1980 Ford Fiesta "SVT"

In 1984 my parents bought a 1980 Ford Fiesta which I cut my teeth learning to drive in. With sub par performance and a 4 speed transmission it was a fun platform. I somehow have made it to 40 years old and decided to build project based on my first car. Most of this was a mistake.... I shouldn't have found a 1980 Fiesta for $500.... I shouldn't have already bought 2004 SVT Focus that a kid had ditched and sold to me with free shipping for $1250.00 with plans to repair it. And I shouldn't have had the idea to merge the two.

I was able to recoup all of the cash from the SVT and save the engine, transmission, shifter, key, ignition, wiring, ecu, fuel system for the swap. As of now the old engine is out and sold and the 2.0 zetec with 6 speed getrag is hanging almost where it needs to be for mount fabrication. If anyone has any pointers or knows what kind of metal I can use to relocate the control arms up front I be much obliged. The arms are not allowing me to fully drop the motor in place and I need to lower them and move the outward about an inch to make room. And for all those that want pictures there are some limited number on my site and its not complete up to date due to relocation and job changes. I will try to update it as time allows and please take it all as toungh'n cheak as I never expected to share this with anyone besides a few close friends. Thanks for letting me share and if anyone has any fiesta parts laying around let me know!

my site

Is there more? THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE.

In reply to Acme Lab Rat: I'll try to get the other pictures of the lowering kit and bumper tuck posted tonight as well as the engine hanging by Mr. crane in the engine bay. Oh and my new "1980 personal" wood steering wheel and shifter!

The idea of this project excites me.

Looking forward to seeing it come together.

Very cool.

Just a heads up that may be helpful: There is a water-to-oil oil cooler on the SVT motors that mounts under the oil filter. The water inlet/outlets like to rust and break off. The SVT focus one is NLA and not shared with any other platform. (So if you have a good one it may be worth some $$). The regular focuses run without just fine, but the 2.0l ford escapes have a very similar part with different water inlet/outlet angles, and that part is still easy to find.

I figure if you have clearance issues with the oil filter you can probably just take the cooler out and save a few inches there (and save a lot of water hose routing), or if you need to replace the cooler the escape part is the way to go.

In reply to Robbie:Many thanks for the tip! Any suggestion on another alternator that can be used as the one off the focus appears to be a little bulky?

I heartily approve! (see avatar)

In reply to Tom_Spangler: Tom, is that yours?!?! If so perhaps you could help me layout a plan for the suspension change I need to perform.

Can't wait to follow this one, great build material!

Your dream

My old reality (nightmare) Yours looks like heaps more fun.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Was yours stock or did you upgrade? Would appear you did suspension and wheels/tires at least?

mcsdex2 wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Was yours stock or did you upgrade? Would appear you did suspension and wheels/tires at least?

It was an ITC race car. balanced and blue printed Kent, higher comp pistons (someone had petitioned the SCCA so legal) light flywheel (not legal) lower final driver (legal) and close ratio's box from Europe plus viscous LSD out of a Europ RS turbo (ratio's not legal, LSD legal). Bushings, shocks, springs, rear ARB but stock components and geometry other than that. Full cage, stock brakes with good pads/shoes.

Be aware that the area around the brake master cyl is not that strong. Make sure you stiffen that area. I had a very carefully designed cage so the mount for the forward brace happened to strengthen that area as stiffening the shell wasn't allowed.

Stock front hubs are crap, you might want to talk to Tom Spangler about his flying wheel incident on that one.

I'm sure you know about this site. http://www.zetecinside.com/xr2/ Guy in the UK built a Mk I Fiesta first powered by a Zetec, then a Duratec. He's sold it now, but his old build info is still there if you go digging.

I'd certainly go for the Focus MT285, not the 4 speed BC5, but it will mean you need to cut and modify the front frame rail to fit it.

Good project and cool website, you are a very entertaining writer. BAT used to offer upgraded front hubs for the ITC racers if you need 'em....and check your rear Panhard bar and make sure it's the tubular type and not the nasty piece of U-channel Ford originally gave them...

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:I've got the 6 spd getrag from the SVT and appears that there will be no cutting necessary to fit between the rails. Though I need to move the suspension parts to allow it to drop in all the way.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson: I will be running a pedal box due to the stock brake system interfering with the space required to fit the getrag.

In reply to Pushrod:Noted, thanks for the tip! I will see if I can find the tubular one on ebay perhaps?

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:Thanks and I've been all over that website for a while now, while it isn't exact to my build its been a great help. I missed out on his part out which is a bummer cause his trans mount would have been perfect.

Pushrod wrote: Good project and cool website, you are a very entertaining writer. BAT used to offer upgraded front hubs for the ITC racers if you need 'em....and check your rear Panhard bar and make sure it's the tubular type and not the nasty piece of U-channel Ford originally gave them...

Yeah, I installed the BAT hubs (by the way, not legal for ITC) after I broke the Ford one and launched a wheel over a grandstand full of people and into someone's van. They did appear to be much stronger, but were still not able to withstand 6+ rollovers when I finally totaled the car a couple of months later.

Good times.

Tom - Glad you're ok. Sorry the BAT items weren't as good as they'd promised...

You could make your own panhard rod from some steel or chrome-moly tubing and rod ends...(GRMer's, help me with the grade here).

My dad had an '80 Fiesta that he speaks highly of to this day. Pretty excited to see how this thread goes.

Pushrod wrote: Tom - Glad you're ok. Sorry the BAT items weren't as good as they'd promised...

To be clear, the BAT hubs on my car were NOT at fault for my accident, that was 100% the driver. And the fact that they failed in the rollover is no indictment, in my opinion. They were never designed for that kind of violent impact. Just wanted to clarify that.

Here we are pictures as promised sorry for the delay there is no way I have found to do this from my phone. I will take a few more and update the website as well.

I can't see your pics. Can other folks?