak up water but now fuel companies are putting in more and more Ethanol, which is also hygroscopic. so eventually the tanks grow in size (up to 15mm in length) and the pump flange distorts pi**ing out all the fuel in the tank. Also the internal breathers and water drains can spit but I think I've got away with that one.

010720173443 by barry wilson, on Flickr

I scoured lots of Aprilia forums and found a US firm called Caswell that make an ethanol proof tank sealer made out of a phenol novolac resin as other propriety resins turn to jelly when exposed to ethanol. After speaking to caswell europe they reckon that I will be able to use their product to fill the sags between the bolt holes on the pump flange and then block sand it afterwards. So, hopefully, that will work.

At last I'm starting to make progress on my Puma parts shed, this should last a long time as I'm making it out of box section steel and 13mm ply sheets.

180720173445 by barry wilson, on Flickr

And lastly a big thankyou to Photobucket for ruining lots of peoples hard work. I've just about rebuilt mine now but it's been a right PITA
 
Hi Rob
I sort of knew you'd comment on this but I thought it might have been "that's a dumbass place to put a shed" :grin:
 
Hi Rob
It strips down, I've made it into a few bolted panels. The base is solid as is the back and front but I used 90 deg brackets with captive nuts. It does weigh a ton but I can strip it down by myself. The hardest bit is going to be how to paint it but the steel is so thick I might even just waxoil it.
 
Well, after having a long weekend driving the Puma over 400 miles to Donington and back and then Silverstone I have a better idea about the handling and ride quality of my car. First of all the front, it still is way too hard in the way it handles potholes/low manholes and then the back end seems too soft and the rear tyres are catching the top of the mudflaps particularly on the undulations on the M1 motorway around Nottinghamshire. I tried bouncing the front end of the car and it seems pretty solid (as in not moving at all) so I took a photo inside the wheel of the spring with the car sat normally on the ground.

090820173475 by barry wilson, on Flickr

So looking at this the spring is nearly coilbound so suspension travel is really limited but I have the platforms wound up as far as I dare to make sure my front tyres don't catch on anything so I'll wind down the platforms in small stages to see if I can keep the ride height and regain some suspension travel. If that doesn't work I'll have to check the spring poundages and perhaps order some more from AVO as they do different rates and lengths. Once I sort the front end out I'll move onto the rear end but that may involve buying some rear AVO coilovers if I can get hold of some.
Whilst I was at Donington I thought that there was a photo oppertunity I couldn't miss and it also shows how low the car sits.

040820173470 by barry wilson, on Flickr
 
I love the way it looks on the 17's but having tried standard and lowered, I would take comfort over cosmetics any day of the week.
I hope you figure it out mate, those wheels don't half suit it!
 
Hi Rob
Thanks for that, the look is nearly everything on this car but it's not exactly good to drive. I will get there in the end but it may take some trial and error.
 
I've not done much on the Puma over the last month as I've been trying to finish off my shed/parts store but the other day I changed the engine oil/filter and whilst the car was in the air I lowered the front spring platforms. This turned out to be real easy as I didn't even have to take the wheels off as the platforms are higher than the top of the tyre. I'd set the platforms previously so that there was 60mm of thread beneath them which was as high as I'd dared go as the platform was already off the top of the threads on the strut.

240820173507 by barry wilson, on Flickr

So I wound back the platforms to 52mm of thread showing which dropped the ride height about 5mm as far as I could measure. In theory that should give me an extra 3mm of suspension travel, not exactly what I wanted but I did the RS national day on Sunday and Thoresby show on Monday in the Puma and it does seem to ride better at the front now. I definitely need to resolve the rear end now as it's bottoming on the top mudflap mounts quite often now almost as if the springs have gone saggy. The only difference between now and the last 3 years of driving this is that the tyre is 10mm taller than the old tyre that was on the car. I might even try the standard springs back on as it's not too hard to swap them out.
I've noticed this summer that people are starting to show a bit of interest in my Puma at shows whereas before they've just walked past previously, so maybe it's finally arriving :)
 
Hi Barry, there looking because it looks great and well cared for.
I went to a car show in the summer next to Edinburgh airport, wearing my puma T-shirt, to show my support for this great car, my wife got me tickets for my birthday, I went to look at the fords, not one puma on show, lots of fiesta, focus a few older models but no pumas, I was surprised. I do see a few on the roads, but not many, and most of them are looking abit rough.
 
Hi Richard
I go to a lot of shows with both the Puma and the Westy and up to this year the Puma got no interest at all but I suppose that's because people are used to seeing tatty looking ones all over the place and don't bother to look when there's a tidy one. I honestly think that this year will be the end of the Puma as a relatively common sight as most of the un-restored or high mileage ones will go to the scrapyard, you can already see this with a lot of Pumas up for sale with no MOT (and asking too much for them). Once they're gone in significant numbers interest will start to grow in them as it's starting to do with newer Escorts.
How's your car coming on anyway, any progress on the welding?
 
Hi Barry, nothing yet I'm afraid, I bought a set of sills and the inner sills, as you recommended and thought what the hell might as well buy these support panels that sit at the chassis number, those were around £50 each. I'm going to get some quotes for the remainder of the welding and at the Same time get the rear frp panels welded on rather than glued, as I'm hoping this will stop the water getting behind them and rotting them, as they did with James,s car.
I'm tempted to buy the frp wings on eBay, but the price tags abit rich for me at the moment.
In the meantime, I'm on the look out for recaro seat, I've got the std leather at the moment, but the recaro s will look great and suite the car when done.
 
Hi Richard
Sounds like you're definitely going to do a right job on your car with all that new metal going on but it will still rust unless it's protected on both sides so give it a good waxoiling (or whatever) to the rear of all the panels including the chassis rails and strengtheners. I used a full gallon of waxoil on mine and it smelled horrible for about a year but it's worth it in the long run. Good luck with the Recaros, I was prepared to buy a knackered Milly to get some but ended up just being on this Forum when Tim advertised them for free. How lucky was that?
 

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