You guys ever bought one of those cars that you just can't let go? This is one of them.
I'll do a bit of background just because.
I worked for a Ford dealership a number of years ago as a salesman, (don't do it. No really). It was pretty awful as a job, goal posts being changed, favouritism, figures being "amended" so that some guys hit targets and others didn't, it was a proper crooked business! I digress.
One of the up sides was that I got to drive the then new ST's and RS cars, so that was nice! One day, a chap comes in with his original Ford Puma and wants a newer car. He takes a new Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost (really good little car, they're a lot of fun to drive), he offers his Puma as a PX, 56,000 miles, full service history, generally very clean but not worth much. The dealership offers him exactly £0.00, but tells him "Hey, at least you don't have the agro of dealing with a private sale!" I thought this was wildly unfair, give him a few hundred or something, but anyways he seemed ok with this and off he went. The car would have gone to the auctions, but I asked if we were allowed to buy them (being new, I wasn't sure what the rule was). £100 later and it was mine, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but whatever, I just sort of wanted it.
Transpires the other half wanted it to learn to drive in, which she did, she then used it very rarely and for the most part, it was sat on the street getting it's wing mirrors bashed off, under trees getting sap and crud all over it, it even ran out of oil at one point and still kept soldiering on! She did not take care of it and to be honest, I was no better either. We move house and she wants a different car, an auto 4x4 something and wants to sell the Puma. I cannot allow this, it's been so neglected that I thought I sort of owed it to a new lease of life, so I buy it off her. And that's where our story beings (sorry if that was boring)...
It looked like this, absolutely decimated with bird excrement, lacquer ruined and in reality ready for the scrap yard:
However, it has SUCH a good engine under the bonnet, that little Yamaha-tuned 1700 is a total peach and just provides the most smiles per gallon with the taught little chassis, handling is great and everything is just balanced so well. It's not the fastest thing in the world but the chassis, engine and brakes all just work so in tune with each other.
My plan: turn it into a proper budget racer, not by cutting corners but by taking advantage of the cheap aftermarket for these (as well as Fiesta) but also pulling in come favours by generous mates.
First up, get it stripped. I want to try and get it down to as close to 750kg as I can, because extracting anymore power is a lot of work/money for not much gain.
I have managed to be pretty lucky with getting a hold of some second hand parts as well as some carefully chosen new bits and bobs.
First up is a front pair of KW V1 coilovers, these cost next to nothing as the threads were totally butchered. Quick pass with a die and they're happy again!
This pic is without the collars etc on top, I promise it's the same coilovers!
I was also kindly donated a set of R888's by a friend of mine, they're old so may be rock solid, but I'm willing to give them a go since the price was right...
Some of you may also remember from my MR2 project that I had a pair of Noble M12 bucket seats. I had planned to sell these but then kept changing my mind, I have decided to keep them and stick them in the Puma. Weighing just 6kg each, they'll help keep the weight goal within reach!
Another bargain I came across was a set of Team Dynamics alloys, (I think they're the Pro Race 3.0's but am not sure), either way, they cost less than £100 and were in a rather fetching blue! That's not gone and they're sat in grey primer awaiting paint.
More stripping had taken place and my god, you wouldn't believe the weight of all this stuff, especially the seats! I don't think that's all of it either.
I had also ordered some new front wishbones track rods etc so that the front suspension was all fresh! Along with some Problem Solver polybushes to keep it all tight. I decided to get the bushes in but then wait til after the car was painted before fitting, save getting paint dust all over the new parts. This was back in August and I'm still waiting to get in the paint shop haha! Can't grumble though as it was yet another favour by a friend of mine.
The car will be going Ford Frozen White, I wanted a colour that the Puma didn't come in from factory but also wasn't a stupid bright green or something cack.
I had a bit of a vision in that, I want to give this little car the best chance of handling as well as it can, with no real goal for what it will be used for (although I'm hoping track, sprint, hillclimb, tarmac rally will all be possible). After some man-maths and a stupid idea, I figured "A Lotus Elise is about the same size as a Puma right?!" and managed to cop an Elise rear diffuser and the middle part of the flat floor/under tray. The plan being, tie these in with a front splitter/under tray and have a fully flat floor!
I got a bit silly at this point as I was sort of stuck waiting on paint, so I decided to ruin the roof...
Made some progress with prepping the car for paint, whenever it's able to go in. Hopefully will be a case of whip bumpers, bonnet, doors etc off and slap a load of paint on it. Then I can get it home and fit the small mountain of parts I have waiting for it.
That brings you (and me) up to date with where we are, once paint has happened, I plan to get on the ramp and fit the following:
Spacers
Wheels/tyres
Cat-back exhaust
Wishbones
Track rods
Rear beam bushes
DTM mirrors
Elise diffuser/floor/splitter
Bits I need/want to order:
Seat subframes to be fabbed
Fit harnesses
Harness bar
Some sort of ram air system (through the headlight perhaps?)
Chop rear bumper if required for diffuser (this will mean losing the rear fogs so maybe a track rain/fog light)
Give the thing a damn good service!
I'll try to keep on top of this, more for my own sake than anyone else as then it'll maybe mean I will actually make some progress on it ready for next year!
I'll do a bit of background just because.
I worked for a Ford dealership a number of years ago as a salesman, (don't do it. No really). It was pretty awful as a job, goal posts being changed, favouritism, figures being "amended" so that some guys hit targets and others didn't, it was a proper crooked business! I digress.
One of the up sides was that I got to drive the then new ST's and RS cars, so that was nice! One day, a chap comes in with his original Ford Puma and wants a newer car. He takes a new Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost (really good little car, they're a lot of fun to drive), he offers his Puma as a PX, 56,000 miles, full service history, generally very clean but not worth much. The dealership offers him exactly £0.00, but tells him "Hey, at least you don't have the agro of dealing with a private sale!" I thought this was wildly unfair, give him a few hundred or something, but anyways he seemed ok with this and off he went. The car would have gone to the auctions, but I asked if we were allowed to buy them (being new, I wasn't sure what the rule was). £100 later and it was mine, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but whatever, I just sort of wanted it.
Transpires the other half wanted it to learn to drive in, which she did, she then used it very rarely and for the most part, it was sat on the street getting it's wing mirrors bashed off, under trees getting sap and crud all over it, it even ran out of oil at one point and still kept soldiering on! She did not take care of it and to be honest, I was no better either. We move house and she wants a different car, an auto 4x4 something and wants to sell the Puma. I cannot allow this, it's been so neglected that I thought I sort of owed it to a new lease of life, so I buy it off her. And that's where our story beings (sorry if that was boring)...
It looked like this, absolutely decimated with bird excrement, lacquer ruined and in reality ready for the scrap yard:
However, it has SUCH a good engine under the bonnet, that little Yamaha-tuned 1700 is a total peach and just provides the most smiles per gallon with the taught little chassis, handling is great and everything is just balanced so well. It's not the fastest thing in the world but the chassis, engine and brakes all just work so in tune with each other.
My plan: turn it into a proper budget racer, not by cutting corners but by taking advantage of the cheap aftermarket for these (as well as Fiesta) but also pulling in come favours by generous mates.
First up, get it stripped. I want to try and get it down to as close to 750kg as I can, because extracting anymore power is a lot of work/money for not much gain.
I have managed to be pretty lucky with getting a hold of some second hand parts as well as some carefully chosen new bits and bobs.
First up is a front pair of KW V1 coilovers, these cost next to nothing as the threads were totally butchered. Quick pass with a die and they're happy again!
This pic is without the collars etc on top, I promise it's the same coilovers!
I was also kindly donated a set of R888's by a friend of mine, they're old so may be rock solid, but I'm willing to give them a go since the price was right...
Some of you may also remember from my MR2 project that I had a pair of Noble M12 bucket seats. I had planned to sell these but then kept changing my mind, I have decided to keep them and stick them in the Puma. Weighing just 6kg each, they'll help keep the weight goal within reach!
Another bargain I came across was a set of Team Dynamics alloys, (I think they're the Pro Race 3.0's but am not sure), either way, they cost less than £100 and were in a rather fetching blue! That's not gone and they're sat in grey primer awaiting paint.
More stripping had taken place and my god, you wouldn't believe the weight of all this stuff, especially the seats! I don't think that's all of it either.
I had also ordered some new front wishbones track rods etc so that the front suspension was all fresh! Along with some Problem Solver polybushes to keep it all tight. I decided to get the bushes in but then wait til after the car was painted before fitting, save getting paint dust all over the new parts. This was back in August and I'm still waiting to get in the paint shop haha! Can't grumble though as it was yet another favour by a friend of mine.
The car will be going Ford Frozen White, I wanted a colour that the Puma didn't come in from factory but also wasn't a stupid bright green or something cack.
I had a bit of a vision in that, I want to give this little car the best chance of handling as well as it can, with no real goal for what it will be used for (although I'm hoping track, sprint, hillclimb, tarmac rally will all be possible). After some man-maths and a stupid idea, I figured "A Lotus Elise is about the same size as a Puma right?!" and managed to cop an Elise rear diffuser and the middle part of the flat floor/under tray. The plan being, tie these in with a front splitter/under tray and have a fully flat floor!
I got a bit silly at this point as I was sort of stuck waiting on paint, so I decided to ruin the roof...
Made some progress with prepping the car for paint, whenever it's able to go in. Hopefully will be a case of whip bumpers, bonnet, doors etc off and slap a load of paint on it. Then I can get it home and fit the small mountain of parts I have waiting for it.
That brings you (and me) up to date with where we are, once paint has happened, I plan to get on the ramp and fit the following:
Spacers
Wheels/tyres
Cat-back exhaust
Wishbones
Track rods
Rear beam bushes
DTM mirrors
Elise diffuser/floor/splitter
Bits I need/want to order:
Seat subframes to be fabbed
Fit harnesses
Harness bar
Some sort of ram air system (through the headlight perhaps?)
Chop rear bumper if required for diffuser (this will mean losing the rear fogs so maybe a track rain/fog light)
Give the thing a damn good service!
I'll try to keep on top of this, more for my own sake than anyone else as then it'll maybe mean I will actually make some progress on it ready for next year!
