Update time!
So I thought I would revisit some of the more minor jobs that I have done to the RSi in the past few months but didn’t detail in my first posting. (I warned you that my postings can get quite detailed didn’t i?!)
Gaiters
When I acquired the car both the gearstick and the handbrake gaiters were quite badly worn (being the original 22 year old items, I’d say that’s fair enough).
You will get an idea of the state of the gaiters from this picture – ignore the white heater control dials / yellow binnacle dials / messy wiring…that’s coming up!
Of course I planned to replace these but in my own style. As you will know if you are following this thread I am very much going down the ‘showroom restoration’ route with this car. The goal is that when the RSi is finished, sitting in it will feel like you have just walked into the Southampton branch of Hendy Ford in 1994!
That in mind and wanting to change my gaiters I was keen to retain the look of the standard factory items (black leatherette), however I also want to add my own subtle spin on this build and as such wanted to upgrade parts sympathetically where possible…So I purchased a set of handmade Italian leather gaiters cut and stitched to the correct spec for the MK1.
Old units out:
New items fitted:
Forgive the disgusting state of the interior (what can be seen in these pictures) – once the resto is finished, the whole car will be having a full cleanse & detail!
Fitting these new gaiters was a case of removing the centre console and ‘frames’ within the gaiters, putting them into the new Leather gaiters and upholstery stapling them together before refitting.
Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of this process, as this was one of those fiddly jobs where you tend to get stuck in and forget all about progress shots!
Arguably the finish texture differs slightly from the leatherette stock items, however they feel 1000x nicer to the touch and knowing that they are now real leather items is great.
Dials
I mentioned previously that this car had a hideous set of dials fitted, both in the main binnacle and also within the heater control panel (both can be witnessed in the above image!)
Changing these fascias wasn’t an option as unfortunately these havnt been stuck over the stock items, instead they have completely replaced them. This is no problem for the heater controls, I just changed the whole unit for a stock item, the speedo binnacle however is another story…
Old heater controls out (complete with white fascia kit):
New standard items refitted:
As this is such an early Mondeo it has the cable driven speedo (as opposed to electronic) it has the trip adjuster on the left side…finding one of these is near impossible!
I changed the temp, revs & fuel clusters for standard black-faced items, however the search is still on for an elusive ‘left spindle’ speedo unit!
Wiring
The mass of messy wiring you can see above is mainly the remnants of a previously installed sound system.
As I will be just running the standard Ford audio system, this had to go…Out with this lot:
This car originally would have had a tape deck installed, however In the spirit of sympathetic upgrades, this will not be replaced…instead a Ford CD headunit from a slightly later MK1 will be used.
Another minor change which will hopefully only be apparent if pointed out!
What’s been happening lately:
General check over & engine servicing
This car has been mainly sitting since I have owned it with only very short periods of driving (between garage and storage barn) and various ‘up to temp’ engine runnings.
For this reason i felt it was important to treat the car to a full health check and service.
Loaded up & on the way to the garage:
Starting the inspection:
I knew that the water pump was shot as it was spewing crystalised coolant onto the floor – so that was changed along with the cambelt and tensioners.
Next up, it was becoming clear that the radiator was beginning to feel its age and starting to go at the edges.
Out with the old (ignore new parts on top!):
In with the new:
After a thorough going through the car received a remarkably good bill of health with no excessive corrosion or signs of mechanical issue to be reported – that being said the plan is still to strip & re-underseal the whole underside of the car before completion.
Looking a little tired (especially the exhaust) but much better than expected:
Next up was a standard engine service – oil, filters (oil, fuel, air), plugs & of course fresh coolant for the new rad.
The bay is looking a little tired so will need a complete going through to freshen it up. I will detail this is a posting of it’s own I think.
This is an old picture (prior to re-fitting the standard air box) but it gives an idea of what I’m up against:
Parts bought
As anyone who has completed a restoration will probably know – sometimes the smallest parts can cause the most frustration when they go missing..for that reason I thought it was a good move to stock up on a few bits….Long story short, I went to buy a few small bits and ended up filling my T5 with spares!!!
Sometimes when I see parts I cant help but buy them for the collection! Some interesting bits I have picked up In this lot are:
A full ‘Bumblebee’ interior from a non-Hendy MK1 Mondeo Si – of course I don’t need this as I have the ‘Raven’ interior as fitted to the Hendy cars….But they only made 211 Citrines with this Bumblebee interior so I couldn’t say no!
An RS kit spoiler (the same as what ive got fitted to this car)…again – didn’t need it but they are so hard to find I couldn’t say no!
A full exhaust system (a little rusty but in great shape overall)
Masses of interior plastics, trims, clips, fastening etc (the stuff that always gets lost!)
Lots of other various parts too (i need to have a proper sift through I think!)
That’s basically it for this update…stay tuned for more soon
dreading damage to the RSi kit though!!
