Introduction
Here's a pic of it sometime early last summer (I can date it by the state of my Volvo's bodywork, it's brown now). It hasn't changed much visually since then. It's got a bit more tired from being an unloved daily, the engine has got a little less nice, burning a tad more oil, misfiring a little more often, hesitating more when it gets cold and the bodywork is a little tattier.
It's coming off the road for some love. There's some welding on the back of the NS sill that I did last year which is passable, but not pretty and a couple bits in primer that need stripping off and redoing because it's been left in primer too long. Nothing too bad.
Visually, it's going to change a bit. The 'PseudoSport' stripes are going as replica models are something of a bugbear for me and I'm undecided about the bodykit at the moment. I like the colour, but that doesn't mean I'm not fickle enough to change my mind and paint it a different colour. The Pepperpots are a bit 'meh' but nothing has jumped out at me yet as a replacement so I'll just keep an eye out. I'm not decided on the interior yet. I'm not very good at interiors as I break all the clips
The only thing I've decided is that it's having lowback seats; it's my neck and I'll break it for the sake of styling if I want
Mechanically, it's all changing. I'm one of those people who dreams up plans for cars but never quite goes through with it. I hate being one of those people, so this time it isn't allowed. I'm fitting a Fiat FIRE engine and despite my initial naivety as demonstrated by the pic below, it all seems very acheivable and should be totally unique.
Visually, it's going to change a bit. The 'PseudoSport' stripes are going as replica models are something of a bugbear for me and I'm undecided about the bodykit at the moment. I like the colour, but that doesn't mean I'm not fickle enough to change my mind and paint it a different colour. The Pepperpots are a bit 'meh' but nothing has jumped out at me yet as a replacement so I'll just keep an eye out. I'm not decided on the interior yet. I'm not very good at interiors as I break all the clips
Mechanically, it's all changing. I'm one of those people who dreams up plans for cars but never quite goes through with it. I hate being one of those people, so this time it isn't allowed. I'm fitting a Fiat FIRE engine and despite my initial naivety as demonstrated by the pic below, it all seems very acheivable and should be totally unique.
As a pre-emptive...
"Why don't you just fit a Zetec?"
Why don't you just knob off or add something constructive
My criteria for choice of engine are as such..
Needs to be more modern than the old crossflow
Use less fluids (any and all of them
) than the old crossflow
Have five gears
Be a really cheap donor
Fit between the UNCUT chassis rails.
turns out not many four cylinder FWD engines are all that narrow. Plenty of obvious and not so obvious choices were considered, and various emails sent to people who owned cars with my potential engine asking them nicely to nip outside with a tape measure. The Fiat came up trumps with a combined engine and 'box width of just 780mm. Time for more research.. And that's how I ended up on this forum!
"Why don't you just fit a Zetec?"
Why don't you just knob off or add something constructive
My criteria for choice of engine are as such..
Needs to be more modern than the old crossflow
Use less fluids (any and all of them
Have five gears
Be a really cheap donor
Fit between the UNCUT chassis rails.
turns out not many four cylinder FWD engines are all that narrow. Plenty of obvious and not so obvious choices were considered, and various emails sent to people who owned cars with my potential engine asking them nicely to nip outside with a tape measure. The Fiat came up trumps with a combined engine and 'box width of just 780mm. Time for more research.. And that's how I ended up on this forum!
Turns out fate played a helping hand when some friends happened upon a REALLY cheap mk2 punto that was to be pillaged for everything and then weighed in. Thanks guys
I got a text that simply said 'got you an engine' and by the time I was there, it was dangling on a crane ready for me with a completely labelled loom
It's a mk2 1.2 which means it's MPI with about 60 BHP and plenty of room for upgrading as and when I want to. Here it is dangling on a crane
The plan is to leave the Fiesta's electrical system largely unchanged and have a standalone loom made from the Punto to run the engine. It'll be using stock management. The main stumbling point with this is to find an elegant solution to the ignition switch. It may involve using the Fiesta switch/key and having a separate 'push button' panel, though that isn't ideal. Plenty of time to fathom that, though.
The loom is essentially split into two; everything infront of the dash, and everything behind it. The two are joined by a combined fusebox and ECU somewhere under the dash.
I've stripped down the interior loom and have probably removed 80% of the wiring (this is all neatly coiled up.. there's a lot!)
It's a mk2 1.2 which means it's MPI with about 60 BHP and plenty of room for upgrading as and when I want to. Here it is dangling on a crane
The plan is to leave the Fiesta's electrical system largely unchanged and have a standalone loom made from the Punto to run the engine. It'll be using stock management. The main stumbling point with this is to find an elegant solution to the ignition switch. It may involve using the Fiesta switch/key and having a separate 'push button' panel, though that isn't ideal. Plenty of time to fathom that, though.
The loom is essentially split into two; everything infront of the dash, and everything behind it. The two are joined by a combined fusebox and ECU somewhere under the dash.
I've stripped down the interior loom and have probably removed 80% of the wiring (this is all neatly coiled up.. there's a lot!)
It left me with this (all fuel pump/sender related)
I'm going to need to rebuild the speedo and odometer from this into the Fiesta clocks as it needs the electronic speedo drive for the ECU. I could have just hidden it all away if the Fiesta speedo drive was off the wheel. ah well.
I'm going to need to rebuild the speedo and odometer from this into the Fiesta clocks as it needs the electronic speedo drive for the ECU. I could have just hidden it all away if the Fiesta speedo drive was off the wheel. ah well.
I haven't yet stripped the enginebay side of it, but looking through, I reckon t least 60-70% of the wiring is unneeded
Quite vitally, I have these..
The point I got to last night was all of the loom connected on the floor, but I didn't want to put a battery across it yet since there were two connectors that are interchangeable and I need to check.. No reason why it shouldn't start up on the floor now though. And that's the next plan.
There's loads of stuff still to fathom out but nothing seems too bad. Clutch is going to be changed for cable actuation using Cinq bits, I've sourced fuel pumps and still need a swirl pot as stock Punto stuff is all in tank.
I'll keep you all updated.
Quite vitally, I have these..
The point I got to last night was all of the loom connected on the floor, but I didn't want to put a battery across it yet since there were two connectors that are interchangeable and I need to check.. No reason why it shouldn't start up on the floor now though. And that's the next plan.
There's loads of stuff still to fathom out but nothing seems too bad. Clutch is going to be changed for cable actuation using Cinq bits, I've sourced fuel pumps and still need a swirl pot as stock Punto stuff is all in tank.
I'll keep you all updated.
