500+bhp Mk3 Fiesta Project

[The Jolly Todger]

Any updates?

Saw your M3 thread pop up which reminded me to check in here.

Apologies to all those hoping this was an update from the OP ( maybe support my idea here ).

[mwstewart]

The Jolly Todger said:

Any updates?

Saw your M3 thread pop up which reminded me to check in here.

Apologies to all those hoping this was an update from the OP ( maybe support my idea here ).

Neat idea.

We have builders at our house for a few weeks in December so I'm taking the opportunity to take leave for a week and go work on the Fiesta.

I also recently completed a small project on a VW Golf. I'll upload the photos when I get chance

[martin mrt]

mwstewart said:

The Jolly Todger said:

Any updates?

Saw your M3 thread pop up which reminded me to check in here.

Apologies to all those hoping this was an update from the OP ( maybe support my idea here ).

Neat idea.

We have builders at our house for a few weeks in December so I'm taking the opportunity to take leave for a week and go work on the Fiesta.

I also recently completed a small project on a VW Golf. I'll upload the photos when I get chance

Sounds interesting, look forward to seeing the thread

[The Jolly Todger]

mwstewart said:

Neat idea.

We have builders at our house for a few weeks in December so I'm taking the opportunity to take leave for a week and go work on the Fiesta.

I also recently completed a small project on a VW Golf. I'll upload the photos when I get chance

Nice one, hopefully some Christmas reading ahead. Hope it all goes well.

[motard2k]

Secondary Door Seals - Upper and Lower

Hi Mark. I am motard2k (António) from Portugal. Congratulations for the amazing job you are doing! Is it fineshed already?

I am curious about this secondary seals! What model seals did you used for each (Upper/Lower)? Keep it going

Edited by motard2k on Sunday 29th December 13:31

[mwstewart]

Thanks guys. The secondary seals are from a Mondeo.

New Ford decal and badge applied to the tailgate.


I'm using polished stainless scuff plates from a 'Ghia' model; we were limited to a 5 door model in the UK but I found the part number for 3 door version sold on the continent and used that to order from a UK dealer.
I had to make some notches along the lower edge of each plate in order to accommodate the captive fittings I previously installed to secure the lower secondary door seal.


Lower seal and plate fitted.

[Quhet]

It continues!

[richtea78]

Finally an update! Yay

[Lancia888]

The most beautiful thing I have ever read. Truly outstanding build.

[carpetsoiler]

You are such a tease with these pictures. Really looking forward to seeing how this progresses through the year.

[Finlay007]

just read thw whole thread, awsome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well done sir !

[B'stard Child]

Sunday - meandering through my readers cars bookmarks as well as checking the section for anything new.

A Fiesta (even with the words 500 bhp and project) wasn't going to be my first choice but with 12 pages its was going to go one of two ways

I'm very pleased it went the right way - a great read from start to finish and looking forward to future updates

[mustdash]

2 shifts at work and 45 pages later, and all I can say is "Wow!". Amazing project. Hats off to you.

Apologies for all those thinking it was an update.....

[mwstewart]

Thanks everyone.

This is potentially the most anal modification so far! For Christmas I bought my Dad a new interior for his A4 Cabriolet, and today whilst helping him to fit it I noticed late door card courtesy lights have colour matched connectors - red for marker, and white for puddle - and a shroud over the back of the lights to prevent stray light coming through other areas of the door cards.


I gave in to the temptation and removed the surplus lights and connectors from Dad's old door cards, and swapped them with those on the Fiesta. Here are my old lights and connectors from a C5 A6:


Here are the new lights and colour coded connectors.


Next up was the interior cruise control wiring. The Ford retrofit instructions are beautifully illustrated but the supporting text is no where near comprehensive enough, so I had to resort TIS to cross-check original wiring diagrams.


I got as far as modifying the retrofit loom to perfectly suit the layout of the Fiesta. The loom provides fused live and switched lives from the clutch and brake pedal switches, amongst other things.

[mwstewart]

Recaro equipped Fiesta's were supplied new with two pads that could be added to the front seats to increase lumbar support. The pads are sandwiched between the seat frame and the backrest foam; it's quite a crude system really, but it works. I've added one pad to the drivers seat.


I have decided against using the Mk3 Mondeo instrument cluster due to how it looked in the confines of the Fiesta dashboard. There was too much of a gap between the two dials compared to the space between the dials and the dashboard. For now I am going with a Mk5 Fiesta Ghia cluster which has a rev counter and black dial faces. The Puma/sport series clusters of the same era have white dials and red needles, and look very cheap.


I finished the cruise control wiring this afternoon. I have integrated the Focus retrofit loom by using genuine Ford multi-plugs from the same era as the Fiesta loom, which not only look correct but will also enable me to remove the CC system should I ever need to. It's not really worth taking photos of this work but suffice to say it is quite time consuming! A couple of examples are below.

1) Black two pin plug added to integrate the cruise control loom with the instrument cluster: indicator lamp and VSS (Vehicle Speed Signal).


2) Single pin plug added to the ignition switch for a 12v supply (original pin to be reinserted).


I also added a two pin plug to the previously modified column stalks, for Xenon flash and variable sensitivity auto wipers.

[richtea78]

Did you buy your Dad a new interior specifically so you could rob bits of the old one?

[mwstewart]

richtea78 said:

Did you buy your Dad a new interior specifically so you could rob bits of the old one?

Ha, I didn't know about the lights actually I do have a heated/power/memory seat retrofit on my hands now, though.

[B'stard Child]

mwstewart said:

richtea78 said:

Did you buy your Dad a new interior specifically so you could rob bits of the old one?

Ha, I didn't know about the lights actually I do have a heated/power/memory seat retrofit on my hands now, though.

I wondering if at the start of this project you thought 500 bhp - yep that'll be what a Fiesta groaning with the weight of extra "upgrades" will need to keep pace with modern day traffic

[mwstewart]

B'stard Child said:

I wondering if at the start of this project you thought 500 bhp - yep that'll be what a Fiesta groaning with the weight of extra "upgrades" will need to keep pace with modern day traffic

It was more a case of wanting something that puts a smile on my face when I drive it.

The wing mirrors on each side of a Fiesta are slightly different, so being a champ I decided to buy a set that appeared to match, not realising that the difference was in fact due to them being LHD and RHD; the offside mirror is longer to help with visibility in the blind spot. The net result was that I had to get another o/s mirror sprayed, only this time a RHD version

Today I rebuilt the o/s mirror with the - correct - RHD parts.


I attempted to show the difference in mirrors here.


Rebuilt.


New internal mirror trims, to suit electric mirrors.


I applied Absorber 15 to any contact areas.



Trim and switch fitted. When this car was built a small hatchback equipped with electric mirrors was still quite something - hard to imagine!


I'm not completely happy with the seating position in the car. The seats are from a Mk3 (89-93) whereas my car is a Mk3.5 (94-96), and the 'anti-submarine' seat mounts make the front of the seat too high - especially given the Recaro's have a degree of this built in. I shall return to the seat mounts at a later date and modify them.


These sections of foam push in at the rear of the wheelarches and prevent dirt/grime etc. passing behind the front wings into the door reveal. They just help keep the hinge area a bit cleaner.


Fitted. It's a bit messy in here as I had the car machine polished and some of the polish has run behind each panel.


The only thing preventing installation of the steering wheel is the clock spring. As I previously mentioned, I need to convert the standard two conductor clock spring to four conductors, to support cruise control. I had a mock up this afternoon to evaluate some ideas and see what approach would be safest and most reliable.


This doesn't look like much but it's the first successful prototype. It is a four conductor clock spring that provides 3.5 safe turns of steering with 0.75 turns of contingency. My steering rack is 2.75 turns lock-to-lock.


Now I can move on and modify the new clock spring I bought from Ford.

[robsa]

I SO want to hang with you and play twister. Who the hell buys their dad a new car interior for xmas?! What did you do for your mum? Drop a supercharged Chevy V8 into her Citroen Picasso?! I must admit I harbour a fervent and secret hope that once this is done you are going to turn your attentions to a 'super restore' of a Bertie (one of my top 5 most desirable cars ever)....