A Rusty Ford Fiesta

[Bobberoo99]

Rule said:

foxmeister said:

I'll pitch in with the "its not my bag, but very interesting build" too, being the grand old age of 37 now, although my tastes have changed over the years and less so in modding cars the aftermarket route, when i was 17 I suppose the 'Scene' then was massive 17's on small cars (i had a nova, probably ruined in some peoples eyes) so we have all been part of it in some way and its how i learned how to expand my skills etc, im quite handy at thinking outside the box and making some nice bits etc, so very interested to see how this turns out

Can i make a suggestion? Maybe some more detailed pics and info on the actual engineering you have done, like welding in the wider arches and things like that rather than just a pic showing new bits complete

The stretch tyre thing doesnt bother me much, not something i would do either but people are always going to be scared of the unknown, but i like the idea of the 2 characters of the build, track/show, not seen that before and keen to see it develop

Also, as soon as i scrolled down and saw the arse of the M3 i knew where it was going... well played

Thankyou
I’ll be honest taking pics during the work is a thing I didn’t do a lot off, I’m not sure why really. Just didn’t have the intention to do a build thread until recently.
Point taken though, and I will try to do more of that with the work to come.

Does this mean you'll be continuing the thread? I do hope so, genuinely interested in the work you've done so far and hoping for some more info on it all.

[Rule]

Bobberoo99 said:

Rule said:

foxmeister said:

I'll pitch in with the "its not my bag, but very interesting build" too, being the grand old age of 37 now, although my tastes have changed over the years and less so in modding cars the aftermarket route, when i was 17 I suppose the 'Scene' then was massive 17's on small cars (i had a nova, probably ruined in some peoples eyes) so we have all been part of it in some way and its how i learned how to expand my skills etc, im quite handy at thinking outside the box and making some nice bits etc, so very interested to see how this turns out

Can i make a suggestion? Maybe some more detailed pics and info on the actual engineering you have done, like welding in the wider arches and things like that rather than just a pic showing new bits complete

The stretch tyre thing doesnt bother me much, not something i would do either but people are always going to be scared of the unknown, but i like the idea of the 2 characters of the build, track/show, not seen that before and keen to see it develop

Also, as soon as i scrolled down and saw the arse of the M3 i knew where it was going... well played

Thankyou
I’ll be honest taking pics during the work is a thing I didn’t do a lot off, I’m not sure why really. Just didn’t have the intention to do a build thread until recently.
Point taken though, and I will try to do more of that with the work to come.

Does this mean you'll be continuing the thread? I do hope so, genuinely interested in the work you've done so far and hoping for some more info on it all.

Yes I will do.

[Rule]

I’ll put a little more info here regarding the engine bay as it’s what I’ve been doing for the past couple of months now.

- Relocated header tank (under drivers side front arch)
This took a lot of tinkering about as the header tank needs to sit higher than the engine as it’s gravity fed.
I’m using a Daewoo header tank which I have tried and tested with the car running.

- Smoothed Bulk head, this involved quite a few things being removed-
-Brake bar
-Brake Servo
-ABS Pump
-Fuse box & Relays (relocated by passenger footwell)
- Removal of brake lines / Clutch pipes.
-Power steering delete
-Aircon delete
-heater control delete

- Smoothed wheel liner? Not sure what to call it, but basically smoothed of the sides of the engine bay so you can’t see the tyres & inside of the wheels.
-Smoothed rocker cover
-Smoothed strut towers
- Smoothed & Butchered slam panel ( this was to be able to fit the inlet.
I did try to save the slam panel, but after a lot of cutting and grinding I managed to get the inlet on and it looked pretty daft so it had to go.

Again not really any photos of welding or filling etc... not that you’d like to see my welding anyways :’)



This is me starting off with a bit of silver paint as I was so scared to even touch the engine bay lol.




Had a metal sheet cut to size and welded in.






A lot of cutting and grinding later... haha, yeah the slam panel had to go.

Edited by Rule on Saturday 22 June 07:33

[Bobberoo99]

That is seriously cool! Love how clean it looks, I take it your running air lift suspension so it's on bags? How do you find the ride quality?

[Rule]

Bobberoo99 said:

That is seriously cool! Love how clean it looks, I take it your running air lift suspension so it's on bags? How do you find the ride quality?

Thankyou

Not air suspension.
It’s on hydraulic suspension, the ride quality is not all that much different than being really low on coilovers.. I wouldn’t say it’s uncomfortable, but it’s definitely not comfortable..
It’s a real expensive bit of kit.

[Bobberoo99]

Ok, now I get it, I'm used to seeing American cars and trucks jumping around I didn't realise it could be used like this too!! That's very clever engineering, where's the pumps and reservoir installed?

[Davie]

Smoothed / minimalistic engine bays are awesome. I saw a Mk3 Golf at a show a few years back, just had an old school 8V but it was genuinely hard to seeing it even drove. It was almost just an engine, box and two visible coolant pipes sat in the flawless bay. The amount of if work it must have taken to move / hide wiring, lines, hoses and whatever else must have been significant. Compared to most OEM engine bays which are a dogs dinner, it was a work of art.

[anonymous-user]

I used to love my mk5 zetec-s so much so that I have had 3 of them over the years, absolutely fantastic fun but I never gave them the extra power they were begging for. 160-200bhp in one would have been fantastic.

I love the engine bits/interior/bushes etc and the cossie wheels, personally not a fan of the bling ones or the air ride/stance thing but still interested in seeing it all completed.

Good work. The seats look comfy

[Nincompoop]

The Mad Monk said:

How many Mums did he have in total?

Oh no! Predictive text overrides carefully written grammatical conjunct!

Have you read the whole thread, old chap? Precisely the sort of deprecatory comment that so many contributors have deplored.

Please keep them away from this thread and let us enjoy Rule's build without your snarky interjections. Most grateful.

[The Mad Monk]

Nincompoop said:

The Mad Monk said:

How many Mums did he have in total?

Oh no! Predictive text overrides carefully written grammatical conjunct!

Have you read the whole thread, old chap? Precisely the sort of deprecatory comment that so many contributors have deplored.

Please keep them away from this thread and let us enjoy Rule's build without your snarky interjections. Most grateful.

I am enjoying this thread, thank you.

[Rewe]

Welcome back Rule!

I meant to ask earlier, is this your first project? Are you self-taught? Do you have help? Impressive work for 17.

Also [\nosey mode on] where do you get your money from!!

[foxmeister]

What were the original leather seats you removed, Merc???

[Rule]

Rewe said:

Welcome back Rule!

I meant to ask earlier, is this your first project? Are you self-taught? Do you have help? Impressive work for 17.

Also [\nosey mode on] where do you get your money from!!

Hey, this is actually my second project, both projects have been MK5 Fiestas, although the first one was a 5-door 1.25Zetec which I bought at 16, so I owned it before getting my license. I always wanted a ZS shell to work with instead, But the insurance was ridiculously high, but I still went and bought one the year after..

I think people haven’t understood me properly when I said I’ve started this project at 17, and I’ve owned it 5 - almost 6 years now. I am now 23 years of age.
I started working as soon as I left school full time, so had a weekly income at 16 and purchased my first car before I even had any lessons driving, and I was already tinkering with the car (lows, bolt on arches etc) just silly stuff you do at 16/17 I suppose.
As I’ve said, I’ve had no help on this and no experience / background with anything regarding cars just plenty of research and studying online.
My parents passed away at the age of 3 and I was brought up by my grandparents so I can’t really ask my grandad to lend me a hand at 80 years of age either lol.
I built my first car on my grandads driveway, I then got a house with my sister at 18 which had a double garage ( the only thing I was interested in) haha, And at that time I already had the Zetec-S which had a considerable amount done already in only a few months of owning it, but I was never happy with so literally just decided to take it off the road one day and work on it my self with pretty much next to no tools.
I was literally buying parts and tools on a daily basis for this project.
So I’ll put a picture up of my 5-door I had and also the ZS before I garaged it.

My First car the week I had bought it..


This is it around a month before I stripped it and bought the ZS.
Was nothing too fancy, wheels, bolt on arches, seats, and I plastidipped the whole car.


This is the ZS before I had taken it off the road. I didn’t really want to include this part into the build thread as I feel the actual build was when it got taken off the road.

[Rule]

foxmeister said:

What were the original leather seats you removed, Merc???

Indeed, C63 to be exact.

[RobXjcoupe]

Do you have a picture of the car at the height it can be driven?
The flared arched and small diameter wheels are a bit retro to style now. Those wide wheels must play havoc with the meagre standard wheel bearings or have you modified the hubs to correct that?
I’ve still got a mk5 fiesta as a daily driver. Although it hits classic car status next year. I think that’s when the old banger will start to gain in value. Clean mk5’s are few and far these days. Below is a pic of my daily old fiesta

[Rule]

[quote=RobXjcoupe]Do you have a picture of the car at the height it can be driven?
The flared arched and small diameter wheels are a bit retro to style now. Those wide wheels must play havoc with the meagre standard wheel bearings or have you modified the hubs to correct that?
I’ve still got a mk5 fiesta as a daily driver. Although it hits classic car status next year. I think that’s when the old banger will start to gain in value. Clean mk5’s are few and far these days. Below is a pic of my daily old fiesta ]

Hi Rob, It Would be nice to finally see them go up in value as they are becoming pretty rare, especially for a well sought after one with none or little rust.
Although I feel like I should of got mine for free given how rotten it was haha.
I don’t really have any photos of drive height, but having hydraulics means you can pick which ever height you want, I could even go higher than standard.

[Bobberoo99]

Loving that last picture!!
Is the system constantly variable? So you can just set it to a height/stance and drive it like that?

Sorry to hear about the loss of your parents, was going to post more but really unsure what to put, be very proud of where you are and what you've achieved.

[Rule]

Bobberoo99 said:

Loving that last picture!!
Is the system constantly variable? So you can just set it to a height/stance and drive it like that?

Sorry to hear about the loss of your parents, was going to post more but really unsure what to put, be very proud of where you are and what you've achieved.

Thank you dude,
but in all honesty no pity needed. it’s never affected me in anyway, I was way to young to even remember them, I’m just very grateful for my grandparents for taking me and my sister on board.

Yes the hydraulic system is as you say. Literally whatever height it’s set too it can be driven, you can even do it as you’re driving along lol.
I have a wireless remote that controls front and back so it’s just a simple 2 way system.
you can with just some wiring make it a 4 way system which would allow you to control each corner (kind of like those American low riders you see)
But I’ve heard from the manufacture that this can cause a lot of body flex / stress so I opted for the 2 way system.
Hope that makes sense.

[expensivegarms]

I'm glad you're still posting on this thread. Whilst this isn't normally my cup of tea, I love seeing people getting their hands dirty and doing something different. Standard of work looks amazing, keep up the good work. And keep posting!

[Cloudy147]

Impressive work, Rule!

Your taste is different to mine (I'm 40-odd old timer so of a different Max Power generation to you), but if it's legal and safe, then I'll be enjoying seeing what you do next.

The interior particularly is very interesting. An escort dash in a Fiesta? Skillfully done. Any more pics?

Bravo for making something so unique to you, looking forward to the updates.