Sorry for yet another ST170 thread

As I have said in many threads I bought a ST170 a couple of years ago, it was a 3dr in grey and it was terrible, such a disappointment and I did not like it at all so sold it on as soon as I could!! well surprise surprise I have gone out and bought another one.

Its a 3dr in black, no m.o.t or wheels and advertised as "spares or repair" and to be quite honest any sane person would probably break it for parts, but not me, I intend to try and get it on the road again.

You may be asking why? well, the puma is not as practical as I need at the moment, I fancy going to some shows, may need a spare track car and to be honest I want to know if they are all as bad as I think they are.

This is what £400 gets you, a total bag of sh1** with a bit of hope

 

really is the wheels that make them.

Looks like a good project, bit of polish and it will look like a decent car again

 

If the engine is in relatively good nick you should be fine. I've had mine for three weeks now and love it. Mine corners amazing well for a tall old 5 dr hatch!

 

Seems like a worthy project good luck.

 

At the moment I only have 2 ST wheels and have not decided whether to buy 2 more, fit the RS wheels that I have on my other focus or do something different.
Its going to need more than a polish to make this turd decent. Took the seats out and this is what I had to deal with so will be spending most of the week cleaning the inside.
Other problems found so far are doors that only open from the inside and the exhaust is swinging quite free.

 

Atleast your gonna save it. These ST17Os are getting to that age where they are starting to rust everywhere.

 

OMG look at that mess although I bet the after photo looks amazing which is part of the fun. I'm considering RS wheels for mine, or some light weight 16", but I'm unsure of the benefits really.

 

Well I am going to try but yes the tin worms have been busy, the front passenger wing is beyond saving both rear wheel arches are rotten and the sills etc were there once.

The RS wheels are 8 inches wide so could help traction and the 16 inch wheels could change the gearing but I think in the real world its probably more about looks or the price of tyres or in my case what you have around.
I have almost finished cleaning and presentable is good enough for me.

I did book an m.o.t for tomorrow so over the weekend thought I would check the brakes, glad I did the fronts were gone but I had some good used ones so they are now fitted, having a right nightmare with the rears though so have had to cancel the test.

 

That's a little worn down, and yes my rear calipers have been repaired before, they can be a right pain.

 

They got there moneys worth out of them.

 

Hello again, the good news is that after 2 weeks I have finally got it off the trailer.

I bought new rear callipers, discs and pads but you have to reuse the frame that bolts to the hub, trouble was I could not get the bolts out. Ended up cutting them off and buying a used pair of callipers to get the parts required. Also found the handbrake cables needed replacing which should be an easy job but wasn't.

The exhaust mounts had rusted and were no longer attached so cut off the old exhaust and replaced it with a new Direnza stainless steel one.

On starting the engine to get the car off the trailer it was running really rough so started at the beginning with the air filter which needed replacing long ago then took out the spark plugs, luckily I had a spare set and now the engine is much happier.

Also finally finished cleaning and decided to fit the rear leather seats that I had in the shed

A busy weekend but it should now be safe enough to drive it to the m.o.t test

 

blimey you dont half pick em , good luck with it all

 

That looks seriously neglected,I bought a car like that once,should have ran a mile when I seen the ashtrays were overflowing with fag ends and ash.
Was nothing but trouble and totally unreliable.
Good luck with yours,hope it's not a total turd.

 

Thanks, as you have said buy cheap and get issues but you can also pay lots and still get them. My thought was if the car is bad I can break it or reuse the parts so I would not loose too much money, even now the rear brakes could go on my other focus. The only gamble so far has been the exhaust, I did think about taking the one of my other car but in the end that was going to be too much work so bought another one.

m.o.t test booked in for Thursday morning, I know its going to fail the question is by how much? My friend took his VW T2 camper van in last week and came away with 2 sheets of failures (30 items) so as long as its better then that I will be happy. Guess who has to fix said VW? yes me.

 

just a quick update, car failed test as expected but not as bad as it could have been.

Failed on:

track rod ends
position lights
windscreen
emissions
corrosion on o/s outer sill

 

VWs.... overated imo.

At least yours hasnt failed on much.

 

That's had a hard life. It's highly satisfying resurrecting a car that's passed it's best. Good job.

 

Are the emissions due to a bad cat ? or does it just need a service ? i.e oil, plugs, filters etc

 

Sorry should have updated this a week ago, better late than never

Slowly started sorting out the fails. The track rod ends put up a fight but patience, wd40 and a big hammer sorted them out. I have 4 spare headlights around so thought I would be able to find 2 working side light bulbs, WRONG, had to buy 2 new ones. The windscreen has been replaced and the welding was done at the garage that did the test, that just leaves the emissions.

The tester thought the cat had seen better days and the over braid on the flexi section was rattling around, no chance of separating the two anyway so new ones were purchased. When I went to fit them I noticed the front lambda sensor was bent and the rear one had been rubbing on the drive shaft and on fitting the new parts the rear sensor was still up against the shaft. It looks easy to hit the exhaust manifold on speed humps etc. which if they are hot enough would cause them to bend, not wanting to risk buying a used item I ended up going for a stainless 4 into 1. Found a couple of sensors and it all fits correctly now but a couple of fault codes have not gone away, the good news is that with new oil and filters it passed the test with no problem.

Sorting out the wheels and tyres is now a priority before the car hits the road

 

Nice exhaust Mate, looks expensive

What are the codes you are getting? Do you have access to an ELM and software?

Have you decided which wheels to go for yet?

 

Hi, the manifold was £120 cat £90 flexi £35 Direnza stainless exhaust £253 giving a grand total of £498
Think I have made up my mind on wheels, bought some new tyres online which arrived a few days ago just need to get them fitted, if all works out should be sorted early next week,
yes able to read the codes and will need to again to find out what they are but that can wait!!


Think the ST interior is a bit dull so have fitted the door cards, steering wheel and front seats from the RS. I do have the RS rear seats but have left the standard all leather seats in place, and I did remember to fit the hinge caps after I took the pics.

 

Looking good Mate Especially like the wheel, you don't come across them in that good nick very often

I'm living with the ST cards, bit dull, but as a result it doesn't really show up that they're wrong

 

Oh that all looks good, a definite step in the right direction.

 

Hi, the blue on the steering wheel has been repainted and is not something you would put in a genuine RS which made it cheaper and ok for me. The interior was also a good price as the drivers seat is damaged but was still an 8 hour round trip to collect.

Spent a couple of hours this morning getting tyres fitted and the tracking adjusted, the car now has a set of Ronal mp3's with Toyo proxes T1-R tyres, centre caps will be fitted soon (I forgot them) also I have removed the ST badge from the rear of the car and it is now being used as a key ring. Next on the plan is the front wing, give it a wash and drive it, up to now I have only driven it to the garage and back 3 miles total maybe.

 

Wheels look good Mate, might be worth buying a set just to get some legal tyres cheap

Cracking idea with the badge too, mines all faded anyway

What are you doing about the airbag light ?

Is that a factory spoiler ? Looks bigger than mine and I know they did a rare bigger one

 

spoiler looks standard to me and the only other option was the spoiler from the frs but you need the light unit to fit that, so not rare at all fella

 

I've used Toyo proxes T1-R's on a few of my old cars, nice choice. I like the rims

 

As 1PD said the spoiler would be a standard one, probably just the photo angle.
Will look at the airbag light sometime soon but was hoping you get the answer first.
Not sure what you mean about the wheels but in the end I had a choice of buying a set of ST wheels with unknown tyres or using the mp3's that I had and fitting new tyres to them, thinking of painting the wheels green at the moment.

 

Sorry Mate, wasn't insulting the wheels, just thought they looked good, and there are a few sets going on the bay at the mo. I need some tyres so thought it might be an option for me. Silly idea really, like you say, don't know what you're getting. Not sure about green though

Still playing with the airbag stuff, so I'll keep you posted....

 

For the faded badge you could always get some red gloss model paint and touch it up, I did mine (very carefully!) And you'd never know! Haha

 

Fixed the air bag light Mate. Bought a new module from a non air bag car, whacked it in, cleared the codes, and no lights

Cost, 8.79 shekels

 

Still going Mate?, missing your thread

 

Car was pulled out of storage and put on the road at the beginning of June but due to me working abroad (Seville Spain) and having a holiday (Ringwood England) I have not been using or working on it. Although after putting another battery in it I went for a drive last Sunday and did around 80 miles, think the clutch is slipping quite badly. Only had to use it to get to work for 1 day then it was back to Spain for me

At least my fuel economy is better than yours as I have not put any in it for 2 months

Still have big plans: want to get the engine and gearbox in one of the escorts, finish the turbo conversion on the other focus, do some bodywork on the puma and sort out the st170 but its all going to have to wait for a bit until I am back in the UK

Cheers

 

Busy man Mate Should have given me a shout when you were in Ringwood, it's only 10 minutes down the road

Enjoy sunny Spain

 

Back again

What started as 3 weeks working in Spain turned into 8 hence the car has not been used much and no work was able to be done on it, but that's all about to change. Able to use the wife's car for a couple of weeks which gives me a good opportunity.

So over the weekend I have managed to remove the front wing, front suspension and the gearbox. During the coming week after work I hope to change the clutch and start putting it all back together again. Note picture was taken half way before the driveshaft's and gearbox came out.

 

I've often wondered what the screen wash bottle looked like, cheers

 

Your welcome, the only way to check how much fluid you have in there, take the wing off.

Finished removing the clutch and flywheel today, the friction plate is down to the rivet so I would say its worn out. Picture of the bottom of the wing showing the reason for removal and another general shot.

That's the easy bit done, now I have to put it all back together again.

 

That's interesting Mate, my front wing has gone exactly the same.

You going to fix it, or get another one?

 

Too far gone to repair so will have to get another.
I did plan on replacing the lower arms and struts whilst it was apart but that is no longer going to happen, will be refitting the old stuff until I know the car is drivable again.

 

When you put the old ones(and eventually new ones) back on mate, make sure you do the arm bolts up in sequence or you might end up like mine was with the camber all to F*ck. Sorry probably teaching you to suck eggs here