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Hi guys.
So i'm soon to be 17 and looking at buying a 1.1 Ford Fiesta Mk2 as my first car. I've always been a massive retro Ford fan but never really looked into Fiesta's.. Insurance is spot on for my budget and it seems a good car. So my question is when going to view one, what are the main things that they suffer with? Rust? What to look for engine and transmission wise?
Any faults you can think of that are commonly found in a fez would be much appreciated!
Cheers Will. |
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taurus
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,084
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Rust, rust and rust. Then check the mechanicals. They're simple, easy to fix and parts are plentiful. But build quality when new was not consistent. Most lemons will most likely have been scrapped long ago, so survivors ought to be better. But check everything. I had a couple back in the day and they were put together by drunken monkeys in the dark on a Friday afternoon.
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gazz81
Part of things
Posts: 842 
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Oct 10, 2015 13:33:12 GMT
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As above, lots of rust.   This shows a mk1 inner wing, but they both go the same!  |
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Oct 10, 2015 13:35:19 GMT
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Rust , everything else is cheap and about as simple as it can get .
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Oct 10, 2015 14:13:47 GMT
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So rust seems to be the thing I should look out for the most. Spares and new parts are readily available and I can use a few bits off XR2's.
Thanks for that guys, much appreciated!
Cheers
Will.
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gazz81
Part of things
Posts: 842
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Oct 10, 2015 14:21:20 GMT
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They are great cars, I had few mk1's and 2's in my early days of driving and they always were good fun. I learnt a lot playing with them, they are are very easy to work on and there are loads of mods you can do.
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Pros and cons of a Mk2 Fiesta. ChrisT
@christ
Club Retro Rides Member 225
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Oct 10, 2015 15:44:12 GMT
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As already said..
Pros - great fun, easy to work on and good parts availabilty
Cons - rust, especially if it's had an XR kit fitted.
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They are great cars, I had few mk1's and 2's in my early days of driving and they always were good fun. I learnt a lot playing with them, they are are very easy to work on and there are loads of mods you can do. Exactly what I thought when i was looking into them! And I really like the shape if I'm honest. In the future a Zetec, B16 or ZX6R Kawasaki engine could be something good to play with as well. But yeah, thanks for the help dude. As already said.. Pros - great fun, easy to work on and good parts availabilty Cons - rust, especially if it's had an XR kit fitted. Don't think I will be getting one with a XR kit, always preferred the standard bumpers and arches if I'm honest. But cheers for the heads up!  |
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take someone with you that knows old cars /rust
they was all getting scabby over 20 years ago when i was a new driver , just because an ad says no rust or you cant see any doesnt mean its not riddled with it and covered with filler or god knows what
might be best off with a slightly tatty but unmolested example rather than one thats had 10 resprays and fred in a shed welding bits n bobs onto it
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,309
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Pros and cons of a Mk2 Fiesta. ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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Nov 11, 2015 22:14:17 GMT
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If a Mk2 comes up for sale in Warwickshire let me know and I will be happy to have a look with you.
Mechanically they are very simple and even with neglect they seem to run on and on with the HCS/Crossflow based engines. My parent's 1987 Fiesta 1.1 Finesse on a D plate used to put the Metro Turbo to shame in reliability. It never really went wrong in all honesty!
However, bear in mind this car was had from 1994 to 1997. Even then the tinworm had truly taken hold. I am fairly sure that the inner wings had rot to the point the indicators required a new anchor point, the wings were rusting at the very bottom and both sills had been patched in a few places by the time it was moved on.
That said, parts prices for my Escort that are NLA are now on the up, partially due to prolonged scarcity and so many being modified back in the day. While I admit that the parts on my RST may carry an 'RS tax' I would check to see the price on a few parts that are broken in the car and on moderns which would be easy to get hold of. Dashboards for instance on my car are ££££££££.
If it were me (and this does sound like a broken record) I would buy the best you could afford. Make no mistake, I love a bargain but you can easily spend more on a 'good' cheap car.
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Nov 12, 2015 20:26:43 GMT
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Really simple cars to work on.
Should be fun to drive in a mechanical old-school way.
When buying trim parts perhaps now competing with guys looking for parts to maintain XR2's which are becoming classics.
55bhp.
How tall are you? Much over 6', try sitting in one first.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned rust yet, so RUST.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,309
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Pros and cons of a Mk2 Fiesta. ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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retroslide if you want a car in Warwickshire let me know. I know of a clean 1.1 L on a D Plate for sale for not many monies.
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take someone with you that knows old cars /rust they was all getting scabby over 20 years ago when i was a new driver , just because an ad says no rust or you cant see any doesnt mean its not riddled with it and covered with filler or god knows what might be best off with a slightly tatty but unmolested example rather than one thats had 10 resprays and fred in a shed welding bits n bobs onto it I'll most probably take my granddad with me, he's been in the trade (Mechanical engineering) for nearly 60 years and has owned a good variety of old Ford's in that time. But for definite! I've seen a few unmolested for the £1300-£1500 mark with one lady owner and 50-60k or so on the clocks. They seem to look fairly rust free in the pictures but when I go to look at one I'll spend a good time searching and hunting for rust. Cheers dude! If a Mk2 comes up for sale in Warwickshire let me know and I will be happy to have a look with you. Mechanically they are very simple and even with neglect they seem to run on and on with the HCS/Crossflow based engines. My parent's 1987 Fiesta 1.1 Finesse on a D plate used to put the Metro Turbo to shame in reliability. It never really went wrong in all honesty! However, bear in mind this car was had from 1994 to 1997. Even then the tinworm had truly taken hold. I am fairly sure that the inner wings had rot to the point the indicators required a new anchor point, the wings were rusting at the very bottom and both sills had been patched in a few places by the time it was moved on. That said, parts prices for my Escort that are NLA are now on the up, partially due to prolonged scarcity and so many being modified back in the day. While I admit that the parts on my RST may carry an 'RS tax' I would check to see the price on a few parts that are broken in the car and on moderns which would be easy to get hold of. Dashboards for instance on my car are ££££££££. If it were me (and this does sound like a broken record) I would buy the best you could afford. Make no mistake, I love a bargain but you can easily spend more on a 'good' cheap car.
Yeah for sure man! That would be a big help, thanks! Reliability will be the biggest thing I look for next to how well the body is in terms of condition. Burton's sell a few parts but I know a few people that have connections with old Ford people, so for parts I might just be alright with. That makes sense though, my budget currently sits around the £1500 mark. I could potentially push to £1800, but for that money I would like to see little to no rust at all. And maybe a full service history etc..
Cheers for the reply!
Really simple cars to work on. Should be fun to drive in a mechanical old-school way. When buying trim parts perhaps now competing with guys looking for parts to maintain XR2's which are becoming classics. 55bhp. How tall are you? Much over 6', try sitting in one first. Not sure if anyone has mentioned rust yet, so RUST. I've always loved retro cars over anything new to be honest. It's all about the sounds and feels of the car imo. The 55bhp and 4 speed might be a problem after a while, but Zetec swaps seem to be a common thing for a reason now days.. Although eventually I'd love to put a ZX9R Ninja engine in it like Robert Ransom's! I've never actually thought about fitting in it though. I'm currently 6'3 so that might be something I'll have to try out. Thanks man! |
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retroslide if you want a car in Warwickshire let me know. I know of a clean 1.1 L on a D Plate for sale for not many monies.
Would you mind messaging me some more details on this please dude? Only an hour away. 
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Jan 10, 2016 20:42:32 GMT
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Well I'm afraid I wouldn't be true to my beliefs id I didn't say it. The single biggest con with a mk2 Fiesta is that it's not a mk1 but it redeems itself by virtue of the fact that it's eminently possible and practible to turn a mk2 into a mk1 lol. Sorry, now I've got that out of my system I'll offer my opinion on the matter and hope it's of help to you. First of all the very first ones were 84/85s so drom A reg up to around what F or G maybe so you're talking 88/89 if I remember right. Either way you're talking about a 30+ year old car so the very first thing to be sure of is the condition of the shell and body. In the majority of cases I expect it's age may be a blessing as the rotten ones have long since rotted away(like my old C reg XR2 lol.... never lived up to my earlier mk1 XR2) meaning there's a good chance the survivors will be in better shape in general than when they were plentiful on the 2nd hand market. Saying that the chances of coming across a good 2nd hand daily runaround that you can get for peanuts in half decent nick seems less likely but I may well be wrong.. I expect many that are for sale the seller will have an inkling people who want to buy it are likely to be enthusiasts and price it in light if that fact but that's an assumption rather than knowledge of the marketbor availability of mk2 Fiestas.... you never know you may be able to get a 1.4S from a lady owner from new for a knockdown price, you just never know. As far as the mk2 itself is concerned you can't get a more honest, straightforward, simple yet immensely enjoyable little mini hatchback than a mk1 (and grudgingly the mk2) Fiesta. If the body is solid you're laughing cos then the rest will take care of itself.The engines and gearboxes are pretty much bombproof and if you do uh, hum say put a conrod through your 1300 kent motor, perish the thought, you can rebuild it with a £7.50 toolkit from the 24 hour petrol station they're that basic. Both the mk1 and mk2 have simple straightforward non assisted rack n pinion steering that's totally direct,950 to 1600cc motors, disc n drums,macpherson struts and semi independent rear suspension.Contact breaker ignition. beam axle, trailing links and panhard rod rear suspension.As for electrics you get lights, heater and a radio..... oh washers n wipers, don't laugh my first car, a 78 mk1 had foot pump powered windscreen washers lol. Electrics,even as basic as they were could be a real headache with connection, wiring and dodgy earth issues a regular nightmare if they started playing up. The mk2 was designed from the off to be able to take a 5 speed gearbox where as with all mk1s but the XR2s the chassis rails in the engine bay didn't allow the longer, bulkier 5 speed transaxle to fit meaning you either stayed with a 4 or set about some engine bay surgery.Mind you at the time a 4 speed box seemed plenty but in this day n age of 6 speeds being common and 7 speeds no longer a real novelty the 4 speed box probably sounds and feels crude but that's the pay off if you go for one of these mk1 or mk2 Feestys, forget sophisticated, smooth, silent and power assisted, power window, abs, traction control, 4 wheel steer modern motoring cos they are raw, direct, all analogue, REAL driving that's fun and requires the driver to drive but they are so nimble, chuckable and again real fun to drive. The kent engines are just born to be thrashed and will rwv their nuts off all day long, the more you rev them the better they like it. In contrast the CVH doesn't really take a good revving, they're ok and have a thimbleful more powerthan the equivalent kent/valencia motor but never felt as nippy or willing, not even the 1.6 twin choked weber from the XR2 or even 1.6 XR3i with the bosch K-Jetronic for tbat matter. In fact, the only really good CVH was the twin coiled RS1600i version with solid tappets etc but nowadays the scope in engine choice is endless but you can't beat a 1740cc X-flow Kent engine with twin 40s,Janspeed,straight through, cam n head etc You can go daft bodykit routes, standard XR2 bodykit or standard sleeper mode, lowered 20 or 30 mm with good dampers n new bushes all round and you'll have a car only a complete idiot could lose on a corner... ps don't go bog alloys/low profile tyres route. I'm sure it is possible with a lot of fettling and arch work to get 17s under there but it'll look ridiculous and be awful to drive but that's my opinion when it comes to aesthetics it's each to our own, even if some folk just get it badly wrong lol. Nah, a solid body with no rust and you've got the basis for one of the best little hatchbacks/superminis of all time,damn it is the best simple as.... yes and that includes minis, novas and saxos,just wannabes i'm afraid lol. I hope you find a good one, I know if I ever come across a good, solid mk1 I'm buying it there n then so if anyone has a decent X reg 1.3 GL (or simply mk1 Fiesta) they want rid of pm me!!!! |
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