May 2014

03/05/2014

 

I took the rear beam off the 1.6 so could send that off to get sandblasted then paint it so I can rebuild the rear on the 1.3 with new cylinders, shoes fitting kits, bearings, floflex rear beam bushes so that the rear will be nearly complete with exception of suspension and braided hoses.

I got the rear beam sandblasted with the bushes still in thinking it would save the metal being pitted. I think it was a good idea but I’m going to have to repaint some of the black on the beam as the rear bushes are a pig to get out. So far I have sawn in to the bushes at 12 and 6 o’clock thinking it should help. As yet it hasn’t made it any easier but I’m going to get a blow lamp on it later to see if I can help the bushes come out.

 

I have bought a Shultz gun and 3 litres of black under seal off eBay. While I have the fuel tank off the 1.3 and in the process of swapping the rear beam, I’m going to get a wire brush underneath to clean the and cover the rear of the car in Shultz to help protect it and also make it look tidier underneath.
The beam and brakes of the 1.3 are going onto the 1.6 so the car can move off the drive to be scrapped, I only really want it on so the handbrake works because the drive entrance is small, then opens on to a main road, and the car will have to be rolled out onto the road to get on the back of a van.

 

I have everything to do the rear beam and brakes, which is good because I don’t have much money left until I sell something. I’ve got enough cash and parts to get the engine in and running but not for braided hoses or suspension.

 

I have sent the gear lever to have it shortened by 10mm and see what happens when I fit it into the 1.3.

 

I have had a look at the difference of the Mondeo and 1.6 fiesta brake servo. I want to use the Mondeo one and find a bigger master cylinder to put on to it. This will improve braking.

 

03/05/2014 PM

 

This morning I started to put the rear beam together ready to go on the 1.3.

Note: I should have painted the beam after I had sorted the bushes because I had to repaint parts.

 

I began by removing the beam bushes. Sawed a grove at 6 and 12 o’clock and heated the bush up with a blow lamp then hammered a screw drive down the side of the bush using one of the cuts. The heat helps soften the nylon and metal in the bush before hammering the shit out of the bush with a chisel and lump hammer. Once the bush was out I used a rotary sand paper in the drill to clean out the inside. Once clean use a bit of copper grease on the new floflex bushes to help them go in. It’s easier to put one side in with the metal tube first and then locate the second one before using a large faced hammer to gently hammer it home. It doesn’t take much persuading.

 

 

I then moved on to the backing plates. I pop riveted on the plates but later found the shoulder on the pop rivet was way too big to fit into the back of the stub axle. I drilled out the rivets and bolted the stub axle on, sandwiching the backing plate. I have tightened the backing plate hand tight so far. Because of the paint that is on all the mating surfaces it will tend to soften up and the bolts will loosen. I will torque everything up once it is on the car.

      

 

Can’t put the brakes on the rear because the handbrake cable has to be fitted, I got as far as fitting the new cylinders. These will have to be tightened again.

I painted the bits of the beam that came off with all the moving about and its hanging in the garage to dry.

 

04/05/2014

Got 4 hours of being child free today, I'm hoping to get the rear beam and fuel tank off the 1.3 and at least start to Shultz the underside.

04/05/2014

Got a bit done today.

Started off by removing the rear beam off the 1.3. I want to keep the old 1.3 brakes (which looked very new!) so I could put them onto the 1.6, this way I can safely move the 1.6 when it goes for scrap.

I started by removing the road wheels

Then removing the bumper. There are 6 fixings – 2 screws on the bumper lip in the wheel arch and 2 nuts inside the boot.

Next was to take off the rear drum brake to shoes the shoes etc. The drum came of really easily.  The shoes were new so they came off by adjusting the ratchet so the shoes were as loose as possible then popping off the bottom spring. With that off the top can be pulled apart and off the cylinder. Because the top springs are still on you need to pull hard on the handbrake lever part of the shoes then wedge a screwdriver in-between so the handbrake cable can be twisted out. That’s the shoes off and part ready to go back onto the 1.6

I loosened the brake line from the cylinder then undid to 2 bolts holding to the back plate. Once loose and undone I quickly remove the cylinder to remove it from the backplate then screwed it back in to stop a huge loss of brake fluid.

To take the handbrake cable out pinch 3 tags on the cable it slides out.

I did the other side and loosened off the lower shock bolts and also undid the front mounting bolts for the arms. There’s a bit of time after the first photo where I removed the rear wheel and the carrier and the wheel arch carpets. The wheel arch carpets are supposed to come off once the brake union has been removed from the wheel arch, I cut a line up to the hole where the union is, after removing the 3 torx heads  the carpet can be removed with out to much hassle.

With the rear beam off the 1.3 I did the reverse to fit it on to the 1.6, it is held in loose but firm with a few bolts.

I took off the 3 rubbers holding the rear exhaust then rested it on a spare axle stand so I could remove the back box heat shield and the fuel tank heat shield. The retaining nuts/washer things came off very easily so the exhaust was dropped a bit and the 2 heat shields removed.

There are 4 bolts witch captive nuts holding the fuel tank on, remove and drop a few inches. Remove the fuel filter, undo the screw by the fuel filler cap and the support about 10” inches away. Undo the fuel pump plug and the hoses and remove.

With the fuel tank out and next to the 1.6 one in the back garden, the 1.3 is not in as good a condition. I’ll use the 1.6 fuel tank and swap over the intake and breather pipes once it has been undersealed.

I had trouble getting a black box out from under the car, it is for the fuel system and I think it is a breather of some sort. One bolt can out fine but I had to butcher the other mounting point then grind the bolt out.

That’s mostly everything done underneath. I cleaned everything off with a wire brush and painted rust treatment over all the rusty patches. The wheel arches were washed down with hot water to get rid of all the dirt and crap that was under there.

Next was to clean off the rusty spots on the 1.6 fuel tank and then treat it with rust treatment once this was dry I could start with the underseal

I haven't used an underseal gun before, its great fun and a weird noise. About 15 minutes before I put the underseal in a bowl of hot water to thin it out. I changed the compressor to 4 bar as stated on the bottle then started on the fuel tank first to see how it goes on. It is a splat gun. It splat's everything and has a really good coverage. I have sprayed the top and tomorrow I'll turn it over and spray the bottom.

After a short play with the tank I had planned on stopping and having tea. Well I didn’t want the stuff to go off in the bottle so I started under the car and finished that bottle off.

Tomorrow I'll spray from a different angle to make sure I have covered everything and finish off underneath.

I haven't got a fuel filter to go back on yet and left the mounting points of the rear beam at work. I have to clean the wheel arch carpets and then start putting bits back in.

 

05/05/2014

Turned the fuel tank over and sprayed the other side of it.

 

Masked the outer side of the wheel arches and finished spraying in the arches and under the rear of the car. I forgot to put bolts into the threads for the fuel tank and few other bits. I will try the bolts in first and make sure they are not too tight. If it is a bit clogged up I can cut a slot going down the length of a spare bolt which will help to clean the threads. I’ll need 2 large washers to fit the recirculating unit (black box connected to the tank) as the 1 side was butchered to get it off.

My mate Sav has got me a xr2i clutch that he no longer needs, it is new old stock, so needed a quick clean but it will do the job nicely. That will be fitted once I have the engine mounts made and had the engine in and out a few times. No point in putting it on to get damaged.

 

10/05/2014

The tank is now in and has a new fuel filter. Some reason the filter has no direction arrow so pot luck to see if I have it the right way? The tank went in with no problems, the fixing bolts went in well with no need to tap the threads out of the captive nuts. I need to fit the filler neck down to the tank after I take it off the old 1.3 fuel tank. The rear beam along with back plates is also fitted. That also went in with no trouble except 2 threads were a bit too dirty for the bolts to go in nicely. I tried the bolts out first then ran a tap up into the threads.

Because of the layers of paint and the underseal on the suspension parts I have bolted everything up tight but not torque up. I have some new bolts to fix the front beam brackets to the chassis and I need to get some thread lock for all the bolts. I have put the standard rear suspension back on for the moment until I can afford lowering springs.

I got my quick shift style gear lever back. I have no idea if it will work or if 15mm reduction is going to be way too short.

 

11/05/2014

I didn’t take any pictures today because of the rain and wind, brrrr.

I collected some BZP washers to go with the bolts for the rear beam to chassis. I also used a bit of thread lock to help stop the bolts from vibrating out. I put the wheel arch liner/carpets back in after giving them a bit of a clean.

I used the fuel filler neck from the 1.6 because it looked in better condition and doesn’t use a rubber pipe.

The rear brakes are all complete along with the drums. The handbrake works but because I haven’t fitted the rear cylinders to the brake lines there is no pressure in the cylinder to support the shoes as they press against the drum. The wheels are now back on and settled on the ground.

When I bought the 1.3 the advert said that the 2 spark plugs were seized in the head so they weren’t changed. I left the engine running for 15 minutes today while I cleaned the drive and moved the 1.6 shell. Once the engine was warm I undid all for spark plugs. The 2 new ones were a little tight and the 2 “seized” ones took a little bit more effort but undid just fine. I’ll clean the oil from round the sparkplugs and then do a compression test before I sell the engine. I need to pick up a charger from work first because the batteries has gone flat because I’ve been leaving the boot open while working on the car.

Next job is to put all the scrap I don’t want into the 1.6 Shell and then swap the cars round so I can make a start on the 1.3 engine bay.

 

17/05/2014

My new braided brake lines arrived yesterday. I fitted the rear lines and need to bleed them today.  The handbrake will work properly then because there will be pressure in the cylinder to support the shoes. I got the lines off eBay from a company called Wezmoto. They made the fronts to suit the ST170 calipers and also the length that I asked for (which I hope is right 380mm) These will be fitted at a later date because the calipers won’t fit behind 15” or less wheels.

On the old 1.6 that is going for scrap, I have taken off all the door handles, Locks and central locking actuators.
On the front doors undo all PZ3 screws holding the central locking unit in and also the window guide/anti tamper shield that covers the door lock.

Run a knife or flat screw screwdriver down the silicone sealant that holds the cover on.

 

You can then draw the guide/cover out from the door and put it to the side. This will let you see the 2 screws that hold the outer door handle on and the 2 connecting rods, 1 from the handle and 1 from the lock. Undo the 2 outer door handle screws, you can then pull the handle away while connected to the rod and twist the handle so it will come off the s shape at the end of the rod.
The door lock is held in place with a twist fit retainer. I found a flat screwdriver and a few hits with my hand was enough to loosen and rotate the retainer

With the retainer off move it away from the lock and then fiddle the lock out of the door while connected to the rod. Once out you can twist it to get it off the rod.

 

 

 

 

The harness is held on with a plastic clip on the inside of the door panel, take the harness out and unclip the 2 wire plug, and the multi plug from the actuator/latch.

You can now pull the latch out.

The rear doors are easy because there are no connecting rods involved.
Hopefully this week I can swap the cars round! I have got 2 days off next week so I can get the scrap metal company to take the car away.