The Pony Car - Ford Fiesta 1.6 SXi 2009 (Pre-Tamed Beast)

[deville_56]

July 2019: Poor Man's USB/Bluetooth Conversion

Had a couple of generic Bluetooth modules lying around, which I bought for someone else's audio project. Just thought of making a standalone plug and play unit. It's just ₹ 200.00 for module plus remote and ₹ 160.00 without remote. Got BT, USB, Aux IN, FM, etc.. Also has a record option, but don't have mic or storage. Powered by 5V (burnt one connecting to 12V). SQ is good, not exceptional or audiophile stuff.

Card type remote. There was also a better premium remote available at extra cost.

Annoyingly colorful and bright Those waves are spectrum analyzers.

How it looks without that front dial.

Too compact.

Cut the front as compact as possible. Erased unwanted prints with thinner. Covered with thin foam board and wrapped with some CF vinyl. Quick prototype. Scavenged an old USB data cable. Added a 3.5 mm socket and ready to plug and play. Had an extremely short aux cable from another el cheapo USB Bluetooth audio receiver module.

Powered by USB charger and plugs into aux in of HU. Stock HU sounds great for a spartan car. Lacks USB function. Now can play from USB and Bluetooth. FM and aux already in HU, so useless. To my surprise, phones player can be controlled with the remote, which doesn't happen with many of the stock and aftermarket units I came across. Display tinted and blacked out everything except the mode. No ID3 tag display.

Now in search for better modules. Love them.

 

[bhvm]

There are many BT to FM & aux transmitters available. I brought one from tewtross and even has a display (like old Nokia phones) which shows song name, volume and so on. Neat little device.

 

[deville_56]

July 2019: Continued

With 700 km estimated, final preps made.

It was monsoon time and blades were in dire need of replacement. Bought Minda frameless as usual.
Driver side 22" - 200.00
Passenger side 16" - ₹ 170.00
Discounted price.

Previous ones were Bosch and a Chinese unbranded one. With both Mindas in place, there surfaced a new peculiar problem, blades hitting each other. Ran for sometime and they were perfectly fine despite hitting each other at particular cycles, thought of adjusting the levels, but completely forgot.

We never bought wheel spanner that suited the alloy lug-nut adapter. Bought one, in case any emergency arise. We were using a 1/2 inch L-handle and suitable socket, but handle was always in need, so no way than new one.

Rotated the wheels and checked alignment at our usual Tire Club.
Wheel Alignment - ₹ 500.00
Rotation was free. Others would charge 100-200 even when we did balancing.

Back after the run. 700+km in heavy rain and some flood.

The unfortunate happened right at the initial leg of the trip. Just after 20km, driver side wiper blade flew away because the above-mentioned hitting issue. Luckily the clip remained saving the windshield from scratching. Got the blade back from the scene, tried fixing but no use. Monsoon and impossible without wiper. Bought 2 sets of the same size, one for brother's colleague. To our luck, he was still awake at 2 AM playing PUBG. He gave us his old pair and continued the trip with that one.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Benefits of PUBG
Can you give a comparison between Bosch and this one ?
Also from where in TVM you purchased bro ?

 

[deville_56]

Benefits of PUBG
Can you give a comparison between Bosch and this one ?
Also from where in TVM you purchased bro ?

In comparison, if you can (lucky enough to ) get recently manufactured ones, it performs as good as Bosch at 1/2-2/3rd of the price. Older stock rubber peels of quickly. Bosch on the other hand lasts long but gets harder and won't wipe well in drizzles and low speed wipes, but perfect in heavy rain and makes noise and sometimes judder when it heats up on continuous use.

These are available at Mahindra Automart between Mettukkada and Thycaud Hospital, almost midway or Manikantan Auto Bazaar adjacent to Vizhinjam Power Tools in the road turning left to Chalai at Power House road entrance signal. Both of them would give discount over MRP. Bosch is also available with them.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

I had installed bosch from Govind Autospares . I exactly encountered same issue as yours , but what I found as a solution was , after driving in heavy rain , as the rubber gets wet , I pull it out and keep it for drying (just like we do when parked in sun) , Reason - What i felt is , the rubber as it dries , gets thickened with glass- it won't stick , but it will get slimy like (cold drying ) . Weekends I wipe the rubber with , newspaper (prefer malayalam , black and white - where carbon is more). It works quite good for me.

 

[deville_56]

August 2019:

The always ON 12V socket was boon and had it's own disadvantages. Advantage was, we could leave the phone for charging even when the car is at parking. Disadvantage was battery drain when we forgot to pull out the charger and it was annoying to pull it out every time. The need for a keyed 12V point was inevitable, especially after the addition of jugaad Bluetooth/USB player..

First thing was to identify keyed power sources that aren't significant enough for the important operations of the car, aka less riskier ones. Found one that used to turn on the HU when the key is in.

Scavenged some old blown fuses. Normal male connectors were pretty loose in the fuse connector.

Used their spades.

Female connectors for plugging in fuse.

Made a couple of cables. Soldered the spades and crimped females. Protected with heat shrunk sleeves. Y-cable for splitting the source and 2 for distribution.

Both are fused, so no risk.

Completed the connection. Audion ON/OFF gets the 3 amp fuse and used a 10 amp fuse for the 12V socket. Designated one was 15 amp, but never gonna use such heavy load in it, biggest load used being a tyre inflator.

Outcome, now I can plug in the player or a dashcam without worries.

(PS: Source would always be the bottom terminal in a fuse terminal).

 

[bhvm]

A very clever DIY there.
We certainly need more Always on Sockets. However a better implementation would be to have a push button just near the socket. So you can turn it on off at will, Rather than key or always on.

 

[deville_56]

A very clever DIY there.
We certainly need more Always on Sockets. However a better implementation would be to have a push button just near the socket. So you can turn it on off at will, Rather than key or always on.

Had a similar setup in Estilo during a period of continued hospital night stays. Didn't want to complicate and no dangling wires and aftermarket switch, wanted to keep it clean and like stock.

 

[deville_56]

August 2019:

Root cause of the starting delay. Dead cell. Old battery was working perfect except for heavy load like cranking. Cranks fine, but not enough to get the engine running, had to attempt 2-3 times to get it started. It never showed any symptoms even with leaving park lights on for long duration. Thought it was starter or fueling causing the issue, but @vishnu vichu pointed out battery as sole cause of the starting trouble. Checked battery at our usual battery dealer and one cell was dead, getting short when loaded. Replaced with Amaron FLO. Starts in single crank now.

Amaron FLO DIN45 - ₹ 4,700.00 (MRP ₹ 5850.00, Buy back ₹1150.00)
2+2 year warranty.

Mended the damaged wiper. Why throw away perfectly new wiper?

Scavenged an old wiper blade.

Transplanted the clips and voila, works perfect. Adjusted the wiper levels so that they won't brush each other.

Raining day and night.

Posing with most pampered 1.6s in town. @vishnu vichu

 

[mayankdixit]

The last pic is too good.How is the pickup now. Have you ever tried to time it with some gadget(like v-box or something?
Just asking as many have gone ahead and proudly share the 0-100 timings,on other forums.



ps. Why is laxmi written on your battery with a red marker. Does it denote the seller?

 

[deville_56]

The last pic is too good.How is the pickup now. Have you ever tried to time it with some gadget(like v-box or something?
Just asking as many have gone ahead and proudly share the 0-100 timings,on other forums.

ps. Why is laxmi written on your battery with a red marker. Does it denote the seller?

After battery replacement, there is drop in mileage, drinking too much. Performance is still good. Rarely takes it past 80. Never bothered to check 0-100, just a fantasy-family car that loves to be revved. On the other hand, @vishnu vichu 's Blue S is often pushed to limits. It's a proper S with a different factory map. He got many goodies like Taarox brake rotors, Bilstein shocks, NGK plugs, K&N (or BMC, forgot which one in which car) stock replacement filter, etc.

Got it right, that's the battery dealer.

 

[deville_56]

September 2019:

Hits 60k.

 

[Music_Swift]

This one looks beautifulI stumbled upon one similar version of 2009 Fiesta and has run 87000 Kms and he is asking ₹2.6L and colour is silver,which looks good on Fiesta.

 

[deville_56]

This one looks beautifulI stumbled upon one similar version of 2009 Fiesta and has run 87000 Kms and he is asking ₹2.6L and colour is silver,which looks good on Fiesta.

Is it original S version?