Puma 1.7 Rebuild Mk II

ProjectPuma

Help Support ProjectPuma:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
It's certainly been a long road. Knowing it's near completion hasn't really filled me with excitement at this point. I was feeling positive and energised a while ago, but the peaks and troughs of this project have been massive. The length of time waiting without updates or progress has dampened my spirits to the point of indifference many a time. I've gone through a range of positive and negative emotions whilst I've been waiting all this time.

There is genuine relief knowing I won't have to sink money into the Focus or get another car to tide me over. I'm sure I'll be extremely excited when I get the call to say that the car is ready. I've questioned if I wanted to continue any further with the project once I get the car back. I'm going to wait and see how I feel once I'm back in the car, but I don't think I'll want to quit.

Will it live up to expectations? It's been such a long time since I've driven the car, I don't think I'll recognise the different in power or performance. I do remember how it felt driving the car home after I collected it. There was a smile on my face the whole way home and I felt elated inside. I can only imagine similar feelings when I go to collect the car the end of this week or the beginning of next.

With the expectations having changed so many times since the project began, I'm not sure where I will go with the project next. Knowing how few Pumas are now on the road, and how much time and money has been sunk into the project I feel like wanting to quit would be foolhardy at this point. With the MOT and bodywork required, the next few months won't be much cheaper. At the end of the day though, I wouldn't have bought a 3rd Puma, or gone down the road of a project car if I didn't want to see this through. The rebuild was to be the foundation of the project - there's still a long way to go, and whilst I've had no end of doubts over the months, I think I know deep down that I'm not going to quit.

It's nice to feel relief at this point, knowing I'm closing in on the date of completion. There's still apprehension, but I guess after all that's happened that's only natural.

Anyways, I'll be back when I get the Puma back.

Ed
 
J said it'd be ready Thursday evening. So i'll collect it after work. That's only a couple of hours before the insurance expires on the Focus. I thought I'd be excited, but I'm not. I'm genuinely nervous, because if anything goes wrong, I have no car, no backup and no financial means to fix and MOT the Focus or get another cheap runabout.

Anyway, I told J I can pick it up after I finish work at 10pm. If not I said the insurance will have expired on the Focus and that he'd need to collect it and drop off the Puma to my house Friday morning before midday.

I just done the new insurance, with breakdown and other extras it wound up £15 more a month than expected. But it's still cheaper than forking out for x2 insurances and x2 road tax per month on both cars.

Valued the car at 2k. Bought for £550 and the project total costing around £3500.

Ed
 
Don't you hate it when you have a vivid dream and wake up thinking it really happened?

Well, I dreamed that I was at work and J called me to say the car was ready.

Then I woke up and realised it wasn't real

giphy.gif


Ed
 
There is a an Ephraim Kishon short story about them ordering a dining table and waiting for it over two years..... :roll:

I hope it Works out this time, they eventually got the table as well :wink:
 
I text him asking if it's still OK to pick up the car at 22.30 tonight after work. He text back "hopefully, I'll call you this evening." "Hopefully" has got me worried. This has gone on for 10 months and now he's got 10 hours left and doesn't know if it will be finished when I need it to be.

I'll be honest, I'm feeling sick with worry at this point.

Ed
 
Spoke to J he said cams need adjusting and then the engine is good to go back in. He'll be able to drop it off tomorrow morning before I have to leave at midday. He'll fit the door cards and strut braces for free.

I can breath a sigh of relief now I think.

Ed
 
Oh man....

If I may offer a suggestion regarding the door cards. I would do it myself if I were you. Most likely half of the clips are broken: get a set of Ford original ones to prevent rattling later on....

Just my 2p...

And I do hope this deal sticks for today!
 
EastEnders has nothing on you!!! :grin: l really do hope you get it back today. I can’t believe the patience you have shown throughout, I would have been camped out at his workshop months ago.
 
Where in the engine is a thrust washer? He found one spare, text me after 6am saying he'd been up all night, stripped the engine out again, found them all in place and is going to need the car for a couple more days. He apologised and said it'll be ready on Sunday. I've asked where the engine rebuild is now at, I'm should to get a reply in a few hours after he's woke up. Not angry though, no point in that. I was thankful in all honesty - for the update and the dedication for staying up as long as he did.

I'm hoping it's a part that isn't deep in the bowels of the engine. I had to arrange with work to have today off as emergency holiday. Thankfully I was able to do so, but I can't be without a car come Monday. I'm also having to cover the weekend shift from home, and next weekends too and then a 3rd weekend, 3 weeks from now. So I'll probably be a little frazzled by the end of next month.

Can you send a link for the clips and I'll sort them out at a later date?

At least the weather is nice today and I've got a 3 day weekend, even if I am now working it from home. As for patience - can't be anything else as there's no money to get it done elsewhere. Besides, I knew he would come through for me in the end.

Insurance has run out so I can't drive the car now, but the MOT runs out tonight at midnight. Is the car illegal to have parked out on the road at that point? I know he won't be able to drive it back to the workshop to break it for parts. But if I can't park it on the street then I've no idea what to do.

UPDATE: I'm pretty sure it's fine to be parked and not moved, I checked on the Gov website:

"If the MOT has run out
You cannot drive your vehicle on the road if the MOT has run out. You can be prosecuted if caught.

The only exceptions are to drive it:

  • To or from somewhere to be repaired
  • To a pre-arranged MOT test"

I imagine he'll need to get his recovery truck to collect it on Sunday when he drops the Puma off. I'll keep you posted on Sunday.

Anyways, I'm off out to do some staffing in the park in the sunshine.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GTTEBBDnGY[/youtube]

Ed
 
raggamuffin said:
Can you send a link for the clips and I'll sort them out at a later date?

FINIS is 1044866. You look them up either on eBay, or at local Ford dealership. I would recommend to go for original Ford product; it is MILES better than eBay cheapos that break down all to easily
 
To be on a public road, you must have tax and insurance. Without a current MOT, car insurance could potentially become invalid. If you don't have tax and insurance, you need to SORN the car and not have it on a public road.

Statutory off road notification (SORN)
If a vehicle is off the road and not in use, you do not have to keep it taxed and insured – however, you must make a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN), or the vehicle will still be considered to be on the road. You can do this using form V890, or by using GOV.UK’s online application tool.
 
Thanks for confirming, didn't realise without insurance it'd be illegal to park on the road. Checked terms on insurance and it didn't mention an MOT. However, the car will be collected by Justin on Sunday and it'll be loaded onto a truck and not driven back to his workshop.

I've just paid for 3 days of insurance so it's legal to keep on the road until Sunday.

Ed
 

Latest posts

Back
Top