project Early Mondeo Saloon Saved From The Scrapman.

[Liggle]

Oh wow, had to double take then. My grandad had an ex-demo/press Si with reg K545HAR! Looks like it was scrapped sometime in 2006. 

[wuvvum]

That is superb.  Like you say, it seems to have done amazingly well given the length of time it's sat (outside).

[They_all_do_that_sir]

That is bloody fantastic.

I had one exactly like this but 1.8. it was one of my favourite cars, and I stupidly sold it when a Mégane coupe became available. Should have sold the Mégane and kept the Mondeo

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[blakey79]

Wow, and wow, lucky you....very interested in the progress with this....

Love Mondeos, have owned 5, I will check the garage see if I have any relevant spares..

 

[BorniteIdentity]

I absolutely can’t wait to meet this in the tin. It seems to be a different colour in every photograph but looks the same as my Dad’s Mondeo was (M828GFP). 
 

Cayman Blue? 

[sutty2006]

Heroes wear beige capes. You sir need a beige cape for all this heroing you’re doing . 

[Slowsilver]

3 hours ago, beko1987 said:

That's brilliant! If you ever want it polishing... 

When can you come over?
Oh no, it's lockdown isn't it.
Damn!
Maybe later when the world has returned to as nearly normal as it ever will we can meet up at the FoD for a valeting session.

4 hours ago, egg said:

Huzzah! Huzzah! Brilliant. Welcome to K plate club.

PAS fluid at correct level? How does the pressure switch look?
 

Hadn't checked anything when I posted.
Low water level light was on. Thought I could see some in the bottom of the header tank but added some more anyway. Took quite a lot so maybe had been drained out. Low water level light now out. Left it running, it warmed up nicely, temperature gauge sat at normal and electric cooling fan did not cut in.
Checked the power steering fluid. There didn't appear to be any. How the hell can all the fluid disappear? As far as I know it is oil based, similar to ATF, so it presumably doesn't evaporate and would be very difficult to drain out, and why would you?
Fortunately I had half a bottle of fluid in stock which was left over from a previous job I did, so I poured this in and had just enough to fill it. Started it up again and, hurrah, power assistance returned. Turning the wheels from lock to lock slowly to bleed out the air resulted in nasty, graunchy, load-dependent bearing noises from the pump, but it worked. I then remembered reading somewhere that the fluid was not only used to assist the steering but also to lubricate the pump bearings, so I left it running and slowly turned the steering at intervals and eventually the noises subsided. Another zero cost repair.

3 hours ago, NorthernMonkey said:

You’ve got to call it Ben ??

Or HARry?

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

Lovely stuff. Check the ends of the sills out and the inner arch tubs as they rot like fuck.

The handbrake is shit by design, frequently they make a racket due to the rear cylinders leaking. I’d be tempted to strip the rear brakes down and make sure the shoes are adjusted correctly.

Have had a cursory poke at the ends of the sills. They still appear to clang rather than crunch, so fingers crossed they are OK. I need to get right under it at some point for a proper examination.
I think (hope) that the handbrake problem is just a stuck ratchet pawl. It had obviously seized on as it took a lot of effort to push the release button in, so I suspect the return spring cannot now pull it back into engagement with the pawl. If the lever is pulled up and held there the rear wheels do lock, so I think the actual brake mechanism is OK.
The first major job I intend to tackle is stripping and inspecting the rear brakes, since this was supposedly the reason for the last MoT failure. The most obvious reason I can think of for poor handbrake and unbalanced rear footbrake would be a leaking wheel cylinder on one side which will have dumped brake fluid all over the linings. However, this would not explain the ABS light staying on, which it presumably didn't do at the last MoT. We shall see in due course.

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

You did well to get it, a 2.0 Saloon is prime banger racing material! 

Hadn't thought of that. Good job it didn't get advertised anywhere. Hope I didn't do the lady out of decent money for it.

2 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

I see it came with some bonus cassettes too, anything good?

Shirley Bassey and Diana Ross. Not my scene but suitably period so will stay with the car.

2 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

HAR was a series of registration numbers that Ford used for press cars.

It appears that I am the fourth owner. The first owner is unknown but had the car for exactly a year. Could have been a Ford press car or maybe a lease jobbie. Second owner was Lex Vehicle Leasing, who only had it for six months, then the previous owner had it from early 1995  until now.

29 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Cayman Blue? 

Correct. Paint code on VIN plate is H3, which comes back as Cayman Blue.

 

[Slowsilver]

Oops. Forgot the most obvious question. Does anyone on here have a spare manual for the Mark 1 Mondeo that I could purchase?
HBOL or anything similar would be gratefully received.
 

[Flat4]

So good to see this saved! The first car I ever bought was a mk2 Mondeo and this is more rare than that!

[BorniteIdentity]

This is a tremendous tremendous purchase. Twice today I’m jealous of other people’s purchases! 

[Zelandeth]

That's a bloody fantastic save.  Looks to have survived surprisingly well given how long it's sat around.

The quoted repair bill sounds like the garage not wanting the work.  See also the lot who told me my Xantia needed north of £1500 worth of work for an MOT.  My local garage when looking at it came back with it needing a lower control arm bush and the exhaust sorting.

I must have washed dozens of these back at the garage, can't remember when I last saw an early one though (FotU excepted of course!).

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Slowsilver said:

Oops. Forgot the most obvious question. Does anyone on here have a spare manual for the Mark 1 Mondeo that I could purchase?
HBOL or anything similar would be gratefully received.
 

I can't send it but I do have the Ford dealer workshop manual if you need any particular info - can send you relevant images.

[egg]

28 minutes ago, Slowsilver said:

Fortunately I had half a bottle of fluid in stock which was left over from a previous job I did, so I poured this in and had just enough to fill it. Started it up again and, hurrah, power assistance returned. Turning the wheels from lock to lock slowly to bleed out the air resulted in nasty, graunchy, load-dependent bearing noises from the pump, but it worked. I then remembered reading somewhere that the fluid was not only used to assist the steering but also to lubricate the pump bearings, so I left it running and slowly turned the steering at intervals and eventually the noises subsided. Another zero cost repair.

Yeah, Ford PAS pumps have a reputation for noise I think - mine is hardly quiet. Check the PAS pipes that run along the front subframe (left hand side as you stand in front of the car) they can rot out as exposed - they are on the low pressure side and run to the cooler at the front of the car.  My PAS system leaked through the pressure switch when I changed fluid once, which was why I mentioned it earlier on. 

[Andyrew]

That's a lovely car and a lovely story.  Top Work!

 

[spartacus]

Nice save! I worked at a Ford dealer when these were new, driving a 2.0 saloon home was always a treat, they were ahead of most of the competition at the time.

[sierraman]

3 hours ago, The Mighty Quinn said:

The Si had the final drive from a 1.6/1.8. In knew a guy who worked on the DB7 project in 1993/4 and he had one from Ford in that Citrine yellow colour.

 

Such a great car and K platers must be almost extinct now.

No, the pre 95 2.0 Si had the France spec close ratio box. The conventional 1.6/1.8 runs standard box. 

[sierraman]

Fluid probably pissed out from the drivers side PAS fluid carrier pipe,I sold a crusty but leak free one for £50 last year, you could fabricate one easily DIY though. They’re mega money new old stock from ford though. 

[MarvinsMom]

great cars the original, mark 1 mondeo.

i've not seen one in years, must be years as i have not seen one running live and free in forever.

much like the original focus, they are i think a hugely underrated car. i found them to be a really nice drive, with proper comfortable seats,an attractive dashboard and driving position.

they are also very, attractive car too, much more so than any of the mondeos that have followed it,

top save!! 

[motorpunk]

Fantastic! I particularly like the wheels.

I hope you don’t chuck the old boys hat and gloves away, and (at the risk of sounding high and mighty) will you take the daughter a box of chocs or something as a thank you? You’ve got a bargain there.

looking forward to updates. Lovely car you have!

 

[RoadworkUK]

That's absolutely superb. Really.

Being the sentimental bastard I am, I reckon you should send a Christmas card every year from it to her.

[adw1977]

Great save!

[Isaac Hunt]

That's a 'lockdown lifesaver' of a project is that.  A great tale, perfect timing and saved the daughter the process of 'getting rid'.

i'm surprised it fired up so readily on that stale fuel, but it did so no worries..

[stuboy]

bloody brilliant save

[danthecapriman]

Brilliant! They’re still a very good looking car even after all these years. 

I used to work on shit loads of these when I was in the garage. Seems odd now that they’ve almost completely vanished!

[greengartside]

Wow! You are the man for saving this! Absolutely right up my street this is.

I’ve mentioned this before, but my dad had a very early Mk1 between 1997 and 2005. It was built in Genk on 26.1.93 and registered 2.3.93 so a very early one. 

There were 1000 or so K*** SVE Mondeos which were either demonstration vehicles or loaned to House of Commons MP’s for evaluation and trials. A lot of them were block-registered in trim levels, so there’s a set amount of LX, GLX, Ghia etc.

There is one pre-production Mondeo Ghia I recently discovered. K615 GEV. Registered December 1992 and untaxed as of February 1993.

Do you have the rechargeable torch in the glovebox? These are mega rare now.

EDIT: spotted on Flickr by Flickrite Adam Floyd.

https://flic.kr/p/27ASsHZ

 

[brownnova]

Top save!! Love seeing cars revived from festering on driveways. Amazing how it fired up so easily and seems generally ok. Well jell... 

152/10

Gr9 Shiting. 

[Out Run]

Brilliant save! Looks like you are the right pair of hands to revive and look after this one.

My dad used to have a grey 4dr Si. I’ve always been a fan. The saloon was definitely the best looking of these.

Are you going to pressure wash her drive? I would!

[Billy - Medhurst]

K546 HAR - 1993 Ford Mondeo 2.0i Ghia by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

[KWhite]

Epic!! from the same batch as mine!

 

[Spiny Norman]

Superb! ?
These early Mondeos were fantastic cars, looking forward to seeing this returning to active service.