McCloud 85

Having started the restoration around 4-5 months ago, I thought for those interested I would create a thread to show how I was getting on.

I have had the car for nearly 11 years now and during that time I've been through many stages with it, including 5 years with a fiesta rs engine producing around 190bhp (can't remember the exact figure now) and recently about 3 years ago with the focus rs engine - after rounding off the cam lobes on the CVH.

Some of you may have seen the car, it was featured in Performance Ford about 2 years ago these were some of the photos taken of it:







The car has been off the road now for nearly 2 years due to finding some rot a lot worse than I thought, needing some upgrades and needing a better place to work on the car. So first up was to move house (drastic I know) but I finally wanted somewhere at home I could work on the car and not have to rely on my parents falling down outbuildings!

So a year ago now I moved and had this at home:



I will show the refurbishment of the workshop in another thread but in the end it looked like this:







This took a couple of months to get the inside sorted, and is far better than what we had. As you can see the car is looking a little sorry for itself and this is the state it has been left in for too long now!

The puma you see belongs to my brother which also has the focus rs engine, he is currently upgrading to the RS MTX gearbox as he blew his hybrid IB5 box to bits. Something that I will eventually get to with this build.

So there you have the car as it stood about 4-5 months ago, progress has been slow but I will post where I am up to now over the next day or so.

Any comments welcome good or bad. Having had the car so long I have a lot of ideas of what I would like to achieve with it and where I want it to be but more will always help.. Or take me longer!

Thanks for looking.

Dan

justin st13

Looks like a sleeper bar the front mount. Never seen this done before. Be Intresting to watch this thread

Lee Grout

I like the look of what it was and like that you want to bring it back to life.
What does the project require then? Bar the rot repairs, and where to you want to be with it come the end?
Hope all goes well and I'll keep logged in to your updates.

DavebST170

Bet this is fun, can't wait to see how u bring it back to life.

McCloud 85

The rot repairs are mainly both sills, one was worse than the other. Once they are done, I want to re-frame the front end to gain more space.

When the car was on the hub dyno last we found quite a number of in-efficiencies with the setup - boost pipe size, intercooler, cooling, air filter placement and more. Although it produced reasonable power (215bhp at the hubs) there was more to be gained by simply improving these aspects, so I want to re-design all of this.

There was then the incident with my brothers gearbox that made me doubt how long mine would last - so on the cards this time around will be a gearbox swap to the RS MTX box. This means that I'm going to re mount the engine as well to how it sits in the focus which is slightly tipped forward. Hopefully by doing this I will gain more clearance which will allow the bonnet to sit flat.

This just touches on what else I would like to do - the biggest change to the rest of the car will be the interior, I'm looking at fitting a roll cage to improve safety and handling. This will follow the bucket seats that were already test fitted just before I took it off the road.

So with all this the car has been completely stripped - photos follow.

Many Thanks

McCloud 85

So as promised start of the restoration:

The car was sat in place in the workshop put on axle stands and the engine and gearbox lowered out:



The mount used for the engine was an adapted CVH item, this caused some rocking when on the hub dyno which I didn't like, so with the new MTX box to go in it was decided to do away with this mount and move across to something similar to the focus mount. But in fitting this mount certain bits of the original mount and cam cover were cut away so this was all replaced (at great expense from ford) and the engine timed back up



Nice and clean - though it's only been 5k or so since it was built!



One empty-ish engine bay, here you can see the existing fabrication work at the front from the build a few years back. I now want to remove this and fabricate a completely bolt on front end, hopefully with more space



Inside getting stripped




The car completely stripped



Many Thanks

Dan

JWFORD

Cool project mate will keep an eye on this looks very cool. Good to see you getting enthusiasm back!!

robp-tt

iTrader: (1)

Cool project.keep on looking at turboing a ka next.will be watching this build

McCloud 85

Thanks for the replies.

Few more of the car just before the engine was taken out that I found:








The IB5 box and rally mounts that are all due to be replaced



The CVH style mount that was used for the original conversion



The following will show why I have had to make the decision to take an all or nothing approach.. It was either repair properly once and for all or make a change

The sills...





Where I had cut a test patch to see how bad before starting:








These photos of the sills were taken nearly 2 years ago now when I was going to start on some upgrade works. I knew they needed attention but wasn't until I got the screwdriver out that I realised how bad I had let them go. This is what made me realise if I wanted to repair and keep the car I needed a better environment to work in and spend some serious amounts of time on it..

More to follow!

t3 dan

iTrader: (2)

wow shocked at the sills

wattie

Just find another shell dude ka's can be had for pennies

xr2john

good point but then it wouldn't be the same car anymore and it probably holds a lot of sentimental value to it having owned it for so long

McCloud 85

Yes you can imagine my face when I saw them!!

This is true and that's exactly what I started looking for. But the cheap Ka's or bare shell's I came across seem to all have some form of rot issues if not the sills it would be the filler cap or quarter panels, arches etc. With the money I would spend on a new shell and then have to prep and protect ready for the rebuild I could spend on this one and repair it completely. Mine has only suffered around the sills... Everywhere else is rust free that I've found!

Exactly.. This was the main reason for repairing it. It's my first car.. First one I drove after passing my test.. Some 11 years now!!


Thanks

McCloud 85

Right further progress:

Excuse the pic quality of the next few, I stupidly left a plastic film over the lens! A spit was bought to get much better access to the sills:



Upside down:



Drivers side to start with - this is towards the rear arch



'Small' blister by the rear beam mount



Sill





First sheet over the rear beam mount exposed





Area treated with Dinitrol RC800



Template made



Cut and laid in



Welded in



Flatted back



Primed for a bit of protection



More to follow

Thanks

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Bloody fords and rust lol.Your doing a top job there.I like little cars like this with daft engines in them.

jammy86

Good work mate! Glad to see another old timer pulling an old one back to shape. I've made the decision to let someone rape me for all my lifes savings and do the panel work as I could take the work on but I've got no experiance and want it done before 2020! I agree that all Kas rust so you're aswell fixing the one you've got... then I found out how much it was going to cost... and still are going ahead with it!

rsmark86

iTrader: (3)

i remember reading the original thread when you built the bolt on front end, wicked car, will be nice to see it finished again

good luck and look forward to the updates

Hobomassiv

YES YES YES - Glad you are keeping it!

I came with my mate Craig up to one of the shows a few years ago with you and your brother, so wierd being a in a convoy of fast Ka's!

I have one of my very own now being put back together.

Brian

iTrader: (2)

Great project


Brian

McCloud 85

Jammy86 - I know what you mean, I would probably be looking at thousands to put this all right and have it all painted again by a body shop - I'm lucky I have a friend who is a painter and can give me reasonable rates!

Hobomassiv - That must have been one of the last shows the car went to either ford fair or trax that year! Guessing by your sig you have 'PUKKA' Ka now? Remember seeing this car in 2004.. That amongst others gave me the idea to do the rs turbo conversion I had originally. It's a nice car do you have any recent pics of it?

Many thanks for all the comments - giving me the reassurance that I've made the right decision!

Will update shortly.

McCloud 85

And so onto the next bit:

Starting to cut the rot out:









Small blister turns into another story similar to the rear beam mount!




That's it for now - need to upload more to photo bucket.

justin st13

Looking good, nice to see you haven't scrappe the shell and got another one. Love reading these types of threads.

DavebST170

Your getting on well with it, keep the updates coming

jam53ice

envious !! I want that garage haha, Just needs a two post ramp haha.

Your welding is great, Top work

McCloud 85

Thanks for the comments guys.

Jam53ice - I do want a ramp but I don't think I have the height.. On the spit at the moment the car only clears the roof by about half a metre when turning!

More to come.

Hobomassiv

Its as it was before except ive had the morettes off for standard headlights and inside ive taken out the buckets/harnesses for normal sportka interior. Basically freshening it up , had the engine rebuilt with a fresh crank, rings, blah blah and also had both the sills done. Putting it back together still.

jammy86

Certainly thousands is going to be correct I'm replacing both sides completely as well as some rear chassis leg repair and a new rear and possibly front pannel...

I stripped all the seam sealer out of mine to find any more nastys and looking at your rot I would advise that you do the front seam inside the car, from where the gussets join to the front bulkhead along up over the tunnel. I found the water had walked along under the sealer right to the middle! I also found this to be true of the top most seam under the flat bit where the window wiper and HVAC bolt. On this one it looked like the rust started from the fabled wiring gromets and walked along. I found mostly surface rust here but it would be best for you to find it now!

McCloud 85

Hobomassiv - it's good to hear your giving it the time and money it needs. Sounds like its going to be as nice of an example as I remember it to be. Top work!

Jammy86 - yes the seam sealer has a habit of hiding the bad bits - my floor looked good from the inside but when I stripped the sealer back the lip had gone through in many places.. Gutted to say the least! I'll take that on board, I am going to be taking all the seam sealer and waxoyl off the underside but will now look at those seams at the front... I know there are patches under the lip of the bulkhead in the engine bay so I'm expecting some repair work there. Looking at your pics again you've got your work cut out! I know how much time it takes to get it all cut out and repaired. Good luck!

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

More rust ahhhhh.

McCloud 85

Yes not the best.. But like yourself I'm hoping the other side isn't as bad!!

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Yeh fingers crossed for both you and myself lol.

mattyd38

I remember this project fondly, good luck in getting it sorted!

SMILER258

+1 I remember this car from the feature, couldn't stop looking at it. Loving the work so far, we all hate rust haha. Good luck with the rest of the rebuild. I await updates

wide ka

cannot see the pics but nice to hear you still have your ka.

mine long gone, still miss it though!

bencossie

the pics not coming up

McCloud 85

Sorry guys, it's all sorted now. Didn't realise it was happening as my email address on photo bucket was years out of date. Should be all good for the rest of the build!

Thanks

JWFORD

Got to love a rotten ka lol doing well mate keep updates coming...why other plans you got for the car?

McCloud 85

Yes don't you just, keeps you busy that's for sure!

Well once the rot is sorted, I want to redesign the front end and improve every part of the engine bay, so much so I think the only part that will mainly be the same is the engine! I'm itching to get started on this but have to keep going on the boring part of rust repair and underside restoration!

Thinking of a more track focused interior too.

Thanks for looking.

McCloud 85

Right more progress made

Areas treated with Dinitrol RC800:





New template made, cut and welded in ready to be trimmed and flatted back:



Small repair made to inner sill panel:



Front lower arm housing mount patch - template made, cut, trimmed and treated:



Welded in:



Flatted back:



End of the sill beneath the front wing repaired and flatted back:



Let me know your thoughts.

More to follow.

Thanks

mattyd38

good progress, keep it coming.

cant wait to see the work on the front end, the new engine mount and gearbox.

learnt loads when you built this, hope to learn loads more!