Your other car sagas (non Audi)

[Steve Q]

Have you had any good, bad or funny moments in your car that wasn't an audi? 

Either past or present then share them here :) 

Cheers

Steve

[SeanA4]

I've had the joy of a head gasket going whilst under load going up a hill in my old Ford Escort.  Couldn't see anything but smoke in my mirrors, repaired it myself though 

[Steve Q]

1 hour ago, SeanA4 said:

I've had the joy of a head gasket going whilst under load going up a hill in my old Ford Escort.  Couldn't see anything but smoke in my mirrors, repaired it myself though 

What model/year of Ford escort was that Sean? I have a 1993 mk5b 1.6 zetec. 

That's the beauty of Ford's, you can just fix them yourself 😀

[SeanA4]

It was a 1997 P Mk6 1.6 Zetec.  There wasn't much I didn't fix myself on it tbh.  Nothing some patience and a haynes manual couldn't handle 

[Steve Q]

1 hour ago, SeanA4 said:

It was a 1997 P Mk6 1.6 Zetec.  There wasn't much I didn't fix myself on it tbh.  Nothing some patience and a haynes manual couldn't handle 

Slightly newer than mine, but same engine :) 

[SeanA4]

19 minutes ago, Steve Q said:

Slightly newer than mine, but same engine :) 

It was my first car.  My original plan once my insurance had dropped enough was to drop a Mondeo engine/box in it and up rate the brakes and suspension to suit.  But by the time that had come around, the sills were too far gone 

[Steve Q]

1 minute ago, SeanA4 said:

It was my first car.  My original plan once my insurance had dropped enough was to drop a Mondeo engine/box in it and up rate the brakes and suspension to suit.  But by the time that had come around, the sills were too far gone 

Mine was my first car too. As I say I still have it! I know exactly what you mean about rust!! 

Mine hasn't really had anything too eventful happen.to it to be honest. 

[SeanA4]

It's rare to find an older Ford that isn't an XR/RS that's in a good condition.  A shame really.

[Steve Q]

5 hours ago, SeanA4 said:

It's rare to find an older Ford that isn't an XR/RS that's in a good condition.  A shame really.

Agreed, that's partly the reason why I'm keeping mine. To be fair it has various Ford accessories fitted. Mainly because it was a dealer gimick which was also an RS accessory specialist. The dealer specified it in black which is unusual for an LX model apparently. The dealer was also featured in the accessories tv ad from the early 90s. Which explains why my escort has: 

RS accessory front fog lights 

RS accessory front splitter, side skirts and spats

RS accessory alloy wheels

RS accessory front strutbrace 

RS accessory mudflaps 

RS accessory gearknob

RS accessory duel tone horns

RS accessory front wind deflectors

Ford fitted immobiliser

It's a long list but it looks great! Looks quite retro now!

[SeanA4]

On 29/01/2018 at 6:25 PM, Steve Q said:

Agreed, that's partly the reason why I'm keeping mine. To be fair it has various Ford accessories fitted. Mainly because it was a dealer gimick which was also an RS accessory specialist. The dealer specified it in black which is unusual for an LX model apparently. The dealer was also featured in the accessories tv ad from the early 90s. Which explains why my escort has: 

RS accessory front fog lights 

RS accessory front splitter, side skirts and spats

RS accessory alloy wheels

RS accessory front strutbrace 

RS accessory mudflaps 

RS accessory gearknob

RS accessory duel tone horns

RS accessory front wind deflectors

Ford fitted immobiliser

It's a long list but it looks great! Looks quite retro now!

All that's missing now is the engine and running gear from an RS 👀

[Steve Q]

7 hours ago, SeanA4 said:

All that's missing now is the engine and running gear from an RS 👀

Lol 😂 I've promised myself when the engine gives up I'll fit a 1.8 zetec 130 bhp silver top or a 2.0 zetec silver top. With.the mtx75 gearbox :) 

[niedzial1983]

My first car 1991 fso polonez 1.5 ... i had to fix it for an hour to drive it !!!

[Steve Q]

19 hours ago, niedzial1983 said:

My first car 1991 fso polonez 1.5 ... i had to fix it for an hour to drive it !!!

Was that every time you drove it Piotr?! 

[niedzial1983]

1 minute ago, Steve Q said:

Was that every time you drove it Piotr?! 

90% it had so much rust there was no earth ....

[Steve Q]

16 minutes ago, niedzial1983 said:

90% it had so much rust there was no earth ....

Sounds alot like Ford's from the same era!! 

[niedzial1983]

15 minutes ago, Steve Q said:

Sounds alot like Ford's from the same era!! 

I had probably 50 meters of extra earth cables trying to get it to work . And it was constant ... but its how a first car should be :) 

[Steve Q]

14 minutes ago, niedzial1983 said:

I had probably 50 meters of extra earth cables trying to get it to work . And it was constant ... but its how a first car should be :) 

Exactly! My Ford escort was very rusty when I first got it! 

I still have that Ford escort now and was used as my wedding car last year. 

[Adbro]

Well it's nice to here that we have similar experiences of cars from that era. 

 I had a Mk3 Escort as my first motor. She was 10 years old with around 60k on the clock and was quick having the 1.6 ltr engine. At the time every man and his dog seemed to have an xr3i though so I decided to pimp my ride and become a boy racer. The first few upgrade were pepper pot alloys from the local scrappy. Side point here is you no longer see scrap yards. My local town had 4 that you were able to route around, good times....

Those alloys needed some tyres which were scourced from another scrap yard. As a youngster you don't really see the dangers of this so I would never do this or advise it. 

 Next upgrade was a K&N filter, easy swop. Next was to install a rev counter which was more of a distraction. No boy racer is without his new stereo so in goes his pull out blaupoint from a GTI and new speakers sub woofer and bass box. At the time I had a few dodgy friends so I didn't bother asking where that stereo was sourced... the same guy also found me a brand new frount spoiler from a RS turbo, interior seats from an XR3i with steering wheel and gear knob. The frount seats were quite new and did not have the same hole pattern in the runners to fit my car unfortunately. I remember driving to work with the seat being held in with one screw🙈. Lucky I'm a toolmaker so it didn't take long to make some adaptations with aluminium blocks. 

 Back then we did car share to work on a week basis. Just before Christmas I borrowed my neighbours garage and took the engine out stripped it down and replaced bearings, valves ect. The head was skimmed at work by me and engine was rebuilt and replaced. First turn over didn't go well and resulted in a bent valve as it's bush wasn't seated correctly. Those were replaced and the engine waited to be installed.

 Now remember my dodgy mate? I couldn't prove that he was involved but I'm sure he was. My engine was stolen from the garage 😭. It learned me a real lesson though and I've not brought anything dodgy since. The following Saturday another friend took me over to a big scrap yard and we picked up a replacement 1.6 engine. Again this was stripped with same process as before. With a new clutch the engine was a success. 

 Next on the list was new exhaust. The trend at the time was loud. Down the road was a min specialist that built exhausts in house and was happy to make me a 4 branch big bore. It sounded great too. My mom complained about it a few time so it must have been good 😏. 

 Another mate worked at a parts supplier and got me vent discs new callipers and mintex pads. 

 All did not go too well though. The engine mounts failed whilst driving to my aunts. Uncle Bob to the rescue. The car was not too happy after as that effected my gearbox with third gear failing a few weeks later. First replacement was not working and only option the scrap yard had was one from a 1.3 car. This had different ratios and made my car into a rocket that ran out of puff very quickly. Fuel consumption was eye watering too. Then unfortunately I damaged the car beyond economical repair whilst showing off so brought a replacement Escort and swopped everything over. 

 Last straw was when the car got stolen from the cinema car park. It was found 20 miles away and took my friend and myself the whole day to recover her. The police found her and it seemed made it as hard for us to find her as possible. The car was down a side access road in a village and was on bricks. No wheels stereo and belongings all gone. So those were replaced and I part exchanged it for an Astra. 

 Don't regret a thing though. It was a great experience looking back. I wouldn't advise anyone to mod a car unless it's for the experience. Easier and much cheaper to buy a hotter model but less fun.

 Good times.........

[Steve Q]

Wow! What a saga!! I've left my engine standard for now. I'll put a stainless steel exhaust on it once the mild steel one is shot. And I should fit and uprated panel filter. 

Once the engine dies I'll fit a 1.8 130bhp zetec or 2.0 zetec :)