Well, for no particular reason I decided it was time to purchase another car.
It all started when I saw it on ebay, put a late bid on and won it for £1400. Obviously I was lucky as buying a car unseen on ebay is asking for trouble but upon arriving in Nottingham yesterday already knackered (big journey from Devon) it turned out to have been described spot on and was a very solid, original if slightly scruffy machine. After chatting with the seller (top bloke, his son has a Mk2 Rally Rep project), exhanging bits of paper and drinking copius amounts of tea it was time to hit the road again.
Feeling dead pleased with myself I was relieved that all had gone well,and the car was all I hoped it was and with only the racket from the exhuast to distract me I screamed down the motorway for 180 ish miles before going to pull into services to ring my Girlfriend and parents to tell them I would be home soon. However the decided it wasn't going to stop and as the brake pedal disapered into the floor a few thoughts ran through my mind, mostly along the lines of "Oh Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap"
Fortuantly the service station carpark was pretty empty and after making my dramatic 70 mph entrance I decided more tea was in order and came to the conclusion shelling out for breakdown cover the previous night was one of my better ideas.
I eventually made it home at 11pm on the back of the recovery truck much to the dismay of my neighbors who don't approve of me bringing "old bangers" into their bubble of suburban bliss. I made a call to my mate Tony (owner of a very nice, very orange MK1 RS2000 rep) and got him to agree to come over and give me a hand with it this morning.
So when we removed the front right wheel this morning to find that the brake calliper intended on coming with it the mystery of the disapearing brakes was solved. Turns out the bolts had worked loose on the motorway and parted ways with the car leaving the calipper to fall onto the brand new superlight wheel (which it then gouged a big chunk out of) and diconecting the brake line in the process. This bled the system dry over the however many miles it was before I tried the brakes meaning that when I did try them the pedal had no effect. So, after getting new brake line made up, cutting down some calliper bolts, screwing everything back together with liberal applications of locktite the car was back on the road and very pleased I was. : ;D
Its not the tidiest Mk2 around but its incredibly honest with only 55,000 miles on the clock (presumed genuine as pedal rubbers are un worn) and a very solid un welded shell its an ideal toy and basis for a project (probably entailing 2.0 Pintos and what not). Theres surface rust which lets it down and to do the job properly it would need a new pair of wings, arches and a front panel but underneath its incredibly good. I intend to keep it's appearence much the same including the fetching go faster stripes (which will allow me to gettaway with just respraying the bottom half of the car when I do sort the rust).
So overall I'm very pleased with it, i expect il find a few more things to add to list of "to dos" but for the money I definatly cant complain and its doing me well as a daily while my Mk2 Saloon is off the road waiting for a new exhaust.
Heres the pics anyway, they do flatter it a bit, il get some more done when the light is better:
So there you have it.
Cheers, Miller
It all started when I saw it on ebay, put a late bid on and won it for £1400. Obviously I was lucky as buying a car unseen on ebay is asking for trouble but upon arriving in Nottingham yesterday already knackered (big journey from Devon) it turned out to have been described spot on and was a very solid, original if slightly scruffy machine. After chatting with the seller (top bloke, his son has a Mk2 Rally Rep project), exhanging bits of paper and drinking copius amounts of tea it was time to hit the road again.
Feeling dead pleased with myself I was relieved that all had gone well,and the car was all I hoped it was and with only the racket from the exhuast to distract me I screamed down the motorway for 180 ish miles before going to pull into services to ring my Girlfriend and parents to tell them I would be home soon. However the decided it wasn't going to stop and as the brake pedal disapered into the floor a few thoughts ran through my mind, mostly along the lines of "Oh Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap"
Fortuantly the service station carpark was pretty empty and after making my dramatic 70 mph entrance I decided more tea was in order and came to the conclusion shelling out for breakdown cover the previous night was one of my better ideas.
I eventually made it home at 11pm on the back of the recovery truck much to the dismay of my neighbors who don't approve of me bringing "old bangers" into their bubble of suburban bliss. I made a call to my mate Tony (owner of a very nice, very orange MK1 RS2000 rep) and got him to agree to come over and give me a hand with it this morning.
So when we removed the front right wheel this morning to find that the brake calliper intended on coming with it the mystery of the disapearing brakes was solved. Turns out the bolts had worked loose on the motorway and parted ways with the car leaving the calipper to fall onto the brand new superlight wheel (which it then gouged a big chunk out of) and diconecting the brake line in the process. This bled the system dry over the however many miles it was before I tried the brakes meaning that when I did try them the pedal had no effect. So, after getting new brake line made up, cutting down some calliper bolts, screwing everything back together with liberal applications of locktite the car was back on the road and very pleased I was. : ;D
Its not the tidiest Mk2 around but its incredibly honest with only 55,000 miles on the clock (presumed genuine as pedal rubbers are un worn) and a very solid un welded shell its an ideal toy and basis for a project (probably entailing 2.0 Pintos and what not). Theres surface rust which lets it down and to do the job properly it would need a new pair of wings, arches and a front panel but underneath its incredibly good. I intend to keep it's appearence much the same including the fetching go faster stripes (which will allow me to gettaway with just respraying the bottom half of the car when I do sort the rust).
So overall I'm very pleased with it, i expect il find a few more things to add to list of "to dos" but for the money I definatly cant complain and its doing me well as a daily while my Mk2 Saloon is off the road waiting for a new exhaust.
Heres the pics anyway, they do flatter it a bit, il get some more done when the light is better:
So there you have it.
Cheers, Miller
