So what can £100 get you? Contains DEAD BMW

[Ben_O]

Didn't come from Derbyshire*, did it...? 

 

 

* sorry, Daryl!

ha ha nope

 

West Yorkshire according to the paperwork

[Ben_O]

I had a spare 10 minutes today so i tried the doors on the Focus to see how far out everything is.

 

The results are fairly predictable....

 

 

 

 

The main problems causing the dicky alignment is the B post which is in at the bottom, the rear door hinges which need tweaking forward and the back edge of the sill is preventing the door from closing up.

 

 

 

So it will need a tug in a few places to make them fit nicely and then replace the sill, repair the wing and quarter panel.

 

Shame it's not as straightforward as i hoped but still worth doing i feel

[binhoker668]

Yes, loving this thread fella - you make welding seem effortless!  Very professional finish. Keep 'er lit!

[Ben_O]

Yes, loving this thread fella - you make welding seem effortless!  Very professional finish. Keep 'er lit!

Cheers mate.

[diesel=ambrosia]

Great reading this!

 

Sent from my GT-I8200N using Tapatalk

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Interesting thread. Neat work on the PuntOh and great that you sold it so quickly. The Fukuus looks good for the money, although it's good to hear you're a panel beater. I guess it's the only way anyone could ever do the work to it, get the whole side painted and still turn a profit on it. I take it you don't fancy doing a Brewer (but without the BS) and working your way up to a spankin' motah?

[Ben_O]

Interesting thread. Neat work on the PuntOh and great that you sold it so quickly. The Fukuus looks good for the money, although it's good to hear you're a panel beater. I guess it's the only way anyone could ever do the work to it, get the whole side painted and still turn a profit on it. I take it you don't fancy doing a Brewer (but without the BS) and working your way up to a spankin' motah?

Its literally to get me out of a tight spot.

 

I do bodywork all day so it's the last thing i really want to be doing but i thought i would see what a tiny amount of cash could be turned into and how long it could be turned around.

 

So far so good but i always said that if a car that i really want comes up with damage or whatever, that i would take it and make it great again if it was cheap enough.

 

My current daily was a cheap scrapper with a blown engine. By the time i bought a donor car and sold what i didn't need, the car owed me less than £100. I could sell it next week for £800 so it's all good!

[Ben_O]

I forgot all about this!

 

Well the Punto is all done and MOT'd. It ended up needing a pair of rear shocks, an exhaust downpipe and for good measure, i fitted a new set of HT leads.

 

It runs and drives like a dream. It's amazing really that a 16 year old Fiat with 114000 miles on the clock can drive like a car half it's age. The CVT gearbox is quite fun too!

I also refurbished the original wheel trims which really brightens the whole thing up

 

 

 

The Focus is still sitting. I did have to use it a few times to get to work and back but then after it sitting for a few more months, the front springs just decided to break which was weird.

 

Ben

[Matt]

 

 

 

Where are you based and why is it too far away for you to do my XM?

[Ben_O]

Where are you based and why is it too far away for you to do my XM?

 

IOW so waaayyyyy to far mate!

[Matt]

IOW so waaayyyyy to far mate!

 

Christ, you couldn't be much further away if you tried!

[Captain Furious]

Ace thread, I would love to do a bit of this, if the selling at the end part didn't fill me with absolute dread

 

Top work

[Parky]

Punto looks absolutely cracking. I love seeing something unfashionable and neglected getting some tlc and that one looks as if it has a good few years of useful service left in it. Great job!

[dieselassist]

...Interested in how the focus will turn out, as Ive  a similarly 'passenger side stoved' yaris I have to fix this week for 'ma'assist; sourcing a matching pair of doors n sill cut, CHEAP; or at least cheaper than the actual car itself cost me; has been the challenge, so its just sat about since last week in March...

 

I used to work in the 'cow-shed luxury car un-crashing' that thrives over here, for a few years, so have some experience n have a set of hydraulic pushing rams ready for the off....

[Ben_O]

...Interested in how the focus will turn out, as Ive  a similarly 'passenger side stoved' yaris I have to fix this week for 'ma'assist; sourcing a matching pair of doors n sill cut, CHEAP; or at least cheaper than the actual car itself cost me; has been the challenge, so its just sat about since last week in March...

 

I used to work in the 'cow-shed luxury car un-crashing' that thrives over here, for a few years, so have some experience n have a set of hydraulic pushing rams ready for the off....

 

Good luck with it mate.

 

I have all the gear to fix the focus but just no space or time to do it right now. Work has really picked up now so i have a full workshop.

 

It will get done some day soon I hope

[Ben_O]

Bit of as thread revival.

 

THE Focus is still sitting about untouched and to be honest, I think it's too late now. It's now going to need front springs, front brakes and countless other bits from where it has been sitting and the cost of doing those plus the body repairs is more than the £900 or so it would be worth when done so that will probably go over the bridge.

 

I haven't been buying anything else either until Wednesday when I spied a car for sale about a mile round the corner from me.

 

It was a 2000 E46 BMW Tourer in re-sale silver. Condition unknown as it had one of those dodgy photos on the advert that shows the car in semi darkness taken in a way that doesn't fit half of the car in the frame.

 

It had failed it's MOT on 'silly things' according to the advert and was up for £300 which is way more than my £100 limit.

 

I decided to go and have a cheeky look at it anyway despite the fact it was pitch black and you should never view a car in the dark and was quite surprised that it was in serviceable condition.

The interior although filthy was in great condition with the dark charcoal cloth and walnut which is my favorite combo in these.

The exterior again was filthy and mud splashed but overall pretty good with some slight scabbing on the rear arches and some strange scrapes and scratches on the roof.

Someone at some stage has painted the alloy wheels black which I am not a fan of but it's ok.

 

I was delighted to see upon looking that it was the 1.9 4 pot petrol with auto box which I quite like and it runs and drives absolutely fine apart from some slight issues caused by the MOT failure items which ill get to.

 

I had a chat with the owner and he showed me the failure sheet

 

Reason(s) for failure

• Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault (3.4.1c)
• Offside Headlamp aim too high (1.
• Nearside Rear rear parking brake recording little or no effort (3.7.B.6a)
• Nearside Rear Stop lamp not working (1.2.1b)
• Offside Front Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush rear bush (2.4.G.2)
• Offside Rear Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)
• Offside Rear Tyre has ply or cords exposed 195/65R15 (4.1.D.1b)

I thought that was pretty good so I causally offered him £100 and the car was mine.

 

No real collection caper. I left my car there and drove the BMW home, had my dinner and then got a cab back to the sellers house to collect my car. that was it.

 

Anyway, work has started, The ABS fault was just a sensor which I have replaced, I have ordered a new pair of tyres for the rear which will be here Monday and I have bought but not yet fitted a new front bush.

 

Silly stuff like the bulb and the headlamp aim are now sorted which just leaves me the tyres and bush to fit and the rear brakes to adjust and it will be ready for the MOT.

 

There are a few other issues to sort not relating tot he MOT but these are all in hand.

The first was a rubber hose that comes off of the EGR into a plastic cylinder to reduce cold start emmisions. Well the hose had melted and collapsed so the unit was making a pretty impressive noise when the engine was cold.

I have now made up a new hose and rectified that.

 

The second issue was the heater blower not working. The seller supplied a replacement but after testing the one already fitted, I found that it works fine and the fault is with the resistor so a new one has been ordered..

 

Once the work is done, Ill hand it over to my tame valeter for a full scrub out and then it will either be up for sale or ill keep it myself as I do seem to have bonded with it quite quickly.

 

It does feel a bit twitchy on the steering side of things at speed but I 'm sure that is just the knackard bush that needs doing. That and the front wheels need a balance to cure a slight shake.

I don't have a photo of it yet but will get some tomorrow but it looks exactly like this one

 

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[sierraman]

Silly things like the brakes not working and the tyres being bald, they’ll pull you up on anything these days.

[Split_Pin]

Crikey a fixable beemer for a ton, brilliant! Looking forward to some more pictures.

[Ben_O]

Ill take some photos tomorrow and pop them up.

 

It's still filthy though so don't expect much.

 

I'm quite looking forward to seeing the difference after the interior has been shampooed, I recon it will come up well

[Cavcraft]

That's fantastic VFM, well bought.

[Ben_O]

That's fantastic VFM, well bought.

Cheers!

 

I think it will owe me around £230 all told with a years MOT.

 

That's with me doing the work, buying the parts trade and not paying for the MOT.

 

I expect I will end up keeping it for a while so ill sell my Scenic which seems to be the only one in the world that has given years of trouble free motoring despite being fitted with a high mileage dci lump and that will re-coup the costs (plus a small profit I hope) 

[Tamworthbay]

They are quite susceptible to tyre choice, when I got mine it was all over the place on left hand corners if even slightly damp with the traction control kicking in and it feeling vague. A decent set of tyres and I can abuse it without the slightest issue.

[Ben_O]

They are quite susceptible to tyre choice, when I got mine it was all over the place on left hand corners if even slightly damp with the traction control kicking in and it feeling vague. A decent set of tyres and I can abuse it without the slightest issue.

Perhaps my £25 a pop tyres are not the best choice then......

[Tamworthbay]

Perhaps my £25 a pop tyres are not the best choice then......

Sure they will be fine......

[Ben_O]

Sure they will be fine......

In my defense, that is the trade price minus VAT so they would normally be £39 a pop retail.

 

They weren't the cheapest ones available to me either but I have to draw the line somewhere. I wouldn't fancy fitting sub £20 tyres on the back of a RWD car with winter coming up.

[Lord Sterling]

Ben, I've only just noticed that you're from the IoW. Ma_Sterling used to live and work in Newport until a few weeks ago. Where about are you located on the Island? I love the IoW. It's another place I'd love to eventually settle down or at least have a foothold there.

 

Only noticed it when I saw your Punto has a local 'DL' registration.

[Ben_O]

Ben, I've only just noticed that you're from the IoW. Ma_Sterling used to live and work in Newport until a few weeks ago. Where about are you located on the Island? I love the IoW. It's another place I'd love to eventually settle down or at least have a foothold there.

 

Only noticed it when I saw your Punto has a local 'DL' registration.

I live in Gurnard and work in Freshwater.

 

It is nice over here. A very relaxed place to live i find.

 

How comes ma_sterling left?

[Ben_O]

I just beat a sudden downpour to get some snaps.

 

 

 

 

 

Then the nice but very dirty interior. The photos make it look quite a bit cleaner than it is for some reason.

 

 

 

 

 

The boot which is covered in dog hair. 

 

 

With hidden CD multichanger to accompany the radio cassette up front. So wonderfully 90's

 

 

It all works and sounds fine so there is little point changing it.

 

I quite like the pointlessness of this though

 

 

 

And an engine which now has a full compliment of new auxiliary drive belts as of yesterday.

 

 

Ill pop some more up next week once the work is complete and it's cleaned up

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[cort16]

That engine is near on indestructible and not totally dismally to drive either. Are you having to get involved with the brake backplates to fix the handbrake?

[Ben_O]

I haven't looked into the brake adjustment yet. I suppose the plan will be just to whip the disk/drum off and wind the shoes out a suitable amount and then stick it back together.

I can't see it being hassle.

 

Even the ABS sensor didn't fight me and it was the original. Usually even the bolt holding it down no longer resembles a bolt. It is really clean underneath.

 

I discovered that the rear wash wipe wasn't working so expected a load of trouble getting that working but to my surprise it was a simple fix.

I thought I would start off by checking the fuse. Turns out there was no fuse fitted....

I put one in and it now works.