Neil’s Mk1 Update (309)

Last time, Neil had a belt failure which meant the Mk1 was briefly out of action.

This is a £20 belt, but due to the amount of ancillaries it covers, you can drive the car in N/A form but it’s a question of which dies first, the headgasket or the battery.

I had the car recovered and I was convinced it was an engine out job, it was always something I expected at some point and it’s the price I pay for having a nutty one-off car with a crammed engine bay.

Superb (and bright!) Fiestas, in Mk1 and Mk2 varieties.

I really couldn’t even attempt it on the driveway and living in the South West means I’m short of local garages that I trust. Then I got chatting to Mark Hudd who runs M Hudd Auto Specialist. I’m certainly no fan of just leaving my car places because I don’t want a random mechanic taking my cars for a “test drive”. I had no worries with Mark, he is the Swindon RSOC chairman and he has two monster Cossies and a seriously quick Mk2 Fiesta with a ZT engine, so I know he knows how to look after cars, how to respect them and what they mean to the owner.

Mark and Dave Pritchard (another RSOC regular and ex-FF feature car owner) collected the Mk1 and had it turned around and on the road in an afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised, more so when he told me he managed it without moving the engine! If you look at my set-up, this is an impressive feat! Especially because I made the job tricky by not having the correct size belt and a map of which way it routes… Mark and Dave sorted that for me, drawing a neat little map for me and giving me the part number for the next time. Top boys! That’s proper service right there!

So with the car running again in quick time I was well happy and bombed over to see Darren from Orbital Motorsport to finally fit my wicked Compbrake stoppers. I think the hours he has put in with this may have cost him a marriage, but from a selfish point of view, it has been worth it!

I took delivery of some EBC brake discs. I had the choice of standard or uprated, I went for the standard style 1.6 Mondeo ones as they are a 260mm disc. EBC have always proved themselves a decent choice on my daily use cars. The wheels hide them a little but these brakes are huge! Getting four pots and 260mm discs inside the 13s is a serious task, but he has managed it. This was all the day before the Classic Ford Show as I was due on stand with the CF lads. Pleased to say I made it. Now I really need a clutch…

Posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 9:50 am under Fiesta, Neil. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: Black Top, Fiesta, Mk1, Supercharger, Zetec