M reg Fiesta Java

Just bought myself a M reg Fiesta Java. 16 valve thingy with electric windows and all that for £650. I had it checked over by a mechanic friend and he gave it the OK plus it had passed it's MOT a couple of weeks before. Tne guy didn't have the manual or anything so I've come to this group to find out about the car. Is there anything I should be aware of. Good points, bad points. Another thing, the Haynes manual said that the timing belt should be changed every 60,000 miles. The car has only done 63K so I should be looking into this. The Haynes manual doesn't specify what kind of timing belt so does anyone here know the brand, model etc. Apart from that, I'm really pleased with the car as it is in good condition.

Cheers Big Craigie

Good points - the 16 valve engines are decent - what size is it? I'm guessing probably a 1.6 given the age. Bad points - s**te handling, though I've heard some of the later Mk3s weren't so bad. My M reg diesel Fiesta van certainly was s**te in the handling department, but fun in a strange sort of way.

You'll probably get 25,489,230.8 people come on here and say that your car is crap and you paid too much for it, but I won't. If it's all in good mechanical condition and you're happy with it then that's what counts at the end of the day.

There now follows some mild sarcasm.

What kind of timing belt? The rubber kind. What make? Ford. Well, there are loads of different companies out there that produce timing belts, but with any modern engine it's just as easy (and probably as cheap) to go straight to the main dealer and get a kit. It's advisable to change the tensioners/rollers when doing the belt change as well, and generally these can only be bought from main dealers anyway. A kit will sit you back around £90-£100, and if you haven't done it before, get someone else to do the job (unless you've got the right tools and are fairly confident in doing it properly). It's around 2 hours work at a guess, so budget £50-£100 for labour.

HTH,

Peter