Our little Puma
Discussion
It maybe old, but as a daily driver it sure is cheap fun. We (Cherie171) and I bought it on a whim when we were moving in case we had to sell out main cars to free up some funds, but has become the extra car that gets used more often than not.
And the fact that we run the owners club - www.projectpuma.com - so we should have another really after selling others.
Various updates from our forum for Pistonheads delight going back to when we bought it last year:
So Cherie and I bought this little silver Thunder a couple of weeks ago:
I couldn't help myself message the ebay seller when it had 3 days left and was only at £38 with the usual rot / cambelt / history etc questions expecting a list of expensive fixes as the reason for the low price.
The only thing against it was the fact that both sills need a bit of a rub down, treat and respray. Just surface and not mentioned on the MOT. The sellers reserve was fairly low but he was happy with that as he'd bought a new car already. He was an AA chap so the car was pretty sound.
It's only done 55,000 miles and has an MOT until next spring. It's had 2 cambelts already so due a third now.
Original exhaust still:
First club outing at Rockingham last Sunday:
Things done:
The ditch-finders on it were truly horrendous. They were >Silverstone M5-Synergy< which the fronts at least have now been replaced by >Uniroyal Rainsport 2< which were a bargain at £72 delivered from Camskill. Fitted at our local ATS yesterday for a drink to the chap that does all my tyre / exhaust stuff
Got a nice little package of some little bits and bobs that it needed:
- Plastic Gearstick surround - original one must have had an air freshener on it that had melted the plastic side
- The little yellow bit in the bonnet that the bonnet stay fits into.
- Wiper nut covers x2.
- Drivers side central screw cover
- 3rd brake light - ours had a crack in it.
- The little black plastic triangle bit to the left of the 2 central air vents.
Replaced this very sad cracked 3rd brake light:
Things to do:
Had a couple of quotes to get the sills done so going in on the 7th October to fix all this and get it ready for winter:
And I've put some nice shiny wheel nuts on rather than the through nuts that were on there.
It needs a damn good clean / machine polish to get the various minor scratches out. The mudflaps need realigning and straightening too.
Future possible plans:
Might lower it a bit with some aftermarket springs.
Replace the unreliable 6006 with a USB Head unit + Amp the outputs and uprate the speakers.
Find some proper Puma velour mats to replace the universal ones in there.
Give it a service + cambelt. I'll do the service - filters, oil, sparks etc.
And the fact that we run the owners club - www.projectpuma.com - so we should have another really after selling others.
Various updates from our forum for Pistonheads delight going back to when we bought it last year:
So Cherie and I bought this little silver Thunder a couple of weeks ago:
I couldn't help myself message the ebay seller when it had 3 days left and was only at £38 with the usual rot / cambelt / history etc questions expecting a list of expensive fixes as the reason for the low price.
The only thing against it was the fact that both sills need a bit of a rub down, treat and respray. Just surface and not mentioned on the MOT. The sellers reserve was fairly low but he was happy with that as he'd bought a new car already. He was an AA chap so the car was pretty sound.
It's only done 55,000 miles and has an MOT until next spring. It's had 2 cambelts already so due a third now.
Original exhaust still:
First club outing at Rockingham last Sunday:
Things done:
The ditch-finders on it were truly horrendous. They were >Silverstone M5-Synergy< which the fronts at least have now been replaced by >Uniroyal Rainsport 2< which were a bargain at £72 delivered from Camskill. Fitted at our local ATS yesterday for a drink to the chap that does all my tyre / exhaust stuff
Got a nice little package of some little bits and bobs that it needed:
- Plastic Gearstick surround - original one must have had an air freshener on it that had melted the plastic side
- The little yellow bit in the bonnet that the bonnet stay fits into.
- Wiper nut covers x2.
- Drivers side central screw cover
- 3rd brake light - ours had a crack in it.
- The little black plastic triangle bit to the left of the 2 central air vents.
Replaced this very sad cracked 3rd brake light:
Things to do:
Had a couple of quotes to get the sills done so going in on the 7th October to fix all this and get it ready for winter:
And I've put some nice shiny wheel nuts on rather than the through nuts that were on there.
It needs a damn good clean / machine polish to get the various minor scratches out. The mudflaps need realigning and straightening too.
Future possible plans:
Might lower it a bit with some aftermarket springs.
Replace the unreliable 6006 with a USB Head unit + Amp the outputs and uprate the speakers.
Find some proper Puma velour mats to replace the universal ones in there.
Give it a service + cambelt. I'll do the service - filters, oil, sparks etc.
Spark plugs, air filter and pollen filter changed at the weekend.
Spark tip wasn't too healthy:
Pollen was very manky:
Should be able to breathe a bit better with a new air filter:
Will do an oil change soon and do the fuel filter then. Didn't get around to doing the brakes but will either tomorrow on a day off or the weekend, weather dependent. Couldn't get the drivers side repeater out so am currently running one amber, one clear lol Will get behind it when I do the brakes.
Spark tip wasn't too healthy:
Pollen was very manky:
Should be able to breathe a bit better with a new air filter:
Will do an oil change soon and do the fuel filter then. Didn't get around to doing the brakes but will either tomorrow on a day off or the weekend, weather dependent. Couldn't get the drivers side repeater out so am currently running one amber, one clear lol Will get behind it when I do the brakes.
Finally got around to taking some pictures of the repaired rusty sills - although they're now filthy after commuting all week:
Before:
After:
Below the visible bit they've put the hard wearing textured paint on to protect better from stone chips. Also treated for rust inside and outside the sills.
I'll take some better pictures when I get around to cleaning it
ops:
Before:
After:
Below the visible bit they've put the hard wearing textured paint on to protect better from stone chips. Also treated for rust inside and outside the sills.
I'll take some better pictures when I get around to cleaning it
ops:
Gave it a proper wash this last weekend, finishing with some Autoglym HD wax I've had since Christmas:
The wax is very easy to apply and doesn't dry to a crust like the super resin polish and is a doddle to buff off. Highly recomended as it looks much better in the flesh rather than my phones camera not adjusting well to the overcast conditions :roll:
Tucked up in bed:
The wax is very easy to apply and doesn't dry to a crust like the super resin polish and is a doddle to buff off. Highly recomended as it looks much better in the flesh rather than my phones camera not adjusting well to the overcast conditions :roll:
Tucked up in bed:
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