Rebuild of a police spec Fiesta Pop ;-) Pt 4 valeted

[Anglevan]

Ok it's not a police car - but this is how I remeber em, stick police on door and blue light on roof and we are away..

 

 

 

Basically my son (then 15) took an interest in motors like they do, and seemed a good idea at the time to help rebuild one (my dad did the same with with a 1964 Anglia) so felt rite to carry on the tradition. He would have a liked a Mk1 Festa but scene tax and rotton motors killed that. So found the above on ebay and paid £200 to end auction early, it's a 3 owner car, last since the early nineties, 45,000 genuine and looked straight and honest car perfect for a newby. It's the 950 povety spec popular model with the added not so nice pop up roof but eh oh it adds shite points.

 

Came with a wod of docs

 

 

and the old boy part ex'd a Talbot Sunbeam (no more - I checked) so I like the old guy already (sadly passed away)

 

 

Oh and I googled the garage and they are still going and sell the Aixim (is that how you spell it) so it just gets better.

 

The car had been off the road since 2005 and has only done less than 10,000 since purchased. I suspect it was parked with the nose up as most of the rot was to the rear of the car, I did get a failure sheet with the car but I can't find it but basically in 2005 it failed on front number plate, a broken spring and rot to sills..

 

 

 

 

 

rot to n/s/r arch area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is the seat belt reinforcer, i've modded this slightly as it's a major reason these rot so much - i've basically lifted it slightly so it's not touching the outer sill

 

 

 

 

outer arch cut off as too much rot in to repair - panels bought from a handy shop in Castleford, very good

 

 

inner arch welded in

 

 

 

and the outer arch on - seemed all way round

 

 

More to come - basically the plan is it's to remain standard - the deal is that on his 17 birthday if he still wants it then it gets signed over (he's 16 now) he's not allowed to mod the engine or suspension - thats the deal - not till at least he has some driving experiance.

[Pillock]

Wow, good save that - looks pretty good to be honest on the topside, and you're cracking on with the bottom well. Are you going to resist the temptation to ebay a blue light for the top?

I wish I had a Blanking Plate Factory when that model was conceived, I'd have been making a mint off Ford! Is that the one with the twirly knobs on the end of the dash for the heater controls? It's a pretty cool design inside to be honest, purely functional but with a bit of thought to it instead of a full-width expanse of plastic.

[Anglevan]

I did think about the police side of it but dont think my lad would be too keen yes it is blanking panel heaven on the dash, the wires are there to connect stuff up / but this is totally boggo spec, and yes it has the twiddly dash things for the heater. Engine sounds as sweet as a nut and has that rasp that they all had (or it did, it's just developed a miss fire - but i'll put that down to being stood)

[scooters]

top work fellah! its gonna look splendid - i luve the grey plastic!

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. My first car was a Fezza Mk2 Poplier. Wish it had been exposed to skills like that rather than just being destroyed by a 17 year old me...

[VWPowered]

stuff of kings

 

i used to own a c reg 1.1 pop plus, was a great car...

[mattblack]

Good call on saving a 'disposable' car.

 

Stupid question time: is it possible to fit MK1 front end panels/bonnet/bumpers to a MK2?

[Guest]

Which place in Castleford did you go to for the arch repair panels? There's a joint in Whitwood I found particularly helpful in sourcing some 626 sills.

[Shep Shepherd]

I remember Kent County Constabulary using mark 2 Fiesta Populars just like yours as rural patrol cars in the late 1980s and early 1990s

[catsinthewelder]

Good save

 

I remember going to Elliots of Bishop Auckland with my mum to pick up a brand new one of these when I was little. She'd always wanted a new car and saved up for a couple of years when she started work part time once me and my brother were at school. It was the run-out Bonus model, a popular with free extras consisting of black or silver paint (we had black) an FM radio and white plastic hubcaps

[eddyramrod]

Merseyside Police also used the Mk2 in plain white as a Panda car, with just a roof-mounted sign topped by a blue light IIRC. But if it's Laddo's car and he doesn't want to go that route, you can't "force" him... (oh dear!)

[Anglevan]

Good call on saving a 'disposable' car.

 

Stupid question time: is it possible to fit MK1 front end panels/bonnet/bumpers to a MK2?

 

Yes you can but it's not that simple, you need to swap the inner wings, scuttle panel, wiper, crossmember & you need the front suspension set up of the MK1 (I assume it's just the tie rods) as well as bonnet / wings etc. I do have by chance a new pair of mk1 wings but to be honest i'm not keen to do the swap while my lad is (i'll let him do that then eh?)

 

Which place in Castleford did you go to for the arch repair panels? There's a joint in Whitwood I found particularly helpful in sourcing some 626 sills

 

I sourced the parts from here http://www.autopanels-castleford.co.uk/webpages/Ford/ford%20escort%20mk2.htm

I'd tried a few places but these were partcularly helpful and efficent, other places just saw me as a time waster. for arches inner & outer / sills / radiator I think it came to £120 inc vat . oh and a sheet of steel..

 

 

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated, updates to follow soon. Ref the police link, I just remember these being everywhere - total stripped out base spec. It must be the attraction as my first Anglia was the fleet edition and I had a mk2 Cavalier that was the base model also.

 

stuff of kings

 

i used to own a c reg 1.1 pop plus, was a great car...

 

I had a Festa pop plus 1.1 a while back myself - can't believe these have dissappeared like they have. Probably the reason why I wanted to save one, let everyone else save the Mk1's and the XR's etc...

[stuboy]

popular then pop plus...

 

they knew how to make luxury affordable

[Guest]

Yeah that's the same panels place I used, top-notch service! I'm going to be giving them a call in the coming weeks actually.

[revolting peasant]

[Pillock]

Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1995.

 

Then you need......

 

[Jon]

Just read a Jan 1985 issue of What Car? and apparently the Pop came without electric windscreen washers - is that true? Had a water pistol-esque set-up in the Imp but that was built in the 1960s not the 80s. Looks great though!

[r.welfare]

Sounds about right - my Mk1 Fiesta (a 1978 1.1L) had a rubber plunger in the footwell, to the left of the clutch, to operate the windscreen washers.

 

Great resto work, Anglevan.

[theorganist]

ounds about right - my Mk1 Fiesta (a 1978 1.1L) had a rubber plunger in the footwell, to the left of the clutch, to operate the windscreen washers.

 

Ditto my 81 Popular Plus. It used to leak over the floor which was a little during frozen conditions!!

 

Anyway, nice one, these Fiesta's seem to have all but disappeared, the only one I have seen lately is a XR2.

[ProgRocker]

Shite-tastic! When I was at college in the late 1990s, quite a few of my friends had mark 2s. One of them had a base Fezza just like that one too but with Newcastle Utd paraphernalia in the back window.

 

Another friend had 2 of them. He had a white XR2, that sadly got written off in Norwich City Centre. It was parked on the road side and a taxi driver swiped it. He cried when he saw what happened bless him. He replaced it with a straight looking B reg 1.3 Ghia in silica gold.

[Pete-M]

Superb Shite Save Skillz.

 

An ex-girlfriend of mine had one very similar to that. Hers was ex-Dibble and was epically knackered back in '92 or so. C reg, loudest camshaft I've ever heard but the bloody thing would not die. Rust killed it eventually, but it gave a bloody good fight. It used to get put in for the MOT and whatever it failed on would be fixed, on the cheap, by her botchtastic dad.. Part worn tyres and anything that could come from the scrapyard would - even wiper blades. If it passed the MOT, then it would be abused until the next one. Servicing was deemed unnecessary as "It passed the MOT so it must be ok". Explaining that the MOT was 8 months ago would fall on deaf ears.

 

She put about 70,000 miles on it in about five years, never cleaned it, never checked tyre pressures or tread, and only worked out how to top up the screenwash after about three years. I don't think she ever fully worked out how to check the oil. Every car she's ever owned has been treated the same way, and they somehow keep going until rot or a major (non-fixable using scrapyard brake pads kinda thing) MOT fail kills 'em.

 

The Fizzy still had the Dibble switchgear in the Motorworldâ„¢ spec centre console. I think the reg was C86NTN or something like that.

[Father Ted]

ounds about right - my Mk1 Fiesta (a 1978 1.1L) had a rubber plunger in the footwell, to the left of the clutch, to operate the windscreen washers.

 

Ditto my 81 Popular Plus. It used to leak over the floor which was a little during frozen conditions!!

 

Anyway, nice one, these Fiesta's seem to have all but disappeared, the only one I have seen lately is a XR2.

 

Yup, my T plate 1.0 BASE had one of them too, until I burst it in a fit of enthusiasm.

Scrapper tank and motor with a switch on the dash marked "KILL"

[Anglevan]

Cheers for all the comments, cant imagine many people restoring a pop - but i've always been a fan of the underdog. Regards the spec you do get electric screen washers and a 2 speed wiper, 3 speed heater apart from that nowt. You dont even get a parcel shelf at the rear and side trims I dire.

The tyres are 135 as such the steering is super light .. anyways ready for the next update ??

 

so next job was to take rear axle out and start on the drivers side, while I did the welding my lad stripped and painted the rear beam. We fitted new bushes / new rear backing plates and new rear suspension arms along with new dampers all sourced very cheeply via auto jumbles / stock or ebay over the last year.

 

 

 

 

another arch cut off

 

 

 

lad cleaning the axle

 

 

and I welded the inner arch in place - I hate it when just the outer arch is popped on ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was getting carried away then and didnt take many pictures but next job was the sills

 

 

Next is the suspension and mechanics - I've got a full set of poly bushes to fit, new braided hoses (only cause they were cheaper then the standard ones) new radiator to fit, brake master cylinder was leaking and found a new one on ebay for £4.99 so thats to fit along with a second hand servo I found.. All in all very cheap so far and mainly labour.. All in all good progress..

[Angrydicky]

EXCELLENT metalworking skills!

[Owain-328i]

This is excellent, i had one of these for a first car, and ive had about 5 of them in total, going from 1.1's a 1.4S and 3 XR2's and i loved them all!

 

Its really great to see someone taking the time to sort out a base spec model, as very few of these survive! Id love another 1.4S as i recon they are the rarest of them all now with the white wheel trims etc! ace cars

 

Keep up the good work

[Anglevan]

Cheers for the vote of confidence anyways next installment. For some reasom my camera started playing up during these - not sure why as I'm not very good with the ol point and shoot..

 

Anyways wont bore with loads of out of focus and crap shots, these are the best of the rest

 

As said previously, the car had no brakes from standing and I bought a master cylinder off ebay for £4.99 - I was concered about the servo due to fluid leak so picked up another for nowt (the best price)

 

 

Radiator was shot so new one ordered from same place I got the panels - I think it was £30 ish

 

 

Fitted some better second hand shocks that I had in stock and better springs (one had cracked) reason for the first MOT failure

did both sides

 

 

Think this is out of sequence but this is with the sill off - pretty sound underneath (only at back was it poor)

 

 

Then onto the filling

 

 

And then suddenly jump to paint, when I did this I tried to do it in the day (finish filler, prime and paint) as you can imagine I didnt have much time to pick a camera up Decided to just do lower half as time against me and we just want it on the road, filler could be better but agian it was rushed.

 

 

O/S 1/4

 

 

Painted the wings as they had a few car park scratches on

 

 

Lick of paint on the bumpers

 

 

After paint - needs a good polish now and clean

 

 

How does that look ???

 

 

The doors need replacing but I just could not find any in time, so plan is to use it this summer and try and find some when out and about then we'll revisit the paint

 

 

 

Underneath is solid as a rock

 

 

Anyways finally finished it last weekend - needs a little work here and there, took it for the MOT and it passed first time with no advisorys --- RESULT.. When I took it for the MOT it was the first time it was driven in 6 years and it drove ace, all the work has really paid off, for a 950 it was quite a nippy little bus. Few people were having a gawp when MOt'd - hard to think that people see these are once a common site and now so few. Stirred a few memories for folk..

 

Just taxed it today, only sad thing is I've had to take my Lancer off the road as I cant afford to run all these cars, Lancer has gone into storage..

 

Next job with Fiesta is a bloody good clean and i'll get some better pics, need to sort those wheels out as they let the side down and I need to trace some better doors. Then I have my Talbot camper to start that needs some fettling, and then i'll start back on my Lancer again ..

 

Hope you like and will post some pictures when cleaned,

[Shep Shepherd]

As a former MK2 owner, that is a sight for sore eyes

[Jon]

That looks fantastic! I'm also deeply impressed with your workshop space....

 

Are you going to keep it boggo standard or add any bits from other models, like a parcel shelf etc?

[Anglevan]

That looks fantastic! I'm also deeply impressed with your workshop space....

 

Are you going to keep it boggo standard or add any bits from other models, like a parcel shelf etc?

 

 

Sadly it's not my workshop, a friend lent me the space which it sadly outstayed it's welcome hence why the rush - I also have an old Anglia sat there that he keeps chasing me to do work on. As for keeping it standard - yes I think it will be, no plans really just use it for now..

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Superb work there anglevan. These 950 Fiestas are remarkable, you can blezz along at 75mph in them, with the engine doing about 6000 rpm, all freaking day. I think theyre better than the 1100 fiesta (high praise indeed). Great to see a povo spec fiesta being given some high-quality TLC.