Right been meaning to get this post up here for ages. I bought a Mreg Diesel Fiesta back in December 2004. It was a bit of a shonker and didnt really run right at all, you had to really rush it to get past 40mph . So a mate of mine all the way up north in Cumbria had a Mondeo TDI engine converted to run in his fiesta by another mate of mine. Anyway he went killed the block (we think) so the conversion was up for sale. To i purchased the conversion along with another TDI block from a local scrappers and built up a new engine and went about fitting the conversion to my shonky Diesel. Anyway now for the pix:

The Dead TDI engine:



The new bottom end being stripped:









The build was rather easy concidering it was the first Diesel engine i have ever re-built/referbished.

So with that all done i took out the old Diesel engine from my Fiesta which didnt go over 40 mph on a good day and replaced it with the TDI engine.





Modification did have to be done to the front valance and bumper for the IC to fit, but with one of my mates badgering me to slice off the lower part of the front valance and the bottom of the wings i decided to do it seeing it would give me easy access to the boost pipes and bumper mounts in the future.





It didnt start

So with much head scratching and alot of phone calls later we were told to tow it at 30mph with it engaged in 2nd gear for a few mins as the pump had an air lock inside it. This cleared the air lock and i fired up the glow plugs and it started in a big soot colud of smoke needless to say of the WTF glares i got when that happend down my street,. So then i had a working TDI fiesta that just needed a few tweeks to get it running right.

This is how it stood for a while while i decided what to do next



Well later in to the year on the way home from work at 2 am the temp guage kept rising into the red so pulled over and turned the engine off. Took the expansion cap off and the little bleed screw in the top hose out to let the steem come out, the system had almost boiled its self dry.

Chugged home as it was ony a mile odd away and let it cool down over night, went out to it this afternoon and put it into the garage for a closer inspection, first thought was the thermostat was shot. So took it out and run it up again, same thing it filled the system with steem/air and overheated.

Took the bleed screw out of the top hose while the engine was running, it was chugging out steem at athe same pace as the engine was idling plus it was bubbling up in the hedder tank, thus indicating air is some how getting into the coolent system. So seeing as this was the same problem James had when he sold the engine to me, narrowed down the fact on what it could be.

James (the guy i bought the conversion off) thought it could be a cracked block. So i rebuilt the engine with a new one. So its not that.

Head gasket failing.... Slim chance but the gasket was new only 4 weeks ago.

Cylinder head is cracked on an exhaust outlet to a water way, very likeley!!!!

So i took the head off and got a new head gasket and bolts plus fitting the head off my old N/A diesel engine, i checked microcat and the head numbers are the same for TDI's and N/A, only the pistons vary (same as petrol versions).

It was the head as it was running cooler than id have like it, it just got to the underside of the N of NORM on the temp guage. Prob because i hadn't got a thermostat in it as the other one was sporked.

The head i had on the engine was a N/A Fiesta Diesel head, with a few minor changes nabbed off the turbo head. The engine was running exceptionally well after all that.

Only minor quip i had was the fact it didn't boost to well as the actuator had gone weak, it tended to come on boost and then the actuator wouldl let go and you can hear it leak out of the wastegate. So looked like a new actuator was on the cards once i found out who did em.

Now the engine was finally sorted i could concentrate on the body as it was in a poor state with both doors are dented up and one had been pried open in a break in attempt with its last owner.

 

I saved my pennys and got my mate to do me a respray for me on the cheep all i had to do was supply the parts, paint and the other odds and sods plus some beer tokens his way. So i started down the scrappers picking up 2 nice and clean doors with all the electrics in, a new boot and the full RS body kit. I dropped the car off round his and he got busy with it a day later and i helped out where ever i could.



The doors were promptly removed and the hard to get to bit by the hinges was preped and sprayed.






Next up we fitted the boot and i also had it de-wipered, de-locked and de-washer jeted.




The kit was then fitted and smoothed in so no gaps could be seen



Wing mirrors preped for colour codeing, and all dings and dents taken out




Car fully prepped for spraying




First dust coat applied



1st propper coat



2nd coat




and another 2 coats later we have a verry red misty room and a very red car.



I didnt stay for the laquering part as i had to go to work, so no pix of that unfortunatly.

 

Then DISASTER struck..... On the first show of the season, I was making my way rounnd the M25 to Ford Sport Nat Weekender and the Diesel decided that it had had enough and promtly destroyed its self in a nice cloud of white smoke. I had all the food and loads of other stuff in the car for a few of my mates that were going up there so that fooked us right up. I had to call a recovery firm which to be fair turned up promptly and towed us to a petrol garage just off the A10. Where we had to wait 4 hours for a poxy low loader to turn up and take us home. Once home the car was garaged and we shifted all the gear over to my mates Si and went to the FS Nat Weekender wher we turned up after midnight

Anyway after that pissing me off for most of the show it was crunch time to decide what the hell i could do with the Fiesta.... Do i sell it as a shell all minted up with a nice new re-spray, fix the engine again or do something else.......

Well early on this year i bought a 1 owner RS1800 and it was going to refirbished and returned to mint with a ZT engine, when i got home me and a few mates inspected it for the tin worm to see what needed to be done and if it was repairable. But it had the worst case of rot i had seen and we didnt even need to unbolt the rear bumper we just pulled it of So the decision was made to strip the RS and put it all into the Diesel shell.

Engine and Fuel system swap here we come:

We started with a dead TDI engine:



Then promptley lifted it out:





So with the diesel engine out and on the deck it was time for a small re-wire of the cars electrics:

Out with the old:





In with the new:





Now we slide the zetec engine in under the car:



Then fit it into place:



Re-fit zetec wiring loom back up to the engine and tidy it all up:



Re-fit dash after putting in the fuel tank and trying for a start to make sure all electrics were workin correctly.



Drop it down on its wheels re-fit the interior and go for a test drive.

Job done, well almost

 

Next up were the alloys, i picked up a set of RS7 spokes for good money in a 15' flavour off a bloke call M K off of this board, it's great size for Fiestas with the 15x7 et35 size. I picked them up in a right state with buckles and dents and pealing laquer. so i set them off to be refrebished by a bloke i have been using for ages with my wheels.

State they were in:









Unfortunaly i havent got the pix of when they came back so i have only pix of them fitted to the car.

I had them referbished with charcoal inners which has small silver flakes in the jet black. Pix dont do them justice.

Anyway i tooka few pix of the car just before trax as it was all clean and tidy, so please enjoy.

Over and out.........















And last of all to give you my ideas for the plans for the future:

 

Top work, shame about the diesel turbo not working out.

I take it you have ample clearance there for an intercooler.............

 

cant believe I just read all that, nice work, should have fitted the rs1800 in the first place

Yodi

 

good read, got there in the end, nice car

 

Nice one mate must b well proud of it!

 

someones been busy lately nice to see some diy going on, well done matey

 

Yeh the big fat space is for either a Radtec or Pro Alloy cooler, i have my 2.1 ZT sat in parts in my shed, just need to get a 2.0 block crank and rods and i have the rest is already done as i have bought a previously built tried and tested ZT head, inlet, wiring loom, ecu and chip (with ZT mapped into it). Got the calli turbo pistons, AP brakes, mk5 master cylinder and survo adapted for the mk3, AVO coilovers ect ect... the list goes on. Will be doing my step by step ZT build over winter once my shed is fully kitted out with power and my tools and i get my mate round to build me a work bench.

 

Right bit of an update. The ZT has been put on a bit of a back burner for a lil while, but i needed something to satisfy my craving for Turbo power again its been a good 2 years without it so i was getting withdrawal simptoms.

The only option was to do a FRST transplant....

So here goes again

Took my car to a mates barn, who coincidently runs Hearts RS Spares. Kinda handy that when you need a FRST engine conversion



So in the barn whe lined both cars along side each other to swap over the doner FRST's engine.





Then we started stripping the FRST for all the bits needed and the engine came out...





Didnt take any pic's of us taking out the ol RS1800 engine, but the next pix are of the FRST engine all in place.





The car was almost finnished, but it needed the gear linkage putting on and the new Stainless Exhaust fitted. So we pushed my car over the pit and got busy sorting that lil lot out...





Good pic there of me by mate Dave^^^^ Bastid

While we were sodding about we found an 18" wheel and trial fitted it to my fez. Does wonders for the handeling aparently Look how small they make the std brakes look.



Thats the engine swap done more to come later...

 

Right after getting the car home i found that it was smoking on idle and the oil pressure light came on on idle once the car was warm.

Decided to get on with these problems, had to take most of the bits apart again to sort it...

Here are some pix if the strip down:

Pile of bits taken out.





Engine with the T2 taken off and quick check of the valves, to see if there was loads of carbon deposits on them (aparrently a sign of worn valve stem seals). They seemed OK so i decided that they didnt need doing. Asked for a bit of advice down at Grove Garage on what the smoking was caused by, they said go for the T2 as the problem, also sugested to go T3 while i was at it.









Now the old T2 is off and out the way, its making room for my T3 conversion





And finally here is a pic of all the new bits for the turbo if needed, like sump gasket, head gasket, head bolts and a few new pipes like that 1 way valve and stuff.

 

Right after compleating the T3 conversion i had to get the exhaust system sorted to mate up with the T3 so bodged ther exhaust together as best i could and took it down to Pipecraft.

Here it is at the exhaust place getting a flexi joint put in to the system on the T3 down pipe. Pipecraft is an excelent place and do top work



Bloke welding flexi section to a new part of mandrel bent stainless.



All finnished and fitted up nice...



After all that i took the car into Grove Garage again to see if they could find the cause of the Oil Light problem. They had it for a lil while and put their oil pressure guage on it and found it was low oil pressure Could be Big ends gone, oil pump, strainer blocked.....all manner of things.

Well i thought to save me the hassle of fixing it in the freazing cold and the fact i couldnt be arsed to do it after everything else i have done id give a good friend of mine a call. Ian at Specialised Engines now have my car and the block has come out today, hes fitting mine in around jobs. So will be getting updates as and when something is done.

So thats it for the mo untill i get some updates from Specialised to what the problem is and how they are going to fix it......

Also i have the devil on one sholder saying

" Welll the bottom end is out and is going to get stripped down, you may aswell get some work done while its out, ya know lighten and balance ARP bolts ect ect..."

And and angel on the other saying

" You do have most of a ZT sitting in the shed, it may not be built for a while yet but why get another engine speced up when theres a better one waiting to be made."

Decisions decisions don't ya just love em.....