RWD FIESTA MK2
Like too many shots on a Friday night, this Jag-powered Fiesta will make your head spin
This crazy Jag V6, rear-drive Fiesta was built by a 19 year old!
Being in the magazine game, we’ve seen a lot of wild and unique Ford builds over the years. Engine swaps have always been popular, as has converting from FWD to RWD, or RWD to 4WD. But this is the first time we’ve seen a humble Mk2 Fiesta, lighting up the rear wheels with a Jaguar engine roaring away under the bonnet… and it’s owned by a 19-year old who built it at home!
“To be honest this project got well out of hand”, laughs Josh Wheeler, “the initial plan was to throw a car together for drifting… well, that was back in 2017 and as you can see, that plan went out the window!” Josh has been surrounded by fast cars all of his life – his dad Gary raced F2 stock cars, and his friends dabbled with drifting BMW’s. It was when one of those friends bought a RWD Mk2 Fiesta though, that Josh was really inspired. “It was just so cool,” he remembers, “so me and Dad made the decision to sell the F2 car and build a hooning Fiesta”. At first it was supposed to be a quick project, purely function over form and as cheap as possible. Josh and his dad made a great start, finding a rolling Fiesta shell which although looked rough in the pictures and was fitted with different coloured doors, the shell was in amazing structural condition. “We gave £400 for it,” he continues, “and by the time we’d sold the gearbox, rear axle and other various parts from it, the car was essentially free”.
When they got it home and on a spit, the
head scratching started… as well as a bit of disagreement! Josh wanted to keep things really simple, but his dad is a highly skilled Aerospace engineer and fabricator, and wanted to go wild. “My personal vision was a tried and trusted Duratec, in an ultra-light car with no frills and Kirkey seats” says Josh, “but Dad wanted to do something really different and unique.” A neighbour’s Jaguar X-Type provided some inspiration, and sparked off a bit of research into Jag V6 engines, which of course are shared
with various Ford platforms such as the Mondeo. “My research showed these engines were cheap, powerful and reliable,” says Josh, “and I found out the S-Type 3-litre V6 was better than the 2.5 engines – it has VVTi and more power, so I went on Ebay to search for the cheapest one I could find.” The pair ended up buying a complete car for a mere £450, and thrashing it home with a big smile on their faces. “We felt a bit guilty actually,” laughs Josh, “it was the guy’s pride and joy, and on the test drive he was pointing out the mint interior, how quiet and smooth the ride was… all the time we were agreeing with him but we knew we were going to pull it to bits and cut it up!” The 100,000 mile engine and box were in rude health, and the stock 240bhp felt punchy in a 1600kg car, so the boys were excited about fitting it into a Fiesta of almost half the weight.
The honeymoon didn’t last long though, as it soon became apparent how much work was needed to squeeze the V6 into the Fiesta’s engine bay. “We wanted the engine back for weight distribution, so we cut out the bulkhead and moved it back by eight inches,” Josh explains, “but even though the engine fitted between the original chassis rails, it was too high and the intake manifold was sticking out of the bonnet”. Dad suggested a scoop, but Josh wasn’t having any of it, “No way was that happening,” he
laughs, “so we ended up putting in all new chassis rails from the front of the car to the bulkhead, welded in really low to mount the engine as low as possible”. It worked, as did the decision to cut out the inner wings and fabricate new ones with new strut towers to accommodate the Sierra front suspension. Gary did an amazing job on these, just look at their shape and finish – usually you see square box sections in these kinds of builds but these are beautifully curved and OEM level finish. “We knew we had to get the engine bay looking mint,” admits Josh, “and as the build went on we got more obsessive about the little details. Dad is so talented with metal work – he even ran aircraft rivets along the inner wing which we think looks cool anyway.” The big Jag 5-speed Getrag gearbox needed a big tunnel courtesy of Gary again, and Josh matched it to a short shift lever which he himself turned by hand out of aluminium. Josh also made the steering column – mating the Jag power steering rack and lower “crush” column was a pain, and he may do it again as the lower column is big and intrusive around the bias pedal box controls.
At the rear it’s a bit more simple, on paper – a Sierra Cosworth rear cradle with 7in diff sits nicely in there now, after heaps of measuring to ensure it sat square in
“...We ended up putting in all new chassis rails from the front of the car to the bulkhead, welded in really low to mount the engine as low as possible”
the car. “We had the car on a rollover jig,” explains Josh, “and were paranoid about not getting it square – it took ages to get it right and get the rear strut towers in the right place for the rear coilovers, but it was worth it in the end.” The car originally ran the standard viscous diff, which in Josh’s words was “awful”, so they replaced it with a proper plated diff complete with a longer 3.14:1 final drive, which suits the Jag engine better than the original 3.62:1 and enables Josh to drive the car to and from meetings and up and down motorways.
It also now does much better power-slides and burnouts!
Heading into the interior, and you can clearly see the family’s F2 background influence. “You can be quite creative in that race series,” nods Josh, “plus I love the blend of modern tech in retro cars, so we tried to incorporate a bit of both styles on the inside.” The roll-cage is all Josh’s creation
– he is quite into roll-cage design, and the father-son duo even bought a tube bender to give it a go themselves and perhaps start up a sideline business in the future. “Buying a ready-made cage was pointless,” says Josh, “we’d have had to change so much on it anyway that it was cheaper and more time efficient to do it ourselves”. Little touches like the double tube side bar, set low, hark to the stock car style and give good protection without being a pain to get in and out of the seats. Ah, the seats! They were bought second-hand from a husband and wife rally team, hence the ‘Jennifer and Rick’ name tags. “I got so much banter from my mates about that,” laughs Josh, “it became such a running joke that it formed part of the car’s story in a way… so I’ve left them on!” With the seats mounted so far back, he couldn’t reach the digi dash, so instead mounted it on the steering column and also blanked the dash out, replacing it with a very sexy switch panel in the roof. “I got a bit of inspiration from Phil Morrison’s Driftworks drift car,” admits Josh, “I actually designed the cage to take that panel
“It’s lairy. It actually has loads of turn in, no understeer, but it does transition into oversteer very easily...”
and I love it – I can reach everything and it adds to the excitement of strapping in and driving the car”. The roof mount enabled Josh to blank out the dash, which really adds to the purposeful, uncluttered feel inside the cockpit.
Clean lines continue on the outside of the car, the de-bumpered look adds a real air of menace to the Fiesta, and the arches cover the wide tyres perfectly. “I actually didn’t want arches,” says Josh, “I like the totally clean look, but the Sierra rear beam is quite wide so I did need them to cover the wheels in the end.” We think they look great and in keeping with the retro Mk2 Fiesta looks. Especially as the arches were mounted really low on the shell, which helps the car’s stance, and the hand-made front splitter and side skirts help give the impression the car is even lower. Josh and Gary even painted the car themselves… outside! “It wasn’t all plain sailing,” admits
Josh, “but the end result is great and we think both the interior and exterior give a nice nod to the Focus ST and RS colours”.
The whole build took 14 months, the final stumbling block being the electronics. “There are tons of control modules, and boxes, and connections for the Jag management and immobiliser,” continues Josh, “it was a real head banger – I remember I was out one night with mates, and Dad called me mega excited that he’d cracked it… that first start was a big moment and a big relief, and a bonus is I can use the Jag key,” he laughs.
So what is a V6-powered RWD Fiesta like to drive? “It’s lairy”, smiles Josh, “it actually has loads of turn in, no understeer, but it does transition into oversteer very easily”. Ideal for track days and rally car day demonstrations then, with Three Sister’s circuit being a firm favourite. “Small, tight, twisty tracks is definitely where it’s most at home, and most fun” he nods.
So after all that effort of building the car, weren’t the father and son team scared to use it? “We did think it was too nice for anything other than shows for a while,” admits Josh, “but we soon got bored with that, so it now gets thrashed within an inch of its life, mostly sideways, and always leaves us buzzing!”