Lewis's Banana Boat

[Lewisrowezer]

Hey all, I started my puma journey on the 6th July and regret not opening up this project thread earlier.

I'm a really big fan of cars that can "do it all" whether that's daily, fast road, track, rally, drag or show use and the puma ticks all of those boxes for me. I didn't originally like the Puma and thought it was a very ugly duckling but as time went on I've grown very fond of it. Jumping into the puma almost felt like home after having owned 8 Fiestas and absolutely nothing else, but owning something as limited as the Millennium definitely enhances that feeling and makes me feel like I own something genuinely unique.

The Millennium itself was in the pipeline for a little while but I never found one that fit my budget. They were all 1.5k+ and they were dreamer figures considering my outgoings. One popped up on Gumtree for £650 and after a nice talk with the previous owner on the phone at 11pm (Yes I was that desperate to get in on it) I managed to seal the deal and I'm very glad I did. The owner was in his 80's! I was extremely lucky to have found the previous owner Roger on Gumtree as he held the car for me for 2 weeks with no deposit even after receiving offers in excess of £1500 and proved these offers to me via emails. A seriously genuine guy, safe to say you simply DO NOT come across people like this every day. After the 3 hour drive to Cambridgeshire the car was now under my name and I was ecstatic.

The car stands out on the road by all means, love it or hate it you can't forget the bright yellow silhouette (My favourite colour) but there are definitely a few design features which I would like to "enhance". Before I start running before I can walk I'd like to touch on a few things that I have done so far in my month and a bit time of ownership. I work at ford and being a parts man I get genuine service items for dirt cheap. *WARNING BIG LIST*

Service Wise:

• Oil + Filter - Genuine
• Sump Plug - Genuine
• Air Filter - Genuine
• Fuel Filter - Genuine
• Pollen Filter - Genuine
• Spark Plugs gapped @ 1.0mm - Genuine
• Accel Coil Pack
• Magnecor HT Leads
• Power steering bleed + top up
• Greased hinged
• MAF Cleaned
• Throttle body polished + springs lubricated
• Clutch bled
• Alignment done
• Droplinks done
• Idle control valve cleaned
• Air conditioning re-gas
• Rear wiper - Genuine

Repairs Done:

• Broken Tailgate latch replaced w/fully working Scrapyard part
• Central locking fixed by fixing aforementioned part
• OSR Wheel bearing replaced with genuine Ford part
• Handbrake cables replaced with genuine ford part
• Aerial Replaced with genuine Ford part

Repairs Pending:

• New gearbox to fix neutral return spring (Already bought)
• New OSF lower arm fitted
• Central locking temperamental

I won't talk too much about the plans with the car right now, just an up to speed on where we're at now from purchasing the vehicle Speak soon - Lewis

 

[evilrob]

Hi and welcome! I will be following this thread with interest! :thumbs:

 

[red]

Nice introduction, look forward to seeing the progress! Everyone loves a Millennium edition.

 

[Van_Dammesque]

:-D did you wear them shoes to match?! :lol:

k:

 

[zinc2000]

Nice!!! but then of course I am slightly biased

 

[PhilLew]

hi, welocme along! :grin:

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Thanks all

A little up to scratch on the past couple of days!

First of all I received a little order from Ebay, just a little touch but really happy with it
View attachment 31.jpg

In car pic:


Changed out the NSF Lower arm the other day, spent about 3 hours chiselling away the top nut on the rear bush because it was rounded to hell! OSF Lower arm is painted and awaiting fitting but the bolt had physically sheared off on the bottom flush with the arm so a angle grinder/reciprocating saw will be needed to cut the arm off prior to fitting that one. Arms are Starline from Eurocarparts and I painted them in Hammerite Smooth Yellow :wink:



Replacement Genuine Ford Rear Arm bolts FINIS Code 1038960 (Bolt) and FINIS Code 6797866 (Nut):
View attachment 6.jpg

Among those little bits I've also managed to source a 1.7 Gearbox for £50 to fix the neutral return spring issue, considering the neutral return spring is a gearbox apart jobbie I refuse to take that job on and for the sake of £50 for a fully working gearbox I decided that would be the better option.
View attachment 7.jpg

My plans with this gearbox freshen up job:

• Focus 1.8 LUK Clutch
• Genuine 1.7 Slave Cylinder
• New Driveshafts (Ebay)
• New Driveshaft Oil Seals FINIS Code 1805715
• Castrol Syntrans 75W90 Gearbox Oil
• Gloss Black Transmission Cover Powdercoated
• E-Tech Yellow Painted Gearbox

I've already gotten started on the little tidy up:


While my main focal point is the gearbox at the moment, I'm also planning to collect a genuine 909 Evo spoiler within the next few weeks for the car which will be sweet and add a lot of shape to the rear end, more on that soon!

 

[Cherie]

Your image links aren't working as the [ img] tags only work for direct links to jpeg images. You need to go to the Page you've linked to, right click the image and select 'Copy Image Address' and post that with [ img] tags either side:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/GSp94M5.jpg[/img]

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Update;

Gearbox primed up and painted, I used a Zinc primer to prevent corrosion and it turned out quite well!

Decided to paint it in RAL5012 Blue instead, Halfords Gadget Blue Enamel paint, the yellow looked naff! Painted and Lacquered:

That's the box work done for the meantime, just a little clean up and a little colour until I get ahold of the other bits I need.

I forgot to mention I also gave the engine cover a respray and it looks amazing, I used Halfords Ford Stardust Silver and Lacquer:

With that out of the way, I've come across a HUGE problem. My brakes have completely stopped working over the past day. When I put my foot on the brake pedal nothing happens until my foot is flat on the floor :evil: I suspect recent work on the arms may have caused the issue so for now I've just picked up some Pagid brake hoses and 3L of DOT4

Going to get the car off the ground tomorrow, have a good look about, replace the lines and remove the servo/master to investigate.

 

[Anonymous]

It's getting along nicely.

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Fitted the new lines today, was so busy and dirty I didn't get the chance to take a picture. Unfortunately the new lines didn't fix the issues I was having on the front brakes so the master cylinder was removed for investigation. There was no brake fluid getting to the front brake lines.

We didn't find anything too fishy until my friend noticed the master leaking very slightly where it meets the servo. The car is now off the road until I decide what to do, I've asked around in hope to find a direct replacement servo and master cylinder in full working order but it may be more along the lines of changing to the newer style servo and master cylinder as the latter is much easier to get hands on..Massive pain as I'm having to insure my track car for daily use now!

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Problem = Solved!

Turned out the problem was the master cylinder in the end, thought the car would be off the road for quite a while but after a little drive to Basingstoke I managed to pull a "newer style" servo off a Fiesta along with the ABS pipes and master cylinder. Here's the setup from before:

Replacement newer style servo, master cylinder and abs lines fitted (Clutch pipe required a little bit of bending to fit)

Very happy to have the car on the road again and so quickly, originally after fitting the new bits the brakes didn't work after bleeding so I hooked up my ezibleed kit to the spare tyre and bled all 4 brakes starting from rear right and worked my way to the rear left, front right and finally front left whilst giving the pressure bleed/flush tool a helping hand by pumping the pedal manually too!

Little bay pic

Now I can focus on the gearbox

 

[N1X]

Hi !

Fantastic looking Millenium you have there.

 

[Anonymous]

What Fiesta was the donor of the new parts?

Which generation?

Just in case i run into this problem in the future.

 

[zinc2000]

Hate this car, its cleaner than mine and to add insult to injury he is using the damn thing as well :lol:

Cracking wee motor, top job mate :thumbs:

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Hi !

Fantastic looking millennium you have there.

Thank you!

What Fiesta was the donor of the new parts?

Which generation?

Just in case i run into this problem in the future.

It was a MK5 Fiesta 1.25 (used to be puma swapped) If this happens to you and you can't find an older style servo/master then you'll need the Servo, master (don't seperate them unless you have a replacement seal), the lines from the master to the ABS box and the vacuum hose from the intake manifold to the newer style servo.

Hate this car, its cleaner than mine and to add insult to injury he is using the damn thing as well :lol:

Cracking wee motor, top job mate :thumbs:

Haha thanks man! It's clean but definitely some rough patches!

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Not sure where to start with this post, got quite a few bits and bobs done so it'll be quite a big one!

I decided to tidy up a spare MAF housing which I had which came out really well in the end, I'm going for a more OEM look in the engine bay now and want it to look as fresh as possible so starting with a few small paint ups (Throttle body, alternator etc..)and slowly working my way to the bigger bits (Intake manifold, full engine which will probably come along with a rebuild..)

Anyway I started off with a wire wheel on the drill and cleaned up the body, I then scuffed up the flanges with sandpaper, finished them off with a polisher on a drill, quick job but came out okay for something you'll never see! I then used Zinc primer and it turned out like this:

I then painted it with Halfords Aluminium Engine Paint;

After that I focused on the gearbox, got it all ready for fitting :grin:

Couple of parts, grabbed a genuine slave cylinder and some aftermarket driveshaft seals;

Today the gearbox was fitted, had one of my good friends Scott around to help out and managed to get it all sorted properly after many hours of struggling and getting filthy :lol: In the end I veered away from the original plans and went with a OEM fit Sachs clutch from euros and MPM 75W-90 Gearbox fluid.

Before Fitting;

After Fitting;

Very happy with how it turned out, the neutral return spring actually does its job now and the clutch feels buttery smooth, bites 1mm off the floor! I have some tidying up to do, may put a coat of rattle can on the end cap as it's quite chipped and another coat of blue on the gearbox while it's on as it got scratched up whilst fitting as well as the lower arm but all in all a job well done :grin:

I thought I'd finish off this post with a pic of the bay which I took earlier, i'm also going to update my plans for the car in the original post.

 

[alex']

you do good work on this Millenium ! ready for the road :thumbs:

i like this version of Puma, it's very original, but this color was unavailable in my country ...

but i have a question ... where do you find the accel coil pack ?

 

[Lewisrowezer]

Haven't posted for a short time, apologies! Fast forward I've decided to take the puma off the road for a full restoration starting with the engine and bay!

During this hiatus I've had the wheels powdercoated in my favourite colour RAL5012 Blue, replaced the AWFUL starline wishbones I'd put on the car with genuine Ford ones and that's pretty much it.

Going forward and talking plans; My vision is to get the puma back to it's prime condition in terms of looks, performance and handling with slight upgrades to each. I really love this car and don't plan on ever getting rid of it so getting it to a show standard would really satisfy my tastebuds.

UPDATED 03/03/2020!
Plans for the Engine Bay:
Cleaned - Done
Smoothed in areas - Didn't Bother
Rust (if any) tended to - Done
Bare metal sand - Didn't Bother
Full bodyshop respray Zinc Yellow - Done Myself
Lacquer, cut back and ceramic coated. - Didn't go that far
Bulkhead heatwrapped - Didn't do
Cables tidied - Done
Ancillary metals powdercoated/sprayed for rust prevention and ease of cleaning. - Done
Brake servo restored in gloss black - Done
Brake bar powdercoated copper. - Painted gold

Plans For Body:
Full respray - Going to wrap instead
Rusty areas cut out + re-welded with fresh metal - Will do eventually
Front window glass replaced - Not Done Yet
Underseal - Will do soon
Powder coating of metal parts in gloss black (Wipers). - Not done yet

Plans For Engine + Gearbox:
No block work because bottom end parts are impossible to find - Done
Replacement of all gaskets and seals - Done
Clean up of carbon deposits - Done
Replacement of ignition components - Done
Painted block (silver) - Painted Matte Black
Powdercoated sump - Done
Powdercoated pulleys - Done
Gloss black painted plastics - Didn't do, went different colors
Pro Hose set in Grey - Went Green instead
POTENTIALLY a LMS180 Inlet - Didn't do, maybe in future
Wrinkle black rocker cover - Went red
Stainless 4-2-1 Exhaust Manifold Zircotec coated - Didn't bother with zircotec, too pricey
Gearbox resprayed in silver...That's it lol - Went matte black
Driveshafts restored. - Got new JR Ones

Plans For Suspension
Bilstein B4 OEM shocks - Went with new genuine ones
New standard springs if necessary - Powdercoated standard ones Pink
New Top mounts - Didn't do, standard ones in good nick
Subframe Powdercoated - Done in grey
Steering rack cleaned and restored - Bought a reman one and painted green
Anti Roll Bar powdercoated - Done
ARB Bushes replaced - Done
Wheel bearings replaced - Done
Hubs powdercoated - Done
Steering ends replaced - Done
Rear beam bushes replaced - Will do in phase 2
Rear beam powdercoated - Will do in phase 2
OMP lower front brace added - Done and powdercoated in red


That's my plans! Interior won't be changing at all, it's pretty much mint the way it is! I predict this will take a couple of years to do at a nice pace but it's going to be an awesome Journey and can't wait to share it with you guys!

 

[gingerdave]

So that sounds like a big chunk out of £10k