Trackshite Puma - Replacing rear seats with bigger boot

[Sloth in a bowl]

I picked it up a day early and it is a Ford Puma, with:

• Some but not much of the usual rust, though it needs a good clean of all the rust traps
• 
  
• A clutch that operates at the top of the travel
• 
  
• Beautiful gear shift and steering
• 
  
• 117k on the 1.7 motor
• 
  
• Brake disks that you could play at 33 or 45, I can't believe how bad they feel.
• 
  
• 11 months of MoT
• 
  

all in at £350

 

it needs fairly soon:

• a good service
• 
  
• new front disks and pads 
• 
  
• a new clutch and slave cylinder
• 
  

so about £200-250 in parts and a lazy weekend of effort

and to top it all off, I find out that I bought it off the boyfriend of one of the girls that I work with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[320touring]

Looks good- will get the Volvo badge in the post presently;)

 

Stripping it out to buggery are we?

[Sloth in a bowl]

Looks good- will get the Volvo badge in the post presently;)

 

Stripping it out to buggery are we?

 

 

The rear seats are only useful if you have no legs, it will be on a diet soon enough, though mechanically I will keep it close to standard to start with.

[fairkens]

Is it just the light or is the back wheel not quite straight in the first photo?

 

I'm jealous though, I love these but haven't seen one in years that hasn't been rusted out

[Bren]

Arches look like they are on their way. Chop them off?

[beko1987]

God i miss my puma! Get on the project puma site to flog your stuff, thats where i went.

 

look forward to hearing of the rust! Mine was blobby all over the floorpan, if you have the carpet out youll see! With the rear trim out you can see the back of the arches, whats left of them anyway...

[Vince70]

That's a lovely looking little motor..you must be a man with impeccable taste In houses as well as you can't get better than a bit of 30s mock Tudor..

 

That's the kind of house I like and if I ever manage to get one it will to have the sunshine style front door and some lovely oak paneling and floors plus Bakelite light switches..

 

I did hear that you can cut the rot out of puma arches and use some Peugeot 206 arches to make up a new set.

[RichL]

Like it. Great cheap track tool these are now if still solid, which this one must be with 11 months MOT.

 

Enjoy!

[HMC]

Great! These are at their low point value wise I recon. Add a few years worth of " Ain't worth fixin" MOT attrition as numbers drop and I recon decent survivors will start going up in value.

[fordperv]

I also looked at the picture and thought the back wheel was toeing out, great little revvy things these are

[Sloth in a bowl]

Is it just the light or is the back wheel not quite straight in the first photo?

 

I'm jealous though, I love these but haven't seen one in years that hasn't been rusted out

 

 

The back wheels are straight, it's just the angle of picture and light playing tricks.

[Inspector Morose]

Want some pit crew? MIDLANDS MASSIV ASSEMBLE!

[MarvinsMom]

i wonder how long will it be before these are subjected to the OMGOSFSCENETAXYO?

[Sloth in a bowl]

Want some pit crew? MIDLANDS MASSIV ASSEMBLE!

 

I will be assembling the Midlands Massive for a bit of spanner work and to share tyre shredding duties.

[Pillock]

Want some people to poke the arches and drink tea? MIDLANDS MASSIV ASSEMBLE!

 

 

Fixxedit.

[sierraman]

The clapped out brakes are irrelevant really as for some serious track use you would give the brakes an overhaul in any case. A pair of 30,000 mile old Eicher pads and some Ebay discs won't last long on track use.

[bub2006]

I will be assembling the Midlands Massive for a bit of spanner work and to share tyre shredding duties.

I'll wield a spanner matey. Glad to help if I can.

[Aston Martin]

206 arch mod incoming...

[beko1987]

I think repair arch panels are available from foreign-land, and someone was trying to organise a group buy of repair panels, but nothing came of it. 206 arches apparently work as above, although something about opposites, so LH 206 arch to RH puma rear. Can't remember now though.

 

Lucky for you it's a track car, so you wont need to worry about water pissing into the boot if you open it when it rains, boot struts failing (which can be a bonus as apparently the boot is supposed to spring open with the key, a bad idea if it's raining...), rust will make it lighter! I doubt any nikasil issues will be a bother either as it's still running, so must be ok.

 

The air-con pump shat itself in mine, it worked at speed, but drop to idle with the aircon on and the car would stall/nearly stall. Think the bearings were fucked. Mine also had a crap battery, so if it doesnt start and the dials swoop around when you turn it on you have a flat battery, and need to catch SWMBO as she drives off for work for a jump...

 

They are fucking gr9 in the snow though. First thing I did when it snowed was go out for a drive. As an in-experienced driver I learnt alot that night! 

 

If I didn't have Eva, and could deal with the fuel consumption and rust I;d jump for another tbh. Proper chuckable, the only car that came close to the same speeds I could do Marlow-Stokenchurch was the XM, and only because it kept itself flat with fast cornering! Used to love baiting dickheads with my 'girls car'...

 

Y874RCB, gone but not forgotten!

 

This was the night I got it stuck in a field with a fucked clutch...

 

 

 

 

 

Made the ITV news that day, camera chap thought we had broken down, we were actually looking at the steep hill towards where SWMBO works and deciding she should sack that off for the day. He smiled as I departed sideways!

 

 

 

 

This was also the car that taught me not to fuck about washing it when there's lots of rust/fucked exhaust/fucked engine/fucked other things! Hence why the ZX is filthy but gets fixed! Only broke even with the Puma due to the leather that a student bought with his loan, and came over for the day to fit it all!

[cort16]

Great wee cars these I wish I'd held into mine a bit longer as I'd did shit loads to it including replacing one of the aches . Just check the oil regularly and pull all the crud out the inner wheel arches .

[beko1987]

Take the shag pile arch liners out! Then still rinse it down then dry it after every outing!

[Sloth in a bowl]

Take the shag pile arch liners out! Then still rinse it down then dry it after every outing!

 

 

I noticed these rubbish items and wondered if removing them was the first sensible thing to do with the car.

[Sloth in a bowl]

First impression s on driving Puma to work. It's not as quick as the Skoda, it doesn't steer as well or brake as well. The mirrors are pants and the seat is 2 inches too high. On the motorway it needs another gear.

 

I love it.

 

It's got the back road chuckable pep of the Y10 with decent pedals and the easy limit finding of the Kia Pride. I want to drive it like a bad boy everywhere. Me and this car are going to have a right bunch of giggles.

[Taff]

I think repair arch panels are available from foreign-land, and someone was trying to organise a group buy of repair panels, but nothing came of it. 206 arches apparently work as above, although something about opposites, so LH 206 arch to RH puma rear. Can't remember now though.

 

wheel arch repair is great fun. I used VW transporter arched for the Galaxie, they were a close enough fit and hidden under the trims, so a bit of "adaptability" didn't really show.

[cort16]

The seats are too high. I found it to be the right mix of weight and power and the engine has got some vvt-yo pull at high revs without feeling sluggish at lower revs.

 

I used a scrap front from wing from a KIA Cee'd to fix my wheel arch. It's a very simple arch on the puma so if you can find a reasonably plain front wing you can cut the arch out that and weld it into the rear of the puma.

 

This was mine after the repair. I painted it myself too and was quite chuffed with the result.

puma1 by cort16, on Flickr

 

I also fitted a new door, wheel, fixed the front wing, gave it a full service then sold it for less than I paid and spent on it. 

 

P.S. The doors don't come off very easily.

 

puma door by cort16, on Flickr

[Angry Sheep]

Mine was ace, shouldn't have sold it really. More fun than my MX-5. I put winter tyres on it and it was an absolute beast.

 

 

Feck it, I might buy another.

[beko1987]

When i sold the drivers door from mine I had to get my stepdad and the bloke who bought it to wriggle the door as i hit the pins out to get it off, they are tight.

 

Fucking heavy too once off!

 

A puma bonnet fits into a mondeo saloon with the rear seats down...

[Sloth in a bowl]

So today I started spending money on the Puma.

 

£65 got me a fuel filter, air filter, pollen filter, sparks, oil filter and 5 litres of 5w30 synth oil

 

£80 got me a clutch and slave cylinder

 

1 hour after getting home I had replaced the air filter, pollen filter and sparks which isn't quick but I spent a fair bit of time removing oil from around the old spark plugs.

Yep the top end leaks oil into the gully.

 

Apart from that I had a further look over and under the car, somebody has up until relatively recently looked after this little thing.

 

 

 

 

 

[nacho man]

I have gotta get me one of these soon.

[RichL]

Clutch and slave for £80 is a bargain. 

 

I've heard of Zetec-SE engines leaking a little oil through the spark plug well's, should be OK if you keep an eye on the oil level.

 

Sills look good