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This is just a rant about my little fiesta SI and the long list of all the problems i've had since i've owned it or at least i can remember
i bought the little car for £450 in june 2007 i think.
i was told it had had new wishbones but a week later i realised that it hadn't had new wishbones and thats when all the problems began
first the wishbones needed replacing, no problems i thought bought some cheepies (unaware of the crap quality) £35ish for a pair delivered just what the doctor ordered,
after replacing they clonked for a month couldn't work it out finally discovered i hadn't torqued the bolts up enough.
then i did the bolts up 2 tight, had to hammer them out and buy another pair of bolts for the lower ball joint
2 months later new wishbones were shot, i found out when i went to get my tracking done and mi mate who does me "a deal" demonstrated the ripped rubber with his crowbar trick.
so back onto ebay i go,
a company called de-flex or flo-flex sells me these uprated racing wishbones with polybush pivot bushes (£117 pair), fantastic the car drove like it was on rails for about 3 months, then one side fell appart, luckly the company gave me a free set, the freebies lasted a month again 1 collapsed so i took the 2 good wishbones and stuck them on for a while they failed, went back for another set from the company who now doesn't make them any more due to poor design,
off to mr ford for a pair of genuine wishbones and nuts and bolts £150 ouch, wishbone problem solved.
next problem
The passenger door lock and boot lock fail, both locks were shagged, bought a complete lock set and matching pats box off ebay £30
locks sorted then central locking solenoid fails on drivers door, down the scrap yard new solenoid £15
a few days later electric window wire snaps window falls into door, back down the scrap yard another £25.
time ,
replaced exhaust fitted Kent cams changed cam belt 2.0 Mondeo throttle body car works okay for a while,
then the tps falls off whilst driving down the sea front, back to the beakers yard to get some new screws and a replacement tps.
car runs smooth for a while no problems a couple of months of smooth running even passes its hooky emissions MOT 1st time
then some month later i brake and the car seems to constantly pull to the left?, i drive the car home, and discover the calliper has seized pushing the pads against my worn out disks till the disk turn blue (the break pads were now shot to the cause of the problem lol), fortunately i got some calipers off my friends mk2 xr2 discs needed replacing went for evo 40 grooved and drilled discs and ebc green stuff pads
2 months later and some hard summer driving and boy races both brake disks have big cracks through them,
replace disks for red disk 6 grooves non drilled 3 months later these 2 have big cracks down them and the brake compound has come appart from the ebc disk,
so i bought ebc turbo grooved and dotted disks and another set of ebc green stuff pads, they seem alright now (i might check them at the weekend lol)
next problem water pipe burst (the one that goes from thermostat to heater matrix, really hard to change from above the car, i just patched it up with a bit of pipe from halfords.
shortly after the radiator top hose splits and bursts. more expensive trips down to fords. £30
also the gearbox falls appart after a long hard drive from essex weston supermare and back another £50 there
Then i put the rs1800 lump in,
replaced cam belt
water pump
all hoses
(so nothing could go wrong)
straight after fitting the rs1800 engine it has no power and was slower than the 1600 lump, after £50 of petrol hunting around all breakers i find the rare cult ecu for £40 i stick it in problem still not solved, i send my super chip off to be remapped for the cult ecu problem still not solved,
then i finally work out i timed the cam belt up to the wrong notch on the crank pully, re-time it and bam the car runs like a beaut for 2 weeks,
then the cam belt mysteriously snapped just as i pull into work? on inspection it turns out a bolt from the water pump fell out and dropped rite on the bottom cog, i torwed al the bolts up but the quinten hazel water pump gasket has shrink making all the bolts loose
cylinder 1 and 3 now have low compressions (cylinder head taking off valves replacing or reseating) i buy the cylinder head from sisisi so i can rebuild it and straight swap it , i didnt want any car downtime who doesnt provide the goods and runs off with my £71
(problem is yet to be resolved i have a head and i'm porting and polishing it to fit in march)
car goes in for its next special MOT and fails on 2 rear wheel bearing which were replaced 2 month prior to the MOT (another ebay piece of crap) wheel bearing were replaced again with some halfords ones (made in Japan) costing £16 each
by now i have learnt that dont buy car parts off ebay unless they are manufacture originals.
car gets its MOT the emissions are incredibly high due to cylinder 1 and 3 not being very efficient.
then the rear brake pipe (not hose) gets a split in it (it had been rubbing on the exhaust since i fitted it) i go to ford who tell me you cant buy the pipe work any more you have to get it made, so i go to a friend who fortunatly restores old cars and whips me up a brake pipe, which i fit in the pissing rain.
then today the power steering pipe bursts just on that stupid connector which is next to the cam belt cover, all the power steering fluid goes over the pulleys and flicks all over the engine. fortuantl i have a spare pipe from the rs1800 engine remains.
some of the other problems i've had with this car include
my neighbour revered into it in her mondeo
a Renault clio 172 crashed into the back of me during a boy race because my brakes were better than his
the radiator leaks after a water change and needs a pot of rad weld
the rear arches are going rusty
the brakes need bleeding at least once a month to keep them tight.
the offside wheel rubs on the plastic wheel arch even thought i'm only running falken 195/45/14 tyres?
the car smells like petrol because of the cylinder head
the Ariel on the roof leaks and drips water in my face at random intervals sometimes when it rains.
the steering lock is broken.
and kids like to write stupid thinks in the dirt on my bonnet which get scratched in and need to be polished off occasionally.
also cheap tyres wear out fast and are false economy i've used about 6 sets or tyres in the past couple of years
now please someone tell me they have had more problems with there fiesta SI than me
i have spent sooooo much time and money on this bloody car,
i'll also add i'm a part time worker full time student and well my money never makes it to the pub lol.
i hope this was an interesting read for all you who own or wish to own a fiesta SI
There is probably more to add and i will add it as i remember
there is more how could i forget,
just recently i let my friends girlfriend have a go in my car, she had enjoyed being a passenger and was eager to give it a little thrash about, she takes it upto 60mph then drops it into first gear and ripped the front gearbox mount clean in half, the engine bashes the strut braces twists and completely sheers the flange off the top of the magnex stainless decat pipe. £90 for vibra-technics gearbox mounts (so that wont happen again) and another £70 for replacement de-cat down pipe, old pipe has been re-welded and will be for sale soon.
_________________  buttery biscuit boost
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