General my £200 '95 Mk1 75sx 'Paddy Punto'

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General my £200 '95 Mk1 75sx 'Paddy Punto'

I've just done the trailing arm bearings in my Cabrio, I filled the arm with expanding foam, this keeps the plastic sleeve in place, I then drilled the mounting bolt and fitted a grease nipple so I can now grease the bearings. should extend the life a good bit.
 
I've just done the trailing arm bearings in my Cabrio, I filled the arm with expanding foam, this keeps the plastic sleeve in place, I then drilled the mounting bolt and fitted a grease nipple so I can now grease the bearings. should extend the life a good bit.

Heard of this being done before, but didn't see it as a worthwhile job since the trailing arm itself was cheap enough. Will keep in mind though

Relating to my woes around anti-roll bar bushes and engine mounts, I was thinking of going back to standard shock absorbers front and back (already swapped back to standard springs on the rear) to improve the ride and maybe reduce stress on other suspension parts. Found the old gear down behind my dad's shed, but didn't look in usable condition as suspected especially the rear shocks!

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Would need a spring compressor to change out the fronts if I want to keep it at current height, but do a bit more thinking at some point.
 
May be a bit overboard to fit grease nipples etc but for how much longer will you get the bits?, They should outlast me if they get a shot once a year!!
 
So a bit more work done over the last few weeks

First of all a nasty surprise I noticed one day leaving work, must have been a fairly hefty stone of some sort! Replacements are about £20 so not too bothered but annoying nonetheless

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Got the new wind deflectors installed during a break in the bad weather. Fronts were quite tricky to get in and I did end up snapping a little piece off the front drivers side section that goes up under the seal, but not visible and shouldn't make a difference. Quality bits of kit and lookin' good :slayer:

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Had a check of all my fluids while doing this and replaced one very important part to freshen up the engine bay, from this:
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to this (OEM of course)
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next up was replacing the upper right engine mount, which was the suspected cause of a knocking noise on startup

With the car up on axle stands and the engine supported from below with a jack, old mount coming out
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Had to unplug the ECU to get decent access to all the bolts.
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Also required some hammer and chisel action as there were rivets holding the motor mount in (was worried at first that they were welts!

Old mount out, pretty perished and bendy but not as bad as I thought it would be
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New mount
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and installed
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not too bad a job overall, but I put everything back together and got the car back on the ground, started it up and low-and-behold the knocking noise on startup was still there! :bang:

After getting a friend to help me inspect the source of the noise, I think it could be somewhere around the front exhaust hanger from the downpipe, but the noise is definitely around the drivers side, and you can feel it as much as hear it through the firewall when starting.

Very strange but we'll get to the bottom of it eventually!
 
Quick update, hope you're all well

Punto still going strong on my commute, had a worrying issue that kept happening over the course of a few weeks where the car would sometimes struggle to start, and also stall in traffic (and then also struggle to start). Didn't have time to post on here asking for help at the time, but I narrowed it down to the crank sensor.
Got a replacement sensor from ECP and installed it then & there in the car park, problem solved! Nice to not be worrying about stalling randomly anymore :D

Old unit (looked a bit worse for wear and I think some of the sheathing/insulation had worn away)
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new unit
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Poor car showered in bird sh*t due to where my parking space is in our flat complex, absolutely constant since winter ended and pretty much given up on trying to keep it clean :bang:
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In other news I got a new set of tyres on the front to replace the Goodyear Eagle F1s that came on the Panda 100hp alloys - massive improvement on ride and noise and vibration :slayer: However in my infinite wisdom I went one profile size up to 195/50/R15, and the tyres were rubbing on the wings and part of the front bumper. 'Rolled' the front wings in on themselves (i.e. hammered) and it's now at an acceptable level, but still needs more fettling when I've next got the car up on jacks.

Since the hot weather started I've noticed the coolant temp is going up on the motorway on uphill sections, which seems to get worse if I go at 60mph compared to 70mph. Not too worried but gathering the bits to do a coolant flush and change this weekend.

I've narrowed the front knocking issue down to the rear gearbox mount. The bolt that attached the gearbox bracket to the mount sheared when I replaced the clutch, so I picked up a new mount plus a new bracket and bolt. plan is to remove the whole lot and replace it all in one piece. Will upload picks when I get round to doing that

Cheers (y)
 
sorry for lack of updates, busy summer!

will add some pictures soon but recent jobs:
- replaced clutch slave cylinder (again) after one I replaced last year failed. Gorey details of my harrowing work to follow
- soldered in new H4 headlamp connectors as mine were crispy and shorting out, job went well!

Still haven't got round to replacing that gearbox mount stuff, but MOT is due in a months time so will have to get on it!
 
Hope you're all well, apologies again for lack of posts it's been a very busy few months at work and home! I've also been posting urgent queries and quick updates on the Punto Mk1 Facebook page to get quick responses haha

A fair bit has gone on since my last update, will trawl through my photos at some point but off the top of my head:

- replaced rear lower gearbox mount which fixed my knocking issue and made the car feel so much better on acceleration. This did however bring the exhaust up to within knocking range of the chassis so a bit of adjustment/hammering was required to stop constant noise.

- MOT was a bit of a faff in September, failed on handbrake and failed the retest after renewing the cable. turned out the self-adjuster on the shoes wasn't holding, so whenever you pressed the brake it reset the handbrake and vice versa. new shoes and drums for peace of mind and all was well. Advisories were corrosion around seat mounts, foggy rear number plate and cracked front fog light (plus the exhaust fouling on chassis as previously mentioned)

-replaced rear GMax shocks for OEM units to get a bit better ride quality, which has helped. After doing this however on a long drive to Cardiff during snow, the back end started to feel very wobbly. Checked under the car when I arrived and turned out the lower shock absorber bolt had come completely lose, so trailing arm was just bouncing on the spring. I tightened it up best I could but the threads on the bolts and/or the trailing arm itself are shagged, so I've got another trailing arm and bolt to replace the whole lot (the left trailing arm bearing is also knocking similar to the right hand side was, so killing 2 birds with one stone)

- steady oil seepage from the rocker cover gasket/cam oil seal on the left/front side of the engine. fairly standard issue and just need to get round to doing it.

In the process of buying a house with the girlfriend at the moment so things are gonna get even busier haha, and I've made some promises/wagers to get the Corrado on the road for the summer as well, but the Punto daily needs to take priority!
 
Yes still going strong! Sorry for lack of updates, bought a house with the GF in the summer and then a puppy in the new year so been a bit manic!

Paddy passed his MOT in the autumn just about, headlights pointing high and perished steering rack boot that I replaced, then had him booked it for welding on the rear passenger jacking point (estimated £300). I removed the interior myself but when it went in for the welding they could see it had been previously repaired from the inside and it just looked bad from the outside, so that was a massive win.

Have a fair bit of oil seeping from the fam cover gasket/camshaft seal but not terrible, keeping an eye on levels as doing 60 miles round trip commute the last few months!
Also replaced passenger door light switch that has never worked

Will try and dig out photos from the last year and upload!
All the best
 

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kazer92: I'm glad Paddy is still in good health. [emoji846] That car is definitely worth keeping on the road, even if it occasionally needs a few quid spending on it: they're very rare now, so that 1 needs saving.
 
I’m sure I’ve been following this thread since late 2016!!! Glad to see progress is still being made. This generation of Punto is surely an “everyday classic” and it’s a shame probably so few people have helped them last into the present day.

You never know, many years from now you may be approached to contribute Paddy to a 90s museum in the automotive exhibition [emoji594] [emoji6]
 
kazer92 is Paddy still going? [emoji846]

Hi puntofan and all, hope you’re all well in these turbulent times.
I’d been meaning to post an update during Covid19 etc with a few bits of work (nothing major) over the months but never got round to it.

Unfortunately one Sunday afternoon in July I was involved in a road traffic collision whilst driving Paddy (hit from behind on a dual carriageway by a speeding biker), my girlfriend and our dog were also in the car and luckily none of us were injured, but unfortunately the biker passed away later that evening.

Long story short Paddy was written off as uneconomical repair due to its low valuation (£600 which I was fine with), rear left quarter crumpled, rear window smashed, rear left tyre burst. From my description eSure put it down as preliminary Cat B, from what I could see at the time I’d say it could be repaired and drive-able again, but i think it was time to say farewell in any case.

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of the car before I handed over my phone to police (ironically quite a few bikers did as they were part of a big group ride), and when I went to the police pound to collect our belongings from the car (before the insurance company took ownership of it) I also wasn’t allowed to see the car myself (they bag up your stuff and bring it to you at the gate). Managed to get most things included subwoofer and amp, but no chance of removing any parts myself. I had contemplated buying it back if possible to break, but honestly didn’t have the heart at that point.

We got a replacement daily not long after (2015 Mini Countryman Cooper D) which was long overdue from a safety and comfort point of view, but I do sorely miss the Punto when thinking back or seeing Facebook memories etc.
Luckily I’ve got the VR6 Corrado in the garage to scratch my car maintenance itch, but the Punto chapter of my life has closed I think. Had the car since I was about 18 for a great 10 years, and learnt all I know making mistakes working on it. Great little car and great community forum kept me going.

I’ll eventually go back and gather the last few photos to upload here in case it provide useful to anyone in the future, still a member of the UK Mk1 Punto group on Facebook so will offer any help there if I can.

Thanks for all your support and interest over the years, stay safe out there x
 
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