The Free-Esta1.25

[amancalledrob]

Digitalize said:

Just keep an eye out for this, and jump on them when you find a decent looking set for a price you want to pay, then get some braided hoses too.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FORD-FIESTA-MK6-ST-150-F...

Ideally with no pads or discs though, you just need the calipers and carriers and they'll bolt straight on. M1144 or DS2500 pads and some decent discs and you'll definitely notice a nice improvement.

Thanks, I've saved a search so I can snap some up when I'm ready.

Have you got any tips on cold air intakes? FRP inlet setups are available but hugely expensive. I was thinking of getting a BMC CDA intake, replacing all the stock hoses with silicone to make things a bit less restrictive, and drilling through the bumper to mount an external intake for cold air.

Aftermarket intakes are more hindrance than help if they're not done properly, so I want to get this right

[Digitalize]

From memory it's the inlet itself rather than air filter that is restrictive, just a decent panel filter and maybe some sort of hose pushing cold air to it, but it was never something I really saw many people doing. Cone filters were just because I think.

[daniel-5zjw7]

amancalledrob said:

Digitalize said:

Oh wow, 240mm brakes! I forgot it was an early Puma you swapped it out of. They are awful. I'd really not want to use them on track.

Coilovers on the road are perfectly fine as long as they're spec'd soft.

Of course there's no right way to do it, just some wrong ones.

Polybushes are very stiff for the road, but when you want to drive it they're great.

I've finished bedding in the new discs now so I gave them a bit of stick last night and in terms of stopping power they're more than adequate - as long as the brakes are used properly (i.e. not just stamped on) they can just about break the front tyres free.

For prolonged use though I imagine you'll be right due to the smaller size limiting their ability to shed heat, I expect fade would become a big problem. Kwik Fit's warranty and free replacement pad offer is on a manufacturer spec basis so if I do as suggested and get some ST170 gear on there I should still be able to take advantage of it

I think I'm going to get the car polybushed. OC Motorsport will do the whole lot for £425 which seems reasonable when I remember the pain that replacing the front lower arms and rear bushes involved

The ultimate use of the car will be trips to Sainsbury's and back, track days, occasional trips further afield that I can't do on my motorbike, and next year probably the ring.

Also: would I be mad to try and tow a bike trailer with it? I've not towed before. I'm predicting either "no, it'll be easy, you just need a tow hitch" or a barrage of the traditional PH abuse. Don't disappoint me, guys

edited for speeling

I really wouldn't worry about the apparently awful brakes you have, funnily enough the fiesta zetecs that ran supported the touring cars back in the late 90s ran this same set up, with full race suspension and slicks, how they made it through entire races I'll never know given that the brakes are supposedly only good enough for one stop on the road nevermind track!! I would recommend braided lines though as you'll only have to do these once and will work with whatever set up you choose in the future. OC supplied and fitted mine and did a top job.

If you really want full polybushes at £425 go for it, but I'd suggest OC's kit which switches the powerflex rear lower arm bushes for the FRP items and costs £115 less.. the £115 saved would almost get you a set of braided lines fitted.

I wouldn't mess about with the intake, there's nothing wrong with the standard set up certainly at your level of tune.

[davepoth]

Yup, the Fiesta brakes should be pretty good - it's not a lot of car to stop. I did once manage to cook mine, but that did take about half an hour of driving like a complete idiot.

[amancalledrob]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

If you really want full polybushes at £425 go for it, but I'd suggest OC's kit which switches the powerflex rear lower arm bushes for the FRP items and costs £115 less.. the £115 saved would almost get you a set of braided lines fitted.

I wouldn't mess about with the intake, there's nothing wrong with the standard set up certainly at your level of tune.

Thanks, I spoke to them this morning and it's going in early Sep for the cheaper option at £310.

Re: intake - this will need some attention as the final piece in the puzzle will be Piper cams and a remap, so the intake and exhaust will both be getting some attention

[JonJon2015]

In an earlier post in this thread I put up something about my old FRP-based 1.7 Fiesta and wrote

JonJon2015 said:

... It’s still the car I wish I’d never sold ...

Well it's funny how things work out but a couple of weeks ago I discovered that it was available again and so bought it back, making me the first and the third owner on the V5. It's still as much of a hoot on the back roads as I remember but after nearly 5 years absence I have a long list of upgrades and improvements for the weeks and months ahead.

I hope the OP is still enjoying his.

[amancalledrob]

JonJon2015 said:

In an earlier post in this thread I put up something about my old FRP-based 1.7 Fiesta and wrote

JonJon2015 said:

... It’s still the car I wish I’d never sold ...

Well it's funny how things work out but a couple of weeks ago I discovered that it was available again and so bought it back, making me the first and the third owner on the V5. It's still as much of a hoot on the back roads as I remember but after nearly 5 years absence I have a long list of upgrades and improvements for the weeks and months ahead.

I hope the OP is still enjoying his.

That's such a cool outcome! You must be incredibly pleased to have it back.

Where am I with mine? Mechanically, it's had the engine swap and further progress has been delayed by a head gasket failure. The chaps at OC have fixed that for £550 including a head skim, relapped valve seats and new valve stem seals, so it now goes very well indeed. I still want to get the suspension sorted so I've bought a set of Bilstein B4 shocks (£240, eBay) and need to pick up some stiffer and slightly lower springs. Do you think wheelarch clearance will be ok with the Puma wheels and lower springs?

Cosmetically, the car's pretty bad even though it's structurally very sound indeed. The lacquer on the roof has mostly departed and the paint is generally tired-looking. Because of this, I figured I could experiment a bit without making things worse. I bought a book of 1000 Marvel good vs evil stickers and a can of lacquer, and set to work.

Yesterday I loved this, today I hate it. Don't know how I'll feel tomorrow and I'm not sure how to get it all off. I might've made a mistake here as it doesn't really suit a nearly-40 year old man. I liked it initially but I think the moment I went off of it was when it occurred to me that I'm taking my OH for a night away in a very nice hotel this weekend and I'm not sure I'll feel great arriving in an inexpertly stickerbombed 18yo Fiesta...

thoughts?

Edited by amancalledrob on Wednesday 2nd November 13:44

[Digitalize]

Missed the boat on sticker bombing by about 5 years! Very naff, unless you're wanting to Maccys it up to make it even more sleeper.

[amancalledrob]

Digitalize said:

Missed the boat on sticker bombing by about 5 years! Very naff, unless you're wanting to Maccys it up to make it even more sleeper.

I'm inclined to agree with you there. Got any tips for quick & easy removal of a bunch of lacquered-over stickers?

[Digitalize]

Paint stripper? Lacquer is gonna be your issue

[amancalledrob]

Yep guess I'll give that a go

[Digitalize]

I doubt it will ever look like it did before, maybe get a replacement wing or think about DIY painting the car?

[amancalledrob]

I'm thinking about getting a cheap respray done, if there is such a thing

[JonJon2015]

I agree with the comments above about the stickers.

That was bad luck with your head failure (and I'm referring to the engine now, not the sticker decision). It's one of the perils of a transplant from a car that was an unknown quantity in terms of servicing and use but at least it's now running sweetly and you can have some confidence about it going forward.

These cars don't need lowering by much. I had a fair bit of arch work done on mine back in the day because of the wider 7" rims, exacerbated by the FRP's wider rear track and disc brakes. Provided you keep it sensible (+/- 30mm) you should have no bother with clearance on your narrower Puma rims, especially with the planned new dampers to keep it in check.

[amancalledrob]

The HG failure was a mixed bag, I think. Yes it was expensive and has delayed progress, but on the bright side I now know the bores and piston rings are in good shape, and with the head work the engine's compression should be as good as it can be. It's a good place to start from re cams and tuning.

The lacquer hasn't formed a coat over the stickers, it's just made them feel like vinyl to the touch. I can still get a fingernail under the edge, probably, so I'll try and get things started from one edge and see if I can jetwash them off. In the short term I'll then polish the surface to get it close to how it was before while I save for a respray. If I can get it sprayed for under £1500 I will, as I plan to keep it for a long time.

I got the car for nothing and so far expenditure over about four years, excluding fuel, tax and insurance looks like this:

First MOT - exhaust back box, 2x tyres, £185
Second MOT - 2x drive shaft gaiters £250
Third MOT - 2x front lower arms, 2x rear bush, 2x front brake flexi hose £250 (bought parts and did the work myself)
Engine swap including buying a whole Ford Puma and having it trailered to OC - £1080
Four new tyres, Hankook Ventus Prime - £200
Head gasket replacement inc skim head, de-coke ports, re-lap valve seats, new valve stem seals, £550
Fourth MOT - 2x drive shaft gaiters (opposite end to last time) and a new drive shaft as the bearings fell apart on the old one - £291.20

So I guess I've paid about £2800 for the car, really. A lot of it is maintenance and some of it is actually the purchase cost of another car, so when I run that through some Man Maths it feels like good value