Got myself a cheap (£850) ST170 a couple of weeks back. Needed a fair bit doing (including cambelt and water pump changing, rear springs etc) but wheels were rough as anything and looked awful. It also had a dodgy red paint job on the calipers.

Before pic:



Having done all the mechanical stuff I couldn't afford to get original or decent alloys so I've done a DIY job using liquid metal, acid etch primer and good old Satin Black. I've also done the calipers in black so it all looks a bit more stealthy.

Quite happy with how it's turned out.

After pics:

 

Did the lad who own this live in Trimdon??

There a quick car these.

 

Not sure as the guy I bought it from was working out of a unit in South Hetton. May have been in Trimdon before that though.

 

Im sure a lad who worked for the same company as me owned this car. I can clearly remember he had a black ST170 with a set of wheels on it like these. The lad who I owned it used to be a tow bar fitter.

 

I'd change the wheels as soon as you can, they are really letting down what doesn't look like a bad car, just a cheap set of standard 170 alloys of eBay would transform the appearance .

 

Oh, absolutely. If the repairs hadn't cost as much they would have been already. They will be done in the next few months I think. Mind you, I am actually quite pleased with the DIY refurbish.

 

What repairs have you done to it. My mate has a ST170. he is having problems with the engine light staying on. Its had new lambda sensors, we cleaned and greased the imrc and the light has come back on.

 

It needed cambelt and water pump changing, new front discs and pads, brake lines, arb, rear springs (about £950 all in). Also my engine light has just come on this morn even though car is running fine. Hope it's something minor following it's service last week. In for a diagnostic check on Monday

 

I've just had a look around the engine due to engine light being on to see if I can see anything obvious. Car still seems to be running OK.

I saw this



Any ideas what it is and where it should go? Also, it is the cause of the engine light being on?

 

Any leaks from the thermostat housing? they usually like to crack.

 

I would say no my wifes 2.0 focus has that same sensor cable tied to the battery cover.

 

Not saying it is but that looks a bit like an inductive proximity switch that is usually used for counting the number of rotations of a specific part????????

 

That's the engine bay temperature sensor, My Mk 1 focus has that and its clipped onto the battery case.

 

reckon you need to get some silver multispokes back on there as those wheels and colour do nothing for the car at all as black on black does not suit that car

 

That sensor is normal matey.

 

Yeah, found it isn't anything out of the ordinary. However, disconnected the battery and engine light went off and hasn't come back on yet. Mind you it's only been on a 30 min drive!

Hope it stays off but will no doubt return at some point I'm sure.

I'm not sure I agree about the black alloys - I think the black on black looks fine (it is an improvement on how they looked when I got the car) but I will admit it would look a lot better with the original alloys on!

 

Hopefully the mil light stays off.

 

Just thought I'd update this thread. I've had the car for a approx 15 months and apart from the initial costs, IMRC fault and a tyre it has been trouble free.

In total it's probably cost £2000 but apart from the initial costs (many of which were service costs when I first bought it) it's been over a year of trouble free motoring and hopefully another year to come. Not bad considering the initial price and the fact I could probably sell it for close to £1000.

It's not the fastest car in he world but it's quick enough and pretty good fun when you want to push on. In fact it an keep up (and better) with most cars in real world driving.

Also, Glenn - I think this may have been owned by the guy you know as it had a towbar fitted previously. I'd be interested in knowing any history about the car if you know It?

 

Lol ive just asked in the other thread about where you live. I forgot all about this post.