1986 Ford Fiesta 1.1L (15/11)

[blacksaff]

So it's time for a new project.

This time it's a 1986 Ford Fiesta MK2 with a 1.1OHV engine. It's a brilliant little car. It has only covered 34,000 miles from new. It's only ever had one owner from new. It was owned by a lady that only ever had the car serviced at a Ford dealership. I've got a huge amount of paperwork including old tax discs and MOTs.

Here it is from the eBay advert.




Went to pick it up from just North of London and brought it to its new current home.




The inside has barely been used and just needs some detailing. Everything works and there's no damage anywhere.

Under the bonnet it's the same story. I've never heard a Ford OHV sound so quiet. You can barely hear it run.


After a good old wash and chamois she was looking quite good.


The wheel arches came out very clean, still showing the original red paintwork underneath.

There are a few negative areas for repair and attention. The main being here at the bottom of the A pillar on the screen.

Top of the drivers door.

Bottom of the OSR quarter.

Rear of the OS sill where it meets the rear wheel arch.

NSR quarter and boot floor. The rear windscreen washer bottle is the culprit for this.

Driver door card.

NSF wing scratched.

Then here it is now with some of its Dagenham distant cousins.



All comments welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking.

[gazz81]

Great looking mk2, very clean and original. Any long term plans?

[chrisgt16]

Looks like a great find mate. The base models of certain cars are getting hard to come by recently!

[cavboy80]

What a lovely little fester, work needed looks do-able easily. So what's the plans?

[skylinedave]

I love these little fiestas great little run arounds and bits were/are dirt cheap . I had a 1300 mk1 and my brother had a 950 . You just could not break them , we had a indicated 102mph out of his blasting past a cavalier sri !

My 1300 cost £65 and was great !

[ant]

Looks a goodone mate wots the plans for it iv got a mk2 fiesta in red too.

[l33dwc]

Great cars. Had two in 1.1 and xr2 flavours. Also loving the red ford selection.

[blacksaff]

gazz81 - Cheers buddy. Yes it really is a straight original car. I'm really pleased with it. The long term plans are to do the same as all my others really. OEM+ and maybe, some subs banding to the original wheels. It will be staying a Base model though looks wise.

chrisgt16 - Thanks buddy, yes I'm beginning to become the self proclaimed 'Ace of Base'. All my cars are Base mostly.

cavboy80 - Cheers pal, yes it's a clean little thing. As with all my others mate, will be similar style to the rest.

skylinedave - Kin'ell!!! Indicated 102mph is serious!!! I wish I'd paid £65 for mine.

ant - Have a look at my Mk1 Cavalier or Granada thread. It'll be similar style to those. Reds the best colour!

l33dwc - I'd love an XR2. Unfortunately I can't believe how much they've exploded in cost. They were dirt cheap a few years ago. Nobody wanted them. I didn't have my Red Capri in that shot either to add to the collection.

So time for a wee update.

Front end has been completely stripped down to check for damage and restore the paintwork. Looks a bit like this.

Also there's been a lot of polishing. Here's a shot from inside the bonnet on the underneath. Showing before and after.

Front washer bottle removed. The contents of this literally got up and walked away when I poured it out on to the floor!


I know it's only a little update, but all comments welcomed and appreciated.

[cavboy80]

Good start, this is going to look a very nice Fiesta once finished. This is the kind of project i'd like to get, a through clean and detailing.

[blacksaff]

Cavboy80 - Thanks mate, there are plenty similar projects out there. I keep having to stop myself taking on anymore.

Time for an update.

You may remember the windscreen washer bottle in the last update. Well here it is now looking much better.

I removed the radiator and cooling fan with cowl. I stripped and painted them all in gloss black. In my haste I forgot to take any photographs but here it is fitted back up the front.

Unfortunately I found this water pipe that runs along the front of the engine under the exhaust manifold. As you can see it's seen much better days.



I'm hoping it's not too disimilar to one on a more modern car like a KA, if anyone can advise.
Also it was the same story with the alloy thermostat housing, very corroded and pourus. This will need replacing.



As usual all comments welcomed and appreciated.

[blacksaff]

Some good news,

Apparently the metal coolant pipe that was rotten is readily available, I found this on EBay. I only have a library pic but it's good quality.

That arrived and it was fitted to the car. In the excitement no photos were taken. Although here it is back on the car.

The header tank as you can see back in the very first pics was grotty and filthy with some permanent marker writing on it. However after some industrial cleaning the tank was looking a lot better.

However, the cap was now letting the tank down so I gave it a rub down with some Wet and Dry building up to find 1200 paper. Then polished it up with metal polish and it came out quite well.

Then it was just a matter of putting the reproduction original OEM Ford warning sticker on to the tank.


Thanks for looking and more to come.

[blacksaff]

Time for a small little update on this.

Whilst working on the under bonnet cleaning and refreshing. I found the original washer pipes had pretty much gone brown and looked awful.

New washer pipe was sourced.

When fitting through the enclosed scuttle I used a neat little trick I learnt years ago. Attach a cable to tie to the old pipe and pull it out through. Then attach the new pipe the cable tie and pull the cable tie back through the gap to put the pipe in place. Easy peasy!

Then it was just a case of a nice new T piece to match and job done.


Only a tiny update but thanks for looking.

[blacksaff]

Another tiny little update again.

You may remember the thermostat housing was corroded and looking a bit sad for itself. I kepted looking for a decent replacement or a new one. Luckily the waiting paid off and I picked this NOS Ford item for £20.



Again, it's only a tiny update so apologies. Thanks for looking.

[arsonist]

Looking very nice I pulled out my front washer bottle and pipes today and gave it the same treatment as it has been sat for 20 years. Again, the contents crawled away!

[mk2fiestachris]

Don't know how I've missed this, nice car, almost the same as mine. 
Reminded me of how much I miss seeing my car in one piece.  

[sparrowhawk]

Nice little car this. Good to be reminded of the small jobs that can be done to breathe new life into a car.