I've 116k on the clock and she's perfect. But it was well minded b the the previous owner who had it from new. What's the biggest mileage you've heard of on a mk1? I've seen some on the ad sites here with 150k plus on them. Most of the mk1's you see here are 1.4's as well....

Mine nudged over 157K when I part ex'ed it. It needed a couple of bits doing that would have cost a couple of hundred quid. Other than that, it showed no sign of dying at all and drove wonderfully. I would have kept it if I could afforded to.

Saw an ex-Police LX (2003) 1.8TDCi on eBay a few months sgo. Had 300K on the engine and according to the seller, no problems!

My mates mk1 1.6 petrol has 200k on the clock

?...Had 300K on the engine and according to the seller, no problems!

Don't they all say that on eBay?

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Cool. My plan is to see how long I can run it for. It my get me to work motor, it will do about 4k a year. We have a 520d beemer as the main family car for doing long haul work. I'm pretty handy with the spanners. So I'm gonna be doing a few jobs. Last week she got all new discs pads and shoes. New hoses next followed by all new bushes in the back of it. I have it a year now and have done the 4k and I never laid a spanner to it till last weekend. Passed it's last NCT with flying colours and looking at the test sheet she's in perfect order. A small oil leak to sort too. I've become quite attached to the old girl I have to say, and I enjoy driving it more than the beemer if you can believe that. Lol

4k and doing the brakes? I did over 70k and never had to change mine.

It had a warped disc. So I changed the lot. I suspect that they were the original discs too as they had the Ford logo on them. Mintex stuff all round now. The brakes were fine, I just got fed up of the pulsating pedal...

I have nearly 126k on a mk2.5 and I had 205k on a mondeo ST24, if ford engines are looked after right they will go on forever.

Cool. My plan is to see how long I can run it for. It my get me to work motor, it will do about 4k a year. We have a 520d beemer as the main family car for doing long haul work. I'm pretty handy with the spanners. So I'm gonna be doing a few jobs. Last week she got all new discs pads and shoes. New hoses next followed by all new bushes in the back of it. I have it a year now and have done the 4k and I never laid a spanner to it till last weekend. Passed it's last NCT with flying colours and looking at the test sheet she's in perfect order. A small oil leak to sort too. I've become quite attached to the old girl I have to say, and I enjoy driving it more than the beemer if you can believe that. Lol

Good luck changing all the rear bushes. Of you can do that without dropping the subframe and much swearing I will personally deliver you a hat and balloon for your efforts

No. I'll pull subframe from a scrapper. Change them all in the comfort of me shed and fit them then ;)

Possibly even build up the subframe after I fit the bushes and. And install it as a complete unit. Repainted the lot, that's an even better plan

Possibly even build up the subframe after I fit the bushes and. And install it as a complete unit. Repainted the lot, that's an even better plan

No. I'll pull subframe from a scrapper. Change them all in the comfort of me shed and fit them then ;)

Sounds like you have got it worked out already :)

Well from what I can see it's not a big job to pull out the subframe. And because all the bolts are captive inside the car they shouldn't be seized up too bad. I'll know when I pull the one from the scrapper won't I? It's the most logical way to do it I think. I'll be going for genuine Ford bushes as well. None of the cheap muck replacement kits that you see on eBay that will be knackered in 18 months tops. Buy cheap buy twice my old man always tells me ;)

Absolutely! One of my favourite sayings too!

The bolts holding the subframe to the car will probably come out easily enough. It's the bolts holding all the parts of the subframe and bushes that cause the real headache

4 inch grinder should open em up pretty fast. With the subframe out access will b good. Replace them all with new bolts.

You would need to destroy some of the suspension parts worst case but as you say with it off the car makes it much easier. Access to a burning torch? Burning the bolts through the bushes would make things easier. The trouble is where they seize in the sleeves and you can't turn then or remove them

Mine has 107,000 on and its running strong as ever! just changed airfilter and plugs and dropping oil after christmas so should be running smooth as anything :D

I'm quite skilled with the grinder stef. Just grind the heads off them...

It's not as simple as just grinding the heads off lol.

Cant be any worse than a seized swing arm spindle on a bike, and they are a foot long. I've done loads of seized stuff in me time Stef, and I have the artillery to deal with it too. When all else fails, ignorance prevails with a liberal sprinkling of brute force. Thats why I want to get another subframe so I can strip it down and re-bush it whilst not being in a hurry if you follow my drift. I had a good look around underneath it last weekend and it does not seem too bad on all the bolts etc. Ive certainly dealt with worse on vintage bikes, great fun when a steel spindle seizes through corrosion on an alloy engine casing let me tell ya

Brute force and ignorance every time

I am used to working on ships where we regularly see fittings and dissimilar metals that need to be separated or removed after years of being washed with salt water.. Always fun.

Could be worse, could be a vauxhall eh

Well we don't have Vauxalls here. We got opel lol. I've had a few cars in my time that came from the UK and they always been nasty in terms of seized nastiness underneath. Ah well get it sorted. I've a great selection of hammers you know ;)

Well we don't have Vauxalls here. We got opel lol. I've had a few cars in my time that came from the UK and they always been nasty in terms of seized nastiness underneath. Ah well get it sorted. I've a great selection of hammers you know ;)

And they are all BIG hammers I guess a project for the winter