'93 Mondy thread - MOT pass

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

Seriously, give this a bit of Vulgalourization and in a couple of years this will be MASSIVELY VALUABLE.

 

 

Christ no. Poor thing doesn't deserve that. 

[fordperv]

 

*EDIT - the yellowing in the headlights is down to the plastic filter fitted to change the beam, these yellow due to heat and general old-ness. Can still be bought from Ford IIRC.

The Autoshite way is to remove the plastic filter and remove the yellowing with t cut, been there and done that

[320touring]

This is very much full of win!good effort:)

[sierraman]

A lot of whether the bottom arms last depends on the final tightening being done torque to yield. Gearbox side used to be tricky as you effectively needed to lower the subframe to get the bolts in top down as there wasn't enough clearance from the gearbox. Of course most people just cut the old bolts out then put the bolts in from underneath. You would be pushed to find any OE Ford arms now. Poly bushing is one way round it but the actual ball joint goes with similar regularity to the bushes.

 

I'm being a right pedant here but it's got the wrong antifreeze in. It looks blue to me, the zetec requires OATS red stuff. If I can think of anymore criticisms I'll let you know.

[sierraman]

I look after this Mondog on a regular basis for my old man. 67k on the clock!

[egg]

Spend a few pounds on it. Keep it in good nick and you can still make money in a year when you become bored with it. Can you not just adjust mirror by hand or would you break it. I mean by pushing the mirror itself.

 

It may be that it is possible to reconnect the arm inside the car - if not looks like £20 on ebay for a replacement.

 

I might have got the HBOL in the loft for one having had Mondeos for 10 years now, it ought be my specialist subject on Mastermind.

 

Thanks - I have just bought one now - new ones available on ebay for £6, I thought I'd treat myself!

 

Awesome buy - I had a 1.8 lx of similar vintage.

 

They eat lower arms, replace with genuine Ford ones (assuming they still exist) and do tracking

 

They also eat HT leads, decent brand a must

 

One of the best cars I owned.

 

 

In this months Practical Classics in 'Staff Car Sagas' Matt George has bought an L reg Mondeo 1.8 GLX. His airbag light was flashing and web research says it's quite common. It is the airbag squib or 'clock spring' that needs replacing. They did the job, but that didn't cure the flashing. He found there is a multiplug for the airbag at the bottom of the steering column - this was loose and not making a good connection....

 

Thanks for that - will check out the multiplug - it would be a great 'cheap fix' in Edd China style-ee

 

A lot of whether the bottom arms last depends on the final tightening being done torque to yield. Gearbox side used to be tricky as you effectively needed to lower the subframe to get the bolts in top down as there wasn't enough clearance from the gearbox. Of course most people just cut the old bolts out then put the bolts in from underneath. You would be pushed to find any OE Ford arms now. Poly bushing is one way round it but the actual ball joint goes with similar regularity to the bushes.

 

I'm being a right pedant here but it's got the wrong antifreeze in. It looks blue to me, the zetec requires OATS red stuff. If I can think of anymore criticisms I'll let you know.

 

Thanks for this and advice from 'they all do that sir' (appropriate) above - this looks like a must do, as above 40 mph - it is wandering too much for comfort.

 

Agree re: antifreeze, good spot, it is red in my Fusion Duratec too.

[HillmanImp]

I used to get brochures from that main stealer as a kid.

 

Can confirm, also called it Muff Killer.

[egg]

This car had its first 7-8 services all at that dealer. I will get in touch to see if they ever did the cambelt! (long shot  )

[Pillock]

Here's a teaser.

Next to the headlamp switch there's a blanking plate. There's a blanking plate on every single Mk1 Mondeo I've ever been in. Round.

My bosses old Ghia X leather cruise fancy stereo fuel computer every option ticked model had a blanking plate.

The ones in the brochures all have blanking plates, despite them being posh fully optioned models.

 

What on earth is that hole made for??!? It's been bugging me for 10 bloody years.

[Alexg]

Winner! Nice work!!

[tapir]

nice work there and a KISS plate too!

[sierraman]

Here's a teaser.

Next to the headlamp switch there's a blanking plate. There's a blanking plate on every single Mk1 Mondeo I've ever been in. Round.

My bosses old Ghia X leather cruise fancy stereo fuel computer every option ticked model had a blanking plate.

The ones in the brochures all have blanking plates, despite them being posh fully optioned models.

 

What on earth is that hole made for??!? It's been bugging me for 10 bloody years.

Headlamp height adjust, the oblong one is the rheostat for the instruments. Ford fitted two looms to the Mondeo mk1, a high spec and low spec one. High being fitted to GLX above. This means a lot of upgrades are literally buy the switch and plug it in. On the loom you should have fitted the wiring might be there for both the fog lamps and the rheostat. High spec ones usually have the wiring for the elec seats and sunroof even if they are fitted manual.

[egg]

Just another footnote, the seller normally buys Mondy's to sell on to the banger racers - but thought this one was too good!

 

He was up in Kent with his truck to pick up a broken car that had gone wrong within 2 weeks of (2nd hand) purchase - an Alfa 147....

[Pillock]

Headlamp height adjust, the oblong one is the rheostat for the instruments. Ford fitted two looms to the Mondeo mk1, a high spec and low spec one. High being fitted to GLX above. This means a lot of upgrades are literally buy the switch and plug it in. On the loom you should have fitted the wiring might be there for both the fog lamps and the rheostat. High spec ones usually have the wiring for the elec seats and sunroof even if they are fitted manual.

 

Where were you ten years ago when it was bugging me?

 

I knew about the looms, on my Verona I lobbed in the footwell lights and the little lamps behind the door handles so it must have been a high spec loom - the Verona was the run-out model, I think when it was first registered you could already buy a Mk2 but there were dozens of consecutive registrations all identical - fleet order, most likely. Footwell lamps were just a case of putting bulbs in!

I also sussed out that I could put a trip computer out of a Ghia in it, but there was some function or other that needed more parts fitting - distance to empty perhaps? I seem to remember I needed a more sensitive tank sender or something so I bailed, all the wiring was there though. Oh, and when I popped the heated front windscreen blank off, there was a connector there ready to go. I did consider putting a switch on it, cracking the windscreen and trying to convince the fitter it was meant to have a heated jobbie but the last fitter must have got it wrong.

[sierraman]

The mk1 low spec had the wiring for the footwell lights but the mk2 didn't. There being 2 veronas, the first in 1995 based on the LX, the second being on the run out models as seen in the one above. The mk1's were if my memory serves me correctly mostly in met green with a dark upholstery unique to the model. You are probably right about the heated screen you should only need the relay and the screen, the only fly in the ointment being the heated screen costed over £500 as a replacement item.

 

For the trip computer it got a bit more complicated, the external temp just req a sensor fitted behind the bumper near the screen wash res. As far as working out range etc this required various sensors in the fuel system.

 

Where was I? Probably pissing about trying to add the Ghia spec light up sun blinds.

[sierraman]

This was without doubt the best £550 I ever spent. Bought at 60k, took it to 130k, never let me down once. Sold it in the end 3 years ago for £275. Lost £275 in depreciation over the 7 years I had it. Bugger. I've known people that's lost that in a week.

[Pillock]

Yeah, my Verona was Juice Green with dark interior. Should have had Verona badges on the front wings but they were missing, I tried to get some from a scappy and stick them in my socks but they were surprisingly brittle. The badges, not my socks. 

 

The only thing that bugged me was it looked quite smart but only had trimz on it, so a trip to a scrappy in Worksop revealed a set of quite nice ford OEM alloys that he only wanted £100 for. He reckoned Scorpio, had a browse around the internet later and they turned out to be 17" ST200 multispokes.

[sierraman]

Biggest I went was 205 55 16s from an ST200. I've often fancied an ST200 but a lot are rotten as fuck, for some reason the later ones went rotten round the filler cap and the trailing edge of the rear wings. Plus the drop links and bottom arms being ubiquitous to that and the Cougar are difficult to find at the drop of a hat.

[spartacus]

Nice purchase, when all the bushes after in good shape these are fine handling cars. That pinky orange color might have been Coral, the camp fleet sales manager ran one that colour, until he got discovered for selling cars at a loss in order to reach monthly unit targets... Then he got fired.

[beko1987]

i realy realy want a mk1 mondeo now! dad had a P reg white one as a company car once. I remember the cd changer jamming regularly...

[sierraman]

My main gripe was how unsuitable the zetec was for a family car, it had bugger all torque from bottom end, if you took it north of 4,000 rpm it went like fuck, which was fine if you were pasting it. Not if you wanted all round flexibility

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Top purchase! Dealer sticker is from my local Ford dealership. Known locally as Muff Killer. 

 

I used to get brochures from that main stealer as a kid.

 

Can confirm, also called it Muff Killer.

 

Me too. All my grandad's cars were from there and it was my primary brochure source. Just think, we might have unknowingly staged a little Shiter gathering years before the board existed. 

[andrew e]

A Zeta not Zetec engine (well rocker cover) too. I think Lancia kicked up a stink about "Zeta" the swines.

[Pillock]

Nice purchase, when all the bushes after in good shape these are fine handling cars. That pinky orange color might have been Coral, the camp fleet sales manager ran one that colour, until he got discovered for selling cars at a loss in order to reach monthly unit targets... Then he got fired.

 

I reckon you'd be right.

 

 

This car appears to be Rimini Blue rather than the controversial Isis Blue

[sierraman]

The Zeta was in the Escort XR3i mk5, same engine but was renamed by the time the Mondeo come out. The early Zetecs featured the plenum as seen here, they disbanded this around 95.

[Spottedlaurel]

Good luck with it. They're not something I'd particularly want to own but I'm photographing early Mk1s now and, like any once-common car that will inevitably become rare, I'm happy that others are keeping some going.

 

I'm another who used to drive them back in the day. The company I worked for had a few on the fleet and if I borrowed something for trips out, or a car was hired for me, chances are it would be a Mondeo of some sort (but sometimes 405/406, Laguna or Xantia). Most were LX-spec, and I didn't much like the slightly gloomy interior or those of them that had the diesel engines. Can't remember anything bad about the petrol ones though.

 

The age of this one has got me thinking, as it's the equivalent of random, ex-OAP 1980s things like Accord, Starlet and 323 that I was picking up for very modest sums of money 9-10 years ago, and which then made excellent daily drivers. I find it slightly difficult to comprehend how something that seems as new to me as a Mondeo is now offering the same opportunity. 20-ish years of age seems to be the sweet-spot for getting decent, long-term owner cars before people realise how rare they've become and prices go up.

[andrew e]

I reckon the Ghia specific* Coral Mondeos will be rarer than the citrine Si's (forgetting the LHD science museum one!) in future OSF tax. A Ghia 4x4 with adaptive dampers being the grail!

 

*Excludes Escort Mark 5 cabriolets

[sierraman]

The 4x4 was a funny one, it had a kink in the pass footwell for the 4x4 gear, same in the boot it had a smaller space what with different mountings. There was once one in the local breakers, it was a 4x4 but with cloth genuine recaros, in black, never seen them before or since, they looked factory spec. It was a white 2.0 Si one, wish I'd had the seats, but at the time he wanted something insane for them. But in the usual beligerant scrapyard owner sense of value he likely got fuck all for them when it got baled.

 

That's another story when it comes to scrapyards, they are in a commercial sense badly run as the toothless goons you get will say something's £200 one week then bale it the week after.

[scruff]

 

Me too. All my grandad's cars were from there and it was my primary brochure source. Just think, we might have unknowingly staged a little Shiter gathering years before the board existed. 

 

Yep, me too!! My dad's P100 came from Muffs and I clearly remember getting the first Mondeo brochure pack when it was new. The chief salesman was a super 80s 'tache was Martin-something, I'll remember it later but he was there for donkeys years and very accommodating to brochure hunting schoolkids. Happy days! 

[RobT]

My main gripe was how unsuitable the zetec was for a family car, it had bugger all torque from bottom end, if you took it north of 4,000 rpm it went like fuck, which was fine if you were pasting it. Not if you wanted all round flexibility

Agree with that. Around town I have to rev mine more than I want to just to make progress, whereas the equivalent 2 litre Cav just needs a light prod and it's off!