Ahh, a useful update finally. After my girlfriends E30 had a mishap with a tree on her first drift day I have spent most of my time sorting that out or working on the house. I have now (with lots of help) had the BMW repaired and also made my driveway bigger by digging up a rockery creating 2 extra parking spaces!
From this:
To this:
To this:
Still some to do but she can handle it herself. Plus both of us can now weld! Poorly, but practice makes perfect.
So on with the fiesta:
A Mk1 fiesta was advertised locally for sale. A bare shell (with parts to rebuild) on a farm. Had some welding done but had been in primer in a drafty barn for atleast 5 years. I went over to view it and it wasn't as good as the picture made out to be. Just the sides and engine bay were primered. But they all needed work doing. The whole car had new rust bubbles on it. It was repairable, but if I'm honest, I didnt want another project. I wanted parts. Mainly a roof skin. Anything else would be a bonus at the moment as I havegenuine new parts ready to go on the rest of it.
Very misleading image I got:
I was all prepared to drive to london/manchester and buy a roof skin I heard was advertised and drive it to hereford where my shell is. But this has worked out roughly the same cost and a lot more local. The bonus of this car is some spare parts and the rest of the shell. The situation now is to get it home (tonight) and then in a week or so (when I get a tow car for a day), bring it up to Hereford and it can be used to pick from for my shell. So any sections that mine needs, should be available on this car.
It's an X reg 1.1 shell, last on the road in 2003. With 2 doors, bootlid, spotlamps, 3 headlights and a variety of tail lights. has a dashboard, complete loom, hubs, driveshafts and front suspension. None of the drivetrain is really useful to me as I have a 1600+ crossflow engine that uses different everything but it would be useful to sell on to people who need it.
The guy also has a G reg RX-7 laid up and a '73 beetle that's eben there 10 years. Anyone interested?
Parts wise:
I sent the engine off to Hamlins in Bridgwater, Somerset. Mark the manager showed me around and was very supportive about what I wanted/didnt want from them. I still want to be hands on with the engine, but I dont want to miss an upgrade oppourtunity or damage something so guidance and advice from popular, well liked professionals is ace.
The stuff I sent off to a friend of a friend to have powdercoated hasnt come back. Partly because I wasnt about last time he was in the area. So end of this month we have a date set. I have no idea what to expect but we'll see.
I have also bought some replacement parts, new bearings, recon'd hubs, Mk2 XR2 driveshafts (rebuilt), a few repair panels and an S2 RST escort gearbox with LSD.
The S1 gearbox is popular as the LSD can be fitted to a 4 speed BC XR2 gearbox directly giving some closer ratio's and grip. The S2 LSD cant be swapped into 4 speed box, but can be changed for Quaife LSDs more easily. I used to have a ATB LSD from Quaife in a Mk5 1.7 fiesta and it was fantastic. Would deffo upgrade to one again. I am happy to stick with the 5 speed RST LSD gearbox as it is a direct bolt on unit to the crossflow. It has been rebuilt but I will open it up for inspection. The 4 speed would be good but in reality, 5 speed is going to be fine day to day. If i'm honest I would like to have 1.7 Puma (or racing puma) internals fitted. I can also use a IB5 puma gearbox and fit the S2 LSD into this box if I wish. So a few options for the future.
This weekend is Japfest and Fiesta In The Park. I'll have a look if I can get any useful parts while i'm at the latter.
The car itself is progressing. Shotblasting is due next weekend and I hope to have the spares shell dropped up before then anyway just for a quick look a progress. I am not expecting much but maybe the front panel and wings would be on, or atleast the old ones removed by then.
Once the donor shell has been picked from, it'll be brought back home and cut up for spares for other owners (there is alot that people need that cant be bought as new repair sections). On my return from the bodyshop I will also have my rear beam and the last bits of the car I removed that I cudnt bring down last time. This stuff I can continue to clean up while I wait for the shell itself back.
Will ring Hamlins about my engine on Friday and have a word with them about its future.
I would still like to make it to Ford Fair in the Fiesta at the end of the show season. This would mean a lot to me.