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Thread: Love-hate relationship

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Posts
    7,833

    Love-hate relationship

    Hi lads,

    As you might know I have owned a Puma for about 4 years now and put +/- 100.000km on it. It has definately been a love-hate relationship. Definately not selling though, it is a great car. Not too fast, but quick enough to put a smile on my face daily
    Why the hate then? Well, I guess my bank account doesn't exactly like what the car does to me..

    When it comes to maintenance the list is rather long:
    - Brake discs and pads (five times)
    - Brake calipers (ceased one four time now!)
    - Wheel bearings replaced all-round
    - Suspension bushes; uprated to Powerflex Black
    - Shocks & springs, worn so uprated to coilovers. Did drive on custom Koni FSD's for +/- 1,5 years but they kept developing leaks. Ditched them.
    - Brake drums + shoes (2x)
    - New battery
    - Thermostat housing cracked, broke down 200+ km from home
    - Headlight glass replaced for becoming dim
    - Headlight cabling melted(!!)
    - Headlight adjustment motor left side
    - Taillight units replaced for becoming dim
    - Door panels fixed with Renault Megane clips
    - Clutch sensor
    - MAF sensor
    - TP sensor
    - Exhaust back box
    - Rust.. Replaced +/- 1 square meter of the floor pan
    - Power steering pressure sensor
    - Gearbox out and revised, 5th gear from a Fiesta
    - and many more

    As a nutcase and lover of the car I did a 'few' upgrades too:
    - AVO GTZ coilovers
    - Powerflex bushes
    - Clutch and pressure plate uprated to that of an Fiesta ST150
    - MAF sensor has been drilled out
    - Rest of the inlet channels has been widened
    - ECU altered on the school's and later at work on the dyno
    - Sparco EVO bucket seat
    - Schroth harness
    - Stripped interior
    - Original wheels + rims (from 17" to 15") to improve handling with less unsprung weight
    - ST150 brake calipers (239 --> 280mm)
    - Brake master cylinder from a Focus
    - Teflon brake lines
    - Black Diamond discs and pads (after having worn a set of Raptor X Racing's)
    - Disabled torque limiter by means of some ECU modification and addition of a button to the dashboard
    - Strengthened drive shafts
    - Air filter box upgraded to Ford Racing Puma spec
    - Gurney flap aiding in high speed downforce (+8,7%!)
    - Camber adjustment plates

    And probably a lot of other small things I forget here.

    Anyway, my future plans are to keep it as a weekend car. I bought a 2nd car last week as a city runabout, so the Puma has been sitting since. I also am going to participate in the Wimedo Autoslalom season and the DMSB Autoslalom rennen this year. Plus a few trackdays (Zandvoort and Silverstone are planned surely atm) and perhaps, just maybe I'll try and give Matra a run for his money in one of 'em Scottish Hillclimbs

    On my wish list are at the moment:
    - Roll cage (FIA certified, mandatory for the DMSB series)
    - Change of transmission ?
    - Further improve power to +/- 240 DIN hp, didn't spend much time/money as needed suspension, brake and aerodynamics improvements first.
    - Steering rack/power steering upgrade
    - Finish my full car CAD-models and drivetrain simulations to properly calculate the right settings.
    - Pedal box
    - 6-point harness

    All in all I estimate I spent over 10k Euro excl. purchase over the years. Was it worth it? Yes, however I could have had a better base car to start with.

    Thanks for bearing with me. Now some pictures

    1- Me driving with a handicapped kid on Circuit Zolder. I'm not sure if me or the kid had more fun
    2- New radio + wiring work for the torque limiter switch. At the moment I have three switches for the rear window heater
    3- My Sparco seat
    4- Some mods needed to the Sparco seat base. Basically a place with a tube welded on top. Nut has been welded on the inside of the tube. Under the floor pan there are reinforcing plates welded.
    5- The inertia reel of the harness.
    6- My machined MAF sensor. Later I machined even more of.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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    7,833
    1- Restoring one of many ceased calipers
    2- Bit hard to see, but this one had a manufacturing error. The piston was in slightly off causing it to scratch into the chrome layer. Quality products for +200 Euro
    3- Me on the grid of the Nordschleife
    4- Epic meeting with 220+ Puma's
    5- Yes, we rented the Nordschleife for two hours
    6- Urgently needed replacement before heading off to Scotland last summer
    Attached Images Attached Images

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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    1- The ST150 calipers receiving some paint
    2- Just in time for our annual European Ford Puma Meeting with +/- 100 cars each year. Even not European members make it sometimes, our furthest visitor was from St. Petersburg!
    3- Stripping underway
    4- Nice Black Diamond discs
    5- And the adjustable AVO coilovers
    6- Now this is what I call LOW . It's raised though at the moment as I scratched the bottom on potholes and speed bumps. I even got stuck twice, luckily I carried a jack.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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    1- Finding the perfect setup on my newly discovered testing runway (!). I was amazed to find it abandoned and openly accesible to anyone. I got a few cans of paint and kind of set out a slalom track now. I practice there every other week now.
    2- Leading the pack
    3- An old version of my handling simulation
    4- Dropping into Karrussel
    5- And flaming through Brünnchen
    6- Offcourse how can I forget to drive the Stelvio pass too?
    Attached Images Attached Images

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Barcelona
    Posts
    33,489
    13 years ago we bought a Puma 1.7.

    Great car, but not much quality. For a weekend toy must fit perfectly though. I remeber it fondly.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
    Visca Catalunya!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Posts
    7,833
    Quote Originally Posted by Ferrer View Post
    13 years ago we bought a Puma 1.7.

    Great car, but not much quality. For a weekend toy must fit perfectly though. I remeber it fondly.
    Unfortunately the build quality is rather poor. You can clearly notice that the Puma-specific parts are not developed through and through. The later cars, Mk.2's are much better though. Mine, a Mk.1.5 is better than the early ones but not great. The engines are tough as nails though. You rarely find anybody in the clubs that had serious issues with them.
    Since a week now I drive an old Suzuki to work. I made myself the promise to only use the Puma in the weekends. I cannot wait for it to be Saturday again

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    Posts
    7,833
    A quick update:
    I am getting the car ready now for the racing season. Tomorrow it is going down +/- 10 centimeters again. Gonna be fun at speed bumps
    Also I purchased a set of standard 15" wheels last week, plus a set of Federal 595RS-R semi-slick tyres. Must get them fitted tomorrow.
    Then on Sunday I will do the final setting up off the car, I want to set up a bit harder in the back so that I can get some lift-off oversteer into the corners. The Puma is allready quite prone to do so but a slight increase might help a bit on the twisty slalom course I will be driving.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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    A quick photo of my practice course on a abandoned Belgian airfield. And a week later I scored a neat 3rd place in the hotly contested first round of the Dutch Autoslalom Championship, Class 6

    Results page, scroll down a bit for my class
    Attached Images Attached Images

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