Katiegan's Garage | Winter Plans

[Katiegan]

Got the pictures:

The air filter off for more work space... really need to clean this. It was originally white.

Engine cover off, ready to get to work.

After 3 hours, the manifold finally came off.

Notice the oil in the flaps. I know two rubber gaskets are missing, they came off as we took the manifold off.

The PCV valve, and the plastic... thing attached to it, clearly covered in oil and crap.

Uhh... I didn't get any more pictures after that, because we went inside for a lunch break and I forgot to bring my camera back out with me lol.

After we put the manifold and everything back on, we started the car, started fine, engine sounded fine, then my dad started revving, and smoke was still coming out. Now, this may have just been the left over crap and the valve cleaner burning away, because my dad did use quite a lot of cleaner. I just hope to God this has fixed it. No doubt another problem will pop up though. The flexipipe has broken... AGAIN. We need to stop buying the aftermarket ones and just buy Ford ones.

 

[crcn11]

I hate these cars so much but I'll try and steer myself away from that little fact... just a word on the BBS costs someone mentioned, one of my friends just got some old BMW wheels, popped out the BMW center caps, reconditioned them and bought his own BBS center caps. They're BBS wheels anyway, just happened to be commissioned for a BMW... total cost was only like £100. I'd rather trust my life to old BMW BBS than something I imagine were bought at Halfords lol... his car

And insurance, I'm 19 and getting quotes of around £2k for a 1 liter 1999 Yaris, just under £4k when I was 17, hence I still don't own a car.

 

[Katiegan]

And insurance, I'm 19 and getting quotes of around £2k for a 1 liter 1999 Yaris, just under £4k when I was 17, hence I still don't own a car.

Eek! My neighbour just recently got himself an Audi A3 2.0 TDI... and he's 18. Private plate and everything. £2k a year it costs him. Thing is, all he does is work. 7 days a week. Doesn't smoke, drink, go out, nothing. All he does is work 7 days a week, then buy some tea at the chicken place after work. Looks like that's the only way for me lol.

Those BBS rims look pretty nice too! 👍 £100 for all four? Lucky 🤬. I'd love some BBS wheels for the Mondeo, but I only think they look good on a slammed car. We can't lower the Mondeo any more because of the roads around here. Splitters don't last two minutes here. Potholes galore!

 

[crcn11]

I assume he's on someone else's insurance? I'm having to go it alone. And yes I know all about the potholes lol Edinburgh has the worst roads in the UK supposedly. I see some people on forums down south who baby their cars but all my friends just get scrapyard front bumpers and crash into the road pretty much... the Punto you see is too low to carry any rear seat passengers. And for the record the BBS were trashed when he got them. Reconditioned for £50 I think? Sandblasted too.

 

[Katiegan]

I assume he's on someone else's insurance? I'm having to go it alone. And yes I know all about the potholes lol Edinburgh has the worst roads in the UK supposedly. I see some people on forums down south who baby their cars but all my friends just get scrapyard front bumpers and crash into the road pretty much... the Punto you see is too low to carry any rear seat passengers. And for the record the BBS were trashed when he got them. Reconditioned for £50 I think? Sandblasted too.

Probably under his dad's name.

Haha, our council seems to think that filling a pothole in means sticking a lump of tarmac in, not flattening it down to the road surface and just leaving it, so next time it rains, all the tarmac is pushed away, and the pothole comes back.

Whoever reconditioned them did a cracking job. They look brand new!

 

[crcn11]

Yup haha they look even better irl, he's got stretch tyres on now I think and the wheels poke out a little. Whole car is pretty well done methinks.

 

[jonax101]

Mate, gotta say that that mondeo looks fresh! Love the "grafite-ish black" paint on the rims.
I came here to say one more thing tho, as I have +/- your age (15 back in 28/5), it's quite hard to find someone who's 14yo who likes cars like you do. When I saw your posts and read that you're only 14 raised my hopes a lil' bit, bc I really think that new generations don't value cars as much as old (and not so old) generations did, sadly.. what ever, nice effort on the Mondeo once again, cheers mate

 

[Joel]

That car looks damn nice, I love the colour you have on the wheels. I'll also add that it's refreshing to see someone your age put that kind of effort into the car and into your posts, well done! 👍


Disclaimer: I'm only 17 and probably shouldn't be making "people your age" comments. Bah.

 

[Slash]

Man I hate how small those engine compartments are....

I remember in 6th grade when I became a car nut lol.


Must be nice having cheap tires, last set we bough were $437 a piece for 4 and rotated one as a spare to the truck bed. Thats for summer. Winters a $232 a piece.

 

[Katiegan]

Thanks for the positive comments guys, much appreciated! 👍

I just wish I could say some positive stuff about Bruiser. He's still burning oil and smoking, even after stripping down the manifold. I'm trying to keep my hopes up in thinking that it's just the EGR valve, as we only cleaned that, which never actually fixes it. If it's not that, then it's the engine on it's way out. To buy a new engine and have it fitted is going to cost us at least £1k, which we don't have. To part-ex Bruiser for another won't be worth it - all we'll get out of him is £1,500 max, which means at least another £1k is needed to buy another. We're stumped here, because there's no way Bruiser will pass the MOT/state inspection with the emissions.

I don't really know why my dad hasn't checked the spark plugs yet. I mean, personally, that'd be the first thing I'd do, check the spark plugs for oil. Maybe he's in denial? I don't know. I just hope we can fix the car without breaking the bank. That Mondeo holds a lot of sentimental value to me.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

$5 on valve seals. And if not valve seals, then it's rings.

 

[Katiegan]

$5 on valve seals. And if not valve seals, then it's rings.

I'm pretty sure you're right there.

Just heard from a friend of mine who has a 240SX that had the same problem when he bought it. He changed the valve seals, and now it doesn't smoke. Judging by the fact that his 240SX only smoked after idling, and Bruiser does the same, I'm almost certain it's at least the valve seals at fault. He's an auto technician too, has been for 20 years, so I've got to trust him here.

 

[Sttrobe]

Damn, first time I like a FF Ford .
You set it up real well Wolfie. Props.

 

[Katiegan]

Damn, first time I like a FF Ford .
You set it up real well Wolfie. Props.

Thank you! Haha! He's very lovable.

UPDATE 29/8/12 - Well, the smoking issue seems to have calmed down now since we fixed the PCV valve. We're thinking an oil change soon should calm things down even more. With the engine being 9 years old, it's bound to use a little oil once in a while.

Hopefully things should be looking up now. Hopefully.

In the mean time, here's a video of Bruiser going down Great Orme to compensate for me not going to Rally GB this year. I'm off to the Gymkhana GRID final instead . You'll hear my dad at 0:08 telling me I'm on a rally stage. I already knew that so... ignore it . Sadly, all you can really hear is wind - but you do get a little taste of the exhaust here and there.

 

[Katiegan]

UPDATE 31/8/12 - Changed the front brake pads today. Turns out they were in a lot worse of a state then we thought - in fact, they were in so much of a state, they were broken. So that's what that clunking sound was... Pictures of the ruined pads will be posted soon, once I find some batteries for my camera.

The garage who fit the caliper last filled it with too much brake fluid, so when we replaced the pads, we got brake fluid everyhere . Luckily, none of it got on to the car itself, just all over the garage floor.

 

[Katiegan]

It's been over a year since the restoration of our favourite Mondeo started, and somehow I can't help but feel we've not progressed . Everything we seem to fix brings up another problem. But I'm staying positive - we'll get it all fixed one day!

Today we undersealed the car and patched up and protected the rust. However, the touch-up was horrible, and it looked like we had a long strip of duct tape going along the bottom of the car . We've taken the underseal off again now, after spending a day of putting it on, and tomorrow we're going to patch it up with some other stuff and paint over it, so hopefully it'll look better. Still no pictures though, unfortunately!

 

[OHM_fusion]

I'd just like to say that your Mondeo is probably the nicest looking 3rd gen I've seen. Tastefully done. I've always preferred the looks of the 2nd gen (which I own) but the subtle mods on your car really "elevate" the look IMO.

And about your problems: I'm no expert but I can just tell you to not get discouraged. The problems gotta stop somewhere right?

 

[Katiegan]

I'd just like to say that your Mondeo is probably the nicest looking 3rd gen I've seen. Tastefully done. I've always preferred the looks of the 2nd gen (which I own) but the subtle mods on your car really "elevate" the look IMO.

And about your problems: I'm no expert but I can just tell you to not get discouraged. The problems gotta stop somewhere right?

Thank you! We used to have a red 2nd gen, which wasn't heavily modified either, but we sold that for the 3rd gen.

Exatcly!

 

[Doog]

Just curious, have you driven the Mondeo yet?

 

[Katiegan]

Just curious, have you driven the Mondeo yet?

Yes, but not for very long. I did drive it along the beach once, but the police were patrolling up and down so I didn't get to drive as long as I wanted to!

 

[MedigoFlame]

Sounds like some good progress is being made with the Mondeo. What's left at the moment?

Btw, nice username change. Like it. 👍

 

[Katiegan]

Sounds like some good progress is being made with the Mondeo. What's left at the moment?

Btw, nice username change. Like it. 👍

Mainly the exhaust is left now, as it's making a horrible noise. If you watch the Great Orme video you can hear a whistle which it's developed on it's own somehow. It's also blowing, due to the aftermarket flexipipe not being able to cope with the weight of it, and it just keeps snapping. We're having to replace them every 6 months or so! I think we'll just take a Ford one from a scrapped Mondeo or something, they should be stronger than aftermarket ones. Then maybe an oil change and service, then putting the winter wheels back on!

Thank you!

Seen as I appear to have a lack of photos right now, here's a photo of Bruiser at Rally Mexico this year...

/failshop

 

[Doog]

Seems legit.





That's one nice thing about living in a place where snow is nonexistent; we get to have nice wheels all year round. What do the winter wheels look like?

 

[Katiegan]

That's one nice thing about living in a place where snow is nonexistent; we get to have nice wheels all year round. What do the winter wheels look like?

That. They're the stock wheels. Do not like. They look pretty flat there because they'd been sat in the garage for about 4 years. The silver paint is starting to peel now, which makes them look even worse.

They're not even decent in the snow - it's just to stop the black ones from getting ruined like they did when they were grey. Snow tyres with spikes are banned here, and so are chains, and snow tyres without spikes are expensive, so we just have to learn to ice skate in a FWD car!

 

[Doog]

Maybe you could invest in simple steelies; you wouldn't have to worry about beating them up, and they're black, so they suit the Mondeo's style- at least more than the stock wheels.

 

[Katiegan]

Maybe you could invest in simple steelies; you wouldn't have to worry about beating them up, and they're black, so they suit the Mondeo's style- at least more than the stock wheels.

I would love some basic steelies, but my parents seem to just want to keep those as the winter wheels. When we had a puncture last winter and had the spare black steelie on, it looked way better!

 

[eiriksmil]

They're not even decent in the snow - it's just to stop the black ones from getting ruined like they did when they were grey. Snow tyres with spikes are banned here, and so are chains, and snow tyres without spikes are expensive, so we just have to learn to ice skate in a FWD car!

Insurance not covering your damage because of improper tires is more expensive..

 

[Katiegan]

Insurance not covering your damage because of improper tires is more expensive..

Very true! But unfortunately, the final decisions for the car are not down to me.

 

[Katiegan]

UPDATE 21/10/12​

Finally, I have an update! Not a very big one, though. Yesterday Bruiser went to the garage to get his handbrake cable fixed. I believe it was the... left side that wasn't working, although I'm not entirely sure. A broken handbrake cable is not good when you live at the top of a fairly steep hill. Must be all that hooning that broke it... . I finally have a photo for you, as well. Although it's one my mum posted on Hipstergram. Still, better than no photo, right?

Can you spot the special sticker? ​

 

[Katiegan]

I haven't really been updating this as I've felt like I've been talking to myself, but I think an update is needed after nearly 3 months.

In those 3 months, nothing major has happened, apart from the MOT, which I am proud to say was passed first time! There was a little warning about the emissions, but we were aware of that anyway.

The cat and heat sheild. is getting really irritating now. It vibrates at about 2500-3000rpm, and really loud. It whistles too, which doesn't help. So right now Bruiser is making an awful noise. The best way I can describe it is this video, although it's much louder, sort of like a 'eeeeerrggh' noise.



You can hear the whistling in the Great Orme video a few posts up. You can hear it slightly at 0:45, then again at about 0:58, and basically everytime we accelerate. As much as I wish it was, it's not a turbo.

I'm also wanting to spend more money on it this year, as my dad doesn't seem like he wants to. He keeps saying he's going to sell it this year, but I doubt he'd get much for it, considering a 2009 Mondeo with every extra included only went for £6k. I'm not sure what I want to buy for it, though. Obviously the exhaust needs sorting out, but my dad would never let me pay for that. We have some tinted rear lights sitting in the spare room that have been there for ages, I talked my parents into buying them from a friend who was selling the mods from his Mondeo and returning it to stock. I've got roughly £130 right now, which isn't a lot, so I'm talking small things here to buy. I don't want to spend the money on myself because I can't think of anything I want right now, my birthday and Christmas has just been so I don't need anything . I'm open to any suggestions, cosmetic or performance. I'm just wanting to do stuff to it this year, maybe get it showing again.