One shite sold, more shite bought...Fiesta mk3 content

[triumph1300]

So I sold the Volvo today:

 

After being increasingly fed up with fuel costs I scoured ebay for a suitable alternative, I limited my choices to a mk4 escort dieseasel, citroen ax 1.1 or a mk3 uncle fester.

 

I chose the fiesta:

Nice clean front valance!

 

Bit of rust by windscreen,

 

Rust by filler cap,

 

Bit of rust on tailgate, but tailgates are easily swapped,

 

Retro and basic as hell interior,

 

Bullet proof but agricultural,

 

She comes with a years ticket, and has had 5 new tyres fitted.

 

Windscreen and back screen rubbers are knackered but brand new ones were supplied, aswell as a genuine Weber rebuild kit (doesnt need it).

 

Drives spot on, barely touches the fuel, so I am happy!

 

What do you guys recommend on the rust repairs around the filler cap and windscreen> Especially the pros like Bol etc.

 

She should do me a nice turn anyways, aswell as the benefit of classic insurance

[RedSparrow]

I had one of these once. A tip is that behind a flap on the left in the passenger footwell is a emergency fuel cut-off switch reset button. If one day there is no fuel getting to the engine (it'll happen) it probably means this has been tripped somehow so it needs resetting.

They all rust like that but yeah the front valance is surprisingly clean!

[warren t claim]

I've owned more of these than I care to remember, great little cars.

[triumph1300]

I had one of these once. A tip is that behind a flap on the left in the passenger footwell is a emergency fuel cut-off switch reset button. If one day there is no fuel getting to the engine (it'll happen) it probably means this has been tripped somehow so it needs resetting.

They all rust like that but yeah the front valance is surprisingly clean!

 

They have a cut out on carb engines? Thanks for the heads up, didn't know that

[RedSparrow]

Oh, mine was single-point injection. Was a right pain in the arse.

[triumph1300]

Ah right, I imagine mine doesn't have that then!

 

Plans for this are clean it up, chop 4 coils out the springs, banded steels, matt black paint job, sticker bombs the wings etc etc.

 

Or what I am really going to do is clean it up intensively, polish it, sort the rust, service it and enjoy it.

 

Future plans would only involve picking up a cheap secondhand spax suspension kit etc, as it wallows like hell and sits on stilts, I want it to sit at a sensible ride height. Nice CD player and speakers, then that's about it.

[Richard]

Lift the pads off the front seats and have a look underneath, I found seven pound coins in mine.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Just like my first car

 

 

They don't have the cut out on the carb engines. This is a MK3, the MK3.5 looks almost identical but is quite different with fuel injection, ECUs and immobilisers etc. Most obvious external difference is orange front indicators on the MK3, clear on the 3.5.

[Lord Sterling]

Ma_Sterling owned one of these for a long time from when I were a young 'un until I was in my mid-teens when it was stolen for the second time and crashed for, I think about the 4th time. G886KAW, radiant Red 3-door Ford Fiesta 1.0 Popular plus supplied new at Furrows for Ford in Shrewsbury or Wellington, Telford (I forget which)

 

It was written off in around 1998/99 but was taxed up until 2003 so must have been repaired and driven a few more years after.

[triumph1300]

Love these old stories! I guess the G reg ones are the very first lot out? I had a F reg mk2 popular plus, not sure they made mk3's on an F or did they?

 

One thing I must say is the seats are quite bad for my back and legs, I drove the volvo for 3 hours straight and was fine and refreshed, after an hour and half in the fiesta my leg had cramp and my back need a massage from a thai shemale. probably.

[wuvvum]

They did make Mk3s on an F - I saw one the other day, a 1.1 L in that flat medium blue that they used to come in, which had faded almost to Pogweasel Turquoise on the bonnet.

[triumph1300]

Oh did they, that's good to know, and yes, that blue you speak of is what my mk2 was! Every polish resulted in a handful of blue rags!

[Doctormop]

A temporary repair of newspaper and filler will be just the job on the areas of corrosion present, these little fords thrive on abuse, I had a 1992 1100 example, bought off gumtree for 90 quid that just refused to die,it ran on radseal gun gum and will power; never ever attempt a professional type repair on one of these, they will reject it!

[triumph1300]

A temporary repair of newspaper and filler will be just the job on the areas of corrosion present, these little fords thrive on abuse, I had a 1992 1100 example, bought off gumtree for 90 quid that just refused to die,it ran on radseal gun gum and will power; never ever attempt a professional type repair on one of these, they will reject it!

 

That is brilliant!

 

Although I do want to repair the rust, My Triumph died of hidden and badly bodged up rust repairs, I dont want this to go the same way

[HillmanImp]

My old housemate had one. Bought it for £100 IIRC. Was a right piece of shit but kept carrying on. This is my best photo of it.

 

 

TBH it was made of more patched up metal than original after 3 years of her owning it and me bodging it. I ran out of sheet metal on the Sunday night B4 the MOT and used 2 rolls of wire filling the sill with slag so it would pass. Eventually it started suffering odd electrical problems so was binned. Despite me protesting she got a 6yr old Corsa. Within 6 months it was also fucked due to the inevitable electrical meltdown. However she had spent over £3k on that so I was smug a fuck. She then got a Discovery and took up proper hardcore offroading, so hey thats cool.

 

If anyone wants anymore little snippets of my life just ask.

[Doctormop]

With the greatest respect to your Triumph, and I did have a soft spot for it having owned a 76 Dolly 1300 for a while, the creeping rust in a 60's motor is a different kettle of fish to a late 80's Ford, obviously the tin worm will kill anything given time but the Fiesta will be much more understanding in the long run.

 

(Terms and conditions apply, total inaccuracy of any info stated above is accepted without question by owner/reader/ casual browser, oxidisation may go up or down no liability accepted for swapping a Volvo for a Ford and worrying Rust/corrosion/ general flakey bits vehicular and genital related etc etc)

[Morgan84]

To improve the handling,fit wider wheels and tyres onto the car.I have a 92 Fiesta 1.3i Calypso on XR2 spec steel rims ( standard for this car ) which run 185/60 R13 tyres,and the car feels very well planted on the road; yours will most likely be on 155 or maybe even 145 tyres,and believe me,it makes a difference. How do I know this,I had a Fiesta Sapphire on 155 tyres and in comparison to the Calypso it felt skinny and less stuck down. As for the rust,there will be a nice big hole appear round the filler neck.My method would be get a rotary wire wheel,and get all the rust out,and then tape some cardboard over the holes flush with the surrounding metal work,and then fill from the clean metal behind with fiber glass type filler,and once dried,underseal behind it,then on the outside,smooth,and top stop as required and then some nice radiant red paint to finish off.

As for the front and rear valance,the usual rust proofing methods will save you lots of misery in the long term

[Split_Pin]

Love these, totally un-scene too.

 

Mum_L had a J reg pop plus 4 speeder one with keep fit engine management. Great wee car that took all the abuse that a hormonal 17 year old I_L threw at it. Preferred the later mk4 she had though as I pulled in that one.

 

You can get new rear n/s 1/4 panels for these on eBay, but a big wodge of Sikaflex should hold the filler neck to the body for a bit.

[Pete-M]

Talking of F reg Mk3 Fizzys, I was working for a hire car firm when the Mk3 was released. Remember collecting a new F reg one from Blakes in Birkenhead, 1.1 LX with (optional) electric windows, tints and electric boot release. It felt incredibly good in comparison to the Mk2 Fiesta 1.1, a lot more nimble, quieter and the stereo was much better - probably down to speakers as the Mk2s had the same head unit.

 

The Mk3 was on the ball for a year or two. Then pretty much everything else in its class outshone it. They were ok again in 95ish when the good ones received 16v engines and P.A.S.

 

Do the bits from the later Fizzys fit these? Would Zetec-S running gear just bolt in? I'd quite like an early Mk3 van with Zetec-S running gear.

[Morgan84]

You can fit MK4 interiors into the MK3 and they can have a Zetec lump fitted in as well,so a Puma conversion would be possible

[triumph1300]

Am I being a genuine spaz? What is this "keep fit" all about?

 

And in response, a friend of mine has a mk3, used to be 1.1 also, now it has a 2.0 zetec which has been played with, it is very quick and is used daily with full interior but also a track car. Apparently the swap is very easy, even easier if its a 1.8 version... Definitely would need new brakes and suspension though!

[Pete-M]

Keep-fit = manual, or not full of computers. Keep-fit windows are not electric ones...

 

I know the 2.0 etc will go in, I was wondering if the suspension from a Zetec-S / Puma is a bolt on job, or if all the mountings were moved in order to make working suspension.

[warren t claim]

Thinking on, I had a brand new one of these back in 1996. I picked it up from Quicks of Altrincham as a company car on the 2nd of August. The only problem was the small fuel tank meant that doing high miles meant that I would sometimes have to fill up twice a day. I wish I could remember the reg number to see if it still exists, P166 something.

[Negative Creep]

Still a suprising amount of them on the road. They are certainly miserable, but not in a good way. Then again our old works van somehow managed 500k+ with the rear axle barely attached to the body

[triumph1300]

Oh now the keep fit makes sense haha. What a div.

 

I don't want to really modify this car, its not the sort of car that warrants it either. If I do change suspension then it will spax or something similar, just make sure its stiffer than standard as it is so bloody soft!

 

I think I'm just going to really tidy this old mingebag up and enjoy it for what it is.....an old shitbox fiesta

[Split_Pin]

Maybe the suspension is just needing some new dampers. I don't recall the ride being particularly soft on the one I used, but the Mk4 suspension was noticeably more wallowy on twisty roads, although still managed to handle great.

[messerschmitt owner]

 

I think I'm just going to really tidy this old mingebag up and enjoy it for what it is.....an old shitbox fiesta

Frankly, in the state that rust box is in, I'd run it till it dies, letting it progressively get rustier each minute and treat it as a disposable soon to be fridge!

[triumph1300]

In the state its in? It has non structural rust in 3 places, hardly the end of the world, why would I not stop the rust spreading? seems a bit backwards just to keep letting in get worse...

The rest of the car is in strangely very good condition, and only 45,000 genuine miles means this should last a many few years yet.

[andrew e]

Don't want to be negative, but best not kid yourself - it's a rot box. The windscreen is the A pillar so pretty structural. Forget the shocks, a £40 pair of front wishbones will be amazing transformation on these. Just run it till it drops, enjoy the paltry 5mpg gain.

[triumph1300]

For a start, the rust on the scuttle isn't structural. I have scraped and prodded with a screwdriver and its just surface bubbling. The tailgate can be changed. Jesus, why the negativity.

Also what do you mean by the paltry 5mpg gain? Gain over what?