Squeeks Panther Black Mk5

Hey Guys,

ill only post up the current situation as the thread from zsoc is a bit long winded! its a 2002 panther black zetec-mk5, 72k miles, and the bottom end has recently gone! this means ive had to save quite a bit of cash to move forward, put a new engine in, needs new brakes and tyres, then tax, mot and insurance.......all alot of cash! but hopefully will be out in the next couple of weeks! heres how she stands atm:





all ive done is sprayed the lights black and detango'd, smoked side repeaters, derestricted the air filter and modified the exhaust backbox. oh, and also cant forget the blowjob lights

for now, ill leave you with this video. i recommend skipping to 37 second mark first where we have a little side by side, then 3.47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEd60MJS1HA&feature=channel

there will be alot of changes over next couple weeks so ill update as and when!

going to copy the rest from zsoc, start to now, then ill update when engine is sorted, amongst other things.......... here goes!

oh hi there!

I havent really bothered with a project thread up to now as most of the modifications i have been doing havent been significant enough but i thought id jump on the band wagon and at least start it off. so, here it goes from the top!

Having owned 6 cars to date, i knew i wasnt one to stick with a car, whether it be for cash reasons or for something that needed doing to the cars i didnt want to deal with. most of the lancs lot remember the infamous mini. brilliant, the most fun ive had to date, but not useable as an everyday car sadly.

I finally saw sense and realised the first car i bought was the one i wanted to keep, i only had to sell due to the fact i couldnt afford to run it at the time. now it belongs to goggyturner and he seems to love it so im glad its satyed within "the family" lol. so, i got on me horse and went on the lookout for a black zs.

I knew I had to be picky so it was phase 2, less than 60k miles, in black or blue. low and behold, i came across this example on autotrader:



the car is a 2002 panther black zs, 1 lady owner from new and with 55 thousand miles. I took her for a test drive and I felt completely at home with the car feeling so together and smooth to drive. looking round the car, the only flaw i could find was a hairline scratch down the drivers side where some munking chunt has keyed her. having said that, i could not find one other bad point so, naturally, i just had to place a deposit on her, ready for the day to pick her up at the end of the week!!

driving home after months and months away from being in my silver zs felt fantastic, this car got so many looks i just couldnt help but be sheepish lol. I actually felt like a kid in a sweet shop i was over the moon and when i was back driving i knew it was an awesome car. First of all i drove back to chorley with my cousin who had taken me to pick her up. he has an imp blue phase 2 with just over 50k on clock, ford racing ka rims, pipercross filter and miltek race exhaust cat back.





after saying many thankyou's and chow for now to my cousin, i headed home to see what the friends thought of the car, and they were equally as impressed (remembering they are all zs experts as they have seen me own 3 lol!)




ideally i wanted her to stay standard and so i had it set in my mind i would not do a thing....

.......then it changed to, well, maybe some little bits you know, just to spruce her up here and there............

.........now ive just decided in the long run im gonna go nuts haha! I have a list which i will post up on what i hope to get and the cost, its coming up to around £2000 so its gonna be a kick in the nuts but i really think it will be worth it.

the first thing i did a few days after getting the car was to spray the front grille black and fit the ghia interior light i got off ebay for £5. to be honest, that has been one of the most worthwhile modifications to my car as its directed light and doesnt dazzle your eyes when you stick it on. also think it looks pretty cool lol. also i sprayed my gearknob black and the manual windows adjusters just to give them a bit of shine, and they look good for it.

Next step was to sort the headlights out with a deeeeeeeee tangoooooo and for the first time for myself, spraying them. ive never done this before but because im more of a pro active person i like to get stuck in and give it a go. so off i went:




et voila!

as well as sorting out the grille and the lights, i debadged the rear of the car for a smoother look but really want a smooth boot in time



took some nice country side pictures at waddington fell just round the corner from my house but you wouldnt believe it! such a stark change in scenery over a couple of miles, lovely roads




over the past year ive been paying off debts so modifications have been few and far between but they have been little improvements and just trial and errors in the cars life. next i bought and fitted some smoked side repeaters and a stereo system, pictures taken with mattb_1987 from here





after this i met another zs owner who works at vauxhall in my town and he offered to spray my standard rears for me. i said "will they be the same colour as the car as i only want them slightly smoked" he goes "dont worry about it". ok then, hands him over my standard lights whilst he lends me his clear rears and.....well.....see for yourself LOL

i THINK you could say they were a pretty good attempt at being the same colour as the car haha.

fitting the stereo was good fun. as we didnt have the proper put in pull out thingy ma jiggers for the stereo, we erm.......improvised.....



finally got it in there though. sony head unit, sony 10 disc changer, alpine sub and amp and kenwood 6x9's :



around this time i didnt do much to the car, just kept it clean, though i did remove the plastic from behind the grille to enable room for a cold air feed to be placed there







up to this point, all modifications had been cosmetic. now, i was looking for something to give it a bit more 00mph. sadly it could be nothing expensive as previously explained i was paying off debts at a ridiculous rate and would rather do that then spend £300 on a new exhaust for my car.

I took the standard air box out and de restricted it by taking the bung out of the bottom and removing the resonator. Also, i removed the cold air feed that sits in the standard arch and made this go directly into the bottom of the airbox. this seemed to make the car pick up and sound alot sportier than before which i liked alot considering it was free, but the exhaust was somewhat lacking. although the standard exhaust sounds good as standard (see video below), i wanted something with a bit more roar and pop..... so, off to my friends garage i went!

whilst i was there we discussed when i would be getting a "proper" system for the car and said it will probably be a long way off yet. he funnily suggested that we make our own..............so we went through with it lol. first off, we removed an exhaust tip from a janspeed dual tip backbox:



we cut my original backbox off and measured pipe to fit there



then it was welded in place as below....




i actually really like the look of it cos it is completely different and even sounds completely different to everything else ive heard on a zetec-s. also it sounds awesome from inside the car! check out the following video for the best audio (3:47 and 0:38 are the best bits i think).

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEd60MJS1HA&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Fiesta mk5 Zetec-S with Janspeed Exhaust (also ep3 civic type-r with toda catback)[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW8J1SmKciw&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Fiesta Zetec-s Mk5 Janspeed Custom Catback Drive Away[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffqv-RvM6I4&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Fiesta Zetec-s Mk5 Janspeed Custom Catback[/url]

and a little video i made to show the 10mph to 95mph time on my car. i think its pretty nippy for a little zs!

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8U6zg1s848&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Ford Fiesta Zetec-S Mk5 10 - 95[/url]

various shots from about the place:






to explain the pic above. my wheel bearing went and it facked up the drum so i had to get another drum. i got the one above for £10 with the only problem being its red lol

bit mucky






after this was ford fair 2008 which me and matt went to in his car. got a good few snaps of the zsoc lot and met a good few people down there which was really good! was talking to jay fr-zs on msn for a good while about wheel bearings and little did we know for an hour we were talking at ford fair and finally realised who he was hahaha. think it was great getting drunk the night before but god it was a kick in the balls when we woke up at 7am next morning! here are a few pics from ford fair i took:

nice sierra cosworth past first corner



and zsoc on track with my gay commentary!





was a really good day which i can recommend to anyone. ill certainly be taking my car down to 2009 if its sorted, but more on that later!

early 2009 i bought an air filter and gearknob which gave me 15bhp lol (thats a joke by the way). it had a samco on it which placed it further down into the bumper which was good but really needed more air to it if anything




and of course after a while i decided to get the standard rears put back on






and a few absolutely awesome pics:




times like the above make me really love the car alot! it looks fantastic and there is only a couple things i could do to make it perfect which cant be said for alot of cars. zetec-s' just make me shakey at the knees sometimes lol

And now to bring you up to speed on mid 2009. the car is pretty much fubbarred as the bottom end has started to give way. she is still going strong but have been told to get a new engine. absolutely gutted isnt the word but hey, suppose its life. i was told it would be a matter of weeks, but 2.5 months on she is still driving on with no power loss or anything. im just making sure that the oil leak from the rocker cover isnt significant enoguh to drain the engine and topping it up if need be. this is happening cos i took the rocker cover off and didnt repace the gasket because i thought its going to blow anyways lol

recently ive sprayed the drums, taken the side strips off (not done a proper job, there is still some glue stuff left) and im spraying a few parts with hammerite, although ive yet to take proper pictures of this. for now ive stripped the arch liners out and sprayed the drums



^^^still shows red drum, sprayed after this pic



and before i leave, here are some comedy shots and a photoshop i did

"feels a bit wobbly this ground......"


EPIC STICKERZ FTW!


photoshop


any comments and criticism welcome! i understand not much has been done but its due to the lack of money rather than anything im afraid, but that will all be sorted as ive paid off my debts fully come july 09 and then the fun will begin......... but for now, i love my zs!

random pic:



will look ALOT different to this within the next couple of weeks

here are a few pics from today:





nice black drum:



bits stripped from interior to spray (not including stereo) are heater vents, roof lining and a pillars:




also tonight i stripped the rear out and remove the rear wheel cos the stupid wrench for the wheel nuts rounded off so i couldnt take a wheel off even if i tried! tyre foam anyone? lol

just started making a video compilation of a few pics and vids over the past year, only done 2 minutes of it (vid runs for alot longer due to song) but you get the general impression....

*UP TO DATE*

and now we are up to date. the car is on the drive looking EXTREMELY sorry for itself but a new engine, rims, brakes etc have been organised and HOPEFULLY will be sorted this weekend. as the car stands:



as you can see its in a bit of a mess. not cleaned it as its been sat there, and one of my friends managed to collapse a friggin jack, having not placed an axel stand corrently and the car hit the floor *eek*. luckily it hit the drum and none of the bumpers with only a tiny bit of damage done but i forgave him. fair few mods to go onto the car but the raisers and spacers are fitted. when rims are fitted will look same as this:



as those are the rims im receiving this weekend escort gti 15's powdercoated black, cant wait! alot of progress is going to be made so as i go on step by step ill take pictures and update the thread but when its sorted i want to get it out and meet you all again any comments welcome!

Read this over on ZSOC and I like it alot.

Nice subtle mods are much better than out and out lairy changes.

Wardy wrote:

Read this over on ZSOC and I like it alot.

Nice subtle mods are much better than out and out lairy changes.

cheers mate never been one to lairy mod the cars ive had, like it nice and subtle and it seems to be working! intend to do a few more mods though so watch this space for progress

How a ZS Should be,

Looking great mate,

4x4 freak wrote:

How a ZS Should be,

Looking great mate,

cheers mate and i love your car highly jealous!

tidy looking motor, and glad to hear you've got an engine lined up.

all going well so when's it due to get dropped in?

Squeek wrote:

and i love your car highly jealous!

Cheers mate,

Squeek wrote:

4x4 freak wrote:

How a ZS Should be,

Looking great mate,

cheers mate and i love your car highly jealous!

Who isnt jealous?

looks good, some nice pics there

cheers people

i still need the car engine fitted and MOT'd ready for me to tax it any takers!?

good news! picking up engine, rims, brakes and airbox tonight! modifying the airbox to take a cone filter and act as a heat shield so watch this space booked in for fitting saturday through monday, monday being MOT time and my car back monday night! yeeeehaw cant wait! will update monday with pics and videos

Dude, it's Monday night, where is the evidence, and why haven't I heard it driving round yet?!

As above!

Updates tonight or you fail!