dylanbjones

[dylanbjones]

More Money Spent

The past week has been a fairly productive one. The new shocks arrived and have been installed, they have made such a big difference to how it drives.

The next job was to finish clearing the front brakes. After using the mini angle grinder with a sanding disk on they came out nice and shiny, they nearly look new!

Now to solve the problem of the front bumper hitting the ground on every bump. Attached to the bottom of the bumper was a 2 inch bit of plastic. After giving up trying to get it of properly I cut all the tabs holding it on.

Now I have started to drive the car more I made the important decision to get some new tyres which have some tread on them. I saw 2 partly used mud and snow ones for sale on a Facebook buy and sell page. They where £35 for 2 which is cheaper than 1 new one from my closest tyre shop.

[dylanbjones]

Another Thing Broken

This week has been a much more productive one. Throughout the week one of my friends and I pulled off both rear shocks to see what the knocking noise was. After swapping round the shocks I was glad to find that the noise moved with it. This meant that it was not something TOO expensive.

This weekend me and the same friend set out to try and get the hand brake working better. After reading though the maintenance book, we gave up trying to adjust each drum and just tightened the nut by the hand brake lever. This seemed to do the job and will hopefully make it work properly. After dropping the car back to the ground, my neighbour came over to have a look at what I was doing. I told him about the problem with the shock and he told me the wonderful news that both of them are completely shot!

Next week I will hopefully have the new shocks ordered and maybe even installed.

[dylanbjones]

Starting To Drive

Since the last post, not a lot has happened. I found out the the front wheels were 14” and the back 15” which would explain why the front still sat lower than the rear. So I changed the fronts for some spare 15” wheels which came with the car, and took it for another drive.

Then I discovered another problem. The passenger side rear shock is not bolted in properly. So now I know this, I have to wait for a clear spell in the weather before I start to take it apart and try to fix it.

Meanwhile, I’ve started to pull the carpet out of the car. I’ve decided to go ‘full rally mode’ with minimal interior and I plan to get bucket seats as well.

Last Saturday my dad and I saw some retro style Corbeau reclining bucket seats for sale on eBay. We put a bid in but some one obviously really wanted them and out-bid us. So sadly I still don’t have any bucket seats yet.

As I am now back a school, I’m going to do a weekly blog instead. They will hopefully be a bit longer with an update of what is happening to the car.

[dylanbjones]

Day 7 & 8,Getting It Moving

Day 7 was pretty much the same as day 6. I removed the left shock and took it over to my neighbours to get the old spring off.

It took a fair bit longer that the first; this is because we had to cut off the old spring.

I also put the drivers side shock back in. It was much easier because I covered it in copper slip. Once in, I put the wheel back on and dropped it down to see what the new ride height was. It now sits much higher than before.

Day 8

Today was the day (hopefully!) that I would be able to drive it. I put the passenger side shock back in, again using plenty of copper slip. The wheel went back on and it was time!!

[dylanbjones]

Day 6, New Springs!

Last weekend I ordered the new springs and yesterday they came. So the plan for tonight was to try to put them on.

After getting the car jacked up, and removing the drop link, and the 3 top bolts off the shock, I pulled out it out and saw the full condition of the old springs.

Once the shock was off, the next problem came. The top nut holding the top of the shock absorber together was rusted on. After stripping it with an 18mm socket I went over to my neighbours garage and got a lot of help from him. We hammered a 11/16 socket on and just managed to get it off using a impact driver.

Now we had the old spring off it was time to put the new one on. Instead of using small spring compressors we used a floor press. This made it much easier and took much less time!

After a lot of fighting with it, it finally eased on. With the top nut quickly put on before it sprun apart, it was DONE!

After doing all that just for ONE, I have it took forward to doing it all again for the left shock tomorrow!

[dylanbjones]

Day 5, Time To Drive?

So today I got up early all ready to drive the car. I put the front seats back in, got the car on the ramps, then started to remove the bumper so it wouldn’t scrape on the ground when driving. I thought it had lowering springs in it.

As I was trying to get the bumper off, I noticed a bit of metal sticking off the spring. Well it turns out that it does not have lowering springs. It has snapped springs!!

So now I know that they are snapped, I have to replace them. I managed to order 2 road springs for £18, and given strong advice to keep my head out of the way while working on them.

I have this great job to look forward to next week when the new springs arrive!

[dylanbjones]

Day 4, IT STARTS

Today was the big day! The new ignition switch arrived. I pay £9 for it which is a lot better than if i had to get a complete new ignition.

I topped up the important liquids and put the new switch in. Holding my breath I put the key in, first click, second click, then ....................

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. The plan is to pull the front bumper off, as it sits way too low, then take it for a spin.

[dylanbjones]

Day 3, Bye Bye plastics

Today was a much less eventful day. I went and bought my very first car battery , I paid a whole £35 for it.

After putting the battery in and cleaning the ignition switch, I tried to start it. And NOTHING!! After giving up with trying to start it me and @reuben_williams03 (Instagram) started to pull out some the plastic panels. It turns out it is much harder than just pulling them out. It involves tiny little fiddly screws and hidden bolts. By 6pm we had only got 6 panels out and a little bit of carpet.

[dylanbjones]

Day 2, Stripping The Interior

Today’s job was to take the out the seats and figure out the reason why it won’t start.

The inside of the car is now slightly cleaner than it was and I started to pull out each seat one by one. Although I cleaned it before I still found lots of rubbish under the seats.

After pulling out the back seats I started to strip fascia around the steering column to get to the ignition. I took out the ignition switch, ordering a new one as I think this is the problem.

[dylanbjones]

Day 1, The beginning

A few days ago I bought my very first car, it is a Ford Fiesta 2007 1.25litre. I paid £75 for it and the the plan is to spend as little money as possible to build it into a rally/auto test car. The inside smells and there are a few bumps and scratches on the exterior. It does not start, I think this is due to a broken ignition barrel and hopefully not a wiring issue.

I’m open for suggestions and tips and tricks for building this car.

I have given it a brief clean and hoping that it will clean up nicely.