AnnoyingPentium's Adventures - Fabia MOT Pass!

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 28/02/2023 at 20:12, AnnoyingPentium said:

For those who don't already know (although I've found it difficult to keep my mouth shut). I'm in the process of doing a big big stupid and acquiring the former-@Flat4 Ford Focus, a 1998 1.8 Ghia estate in some sort of white. It appears to be one of the earliest - if not the earliest - Focus estate in the country, or something like that, so that's "neat".

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Mmmmm, grim GHIA

😂

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:18, RoverFolkUs said:

Mmmmm, grim GHIA

😂

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To make it better, one of the gel inserts on a badge has went walkies...

Although, rest assured, I bought one off of @DeanH's breaker... Nero fiddling while Rome is burning etc etc.

[Wibble]

Sounds great, front wings are an easy replacement if needs be so I will follow this with interest as usual. Good luck mate!

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:21, Wibble said:

Sounds great, front wings are an easy replacement if needs be so I will follow this with interest as usual. Good luck mate!

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Thank you as always!

[RoverFolkUs]

Detaching the caravan would be a good start I think* ... Might help you find some solid metal! 😂

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:23, RoverFolkUs said:

Detaching the caravan would be a good start I think* ... Might help you find some solid metal! 😂

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Already done, it's just deceptive.

[RoverFolkUs]

All I can see is the rust now m8 😉

Now seeing that is not doing a great job of selling the idea to me but I wish you all the best with it 😂

[Flat4]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:15, Wibble said:

Wow, wasn’t expecting this! A pre-facelift mk1 indeed, must be a rare beast now. Any inner rear arches left?🙂

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I checked back there after the thread about another Mk1 going on fire when welding back there. All clean shiny metal. Surprisingly solid. Sills have already been replaced once. Outer rear arches are scabby but not bad. The worst bits are the front wings and those are easily replaced.

[RoverFolkUs]

Aren't they Zetec wheels?

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:26, RoverFolkUs said:

All I can see is the rust now m8 😉

Now seeing that is not doing a great job of selling the idea to me but I wish you all the best with it 😂

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Don't know what you're on about m8, she's mint... better than factory (and other lies we tell ourselves to feel better) 😂

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:26, RoverFolkUs said:

Aren't they Zetec wheels?

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Aye, after conversating with @Volksy (prev owner) I found out the wheels had come from a Zetec at some point along with the seats.

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:27, AnnoyingPentium said:

Don't know what you're on about m8, she's mint... better than factory (and other lies we tell ourselves to feel better) 😂

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Etc 😂

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:28, AnnoyingPentium said:

Aye, after conversating with @Volksy (prev owner) I found out the wheels had come from a Zetec at some point along with the seats.

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Ah so it doesn't have the luxurious* plush/velour seats? Superbly comfortable, even the cheaped out MK2 ones. Or leather as well I suppose which the MK1 GHIA had as an option.

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:30, RoverFolkUs said:

Ah so it doesn't have the luxurious* plush/velour seats? Superbly comfortable, even the cheaped out MK2 ones. Or leather as well I suppose which the MK1 GHIA had as an option.

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Sadly without velour, if it doesn't cost much to put this one right, I'll consider a set of velour seats if they're cheap enough, but I'd rather not put too much money into this like I did with the Skoda, as then I've got two cars and no money, and not no cars and two money.

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 28/02/2023 at 22:32, AnnoyingPentium said:

Sadly without velour, if it doesn't cost much to put this one right, I'll consider a set of velour seats if they're cheap enough, but I'd rather not put too much money into this like I did with the Skoda, as then I've got two cars and no money, and not no cars and two money.

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Yep, read again; fiddling while Rome burns etc

[JMotor]

I already knew. But let's not spoil the moment.

That's class. 

Should be a good little project to chip away at. Doing the bare minimum to make it AN CAR, getting a ticket and then throw money at it to make it look better. The rust not being a major issue is the biggest win.

 

[Yoss]

Nice early one, it'll be MOT exempt soon*. Good luck. 

[big_al_granvia]

I am glad it's being restored, it looks a lot worse than it is, mechanicals are good (bar a couple of things), shell is solid apart from wings. Paint will come back with a good da polish... Had we not bought a manual v70 it would have been done

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 01/03/2023 at 10:07, JMotor said:

I already knew. But let's not spoil the moment.

That's class. 

Should be a good little project to chip away at. Doing the bare minimum to make it AN CAR, getting a ticket and then throw money at it to make it look better. The rust not being a major issue is the biggest win.

 

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  On 01/03/2023 at 10:21, Yoss said:

Nice early one, it'll be MOT exempt soon*. Good luck. 

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Cheers both. I don't want to say it won't need much done, as that's just asking for trouble... 😂

  On 01/03/2023 at 10:40, big_al_granvia said:

I am glad it's being restored, it looks a lot worse than it is, mechanicals are good (bar a couple of things), shell is solid apart from wings. Paint will come back with a good da polish... Had we not bought a manual v70 it would have been done

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Aye, I'd wanted the car ever since I'd clapped eyes on it when I was up visiting yous the first time. The paintwork definitely will come up nicely, might just need a hand polish but we'll see, that'll be the final thing to do.

I've managed to get a fuel pump for it and some other goodies. Couple of other wee odds and ends will be bought to complete it once it has a ticket on it, estimated time for that is about sometime in 2024.

[crad]

how many ghia's has it got?

 

(this was the best ghia pun i could come up with)

[RoverFolkUs]

  On 01/03/2023 at 13:28, crad said:

how many ghia's has it got?

 

(this was the best ghia pun i could come up with)

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Its got all the ghia you could ever ask for 😉

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I love the MK1 Focus estate.  My Mum had a 1.8  in lowly LX spec on a V-reg.  That would have been the coolest car she ever owned but the car that preceeded that was an H-reg Volvo 240.

There may have been an incident where I threw up whilst sat in the middle back seat on the way back from a party when I was 14 after I'd downed a very large number of alcopops at a fancy dress party.  It was never quite the same afterwards.  The smell did eventually go...

[sierraman]

They tend to rot from where the boot floor meets the inner arch all the way round to the trailing arm/seatbelt mounts. Under the seal sealer

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 01/03/2023 at 15:12, sierraman said:

They tend to rot from where the boot floor meets the inner arch all the way round to the trailing arm/seatbelt mounts. Under the seal sealer

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Thank you, I'll keep that in mind.

I've been eyeing up all the 'Ask a Shiter' and other threads about these cars to try and gather as much information as I can about these cars. Just so I've got a 'head start'

[reb]

I'm glad I don't have to work on this shed...

[big_al_granvia]

  On 01/03/2023 at 15:12, sierraman said:

They tend to rot from where the boot floor meets the inner arch all the way round to the trailing arm/seatbelt mounts. Under the seal sealer

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this one is solid

[AnnoyingPentium]

It has now been two years since I bought the Skoda. Bloody hell.

Also bought this keyring, from a guy via FB Marketplace. No point really, but it'll complete the car... as will the holes in the front wing.

[LoftyvRS]

Solid chodding there Ryan. My ex had a 1999 2.0 Ghia 5dr, and it was a solid dependable old thing. Bit like the ex tbh.

The Ghia seats were a velour pleasure palace to sit in, coupled with the plastic wood dash is was almost luxurious. The 2.0 was a thirsty bastard though. Bit like the ex tbh.

Hers also suffered with the plastic chrome boot strip rubbing through the paint and leaving a stain on the back end. Bit like the ex tbh.

[AnnoyingPentium]

  On 06/03/2023 at 16:55, LoftyvRS said:

Solid chodding there Ryan. My ex had a 1999 2.0 Ghia 5dr, and it was a solid dependable old thing. Bit like the ex tbh.

The Ghia seats were a velour pleasure palace to sit in, coupled with the plastic wood dash is was almost luxurious. The 2.0 was a thirsty bastard though. Bit like the ex tbh.

Hers also suffered with the plastic chrome boot strip rubbing through the paint and leaving a stain on the back end. Bit like the ex tbh.

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Thanks Matt. Had me giggling there with the ending bits, haha.

Sadly I'm without velour, as it's got Zetec seats as I've mentioned before. It'll depend what I can get cheaply if I do fancy replacing them. According to Flat4 the 1.8 is a bit thirsty, but given it doesn't actually start at the moment it's saving me a fortune!

The chrome boot trim seems to be a common issue with them. I'll try and tidy it up where I can.

[AnnoyingPentium]

I've finally done what @SiC told me to do months ago and order a purge valve for the breather system on the Skoda.

We'll see the outcome in time.

As for the Focus, I've done nothing unless thinking about the problems counts towards something? Oh, and I've bought some odds and ends to accompany it all, including an "INTERACTIVE CD-ROM MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE" thing that seems kinda cool.