A nice evening for a collection...

[LabRat]

So, whilst perusing Gumtree attempting to find a replacement for the dead Omega, my eye happened upon an advert enticingly titled "car for sale URGENT, £300".

 

Curious, I clicked the ad and found no pictures, just a terse "Diesel Car, 6 months MOT". A quick call to the seller revealed the location and a nice evening stroll through one of the more salubrious areas of Oldham ensued:

 

 

So half hour later and £300 lighter, I find myself in possession of a green 2003 Rover 45 Connie saloon with tan leather and a mountain of service history. The feller selling it has treat himself to a freelander td4 and can't afford both.

 

The old girl has 106k on the clock, 4 new tyres and drives as sweet as an L series lump can. Overall I'm very impressed, especially for the money.

 

Better pictures will follow in the morning, but have an artfully shot picture, taken in the dark whilst walking the hound...

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Nice work

 

I found that my 45 drives 800x better than you would expect from its looks. The steering in particular is really nice, somewhet hefty even at speed, loads of feel and amazingly direct for such a stodgy old POS.

[Captain Furious]

I like what your neighbour has done with his windows

 

Nice buy, I had a 420sdi L series engined beast a few years ago, it was disappointingly reliable. Even with 6 inches of snow on it it started first flick of the key.

[omegod]

Sorry to heat the omega expired, looked a decent one from what I saw..welcome to the rover club !!!

[New POD]

What are you doing with the omega ? Is omegod going to break it and sell it bit by bit I wonder ?

[Skizzer]

That takes buying blind to new levels, well done.

[LabRat]

The Omega ended up being dragged to the local scrappers- the timing belt made an unscheduled break for freedom, totalling the engine. I would have broken it myself, but we have no room and a busybody neighbor who would phone the police in a heartbeat if I parked it round the back! (He'll be knocking on the door wanting proof of insurance for the rover come tomorrow morning...)

 

I'm pleasantly surprised with the old bus- the only faults are a handbrake that needs taking up a touch and a small scuff on the rear drivers door. It doesn't seem to have suffered too badly at the hands of project drive either- plusher than I expected and once the engine has warmed up a touch it's pretty refined too.

 

 

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[mercrocker]

 a busybody neighbor who would phone the police in a heartbeat if I parked it round the back! 

 

Don't worry he'll take ages to get there on that Franny B..... 

 

Well bought on the motor, by the way.  Bet it outlives that Feelander!

[Alexg]

Bargain! Great job. We need to see that interior though

[LabRat]

I'll get some pics up once daylight puts an appearance in... as much as it ever does here in Oldham anyway.

 

 

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[LabRat]

As promised, pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post collection worries were eased when the old girl roared into life this morning. First impressions are very favourable- barely any marks on the bodywork, it pulls like a train and handled the morning commute with uncanny refinement!

 

The only niggles I can find are the heater won't work on low speeds (resistor?) and the blaupunkt nav pilot stereo has a habit of dropping the faceplate when driving.

 

For £300, I'm very bloody impressed indeed!

[trigger]

What a cheap car! You really can't go wrong with bangernomics like that.

[Bren]

Which omega was yours? Looks good for the £££.

[LabRat]

It was a silver 02 plate 2.2 cdx auto.

 

Lasted all of 5 months before killing itself. Just as I was gearing up to change the cambelt too!

 

 

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[Mr_Bo11ox]

Oooooff, project drive 'leather'!!!!

[dollywobbler]

Nice. Heater resistor fault is very common. Was an issue on TR7s too, so that's proper heritage that is.

[LabRat]

Yup, project drive pleather, resplendent in beige too... fucking filthy though, I'm going to have my work cut out cleaning it! The seat heaters work nicely though.

 

Any ideas on how difficult the heater resister is to change- I've only ever had to do one on a Saab, so this is new ground for me.

 

 

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[dollywobbler]

No idea on these, but it was surprisingly easy to get at on the 600. Blower motor was hidden behind the glove box.

[LabRat]

I'll have a look then, amazon list a suitable replacement for £7.99 with free delivery, so it's gotta be worth a try at that price!

 

 

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[Mr_Bo11ox]

I did the heater resistor on mine, it was 'piss easy'

[tooSavvy]

Any ideas on how difficult the heater resister is to change- I've only ever had to do one on a Saab, so this is new ground for me.

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My 9K blew the resistor pack - twice!

 

Fitted one (with a bit of modding) from a Cinq

 

Problem sorted...

 

 

TS

[rantingYoof]

Plush leather seats and keep fit rear windows.

 

A winner if I've ever seen one.

 

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[RoadworkUK]

That leather is shiny enough to comb your hair in. Well bought indeed,

[Brodders]

Ooh, a Vauxhall Omega followed by a top of the range Rover saloon, you are living the dream. Well bought.

[rantingYoof]

Also, did the 2.2 have hilariously short cambelt intervals too? I know the V6s have a 4yr 40k interval...

 

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[Slartibartfast]

Wow, well bought that man

[Guest Hooli]

That's bloody lovely that is, nice one.

[LabRat]

That's the heater resistor sorted, suffice to say is was indeed 'piss easy' as Mr_Bo11ox said. The hardest part was laying in the road trying to gain access as half of Oldham decided to rat run down the road.

 

This is the old resister pack, which looks suspiciously like someone has had a go at repairing themselves with bits of old wire- it's fucked!

 

 

Now all it needs is a damn good clean and the aircon regassing. Im very bloody chuffed indeed.

 

 

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[oldcars]

Get some Autoglym leather cleaner, brought the project drive leather* on my 75 up a treat.

[Ghosty]

Not bad, looks a nicer place to be than something similar with a Honda badge would. Fraction of the cost too.