SKcats fleet. Full weeb spec on the GS300.

[FakeConcern]

I really enjoyed the day despite the 550 mile round trip to do it and as has been said the very unlikely chance that the record is in the bag. I was at the Bruntingthorpe event as well and I really thought lessons would have been learned, but never mind eh?

I was in my C30 T5 as I was last time...

Last time I tried to get a pic of every C30 and all the interesting Volvos, this time I just took 3 or 4 pics of my car and that was it so I could actually enjoy looking at everything, much better!

 

[Skcat]

Just as a update on the buick. I've been driving it semi regularly and it's not missed a beat. My guess is their was moisture in the distributor and as I have ran it a lot it has dried out. Now I drive around and it feels like it runs great and the transmission shifts just like I imagine It should! 

The speedo however always reads a little over what it should even compared to the readout directly from the speed on the diagnosis mode (reads about 15% over). I bought a new cluster from America and fitted it and even that one reads over... So I guess these cars just read over like that normally. Will leave it alone now. 

Other then that just having fun in it, aircon works great and it's always a laugh to break a rear wheel loose at a traffic light! Driving with three in the front is also a lot of fun! 

[Skcat]

Not much to report on the roadmaster. It drives flawlessly. Although looking at 190D's is making me fancy a old diesel now! 

I Will aim to make it to the hubnut social on the 14th in the roadmaster, Should be fun. 

[Scrubworks]

On 8/10/2021 at 6:53 PM, Skcat said:

 Although looking at 190D's is making me fancy a old diesel now!

Do it ☺️

[Skcat]

Did the hubnut social! Was a lot of fun with great cars and folk and the buick did great on the 300 mile round trip! 

A few photos I took! 

I will list the roadmaster on Facebook marketplace too see if anyone is interested, the price is fairly high but I can always bring it down and I expect people to haggle a lot off it before and after they even come to view the car.  I also fancy trying my luck with it! 🤞

I just fancy something different and something that fits in the garage. I could put it up on here at a much more reasonable price or see what people would be willing to swap for it but the issue is the size of it puts it out the reach of most people! Give me a Pm if interested anyway. 

[Skcat]

Went to take a look at a w123 300D yesterday. I want it but I told him I would sleep on it... It is the spec that I want though!

I will upload photos of the crust but imgur is being a pain, what do you guys use to upload photos? 

Edit, all working now. 

There is more rust but that's that concerns me, I've seen much worse online, however you never know the full extent of rust untill you are poking away at it with a screwdriver! 

[Peter C]

Fixing the crusty bulkhead is not going to be easy. I had the pleasure of removing a W123 dashboard from a car that I was scrapping - horrendous job, the bloody things are so over engineered.

[Surface Rust]

You may have already come across it, but the Furious Driving youtuber is currently welding up a W123 with a similarly rusty bulkhead. They can hide some nasty rust very well and look a proper pain to repair.

[eddyramrod]

Keep the Buick!

[Skcat]

So I decided against the w123 as I don't have the attention span to sort it out. The buick has sold too a forum member as I fancied something different. So I bought the omega that was listed on the forum! When collecting it, it was not driving well... Well stopping well. 

It did come with new brakes and pads so I stopped off in Birmingham to wash it and change the brakes. 

Then on too the brakes and.... 

Yeah that explains it. Both sides had seized slide pins. Passengers side I freed up and got working as they should but the drivers side (the knee above) need vice and heat as it was so sized. I was still able to replace both worn pads on the passengers side and the one worn out pad on the drivers side and will be doing the other set of pins today hopefully. But it is like night and day! 

Unfortunately I found the passenger strut tower sheet metal where it meets the chassis rail is rotten through! I don't blame the guy who I bought the car from, to be honest the engine bay is so packed and the wheels are so big there is a good chance a mot tester would not notice it. I still need to come up with a plan if it can be patched safely so the car can have a couple years more use.

Fact of the matter I bought the car sight unseen and for a low price, I've bought lots of cars this way and been lucky. This thing used to depress me a lot but now I'm a little wiser (and less broke) I understand its just part of buying 15+ year old cars. 

The drivers side is a little crusty but it seems to be less holy! 

I will take some photos today after I poke it with a screwdriver to see how bad In fact it is. 

I also might change the bulbs in the cluster as that bugs me! 

[Skcat]

The rust does not actually seem the worst

And after some poking. 

It is within 30cm of the strut tower but I'm sure it can be plated for a year or two before the rest of the rust catches up and the car is scrap. 

[Scrubworks]

That rot is......... rather severe. I think the factory was a bit stingy on seam sealer there. 

[Skcat]

Some busy work just getting all the dash lights and the multifunction display back-light working. 

Also jammed enough paper in the fob so now the poor solder joints squeeze shut and the fob is all working! 

[Scrubworks]

What's the story with the Holden badge?

[New POD]

On 06/09/2021 at 18:58, Scrubworks said:

What's the story with the Holden badge?

There is a bit of rust under the original Griffin, so i glued a holden badge over it. 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Excuses first :

1) I was on a train. 

2) The fucking WI Fi was fucked. 

3) No Kitten Videos. See above. 

4) I went down the Search Engine Wormhole. 

 

Here's what I found:

http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/project_omega08.html

Might be of use as a resource to spot where rust starts. I really like these cars. Not seen one for some time now. Yet I regularly see a Senator. Go figure! 👍 👍 👍 😎 😎 😎 

[Madman Of The People]

On 6/15/2021 at 2:26 PM, AnthonyG said:

There were no Ford/Mercury full-size station wagons after 1991, so Buick (and Chevy) had the market to themselves.

 

Don't forget the short lived 1991-92 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser.

[Bradders59]

Those brake pads !! 😱

There may well be more rust. Particularly behind the plastic sill covers. Its a nice car though that could last many more years of you want it to, so worth sorting the rust properly In my opinion.

The worst area of rust I found on mine was the spare wheel well. Had to cut out and weld quite a bit there.

But really need to check everywhere, front to back. It can be well hidden, until its bad enough to scrap the car.

[Skcat]

And sold! 

Went to a omega fan for a bit less then what I bought it for! But was fun to try!

[Liggle]

I'd have done the same having found that rot

[Skcat]

The omega did not last long but I decided on getting a smaller car. Maybe something to have a bit longer and this came up for sale near me. 

Seemed like a good little car so I went to take a look. I don't really remember seeing any of them about. 

I watched This video to figure out where they rust up and made that my priority and it seemed. Solid so I just agreed on it. 

To my shock it had working aircon/climate. And most other things work on it but there is a lot of small bits that need fixing. It's a nice little car! One owner and not even 50k but it will need some attention and cleaning up! I will put a list and more photos up when I have some time! 

[GMcD]

Well in man, looks great. I can't remember the last time I saw one of these on the road!

[DoctorRetro]

Awesome. Saw this mentioned on FB, looks a goodun.

 

[Skcat]

36 minutes ago, DoctorRetro said:

Awesome. Saw this mentioned on FB, looks a goodun.

 

Mentioned? Hah what was said? The dealer said there was 5 other people who were interested but I was the first to book a appointment (just because it was so local).  I'm not sure if that was just the dealer trying to sell it at full cost or if he was being honest. 

They also said if it did not have this much mot they would have just scrapped it, so I guess It got lucky and when they got so many phone calls they knew they got lucky. 

[Zelandeth]

Nice buy.  As with most Fiats I always found these to drive a lot better than I'd expected.  We had a few go through the garage I worked at (though usually the estates) and never had any problems with them.  Just used to come back for a service and MOT every year.  Only thing I vaguely think I remember is to keep an eye on the coolant level as they do tend to lose a little over time.  Think it was something like the expansion tank not being quite large enough or something like that.  I could also be speaking rubbish, it was 18 years ago!

Mechanical bits are all tried and tested and are well documented so there's not likely to be anything particularly difficult to get to the bottom of appearing.

Does yours still have the funky looking factory stereo?

[Skcat]

14 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Nice buy.  As with most Fiats I always found these to drive a lot better than I'd expected.  We had a few go through the garage I worked at (though usually the estates) and never had any problems with them.  Just used to come back for a service and MOT every year.  Only thing I vaguely think I remember is to keep an eye on the coolant level as they do tend to lose a little over time.  Think it was something like the expansion tank not being quite large enough or something like that.  I could also be speaking rubbish, it was 18 years ago!

Mechanical bits are all tried and tested and are well documented so there's not likely to be anything particularly difficult to get to the bottom of appearing.

Does yours still have the funky looking factory stereo?

Yes but the display has failed. I quite like it and would like to find a good one to fix it with! 

There is a lot of little bits that need fixing on it. Will get some photos up soon. 

[Mrcento]

One of my big regrets was not taking a 2.0 20v one of these.

The interior on this one was.....special. Hearing aid beige and nothing actually fitted. Comfortably the worst built car i'd ever sat in.

Sat in a traders yard for about 10 months.

[mintwth]

Lots of little things on these needed fixing when they were nearly new. For a period in the early 2000s I kept being given Marea Weekenders (the estate version) as hire cars.

I remember the wiper arm falling off when I shut the tailgate on one example, another had the steering wheel out by about 30 degrees, indicators failed on another (I still recall looking in a shop window listening to the indicator tick and thinking "somethings isn't right with this picture")..... 

They were an alright drive though and never had one ftp.

 

[Spiny Norman]

My mate inherited a Marea from his dad when he got a new car  Really bland anonymous cars but his was 100% reliable and drove nicely

 

[Skcat]

So tucked under the drivers seat was a seat belt tensioner. And the loom went under the seat... Odd I unplugged it and the airbag light lit up so I decided to do some investigation. Turns out someone had damaged the seat belt mechanic on the drivers seat belt then fitted a brava pretensioner/belt unit. But the plug is not compatible between a brava and a marea so they plugged the original unit under the seat. Both units are no good now. So I have a choice. Brand new unit or Used unit.

Give me your thoughts but I'm sure with this part the car will be a lot safer.