The Ford RS Forums.

I picked up this Fiesta si for £140 of a mate as we couldn't get it started, I had the intention of dropping the engine out of my XR2i in it as thats not road legal yet. After two hours of poking around trying to get it started I discovered one of the earth leads wasn't connected to the battery. Needles to say my mate was less than happy with that

I got the car in June and after getting it MOT in August I used it for a bit but I was never happy with the paintwork, so last month I stripped the interior out and made a start on spraying it.

As it was when I brought it.





A previous owner had fitted the wrong size tyres and they were close to fouling on the suspension, so I swapped the wheels for the ones on my XR2i.

Drivers side sill and front wing needed replacing





This is how the car looked a couple of weeks ago



I managed to crack the windscreen taking it out

This is how the car looks after a bit of work on Saturday, the shell is now painted in isolater as I've had trouble with one of the doors reacting.



Next step is to get the primer on.

I have got pics of the sill removed and new one fitted along with a new wing but cant get them off the phone at the mo

Heres one of my XR


Currently this has both front wings held on with duct tape, along with th ebody kit and one of the rear wings, the entire interior is in my loft. This has a lot of rust and needs a lot of work currently thinking of entering the hillclimb in it.

My Saph Cossie





This is currently suffering from a large misfire and a big smoking problem, its annoyed me so much I've cashed the tax in and its sat on the drive under a cover until I can get time to fix. I'm now driving the white Nova, which I thought I'd killed a couple of months ago but my dad rebuilt the engine

Update:

In between work commitments i've now got the shell primed and now just needs a couple of panels flatting back, I'm hoping to get this in colour next weekend.



I've also got the bonnet in isolator, and the inside of the bootlid. The door handles and filler cap are now in colour as of today, these now just need laquer and they will be ready for polish.



Its getting there now only trouble is my mind has started to wander onto other matters namely my other Fiesta which I am now starting to plan what I'm going to do with it.

The damn weathers been holding me back recently, I have managed to get the shell sprayed in base blue and is now ready for pearl and lacquer, all being well this will go on this weekend. The passenger door is now done and needs flatting back with 2000 and then mopping.

My home made spray booth





This is two gaxebos joined together and straped down to all the avaialbe cars on our drive, we only have one set of sides so we have to use a piece of tarpaulin anda car cover for the other one the front is butted right up against the garage. I've found this works really well and we get very few bits in the paint (so far anyway). This doesn't work when its windy we tried last Sunday and got both Gazebos up and the sides on the back one and then had to take it all down agian as it was moving around too much

The engine bay in the Cossie;



I can't wait to get this back on the road, thinks its going to be a couple of years yet, I took the cover off at the weekend and the paints gone funny on the bootlid I can see another full rebuild coming on once I've fixed the XR.

The shell is now fully sprayed all that is left to do is flat the clear back and mop it.











The photos really don't do the paint justice, it does have the odd run and few bits in the clear but flatting it back and giving it a mopping should sort them out. Even got the drivers door primed along with the boot lid. Should hopefully start putting the car back together next weekend.

Now got the passenger door flatted back and polished up, going to have to re-do the rear wing though which I did last weekend as the polish i've tried on the door has made it sparkle more than the wing









The process used on the door was;
Flated back using 2000grit wet and dry with soapy water
Farecla G3 applied with rotary
Farecla G10 applied with rotary
Meguairs Deep Crystal Stage 1 Paint Cleaner
Chemical Guys M-Seal (2 Coats)
Meguiars Deep Crystal Stage 2 Polish
Chemical Guys Extreme Top Coat (2 Coats)

It took 6 - 7 Hours just to do the door and I've still got the rest of the car to go All this work just for a runaround

Also got the bootlid sparyed this weekend and made a start on getting the dashboard back in. If I wasn't being sent to Eindhoven this week I would have had a chance to get the wiring loom sorted in the evenings

Now have the drivers door and boot lid on, still in the process of flatting the lacquer back the only part that is polished is the passenger door



Also got the roof lining in, carpet and dash. Got the hands free kit wired in, I had to modify the heater panel to get the wire to come out through,





Just waiting for a front window switch so I can change the LEDs in it so it shines up blue when the lights are on and the switch shows as red when the window is on.

My polish set;





I have had to get three large rolling boxes from B&Q, one holds all my various polishes, the other holds all my cloths and the thrid has my polisher with its pads in it. I may have to get a fourth one after my recent discovery of; http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/

I haven't been able to progress very far recently due to the bad weather, but I have managed to get all the interior in except the front door cards as these need to go on after the mirrors go back on. I've got half the roof polished but due to a lack of space in the garage I can't do the other half. I do now have a fourth project in the form of this;



I managed to get this for free , needs a bit of work but will be perfect for lugging the XR and RS around, I just need to do a trailer test so I can tow it and I'll need to get myself a car with a tow bar, for now I can use my dads Laguna

Having been off work since Wednesday I was hoping to be a lot further along, typically as I have to go back to work tomorrow the weather was fine today, so I managed to finish the roof off along with the bootlid and drivers side front wing, all I have left to polish on the car is the passenger front wing, both rear wings and the drivers door, then I just have to paint the other parts.









I've also fitted the stereo in order to test the hands free kit which I have discovered does not work

Work on the fiesta has slowwed down recently mainly due to the fact I blew the engine in my Nova that I was using to get to work and back, I managed to borrow a couple of cars one I had to give back and the other my brother sold two days after I started using (its been on our neighbours drive for a month and had noone was interested in buying it!!!!!) I have now brought this (unfortunatly its not a Ford)



83K on the clock, its a bit of a mess and just needs a lot of cleaning, and the heater doesn't work but we've found the problem and just need to get the part now.

Group shot;



Hopefully I can get going on the Fiesta again soon.

I now have the wing mirrors and spoiler sprayed, and the rear bumper should be finished today. I'm still trying to finish polishing the car!!!! So far I've removed all the scratches left by the 2000 grit paper the weather is the only thing holding me up at the moment. I've also sussed out what was wrong with the hands free kit as I couldn't hear anything through the speakers it turns out it does not output through the rear speakers and now I've fitted the front ones it works fine!!

Reflection on the passengers door yesterday;

The finished result;

I still cant belive its not a pro paint job mate Looks

if you want you can come and give my sapph a good going over before ford fair

You should see the state of my Saph, its looking a little poorly I was going to use it for a month but can't afford to inusure/tax it right now Once I finish my Laguna (getting very carried away with this one now) im going to start sorting the spah out and get it so Im happy by then I should be able to insure/tax it, I may have even decided what wheels to go for by then as well!!!