Readly RF Feb 20

HOME BUILD
sunroof opening was, well Niall managed to find a
non-sunroof roof skin. A delicate task in unpicking
the original but still less work than patching up the
sunroof area none the less. “Fitting of that and the
painting was taken care of by Finlay Cameron at
a local paint shop I use,” he tells us. “Pretty much
everything else I tackled myself in the garage at
home with the scariest part being the fitting of the
MCR fibreglass arches.”
Now, we know what some of you may be
thinking here, why not leave the wings standard
minus the XR2 arches and save cutting up the new
wings! Well, let’s be honest the originals were far
beyond repair so, starting off with a rotten shell it
makes sense for Niall to put his own stamp on the
car, after all, he’s the only person who has to like it.
“I even tubbed the rear arches to allow the 7” rims
to fit nice and snug.” That’s dedication for you!
With the sleek body really taking shape
attention turned to the handling goodies, with Niall
approaching none other than Steve ‘Fodda’ Harris
of Outlaw Motorsport. Steve makes and supplies
some rather ‘tasty’ parts for Fiestas and is well
known in Fiesta circles. “Outlaw supplied a kit
comprising of new shocks and -50mm lowering
springs. It’s a great piece of kit, I also ordered a full
poly bush kit and rear adjustable Panhard rod too.
I can’t recommend Outlaw enough, the quality is
spot on and very reasonably priced.”
All other suspension components have either
been replaced with new or had the existing items
powder-coated making it all as good as new. The
tired braking system was next in line to be spoilt,
seeing brand new front discs and calipers and new
drums, shoes and cylinders out at the rear. With
the final piece of the braking jigsaw being a new
master cylinder and brake lines throughout, all
being done to standard spec. As each part slotted in
to place the end was getting closer.
“The more that got done, the more excited I
got,” Niall grins. “Each step brought it nearer to
being finished.”
This brings us to the real fun! The engine and
running gear. On inspection it was decided that
the trusty little 1600 X-Flo engine didn’t need a full
rebuild, however, to play safe it got a replacement
See our behind the scenes footage on Instagram: @retrofordmagazine
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