Even with the valve clearances set these still rattle a bit,good little cars though. 

 

 

its going to be quite a difference driving a tight, less-than 2 year old, citigo  and a 19 year old fiesta which is just as sophisticated as a mallet.

 

 

 

 

 

At least this fiesta has power steering.............not many had as standard. 

i know haha its not as basic as i make out :P 

 

I fitted a radio this evening too!

 

Central Locking, Power Steering, SPI haha

i know haha its not as basic as i make out :p

 

I fitted a radio this evening too!

 

Central Locking, Power Steering, SPI haha

Passenger air bag too by the look of it......positive luxury! 

i know haha its not as basic as i make out :p

 

I fitted a radio this evening too!

 

Central Locking, Power Steering, SPI haha

 

No "Baz and Shaz" sunstrip yet? Surely that's an essential for Chatham, along with blacked out windows and a huge sub. ;)

 

Will it be sporting a Briskoda sticker?

No "Baz and Shaz" sunstrip yet? Surely that's an essential for Chatham, along with blacked out windows and a huge sub. ;)

Will it be sporting a Briskoda sticker?

And someone needs to scab the badge

i know haha its not as basic as i make out :p

 

I fitted a radio this evening too!

 

Central Locking, Power Steering, SPI haha

 

This must be the last line of Mk3s, I'm sure my Fiesta was on an N plate and it was a Mk4. Mine had the 1.25 engine, much better than the 1.3 imho. 

Yes this is one right at the changeover point

Have to say this looks fine in the metal.

 

This must be the last line of Mk3s, I'm sure my Fiesta was on an N plate and it was a Mk4. Mine had the 1.25 engine, much better than the 1.3 imho. 

 

It starts, runs and stops.  I'd have thought that's the most important thing on a cheap runaround.

Exactly engine capabilities and preferences are probably secondary.

Cracking Little car, My Dad had one, rebuilt the engine and just will not stop going, great fun to drive as well!

Exactly engine capabilities and preferences are probably secondary.

 

Was just saying, didn't mean to cause offence

Was just saying, didn't mean to cause offence

 

I wasn't offended.

 

Was just saying that it's 19 years old.

Probably just good it still works...

Today was the day!

 

insurance transferred over and took a road trip up to london to visit Bossfox. it did well!

 

one thing that today has made me realise (after driving 100 miles today) the Citigo is so advanced! chassis is alot stiffer, it has a front anti roll bar, its more responsive in the bends and certainly doesnt bounce/roll as much!

 

today with a bit of pushing "getting to know the car" along with the motorway journey ive done just under 1/3 of a tank of petrol in 100 miles. so with normal sensible driving im looking at about 350 to a tank (at least) 

 

as bossfox said, its 19 years old, it goes, stops and steers fine and im really happy with it. Yes its far from perfect, but not many £200 cars will be XD

 

No "Baz and Shaz" sunstrip yet? Surely that's an essential for Chatham, along with blacked out windows and a huge sub. ;)

 

Will it be sporting a Briskoda sticker?

 

Well.... Some spot lamps maybe on order... hahaha (i know, tacky but i dont care! :P )

 

ill eventually get a Briskoda Sticker on it, hell it may ADD some street cred too!

Well.... Some spot lamps maybe on order... hahaha (i know, tacky but i dont care! :p )

 

ill eventually get a Briskoda Sticker on it, hell it may ADD some street cred too!

 

Don't forget the dodgy HID upgrade too and using the fogs as DRL's, 'cos that's wot da big boyz have. Amarite?

Might want to save up for a new paint job too ;)

 

Paint job!?

 

you mean duct tape, white plastic bags and thats it!

Aldi or Lidl bags?

SO today i drove it to work, it got poo'd on by a bird, whether its a coinsidence or a good luck gesture i dont know.

 

Then went over to my mums to empty her back garden of old cabinets which had been disassembled but never taken up the tip. It tooks me 3 trips and i found another issue.

 

I had done similar trips to the tip in my Mk1 Fabias, I could always tilt the chair enough to get some of the longer pieces in the back, this was not the case with the Fiesta, i ended up pulling the front seat out (as i was doing to to surprise her before she got home from work so speed was my main aim and too many to cut in half) afterwards it was easy to get the scrap in the boot.

 

fuel economy is still on its way to getting 300 miles ish to a tank.

 

I then popped up to Asda to get my shopping, i tend to park in a busy section of the car park. either it was quiet tonight or people dont like parking within two car spaces of the Fiesta! Plenty of space either side lol. I would have taken a picture but when i took the trolley back someone parked across two spaces next to the fiesta and they were staying in their car.

 

coming out of Asda a 63 plate Kia something tried to cut me off in a 2 > 1 filter lane, the little Fez did well to fend the idiot off.

 

in all the car is doing well, had a little issue with the drivers door lock, i put the key in to lock/unlock and i have to wiggle the key before it will actually operate. The key keeps sticking.

These keys do wear quite bad,i once bought a transit van,got it home,parked up,locked it & in the morning couldnt unlock any door as the key was so worn,had to get a blank cut to unlock it....... Might be a good idea for you to get another key cut. 

These keys do wear quite bad,i once bought a transit van,got it home,parked up,locked it & in the morning couldnt unlock any door as the key was so worn,had to get a blank cut to unlock it....... Might be a good idea for you to get another key cut. 

 

While i agree as i only have one key, it does have an immobiliser coil in it too, so im guessing will be expensive to get a second, or just swap it over so i have one new key.

Have a look in the key group buy section and actionman39 might be able to sort you out

On the transit i bypassed the imobiliser so i just had 2 standard keys copied,if you have the Red key you can code your new keys yourself. 

Been quiet so i tohuhgt id update it again!

 

So ive done a few bits to the car, one im really proud of, but that will come later.

 

After getting it home I checked the valve clearances all of them were borderline ok so i tweeked them and its a bit better. I also put a tank of V-Power in it (34L so i only had 1L in the tank! :S ) and boy it loves it! runs ALOT better on V-Power. wont run it on it for ever just a tank or two to clean it out.

 

Heres a pic my mum took of when i was working on the brakes, excuse the mess lol

 

 

 

So on wednesday i went to Brands Hatch with Bossfox and co and when the garage next door was empty i sneaked a few pictures in

 

 

 

Then to my proudest fix yet. The cars alarm was not working, aswell as the electronic boot release (High tech i know!) basically early Mk3's had a switch next to the gear stick which directly operated the boot release, so that one would not need to put the key into the boot lock to open it. This system was too easy to crack so on later fiestas they added a little Module to control it. as well as the central locking/Alarm.

 

The pain was the power to the button is cut when the ignition is on. this is to stop you from pressing the button while driving. But even so the module wasnt working.

 

After a tip off of its location, I pulled it out and checked for power. the Unit was powered and central locking worked so it was partially operational.

 

A bit of prising relased the PCB from the enclosure. Now my day to day job involves PCB assembly and fault finding after a visual inspection i found that water had gotten into the box, run down the tight grooves holding the PCB in place and had corroded the PCB copper track. this meant that the connections were there but certain tracks were not connected especially around the Vias (through PCB connections) I had to fit wire links from one side of the PCB to the other. So i busted out the soldering Iron and this was my bodged result:

 

 

Not my neatest work but it would do, then i had to modify the enclosure a bit to allow for the wire links. After all that put it back together an Hey Presto! It works!

 

Both my Car alarm and Electronic boot release function! So atleast i can hear when someone is stealing the car lol!

 

edit: FYI a new module would have cost £300 from a dealer, £50-£200 on ebay. So i think i did well to get it working

Nice one & well done.........its nice to see some old school take it apart & fix it instead of bolt on a new replacement.