Fatttty's Ford Racing Puma #401 | Ford content... Front running gear refurb

[fatttty]

Bolts look goood Alex,

Im excited to see the rear beam back

Ryan

Cheers mate me too, beam should be back 1st week of jan. Hope it's worth the wait!

[sam bignell]

Popped back on this forum because I remembered you'd bought this around the time I sold my second Lupo Gti. Being looking at something a bit more practical than the MX5, from your ownership what are these actually like to live with?

Granted the rusty issue and "dodgy aftermarket modifications", anything in particular buyers should look for?

This one seems to be a good buy (minus the exhaust and centre caps)

Edited December 29, 2012 by sam bignell

[fatttty]

Popped back on this forum because I remembered you'd bought this around the time I sold my second Lupo Gti. Being looking at something a bit more practical than the MX5, from your ownership what are these actually like to live with?

Granted the rusty issue and "dodgy aftermarket modifications", anything in particular buyers should look for?

This one seems to be a good buy (minus the exhaust and centre caps)

Hi Sam, as a daily car I can't really comment. I've driven this about 60 miles before I took it off the road for the rebuild.

I can imagine them being fairly good to love with they were designed to be used. Mine will be good weather / weekend use to minimise the wear and tear on the car.

Mine was a good example in terms of body and paint, it was a previous category wrote off and was badly repaired then completely rebuilt by the previous owner who was a ford panel repairer so it's excellent. Underneath was definatley not up to a good standard but I knew I would be doing this myself anyway

If you are looking for one there are few good ones for sale at the moment, as for things to look out for-

Rust, you probably won't find one with out any at all but the main problem areas are rear arches, where the arch extension meets the sills.

Check the manifold number against the vin number there are a few that have been reshelled so the numbers don't match up.

Check the brakes have been serviced, cam belt should be done with the correct timing tool or they don't run right.

Parts are the main issue for these cars. All ford racing parts were sold off when they closed the ford racing factory in borham. Pumabuild in bimingham and the NCC are the only places that keep any of the parts and they are quite expensive.

eBay is definately your friend when it comes to an FRP lol!

PM me if you need any help or advise.

Alex

[Arosaproject]

Looking good, nice work

Keep it up

[fatttty]

Looking good, nice work

Keep it up

Thanks! Back to working on her next week, had a load of parts arrive from Ford. A few more parts and she will be ready to go back together

[sam bignell]

Thank you Alex, I will bear this in mind.

Quick google search brought up a few forums, which in your opinion would be the best place to read up on articles and possible adverts?

[Benjeee19]

Your attention to detail is incredible mate this will be better than when it left the factory when you've finished !

Ben

[fatttty]

Thank you Alex, I will bear this in mind.

Quick google search brought up a few forums, which in your opinion would be the best place to read up on articles and possible adverts?

Pumapeople or projectpuma are the main sites. RPOC is the offic owners club, this has a lot of information about the cars development.

As for finding an example any of the above sites will be good as most are advertised on all three sites. There's a fantastic example on eBay at the moment, brand new interior, refurbished underside etc

[fatttty]

Your attention to detail is incredible mate this will be better than when it left the factory when you've finished !

Ben

Thanks Ben, means a lot. Hopefully it will be more rust proof lol! Can't wait to get back in the garage, got all new exhaust heat shields to go on, should be getting the new exhaust this weekend.

I keep finding things to improve on tho, seem to be takings the things apart than I'm putting back on!

Removing the gear linkages so I can clean and polish them.. So sad but may as well I've got the chance!

Most of the floor is painted all under the main body of the car now. Once I've done this it will be put back together. Then on to the front end, powdercoated subframe, recondition the calipers, new frot suspension, details in the engine bay.

Doing much more than I'd ever planned to do!

Alex

[JoeA]

The day it's done, before it gets dirty, get it to a garage and do a photoshoot with the full underside on a four post ramp

Edited January 3, 2013 by JoeA

[sj2112]

i have just seen the one on ebay you mentioned, it looks a peach! i'm even considering one this year

i can't wait to see yours all back together!

[fatttty]

i have just seen the one on ebay you mentioned, it looks a peach! i'm even considering one this year

i can't wait to see yours all back together!

It is a minter, god knows where he sourced the brand spanking new interior from!?

The day it's done, before it gets dirty, get it to a garage and do a photoshoot with the full underside on a four post ramp

Lol thats the plan Joe

[JoeA]

[fatttty]

UPDATE: Bit more progress made the last few weeks, got the majority of the underside of the car painted now. The main floor pan and exhasut tunnel are done. Just need to done the edges where the floor meets the sills.

Can't tell the colour too well again but...

Got some of my new clips fitted, new brake line, fuel line and handbrake cable clips. Only got a few on so far got about 10 more to go on-

The fuel lines that ran from the front to the back of the car were looking tired and were covered in horrible thick underseal, I rubbed them down with wirewool and light sandpaper and gave them a quick coat of grey stone cxhip paint.

Much better

Still got some little jobs before I rebuild her. Fitting new copper brake lines that will run from front to back, got the offside rear arch to paint as well. Should be done this week

Thanks, Alex

[James827]

what paint and stuff did you use on the underside?

My MK2 needs some lovin

[Lupo-Joe]

Amazing as per Alex!

Joe

[fatttty]

what paint and stuff did you use on the underside?

My MK2 needs some lovin

I used epoxy mastic chassis paint to seal, etch primer, stone guard then a top coat in a grey hammerite type paint.

You need to take everything back to bare metal and make sure all the rust is taken down to pitted metal.

It's hard work but well worth it

[fatttty]

Amazing as per Alex!

Joe

Cheers joe, its getting there. Couple more weeks and it should be done

[James827]

Cheers the cars been was oiled many many many times (unfortunately it must have been a bit damp. Many stripped knuckles for me than aha.

[fatttty]

UPDATE: Finally got my rear axle back from the powdercoater. Was worth the wait though, the finish is awesome

Got the fuel and brake lines all clipped up and in place. Also fitted the new rear copper brake lines I made a few weeks ago.

Later today I should be rebuilding the rear axle, fitting the heat shields, exhaust and hopefully the fuel tank! Starting to finally come together again!

Thanks for looking, Alex

[Tom's Lupo]

nice work alex, got alot of love for fords as my dads got a mk2 rs2000

Edited January 12, 2013 by Tom's Lupo

[fatttty]

UPDATE: Made some really good progress this weekend guys got some of the collection of my new parts ready to fit on the car...

Brand new exhaust heat sheilds fitted, the car should have 5 in total, originally I only had one lol! So new ones werer purchased from Ford along with the retaining clips, really glad I got these as they look fantastic, really shiney

Fitted:

New full stainless Piper exhuast system from Pumabuild:

New stainless Piper backbox that I machine polished. Had this sitting in my spare room since last October! The Mrs was very pleased its finally on the car now!

Also fitted the fuel tank, new fuel filter and fuel evapouration box:

Also got the rear axle bolted to the boot floor, got the hubs, discs and calipers to fit this week.

Will keep you all updated.

Alex

[Koop]

All coming together now, stunning

[Piers]

Alex i currently hate you... based around the fact you have the space and time to do this! keep up the good work.

[sj2112]

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