Help! I've developed a sudden urge....

matt_fsr

matt_fsr

matt_fsr

Soldato
Joined
20 Jul 2005
Posts
5,714
Location
Durham
..... to go and buy some scissors, clippers and a set of guards, a load of gel and some dodgy blow-dry attachments.

Is that normal when you buy one of these? :o :D

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So far I've given her a oil change and new oil filter, new air filter and pollen filter. I've changed the bonnet over to a one from a scrapped Puma, as the original paintwork was in such poor state there was no hope. I've put 2 new UniRoyal RainExpert tyres on the front, and fitted the original Puma style alloys onto her while that was being done.

I've also wet'n'dry sanded the headlamps down and polished them up, and am working on filling in the stone chips and giving her a full T-cut and polish all over, bit at a time.

Good thing is, she was cheap! :) Bad thing is, she needs a new clutch and timing belt. :(

Future plans so far consist of replacing at least the front springs and shocks back to OEM standard, and possibly the rears as well. After that, I'm probably open to suggestions.... as long as they don't break the bank!
 
Rust?
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Rear wheel arches, yep. Apparently they're notorious for it. Waiting for better weather as I've no garage, going to have the arch liners out, pressure wash then paint the insides, underbodyseal then re-fit liners. Gonna grind the rust back, fill it then get a few good layers of spraypaint on it, and then lacquer and polish.

The rest of the paintwork is in a bit of a mess too, it certainly wouldn't win any prizes on concourse! I'm not too fussed though, it's a cracking fun little drive, and the fastest car I've ever owned. (That's not saying much though!)

And yes it's the 1.7, anything else is frankly, criminal.

And she was around the ~ £600 mark. :)
 
Didn't know about the clutch when I bought it - suspect the previous owners realised it, and decided to get rid.

I test-drove it, but didn't pick up on the issue. It's slipping in high gears under heavy acceleration, especially uphill. No hills on the test drive!

Also, I suspect the fresh air filter and oil will have imrpoved the power output a little, thus making the problem more obvious.

I've always liked the Puma, and so thought I should probably get one before it became a 'classics-only' market where you pay through the nose. It's not intended as a super-cheap motoring experience, that's what putting 50k miles on a £550 Mondeo was! Still, I plan to keep it fairly well in the realm of bangernomics, but I figure I may as well do the shocks etc early on while I have it, and get the benefits out of them while it's still worth running.

The projectpuma forum has some really handy guides, as well as some really naughty sections on getting it closer to 160-170Bhp, which I suspect I shan't be doing due to the cost and my crappy mechanical skills!
 
Funnily enough my gf is a hairdresser and her last car was a Puma :D

Sounds like you paid a lot of money for it though if it's needing that much work doing to it..hers was a 2001 Thunder special edition with the 15" multispokes off the Fiesta Zetec S, air-con, leather interior etc etc, the arches had been sorted properly (cut out and new arches welded in, along with the inner lip that causes them to rust in the first place removed..none of this grind the rust back rubbish..the rust will be back before you can blink). We sold hers for £800 about 6 months ago and even that was a struggle to get!
 
One of my mates bought one of these only last week & she loves it, Silver y plate 1.7. I like'em. :cool:
 
I had a 1.7 VCT Puma before my S2000.

Genuinely one of the best drives I've had. I found it seriously difficult to try other cars that I was looking at and genuinely feel they were worth the extra cash.

Didn't Lashout or someone on here get one for something incredible like £200 with tax and MOT a few years back?
 
Just sold mine for £280 with tax and MOT.

Didn't need a clutch, did need a windscreen, cambelt, heater control valve and a few other things though. Genuinely loved it, was such a laugh to drive.
 
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