Puma from Malta

Damnn such a nice car and all the effort you put in it, gone in a second. i feel for you -_-

Terrible news, hope the insurer takes in to account all the work.

If you fancy bringing another one over and need any help in the UK I, as I'm sure many other people, would be very happy to help from this end.

Cheers for all the comments guys ...will definitely consider getting another one if finances allow.

Oh no! That is terrible

Oh god that's horrible, such a well cared for cat and there are so few left these days! At least you walked away okay though. Fit and well enough perhaps to one day save another puma in remembrance of this one?

Old Puma might be resurrected I couldn't let it go to the scrappers so I kept it all these years with the intention of repairing it one day. To my surprise, I recently connected a new battery and it started first time which re-ignited me to fix it. Problem is I was never quite happy with the shell given the rust and a hail storm which dented the body shortly before the accident plus it was not going to be cheap to fix.

So I stumbled across this 1.4 with a knackered engine, same colour, same year and most importantly a fairly solid body. How easy it is to swap the 1.7 onto a 1.4? Apart from the engine, loom & ECU, what other things need to be swapped over and is a 1.4 the same in all other aspects (brakes, suspension, gearbox etc.)?

Wow, good luck with the new project. Most ancillary items such as suspension, bushes, brakes are all the same on all the engine versions. Differences for brake sizes were between model years.
The gearbox on the 1.4 will have different ratios but technically would still work with the 1.7 engine.

Hi, I've made a 1.4 to 1.7 swap but it's been some years. 1.7 box has better ratios so better to keep that. It has longer 1st-2nd, smae 3rd and shorter 4th and 5th. You need engine, engine bay loom, 1.7 air filter box, 1.7 MAF, 1.7 engine mount (the gearbox mount is the same), ECU and key transpoder. Good luck.

Alex

Check if the 1.4 has ABS. Master cylinder is different between ABS and non-ABS cars - the latter has a check valve for rear brake lines to stop the rears locking under heavy braking. You may need to swap the whole ABS pump, servo and master cylinder over. Then run the abs wheel speed sensors from each wheel to the pump/controller assy.

Thanks guys. Today, I towed her from its previous owner to my mechanic. We're gonna check how bad is the 1.4 first (might run without too much hassle and eventually sell a running 1.4 for what it's worth) and get a closer inspection at the rest. Some dents on both sides, a bit of rot on driver's wing and just surface rust underneath but got it fairly cheap and it was the only puma I found for sale here in Malta in 5 years' time anyways!

So my mechanic was about to start the conversion when I stumbled across a local 1.7 car for sale on the marketplace. Only a few Puma's were sold new here in Malta and to my knowledge they were mostly 1.4's. In fact this was originally owned by Ford's importers in Malta (Gasan). So it seemed a logical thing to just buy a running local 1.7 (which also has a very cheap road tax compared to my other UK import ones) rather than convert/restore the 1.4.

It's a 2000 model, panther black, no third light and according to its previous owner it had the earlier fan blade alloys. 60k on the clock, super clean arches, sills and underside (waxoyled from new), some minor surface rust on the rear valance when you open the tailgate (I suspect water was seeping in from the perished screen seal). It sat outside without being used for some time recently so the scorching Maltese sun wasn't kind to the black paint. The 1.7 pulls as it should and other than a knock from the front suspension, it looks to be in good shape mechanically. I also got a spare 1.7 engine of unknown condition as part of the deal.

Plan is to put her back on fan blades (current wheels are hideous) and see what other trim/other bits I can take from the others if they're in a better condition and then sell the other Pumas as spares/repair. It will probably need a full respray but I don't see it happening in the near future.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's first wash

it sounds like a good one

I like those wheels better than fanblades.

Congrats on the great find!

Fanblades on! I know some are not a fan (pun intended :lol but for me a Puma just has to be on fanblades :grin: Also nicked some other bits and bobs from the donors like parcel shelf (was full of disconnected speakers), digital clock etc.

My old 1.7 now sitting on some compomotive turbos I had lying around for my mk2 escort and still somehow looking good

An update on the black puma...today she was treated to a full service - oil, coolant, brake fluid, all filters and rear wheel cylinders. Upon closer inspection, the mechanic also discovered lower gearbox mounting, top mounts and front stabiliser bushes needing replacement but couldn't find them that easily so will source those out first. Previous owner said cambelt was replaced 3 years/7,000 miles ago so I took his word for that

Cosmetically, I didn't do much other than trying out some cleaning products. I found autoglym's engine/machine cleaner and wurth's rust remover quite good for the engine bay ose: . Next on the list are to fix the AC (hoping it's just a re-gas) and an underside wash. Below some photos I took today.

Next will be the exterior/interior. Pretty presentable as it is but ideally needs bonnet and tailgate repainting, machine polish, replacement steering wheel (top part is like a gummy bear :lol, replacement front door cards (peeling on top and centres were replaced with some carbon fibre look trim). Most worrying is the perished rear tailgate window seal and headlamps seals...I don't see how these can be replaced without replacing the entire tailgate and headlamp units. Luckily I have 2 spare puma's :grin:

looking clean.

Some more TLC done to the black puma. AC had a re-gas and turned up ice cold. After longish journeys though, it starts blowing hot air some times...I'm suspecting heater control valve?

This week I had some spare time so I swapped one of the tail lamps which had a small crack and was letting dust in with the one in the 1.4. Probably the easiest job I ever did on a car as I had them swapped in 10 minutes. Then I had a try in repainting one of the wheel caps which was peeling. Used rattle cans of plastic primer, moondust silver and lacquer. Not bad for a first try :grin: Might have a go doing all the wheels at some point.

I also stocked up a set of monroe front shocks, ARB bushes and top mounts. Currently waiting for the gearbox mount and will then go back to the mechanic to have it all sorted.

Hi Looking good, well done.
Richard

Took the puma to the 1/4 mile drag strip yesterday...it's just a RWYB event with unlimited track use, no timed runs or competitions. Given the ridiculous speed limits and cameras they're putting on the streets and still no proper race track in sight, it's our only escape.

The scene is massive in Malta and to say the stock puma was out of place is an understatement But for less than the cost of the wheels of the Eur60K+ build starlet GT turbo that was parked next to me, I was more than happy. Speedo on the 140 mark at the finish line and back in it to do the home-office trip this morning :grin:

Another task to cross out from the to-do list. Puma was taken for an underside wash and inspection at the local dinitrol centre, the same place where dinitrol was applied 21 years ago when it was new. I was impressed how clean the car is from underneath, a true testament that that stuff really worked. I also bought the car with the rear arch liners removed, not sure how long it's been without but that probably helped as well as it's easier to just powerwash the arches and not having the mud, water etc. trapped in the liners.

Following the wash and inspection, they re-applied some dinitrol where necessary on the underside and in the cavities. All in all, it costed me 60 euro, worth every penny.

Mechanically, the car also had almost all its issues fixed. In the end, it had new front shocks, top mounts, stabiliser drop links, both engine mounts, lower gearbox mount, ARB bushes, heater control valve, rear brake flexible pipes, battery, AC re-gas. All items replaced (except the battery) were genuine ford so probably they were never replaced before. Feels newer than my mum's 2012 fiesta on the road.