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"OH... MY... GOD...!!! EIGHTEENS??!!"
This is typical of the reaction from people when they see the numbers on the sidewall of Adrian's Falkens. The guy can't believe his eyes. "But it's so low!" Adrian just smiles and replies.
"They just went straight on after I took the 17"s off"
"really?"
"Not quite, I had to tweak
a few other bits as well, I'm not saying what though, 'cos then everyone
will be at it!" he laughs.
"It did help that the arches had already been massively modded for the 7.5 x
17" the car used to run." A lot of you will recognise the car from previous
mag features, The Revs Fiesta track day and also the fiestaturbo.com website
which Adrian runs. The 18" Italia RSR's sit tightly under the cars modified
arches and rubber-band like 215/35 Falken FK451s separate the rims from the
tarmac by less than an inch. The Spax RSX coilovers have been wound down for
a 75mm drop, leaving the top of the tyres tucked inside with no gap.
"I bought the car already heavily modified, from Steve Smith" Adrian
explains, "I first saw it in a Ford mag back in 98, and I fell in love with
it then. I had an XR2i at the time and what Steve had done to the car was
pretty much what I wanted to do to mine" Adrian had the XR for a year before
the lure of a turbo became to great. Initially looking for a standard car
and with £7k to spend he began his search. "I'd just missed out on an
absolute minter and just when I thinking there were no decent ones anywhere
I spotted Steve's in the back of a mag. I knew I had to have it but the ad
had £call and I knew it would be expensive. Despite wanting a standard one
it made a lot of sense as the mods Steve had done were ones I would do
anyway."
After a bit of haggling and sorting out nightmare insurance the car was
sitting on Adrian's drive. "The weekend I got it I just drove round with
this huge grin" he recalls "I'd never driven a turbo car before and the
noises it made were fantastic".
Adrian knew exactly what he wanted to do with the car and what bits would
stay and what would be replaced. The plan was to go for maximum visual
impact and make it his own but still retain it's identity as one of the most
famous Fiestas on the planet. "I wanted to combine some of the best Fiesta
mods already seen, like the Mondeo spoiler and plate in the rear bumper with
some new stuff that no-one had done before.
Almost immediatley the standard rear lights were swapped for a set of clears
and the green colour coded interior parts were binned and replaced with new
bits painted white. A Momo wheel and gearknob replaced the Nardia items.
"Most of the parts were a few years old and starting to show their age,
although there were no major faults on the car, just niggling little things
like kerb marks on the rims and the odd scratch here and there".
The mods continued, flush tailgate, Samco hoses, Spax Coilovers, Mocal alloy
fuel cap. The biggest change from when Steve had the car is the interior.
"Another bonus buying this car was that it already had the 1992 spec black
interior rather than the standard naff grey. The Recaros were retrimmed in
leather and although very nice, weren't to my taste", Adrian explains "I
decided to sell the seats and go for a race look" Out came the Recaros and
rear bench and in their place now sit a pair of fixed back Sparco Evo
buckets and 6 point harnesses anchored to the one-off Rollcentre cage. The
rear seats and parcel shelf have gone, with the boot floor and seating area
now covered in black carpet. "I wanted to go one better than most people so
I got the proper 3" FIA harnesses with the QR realease, the cage is FISA
approved as well so it's not totally for show, it fits very close to the
bodywork and the original rear quarter panel trims would no longer fit. I
came across these plastic trims from a Fiesta van and they are perfect for
the job". The race theme continues with checker plate on the embroidered
floor mats and a trio of Auto Meter gauges are on order. The final touch
will be the the Armtech sequential shift lights planned, which illuminate at
a preset point in the rev range to signal the optimum shift point. Unlike
most race interiors Adrian has kept ICE in the car, "I'm well into my tunes,
so I had to keep some in but it was a fine line between a system that would
give a good sound and one that would weigh the car down too much. The
speakers run off the head unit and I've not bothered with any subs, although
I am tempted to get a removable box at some stage. Those door builds were
too good to loose as well."
The door builds in question were fabricated by Safe & Sound in Manchester.
They are moulded in fibreglass and covered in the same black vinyl as the
door cards, and as a result look almost factory. 6.5" MB Quart's bump away
to Alpha Breed's "Epic Future" while a pair of kick builds sit in the foot
wells, dealing with the midrage through 5.5" MBs. The crossovers are located
behind the kicks and the tweeters mounted on the mirror bases. The whole lot
runs off the Pioneer 8000r CD headunit, complete with funky satellite and
cityscape OEL animations. A multichanger is on the shopping list but in the
meantime a CD wallet houses volumes 1-5 of the Dutch 'In Trance We Trust'
CDs, with Reactivate 16 and 17 also making an appearance.
The front of the car hasn't changed much since it was bought, with the
addition of a Laguna splitter to add some depth under the MCR item. A
complete frontend makeover is due soon, new lights, bonnet, bumper and a
couple of top secret tweaks that will be reavealed as and when. Popping the
bonnet reaveals an expanse of chrome. Rocker cover, inlet manifold, crossover
pipe, hinges, it's everywhere. Contrasting the shiny stuff is a full set of
blue Samco hoses, with additional water and vaccum piping in matching
silicon.
The rear bumper is the result of a fair few weekends of Adrian's handywork.
It's the original RST item with the green stripe removed and the number
plate flushed in. The swage lines and towhook have also been filled and the
plate light has been shaved and filled and a couple of mk4 items are set
into the top of the pod. The next step is to move the exhust cutout into the
centre and lengthen it to accomodate a 12"x4" Carisma centre exit box which
is will be mated to a the current Magnex centre section and downpipe.
The engine is fairly untouched, with the exception of the exhaust, Adrian
has not tuned it at all. "I've left the engine as it is for now. I have been
speccing up a 2.1 Zetec to go in this winter, and I saw little point in
throwing money at an engine that will be coming out, I prefer to spend the
money elsewhere on the car." The 2.1 will be based on the Series 3 2.0 16v
Zetec from the Focus, and will have a hybrid T3 turbo for around 250bhp.
Adrian has no plans to sell up either "I'm nowhere near finished yet, before
the engine I want to get it resprayed and seam welded then a set of 330mm
front discs and Cossie calipers, rear disc conversion too. After that I
fancy going back to leather Recaros and having a nice boot install, TV, DVD
PSX2..." Drop us a mail when you get the 19"s on then!
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