1700 miles in a crusty SLK, shite for Charity

[hpi_matrix]

Hi,

Thought id start a thread for a rally myself and a work colleague are doing, its called the TBR700 and its the NC500 up in Scotland + an extra 200 miles + the journey we have to make from the south all with a car budget of £567.

We settled on a convertible and it looked like we could get an SLK in budget, after many messages across facebook marketplace, ebay and bumtree looking like absolute knobs trying to low ball people, an offer I had put on an ebay car that I had forgotten about was accepted at the pricely sum of £567 (bang on budget!).

The car was in Wales and we are over in the South East, I was looking forward to a full shakedown but unfortunatly my colleague caught covid so we got it transported to his house and then I relayed it back to my garage for storage. The drive home was brillant dispite the leaky exhaust and it even has heated seats and cruise control!

 

 

Key fob was hanging so got a nice new case for it! Surprisingly easy to swap over, and much better then the taped together wreck it came with.

A couple of weeks ago I gave it a "full" service; I changed the oil but the filter cover would not come off with my oil wrench and my socket one doesnt fit so have left that for the moment, changed all the belts, rad cap, a split breather pipe and a collapsed water hose. Looking under the car at the exhaust it has a brand new CAT/Centre section but someone hadnt used enough bolts and what was fitted was worse then finger tight, I nipped up what was there and fitted another bolt, still sounds leaky but much better then it was.

Today I went to collect it from the garage, fit the new central locking pump and get it MOT'd

Unfortunatly on the way home the indicator lense decided to part company:

The central locking didnt work at all and there was no way to get into the boot as handily the previous owner had replaced the ignition barrel but not the door or boot lock and the only key we had was for the ignition. The central locking board was at fault.

Ebay purchase 1 was even worse!

Ebay purchase 2 was a lot better, I cleaned it up with contact cleaner and fitted it today and now all central locking works and I could get into the boot properly for the first time (unfortunatly no treasure)

Lastly as MOT was tomorrow I managed to source a spare indicator from a breaker 30 mins down the road, I also repaired the bumper (see if you can spot the repair!)

Next plans are:

MOT (tomorrow!)

Get it cleaned up

Apply stickers

Do the rally!

My colleague has set up an instagram page if you'd like to follow progress: https://www.instagram.com/team.goober/, i'll try and update here but im not the best!

We are also doing a small amount of fund raising for the brain tumour charity if you have anything you could donate: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/teamgoober

[Barry Cade]

Looks like a manual too, and not too rusty! Working through mine at the moment, jealous of your heated seats....

[Agila]

Any sort of link for the key fobs. I'm assuming a cheapo Ebay job. Thanks.

[hpi_matrix]

17 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

Looks like a manual too, and not too rusty! Working through mine at the moment, jealous of your heated seats....

We wanted a manual, but with the budget we couldnt be to fussy in the end so this is an auto! We very nearly bought one that needed front hubs and a ton of other bits but it was manual.

Tbh im sort of glad now, the auto is lovely considering the age (much better then my mk2 Pajero!)

13 minutes ago, Agila said:

Any sort of link for the key fobs. I'm assuming a cheapo Ebay job. Thanks.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323801339618

[Barry Cade]

1 hour ago, hpi_matrix said:

We wanted a manual, but with the budget we couldnt be to fussy in the end so this is an auto! We very nearly bought one that needed front hubs and a ton of other bits but it was manual.

Tbh im sort of glad now, the auto is lovely considering the age (much better then my mk2 Pajero!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323801339618

Ah, yours is a pre facelift.. just couldn't see a gearbox dipstick tube in the underbonnet pic and assumed manual.. wings look really good!

[mitsisigma01]

No pictures showing for me , just a no entry sign ....

But a bonus 1111 profile views ....

But I still can't see pictures 🤔 

Any ideas anyone please

[gadgetgricey]

3 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

No pictures showing for me , just a no entry sign ....

But a bonus 1111 profile views ....

But I still can't see pictures 🤔 

Any ideas anyone please

Same for me. Just using an Android tablet, so will try Windows PC later.

[sutty2006]

3 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

No pictures showing for me , just a no entry sign ....

But a bonus 1111 profile views ....

But I still can't see pictures 🤔 

Any ideas anyone please

I can’t see them either. Very odd. 

[cbowditch]

The pictures are hosted on a private google share, thats why we can't see them

SLK is a classy motor. I can't believe they can be had for pennies

[hpi_matrix]

5 hours ago, cbowditch said:

The pictures are hosted on a private google share, thats why we can't see them

How come some can see and others can't? And how to I change it?

 

 

[mitsisigma01]

No pictures, not real ...🤥

[hpi_matrix]

Changed the images so they are hosted from Imgur, hopefully everyone can see them now.

It went for it's MOT yesterday and thankfully it passed, they also got the oil filter lid off and changed the filter for me.

Picked up an exhaust system for my colleague with the car (just about got it all in the boot!) and dropped it off at his house, 200 trouble free miles!

Stickers and lighting to be added next Sunday!

[mitsisigma01]

Over budget now then ... as a forfeit you'll have to swap the SLK for my K11 1.0 vibe 👍

[cbowditch]

Yes we can see the pics now. Looks to be in great shape. You got a bargain there 👍

[hpi_matrix]

Couple of sneak pictures before the rest of the stickers arrive and the lightings fitted! Not long to go now.

 

[hpi_matrix]

It's been a busy couple of days.

Remaining stickers added

Headlights polished

Wiring, relays  and accessory sockets installed for the lightbar and underbody lights

Interior cleaned up

99% there now, just a couple of last minute bits to add and we'll be off on Thursday.

[hpi_matrix]

And a cheeky video made 😁

[Dick Cheeseburger]

How tidy does that SLK look for sub £600?! Future classics in waiting I reckon. The styling still looks so fresh today and infinitely classier than most modern equivalents. 

Good luck with your ventures. Are you bringing it back?

[hpi_matrix]

15 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

How tidy does that SLK look for sub £600?! 

Good luck with your ventures. Are you bringing it back?

It's definitely a 5 footer, and photos are very flattering. Even the earlier ones I took around it's MOT, it was absolutely filthy but looks great in the pics.

Definitely bringing it back...if it makes it.

[2flags]

Looks great. A friend of mine is doing 'Rust to Rome' in July. Max budget £500 so has got himself a very damaged Suzuki. Yours looks so much better.

[hpi_matrix]

3 hours ago, 2flags said:

Looks great. A friend of mine is doing 'Rust to Rome' in July. Max budget £500 so has got himself a very damaged Suzuki. Yours looks so much better.

Just had a look at there website, the £500 is meant to include getting it through an MOT, tough order getting a half decent car for under £500 these days!

Think we got lucky with the SLK, pounced on it just before xmas.

[hpi_matrix]

Sorry for the lack of updates, Instagram is a better place to keep up. On the last day now, here are a few pics from the trip.

[hpi_matrix]

Finally back home now, car has been faultless the whole trip. Top cars for the money, and wish we could justify keeping it!

Will be up for sale later on in the month (without the stickers, unless you're quick!) for £1000 if anyones interested. I can safely say id trust it to travel to the south of France and back in comfort.

[mitsisigma01]

Looks tidy even with the stickers , how was the light bar held on and is the boot access fix still working ...

Absolutely no need for it but no.25 if still available or 1 random please... for now ....

[hpi_matrix]

17 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Looks tidy even with the stickers , how was the light bar held on and is the boot access fix still working ...

Absolutely no need for it but no.25 if still available or 1 random please... for now ....

Light bar was held on with suckers, remote central locking works on all doors/boot/fuel flap.