Ford Ka (1999) - From nothing to something

[Man of Steel]

Bought a cheap car as a temporary second transport. Back to the roots without power steering, electric windows, ABS and CD player. And forget about metallic flake paint or alloys.

If you are very patient eventually it will reach 100 km/hours and top out at 150 or so. Not that you would dare to do that on those skinny tires. Thanks to its modest kurb weight and sort of dynamic behaviour on the road, it is still OK to drive though.

After 2 months the clutch died, just like my previous Fiesta. So I guess it is semi-cheap now. Maybe I should sell it as new now, because I invested 4 days of hard work to polish/feed/wax the paint and improve the plastic parts. Add the fake five-spoke hubcaps and we have a winner here. Unfortunately I could not polish the rust out, or the +10 parking dents from previous owner (still get lost counting them each time).

Enjoy.

Before and afters :

[Man of Steel]

Part 2

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Part 3

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Part 4

Some randoms while I was busy to give an impression.

[henk4]

a labour of love. Is the clutch working again?

[Badsight]

the Ford Ka

one of the best handeling super-minis ever made

the Focus Duratec 2.0 will fit into them , as will the heavier ironblock Zetec (not a good option)

but the best repower option is the alloy 1600 Focus engine - you will actually relieve a bit of weight from the front end with that motor as its lighter than the cast ironblock Kent they have standard - + with a bit of tuning nearly double the power

[Ferrer]

Or you could buy a Sportka and save yourself a lot of trouble.

[Man of Steel]

Originally Posted by henk4

a labour of love. Is the clutch working again?

Yes it is working again, but it cost me €800. No luck as the car only has 120.000 on the clock (verified).

To Badsight : I am not planning on any mods or engine swaps, but at least I know what is possible now

[pimento]

1.6l ecoboost Ka?

[Badsight]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

Or you could buy a Sportka and save yourself a lot of trouble.

SportKa is the Kent engine - i dont know why ford did it. prehaps they were worried about improving it too much & clashing with another models market segment

[thebrochureman]

Like other have said it looks like a labour of love, good temporary second transport, Don't you have a renault as well.

[drakkie]

Originally Posted by Badsight

SportKa is the Kent engine - i dont know why ford did it. prehaps they were worried about improving it too much & clashing with another models market segment

It shares the chassis with the Puma.Certain parts are interchangeable. You might also be able to fit the 1.7 engine inside

[Man of Steel]

Originally Posted by thebrochureman

Like other have said it looks like a labour of love, good temporary second transport, Don't you have a renault as well.

Four days of work paint cleaning, polishing, waxing and plastic restoring (50% of the car with those bumpers).

Yes, we have a Renault Twingo as well. Murcielago's for breakfast My next car will at least have the same horsepower of the two cars combined.

[Badsight]

Originally Posted by drakkie

It shares the chassis with the Puma.Certain parts are interchangeable. You might also be able to fit the 1.7 engine inside

1.7 is the 1600 with a 1 or 2 mm bigger bore

the special head does make it worth it finding one - but i prefer tuning non VVT engines

the Ka shares the floor with the Festiva (not fiesta) i dont think the Puma is related to either ?

[baddabang]

Lower it.