The £650 Puma

[The Arch Bishop]

So tonight was just a case of putting some oil in the box and bleeding the clutch. The clutch was, against what I'd heard, really easy to do with a gunson pressure bleed.

So with that done, I couldn't put off the test drive any more. I decided to just take a short trip up to town to go to and get a few things from the shops (I'm quite nervous about my own work on cars and didn't want to get stranded miles away). I ended up taking it for 20 min drive around the back-roads however...

Verdict;
Gearbox - perfect! No more 'will it won't it' into 5th gear!
Clutch - Spot on - no more huge clunk on take off or grumbling from the release bearing.
Steering - considering it clearly needs tracking (steering slightly off centre) after the track-rod ends were changed, it's far better. No slop from centre and doesn't wildly follow cambers or ruts.
Suspension - The front is like a magic carpet. Seriously, I'd forgotten just how well a standard set-up rides on rough roads. Big increase in traction from tight bends. The rear springs still need changing back to standard (and you can feel the disparity between the front and back) but even now it's night and day. Brilliant!

Only scare I had was when I first started the engine and was greeted by the traction and ABS lights. However, these cleared when it did it's first self check and haven't come back.

Seriously happy with the result and it has made the slog and problems well worth it! :thumbs:

 

[Skippy]

:happee: :happee: :happee: :happee: :happee:

 

[quest63]

k:

 

[myweepuma]

Well done!!

 

[CherryVimto]

Congrats mate.... Job(s) well done!

I know what you mean about being nervous about your own work... I used to be the same.
As your confidence grows and you gradually do more work yourself, the nervousness goes.

If I've done work on 'major' parts like brakes, I tighten everything up and go round and check it all again. Even if I end up doing bolts up tighter than the recommended torque settings, I know everything's done up tight and safe.

 

[748]

Nice one.
I've got to agree the point with the front suspension. I recently fitted new KYB shocks/springs, and replaced ARB and lower arm bushes on my lad's Puma. Transformation was unbelievable. Although one of the old springs was in 3 pieces :lol:
Paul

 

[The Arch Bishop]

The nervousness was reserved for the drive shafts which I've never tinkered with before but was forced to. Still the boots haven't popped off so I'm guessing it's all fine! Maybe it's just shock that everything now works as it should! :lol:

748: The springs that I replaced were brand new Eibachs (only about 300 miles on them). I just couldn't get on with the ride or the compromises with the handling, so I've gone back to my standard Ford ones. For me, they provide what I want from the car.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Another productive evening!

Here's Jegger back on axle stands....

And here are two rebuilt rear struts with nice soft Ford springs on...

All ready for fitting tomorrow!

I dunno, you wait 3 months for progress and then it all happens in one go...

 

[quest63]

I know what you mean I've just had a little flurry of Boggie bits flying out :-D

Bugger I missed the anniversary of her demise

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Surely there can't be anything left of Boggie by now?!

 

[quest63]

The old girl just keeps on giving I recently sold

Gearknob
Battery
Loom
Steering knuckle
Upper Gearbox mount
Injector rail
:grin:

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Great Puma day today (for the most part).

Got up bright and early to fit the rear struts which I polished off in 45 mins (well practised now). I booked a last minute tracking at Autowise Burgess Hill who told me to come in at noon. This gave me a few hours to hose off Jegger and make him presentable.

Arrived and was soon up on the ramps;

However, I was beckoned to the service bay to be told that one of my track-rod ends had the wrong taper and was for the wrong car. This meant that the locking nut wasn't on far enough to lock. Rookie error by me.

I gingerly drove to the motor factors around the corner and bought a new track-rod end with the right taper.

Back home, and I performed what I believe to be one of the quickest track-rod end changes ever known - 11 mins from start to finish (as I say, well practised now...).

It'll need tracking up again, but least it's not a death trap any more.

With that done, we decided to take a drive and I nominated Mrs. Arch Bishop to have a go. She was the one that condemned Jegger as being awful to drive and her comments made up my mind to tackle all of the problems.

Her verdict was 'Feels like a new car now! Brilliant to drive.'

I'll take that as a win.

Here's a picture of Jegger sitting on the drive looking smugity-smug.

 

[quest63]

Smugoureous and smugificent k:

 

[The Arch Bishop]

I've done a couple of commuting days now and, other than the slightly wandery steering (booked for tracking Thursday), I'm very pleased. The ride no longer bottoms out on my usual test roads and Jegger is surprisingly comfortable for the everyday stuff. Can fit the kids in the back happily with all their tonnes of school stuff in the boot, park in tiny spaces and cruse along well when I'm not in the mood. I'd forgotten what a practical car the Puma is to be honest - decent on petrol too (especially after driving the Subaru about).

Other bonus's - I've solved that clanking in the boot that was driving me mad. When I had the rear struts out, I made sure to check all the wiring and fittings hiding behind there. Turns out that the culprit was the rear seat pull cable on the nearside vibrating against the rear seat belt structure. Cable tie has sorted it. This means that the cabin is almost completely rattle free - there's a slight buzz from the corner of the dash that occasionally crops up, but it's quiet enough not to be annoying.

Good times!

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Sigh.... there had to be a spanner in the works didn't there...

Little patches of gearbox oil on the drive. Appears to be coming from the nearside driveshaft seal so I can only presume that it's not sitting square in the hole.

Someone please tell me I don't need to remove everything to get it seat properly!!!

Can it be drifted in without having to remove the driveshaft again?

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Right, went into Autowise and asked about the driveshaft seal. They asked if, when I'd need to take everything apart, I really wanted it tracking. Short story - I left Jegger there and they're fixing the seal. For an hour labour, sod it.

Yep. Ran out of talent!

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Jegger returned today having had the driveshaft seal replaced by more competent hands. Also, the tracking was sorted and the steering wheel is now centred.

I did remark to the guy there that I felt a bit of a plonker having cocked it up. He did counter saying that they were impressed that anyone did this sort of stuff any more and that at least I'd given it a crack. This made me feel better.

It was pointed out that I had a slight leak from the power steering but that can wait for a bit. Enough tinkering, time for some driving.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

Hmmm... well, after Autowise sorted the seal, I thought I'd use Jegger today. However, I got up the end of my road to suddenly hear a clank, clunk, tink. Looking in the rear view mirror, I could see a bolt bouncing down the road. Immediately stopped to retrieve it and found this;

Limped the couple of hundred yards back home and parked up to find this also;

These are the front subframe bolts from the nearside (where the driveshaft seal was fixed). I know for a fact that I've never loosened or taken them off and that they were not loose when I finished the gearbox change, so the only explanation is that Autowise removed them for better access to the driveshaft but never did them back up again.

I'm very disappointed as I've always had good service and work done by them in the past. I obviously am never going back there again, but I will be letting them know my findings. Just glad I wasn't winging it up an A road at the time! :shock:

Oh, and I've also found my radiator is leaking... Jegger is testing my patience at the moment.

 

[748]

That is scandalous :shock:
They should be struck off.

 

[The Arch Bishop]

I don't want anyone struck off so I won't be contacting the head office or anything, but I'll be giving the site manager a call on Monday to let him know what happened. Hopefully then it won't happen to anyone else in the future and the lad that did it will get told that it happened.