Beeblebrox237's Cars: '07 Fiesta "Fred"

[Beeblebrox237]

Thread may contain cars. These are some that I've owned:

2002 Ford Fiesta 1.25 Freestyle 5MT 3dr - I wrote this off 48 hours after buying it. It was not my finest hour.

Spoiler: Before

Spoiler: After

1999 Toyota Yaris 1.0 GS 5MT 3dr - Cheap, honest transportation. Sold for scrap, sadly.

Spoiler: The original OP of this thread

1999, 78000 miles, 998 cc, 68 bhp. It's not fast and it's not fancy, but it should get me to work every day and do a couple of long trips. Above all, it's cheap to buy and run.

And the required photo featuring a slightly disheveled looking Jake and a can of beans:

I also found that the cupholders fit beans perfectly.

2007 Ford Fiesta 1.25 Zetec Climate 5MT 3dr - Slightly less cheap but more fun and a bit more sophisticated. He's called Fred.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

I see you've removed the rear wiper to lower the centre of gravity. Smart move.

 

[W3H5]

Keep this one the right way up, yeah?

 

[Lizard]

An improvement over the last one imo.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

I see you've removed the rear wiper to lower the centre of gravity. Smart move.

Soon it'll look exactly like that Yaris stock car we saw at Autosport.

Keep this one the right way up, yeah?

I intend to!

An improvement over the last one imo.

Yeah, I'd say so. The Fiesta is likely more fun to drive, but these are more practical and more reliable.

 

[W3H5]

I reckon you'll be able to see some great mpg on that car if you wanted to. Looks very clean, did you have it washed or did it come like that?

 

[Beeblebrox237]

I reckon you'll be able to see some great mpg on that car if you wanted to. Looks very clean, did you have it washed or did it come like that?

I hope so, I'll certainly be driving it for economy. It was a bit grubby when I bought it yesterday but I cleaned the windows inside and out and wiped down the interior, and now it looks okay. Tomorrow I'll be able to give it a hoover which it desperately needs, and at some point I'll probably take it to a carwash.

 

[Dennisch]

So, that's out of the way.

Deliciously bland economical commuter. Can't go wrong. Ish.

 

[ExigeEvan]

My sister just bought the 1.3i, so I'll offer you a drag race

Put some decent tyres on it and make sure the brake fluid and pads are healthy. Should help you avoid the hedgerows.

 

[Katiegan]

My friend has a green one of these with the same engine, except hers is an '02. A few of us bundled in it to go to VW Festival last year in Leeds and it made it there (when I eventually directed us the right way) and back just fine, although there were times when we thought it wouldn't make it up a few hills...

 

[Clark]

In all seriousness good buy, and it feels too slow just change the speedo to km/h so it seems faster. My fiancée's was owned by my sister before and and nothing has gone wrong in it in almost 8 years since I've known the car. Shoulde be able to get 45-50mpg easily.


Damn @Dennisch already had the same idea as me!

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Filled it up with petrol today and reset the trip odometer, as well as inflating the tyres to the correct(ish) pressures. Shouldn't be too long before I get a good idea of the mileage I'm doing.

I'm also going to see if I can have it checked over on the weekend. I don't think there's anything wrong with it but I suspect it needs an alignment and I want to have everything checked to ensure that it's safe. Main area of concern are the bushings on the front anti roll bar, as they were listed as an advisory on the last MOT.

 

[Lizard]

Filled it up with petrol today and reset the trip odometer, as well as inflating the tyres to the correct(ish) pressures. Shouldn't be too long before I get a good idea of the mileage I'm doing.

I'm also going to see if I can have it checked over on the weekend. I don't think there's anything wrong with it but I suspect it needs an alignment and I want to have everything checked to ensure that it's safe. Main area of concern are the bushings on the front anti roll bar, as they were listed as an advisory on the last MOT.

Do check it over. It will help you avoid crashing.

 

[Dennisch]

Main area of concern are the bushings on the front anti roll bar,

4 bolts and a bit of elbow grease and they are replaced. Something you can do yourself if you have the tools.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

4 bolts and a bit of elbow grease and they are replaced. Something you can do yourself if you have the tools.

I haven't got a jack or axle stands, can I do it without getting under the car or raising the wheels off the ground?

If I can then I'd definitely like to save the money and get some experience working on cars.

 

[Dennisch]

I haven't got a jack or axle stands, can I do it without getting under the car or raising the wheels off the ground?

If I can then I'd definitely like to save the money and get some experience working on cars.

Can you work without seeing what you're doing? If so, then yes, if not, it's going to cause some swearing in the streets of Britain.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Can you work without seeing what you're doing? If so, then yes, if not, it's going to cause some swearing in the streets of Britain.

I probably could if I'd done it before, but for the first time I dismantle part of my car it would probably help if I could see what I was doing. I might ask around at work to see if anyone has a place and tools so that I can work on it, though.

 

[Danny]

Awesome. 👍

Be careful, you silly sausage.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Been pretty consistently doing better than 45 MPG over the last few days. I'm pretty happy with that, I'll fill it up tomorrow evening and see how much fuel it's used over 6 days of commuting, which is about 300 miles. Also got in contact with a mechanic so hopefully I can take it in for an alignment and a checkup over the weekend.

 

[eiriksmil]

This thread is relevant to my interests..

I have been dailying a Verso over the last 5 years.. My car has 160k miles on it now and I won't hesitate to double that. OG wheel bearings and bushings all over.. These cars are CHEAP to run.

As Dennisch said the front sway bar bushings aren't hard to do. With the 1NZ and 2NZ, water pump should be expected to last about 100-150k miles but mine is original, I'm probably pushing it but it's nice to know. If you get a CEL down the road it's probably the MAF, clean it first.. I replaced it once in ignorance.

Your lower center console is hacked up to fit a 1 din HU, it's not a problem but having a cassette player and an aftermarket HU would drive me crazy.. There are both aftermarket and OEM surrounds made to fit a 1-DIN player and a cubby hole. Ends up looking like this

Just ask me if you need any help.
Oh, and lower it and don't crash it

 

[Beeblebrox237]

This thread is relevant to my interests..

I have been dailying a Verso over the last 5 years.. My car has 160k miles on it now and I won't hesitate to double that. OG wheel bearings and bushings all over.. These cars are CHEAP to run.

As Dennisch said the front sway bar bushings aren't hard to do. With the 1NZ and 2NZ, water pump should be expected to last about 100-150k miles but mine is original, I'm probably pushing it but it's nice to know. If you get a CEL down the road it's probably the MAF, clean it first.. I replaced it once in ignorance.

More good news for me!

Your lower center console is hacked up to fit a 1 din HU, it's not a problem but having a cassette player and an aftermarket HU would drive me crazy.. There are both aftermarket and OEM surrounds made to fit a 1-DIN player and a cubby hole. Ends up looking like this

Ideally I'd like to get the cassette player working so I can use a 3.5 mm jack to cassette adapter. The radio is of no interest to me (though the addition of an aerial might be helpful).

Just ask me if you need any help.
Oh, and lower it

Thanks!

Depends on the cost, but I will consider it.

don't crash it

Oh, I think I've had enough of crashing cars for a while.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Had a mechanic look it over while I was at work today, and do an alignment. The first words out of his mouth when he saw it, before I even said anything, were "those are really good cars." So that's good. He didn't find anything wrong, and it steers much better now.

@eiriksmil I forgot to ask, where did you get your steering wheel and gear knob, and how much did they cost? I absolutely love them and mine are quite worn.

 

[eiriksmil]

Ideally I'd like to get the cassette player working so I can use a 3.5 mm jack to cassette adapter. The radio is of no interest to me (though the addition of an aerial might be helpful).

Getting the cassette player working is just a matter of unpulling the stereo cable from the aftermarket HU and plugging it in the stock cassette deck..

The steering wheel is an old wheel my buddy has laying in the garage, but check out Nardis and generic wooden steering wheels on ebay or similar and you will find a lot. OMP makes a hub, fits all the usual wheels. The gear knob is from my old X3 Cressida actually. I would advise getting a 5 speed knob to avoid all passengers commenting that your car is only a four speed..

 

[homeforsummer]

@eiriksmil I forgot to ask, where did you get your steering wheel and gear knob, and how much did they cost? I absolutely love them and mine are quite worn.

Go nuts with the gearknob, but I'd not be so keen to swap out an airbag steering wheel with an aftermarket one. While I'm sure you won't be repeating your first incident any time soon, for a car with no real performance credentials you'd be better off spending as little as possible on it, and replacing functional safety bits like airbags should be well, well down on your list of priorities.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Go nuts with the gearknob, but I'd not be so keen to swap out an airbag steering wheel with an aftermarket one. While I'm sure you won't be repeating your first incident any time soon, for a car with no real performance credentials you'd be better off spending as little as possible on it, and replacing functional safety bits like airbags should be well, well down on your list of priorities.

Ideally I'd like to know who made it so that I can check to see if the same company make one with an airbag . I totally agree that keeping the airbag is a no-brainer all things considered, but the wooden wheel looks nice and I'd like to start searching somewhere.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Today I gave the car a clean, and applied the trim dye that @GTP_Ingram so kindly sent me. It still needs further cleaning but it's getting there, compare to the images in the OP and I think you'll see some difference:

As you can see the trim dye isn't perfect as it ended up being a bit blotchy. This is more due to me and my less than professional application job than anything, but the bumpers were so faded that even two coats didn't fully sort them out.

I found a rear wiper on Amazon for £8 so I ordered that and it's going on as soon as it makes the long and arduous journey from China. I still need to source an aerial and a trim panel for the rear under-bumper panel and fit them. Additionally, at some point I want to get a wheel cap for the front right, but I have yet to see a Yaris being scrapped that was fitted with these alloys so I suspect they were actually a relatively unusual option.

Additionally, I've decided that I can't be arsed putting in a new steering wheel or gear knob unless I can get them really cheaply. My goal is to sell it for a decent profit, so the next step once the bits and bobs are sorted will be to have it professionally cleaned and detailed.

 

[Swara]

Nice car!! If it was blue, it could be the Blueberry from Psych.

 

[Katiegan]

Today I gave the car a clean, and applied the trim dye that @GTP_Ingram so kindly sent me. It still needs further cleaning but it's getting there, compare to the images in the OP and I think you'll see some difference:
View attachment 528225
View attachment 528226

As you can see the trim dye isn't perfect as it ended up being a bit blotchy. This is more due to me and my less than professional application job than anything, but the bumpers were so faded that even two coats didn't fully sort them out.

I found a rear wiper on Amazon for £8 so I ordered that and it's going on as soon as it makes the long and arduous journey from China. I still need to source an aerial and a trim panel for the rear under-bumper panel and fit them. Additionally, at some point I want to get a wheel cap for the front right, but I have yet to see a Yaris being scrapped that was fitted with these alloys so I suspect they were actually a relatively unusual option.

Additionally, I've decided that I can't be arsed putting in a new steering wheel or gear knob unless I can get them really cheaply. My goal is to sell it for a decent profit, so the next step once the bits and bobs are sorted will be to have it professionally cleaned and detailed.

Not sure what it was that @GTP_Ingram gave you, but I'd also recommend Chemical Guys' trim gel too. I use that on Bruiser and while he's not as faded as the Yaris, only a single layer works wonders.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

Not sure what it was that @GTP_Ingram gave you, but I'd also recommend Chemical Guys' trim gel too. I use that on Bruiser and while he's not as faded as the Yaris, only a single layer works wonders.

This is the stuff:

I bought a bottle of grey and one of black for my 205 ages ago. Turns out I didn't need the grey, so when I noticed those faded Yaris bumpers I figured @Beeblebrox237 might be able to make some use out of the stuff.

I've tried one or two of those gels which are pretty good, but because this is a dye, it stains the plastic rather than simply putting a glossy coat over the top. It lasts far longer as a result - I used it on my Pug about three years ago and the trim still looks like new. Unfortunately, I don't think they make it any more.

Strangely enough, if you want a cheap alternative to the gels, smooth peanut butter is the best way to go (no, really).

 

[GTP_Ingram]

As mentioned here, the Alfa and the Yaris went on a little adventure, so I snapped a few pics: