Ford Fiesta Si 16v
Sticking to what I knew I decided to get my own Fiesta, but it had to be better…obviously. After spending a while looking at Mk3.5 1.3 Frascati models, which had electric windows and central locking, I decided to see how ridiculous an insurance quote would be a 1.6 16v Si. To my surprise it was only a few hundred pounds more than the 1.3! So I set my sights on an Si.
Short of buying the 1.8 RS1800, this was the best model mk3.5 Fiesta money could buy and to have one at 17 was almost a dream come true. After looking at a few I eventually found a low mileage example for sale at a local dealer; being a Ford, rust and/or repaired rust is the main thing to look out for. Once I’d crawled around inspecting every square inch of the car I knew I had to have it. The dealer even commented that it was the most thorough inspection he’d ever seen anyone make, although this was just before payment so he may have been flattering me.
We’d agreed that the car would receive a fresh MOT before collection so I had to wait an agonising 3 days until I could drive it home. Collecting the keys and driving off the forecourt is a memory I will never forget, I can remember the smell of the velour interior on a hot day as I jumped in, thinking how sporty the wing back seats felt, winding the electric windows down and deliberately pulling out and choosing the longest possible route from the dealer to my college.
Oh yes, I had lectures that day and only had time to collect the car and drive to college.
So I sailed straight past college and continued driving for another few hours soaking up every moment of MY new car, bought with money I’d saved up working countless overtime hours at my part time job. The best bit? The 1.6 engine. I know it was designed in a coffee break to fill a gap between the 1.8 used in the RS1800/XR2i 16v and the 2.0 used in the mondeo but that didn’t matter to me at the time.
While I was saving and finding all the parts I needed, I kept busy doing jobs like soundproofing and waxing all the interior panels. I planned to keep this car for a while and didn't want it rusting away. This was also where started cleaning and painting the underbody, a theme that continues on the cars I really care about. My tool collection started growing as well in preparation.
Over the course of about a year I’d collected the following parts:
2.0 Silver top Zetec Engine:
This was another reason for buying the 16v Si to begin with; the 2.0 Zetec engine from a a Ford Mondeo was near enough a bolt in conversion. Utilising a few original Fiesta parts, all the wiring and plumbing is already in place making it a very straight forward task for a beginner like me.
I bought this Series 2 zetec engine from a forum member who’d removed it from an 80k mile mondeo. It had already been converted to run in his Ford Orion so most of the parts had already been swapped over making my life even easier. It had the 1.8 zetec inlet manifold, water pump and oil pump, all I would need to change was the sump from my 1.6 in order for the engine mount to bolt correctly in place. It also had a modified 2.0 throttle body, ECU, various sensors and a recently fitted cam belt and head gasket.
As fun as it would have been to buy a complete Mondeo, I couldn’t say no to this engine package.
Cosworth 280mm 4x4 front brakes:
These brakes are a popular upgrade on Fiestas as the only modification needed is to enlarge the calliper mounting holes on the upright by a few mm. Again I purchased these calipers and cross-drilled discs from a forum member along with a few other items.
H&R coilovers:
These proved extremely hard to find as second hand items because the mk3.5 Fiesta has different sized hubs to the Mk3 and many people aren’t aware of this change. I had heard rave reviews about this suspension system and didn’t want to settle for any lesser brands. They used to live on a demonstration car that had all the best parts fitted to promote a parts supplier and I knew they’d not covered too many miles, but they were still used.
The dust covers on the rear dampers were cracked and the coating on all the bodies was corroded and dirty. I therefore stripped them down and painted them with etch primer and finally a coat of silver wheel paint. I also wanted to get the springs re-powder coated.
Magnex full exhaust system:
This was the correct 16v exhaust with the optimum diameter pipe and mandrel bends, I bought it off someone who’d had it fitted to their Si for a few weeks at the most so it was in fantastic condition.
Mk 5 rear beam:
It’s strange how interchangeable some parts are provided you know where to look and I’d found out that by using a Mk5 Fiesta rear beam you could then fit disc brakes from a Ford Focus. This beam fits correctly onto the chassis of a Mk3/3.5 Fiesta but allows you to convert the car to have rear disc brakes. The Mk5 Fiesta Zetec-S has an uprated rear beam with extra gussets but I had real trouble finding one. In the end I settled for a standard mk5 beam that I could still fit rear disc brakes too.
Focus 2.0 rear brakes/hubs:
Only the 2.0 Ford Focus came with rear disc brakes as opposed to drums and the entire rear hub assembly fits onto the Fiesta beam. So using a combination of several different Ford components you can upgrade the braking system on an older Fiesta substantially.
Modified Escort master cylinder and reservoir:
Considering the car was now going to have much larger front calliper and disc brakes on the rear, the standard master cylinder is no longer up to scratch with the rest of the system. By using the larger Escort master cylinder and reservoir you can shorten the shaft which then fits to the Fiesta bulkhead.
Zetec-S rear beam
Only a few months after I’d purchased a standard Mk5 rear beam, this Zetec-S item turned up for sale on a forum. It had been powder coated blue and the pick up points had been done in silver.
Chromed & Polished parts
Using various spares I’d kept from my old XR2i, I sent off a few items to be polished and chromed.
Mondeo Ghia X alloy wheels:
Keeping with the Ford theme I wanted to use factory spec wheels from a different model. These are different to the other 12 spoke ghia wheels as there is no lip on the outer edge. They are also only available in chrome, a finish that’s worn off on me and coincidentally started to flake off the wheels too. I was going to get these refurbished in anthracite.
FRST Pop-Out rear windows:
The Fiesta RS Turbo has opening rear quarter windows; a feature I wanted to add to mine. After I’d sourced a set I stripped them down to re-paint the metal caps that usually rust. This resulted in some of the studs snapping so I replaced them with items used on the much newer Mk5 fiesta.
RS Accessory rear spoiler:
The common RS Turbo spoiler had been used too much so I opted for this RS Accessory item that was an option when new that not many owners chose. It’s therefore relatively rare these days and not often seen.
Smoked rear lights:
With the dark metallic green of the car, I thought these smoked coloured rear lights would work well.
Volvo XC90 smoked side repeaters:
I spotted these on a Volvo in a breakers yard and thought they would look good on a fiesta with the smoked rear lights. They have a rubber backing pad/frame which I think makes them look a little more quality than the usual stuff. I bought one in the breakers and bought the other brand new from Volvo.
Cobra Daytona seats:
These are reclining bucket seats with the additional sub-frames to fit a mk3.5 fiesta. Again, not something I would have normally chosen but when I saw them for sale it was an opportunity not to be missed.
As I mentioned, the XR2i was to donate some body panels for me to modify (the eagle eye amongst you will notice the red bootlid; this was bought separately as the XR2i one was rusted through under the rear window). This was in the early 2000's where you fell into 2 camps; either you had a lairy fibreglass bodykit or you went for more subtle mods.
XR2i smoothed front bumper:
This was obviously saved from the car I broke for parts but I didn’t want to fit it as standard.
The main recess along the top was sanded down and filled then I blended in some nissan bluebird (yes, that square horrible looking car) rear quarter vents.
Smoothed XR2i side skirts and arches:
As I planned never to jack the car up on the sills anyway there was no need for the removable jacking point covers. I therefore bonded these in place and smoothed them over creating a much less ‘patchy’ looking piece of trim.
Mk5 Fiesta rear bumper:
I had planned to smooth the numberplate recess in the bootlid meaning that had to be relocated somewhere else. A common modification is to use a rear bumper from a Mk5 Fiesta and trim it to fit the Mk3 rear panels. All that’s needed is to make space for the rear towing eye behind the bumper and trim the top section down a few mm and you’ve got a standard looking bumper to fit the numberplate to.
Colour coded electric heated mirrors:
A bit of cannibalism was needed here where I used a combination of the original mirrors and Mk 4 internals. The base plates were standard so at to fit around the contours of the door but I used the electric mechanisms from a Mk4 mirror to convert them from manual. Although I thought have sanded down the textured mk3.5 casings, the Mk4’s were colour coded at the factory so I used them instead to gain a smoother finish.
Colour coded handles:
With lots of sanding and filler primer I successfully removed the textured finish from the standard handles and painted them the colour of the car.
During my placement year of University, the car was stored in my Aunt and Uncles garage, this is where I spent my evenings and weekend stripping it down in preparation for 'the big re-build'. It's funny looking back at how long this took me, probably due to picturing and documenting everything out of fear of not being able to put it back together again.
The deal with storing the car in my Aunt and Uncles garage was that I'd clear out all the rubbish and work in the space that was left. The trouble was every time I made some space, it would get filled with more rubbish when I wasn't there.
By the time I’d finished University and got back to the car there was very little room left around it to work. The monotony of having to clear the place up each and every time I wanted to get near it did sap all my enthusiasm to work on it. Added to this was an ever growing feeling that I had all this money tied up in something I had no idea when I was going to be able to enjoy, and by the time that came, would my taste is cars have changed?
I would never discourage anyone from embarking on a long term project but I would say is that’s it’s hard to keep the enthusiasm up when you have no clear end date. This would of course have been easier if I hadn’t had the long gaps between working on the car and if the garage I was using was just that; a garage and not just a large bin.
I tallied up what I thought I could get for all the parts and decided to sell up and put that towards the next, bigger and better car.
Everything was advertised and bit by bit I sold off all the parts that took me so long to find but the shell remained; with the price of complete cars, the market for a super clean shell is very small. One day I had a message from the same forum member who I bought the engine from asking about the shell, I was made up! I’d known the guy for a while now and was always blown away by his work, if he bought it I knew it was in good hands! We struck a deal and he and his brother came and collected it, but before leaving he let me in on his plans for it and it confirmed it was going to the right person. I was less upset to see it go than I thought I’d be but I think the knowledge that it wasn’t going to just be crushed was more important than anything.