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Mk6 Fiesta, making it more comfortable/modern


Dylanc431
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Hey all, 

I'm a new member here and thought I'd make my first post about quite a general topic. I recently bought my first car, a mk6, 2004 Fiesta (1.25 Duratec) LX. As this is the first car I can call my own, I have free reign to essentially do whatever to it. 

The car is in very good condition and has been very well taken care of in its 16 year life, the only real "issue" in the service history was a "Hesitation" in the car, which was solved by a new set of spark plugs. 

I currently have some bits and pieces ready to replace on the car for a general once over, this includes new front discs and pads, new oil and filter, and a new air filter (which is already fitted). I also replaced the disgusting green headlight bulbs(previous owner's addition) with some more traditional warm white halogen ones.

I've also ordered a set of Hella 500FF spotlights which I plan to grille mount. 

But enough waffle, I want to make the car a little bit more... comfortable? Modern? 

The most pressing point would be the instrument cluster, the car is from before Ireland switched to Km/h and therefore is a pain to convert in my head, not impossible, but a pain. I'd also love to change the backlighting from Green to something else, white would be preferable. Are there any easy ways of doing this? 

Is there a way to upgrade the head/taillights to the mk6.5 facelift versions? I much prefer the look of them, and feel like they'd suit the style I'm going for with the car. 

One little niggle the car has is a dodgy connection with the fan speed dial. Essentially, 0-3 is no fan, 4 is full blast. is there any tutorial available for diagnosing that switch? 

I look forward to being a part of this community and being a happy fiesta owner! 

Thanks,
Dylan
 

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10 hours ago, Dylanc431 said:

The most pressing point would be the instrument cluster, the car is from before Ireland switched to Km/h and therefore is a pain to convert in my head, not impossible, but a pain. I'd also love to change the backlighting from Green to something else, white would be preferable. Are there any easy ways of doing this? 

Hi,

ROI switched to KMH way before 2004, if it's a MPH/kmh speedo then the car originated in the UK.

You can swap out the cluster for a KMH only spec from a breakers but you may have to do a bit of research into if it's a direct plug and play swap or if you have to have it configured for your car.

I'm not sure if illumination is LED or bulbs, someone else will have to confirm that for you.

10 hours ago, Dylanc431 said:

Is there a way to upgrade the head/taillights to the mk6.5 facelift versions? I much prefer the look of them, and feel like they'd suit the style I'm going for with the car. 

The facelift front and rear lamps are plug and play but bear in mind that you will need to add a circuit on each rear lamp for the additional reverse lamp and fog lamp on each side as the facelift had twin fog and reverse

 

10 hours ago, Dylanc431 said:

One little niggle the car has is a dodgy connection with the fan speed dial. Essentially, 0-3 is no fan, 4 is full blast. is there any tutorial available for diagnosing that switch? 

New or good 2nd hand switch required

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Comfort. A taller section on the tyre is good for this. Given a 195/50/16 or a 195/60/16, go for the 60. When the tyres need replacing, tall and narrow beats wide and low profile. How many miles? Over 60,000? New dampers will make a difference. Give the door seals a wipe with some silicone grease to cut draughts and wind noise. Clean the glass thoroughly and buy new Wiper Blades. Both make a difference to your comfort. Tighten anything that squeaks or creaks. Modern infotainment systems cost a couple of hundred upwards for something with a decent bluetooth connection and a satnav on a good size screen. That is modern enough. Some have a camera input, too, for rear view. Godsend. New pollen filter and an aircon freshener. Enjoy your car. 

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11 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Hi,

ROI switched to KMH way before 2004, if it's a MPH/kmh speedo then the car originated in the UK.

You can swap out the cluster for a KMH only spec from a breakers but you may have to do a bit of research into if it's a direct plug and play swap or if you have to have it configured for your car.

I'm not sure if illumination is LED or bulbs, someone else will have to confirm that for you.

The facelift front and rear lamps are plug and play but bear in mind that you will need to add a circuit on each rear lamp for the additional reverse lamp and fog lamp on each side as the facelift had twin fog and reverse

 

New or good 2nd hand switch required

Hi there, thanks for the reply! 

I sorted out the fan speed, it was the thermal fuse for the blower, picked one up for 20 quid from a motor factors and have perfect fan speed control now! 

That makes sense, what threw me off is that the car was bought from a dealer in Wicklow (2 owners ago) and still has their paraphernalia around the plates and back window.

I have a feeling there's an LED illuminating the red needle, but bulbs for the general cluster illumination, though I'll have to dig a bit deeper. 

Facelift front lamps would look a treat with the spots I think! I did see a tutorial on here for the rear lights from someone, though I only had a brief skim, is the conversion board readily available?  

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41 minutes ago, anon said:

Comfort. A taller section on the tyre is good for this. Given a 195/50/16 or a 195/60/16, go for the 60. When the tyres need replacing, tall and narrow beats wide and low profile. How many miles? Over 60,000? New dampers will make a difference. Give the door seals a wipe with some silicone grease to cut draughts and wind noise. Clean the glass thoroughly and buy new wiper blades. Both make a difference to your comfort. Tighten anything that squeaks or creaks. Modern infotainment systems cost a couple of hundred upwards for something with a decent bluetooth connection and a satnav on a good size screen. That is modern enough. Some have a camera input, too, for rear view. Godsend. New pollen filter and an aircon freshener. Enjoy your car. 

At the moment the car is on 175/65R14 82T Bridgestone tyres, but it needs a new pair of rears. 

At the moment the car is sitting at 73,000 ish miles. I fitted a new set of Bosch wipers and they made a world of difference! Fixed my dodgy fan speed switch with a new thermal fuse, but I'll definitely have a look into the door seal thing! The car does get a bit noisy at speeds over 45/50MPH. 

I'm surprised that there's actually no noticeable squeaks, rattles or creaks on the interior, the car was very well taken care of all its life!

At the moment I'm using an FM transmitter and USB-C dongle into my phone for music and a window mount to hold it in place, but I would like to repurpose a Galaxy A20 (6.4" Display, Android 10) that I have laying around into some sort of infotainment/music streamer device to avoid setting stuff up every time I get into the car! I'm very much a tweaker with these kind of things, so I'd be curious to work out a solution.

Thank you! I will definitely enjoy it! I can already see myself keeping it for years to come. 

Visually, I'm looking to impart a bit of a "road rally" look to the car, so hella spots on the grille, facelift lights front and back, restoring the steelies to their former glory and then just doing things that improve the "feel" of the car, so suspension upgrades, some nice brakes (which I have here already) and adding some "slow car fast" feel to it! :artist: 

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The reason for your heater blower control only working on position 4 is that the speed control resistor has failed so you'll need to fit a new one.

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  • 2 months later...
On 05/11/2020 at 10:30 PM, Dylanc431 said:

Hey all, 

I'm a new member here and thought I'd make my first post about quite a general topic. I recently bought my first car, a mk6, 2004 Fiesta (1.25 Duratec) LX. As this is the first car I can call my own, I have free reign to essentially do whatever to it. 

The car is in very good condition and has been very well taken care of in its 16 year life, the only real "issue" in the service history was a "Hesitation" in the car, which was solved by a new set of spark plugs. 

I currently have some bits and pieces ready to replace on the car for a general once over, this includes new front discs and pads, new oil and filter, and a new air filter (which is already fitted). I also replaced the disgusting green headlight bulbs(previous owner's addition) with some more traditional warm white halogen ones.

I've also ordered a set of Hella 500FF spotlights which I plan to grille mount. 

But enough waffle, I want to make the car a little bit more... comfortable? Modern? 

The most pressing point would be the instrument cluster, the car is from before Ireland switched to Km/h and therefore is a pain to convert in my head, not impossible, but a pain. I'd also love to change the backlighting from Green to something else, white would be preferable. Are there any easy ways of doing this? 

Is there a way to upgrade the head/taillights to the mk6.5 facelift versions? I much prefer the look of them, and feel like they'd suit the style I'm going for with the car. 

One little niggle the car has is a dodgy connection with the fan speed dial. Essentially, 0-3 is no fan, 4 is full blast. is there any tutorial available for diagnosing that switch? 

I look forward to being a part of this community and being a happy fiesta owner! 

Thanks,
Dylan
 

How did you get on with mounting the spots?

I plan to do similar on my Mk6 . I used to love the look of spots on the MK2 xr2

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 24/01/2021 at 4:33 PM, cooperscooter said:

How did you get on with mounting the spots?

I plan to do similar on my Mk6 . I used to love the look of spots on the MK2 xr2

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