Header with ceramic powder coat

I got the completed header back and it looks great.  It was completely blasted to remove the rust, and coated in ceramic.  RML in Ottowa, KS performed both operations for a flat cost. Check them out if you need this type of service.  http://www.rmlpowder.com/

So for a $50 cost for the dented header, a couple nights in the freezer, and  $125 to blast and coat, and I have a part that, while not new will perform like it is.  And for $200 - $300 cheaper than a new part, I've gotten quite a great deal.  The best part is that the new exhaust should result in an additional 5-10 HP.  While that doesn't sound like a lot, it will all add up to a lot more torque and power on a small, light car like Betty. 

Now that I am well on my way to sorting out the free flowing exhaust, I need to get more air and fuel into the motor.  Next up: some Weber twin carbs.  I'm looking for a good deal on used carbs, but some of the prices I see are too high.  Brand new weber DCOE 50's can be had for $368 new.  Used ones, should cost no more than half that.

Ready for blasting and ceramic powder coat

After

Night 3 in the freezer

The inside pipes got a small crease in them against the block, likely when the elbow hit what ever obstruction that caused it to dent in the first place. Here is a before pic.

RHD Throttle cable install pics

Here are the install pics for the RHD throttle cable. I had to route behind the oil filler neck and under the stock air cleaner.

Second Day on Ice

After a drain and a second day filled with water and an another 12 hours in the deep freeze, the elbow on the 2 lower header pipes is almost completely smooth.

Fixing a dented header pipe

A couple weeks ago I bought a Fiesta 4->1 GT class race header.  It has some surface rust and a couple big flat spots at the bend on the 2 lower pipes.  The flat spots would constrict the exhaust on the 2 cylinders by at least 1/2, so it need to be fixed.  I asked some of my hotrod friends at work for advice, and got a number of recommendations, including heating and and pounding them out with a large diameter round rod ground down to a dome, to getting some new, bent pipes, and replacing sections via cut and weld.  The most interesting suggestion was to fill it with water and pop it in the deep freeze...  Anyone who has forgotten a can of beverage in the freezer knows the principal behind what happens next.  In fact I have dark slush at the bottom of my deep freeze from just such an incident.  Sure, lets give it a try, nothing to loose.

...12 hours later, magically they popped right out.  There are still some creases  in the metal, so I am thawing and trying another go tonight to try and smooth those out as well.

UK Throttle Cable installed

I received my batch of parts from Burton Power about a week after order.  I ordered 2 throttle cables, nice to have a spare...  Good thing I did, since I broke the plastic adjuster when installing the first one.  The Cables are about 3" shorter than the US cable, and will not install over the air cleaner.  So I had to route it under the air cleaner.  The second install went really quickly.  And at 12GBP for the cable, I don't feel too bad about messing up the first one.  The accelerator always felt un-responsive and a little dead with the old cable installed.  I'm sure that 31 years of crud, and a Jerry-rigged hose & Hose clamp set up at the fire wall, weren't helping either.  With the new cable installed, I get much better "feel",  direct response and feedback.  My only concern is the angle that the cable comes into the adjuster is a bit off straight in, so I worry about the force on the adjuster.  At the moment, it works great.

Thinking Paint

Fiesta Colors

While there is still loads to do on the car, I am at a point where I have to think about the body and paint. I am thinking of stripping the car entirely of parts, engine, interior and glass and readying it for rust repair and paint. I've sourced body panel patches out of Germany, and they are not too expensive. That will need to be handed over to a proper body shop for the work. I really like the color of Betty, and wouldn't dream of changing it. My search revealed the following paint codes from a paint website. 

Parts Order from the UK

 Since some basic parts for the Fiesta are no longer available in the US, I've been searching the interwebs looking for parts.  One of those is a stock throttle cable.  I found this in the UK at BurtonPower.com.  I am hoping that there is no difference between the L/R hand drive cables lengths...We shall see. The price is reasonable at  L11.78, So I took a chance.  Should only take a couple days to get the order.

Fiesta Suspension Bits

There is a guy up in the Minneapolis who owns a race prepped Fiesta.   He is also making some REALLY nice looking suspension parts for the Mk1 Fiesta.  Check him out if you need parts.  His website is out of date, so contact him directly to get the latest list of goodies.  Contact info below.

Here is a list of parts and links to picks on his website.  There is a rear anti roll bar in my future.

UPDATE: Site is down.  These links no longer work, there will be an update as soon as I find out where to see/get them, I managed to have some of the pics on my computer, so am posting them here until we get the live link up again.

-Front Control arm kit with 2 chassis braces, fits 4 or 5 speed gearbox $450

(The design has changed slightly since these pictures were taken)

http://www.kustomengineering.com//P2230134edit.jpg

http://www.kustomengineering.com//P2230136edit.jpg

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http://www.kustomengineering.com//P2230147edit.jpg

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http://www.kustomengineering.com//P2230156edit.jpg
-Rear Link Kit $225

http://www.kustomengineering.com//P1010011edit.jpg
http://www.kustomengineering.com//P1010017edit.jpg
http://www.kustomengineering.com//P1010019edit.jpg
-Duratec engine mount kit $600

-RH Axle intermediate shaft bracket for Duratec conversion $175

-Remote oil filter adapter for Duratec conversion $100

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/attachments/f106/9544d1263715798-remote-oil-filter-adapter-plate-sspx0162.jpg

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/attachments/f106/9545d1263715798-remote-oil-filter-adapter-plate-sspx0165.jpg

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/attachments/f106/9546d1263715798-remote-oil-filter-adapter-plate-sspx0166.jpg

http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/attachments/f106/9547d1263715798-remote-oil-filter-adapter-plate-sspx0167.jpg

-Front brake kit (requires 15" or larger wheel) $650

-Rear Brake kit (requires 15" or larger wheel) $750

-Rear Shocks Single adjustable $500
-Rear Shocks Double Adjustable $800
-Caster/Camber plates $225

-Front Struts Single Adjustable $TBD (In development now)
-Front Struts Double Adjustable $TBD (In development now)
-Rear Swaybar $250 (see attached pics)

New Wheels and Shoes

I found a great deal on wheels.  A friend from work sent me a post to some BBS look-a-likes on the local VW Board.  They are combo 4x100/108 14x6 with a 30mm offset.  The seem to fit just fine, although the advice I had been getting was to use at least a 36mm - 40mm offset.  I do get a light rub in the wheel well  on full lock.  I also had to purchase some new lug bolts and some centering rings since the mounts are hub centric.

I then ordered a new set of Federal Tires 185/55R14s.  They are pretty big compared to the stock tires 155/80R12s, but the overall diameter was still around 22", so it doesn't look too out of proportion to the car.  The lower offset also keeps the wheels from poking out from under the car.

Look for yourselves, I think the car looks like it's in character.  Must have more horse power now.

Cooling System Complete

It has been a busy summer.  I've completed a couple things on the car and it's running pretty well.  The Struts I mounted last fall are already shot, so I'll need to look for a different solution.  I got them from Rock Auto, and they only have a 30 day warranty, so money wasted.  I imagine the seals on NOS just don't last.  I've got a line on some out of Europe, and since the fiesta is very popular over there, I imagine they are newer and will likely operate as it should.

I completed the cooling system, although that turned out to be a very expensive project.  Seems the days of $100 radiators are gone.  So instead I had my brass radiator re-cored.  It's like new now, and even though the cost was more than I expected, the guys at Orr Radiator in KC did a great job on it. 

After a whole lot of grinding and painting on the shroud.  I had every dog in the neighborhood barking as I was grinding away at the rust. 

I lucked out and the warning sticker peeled off after 30 years, and I was able to stick it right back on.

Ready for Reassembly

Rear Brakes

Only problem was I couldn't get the new bearings to seat into the new hubs. I'm going to try a machine shop that can press them in for me.

I didn't de-rust and paint the break cover, but will when I mount the new drums.  The emergency brake lever was rusted solid.  which explains why the break lever in the cabin was torn out of the cab.  The sheet metal was torn away.  I'll need to have a patch welded in and remount the handle later.

Spring Projects - Cooling System

I've ordered a few more parts so I can complete the the cooling system project, But the radiator seem to be a rare beast.  After calling a number of junk yards, radiator shops and ebay listers that all have parts listed on their site, but no actual parts, I was starting to think it was a lost cause.  I should have checked on the fiesta blog to begin with, since it was no problem finding one there.

Betty will be receiving a new water pump, new hoses, a new radiator cap, new radiator, new 160 deg thermostat and of course new gaskets.  That should keep her cool in the hot summer months.  Picture to follow when we rip it all apart.

Factory Decal Badging

The interior of this car is untouched as near as I can tell.  The carpet is great, there's nothing busted. All the switches and lights function, the sunroof and it the glass moon roof are both intact and have the original storage bag and straps to hold it down in the hatch compartment.  Attached to the inside of the windows are some decals from the factory.  The first was a sticker meant to be removed by the dealer when the car was received and prepped for delivery.  The second one is hard to make out, but says something to the effect that you should read you manual before touching anything.

The Hunt

For a good 5 years, I've been looking around cars.com, autotrader.com, the thrifty nickel, etc trying to find an old fiesta for sale with no luck. Then last year, I see a Fiesta S on Hemmings as the Find of the Day. 

"What!?, that can't be right"  $3,200 hmm...  no way.  But it got me thinking.  Surely there still have to be some decent examples left, but it was clear, you'd have to act fast if you found one.

I had never been a big fan of craigslist for unique cars since it was so locally focused.  To find a rare gem such as a low mileage, running Ford Fiesta, I was going to have to cast a bigger net.  So I did some research on wildcard searches in google and found the way to search all of craigslist. Typed in my query, and there they were. Fiestas for sale.  One would pop up every week or two, but there were still opportunities to get one.  For some reason 90% of remaining fiestas seem to be for sale in the Seattle area.

Here is the what you type into Google search to find all fiestas on craigslist: 

site:craigslist.org (1978|1979|1980) Ford Fiesta

My find happened to be in Minneapolis, which worked out great, since I have family that could check it out first.  It has minor rust, or at least repairable rust.  80,000 miles, and had been owned by a nice older couple, Vince and Betty, for the last 28 years.  The interior was pretty immaculate, however it needed some work.  So I bought it, flew to Minneapolis and picked it up and drove it 425 miles back home.  Now I had no doubt it would make it, but everyone else thought I was nuts.  Yeah, it made it.  It ran a little hot and the front end nearly shook my fillings out when I got over 45mph, but it did not let me down.

I am one of those people that think that cars, like kids, and pets [but not gentleman parts] should have a name.  If it were up to me I would have a ceremony, like in the Lion King, where Simba is held up overlooking the valley and introduced to the rest of the savanna food chain as king of Pride Rock.  I would try to arrange this, but I recently pulled a muscle in my back so I don't think I could lift the green Fiesta above my head and announce; "Behold, Betty the Fiesta".

There is a funny story about the car and it's previous owner, that I'll share in a later post, but it was clear that this little car held a special place in her heart, so as an homage to Betty, "Behold, Betty the Fiesta".

The Fiesta Rescue

Some time ago, I owned a Yellow 1978 Ford Fiesta.  It was a greatcar to drive, it handled like a tall go cart, it got 35 miles to the gallon, and it was pretty dependable.  Little did I know that it also had the DNA of a race car.  Fast forward 20 years as I buy a 30 year old fiesta and restore it (restore to daily driver status) with an eye towards squeezing out a few more horses with the minimum of investment.