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Sorry till bore ye's all, but - I had a thread up recently looking some advice on getting a safe, practical, easy to maintain, capable vehicle for my mum. In fact that very thread was here: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/192841/nother-new-car-suggestions-threadAnyway, I elected in the end to go after a Subaru Forester, 2.0, preferably manual, preferably the all weather model, preferably a low miler, preferably no LPG, and a nice one if possible. Wanted the 03-06 shape rather than 06-08 shape as they're more reliable. And you're thinking, so he probably ended up with the complete opposite of that then! Well, let me tell you about my car buying experience of this last week. it's my thread, and I can do what I want to! (Within the bounds of what the benevolent dictator allows of course)... I found a very small selection of Foresters, mostly at dealers, and armed with a three grand budget I was pleasantly surprised to find I was well above market value for these. So eyeballed a few and put them in preference order (well, my mum did). First off was this one:  I had also sent a couple of preliminary texts to the second choice seller, and he was talking about £700 p/x value on a car I am trying to shift for around a grand. Both had offered p/x on their ads so I thought I'd see. So that meant we took a drive up to Castlederg in a 1.8 BMW, about 90-100 minutes driving, half dual carriageway, and half on country roads heading for this little town which defines the erse end of nowhere. I'd phoned ahead, and spoke to Andy at TopGearMotorsNI, and said we'd be there betwen 4.30 and 5pm. I looked at my watch as I walked in to the office and it was precisely 4.45pm. Now, once I'd managed to find someone / attract someones attention from the office after 5 minutes, he got Andy (I think his name was Andy anyway, pardon me if not) and he said oh yes, the subaru, give me just a second please. Then he picked up the phone. "Just calling my wife here, she has it". "Hello dear. Could you bring that Subaru over? Yeah, now. Yeah. There's someone here to see it. Yeah, drive it round and get it washed when you come too. Yeah, now. OK. Bye" Riiight. She'll be here in two minutes. Just round the road there. two miles away just. Couple of minutes. I went back to my car and sat down. Went for a look around the stock. Mostly vans. The Transit Specialist, they were. Went back to car. Waited. Young salesman popped out, that'll be here in two minutes! Cheers! And sure enough, 10-15 minutes later it was. She drove past us, and straight round the back. "Shall we get out mum?" "No, lets see how much they want a sale out of us." Canny woman. Five min later I got out and young salesman was just walking over. All ready now folks! So I had a good poke as my mum asked him a load of silly questions only a woman that knows nothing at all about cars can think of. What's that button do? How did it get that scrape? Can it go up mountains? Do I need to use special petrol in it? Meanwhile I concentrated on the chassis, sound, the electrics, good, the engine, fine, the interior, nasty. The ultra-quick wash wasn't hiding the dents but it was fairly clean, no rust, no lumps of chod in the arches, nothing to worry about down there apart from the middle of the exhaust flanges rotting away merrily (cat hanging on for dear life, a good kick and the exhaust would break in two). My mum asks why its so manky inside and if it's normal for their wives to drive the stock around. Salesboy says it would be properly valeted, and serviced, and could be ready in two or three days. I pipped up there - we're looking it today. Oh, but we have to service it first. That's ok. I do my own servicing anyway. Well, maybe we can work something out on the price if you want to do that. Great, I thought. I'll just not ask anything right now about why it's not serviced already, ready for sale. Off we went on a test drive and young salesman was coming up with some crackers. It's the four wheel drive version, you know, so it might be good off road - you never know until you try it, you know. It might be good in snow, but maybe not, what car is really any good in snow anyway? It's good and high up, you know. Good for towing, you know. As we drove back in, I heard a clunk as I depressed the clutch to stop. What's that, my mum asked. Oh - it doesn't sound serious. It wouldn't be anything to worry about, you know. I said - sounds serious to me. Och no, I wouldn't think it would be anything to worry about, just some wee thing. I said - it sounds like a diff bushing. That'd be reasonably serious. I lay down again (thankfully a dry day) and poked until I found the nearside rear half shaft had loads of lateral play in it. Yeah - needs a half-shaft. That's kinda serious. Oh right yeah, ok. Do you like it? Maybe. If the price is right. I'll get the manager! And off he scarpered. My mum said, he's just reading that all off the advert. Doesn't know anything about it. Did you hear what he said about it driving in snow? Anyway, what's that? We'd got to the boot and it looked like a troll had been trapped in there for a while. The parcel shelf was all gouged, as was every interior boot trim, and the rear headrests, and the offside rear door card. Andy the manager came out, and he was willing to talk sensible. My concerns were the EML (the o2 sensor was faulty, no doubt due to the cat blowing out), the cat section would be needed, and the state of the interior. We took a quick run in my car as a px but I doubted it would go anywhere as his stock was mainly vans and a couple of newer things, even the Subaru was older than everything else and then he did tell me it was a trade in itself. He offered me a figure I could live with, but it amounted to too much overall. I switched to cash, and offered £1500, and he was willing to go to £1600 in the end, but after having another look at the interior, we opted to leave it. In the end, with the driver seat heavily worn and stains on all seats, we would have been buying a complete new interior - and although it's not a dear car, it just wasn't "the one". He did mention again about needing to service it, and the younger guy piped up that I would do it myself. Yes, I said, even if you did it I'd still do my own as soon as I got back. Well OK then. We haven't had a chance yet as it's only been in a week. I said nothing about the advert being online for ten days at this point. Minor detail. A very pleasant couple of chaps it must be said, certainly no sales pressure and willing to work around awkward people (us!). Just the car wasn't not quite living up to what was expected. I'd certainly look at them again if they had a car I was searching for, but it's a long long trip from home. We drove back - with me mulling it over for half an hour wondering if we were doing the right thing. And then she said it. That was the right thing to do. If I was staying here, and doing more farming, and lifting bags of stuff, I'd love that. It would be perfect. It drove really well. But for my new job, well... I deserve better than that. And she was right. She does. She doesn't have to settle for one that's a bit rough. Any car. She needs a nice one. She should have a nice one. So, driving on, mulling that over - well, the option two car doesn't have the all weather pack but it looks really tidy, but it's on the other side of the country and it's now 6pm. Well, a text can't hurt. And sure enough, they said they'd be open till 8pm. Right, I can make that! Warp factor 9 please Mr. Data... for all of 5 seconds. Legal speeds only! she ordered. So motored on at legal speed back to work, to drop her off to go to a meeting, and I headed off to see what was behind curtain number 2! |
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Option 2 stemmed from this scumtree advert:  Listed as Dunmurry which is basically Belfast to me, the address then provided was my side of Lisburn so only 30 minutes away instead of 45. So didn't need to rush quite so much in the end. This was the one that had offered £700 for the trade in, albeit via text so i wasn't expecting to get that necessarily, but meant I was taking that, and on my own now as my mum was off at another of the eleven hundred meetings she's had to squeeze into the four weeks of October before she leaves. This dealer, who the advert suggests might have been called Colin, or MCT Cars Ltd, was there till 8pm and I arrived at 7.30pm - at a set of locked gates. "i'll be there in 5-10 mins" Superb. There wasn't enough room in his yard, so it was parked round the back of someone elses. So we went and had a look. It was dark now but a good security floodlight was enough and I got under it. Seemed just like the first one, solid underneath, all ok down there, and round the engine bay. Only concern was the exhaust on this was far worse, and the cat to middle box flange was in tatters. Bits came off in my hand. The backbox was rusted away and one mount (of two) completely corroded off. Took it for a drive and got the usual sales patter. This guy was putting out his stall right from the off. Here's the service book. Here's this. It's had that. etc. What about the drivers window not working here? I asked. Oh, dunno, was working at the MOT, look here's the certificate, just a couple of days ago, got all the papers here, look at... But what about the window? Oh, must just be the switch playing up. Can't be the motor, look here it's had one so it definitely can't be that... I caught a quick glimpse of the receipt, remember he's flashing these past me under interior light power as I'm driving round a dark industrial estate - and the motor was indeed replaced, in early 2014. Couldn't be that then, nooo. I told him it was for my mum and she was moving next week. I'd done my research and was buying a Forester one way or another. Great, he said, good when someone knows what they want and they're not comparing your car with a Hyundai or a Suzuki at a different place. I had this one woman... [inane salesman/customer chatter ensued, we've all experienced that] So he took a look at my car. I'm a mechanic by trade, he says, I know all about these. Known for burning oil. Once they do that, they're done. Needs a new engine. Rev yours up. Look, all smoky. Needs an engine. This is at night, cold night at that, where you can tell what colour exhaust smoke is by mobile phone light, and I've done 100 miles in the car that day so far. Obviously broken then. Offers me £400 for it. I'm like, right I can't do that, I'm here to buy this, if you do 500 on it I'll go ahead. But he wouldn't budge. You can have the jeep [it's NOT a JEEP!] for £1850. Aye, I said, but I'm here on my own. Came down to trade in, can't get back down here this week, no time. Oh, sure go have a think about it. Err, no. I'm here to buy, not have thinks. Well, there's another customer waiting for me round the front, do you want to follow me round and take another look under the light there? So we did that. Into his little workshop with its smooth concrete floor and fluorescent lighting. And with the nice floor I had a proper hoke. The exhaust truly was hanging. Hanging. The rear subframe was covered in blebs of rust that didn't like being poked. I could hear the other customer was picking up their car and were finding an awful lot of issues. They certainly didn't sound happy but once done he was back over at me asking what I thought now. I said I'm glad I got a proper look now, this needs an exhaust right away, and a couple of other things too. Sure why would you put a new exhaust on it, it has an MOT a couple of days ago? Yes maybe so, I said, but as soon as you touch the middle section it will fall apart. Why would you touch it, it has a new MOT? Look, the exhaust is rotten. It needs replaced, MOT or not. It's not rotten, The cars only through the MOT! Of course its rotten. The backbox is so rotten the mount has broken off! Here, kneel down and I'll show it to you. I'm not getting down on the floor, he scoffed. So you know then. You know its rotten. I don't know anything. I got a garage in Dunmurry to check it over and MOT it for me. I thought you said you were a mechanic? Sure you could weld the bracket back on anyway. How? The metals too thin to even weld to! Here, if it's not for you, that's OK, just leave it. I said, it could be for me, but your attitude isn't. You know this is broken. Just fix your price to allow for that. It's a great car No, it's an OK car. It needs work to make it great. Nah, some man will look at it and love it and not even say anything about no exhaust I said, You mean, someone will see it that doesn't know to look where I have, and you're happy to strafe them? Then he accused me of being the "strafer" with my car that needs an engine and kept trying to usher me out. At this point having switched over into obstinate mode, I really was annoyed at my time having been wasted, having been sent messages from him like "My forester is an outstanding example. Never worked etc. Full history!" I was ripping. I parked right outside his gate and rang my friend Jason to blow off some steam before driving. I was massively frustrated as well as I'd set aside this Tuesday for sorting a car, already a good few days late, and now here I was at 8.30pm with no car and very little options. |
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So while we were talking on the phone, Jason was searching the internet (seeing as that's the only possible means to find a car these days) and came up with this piece of outstanding value:  The less reliable, not as nice looking, thirstier, heavier, option with higher miles... but gorgeous! It was £2195 when he sent me the link. I tried to ring but there was no answer. I drove home a little more hopeful. Wednesday was chock-a-block and didn't get to look again. The friend of mine who got the E39 Touring drove his old Golf + down to me. It has some issues which were going to cost too much to resolve, so I've taken it on. Also went and picked up a Peugeot 407 from a friend from church, who has just got a Passat as the 407 has a ream of issues, far too many to resolve, so I've taken that one on as well. He was going to scrap it, I reckon it still has some life in it yet. So Thursday, and as yet I've found no better options, so I ring about this Obsidian Pearl Black XT and find out it's had an engine under warranty, so engine mileage on current unit is 76k. So, low miles, kinda. It's had two sets of rear shocks, common issue, and one owner from new. Sounds brilliant. Really, really brilliant. Just the kind of thing you want when you buy a "forever car". I had a collection to make in Carrickfergus. That's 90 minutes East. This things near Bangor, which is also 90 minutes East. Ignoring that they're an hour apart in late day traffic, Jason and I head off to Carrick. I'd left a couple of hours for that job but it literally took five minutes to load up, so we were free suddenly. Time I did not have suddenly appeared. We talked it over, then I rang my mum and talked it over some more, and to my, most likely lifelong, regret, I had to accept that 256bhp was just too much for my mum, and the minimum of 17" wheels (18"s currently fitted) did not lend itself to winter tyres very well. I let the seller know, I'm not a complete sod, and he sounded as sad as I did. Someone is going to get a steal there. And Jason and I trundled on back down the M1. We stopped off at the services for some dinner and by now I was down to the almost last choice, a 2004 Legacy Wagon in silver for £2195. 4x4 manual, not the outback, long MOT, under 100k - it looked OK. It wasn't what I really wanted though. I decided I would only pay what was in my pocket, and hoked it all out for a count. £1530 I had. That was a bit rough so rather than drive down and waste everyones time, I rang the seller to sound him out. Bear in mind the advert was two weeks old and nobody had viewed, and the ad looked to have been written in the summer. He might have been at the point of needing a sale. So I rang back and asked about price. He was willing to drop straight away to 2G but would not consider going lower. I didn't even make the offer, just thanked him for taking the call. I do realise at this point, you're all thinking I'm absolutely wretched as a buyer and make sure to avoid me if I come sniffing around something you have advertised. I've absolutely nothing to say in my defence! Well, it is just all pontification on my part when it comes to a keeper. On trade cars I have my decision made and deal done in five minutes. It's only on picking the right car to keep for a serious length of time that I procrastinate so badly. So what was the right car? The right car was out of my grasp now. The Foresters I'd already looked at were the only ones for sale apart from a rough Turbo and a nicer Turbo a mate had got offered the day before as a swap for his BMW but Turbos were out anyway. There were no more for sale and really I didn't want a Legacy or Impreza wagon. Or a Freelander or Cherokee and I dallied over noodles and BBQ chicken on Thursday evening beside the motorway trying to come up with a plan that didn't involve flying to England to pick up a 2.0 Forester which would use up time I didn't have. The ones in this country - well, the black one was a mess, and the green one could have been a good base but the seller was a plank so that one was beyond getting too - or was it? We were in Lisburn again, at 7pm, this guy was open till 8 on Tuesday, maybe he would be again. He wouldn't have answered me I know, but I looked at Jason across the table merrily annoying his friends on facebook with pictures of his chinese caramel chicken and came up with a new, slightly sneaky plan. Ring that guy for me. No seriously, you ring him. No, I can't ring him, that wont end well. You ring him. Eventually he did, and he was still there, and we were only ten minutes away, and I already knew what he'd take price-wise. To the cash machine! The only, slightly minor, downside to this plan was paying more than I wanted to. But, that was played off by getting it now, having time to work on it, not having to pay for flights to Englandshire, or Cork, the only other one in Ireland that would have done was 400 miles south, and as I'd already seen it two days ago, all Jason would have to do was walk in, cursory glance, pay and papers, and get out of Dodge city. So we drove round, in the van, and I dropped him off and went to turn as the van wouldn't have fitted into his little yard. That sounds like an excuse to avoid the seller, and it was, but it was also legitimate, the yard was very tight. So I waited at the roadside and ten minutes later a green Forester emerged and we initiated the "straight to the petrol station pronto as there is zero petrol" operation frequently needed after purchasing from legitm8 car dealers innit. Private sellers at least try to let you away with a quarter tank, and the dealers that give a monkeys do too. Anyway we got back up the road and buried the Subaru in the yard at 8.30pm, and made off home. |
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Today is (was) Friday. Today I saw the car in the daylight for the very first time. It started which is good. And idles (low) and doesn't overheat. Good so far. Bit by bit I need the to start working through all the issues. The seller had told me as soon as I'd hit the first minor bump on the test drive that it might need a droplink or two. You know, four days after the MOT. So obviously it will need something major. What I can fix is the stuff I can see. The boot trim falling off  FIXED The appallingly cheap rear tyres - this half inflated Matrix with 2.5mm tread was a wee gem.  The door sticker says 205/70/15 or 215/60/15 tyres are the correct sizes. So these 215/65 winter tyres I've had saved in the back of the workshop for an age will do perfect. Avons, because I don't roll on scrap.  FIXED, TOMORROW The washer jet that doesn't work. This is a picture of it not working.  NOT FIXED YET The "faulty switch" that means the driver window is inop.  NOT FIXED YET. This centre pocket has to stay open because the front falls off it if you close it.  NOT FIXED. And you are now getting impatient. What does it even look like?   Taken in a rural wilderness landscape for maximum off-roadiness of course, as you can see, the awd system really taking over in this situation That was just after picking up service bits  Including some "blind everyone else" bulbs which I fitted this evening  before setting the radio just how it should be, and motoring home on the start of its extended test drive before handover to my mum next week, just before she goes.  She knows only that I've bought something green, and she's in Scotland sorting out a house deal (hopefully) at the minute so has no idea whats going on. She texted "puke green or bottle green?" and I replied "green like an emerald, like the waters of a caribbean lagoon" to which she said "that's a bit long for the tax book". So, "just green then", mum. |
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These photos will show what I saw on the Forester that annoyed me so much, when I was promised an "exceptional" car, and the dealer was "a mechanic by trade" but thought that this was OK to sell on. Colin @ MCT Cars LTD, Dunmurry and/or Moira Road, Lisburn - some boy. The cat/mid section flange:  Crumbles in your hand The backbox:  The backbox hanger - or, where it used to be anyway:  General shape of it:  Subframe  Droplinks   The Oil was utterly atrocious. We've seen thicker water. How any "mechanic" or indeed, "dealer", can think this is OK is beyond me. Hadn't been changed for 20k at least. Even cheap trade oil is only a fuppin tenner, and it only takes 4 litres. Come on man, stop being such a cowboy donkey.   It's hard to see these, but all the rear end suspension bushes were a bit too bushy and not doing enough suspending. They're on the outer end of their lifespan for sure, all of them.   They're not totally done but they will be before the next MOT. I've not the time so they'll be done in the Springtime when I'll get the car back for a week to go over it again. Other news: Been flinging cars around all over the place. That friend that got my mums BMW didn't want to spend out fixing up his Golf+, so he threw it my way. I did the essentials, Vinny got the heater working and the starting issues worked out, Jason sorted a couple of tyres out and after the service and sticking some diesel in, I took it round to my Pastor and gave it to him. His Touran gave up a year ago or so and another guy in church gave him a Meriva to dash about in, except it hasn't the power to dash very far, and he does something mental like 40k a year running after all of us. Any money he got together to replace the Touran just went out on something the church needed, so as it was his birthday on Friday there I rushed it on to have it ready for Sunday afternoon. I'm punctual like that.  Anyway he loves it and I drove the Meriva home, oh the joy. His wife and I were chatting as the pastor jumped around the Golf with excitement, and we both thought of another girl that comes sometimes that needs a car as well, so I'll fix up the horrible Vauxhall and ship that off her way. Now also the assistant pastor changed his 407 for a Passat recently, and being a VW it needs some work done, so I've got the 407 what is almost at the end of it's lifespan, as a down payment on servicing and tidying up the Passat. Currently the Peugeot, which drives fine and has plenty of MOT, but needs LOADS of tidying up work and servicing and fixing lots of niggles, well it's somewhere I don't even know, a mechanic mate has it and is trying to make a deal with it to someone else, I dunno the ins and outs of that but he was supposed to call before 6pm and its 2am now, guess who's going hunting for a 407 tomorrow. No idea what the plate is so that might be difficult. There's a right few recovery drivers around the country that know to ring me if they get anything interesting offered. I got a call on Friday from one offering me an old BMW. It's a 1990 520i, that old shape, do you want it? Of course I do. Buying old BMWs blind is my speciality. Took a chance as sometimes this approach backfires badly, but this time, not so bad. Because this:  is not a 520i. It is a manual 535i Sport. Partially restored, if you can believe that. Score. M30s are brilliant. It's only been laying up for four years. Lets stick a battery on it to see. Boom!  Double score. |
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Dec 10, 2016 23:40:53 GMT
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Hard to believe that it's about 7 weeks since this was updated. So have a feeble update. I have done very little thing apart from try to finish the chain on the bike:  Lying on my stomach on a freezing concrete floor, pinging at little metal things with this great view:  That was weeks ago. The stupid cheapo chain thingy bent. So I complained and got another. Tried that one this week and got another half turn further, then that one bent. USELESS! So not much further along. Got the lend of a normal type chain splitter thingy but on closer look it doesn't look like it will do the job, so no option now but to shell out for the expensive genuine tool for the job. At least it will pay for itself on all those chains I have to do - oh wait, I only have one bike. great. I had some people round the house lately, and needed to relieve some parking space. The Fiat was across the front door, as you do, so needed to move it. It's been stationary for maybe two months now. Jump leads? No sir! Fired straight up. Good car  And the MG tyres kept going soft. And I hadn't checked the oil situation for a while. Took it into work earlier this week, got sidetracked and forgot about it. Took it in the next day, also forgot. Took it in on Saturday and did not forget! Oil is fine, only used a little bit. Replaced all the tyres with good ones. I say good - tread is good. Still budgets, but not Fullways with dodgy sidewalls. And I have a spare now! And... those pesky side trims. MG in their wisdom painted straight over left-over chrome trims from the R75 production line. One has been flaking really badly since like July, so finally they were pulled off, stripped back and quickly polished, just in time to be fitted (badly) for home-time.  They look ok, much better than flaky paint, they almost sit straight, well it will do for now. At least all the tyres will stay up, now I can go fast and not always be worried about having a blowout. Just have to sort out a fresher radio now so I can listen to ma choones. |
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659 
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Dec 11, 2016 20:25:21 GMT
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Good, I think. No annoyed phone calls as yet. She will be back home for Christmas and I will get the proper low-down then.
As to your E34 potential buy, that looks very good. The usual E34 things apply, and specific to the M30 is just to make sure the engine idles properly and isn't too tappety from the top. It will be a little bit, but too much is not good. You can look up DIYs about banjo bolts and cams later.
It looks like its had a new alternator, and the engine bay is very clean indeed, as are the wheels which must be refurbished, and it has heated seats which is rare, for UK at least.
Manual gearboxes and the rest of the suspension and driveline in a 535 are very, very good and you should have no major concerns.
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My mom is back this week from Scotland and has not once mentioned the Forester so it must be performing exceptionally. Her Arosa what I charged up last week for her to use has failed to hold a charge despite being jumped and driven around a few times now. This is the only time she's going to need it until next summer, and my brother that was supposed to be buying it off her is still without licence and money, so could well be a small Seat for sale right soon. I like the wee thing but I don't need to be looking after it. I think I'll make a special effort to find someone I like to buy it, as it's a properly well sorted wee car now with all that new stuff it had last year, and has been faultless since. Anyway my dad was up staying over Christmas, and what with having nothing much to do, and needing to seriously distract myself from not having seen my little girl since July; avoiding the pile of unopened presents sitting in the kitchen besides the bits of christmas tree lying on the ground; screw that, off to work and do something. Silver Austin 7 was supposed to be finished and sold by Spring 2016. Maybe time to up the speed on that front. Dug the recently powdercoated rear frame out of the back room and mounted it  So that I could start wiring the rear lights up. Which is done now. And taped all into place.  Now the wires have plugs you can see there, so the rear frame and tank can be easily and safely removed in future.  And my dad got the mirrors mounted.  Double ally plates to bulk out the mounting area for the screen, and strengthen the area as mirrors had been mounted badly before and stressed the corner out. Looks tidier and more racy now. That was Monday and I spent an hour going round the car trying to familiarise myself with the wiring system again to see what still needed done. It's all the awkward finishing sections needed now. Tuesday my dad was away home so some loud music on, one of those Gospel Message CDs some little mission churches make, some right good songs on this one so crank that up on the workshop radio which is powered by a half charged car battery and has paint spilled over it, blaring out of some 20 year old speakers yanked out of whatever chavved up E36 we were "fixing" the week the stereo got "assembled". So, more wiring. Horn needed doing. Earth needed a point. Next to it was a cut-off double wired earth point for a different system. There was a stub just long enough to shave down and get a cut-down all-in-one solder joint over it, and it held. I was quite pleased with this little join, as it was difficult to get together and make it decent, but it stuck.  Taped that all up after of course. Right, now for the fun stuff. Ran the horn feed back to the dash area, as well as an ign live. And then, unfortunately, there was no avoiding the green&blue twosome, the ammeter and ign switch charging circuit feed lines. Skinny little wires, buried against the inner bulkhead. More upside down stuff I really didn't fancy anymore, now that I'm old, I get dizzy after a few minutes doing under-dash wiring where I used to spend half an hour in there in my halcyon days when there was a 2 at the start of my age and not a 3. So try to stare them down for a few minutes:  That didn't work, predictably, so in we go. A few minutes later, some length...  So green extensions to the G&B, for the charge circuit. Blue&Yellow for the horn, one for horn feed, one goes into the fusebox to F7. While doing this I sat in the passenger footwell. I managed to knock a squeezy bottle over unwittingly and my jeans and butt got soaked. Smelt funny though. Sniffed the bottle and realised I'd just been marinating in thinners. Why was there a squeezy bottle full of thinners in the car? Why was there a squeezy bottle of thinners in existence at all?? And then of course the paint on the floor of the car curled up and died. So that needs re-done. And my jeans need washed.  One red for hi-beam, one red for low-beam, operated off the ign/light switch, and one red coming from Fuse #1 as the charge circuit alternator side to the ign switch. The red wire on the other side of F1 runs through the bulkhead, and up to the alternator. Then two P clips, bolted here rather than riveted so that if in future someone needs to amend the wiring to the dash area, they can just unbolt and lower it rather than have to drill out rivets or stick their head upside down. Future-proofing, I call that. Although it won't be for my benefit! Anyway that leads us to both the end of Tuesdays efforts, and the moment of achievement, of a notable, sizeable job which can now be crossed off the list. A moment which in my head was always the defining step when we'd be entering the finishing straight...  Dash is in. All the wires just need fed to their correct dial and that's that end finished. Run one loop wire, one more alternator wire, solder horn button connections, and done. To do: Refit seats, touch in interior paint, fit new passenger side side panel, fix and fit mudguards, bolt in fuel tank, set the timing, refit radiator and cowling, fit alternator belt, fit steering wheel, fire it up. |
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Jan 18, 2017 13:22:01 GMT
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First post of 2017... Austin 7 now has the rest of the instruments in. They're all wired, the oil pressure line is plumbed in again, the speedo cable in, and the choke handle snapped inside so waiting on a new one of those to fit. One more wire from the alternator to run and that's it. Grille is back on, timing half started but need to finalise that when there's a bit more time. Alternator was a bit loose on the mounts, so "fabricated" a "tensioner"...  Built it up a bit after, that was just the trial, but it works. Completely by chance, the belt that fits right (second try) is a 725mm 4pk belt off a... Micra. The alternator is a Micra one with custom mounts, and it used to have a tiny belt but with my addition of a fan pulley it just happened to coincidentally work out at that size. That amused me for literally minutes. Next job, Triumph. The chain fitting had been going very badly as detailed before, so split link purchased. One with a clip on. Idea, fit this, take to MOT, then leave into garage with proper tools to fit the proper link. I don't fancy keeping the clip pin type one on, it's a high revving snappy bike and I like my leg as it is - unscarred. So clip arrives:  Go to prise off the rivet link. Cant get it. Take a rubber mallet and screwdriver to it, still no. Up the ante steadily for 20 minutes until I realise its wedged on. The link ain't budging one bit. I'll still get it seen to as I don't like the look of it, but its solid, so maybe we're in the clear, somehow. So that was a waste of £6.50... Took it for a spin after setting the rear wheel alignment by eye, did not die. Success story all round. Time to double check everything again and get the MOT booked. And in a nice bonus, found the missing OEM front pads in my office. Only been 18 months missing... Went to start fitting those and found the pads on the front still had about 50-60% life in them.  Whatever. Bike is fixed. My mam was going to give the Arosa to my brother but he hasn't made any moves to get his licence yet so up goes that for sale.  Will miss it a bit, been floating around for over two years now and been faultless. Also going to sell her E39 Touring, it's been great too but nobody has any need of it any more. It was retained for a while as a fleet bicycle at work but with one guy having to leave for medical reasons, it can go too. Which brings us to the next point... ...with his back how it is, a slammed car isn't ideal. He had been thinking of letting it go anyway, so, finally, a car I've liked ever since we flew to Reading to get it four years ago, is finally on my drive.  One 1994 Daytona Violet E34 Sport. |
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Absolutely nothing to report for the last few weeks. Have been working more hours than my body can cope with for the last 6 weeks so no time to sort anything on any of my motors. The 530d I used almost daily is out of MOT in 2.85 days. The cars for sale that I could use are all sitting at precipitous mileages just under milestones I don't want to cross, so a new daily is in order. Going back several years, I sold a really lovely old 7 series. Heard stories about the guy that was buying it and the deal was quite protracted in the end but hey-ho. It was literally three miles from work, just a few hundred yards up the road from where my mum lived before she left for Scotland... and I never saw the car again! Thought it was gone, for good. Then I get a call from this guys ex, turns out to be a girl I went to school with, and this guy is currently doing time and the car is languishing in her garage where it's been for two or more years. Anyway too much story, it's lost reverse so it needs pulled out, with only one flat wheel. We did that and then put a battery in and it fired up! Here it is:  Excited to have this one back. A power-wash (and massive burnout) later and it looks much healthier. A couple of days ago I was doing something near my (rather large) stash of manual V8 gearboxes and spotted one that looked like an auto... and it was. Quite pleased with that, got a gearbox in stock for it so that moves it up the priority list a rung or two. Nothing else happened recently apart from dropping off the S110R radiator to be repaired, at last. Only been lying on the back seat for three weeks, only been out of the car for several months... And something coming next week off "the list". Much excite. |
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Evening all. A little bit of progress happened this fortnight. Not a lot, as I've mostly been spending as many evenings as possible with a friend and his family that are very close and are repatriating back to Slovakia in a couple of days. My dad appeared from wherever he's been hiding at and we finished the interior trimmings, well almost, in the silver Austin.  And we remounted the tank and rear cage/frame. Poked at it awhile and could not satisfy myself with it just being a snug fit, that's not all that secure. This is a pretty heavy tank empty, never mind full, so it needs better secured. Another half arsed job that needs sorted, properly, so my dad is making more straps to hold the tank on better.  While doing all that, we talked over organising another rally. The vintage club racing co-ordinator (has some proper title that I forget) rang me and asked would we do another one in May. It's only been 3.5 years since we last did one so we've forgotten all the bad bits now. My dad asked him at the weekend why us, or were other people asked before us, or what (5 weeks isn't that long to organise it) and he said, there was someone going to do it, but they let him down, and he remembered the brilliant rally we had put together in just three weeks with "military precision" the last time. If someone massages your ego like that, I guess you can't say no. So some more late nights executing that coming up shortly. What next? MG ran out of MOT ages ago and has an airbag light on which needs sorted. I tried all the usual unplug and wiggle the connectors for the seats etc, just to be sure, but the diagnostics had brought it up as "failure to communicate with airbag ECU" so really needed one of them. Pulled the engine ECU out as apparently the area it's in floods and clogs up and wrecks the ECU. Mine was bone dry but I took the ECU out for an airing anyway.  Already been done! Pollen filter is in the same area...  Yuck! Started to strip out the trim to get at the airbag module: Nice and easy... yes that's the entire centre console...  Must have taken a couple of hours.  For this brute:  Got the number off it and ordered one offof ebay for a tenner. Driving a tatty E34 daily for a couple of weeks, drove it over a nasty pothole...  Deep joy. Thursday night past, one staff away early, one on holiday, one left the day before, so I was alone for a couple of hours in the evening; time for more Austin work! Got the interior tidied, made the alternator to cutoff terminal wire  Needed a vice or clamp to hold the searing hot connector while I manufactured a connection, improvised  Had the battery on the charge so all those wires tightened up, time for a quick test. Turned the key, turned the lights on, nada. Quickly remembered before panicking, the cutoff switch was out. Stuck it in, tried again... nada. It will crank over on the starter (wont fire as HT leads not connected so that's OK) but no lights, no instruments... somethings gone wrong with my wiring. Deep joy #2. MG module arrived. Took it home and bolted it in (earth it BEFORE connecting plug!) and switched car on...  Light still on. Deep joy #3! The unit doesn't, shouldn't, need coded, but the fault code needs removed, so that should, theoretically, be ok once Vinny does that with his magic box. And lastly, a few weeks ago on ebay I spotted one of my bucket list cars, one that's getting more valuable and more rare by the month. I got in touch with the seller and exchanged a few messages and photos, and I was sold, and soon after so was the car, to me. Hopped on a plane and went to gander at it, satisfied myself it was a go-er, and made arrangements get it lifted on a lorry. It's something I'm very excited about, something I've had one of before but not in good shape, something I've been searching for a replacement of for some time, and I've taken a lot of jibes in work today when it has finally arrived. A proper retro, an appreciating modern classic, a little bit cult and a massive dose of cool. It's a rolling, running project that really shouldn't need much beyond a paintjob and thorough service. Much excite is now Much super happy! |
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"Hey Will! Come outside your cars here!" Such was the cry from one of the apprentices.  I see you, I see you! And then it rocked in under it's own power...  of which it has plenty...  Wooooooo! |
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Man, I do really want a alfa with that engine... Maybe one day  Great thread, been following this a couple of years. Love the buying and selling stuff, who doesnt love buying cars Even though you kinda have to sell some too to make a living  |
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Cars owned at the moment - '69 Audi 60 - '77 Volvo 242 - '78 Audi 100 - '78 Merc 450 sl - '79 Dodge Van'- '80 Audi 100 Diesel - '82 and '83 Audi 100 2.2 - '82 Merc 230TE
- '86 Audi 100 Turbo Quattro - '91 Audi 100 Quattro - '92 Merc 260E - '98 Subaru Forester
X Cars - Around 30, sign to short
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I too, enjoy the rather rollercoastery ride that is this thread. What's the plan with the Alfa? Is it going to be red (you mentioned a paint job), or would you consider a less Alfa colour? One of these debadged and smoothed in a more generic but clean shade of Mazda gunmetal would have many people guessing. *edit* The blame goes entirely to my phone for that one. Apparently Koreans don't know about Alfa's.  |
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Last Edit: Apr 3, 2017 23:50:15 GMT by varelse
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Arggh varelse Its Alfa, not Alpha! One of my pet peeves is people misspelling car names when it's on the badge.. Like Sylvia instead of Silvia. |
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In which case, my new Alpha Rhomeo is going to stay red over dark grey, as factory. It's the colour I've been determined to find, a 24v version like I wanted (slightly more troublesome and slightly less raw, but slightly more powerful). Red over grey with black leather I set my sights on, and that's what I have, for the second time... I still have a silver V6 Super spares car with black leather just in case, but it would appear that the electric seats work fine in this new steed, they are in good order too. There is a set of mirrors to fit in the boot as the early ones on it are ugly and broken, and the electric windows are all faulty apart from the drivers. it runs and drives, just needs belts and serviced, painted because of lacquer peel (its red!) and slapping back together.
Then tastefully lowered and some big shiny wheels, and maybe a rorty noise box but don't want to go mad with it.
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,659
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Oh yes, that is superb. I do love an Alpha Something like this:  |
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Apr 17, 2017 11:32:38 GMT
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Trying to get back on track this last couple of weeks. I was driving around a V8 with no exhaust until the start of April when the MOT ran up, and bad planning/no time meant nothing at all to drive. We've several cars in for sale that I could use, but all mileage critical or too nice for me to wreck using regularly. Used a 2007 Passat for a few days that a friend left with me to sell, and a Mercedes A class I also had to fix and deliver to new owner, and last week my mum came back over with the Subaru Forester so we could give that a secondary overhaul, so in between jobs, using that. It annoys me not having a daily car I can just jump in though, and while I've been fortunate to have something always available, I need a "beater" or whatever. A mate of mine then asked me if I'd be interested in a 2001 330d with 206k. A manual Sport with a couple of months MOT. As determined as I was not to buy more cars, that was too well suited to pass up. I haven't managed to take any pictures of it yet, but it needed some creaky suspension looking at and so far with a whole new set of struts and springs, it still creaks and shakes so not pressed into service yet. Meanwhile I battled on with some jobs that should have been done a long time ago... Bike was pulled out for brakes to be bled. Fluid was gunky and one of the apprentices starting asking me what was the difference between Dot4 and Dot5.1 while he sat squeezing the brakes for me... one thing led to another and he went home while I drained the fluid totally out and rebled the brakes by myself with 5.1 fluid.  Brakes are done therefore it is time to MOT it. Booked for this week. It still cuts out at 105 degrees which is very annoying as the fan is supposed to cut in at 106. There is something electrical amiss there I cannot get to the bottom of. Still pressing with the MG also. Currently at this state:  The airbag module was replaced at the great cost of a tenner and then immediately showed that the right impact sensor was also faulty so that meant carpet up   Brute. I'm going to try a BMW sensor in it as 1999-2003 cars were fitted with the same brand, plug, colour of sensor and it surely just houses an accelerometer or something? Even the module looked very similar to the BMW ones but I know they are too particular to mix up. Might save myself a fiver if one of the many BMW ones I have will do. That's it for now. |
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Test it by dropping it from a fixed height and see how voltage it lets go of? |
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