Project Phoenix - A barn find story

[LawrenceSelly]

The Beginning

I'm a computer games designer from Shropshire, and I work in Coventry, so my daily driver has been a Ford Fiesta Mk7 TDCi Zetec S for the last year. I've modded it and played with it as much as my warranty will allow, but because I need it every day to be reliable and get me to work; I really shouldn't be playing with it, looks nice tho right?.



So whilst helping my dad the other day, I was asked to go cut some lengths of carpet off some rolls that he had in storage at "a mates barn thing" so I toddled off in the van to go and find them.

I also found this:







She looked all sad and forgotten, and because the barn was also used as an airsoft playground; she looked a bit 'shot at' :/

SO a plan was hatched!! Lets save this MR2 from the scrap man.

I made a deal with the owner of the barn to save it, and after fixing the siezed brakes, flat tyres, and a few other little niggles, I pushed her to the door to get her home.



And a few days, a helpful uncle, and two dead winches later. Shes home :D

The Plan

I'm in this project with my Uncle, hes either going to be a helping hand, or a ruling hand, depending on how he feels. So I think I will class the following as 'Plan A' as he may have his own ideas.

So; Plan A:

Engine

As yet undecided, I want to do something a bit different as a Ford Fan, so I'm thinking of using a 5 pot from a Volvo. But as its probably going to be a lot easier to do, A 1MZ might be the engine I choose.

The 'box and drivetrain will all come as a direct result of the engine choice, but I will go with a gearbox rebuild for either conversion + 6th gear mod.

Chassis

Polybushed all round
Adjustable control arms where available
Gaz Gold Coilover Kit
Everything that is serviceable will be removed, blasted, Pol15'd, sprayed, and placed back on the car.

Body

Front:
New, lighter front end by using
fiberglass wings
lightened custom radiator mount
lightened custom bumper mount
original bumper
new front lip from Woodsport

Rear:
repair original wings (Datsun method)
fiberglass boot lid
fiberglass engine lid
Twin exhaust tips, total JDM style, CT Fist test approved

All over:
Rust repaired
Pol15 coated

Interior

Zilla bucket seats
Electronic steering conversion (need some help with this)
semi stripped out interior
Android tablet head unit + Amplified mini stereo system (for the drive to work on occasion)

Engine Bay

Detailed and cleaned, all wiring will be hidden where possible.
Shaved, and moved to frunk where possible.

Colour and Wheels

Porsche Adriatic blue
Gold Detail (Subaru wheel gold)

Konig 'WideOpen' in Subaru gold: 4x100 / 15x8J ET25

------------------------------

I'm currently stripping the car and selling bits I don't want on eBay, please see the listing in the Classified section.

I will also be mostly working on weekends to do this, and I will take as many pictures as I can. Lets hope everything goes smoothly!

Loz.

[D2W]

Great to see a mk1 saved from the scrapper. Good luck with this project. I'll be following your thread with interest. We want lots of pictures and updates.

Cannot wait to see the finished article. Have you a timescale?


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[Goldy]

Nice introduction, welcome aboard look forward to seeing this progress, hopefully the tinworm isn't too bad :-)

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[LawrenceSelly]

Cannot wait to see the finished article. Have you a timescale?

Well... not really, I kinda have a family motto of 'do it once, do it right' so it might take a while, but it is going to be really good!

And progress happened Today; as I work from home Wednesdays and Fridays, expect a few pictures if its sunny ^^

First, here's a pic of where I got to since I last took some pictures:



As you can see I've

• Removed the boot and engine bonnet
• removed the front wings
• Removed the front bumper
• Taken off the Inlet Manifold
• Unplugged and removed the wiring loom
• Taken out the airbox and boot carpets
• had a bit of a clean

And here's some more pictures of that progress:





These are all the parts that im going to keep, but need a refurb.

After playing around today you can add all the subframe and brake calipers to this massive pile XD



The boot has also turned into temporary tool storage, as it's a lot easier than trudging everything back to the shed. Especially if it starts raining.



I've also really got to sort out the interior; and to be really honest, I think this lot will scrub up well after a good soak and a spin in the machine.



So yeah, that's a bit of what happened in the last week.

I've got a lot more to do, and the lists of things I will need is growing, but as I said: its going to be done once, and its going to be right.

Loz.

[Grenade]

I love a good project! Carry on then!

[Jiff Lemon]

being broke for spares now :icon_sad:

[aussieGT]

The Beginning

I'm a computer games designer from Shropshire, and I work in Coventry...

I will also be mostly working on weekends to do this, lets hope everything goes smoothly!

Loz.

being broke for spares now :icon_sad:

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Well, I guess he started with good intent. Too big a project for someone like me.

[LawrenceSelly]

Its not being broke for spares :P

I'm selling the bits I don't want. says so right at the bottom.

[D2W]

Pleased to hear that. I thought those comments were a little premature. Simple misunderstanding; now resolved.

Looks like you have a lot of work to do. Pretty impressed. Looks daunting to me but I can see you have an opportunity to create something a bit special with it.

Keep us posted.


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[aussieGT]

Its not being broke for spares :P

Nice one.