Originally Posted by fast_ford_uk
Did you win the fight?
I've felt the same. The day I got mine the spring jumped out of the back of the clutch pedal - cannot engage gear - thought i'd wasted all my money. But it was a simple fix really, just a patience task. (Now have ap modified pedal so no worries with that gremlin.)
Then the (bodged in by the previous owner) rad shifed back and hit the turbo, splitting it. Got a genuine ford replacement from a local motor factors for £50 cash. Lovely I thought, put it in, filled with coolant, turned engine on and its pissing out again. split down the middle. Great I thought, as anyone who's done a rad on these knows, its a pain in the arse. But got it repaired and pressure tested for £20 and its now as good as new.
I'm sure at one time or another most rst owners have suffered breakdowns or really annoying problems and want to kick the shit out of the car. I've had other problems like the two above, but persevere.
For me its ALL worth it when you go for a good blast on an empty road or race some tosser (on a private road of course) in a 330 convertable bmw who's been pointing at your car, and annihilating him.
At the end of the day, they are all 15 years at least old, and you would expect some problems with any vehicle of a similar vintage and performance.
I can't make you keep it, but I'm sure you'd miss it if you did flog it on.