fiestaturbo.com

[MotorcyclesFish]

Ok, I'm going to keep a running thread going of things I do/don't bother doing to my little RS runaround.

I will shortly post a photo bodgealogue of the worst parts of this car for comedy effect. There are some good ones - watch this space!

[Smo]

Watching

[MotorcyclesFish]

Ok - here's the guided tour of the worst bits, IMO. You can't really take a photo of a shagged gearbox mount, but that's there as well - not really a bodge, though.


World's most half arsed filler cap repair ever - may have to be done again!


Hmmm, this picture doesn't really show the bumpy lumpiness and the tacked on plate where the boot got chavved - tbh I think the "repair" is worse than the actual chavving!


O/S door contact switch... awol?


Thoughtful and painstaking approach to installing a stereo.


Crappy cheap alarm (disconnected).


A bit of white speaker wire distributes the + feed to the NSF lamp unit.


This just goes to show how versatile white speaker wire is - replacing the burnt out boot solenoid is this length for "easy" boot release from inside the car.

On top of this, the car needs:
- A set of (mk3.5) mirrors
- some longer wheel studs so i can put the 1cm spacers on again
- gearbox mount(s)
- MAF
- NS door
- Tailgate

Donations appreciated... lol.

Still, this is a great fun car to drive even taking into account the... minor... problems with it! I've yet to decide how much I can be arsed doing to it really, I don't know how seriously I will end up taking this car. I already have the capri which needs work so this may or may not get broken? I just can't decide...

[heeman10]

Sparkrite alarms kick ass! You have yet to find many more uses for speaker wire - exhaust hangers, clutch cable substitutes and, twisting together enough times, they can be used as makeshift driveshafts on the 1.0 thru 1.6 N/A CVH. The torque outputs of the Zetecs and turbo engine exploit the limitations of 3A speaker wire, so you must upgrade to 5A if you wish to cover in excess of 100 miles

[~S1~]

Sparkrite alarms kick ass! You have yet to find many more uses for speaker wire - exhaust hangers, clutch cable substitutes and, twisting together enough times, they can be used as makeshift driveshafts on the 1.0 thru 1.6 N/A CVH. The torque outputs of the Zetecs and turbo engine exploit the limitations of 3A speaker wire, so you must upgrade to 5A if you wish to cover in excess of 100 miles

and he seriously expects me to allow him to stick my FRS on his rollers!

[~S1~]

forgot to say, have i missed something? the badges are clearly still on the car?

[Sphinx]

Some quality work gone into that car! Where's all the gaffa tape and cable ties?

[Smo]

forgot to say, have i missed something? the badges are clearly still on the car?

Debodging

[heeman10]

Sparkrite alarms kick ass! You have yet to find many more uses for speaker wire - exhaust hangers, clutch cable substitutes and, twisting together enough times, they can be used as makeshift driveshafts on the 1.0 thru 1.6 N/A CVH. The torque outputs of the Zetecs and turbo engine exploit the limitations of 3A speaker wire, so you must upgrade to 5A if you wish to cover in excess of 100 miles

and he seriously expects me to allow him to stick my FRS on his rollers!

No-one's forcing you

[ianFRST]

i presume its a rs1800?

get some whole pics up of the car you fairy

[Smo]

i presume its a rs1800?

get some whole pics up of the car you fairy

the-new-runaround-1993-rs1800-vt159957/

[MotorcyclesFish]

UPDATE:

Stereo is in.

I soldered my finger. Ow.



Thanks to Simon, James and Paul for moral support, banter and some minor soldering tips.

[filtra]

Any updates? More pics? More news on remedial works?

[MotorcyclesFish]

Right, it's in for some work (I would have done it myself but I had nowhere to do the work).

The wobbliness was down to the fact that the gearbox mounts were completely shot - the box was sat on the crossmember!

It's having a waterpump, cambelt and tensioner done at the same time, so all should be good with it soon.

[Ollybee]

Pics?

[MotorcyclesFish]

Update on the update:

Car is done.

Cam timing was a tooth out. Gearbox mount bracket was loose, bellhousing bolts were loose. It's had oil and filter and a new set of leads, a new waterpump, new timing belt and new tensioner for same.

Fantastic. Just need to sort out the fact it's a bit of a minger cosmetically and it'll be a good runaround

[filtra]

Excrement news!

I fear hoonage is on the horizon.

[MotorcyclesFish]

Not fixed.

Still pulls left and steering wheel goes right on acceleration. Bad shiznay, bit dangerous tbh. Engine's a lot better now - need MAF!

[MotorcyclesFish]

Where to begin? I finally decided to splash out on some parts for Charlotte the Harlot from Harlow. A day was organised whereby one ruffian would drive me to another rogue's house whereupon I would source some spares for my ailing Fiesta. Hilarity ensued, not least for one bouffant FT'er!


Dave's House o' Bits, a noted car and baby accessory shop

With the parts sourced, the plan was formed:

1. Fix dangerous handling on left-hand corners by fitting new top mount rubbers.
2. Fix strange engine motion and car pulling by fitting new gearbox mounts.

No plan, as they say, survives the first contact intact. As soon as we returned to the house of cows to undertake some work, it became immediately apparent that two things were amiss:

1. A vast amount of methane was being expelled in the immediate vicinity, source unknown but highly suspect.
2. The fiesta's problem was a little more involved than a floppy rubber.

After making a difficult decision between an other half and me, Paul began to strip the car in the cold and rain. I'm not sure why he felt the need to do this work to my car, but I'm not about to question it. I am about to be seriously in debt favour-wise though. The discovery that the hub carrier could be wiggled by about 3mm with everything bolted up pointed far away from the top mount. Just before running out of time (said other half of Paul turned up to give him a pie and, I presume, an earbashing) the cause was discovered - the lower arm locating hole in the hub was worn oval in a bad way. However, it was too late to do anything about it this time, so Paul and I returned the car to its previous state, and Paul free issued me a hub from his extensive stock.

Today, I decided it was my turn on the spanners, so this morning I set about dismantling the female provider of 'horizontal refreshment'.


Naughty


Work begins in earnest

Also discovered on Saturday night in the wet at Paul's was that the OS inner CV gaiter wasn't so much split as daiquiri. So a new CV boot needed to be fitted. I'd driven home Saturday night with the CV joint effectively exposed to the elements, so I was relieved to find that the CV was in good condition and moved freely. Brake cleaner was liberally applied and a new boot and sachet of grease were applied.


An increasing amount of tools surrounds the Fiesta

The results of the work were as follows:


Hubs

The hub from my car (left) has a noticeable ridge visible in the picture - it is *far* worse in the flesh.


Top mounts

The top mount had also seen better days by the look of it.


The car feels a lot more solid and predictable now - I need to replace the NS top mount at some point now, but I'm just happy to have finally cured one of the two major problems thus far.

More updates will follow - I bought a few bits!

[Max M4X WW]

Cool, You can sort of bodge fit those rubbers without removing the wheel or strut when you do the other side!

[~nomad~]

good work mate, glad I could help with bits. You took both the top mounts didn't you? So its just a case of swapping the other one. Like I said yesterday, its clearly a bit sheddy but they are easy cars to get bits from, so its just a case of swapping all the shonk for good bits

[MotorcyclesFish]

good work mate, glad I could help with bits. You took both the top mounts didn't you? So its just a case of swapping the other one. Like I said yesterday, its clearly a bit sheddy but they are easy cars to get bits from, so its just a case of swapping all the shonk for good bits

Yeah I had them both away - the one I fitted today was my new genny ford one though. I might keep yours as reserve ones, or ebay them as Fiesta Cosworth items for £300 the pair.

Oh, I also debadged the boot, as the badges were in the wrong place and they're not that nice to start with.

[filtra]

Ooof - so much ft commeradery *warm and glowy feel*.

Good work motorcyclesfish - I really do understand the pains and problems of unscrewing crusty and rusty s**t off.

[MotorcyclesFish]

UPDATE:

Fitted diesel gearbox mounts today and took the chrome bumper strips off - I'm actually in two minds as to whether that was a good idea or not - I hated them at first but they did start to grow on me...

Pics to follow.

[~nomad~]

i dont mind those chrome strips. my mates had em (same colour) and they looked ok. Mounts go on okay in the end? I was in the procewss of fitting 18s to the A4 at the time, it looks well phat innit now.

[Tweek]

Keep the chrome strips, breaks the colour up a bit

[MotorcyclesFish]

Someone tried to put a Nissan Cabstar in the boot.

I need a new tailgate.

[heeman10]

[Excursion]

Hubs

Are you talking about the ridge in the ball joint recess?

[MotorcyclesFish]

Yes. The ridge is the original diameter of the ball joint hole. The major diameter either side is actually worn oval. You could bloody tell too - on a left hand corner, the slightest application of power would cause the whole car to lurch left and try and throw you into the inside kerb.

[Excursion]

haha, someone re-used the pinch bolts at some point!

[~S1~]

haha, someone re-used the pinch bolts at some point!

I think its worse than that, I reckon at some point someone put the lower balljoint in with the pinchbolt already fitted, meaning it didnt go all the way. The bottom half of the hub was proper worn!! The pinchbolt was actually a fairly new item.

[Excursion]

haha, someone re-used the pinch bolts at some point!

I think its worse than that, I reckon at some point someone put the lower balljoint in with the pinchbolt already fitted, meaning it didnt go all the way. The bottom half of the hub was proper worn!! The pinchbolt was actually a fairly new item.

They pop out on the first corner if you do that, and as the wheel collapses backwards it takes out most iof the front wing. Been there - I left the nut off the pinch bolt on my first mk3 at 17

I've seen these worn hubs twice now - when the bolt is loose the joint is free to move and wears the relatively soft cast hub in no time.

[MotorcyclesFish]

haha, someone re-used the pinch bolts at some point!

I think its worse than that, I reckon at some point someone put the lower balljoint in with the pinchbolt already fitted, meaning it didnt go all the way. The bottom half of the hub was proper worn!! The pinchbolt was actually a fairly new item.

They pop out on the first corner if you do that, and as the wheel collapses backwards it takes out most iof the front wing. Been there - I left the nut off the pinch bolt on my first mk3 at 17

I've seen these worn hubs twice now - when the bolt is loose the joint is free to move and wears the relatively soft cast hub in no time.

I suspect your conclusion is correct - the garage who did a bit of the initial MOT work for me (no time coupled with an attack of the ghey) mentioned the pinch bolt was gash at best.

[MotorcyclesFish]

Update.

Negative
I've done some investigating and some very minor repairs, but I've discovered the suspension is basically far from good and have decided to replace the entire setup with either a Spax type lowered MacPherson strut arrangement or change to a coilover setup. I've also discovered a puncture in the sidewall of my almost brand new Yokohama S-drive, along with that wheel being bent - 120g of weight to balance radially and still causing vibration due to axial displacement of one half of the wheel.

Also discovered are a spare wheel with a nissan specific fitment, now scrapped, a spare wheel carrier bolt plate held on with one rivet and some small stones and cardboard segments to lift it into tension and door speakers that don't clear the windows. Bodgery all round.

Positive
The uninsured driver responsible for parking the van in the boot lid of my car has paid up in full. An absolute touch and about as probable as S1 being sober on a friday night.

I have replaced my NS door bin with a, correct, black item. I have fitted a mk3.5 mirror to the damaged NS door as the mk3 mirror was not functioning unless I fancied looking at the tarmac passing from under my NSF wheel. I have attached correctly the above mentioned spare wheel carrier retaining bolt plate. I have refitted the spacers required to make the wheels clear the struts more effectively (and clear them full stop in the case of the bent NSR wheel).


I need to source a standard or delocked+dewipered (but not de-plated) tailgate, said suspension and a Phase 1 mk5 ZS alloy.

Pics:


Bubbles indicating the change of function from tyre to doorstop. Note kerbing, present on the wheel since before I purchased the car.


NSR strut with tyre contact witness mark.


Car is a mk3 (no door reinforcement, no PAS) but doors are mk3.