20 Reg ST-Line 120 diesel 5-door.

I've been "dry running" the handbook's instructions for dealing with a puncture (which when a car is new to you, you do - don't you?). Car is equipped with a skinny spare, though I've now found a full-sized alloy as a proper spare which I intend to carry in the car once I've made-up a bit of support for the edges of the carpet. (BTW the supposed arrows to indicate the jacking points are conspicuous by their absence!)

WHAT THE HANDBOOK SAYS

The handbook states, under "Stowing the flat tyre" "Place the wheel in the spare tyre well with the valve stem facing down. Use the spare wheel securing nut to secure the wheel".

This is all well and good, BUT

• The black plastic mount for the jack is a tad too big to fit through the spigot hole in the centre of the wheel
• Even if this plastc mount could be removed, it clips onto a metal bracket (Image 287 below) which is also bigger than the spigot hole and, according to my measurements, would touch the centre of the alloy wheel even if the tyre was properly inflated, let alone if deflated and possibly with the weight of a bootful of luggage on top of it. Image 287 is the bracket and jack mount, imgaes 291 and 292 are the depth of the bracket and the clearance to the centre of the wheel, measured to the edges of the inflated tyre.

So my questions are

1) Has anyone actually put the full-sized wheel into the boot as per the handbook's instruction

2) If so - how, and was any damage caused?

PREFERRED APPROACH

My preferred option would be to put the full-sized wheel into the well face-up. It does fit, I've tried it but of course then the securing nut won't reach the bolt that holds the jack and wheel in place! So my other question is:

3) Anyone know of a way of extending the bolt so that I can both clamp the full-sized spare in place, and mount the jack/wheelbrace assembly in it's original position?

Thanks all - Richard

 

Yes, as you've already noticed - the full size wheel that came off the car won't fit inside the well in the boot (well, it didn't in my mk4 tit-x  estate anyway) and has to just sit on top of the boot liner.

I have full size alloy spares for our Fiesta ('07) and Fusion('10).

To secure them in their respective wheel wells, I bought some studding, nuts, wing nuts and washers (5mm I think), cut to length, with the large nylon retainer held in place (but free to rotate) with lock nuts and using the wing nut at the top so I could turn the "extended" securing bolt.

Not got around to supporting the carpet, but on my cars, it does mot dag much, even with the original supporting board removed.

As for where you put a deflated wheel when you have fitted a "get you home" space saver, I believe a premium brand car's handbook states "Secure on a passenger seat using the seat belt".

May not be true, but never spoil a good story with facts.

49 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

I have full size alloy spares for our Fiesta ('07) and Fusion('10).

To secure them in their respective wheel wells, I bought some studding, nuts, wing nuts and washers (5mm I think), cut to length, with the large nylon retainer held in place (but free to rotate) with lock nuts and using the wing nut at the top so I could turn the "extended" securing bolt.

Not got around to supporting the carpet, but on my cars, it does mot dag much, even with the original supporting board removed.

As for where you put a deflated wheel when you have fitted a "get you home" space saver, I believe a premium brand car's handbook states "Secure on a passenger seat using the seat belt".

May not be true, but never spoil a good story with facts.

Thanks for this. Just tried running an M5 setscrew through the retaining nut to confirm the size, and have just ordered some M5 threaded rod and connecting nuts so I can make up an extender. So what I should be able to do is secure the jack etc. onto its original mounting and put the wheel face-up onto that using the extended rod. Depending on where the ridges are in the boot floor I'll need to raise the carpet using foam blocks of between 85 and 90mm which should do nicely.

A trial fit showed I don't lose a significant amount of boot space by raising the floor, indeed I won't have to bend over so far to get things out!

Will let you know how I get on.

Thanks again - Richard

2 hours ago, Paulkp said:

it does mot dag much

or even "not sag" !!

For ours, all I have needed to do is add an extra layer of 12mm rubberised felt sound insulation under the carpet.

Thought I'd provide an update on how it all fits together.

In the attached piccies- I found the actual size of some timber I had in stock was just the right size for the required depth - 2"x2" is actually 40mmx40mm, 3"x1" is 70mmx20mm so sandwiching the 2x2 with the 3x1 give 85mm, which is just about the right height.

Framework just needs a bit of fettling, and some old inner tube gluing to the underside to stop it sliding about or vibrating agaist the boot floor. I cut the sides a bit shorter than planned so I can lift the frames out easily without catching the fabric on the seat backs.

The spare wheel clamp isn't 5mm after all, so I've order some 6mm rod and nuts to extend it.

I've found the gap between the layers is just about right to keep the towing eye handy without lifting the spare to get at it, again a bit of rubber glued to the wood will help to keep it secure with velcro straps.

Hopefully (not yet tried) there might be a gap just big enough for a 1 litre oil pack, unless I can find some room in the usual place under the bonnet, which is where I usually keep it.

Cheers - Richard

Very Smart !

I did consider doing some thing like that, but on the Fiesta/Fusion the cabin vent exhaust goes out at the rear of the boot floor, so just added that bit more felt.

Going back to my Capri days (I had 5, 3x2.0S' & 2x2.8i) the 2.8i came with the 7" rim and 205 section tyres, so Ford just added a extra frame to the boot floor board. This meant that the carpet drooped at the area over the rear axle and to a lesser extent at the sides.  I added some foam over the rear axle section so the carpet laid flat.  At the sides I added some small eye bolts on that extra frame, so I could "Bungee" my suitcase that use to slide across the carpet whilst oversteering round a roundabout!

Happy Days !

Quote

ery Smart !

I did consider doing some thing like that, but on the Fiesta/Fusion the cabin vent exhaust goes out at the rear of the boot floor, so just added that bit more felt.

Going back to my Capri days (I had 5, 3x2.0S' & 2x2.8i) the 2.8i came with the 7" rim and 205 section tyres, so Ford just added a extra frame to the boot floor board. This meant that the carpet drooped at the area over the rear axle and to a lesser extent at the sides.  I added some foam over the rear axle section so the carpet laid flat.  At the sides I added some small eye bolts on that extra frame, so I could "Bungee" my suitcase that use to slide across the carpet whilst oversteering round a roundabout!

Happy Days !

Many moons ago, in the days when I preferred things like Spitfires (OK, still do!), I went all sensible and, for the first car fairly new I bought after we were married, I bought a Marina 1.8 (very much underrated!). Some years later my wife mentioned that she would have preferred a Capri (my elder bro had one). Shame she didn't mention it at the time! C'est la vie ...

Hi Richard, so you are the guy who bought "The Marina" !! 🤣

I had a marina (1275cc I think). I didn’t think they were that bad. At least they didn’t have hydolastic/hydragas suspension like a lot of other 70s leyland stuff.  But they did have torsion bar front suspension, I never quite feel confident about torsion bars and how they work without breaking. 

11 hours ago, unofix said:

Hi Richard, so you are the guy who bought "The Marina" !! 🤣

And the Ital - dreadful car, rubbish O series engine😟

49 minutes ago, RMurphy195 said:

And the Ital

Oh yes, just when you thought Morris couldn't make the Marina worse, along came the Ital with the very curious curved dashboard that had the radio facing away from the driver to make it easy for the passenger to see 🤣

My Dad had an accident in his Cortina Mk4 (1979)  and unfortunately had an Ital as a courtesy car for a month and hated it every day he had to drive it.

11 hours ago, isetta said:

I had a marina (1275cc I think). I didn’t think they were that bad. At least they didn’t have hydolastic/hydragas suspension like a lot of other 70s leyland stuff.  But they did have torsion bar front suspension, I never quite feel confident about torsion bars and how they work without breaking. 

I learned to drive in my dad's Marina estate. I didn't know they were bad as I had nothing to compare it to until I had a few lessons with a driving instructor in his Toyota Corolla.

It’s no wonder the Japanese cars became popular. The small Japanese 1970s cars were so nimble and easy to drive compared to the British cars of that era. A friend had a 1973 Datsun 1200 which seemed so easy to drive and quick compared to fords and leylands  of that era

20 hours ago, isetta said:

I never quite feel confident about torsion bars and how they work without breaking. 

Isn't a torsion bar a straight coil spring ?  (Oh Dear - they break, just had to replace one on a Fusion !)

 

23 hours ago, RMurphy195 said:

I preferred things like Spitfires (OK, still do!)

How about a GT 6 ?

 

23 hours ago, RMurphy195 said:

I bought a Marina 1.8 (very much underrated!)

Did they not do a TC - which I remember went quite well, but in those days quality control had only

just been invented, and there was a story that some Marinas had a disc brake on one side, and a drum on the other......

10 hours ago, unofix said:

the radio facing away from the driver

Then along came the Allegro (was it ?) with the square steering wheel, and if you jacked it up with a door open on that side the sill bent !

 

Keep the shiny side up guys.....

What was this topic about ?

5 hours ago, Paulkp said:

Did they not do a TC - which I remember went quite well, but in those days quality control had only

just been invented, and there was a story that some Marinas had a disc brake on one side, and a drum on the other......

They did, had one. As it was effectively an MGB motor in a lighter bodyshell, it did go quite well, cornering was a different matter. The brake story is just that, but  they still weren't very good as I recall.

On 11/14/2021 at 7:20 PM, Paulkp said:

Isn't a torsion bar a straight coil spring ?  (Oh Dear - they break, just had to replace one on a Fusion !)

 

How about a GT 6 ?

 

Did they not do a TC - which I remember went quite well, but in those days quality control had only

just been invented, and there was a story that some Marinas had a disc brake on one side, and a drum on the other......

Then along came the Allegro (was it ?) with the square steering wheel, and if you jacked it up with a door open on that side the sill bent !

 

Keep the shiny side up guys.....

What was this topic about ?

Can't take the roof off the GT6, which makes it a bit pointless (this is why I prefer the MX5 to any hot hatch or coupe)

It was about putting a spare in the boot of a MK4 Focus - please refer to my post of Nov `13 to see how I did it!

On 11/13/2021 at 5:14 PM, RMurphy195 said:

Thought I'd provide an update on how it all fits together.

In the attached piccies- I found the actual size of some timber I had in stock was just the right size for the required depth - 2"x2" is actually 40mmx40mm, 3"x1" is 70mmx20mm so sandwiching the 2x2 with the 3x1 give 85mm, which is just about the right height.

Framework just needs a bit of fettling, and some old inner tube gluing to the underside to stop it sliding about or vibrating agaist the boot floor. I cut the sides a bit shorter than planned so I can lift the frames out easily without catching the fabric on the seat backs.

The spare wheel clamp isn't 5mm after all, so I've order some 6mm rod and nuts to extend it.

I've found the gap between the layers is just about right to keep the towing eye handy without lifting the spare to get at it, again a bit of rubber glued to the wood will help to keep it secure with velcro straps.

Hopefully (not yet tried) there might be a gap just big enough for a 1 litre oil pack, unless I can find some room in the usual place under the bonnet, which is where I usually keep it.

Cheers - Richard

This is very useful as I am about to purchase a Mk4 estate, and would like to carry a full size spare wheel as I drive long distance in France a couple of times a year.  Thanks very much for posting.