Update on Dan’s Mondeo (293)
I swear this car is cursed! After fitting the Eibach lowering springs a couple of months ago, I discovered I had self-levelling rear dampers, so needed to swap for some non-levelling ones! I opted for some excellent Bilstein B6s. Due to a rounded off pinch-bolt the original front strut wasn’t going to come out of the hub, so I was left to source a replacement hub from ‘the bay’.
When it turned up I discovered it needed a new bearing. I then discovered what a bitch of a job pressing out the old bearing was. Luckily we have a Draper 10tonne press at our workshop, but the hub did its best to hold onto the damn bearing, and then did its very best to resist us putting the new one in!
After much aggro and with the car all reassembled it all looked great… Until the next day when the other wheel bearing decided to fail spectacularly, requiring a tow back to the workshop. Aaarrgghh!! Top marks go to Kevin the RAC man for not only turning up within 30mins, but also for helping me out with stripping the hub from the car.
With another bearing bought, and another almighty battle to get it fitted, the Mondeo’s at long last sitting nicely and it’s a dramatic improvement. As standard the Mondeo’s a keen handling car, but the suspension is very soft, and is easily caught out by quick changes in direction. The B6 kit replaces that with a firm, yet well dampened ride that never feels harsh or uncomfortable. With hindsight I should have opted for the B8 kit (which is intended for lowered cars) but even with the B6 kit (which is designed to work with a standard ride height) it has properly improved the handling, and no longer does it feel like the door handles are scraping on the floor.
In other news Delphi has kindly invited me to its training facility in Warwick to have the car properly diagnosed, so I can finally put the injector issues to bed. I’ll report
back on that next month.
Euro Car Parts
0870 150 6506
For the full write up, and to catch up with the rest of the mag’s cars, see the July issue on sale now!
Posted on Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 11:55 am under Staff Cars. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
