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dubmeup

New member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Messages
60
Howdo folks. I just bought my first Puma.
Don't shoot me but I'd always thought mmmmm you know.....mmmmm.....a bit um.......ah..........um...........hair...........dressery *ducks

Just recently I started to get drawn to them and one happened to come up for sale a few miles away so....

2nd day and I have to say I'm smitten.
It's a Melina blue 1.7. 1998. It had a replacement engine in 2011. It's got a lot of the common ford faults but that motor is very good :) Might have to work on the low down torque a bit if it's doable but once it's on song it pulls pretty well. I had a couple of tweaked 8v mk2 Golfs and this is faster I reckon. Not bad at all.
I'm also impressed with the handling.
Currently this one is sat on 16s and is around 30mm lowered. It corners nice and flat, goes where you point it and just grips. I did have a play on a big country roundabout and was actually suitably impressed by how it hangs on. I'm not a racer though so I'm sure a better driver could make it let go.

When I picked it up it had hideous black sticker stripes down the bonnet and a smiling puma like cat sticker in between them. It also had ford racing stickers in the rear windows. That has all gone today. As has about two full touch up pens worth of hideousness. Why on earth do people do that? Take a teeny scratch that would easily cut out and instead of doing that....heave a load of touch up pen at the whole area? Insane if you ask me. Which you didn't.

Mechanically the car seems pretty good. It will get a full service this week and a new thermostat. The car isn't getting up to temp.

I am hearing what I guess is a whirring wheel bearing but would it be worth checking gearbox oil to rule that out? It's not constant and not always under load.

No doubt there'll be the odd bush that needs doing but I can't hear any knocks or clunks which is nice. It feels pretty tight and lively tbh.

There is ofc work to do on the rear arches. Stupid Ford with them stupid cloth arch liners. Stupid humans for never thinking of removing all that mud that sits around the lip. Makes I mad it does. Still I don't think I've had a Ford that didn't need it so this one actually aint that bad. Someone's had a go before but done a half arsed job. No rust proofing at the front and no sealing at the back. So it's bubbling again. Terrible job of the paint as well really. Back to square one for the arches I think. Still, the reams of invoices and the at least attempted repairs show that the previous owners have cared for it. At least a bit.
Just needs a loving and attentive current owner like me ;)

I'll get some photos up when I can.
 
Hi Dubmeup
Glad to hear that you're enjoying it and going to look after it. Sounds like you know what you're doing. There's plenty of common faults that you'll find out on here just watch out for the rust!
Barry
 
Yeah, Fords and their rust!
This one isn't as bad as the focus I had before it. That one needed a new front subframe as it had gone right through.
This little Puma has had a couple of patches underneath and needs at least one more, luckily we have the technology :)
But other then that and the bubbly arches, it aint as bad as I've seen on other fords. We did up a Fiesta Zetec S for my partner's daughter last year........that one needed quite a lot of new metal :(
 
:grin: Welcome, the rear arch rust sometimes starts from the inside out to!
 
Cheers for the welcomes folks :)
I got another annoying niggle this evening. The driver's window trapped the seal as it went up. And then started doing it every time. I've hooked the seal back out, lubed the grooves, cleaned the glass and ran a heat gun over the seal where it had been pinched for about 10 minutes. But it's not stopped it. I can see the door card has been off before (because they knackered the clips when they tried to refit it), so someone has probably encountered this before. It looks to me like there are two possible causes. The seal in behind the mirror looks unseated or split and i don't think the glass is seating in it's guide too well at the back because I can lift it up and down. Something to investigate maybe tomorrow.

And yeah, I've no doubt the rust will be based inside the arch. :)
 
Welcome along to Project Puma. My window seal is exactly the same. Had it on both Pumas :-(
 
Is it worth using silicon oil in the window groove to stop/delay this happening?
 
Apparently it is. I only had WD to hand as the workshop has run out of silicon. It was WD or copper grease :)
 
Haven't posted for a bit....work :(

I am slowly starting jobs. Did the rocker gasket and oil the other day and have met a local chap who breaks them so have a nice pile of spares already :) I also cleaned and reoiled the K&N. It was disgusting and took three degreaser washes to be clean. No doubt down to that rocker gasket filling the bay with oily vapour. The filter is now red again and the car is less asphyxiated ;) One of the spares I got was an airbox. I'll be making a shield for the K&N and doing the cold air feed thing with it. Which I am sure it will like.
Just taken delivery of Mintex ST170 discs, wheel bearings and Mondeo pads but sadly the calipers aint arrived in time for the weekend :(
 
As I had no brakes to play with I spent the afternoon under the back rust hunting and killing. It's pretty much all done and waxoyl undersealed now. Did find a bit of welding that needs doing on the NSR inner arch but luckily it isn't that bad. It will just have to go on the list and be happy with being rammed with waxoyl till nearer mot time.
The rest of it wasn't as bad as I might have expected.
 

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