Annoying useless purple floppytop sent to the bridge

[Slartibartfast]

Went to the bridge. Postmortem at the end of the thread.

 

Edit: does anyone want this for a ton? It's better than I make it sound, honest! For sale post at the end.

Hi there! Saw this place over Stanky's shoulder and have now barged my way in. So, here's the current drainer-of-my-wallet in all its glory:

 

 

Bought for the princely sum of £250 nearly a year ago. Was sold with the description "tatty, but runs".

 

 

As you can see, the seats have seen much better days. As have the dashboard and the various panels.

 

 

The engine bay is in acceptable condition, although notice the completely absent pipe that should be connecting the air intake to the front of the car.

 

 

It's had a bit of a prang resulting in a nasty dent and scraping along the driver's side back panel (quarter panel?).

 

 

Gratuitous shot of bits of engine in the passenger footwell - my friendly local mechanic was replacing some gaskets for me to fix a high idling problem.

[To be continued ...]

[Matt]

I saw one of these at a classic car show this summer.

 

No really.

[Jazoli]

I bought one of these at the weekend and the intake pipe was missing too.

[Jim Bell]

I bought an intake pipe at the weekend and the rest of the car was missing.  Want to swap?

 

 

Looks delightfully horrible mate.  I cant think of anything I would change.

[Bucketeer]

Are they hand-painted butterflies and flowers towards the rear?

If so, 12/10.

[Pillock]

Just wow. That's had a hard life, it's a bit like a Zafira Sport or something. I bet there's all manner of family detritus under the seats.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Early Meganes are brilliant - they're one of those cars that should be AS favourites but for some* reason aren't !

 

It should be pretty rapid with the 1600 16v engine, and cruising with the roof down will definitely* make you irresistible to the opposite sex !

[inconsistant]

Jesus, you're good at this.

[DeeJay]

The seats match the rear wing.

[Slartibartfast]

I bought one of these at the weekend and the intake pipe was missing too.

 

I think they just perish really easily and since they're not necessary really and not easy to get hold of they don't get replaced. My tame mechanic just advised me not to bother replacing it.

 

Are they hand-painted butterflies and flowers towards the rear?

If so, 12/10.

 

I don't know whether hand painted or decals, but they look really nice, I initially thought they were factory. I want to keep them. There are dragonflies on the wing mirrors too.

 

Just wow. That's had a hard life, it's a bit like a Zafira Sport or something. I bet there's all manner of family detritus under the seats.

 

Actually it wasn't TOO bad. There was some serious scunge in the spare wheel well from a leaky oil bottle, but not much human slime or detritus in the cabin. Even came with a nifty double USB charger port which I happen to know cost £20 new because I bought one myself a few years ago.

 

It should be pretty rapid with the 1600 16v engine, and cruising with the roof down will definitely* make you irresistible to the opposite sex !

 

It does drive and it's pretty nice. Handles well and has a decent amount of poke. Bit scary at motorway speeds though, considering my other car is a Tourneo.

 

Jesus, you're good at this.

 

Oh there's more to come, just wait.

[Slartibartfast]

So, updates on this fine piece of machinery since I first got it:

(I'm not deliberately dripfeeding this stuff, I just had to grab 5 mins here and there as they become available)

Description of car was "tatty but drives". This has since been upgraded to "tatty but drives and also stops" - new pads and discs on the front, new drums on the back.

 

Also had water pump replaced, as well as one of the little guide wheel fellers, plus an oil change which necessitated drilling out the sump plug. Plus off side CV boot changed.

 

It was sometimes idling high (2000 or so RPM as if the throttle were depressed), Renner forum suggested this may be due to perished seals around the air inlet manifold or some such, had those replaced and problem was resolved, which was pleasing.

 

All the above work was carried out by Tame Mechanic, at great expense, so I'm now over £1000 into this car or so and it's only worth about 600 if it were working, which it mostly isn't.

 

After a full tank of Hayling Island's finest petroleum from the station I don't normally use, I drive to work and the engine refuses to start again. It'll fire, but cut out immediately. Green Flag man comes and is puzzled, suggests possible contaminants in the fuel and tightens the throttle cable so that the throttle is always slightly on. Advises me to take it straight to a garage. I have not the funds for this and I have tickets to The War of the Worlds for me and Eldest in Bournemouth (or was it Brighton? I forget) so I drive it all the way there and back in this state with no apparent ill effect. After all that fuel is used and it's refilled from the other petrol station, the problem goes away. Many mutterings on the Hayling facebook group in the past about the quality of the fuel from the other place, which I'd always shrugged off as nonsense. Since this incident I don't fill up there any more.

 

So, the current state of the car: MOT has run out. I haven't put it in for a new one since I know it'll fail on at least the following:

 

perished wipers (replaced now, feeble man that I am I can handle that job at least)

off side headlight is off doing its own thing not pointing sensibly at the road like it's supposed to

air bag light on. Have got under the seats, disconnected and sprayed WD40 on the seat belt pretensioner connectors and reattached them, but the problem persists.

 

Other irritations:

the rear back window doesn't go down.

The battery is dead and needs replacing

 

and most seriously, there is a grinding vibrating noise coming up through the centre of the car, can feel it in the steering wheel too, that occurs only when turning left with the engine under power. Likely candidates could be CV joint (although tame mechanic ruled this out, having put it on stands, and run it up while turning the wheel full lock in both directions and the noise was not present. Not entirely sure why he didn't take it for a test drive round our very quiet neck of the woods, but whatever, probably good reason for it).

 

But wait ... there's more ...

[Slartibartfast]

So, there's a facebook group called "Cars for sale for under £1000 Portsmouth" which is hilarious and I'm sure you guys would have a field day with it. Anyway, what should turn up on there but:

 

 

Listed as "breaking". I inquire about a price for the seats (which look in pretty good condition), gearbox, headlights, battery and door trim. Guy quotes me £140 or something. Then I have a Most Excellent Idea™ and before I can stop myself I've offered a ton for the Privilege (see what I did there?) of taking the whole thing away. Some tedious haggling ensues and we arrive on the princely sum of £130. I arrange a chap with a trailer to haul it off to my work for £40 since I've never towed anything before, lack a tow bar on my other car, and quite frankly am terrified of the whole ordeal, and later that very night, I find myself in a shed in the middle of nowhere watching it being loaded via the medium of forklift onto the trailer.

 

Here are some photos I took of it my own self:

 

To my surprise it turns out to be a 2L IDE model. And it's forked. Well and truly. The engine will turn over, but the hazards are on the whole time (immobiliser related?) and parts of it are rusted to all hell. The interior panels also aren't in as good shape as I'd have hoped either. Still, the seats are bosting, so it was worth it just for that really.

 

Plans: I hope to salvage the rear window mechanism, bit of trim like the door handles and window switches that are broken in mine, plus maybe headlight assemblies.

 

The air intake looks exciting and big, could gain an extra horse by transplanting it over I'm sure.

 

The rear brakes are discs whereas mine are drums - wonder what scope there is for a conversion?

 

Otherwise, I'm open for ideas, because I've clearly bought a massive heap.

[Daniel R25]

Hi,
congratulations! Looks like a great purchase.

The direct injection IDE engine is known to be a POS. I own a Laguna 2 and that is the one petrol engine to stay away from- it's even worse than the 2.2d. 
But you should be able to sell the JC5 gearbox as it fits Clio Sports as well...

Good luck!

Daniel

[Jim Bell]

Nice. If in doubt, buy another one. Thats always the solution.

[Slartibartfast]

Hi,

congratulations! Looks like a great purchase.

 

The direct injection IDE engine is known to be a POS. I own a Laguna 2 and that is the one petrol engine to stay away from- it's even worse than the 2.2d.

But you should be able to sell the JC5 gearbox as it fits Clio Sports as well...

 

Good luck!

 

Daniel

Will the JC5 fit my 1.6 16v?

 

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[fraser.innes.3]

Can I have the roof please?

 

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

[Slartibartfast]

Sure. Although it'll need to be after I've stripped out the bits I need because the car is in the open air. Also, I'm nabbing the back plastic panel assuming it comes out, so it'll come either without one, or with my completely opaque one.

[fatharris]

This appears to be an excellent solution to your problems, hopefully the scrap price picks up before you get rid, my friend got £10 for a Civic that he drove in.

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Slartibartfast]

Went out to give the poor thing some TLC today. Took a boat load of photos because why not?

 

Engine bay:

 

Battery compartment full of scunge and yuck

 

The gap where I'm hoping that big air filter from the donor car might fit. No real practical reason to do it but it's there so why not?

 

As you can see, the bumper isn't quite as attached as I might like.

 

Collected bits of tree droppage and muck around the windshield

 

Yes the roof is horrible and green but check out those butterflies, man

 

 

 

 

^^ I'd like to blame the previous owner for all this neglect but I can't because it was me.

 

The scrape isn't THAT bad. If I can ge the dent out the scrapes will probably buff out.

 

 

 

Seats ...

 

Carpet has seen better days

 

This bit lifts up when you try to operate the windows. It's a bit annoying but nothing a bit of glue won't solve.

 

This bit is supposed to be attached to the floor under the handbrake. Exposed wires all over the shop.

 

Rear seats and bonus Hideous Me-to-you-bear steering wheel cover. Between this and the decals I'm starting to get an idea about what the previous owner may have been like.

 

Completely opaque, that. It's not so much a rear window as a dingy light flap.

 

Eurgh

 

EURGH

 

Mmm, sooty.

 

Some somewhat nicer photos to follow ...

[Slartibartfast]

Scrubs up quite nice

 

Shiny shiny. Really want to sort that bumper out though.

 

The low down agressive shot

 

 

The roof has cleaned up really well. It smelt of fish.

 

L O O O O T S of scrubbing and elbow grease. There's still the odd mould spot that won't quite come out.

 

I've noticed one of the badges is missing on this side. Must nab from the Donor and reattach.

 

 

This is probably the best looking of the alloys. They're all badly scuffed.

 

Top down!

 

 

Here you can see the window that won't go down

 

 

 

[Slartibartfast]

And a video

 

 

Had to have a helper for that, since I was holding the camera:

 

[Stanky]

Thats tidied up very well, its a lovely colour.

 

Whose is the yellow Scimitar I spied in the background?

 

Did you have a chance to fit the new(er) rear seat or are you planning to do the whole interior re-fit in one go?

[Slartibartfast]

The Scimitar belongs to a lovely old chap who lives a few doors down. Tucked away in one of the garages he's got a self-built mean machine that I'll try and get some photos of the next time he takes it out. He's ex-navy.

 

I haven't fitted the new seats yet, I was going to do it all in one go. Plus I ran out of time, cleaning all that scunge off took a while. The battery from the donor seems to be in much better shape than my one, so that's pleasing.

 

I was going to take it out for a quick run, but the coolant tank is empty and I don't have any antifreeze.

[purplebargeken]

Try some Autoglym polish on the rear screen. They can sometimes be rescued that way.

 

Ace thread. You fit in well here.

[DeeJay]

 

 

 

The roof has cleaned up really well. It smelt of fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you sure it's an NA and not a Turbot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll get my coat.

[purplebargeken]

Those replacement seats should respond well to a bit of a clean and leather feed. They look bloody comfy too.

[Jazoli]

Want to sell the rear boot struts off the doner car and the little bit of trim on the top rear of the drivers door?

[Jim Bell]

Breaking news:

 

You CAN polish a turd.

 

Looks shiny as a new penny man.

[Slartibartfast]

Want to sell the rear boot struts off the doner car and the little bit of trim on the top rear of the drivers door?

You can have them for the cost of postage, mate. Or you can collect if you're anywhere near Petersfield.

[Jazoli]

You can have them for the cost of postage, mate. Or you can collect if you're anywhere near Petersfield.

 

That's ace

 

I'm nowhere near Petersfield but if you pm me your paypal address I'll bung you some cash over, thanks