RS_Rob

i've been a member of this site for years,
now feel its time to show my project with you lot, so bear with me while i get it up to date!

so i might aswell start at the beginning
My first car, which gave me the ford bug and got me into the trouble i'm now haha

mk3 fiesta 1.1 LX which was standard until i had it






this came to an end after an accident, chassis leg was bent so called it a day




so progressed onto the second fiesta in the shape of a 1.3 and was incredibly clean




went for the FRST/xr2i kit again






after a stupid girl run a red light at a crossroads this came to an end aswell




next up was my current fiesta (quite a dog but still bought it for some reason)
1.6si




went through different stages (lowered 40mm, different wheels)




17inch lenso's





15inch rs2000 wheels, took the mondeo estate spoiler off




some avo coilovers




also went through different stages with the engine,
1.6 zetec e
then 105ps 1.8 zetec e
and finally made it rs1800 spec with cams, ecu, maf sensor and throttlebody




during the time of having the car,
i collected many bodyparts ready for my plans

Fiesta turbo front bumper
zetec s rear bumper
smooth boot
new fords drivers side rear quarter

heres the pictures which inspired me with my plans
execpt i'll have different wheels,
different colour etc






then i started working in ford parts dept, started renewing things in more depth




heres some pics showing old and new parts next to eachother
first the top mounts, (just a little worn)




the lower arms (zoo motorsport)





some pictures after finishing work one day, as my ford dealer is close to the bridgend engine factory





started collecting new ford panels in work




fitted uprated gearbox mounts (old vs new)




more new parts






a mate took a pic on the motorway before i started stripping the car for the bodyshop
was slammed low on the 17's at the time




the reason why i wanted so many panels changed,
the rear quarter was full of filler and no real shape to it,
rust on the lip of arch,





scabby bits on the bottom of the door and wing

RS_Rob

started stripping the interior out for the bodyshop aswell as raising the suspension

RS_Rob

had some brand new wheels, which i tried with a different tyre size

their stretched but not too bad either, so ordered new tyres that size
heres a pic to show them fitted,

RS_Rob

work started in the bodyshop, you can see all the new panels trial fitted




heres the zetec s rear bumper on just to get a slight idea,
had to have the rear towing eye taken off for this fit, you can see how much the exhaust is inside the bumper,
this will have to be brought out more




heres the current state of the bonnet, not a full on bad boy as i think they're are bit ott




heres the passenger side, was still being finished off but you can see more,
was a small patch on the inner arch with a bit of rust, thats been sorted,
suprisingly enough tho was told how clean and good the actual shell is for a fiesta,
despite the condtion that the outside of it was in, the inside is good and solid




as you can see the rear arch has a gap missing, this was removed as this part is always a pain with big wheels on fiesta's, when i had the car 17's before this was heavily grinded back and was still close,
so now its being done properly its all gone

the rear arch is also rolled and folded like on the mk5 fiesta zetec s, so no need for arch trimming




the filler cap kneck had the start of a scab of rust also, so thats been cut out and sorted as you can see in primer,




heres an overall pic of the fez with eddie working on it,





and a few other cars there which show their workmanship, including the custom exhaust they made

RS_Rob

the smoothed boot trial fit, been rubbed down and checked for imprefections




mmmmmm smooth delocked doors!!




euro style




my front bumper and splitter
thats going to be done this week, involves alot of cutting, smoothing etc





sunroof and weather strip out ready and inspected for any rust,
but looking real clean fair play to the fez





overall pic of the car, as you can see primer inside the doors, all panels have been properly spot welded in the appropriate places like the window frame, inside the front wings, door shuts etc





spot welds on the wings





this is the other side of the bad boy, as you can see its metal folded properly to give that neat edge etc





other rear arch with cut out for large wheels,





the rear valance is being trimmed up to my finger, will get rid of rust easier lol
also will give more clearance to move my exhaust to suit the new bumper better
this part thats being cut off wont be seen with the bumper on, only really seen on the lower spec fiesta's so does'nt make a difference wether its there or not,





inside of doors prepped, wow the doors feel amazing to open and close compared to before, feels really effortless now





other rear arch with lip rolled back and folded and sealed to help clearance and prevent rust as much as possible, the second pic shows its thin

RS_Rob

heres the bonnet in a better state, small repairs and the euro bad boy is done, quite happy with how this turned out, must admit had second thoughts when it had only just been welded,




heres the back panel trimmed like i mentioned in the last update,




heres the turbo spoiler which i took up with me, bought this from a guy on fiestaturbo.com




heres the splitter, its been trimmed, riveted and screwed on and fibreglass etc over the top, not finished yet but looks good already




heres the mcr logo being sanded back and smoothed over




heres the seam for the rear panels, had this smoothed aswell,




a close up of the bonnet




overall pic of the car, put my 17's on as someone might be buying the rs2000 rims off me, not sure yet tho so took them off anyway,

RS_Rob

a few more quick pics
firstly my bumper when i got up there, having some fresh filler on there, but can really see the shape coming now and workmanship being put into it





then it was rubbed down after looking around the car while i was there




panels in primer and flatted back (felt like glass fair play)





here she is in the spray booth, with wheels off on axel stands
she's had some primer all over and sprayed inside the doors and boot,
its only had some base sprayed on it, so this is'nt how the colour will look when finished

RS_Rob

had my grooved disc's zinc cadium plated,




heres the bumper finished and in primer, really happy with the outcome, the workmanship is awesome,





heres a random pic of the sideskirts and arches which have been rubbed down and sprayed in primer, the jacking point covers have been glued in so they wont be going anywhere,




was originally going to have them smoothed in, but time has gone on and it would make a things awkward as they would have be smoothed once on the car because the kit flex's alot/maybe crack,
also the boys wanted new paint under the kit,
so that explains why only the front wing has been sprayed, because i decided to forget the idea, on the plus side the colour is bloody lovely and i could'nt be more pleased as these are only rough coats of paint,
can already see the pearle and metallic in it, not really captured in my pics




a shot of the front showing the colour




a close up of the arch, most of the lip has been cut back for the big wheels, also the frst arches are cut back the same, a little more towards the front is to be taken off, meaning i'll be loosing the top bumper mount point totally, so going to make a new mount further inside the bumper




heres some more pics around the car







tried taking a pic to capture the flake etc, just does'nt do it justice

Zetecfiesta

nice work!

RS_Rob

my brake calipers from an escort cosworth 4x4,

heres a few pics of how mine are currently looking before stripping them down for a refurb






in this pic you can see i've got the piston out and carrier off,




heres the dust seal off




heres the piston seal, all coming off though




looking to have the calipers shot blast back to a nice clean metal, then i'll have the calipers plated and then put back together with new seals etc, hopefully looking alot better

well update on the bodshop side of things aswell,
its all painted except for the door handles, mirrors and spoiler
side skirts and arches are on aswell,
currently being flatted back and polished

the finish from the gun is amazing and i'm suprised their even flatting and polishing it at all,
theres no bits in the paint and feels amazing, also no orange peely effect,

Brian

iTrader: (2)

Looking good


Brian

RS_Rob

had my calipers back from being shot blast,
as you can see a massive difference,


few pics below to show the difference,
dropped them off to the platers today aswell, so should be having them back on friday
their being nickle plated, should have a nice finish to them







got my brake calipers and carriers back from the platers,
really happy with the result
only a quick pic from the camera fone at the mo, but you get the idea




the car is basically done, except i've dropped some fiesta turbo rear quarter opening windows off to be put on aswell,
also the exhaust still needs to be extended, rear number plate lights to be sorted,
(mk 3 fez only comes with one single light, mk5 fez which the bumper is from has two lights with totally different connectors to my original)
and also the bodyshop wants to give it one more good cut back and polish

RS_Rob

well she's home thanks to the great help of a good mate

not in any order as the progress has been thick and fast since she's back
firstly the engine looking really manky, but also old bonnet stay




a new chrome item to update, my first bit of bling for the engine




nice bare interior




new insulation for under the carpet as the old one was wrecked after an accident with oil in the rear footwell,




fresh carpet lol, steam cleaned it to get the oil out, came out really well





new ford wipers to go with the new windscreen




got the sunroof out for a good clean, full of dust etc




sneek pic of the brand new seats to be going in

RS_Rob

mainly cleaning and putting things back together in this update

half cleaned, half not just shows how dirty it got in the bodyshop etc




the dirty side




the clean side lol




the fiesta turbo rear quarter opening windows, really love these,
big improvement on the fixed rear window with big chunky seals




the interior starting to look normal again but a bit cleaner aswell




heres a pic the c pillar trim, obviously with the rear opening windows in the hinges would stop this going on,
but on the back of it, was how to cut it to give the hinges room,




heres the back of it




heres the seats back in for the mot, then i'll put the new front seats in after



big thanks to my mum for helping with the cleaning as i was putting the interior back in


for the mot i've bought a brand new cat and lamda sensor,
went to change this over to discover i've been given the wrong cat by the factors
the hole for the lamda sensor is on the wrong side so the lamda sensor wont go in as the alternator is too close,
so this means i wont be able to mot the thing on tuesday morning like planned,



well she flew the MOT and all taxed up for another year

was such a good feeling driving her again after such a long time
looking forward to trax, got loads of pics to show, more to be taken at trax

RS_Rob

right its the monday morning after trax, got quite alot of updates to show
so i'll start at the beginning, the last few things i did before trax after the mot,

ever since i've had the car, the rear drums were badly painted red,
something i've been meaning to sort for some time,
so took the wheels off and had a wire brush on a drill,
couple of mins later they looked like this




then with a spray of some black paint as in pic below,
(notice the cossie on the paint can and my new cossie wheels in the backround)




the end result, alot more tidy, subtle and does'nt stand out,
job done




the next thing was the aerial, looked very dated etc and did'nt go with the rest of the car's styling,
so keeping with the ford theme, i bought one from a mk5 fiesta
in the pic below shows comparison of the old one on the left and new one on the right




and on the car




next to do was the brakes and new front spots and fogs

RS_Rob

the brakes were done after the mot and tax,
few of the lads from bridgend lot came over for assistance




jacked up, wheels off, boys get started





heres the bad part, only now we realised i had the wrong disc's,
cossie disc's are 278mm, these were sadly 260mm
still better than my 240mm disc's currently on the car,
so will be abusing the lad who sold my the brake setup including these wrong disc's
a pic to show the small difference




the brakes before




the brakes after
you can see how the disc's are too small for the calipers, but will do for now




next up drain the old brake fluid out, it was blacker than black,




new 5.1 brake fluid




hmmm new fluid




all the brake fluid was bleed completely until it was only the new 5.1 fluid inside,
a quick shot to show the brakes behind the wheels, even tho their the wrong disc's,
i'm still happy with the improvement visually, also still much better physically braking
cant wait to see the difference with the proper disc's

RS_Rob

some pics from trax of her currently,
still more to do........

due to the fact of being sold the wrong size disc's,
i've decided i'm going to look into a big disc coversion rather than just buying proper cossie disc's

309mm disc's on floating bells with brackets to extend the current cossie calipers
this is the biggest disc i can fit under the cossie rims

RS_Rob

well loads of hard work went into this mod,
took all of .......... 5 mins lol

here she is before



and after with her new german rear lights on





definutely prefer this look, gives it more of a euro feel to it and the rear lights are'nt as common
real happy with them

RS_Rob

well its been a while since trax and the progress has been slow,
but nether the less been enjoying the car with its new look,


so firstly taken proper pics since trax, lovely location





one showing my seats




this is my fave, shows the straight panels, width on the wheels and a cracking reflection




also very soon i should have some silicone hoses etc for the engine bay,
so got two bits ready,
my nice new radiator and header tank





also trimmed the sides of my number plates as they were far too wide,
but kept them legal also, i think the law states you have to have 11mm border around each font
so i've kept 20mm, a little touch but i'm happier so its all good
i'll have proper day light pics soon to show them better,
but for now,
you'll notice i've put the clear rears on, this is because my german rear lights had indicators which shined white, so waiting for some silvatech indicator bulbs





also changed all the bulbs and cleaned all the connections and got my lights on the front bumper working,
was only expecting the fogs to work as i thought the loom was different to the xr2i/frst which also have spot or driving lamps,



but much to my shock, they work, so i'm really chuffed

RS_Rob

heres how my engine bay has looked for sometime, dirty etc







so with a few chrome bits,new hearder tank, rad and hoses
thought i'd make a start

out with the old rad and header tank,
shocking the difference compared to the new




changed the thermo stat aswell for good measure




one of the new hoses on




the new header tank with chrome cap and new hoses connected




the overall engine bay, much happier with the new rad
still loads to change and do, like colour coded cam cover etc
but i'm happy with the changes so far




you can even see the rad with the bonnet closed

RS_Rob

got some other pics,
decided i'd try some different wheels for a change
diamond cut RS 7's

bit dark in the first two








also got some seat covers to help look after the puma racing seats

RS_Rob

firstly my new cam cover, not fitted yet waiting for the new engine to fit it to
sprayed electric blue the same as my car, with the qwords polished and then laquered




i bought new outer cv joint kits from fords as i had some problems with mine,
this was a job for the old man to fit lol






heres my st170 calipers after giving them a clean, even tho it does'nt look like it,





i then stripped them down and used some paint stripper to get the old paint off




heres the paint bubbling nicely, ready to scrape off




heres the finished items as far as paint stripper goes




here they are after being shotblast aswell to get all the nooks and crannies





and the finshed items dipped in silver zinc plating




the 300mm discs grooved by my old man (cheers gimp)
and zinc plated again




new braided hoses, as i never got round to fitting the last set, as i sold them to a mate to help him out




my new custom clear pulley cover




some smoked face gauges i'm collecting to britghten the dash up, and keep an eye on levels more accurately




new rear engine mount, to be changed when the new engine goes in




new scrape mouldings/weatherstrip for the tops of the doors,
i'm trying to make sure i replace even the little touches to help the car look clean




again new wiper arms as my look a bit manky after being on the car for many years lol

RS_Rob

another little update of more goodies
seen as though i've got the 300mm st170 brakes for the front,
i decided to go for an escort rs2000 rear brake setup,
270mm disc/drum setup, when i went to pick these up i ended up coming home with the rear beam aswell



its an uprated beam which has a plate sitch welded across the lower section of the beam which is normally hollow,
will have comparison pics later on, also theres polybushes where the rear beam mounts to the chassic
so should help tighten up the feel of the back end of the fez



heres some pics for now

RS_Rob

well thought i'd do another update, nothing to exciting but progress never the less

took the rear discs off my rear beam, lots of surface rust but no wear on them, look near new condition, unfortunately have been painted black
so off them came and gave them a going over with the wire brush
you can see the difference in the pic below of before and after




and the other side of the disc's before and after having a rub down with the wire brush




while the calipers were off thought i'd show some better pics of the two pot calipers, undecided about having these dipped in cadium plating like my other calipers as these are in top nick anyways????
pic from the top




and a pic of the underneath




then the old man took my discs to work and grooved them, also sanded the paint off the discs
the results





and two more pics to show the width of the discs as the drum part of the rear brakes is in the middle





going to get these dipped in zinc and thats it then, no more pics of disc's being grooved lol
thanks again dad,

things to do at the moment are:-
-repaint the bigger escort brake servo
-repaint the uprated rear beam
-and make a start on stripping back the old underseal under the fez

RS_Rob

well for quite a few months now i've had my runaround, to help keep my fez in good nick after all the effort i put into her at the bodyshop,
so she's been under the car port for sometime,
while i'm saving for parts for the next phase of mods


anyway, went for a spin and took some pics in different locations


hope you like some of them (took quite a few but heres some of them)

RS_Rob

not sure if i showed a pic of my new wiper arms,
the old ones were badly faded, not something i just wanted to paint black
so bought new ones from work, i'm very pleased anyway even if no ones else notices lol




also bought new rear opening windows as i'm not happy with the second hand ones i bought,
all new glass, nuts, washers, hinges, clips and caps etc






also took the bottom tray out of my centre console and tried a gauge pod there,
not sure yet,

RS_Rob

well made a start on putting the front brakes on today,
had them ready for some time, so put the seals and braided hoses on




then i took the old brakes off, well not old only a year since they were refurbed and only done 5k lol
new disc next to the old disc (remembering these old disc's made the original Si discs look silly aswell )
actually heres the 260mm disc's next to the original SI disc




heres the new 300mm disc next to the old 260mm




mintex brake pads aswell, nothing special but still mintex nether the less




heres a quick pic of the new brake setup for now, really cant explain how much bigger they seem aswell as bloody heavy hehehe




here they are behind the wheel, much happier with the appearance of the st170 setup,
yet to do the otherside so have'nt tried them out yet!




ALSO
got myself some new headlights and front indicators, just more touches to help the car look really clean
suprised at the difference of the new ones, you just dont realise how bogging the original standard lights get...
anyway pics as always

RS_Rob

well after putting the new bigger front brakes on,
noticed they were weeping slightly where the brake hose connects to the caliper,
after closer inspection the thread on the end of the braided hose was'nt long enough
as it looked like it was screwed in fully, but the end of the connection was'nt fully making contact inside the caliper
heres the offending thread




so we ground the surrounding metal around where the hose connects the caliper so that the thread could screw in fully, making a better connection and not leaking any fluid
forgot to take a before pic, but heres the connection after, as you can see the thread shows room to screw in a bit more when infact its up tight inside, no more leaking




heres a pic of the new beam and rear disc's on




was'nt happy with the rear brake lines so replaced them with new copper lines my old man made up, with new braided hoses to connect to the rear calipers




had to make brackets to secure the hoses to the rear beam,
also to make sure the hoses dont rub on anything like the shocks etc,
used a small amount of copper pipe as these braided hoses were made for a mk3 fiesta which has drums, not disc's as none of them came out of the factory with them. bracket works well tho





and heres what the disc's look like quickly behind the wheels
(alot nicer than horrible old drums)
will have some new up to date pics after eurofest hopefully as the fiesta passed the mot this morning

RS_Rob

well heres where the fez has been for some time...............................
hibernating from this nasty weather






also saving for new toys
something to start the ball rolling in that direction
a nice new shiny engine stand

RS_Rob

well she's still covered up but to show she's not forgotten i've aquired some new rimage!!

escort cosworth monte carlo wheels
still 16 x 8
sorry the pics are crap, was taken in work,
plan is to have them refurbed exactly the same so they still look original

RS_Rob

jan 2009
well its been quite sometime, kind of lost the love a little for the fez,
but this weekend made the most of the good weather on saturday,
started her over with the coil pack disconnected a few times to get the oil moving around,
then reconnected the coilpack and she started first time,

gave her a wash and dry, listened to the stereo aswell haha
really found the love again

some pics as per usual to show she's still alive






some beading shots, as before i tucked her away about a year or two ago, she had a damn good polish




a small vid just for the hell of it

RS_Rob

recently been pricing up things i want for the fiesta
always fancied an original fiesta turbo bonnet,
but after pricing the parts the bonnet itself is a very reasonable price
yet the vents are Ł95 +vat EACH

so found a mint second hand set for Ł30 delivered
will be ordering a new bonnet to go with these soon





also got myself a CTS stage 2+ gearbox

basically its a fully rebuilt and strengthened BC gearbox
with ib5 internals as their stronger with bigger mainshaft bearings aswell
Quaife atb limited slip diff
all oil galleries are opened up and smoothed
gearset is shot-peened

this is the choice of gearbox for the big powered zetec turbo boys
so it will easily cope with my power

RS_Rob

well since my 106 xsi track car has sold, i've decided to have the fiesta back on the road, she flew the MOT this morning, so going to use her for the next couple of weeks before i start the next phase of work



so she's insured, mot'd and tax'd woohoo

few quick pics of her in the workshop

RS_Rob

to add to my collection of parts

i've bought my self a brand spanking new fiesta turbo bonnet,
they are no longer available from fords,
so when this popped up for sale i jumped at the chance
a quick road trip with a good mate and this was home in my possesion

quick picture below

RS_Rob

well starting to get into things with this car again, i've got something else on the go at the moment aswell,
but will update her when thats done

so something else thats been on the "TO DO" list for sometime
when i changed the rear drums for the rear disc/drum option from an mk5 escort rs2000
it made the rear track of the car alot more narrow, which is annoying as i used to love the
wheels sticking out of the arches

so looking to make some rear axel spacers to bring the wheels back out of the arches
mainly for show, but it must affect the handling somehow

anyway the bolt pattern is different from my mk6 fiesta, so going to make these spacers from scratch
to get some idea of how much i need to space them i've played with normal spacers to see how much is needed

heres a pic with no spacer




heres a pic with a 10mm spacer on, looks alot better but still after a bit more
so thinking 13-15mm





while i've been messing about, i thought i'd wind the coilovers down aswell, something i've been meaning to do since it came out of the bodyshop about 2-3 years ago lol (where does the time go???)


heres some pics of the new lowness!

RS_Rob

about a year before having the bodywork restored i bought an expensive B&M quickshift
thinking it would solve my gear change problems as it was like porridge
but it was just soo tight between gears i've never really liked it

so out it came




got hold of a good condition standard gear selector as their no longer available complete for my car in fords
printed off a diagram from work, so i could mark off what needed replacing




opened it up and marked what i wanted on the diagram after cleaning all the grease off the parts,
so i could check how worn the bits were




new parts (springs, clips, screws and nuts)




while waiting for the parts to arrive, we decided to shorten the gear stick a little
because its hollow, a small rod was machined to fit inside the two cut halves and then braised
i gave this some primer and a few coats of matt black after
you can see the piece i cut out, not massive but i did'nt want it OTT





as my selecting rod is still like new i decided to buy the stabilizer bar aswell
old one after being cleaned up next to the new one




had to buy a new bush aswell as it did'nt come with it




new bush fitted and next to the still looking new selector bar/link




and all back together with new grease in the appropriate places

RS_Rob

update
i've fitted the newly refurbed gear selector yesterday and i'm very happy with the difference now


been buying in work again aswell,
this time its new seat belts and the bars that secure the belt near the floor of the car
also new grommets




also got a new indicator/wipers/lights stalk as mine is worn




also got myself a brake master cylinder from a mk5/6 escort
its bigger than the current fiesta one, because i've got the 300mm front discs and 270mm rear discs
i've lost a bit of feel in the brake pedal, so hopefully this will sort that as its more up for the job!




its already got the fiesta mounting brackets and the connecting rod has been shortened aswell
so it should be a direct fit apart from the brake lines fitment




also bought a new brake reservoir and cap for the new master cylinder

RS_Rob

right its time to finish the car off

PLANS
- Restore the underneath of the car to a better than factory finish
- Its new engine time



about two years ago i bought an engine from a young lad that had a good engine from a guy called paul johnson
he's famous for a top speed run of 179.9mph (not with this engine)
it was the first zetec turbo that ian howell (fiesta frenzy/area six) made for a customer

2.1 16v zetec turbo
fiesta turbo OFAB managment with loom (including custom Ahmed Bayjoo map)
Ahmed bayjoo Injectors
Ported and Polished IH spec cylinder head
IH spec custom camshafts
forged pistons
Rover M16 Inlet manifold (rare) (not the inferior T16 manifold) which has been extended
Escort RST T3 Exhaust manifold

picture below, as seen in pauls engine bay
since then it was sold to someone else who did'nt end up using it
but now its my turn





so basically i've been in contact with ian howell,
discussed options and prices,
arranged for him to inspect/assess my engine then we will go from there.
we'll be aiming for a genuine 300bhp

cosmo V6

Stunning job on that, fair play to you fella

I recognise a lot of those locations too


Keep up the good work

RS_Rob

thanks mate, you local then?
still got a lot to post to catch up ha