Well here it is - my second BA and this time its an Estoril (or Estriol as it said in the ad).

Bit of a back story but suffice to say it's clearly been placed in a hedge with enough vigor to break a wheel stud and munch an alloy beyond repair.

(If the images do not appear, try right-clicking to view the image)

Dents in the most unexpected of places

I think the carpet shows the remnant of someone stomach contents, probably from that same event. Anyway the lad who sold it to me was very honest about it's condition, and since this one is more likely to pass its next MOT than my Noble Green one, the fun begins (Really do prefer the green though)

Someone has been gnawing at the steering wheel, so there's going to be fun replacing that! Is it really just a matter of disconnecting the battery to make sure the airbag doesn't go off when I disconnect it? And anybody have a stock steering wheel I can buy off them?

It's nice to finally have a vent-blower I can adjust; the knob fell off in the green on even after I glued it back on.

Also, working central locking - now there's a luxury!
Drivers window is sticky but should be an easy fix once I strip the door card off and take a look.

And of course the windscreen is delaminating along both side edges

The front brake disks needed doing since one has clearly had a short but intense relationship with the allow wheel as it left the car. Just over £30 for both disk and pads! That's another reason these machines are such fun to play with.

How do you bash BOTH sides? Well I can tell you that I once destroyed the drivers-side headlight and the nearside tail-lights on a hire car when I discovered some black ice on a motorway in Ireland, but that's another story.


Not sure about the sticky-back-platic number plate.

I think the word 'lairy' was invented to describe the interior of this very car: an unbelievably bad stereo system whose main attraction is being able to choose any colour for the display, plus a bunch of LEDs just for the hallibut. My kids think they're really cool so maybe they'll stay for a bit
Kenwood CD changer in the boot though (pitty it's not currently working). Pull-up aerial is not surprising.

Someone didn't know you slide the rear lights cluster SIDEWAYS to remove it - a bulb was blown and I suspect someone's gone a-looking for a mysterious bolt they thought was holding the cluster in place. Oh dear, time for some glue.

The complete rear section of exhaust was removed because he preferred the sound it made. The idea was that since its got a 'cat there shouldn't be any problem come MOT time. I agree the exhaust note is much better without the rear section, but I'll be bolting the part back on (he left it in the boot). Think I can hear a blow from near the front too, which could be hard to fix. Hoping an exhaust bandage will do it. And apparently this is meant to be holding part of the exhaust to the car, but I can't spot where.

Well I'm not sure where he sourced his tyres, but it has pretty much every variation of size you could try on those rims! He threw in a set of 16" Mazda wheels with no tread left.

I'll probably shoe those for daily use. Would like to see how 16" feels on this though (currently on 15" on green one)

Bus-seat post-Ford interior with wear-weary drivers seat. Hey great - I can look for a pre-Ford interior to replace it and everything will be much nicer inside. Anyone got seats for sale?

Engine has a bit of a mis-fire despite decent spark plugs and evident new HT leads. The guy reckoned it was the coil-pack, but I don't think we have one of those do we?
And now the the hens tooth of all unicorns, I'd love to fit a tow-bar. If anyone has one or knows a scrapper with one, then I'm after it. I don't mind stripping it off any BA that might be sporting an unused towbar. I note the tow-bar posts saying to be careful to get he complete part including beefy replacement metal.

Well, not too much to fix then ....

I hope he paid you to take it away!

Well he was able to deliver it for free since he's in the recovery business. I did pay peanuts for it and it's soooo much fun to work on Here's the broken and bent wheel studs

By the way, how does THAT bit of bodywork get scratched?!?

Thankfully the epc gives the part number and a quick look at https://www.autolinkmx5.com/ turned up new ones at not too much money. It's B01Y33062-4166 for mine but there appear to be other part numbers for this part, e.g. B455-33-062. Photos look identical to me, though could be longer/different spline thickness/without 'notch' on side etc.

The epc seems to come and go. Sometimes I can access it no problem then it disappears for a few hours. Odd

I almost feel humanly sorry for this inanimate box of metal and plastic.

And coil packs on a BA? This person should not be allowed anywhere near a car.

I have lots of spare interior trim, and a fair amount of mechanical bits and pieces, so give me a shout if you need anything and I'll investigate the parts boxes

S

Replaced wheel studs (aka lugs) on the blue Estoril. Really was as simple as it seems

These match the part number B01Y-33-062 with the 'flat' on part of the head. The flat bit is totally unnecessary but it does match the old bent stud


The old studs were either broken off or bent and needed a lump hammer to remove (except the loose ones!)


Pop the new ones in the holes


Pack with some spacers - in this case an old bearing and a few washers I had to hand


Hold the wheel in place so it doesn't turn when I tighten the nuts


Tighten up the nut. As you do this you can tell the stud is being pulled into the splines in the holes in the hub flange. It's a very satisfying action. No idea how tight is the correct tightness, so did them up as tight as I could with my trusty wheel brace on 'short' setting


Hold wheel the OTHER way to undo the nut


The new disk just slips on and looks soooo clean


Couldn't resist putting a wheel on even though there's no brake pads yet


Done!

Now I need to find a way to push the brake caliper back enough to fit the new pads. The cylinder went in smoothly using wooden blocks and tyre leavers, so probably Ill try the same approach to move the whole thing over.

Steering wheel time! This Estoril came with a steering wheel that was basically unfit for purpose (see earlier pics). The good news is that the amazing Serena had a spare and so today I fitted the replacement

Following advice, I disconnected the battery and left the car for half an hour, apparently to reduce the likelihood of the airbag going off when connecting/disconnecting it's wires

Undo the four 10mm bolts behind the wheel (which were not very tight) that hold the airbag in place


Release the captured wire by undoing a screw


Gingerly push off the two connectors (one red one blue). I did this from behind the steering wheel, with the idea that if the airbag did go off it would not take my hands with it


Lift out the airbag and set it aside carefully
Undo the single nut holding the steering wheel in place (it's 21mm)


Pull and wiggle the steering wheel so it comes off



Put replacement steering wheel in place (again, thanks Serena for providing spare)
Tighten centre bolt


Reconnect airbag wires and make sure cabling for airbag is tidy - there's a slot the connector sits in


Put screws back in behind the wheel and we're done - a usable steering wheel at last


Reconnect battery and breathe easy as the airbag does not deploy

Now back to fitting the new brake pads...

Just discovered rust at the top of both rear strut supports:


That means, sadly the Estoril will not make it back onto the road
So now I'm beginning to strip it out. The interior has post-ford 'bus seats' which are in horrendous condition. But there's plenty of bits I'll retain to keep the other one going. Again, big thanks to everyone who's written about where to locate the nuts, bolts and fixings to take stuff apart, it's really been helpful.
More pictures here:
https://imgur.com/a/1neGUNi

Yep, that's what I'd term catastrophic!

I've seen a few cracks along the bottom of BA turrets, but never full-on disintegration at the top. Did the previous owners keep it in a lake?!

S

EDIT: I just refreshed myself on the hideous things the said previous owners did to the car. The dead turrets now make sense. It's scary that, as they evidently didn't give a fig about car maintenance, they were probably driving around with them like that for quite a while

Re the rear turrets. Mine rusted as yours have (see photo) https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipN ... 3Rv1Z6wfoI but I have spent money on it and was reluctant to scrap it.

I just love driving my V6.

The issue I am having is I need a pair of rear trailing arms but our good friends at Mazda UK have stopped making them. I've tried various options for them but nothing. I've got a pair of arms from the 4 cylinder model and am hoping a pal of mine can work some magic with them. Also I'm taking the old ones to an engineering place near home to see if they can make them. I won't know until I ask.

One thing I don't actually have is some proper photos of the car. I'll get round to taking some photos that aren't just the dashboard for mileage 'soon'.

Hey, does this have AC? I'm after a whole AC system to fit into mine.

No A/C on this Estoril, sorry. See my new thread in the 'breakers' section of the forum, listing what's useable from the car.
https://www.club323f.com/forum/viewtopi ... 69&t=61608