My Puma 1.7, more than a year on (A works in progress)

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Too warm today for grinding and welding so I decided to go ahead with the cold feed to the cotton air filter I'd thought about earlier when I fitted the filter.



I'd found this in my Mothers garage last week It's the original air feed for the Puma. The pipe was no good to me as it's not flexible enough but the horn at the end was just what I wanted.



There looked to be just enough room to site the feed at the end of the rad grill.



So took the bumper off and this is where I wanted the air horn, right next to the bracket for the N/S headlamp drain bracket



I needed to raise the position of the trumpet slightly as it was being masked by the bumper bib so I ground a bit off the front panel (yellow primer) and fitted a 6mm rivnut in the rad support cradle to mount a fixing bracket off.



These are the components I used; The Puma air horn, some thin walled alloy tube and a wire reinforced flexible pipe. I luckily had those already. The alloy pipe was a tight push fit into the air horn and the flexi pipe was a nice sliding fit over the alloy



I made a fixing bracket out of alloy and fastened it onto the rivnut on the rad support bracket with a 6mm bolt.



I realised at this point that the horn would be in the way so I ground off the tang that holds the horn in position and then rotated it forwards a bit. I also fitted rubber trim to the chassis rail and airbox support bracket to stop it chafing the flexi pipe



I also had to file of part of the flange on the air horn to avoid contact with the power steering cooler



This is the route of the flexi pipe. I will cable tie the hose to the airbox support bracket when I'm happy with the positioning of it



I need to make an end plate now to hold the pipe and keep cold air around the filter.




This is the location of the cold air feed behind the grill with the bumper back on.







The first two photos above are the air funnel I made out of sheet alloy and the alloy tube I'd used at the other end of the air feed with some rubber trim just to tidy up and stop it rattling. The third photo was the unit assembled showing the fixing bolt through the base of the filter (I blew out the filter with the airline after I drilled it to get rid of any swarf)



I managed to find a rubber seal so I could get rid of the inner tube I'd used previously.







The last few photos just show the routeing and how everything fits together. The only thing missing is a jubilee clip to hold the air pipe under the airfilter.



This shows the top of the filter neatly avoiding the back of the headlight, the corner of the battery box and the bonnet stay.



Wasn't happy with the pipe run past the air box mount so I dismantled it again and ground off the edge of mounting as this (after painting)
 
Looking good. Will that cheapo air filter be ok though. Ive heard loads of people say dont use cheap cone filters????
 
Well I've had one on my Westfield for the last 5 years and it's been ok. It wants cleaning now but I don't think I'll bother as it's as cheap to just buy another filter.
 
Well after effing about with my front braided hoses for the last few days and still not being sure about them I decided I'd do something a lot easier. The 15mm breather filter I'd ordered arrived last Friday so I decided to fit that. First off I took the nearside headlight out.



Here's the breather pipe with the plastic plug that goes into the standard airbox At the back of that was the engine mounting with some holes pre-drilled in it. I decided to make a bracket out of sheet alloy and mount it to the engine mounting with 2 x 6mm S/S nuts and bolts.



Here's the parts used.



And here's the filter fixed in position
 
Next up was to get the screws out of the plastic cam cover as I'm shortly going to do my cambelt change. I'd had a look at them before and they looked a little chewed up so I tried an Alan key but not used much force on it as I didn't want to ruin an Alan key. I was going to use the diamond tipped cutting blades on my dremmel to cut a deep slot in the screws.
So masked off the engine bay to prevent dust from going where it shouldn't



tiny diamond tipped wheel (10mm)



Slot in existing screw and new screws bought from Rufforth Autojumble on Saturday. The screws are S/S 6mm buttonheads with a washer cast into the bottom.



Once I'd ground a slot into the top of the existing screws I removed them using a screwdriver with a spanner on top.



I then cleaned out all the threads for the cover with a 6mm tap. When I build it back up I will give the screws a light coating of copperslip.



After I'd tapped out the threads I blew them out with the airline to make sure they were clean.
 
Cheers Martin
Never had one up to about three years ago and now I don't know how I went on without one. It's an Einhell and one of my mates got it for me off a Snap On man at his works. £20 in case with a flexi drive a stand and a few tools....bargain!
Barry
 
Back on to the floorpans again. The passenger side I've completed so now onto the drivers side.



rear floorpan drilled out to define rot limit



front floorpan drilled out to define rot limit



rear floorpan cut out



front floorpan cut out



The front floorpan had to be cut a little more once I'd started as there was rust on the strengthener underneath



Patches cut and shaped apart from the middle one. There is a rib on the floorpan with a taper so the patches will have to be welded in at either end before the middle patch can be made.



Front patch ready to go



Rear patches welded in so that the middle patch could be shaped to suit



All rear patches welded in now





Patches in etch primer from underneath.





Sound mat ready for installing





Sound mat installed and painted





Patches stone chipped underneath
 
Thanks for that, I saw your post tonight and I hope you have better luck in the future. There's nowt like working on old cars :grin:
Barry
 
Still working on the floorpans and moving onto the areas that are covered by the rubberised underseal



This is the chassis strengthener that runs at the side of the sill at the pass side
The seam is fairly corroded to the inside but there is also a small area right next to the sill



Same area underneath with all the rubberised underseal removed but with corrosion still present



I used Jenolite to indicate any rot areas and cleaned them off with the dremmel



followed by a coat of etch primer



This is above the strngthener in the corner of the inner sill and the seat crossmember



A quick rub down revealed rot through from below



The rot quickly became this.



View from below



A couple of inches away from this hole there was another patch of rust forming above the other side of the strengthener that I'd cleaned up previously



That became this



Which turned into this





View from below



Over to the other side. What looked like a rust blister after a little work.....







turned to this



And then to this



View from below showing slot next to chassis rail



Next up was the corner of the seat crossmember (same as on pass side)



View from below showing apparent lack of rust



Rust cut out pretty much the same as the other side



View from below with rubberised underseal taken off.





Drivers side strengthener prior to taking off underseal...not looking good



This side is far worse than the passenger side as there's at least 3 small patches that will require letting in and the rear of the strengthener is actually under the seat crossmember so it can only be welded in from below. I might have to just cover this until I can get it on my mates 4 poster and weld it up from below.



First of all I drilled holes in the floor to mark the extent of the corrosion as you can't see it from inside the car.



View from above



View from below with patches cut out apart from under the seat crossmember.



View from above showing patches cut up and shaped ready to weld in.



Patches welded in and just in the process of cleaning up and my Dremmels worn out it's brushes, so it's off up to my sons to borrow his :cry:



Dremel borrowed, and tidying up finished with a coat of etch primer



Joint sealant and sound mat installed as standard, ready for paint tomorrow



Painted and nearly as good as new



View from underneath before prep. I can primer the welded areas but to the rear of the strengthener it's rusty. Unfortunately the seat crossmember is directly above it so I'm going to seal that area of floorpan with fibreglass tissue and do the job maybe this winter. It's a lot of work as I'll have to cut out part of the seat crossmember just to get to it.



Newly welded patches etch primed and rusty area jenolited including underside of vin no. This idea of Ford to put the vin in an open area of strengthener is not their finest hour. There was so much crap in it I had to blow out with the air line. No wonder it rots.



Fibreglass tissue applied to the vin no and to the rear of the strngthener
 
Great work mate. Just reading through for some inspiration for cleaning all the rust from mine.

Came across this photo of yours in this thread. Can anyone else see the eyes?



Spooky or what?
 
Hi, like the guide, I'm about to take on the job of rust proofing my car, and currently in the process of stripping every thing of the car, did you have any issues fitting the rear disks, I'm buying a set of a mate who never got round to fitting them, so anything I need to look out for, any info would be great, thanks there of a st170, so not sure if they come with abs and handbreak cable.
 
Hi mnicol
Thanks for that and as regards the rear discs and calipers if you don't want to keep the ABS it's a straightforward mechanical swap but best to buy a ST150 handbrake cable. If you do want to keep the ABS it's a bit of a minefield as there's some machining work that needs doing on the ST170 hubs as the sensors and rings don't match as well as lots of issues with the standard Puma rear ABS sensors. I could tell you the way I've done mine but mine isn't proven yet so do a search on here. I think Wild E Coyote (I could be mistaken) has done a posting with all the details but there are others as well
Barry
 
Fed up with doing bodywork for the moment so I decided to see to the routing of the exhaust as I'd noticed that one of the new flanges must have distorted when they were tigged on and the exhaust would have rattled on the 2nd heatshield.



Exhaust pipe too close to offside of tunnel.



To get the exhaust over to the N/S of the car I had to cut the pipe at the N/s nearly all the way around



The cut wasn't thick enough to move the pipe over so I had to grind it out to a wedge shape,


Some of the extras needed for welding up stainless pipes. Argon gas, stainless wire, a double outlet gas supply and very important, a stainless brush for cleaning the welding area.


The double outlet supply. One goes to the MIG and the other goes into the inside of the pipe to be welded


Pipe welded up. Stainless welds really nicely for me but I find even for relatively thin pipe it welds best on max power on my MIG.


The gasket I'd used to assemble the exhaust was knackered so I thought I'd make my own out of electrical wire (it might work!). I'd put a stub pipe on each of the joints to the cat so that holds the gasket in place whilst the flange bolts should crush it nicely


Gasket on flange


Pipe back in place and in the right position now so it won't rattle the heatshield.
 
Fascinating informative thread Barry your work is a credit to you mate.
Loved the pics of the RS,s Ive had a few myself along with XR2,s,3,s Harriers as you say the prices they fetch now is eyewatering.
One pic from 81
 

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