As title says, hello everybody! My name is Dario, i'm 30 (almost 31 to be honest) and i'm from North east Italy. I'm a car enthusiast since when i was a child, then growing i become a vintage car enthusiast because i really don't like nowadays cars....too heavy, too much electronics...too boring and often ugly.
I like so much to work on my cars, i'm not a car mechanic but i own a mechanical shop (i make pieces with cnc milling machine and lathe) so i can say i've got quite good skills. I've got a 1995 Jeep YJ Wrangler 4.0 H.O. (5 spd manual with lsd diff) and a 1984 BMW 320i E30 2 doors. The E30 needs some body work (yes, rust is a common enemy for us vintage cars enthusiasts) so i needed something else to drive during the works.......i looked for something cheap but fun and possibly uncommon....so on Friday i've bought a 1995 Fiesta MK3 1.6 16v Ghia Pro (Si for the UK market) in dark blue color. Bought at a bargain price, the car is generally in very good shape, it needs only few things to be perfect but i'll write some other topics for this.
I decided to make an account here because in Italy nobody cares about sporty Fiestas.....in fact i like it because it's something strange on our roads. The most common here are little French rockets....my Brother had a Saxo VTS 8v (98hp, awesome car to drive) and now has a 206 RC (GTI 180 in UK,believe it or not, it's a boring car). So, i'm a Bimmer but i'm not 100% new about little fwd cars.

For now i think i write enough. Sorry in advance for some grammar errors that i probably made...but i'm Italian, i try to do my best but English isn't my first language.

Hi Dario,

Welcome to the site!

Good to hear of someone who enjoys real cars and not the computer controlled ones you get now-a-days!

Hope you enjoy you little Fiesta and it gives you many smiles driving it.

Paul

Welcome, as per the above, I fear the day my 2 cars fail as they are just getting more and electronic, my C2 is already part way there.

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Welcome!

Thank you guys!!!

I brought home my Fiesta last thursday, at the moment i've driven it for 300 km more or less...what a car!!! It's really a pleasure to drive! I love the engine and the gear ratio is perfect, you Always have a lot of torque. I like it so much outside and inside, the interior is really beautiful and the sport sits are very comfortable too. The only thing that i don't like is the steering wheel that it's too fat for me. I'd like to install an aftermarket steering wheel but you could have insurance problem putting a steering wheel without airbag...but i could change it anyway.
The handling is very good too, anyway i'd like to install a lowering kit in the future, probably a 40/40 one. And a set of alloys for summer tyres, now i have winter tyres on steel rims with plastic covers.

There are few things to fix :

_the auxiliary belt is noisy, at first i thought it was the power steering pump, i changed the oil but the noise didn't go away....so i think it could be a pulley bearing, maybe the idler pulley.

_ brakes are very worn, i'll have to replace pads and disks. I'd like to make a disk conversion on the rear, do you know if it's possible? I have a set of my brother's 206 RC with calipers (pcd is the same).....but i have to check for the measurements....the 206 RC has 17" wheels, my Fiesta has 14".

_ i think that the clutch needs a bit of adjustment because when you shift quick, once you push the throttle again it's like you have the clutch a bit down....not so good. I think it needs only an adjustment because the clutch doesn't work like a worn out one.

_ the coolant temperature gauge doesn't work, i think it could be the sensor on the thermostat housing. Am i right? Often on E30s you fix the problem this way.

_ ....and i need a brand new radio with usb port, now the car has a '70s head unit It would be nice on a MK1 or 2 not on the MK3.

Hi Dario,

Glad you are enjoying the Fiesta! They are surprisingly good to drive for what they are and I love taking mines out for a spin.

On the points you have noted I have the following advise
1) There are two pulleys which may cause noise, one is an idler (very cheap, easy to get hold of) the other is the tensioner pulley. The tensioner is no longer made and is very difficult to get hold of as it was only used on the Si and RS1800. It is also a pain the change as the front engine mount need removing the get it out and this hold the power steering pump and alternator as well as having the lower coolant hose passing through it. Not impossible but a lot of work to do. Lets hope its the idler pulley that's noisy
2) I have done a rear disc conversion before using Focus rear hubs, discs and calipers. Needs the holes in the rear axle elongated to make the hub fit and bespoke brake lines made to reach the calipers. Also requires a hand brake cable from either a Racing Puma or an Escort one with spacers added. Its fiddly but again not impossible. I have no idea on the 206 calipers but I would imagine they would be a lot more work to get offsets correct etc. The advantage of the Focus rear hubs and discs is that they also space the rear wheel out slightly to fill the arches and are also a stronger bearing. Something the standard Fiesta wears out very quickly in my experience. I am thinking about doing it again on my current Fiesta purely to get the better bearings as the drums breaking is more than enough for the car.
3) check if you have an automatic adjusting clutch pedal or the manual one. Manual has a little white plastic knob on the pedal near the top. If manual then its easy to adjust the clutch bite point.
4) Yes, sensor on the thermostat housing. Easy fix
5) Haha, yes that's definitely a requirement lol

Hope you have loads of fun in the new Fiesta. They are a great little car.

You should start up a thread in the members gallery and get some pics up. There will no doubt be a few subtle differences between your car and our UK Si models. Always nice to see the little tweaks that are made.

Cheers

Paul

Many many thanks for your answer ElPaulio!!!

These days i'm very busy with my work so i don't have the time to work on the Fiesta, anyway it drives me to work every day and it's a pleasure. Last week i received a very good offer for my E30 so i decided to sell it....it had been a bit sad but it needed a lot of expensive bodywork so i know i did the right thing. So now i have some extra money to spend on the Fiesta Anyway i'm still a Bimmer and a RWD fan so i can't stay too long without an old BMW...maybe i could try an E21 (six cylinders, of course) next time. I also have my father's 530d E39 Touring but it isn't as fun as the E30. But i can say it's a good car for long trips.
For the pics of my Fiesta give me some other days because i want to clean and polish it as best as i can. I still haven't had the time to do it.

Finally i cleaned very well the interior and i installed a Clarion MP3 radio that a friend of mine gifted me.....it hasn't USB port but it was for free Fortunally i found a UK site with the wiring of Ford connectors to wire the ISO connectors.....the previous owner did a mess to install that crappy '70s radio. Anyway now it's all ok, i just need some new good speakers and maybe an amplifier.....but it adds weight.
I discovered why it did crazy fuel consumption......the MAF was detached.....i unbolted it and cleaned very well with WD40, now it works fine and the car runs well without a lot of black smoke and petrol smell. I orderd new thermostat and temp sensor. I'll let you know. I'm still looking for a set of alloy wheels......i'd like Saxo VTS 14" ones, do you think it fits right?

Offset is wrong on Saxo wheels, I know I have swapped them both ways. 20mm out from memory.

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Thanks Percy! So,if i understand well, with Saxo wheels tyres could rub on wheel arches? I've also found i set of Sparco Cromadora that are ET38......maybe could be better?

You are correct, I fit wheels from my fiesta onto my saxo and had 20mm hubcentric spacers!.

Proof of concept:




I now run those wheels on the C2 over winter (winter tyres)

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Hi dario and welcome, i totally agree 100% with what you say about new cars. 99% of them look the same as each other, and ugly.

In the UK we seem to have a problem lately where everyone has an urban crossover (suv).
But i really don't understand the concept why people would want to own a front wheel drive pretend offroader, really makes no sense and they are hideous!
They are based on normal hatchbacks but with a massive lift to the suspension, usually with no redevelopment of the ride so you are left with a tall car with an extremely bouncy ride that is no good off the road or even on the road for that matter.

Rant over!
If you own an urban crossover then i'm sorry... that you own one.

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She's still alive! -23/02/2017

Thank you so much for all the info you give me, Percy!
I've just bought a set of Dotz (i think the model is Mugello) 14" in Germany for a bargain price, i hope they will arrive next week, but i'll have to wait until 15th April to install them because until that date you must have winter tyres on your car here in Italy...and, to be honest, here in the Dolomites area where i live you'd better have winter tyres from November to April.
Then it will be the time to buy summer tyres....i've seen that in 185/55/14 size there aren't so much sporty models...probably the best choice could be Yokohama S Drive, my Brother tried those tyres on his 206 RC and were very good. Any suggestions?

Stainlessmole, you're right!!! I totally agree with you. I really really hate suvs, they are not cars and not off road vehicles...but it seems that people like them so much. Anyway i don't care and i'm proud of my Jeep YJ Wrangler, a true off road vehicle. On the road it's not like a car, you've got to be careful specially on the wet (when you are in confidence with it you can drift a lot having tons of fun ) but off road you can do what you want.
My father has a '99 Pajero 3.5 V6 3 doors, an awesome vehicle : you can go at 170 km\h on open roads and you can also go off road like the Wrangler, in my opinion it's a true total vehicle. The only defects : it rolls like a boat (even with suspension setted on hard) and it drinks like a tank (unfortunally my father bought it with automatic transmission)

No laws on winter tyres here in UK but once you have/use them you can't go back, I way driving past stuck 4x4s with summer tyres stuck in snow with my C2 no problems.

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welcome to the forum dario

get a thread going in the members gallery for your fiesta and chuck some pictures up of your other cars

older cars have alot more character to them than newer stuff