My Summer Car, Korean bodega edition...

[puntopaul]

Anyone heard of the game ''My Summer Car''? no.. well it's set in 90's Finland and the player has to assemble, fix and modify their steed which in the game is a copy of a Datsun 100A called a Satsuma in the game. 

My real life version of my summer car set in the 21st Century West Midlands, I'm attempting to restore some glory upon on 2007 Kia Picanto.

So the reasons why I'm doing this is that I needed a cheap to tax & reliable small car, that is economical and doesn't take up much room with my new job having next to no parking. 

As this car was on AS very cheap and slightly broken it fitted my rather limited budget well, plus I've never owned a Korean car so something different from my usual European choices. 

After a road trip up to that there Mansfield to collect said car from Luke who was a great host, Teimo as I have referred the car as ( it's a character from said game ) managed to get me home in one piece without much fuss.

It's surprisingly nimble and good to drive, wasn't expecting much but this can see why these little cars are still around in abundance. 

Only gripe is the wiper stalks and indicator stalks are the opposite way round to what I'm used to with European cars, I must of knocked the wipers on 9 times in less than a couple of miles after starting off for home 😅

However that's a me problem not a fault with the car, just have to get used to it!!

The list of things to sort  with the car thus far.. 

* ABS Light illuminated along with the hand brake light but the car stops perfectly fine mind, I've been told it's an ABS pump so we'll investigate that and see what we can come up with. 

* 0 Service history but what do you expect for a cheap car we're not buying a new Kia! so a cambelt kit, service, and a bit of going over seems a sensible approach to avoid any deep sadness at the roadside. 

* Offside front brake calliper is sticking which I was told about, so a replacement calliper and a new brake hose would also be a mega great idea as I don't want to set fire to the wheel or something. Plus it's definitely holding the car back, so a new one is maybe the way to go as a used one might not be all that. 

* Interior needs a clean up and the seat belts have some black mould 🤢, so will need a good going over with white vinegar or something ( I'm open to suggestions on that ) to get rid of that. Or I'm going to be replacing those, if they're not a pita to replace and a million pounds to buy used. 

* The interior ventilation seems a bit weak, doesn't push much air through at all so either something is blocked or broken so would like to see what's going on. 

* Odd makes of tyre all the way round, not a major issue as the spare matches one of the others so I'll swap that over onto the car if it's not knackered!

Outside of that it's purely cosmetic and niggly stuff to sort, there's a bit of rust from some damage on the drivers side that needs attention. Various stone chips and bits of broken or damaged trim, that need looking at before too long. 

Drivers door mirror is glued in position so it can't be folded, radio doesn't currently work, the tool kit is missing the jack although I think these maybe came with a tyre inflation kit originally and no spare? 

Central locking doesn't work although I'm just assuming these cars had it in the first place, but it's not a chore to turn a key and lock a door is it!

Fundamentally this is a decent car and for what I paid you can't expect it perfect, just needs a bit of time and effort so I'm grateful to the previous AS owners who have spent there time and money on it as well 👍

Not going for a factory fresh restoration by any means this is an everyday car that's going to be used, so we're doing this on a cheap as possible pound shop like budget. There maybe things I have to spend out on or are luxury items, but how I look at it is if I bought one for more money it could still need stuff that's going to cost me good coin.

So this way I'm nipping it all in the bud and maybe I'll even learn some car fixing skills in the process, my primary aim is I just want to make it safe, reliable, and a little more aesthetically pleasing to look at and be in. 

So far I've chucked on some old Halfords wheel trims I had lying around in box for a few years, so that cost me nowt and sort of improves the car so it doesn't look so much like an Uber eats / Deliveroo take away delivery vehicle.

A calliper, brake hose, cambelt kit and service stuff are inbound today, along with some other trinkets I've already acquired, let the project begin..

 

 

[tooSavvy]

Go..Go..Go.. 👍

🚙💨

[tooSavvy]

You expecting to live with the sill ends [MOT flagged] or have they been done? Lashings of Lanoguard would at least stem the crispiness...

My Getz seized both front calipers 🔥🌋

Just scored replacements off eBay, used.

My cabin filter needed replacing ✔️

How did it get those 'roof/gutter crinkly' 😯

🚙💨

[PicantoJon]

Can identify most of the dings:

Roof - Dad locked his keys in the car. 

Big oof on driver's side - Dad, again, lost an argument with a bollard in the car park of Lidl. 

Superglued mirror - local kids decided to pull the mirror off one summer evening, guess who decided to use a prodigious amount of superglue to put it back together. 

We could never get to the bottom of the sticky brakes, not for lack of trying! 🙈

[puntopaul]

3 hours ago, tooSavvy said:

You expecting to live with the sill ends [MOT flagged] or have they been done? Lashings of Lanoguard would at least stem the crispiness...

My Getz seized both front calipers 🔥🌋

Just scored replacements off eBay, used.

My cabin filter needed replacing ✔️

How did it get those 'roof/gutter crinkly' 😯

🚙💨

Not sure on the roof as that's how I got, but nothing a good session with some PDR tools can't improve so something I can have a go at myself 🫡

Don't know if this Kia has a cabin filter as it doesn't have A/C as far as I'm aware, but certainly worth a look into as I agree that could be a very good place to start 👌

Nice one on the used calipers for your Hyundai hope you got a decent bargain, I did look at getting used ones but due to time constraints to get this on the road I've got a new one from my local factors.  Seen lots of reconditioned and used calipers listed for Kia's and Hyundai's, so not sure if they're more prone to seizing or having issues than any other car? 

Surprisingly despite the MOT mention those area's are remarkably solid,  so that will be delt with as will any other rust spots. As I don't want this car to dissolve like an alka-seltzer after winter, cheers for the mention on the Lanoguard this would be a good candidate for that though 😉

 

 

 

[puntopaul]

54 minutes ago, PicantoJon said:

Can identify most of the dings:

Roof - Dad locked his keys in the car. 

Big oof on driver's side - Dad, again, lost an argument with a bollard in the car park of Lidl. 

Superglued mirror - local kids decided to pull the mirror off one summer evening, guess who decided to use a prodigious amount of superglue to put it back together. 

We could never get to the bottom of the sticky brakes, not for lack of trying! 🙈

@Marshall2810 had it narrowed down to the drivers side caliper, so got one in case and if it's not I can at least return it!

Flaming kids that's annoying they did that but @PicantoJon that mirror seems solid, so the gluing was a great success as it doesn't vibrate or anything when driving👍

That's okay stuff happens we'll call it battle scars as I don't want a completely perfect car, same with the roof it can be sorted in time as I'm not afraid to wield spray cans and filler if all else fails. 

All minor issues in the grand scheme of things, although I'm hoping to pick up a couple of doors and some other bits soon 😉

[Marshall2810]

I always perfer a car that's lived a bit, has marks and character. It's got good bones and the mot tester was very picky re sill corrosion. A good going over with a can of tetroseal would be "belt and braces" while up on a ramp, it's certainly no rot box. 

The drivers caliper is siezed pretty much solid so replacing this should* improve drivability significantly. Passenger side front and rears were working although the rears still dragged a little but not crazily. 

[puntopaul]

3 minutes ago, Marshall2810 said:

I always perfer a car that's lived a bit, has marks and character. It's got good bones and the mot tester was very picky re sill corrosion. A good going over with a can of tetroseal would be "belt and braces" while up on a ramp, it's certainly no rot box. 

The drivers caliper is siezed pretty much solid so replacing this should* improve drivability significantly. Passenger side front and rears were working although the rears still dragged a little but not crazily. 

I'll keep an eye out on the back brakes, once that drivers caliper is fitted we'll see how it goes.

But cheers for your efforts to free it, certainly kept it off enough to get us back and the car rolling 👍

Definitely it's a solid car underneath, so as you say something like teroseal would be a good idea to keep it that way! Agreed that MOT tester was a bit picky about the rust, as you say the car has some good bones about it.

It is an honest car with it's marks, dents and scratches, so don't mind keeping some of the patina 🙂

[Dan302]

Looks a good little motor, I've got a 2007 Ceed and I rate it. It's also covered in many battle scars but it's never let me down.

[puntopaul]

2 hours ago, Dan302 said:

Looks a good little motor, I've got a 2007 Ceed and I rate it. It's also covered in many battle scars but it's never let me down.

That's good to know hopefully the Picanto will do us well too,  a few scars makes a car a bit urban proof. Quite like Ceed think they're a good looking car, and cheers it's not bad at all I've been quite impressed with it so far.

 

[PicantoJon]

It had new calipers and discs put on the back a year or so ago, though it was laid up for a while when the old man was getting a bionic heart valve upgrade. So they're probably going to seize up now... 🙈

[puntopaul]

On 19/06/2024 at 18:29, PicantoJon said:

It had new calipers and discs put on the back a year or so ago, though it was laid up for a while when the old man was getting a bionic heart valve upgrade. So they're probably going to seize up now... 🙈

Cheers @PicantoJon that's great hopefully they're still okay 👍 but we'll check those out and see as touch wood it seems just the drivers caliper is sticking slightly.  To be fair it stops quite well but is to be expected with disc brakes in the rear,  it's probably about the fourth car I've ever owned to have that the others were a Renault Laguna II estate, Alfa 156 saloon & a Fiat Punto GT. 

[puntopaul]

That's the shopping sorted, got myself a reconditioned brake caliper, brake hose, oil filter, air filter, sump plug and oil. And a cambelt kit, the water pump is driven off the auxiliary belt so not going to do that just now.

As for the cosmetics and rust, just need to get some paint ordered and then we'll get around to tidying the car up a little. Plus I've got a couple of other things in the pipeline, that should hopefully make Teimo look smarter for now 🙂

[Dan302]

Good to see the little car being so well looked after 🙂

[puntopaul]

A bit of an update on the old Teimo! he's had a little bit of attention since his trip to the garage.

Brakes are working perfectly now with a new caliper, just the Abs pump to go now 😉

Changed the oil and air filter, and seems to be running quite sweetly too. The cambelt and tensioner has been done, the water pump runs off the alternator belt so I'll do that down the line at some point.

Decided he needed something doing about the rust, it won't fix itself and I ain't no bodywork guy but I get by!

So over a couple of days the rust was flattened off to clean metal, treated with a rust prevention stuff and then primed.

I grant you this is just a quick job to cover the rust and I need to figure out if I can pull some of the dent out, before I commit to filler and paint as the rear door is also damaged so not sure how far out it is.

Speaking of doors had a lucky find on Facebook marketplace, a Kia Picanto breaking for parts in the same colour and two undented doors. So after a bit of negotiation, I had two doors that me and my brother had to drive to the beautiful metropolis of Bilston in Wolverhampton for!

I also got a spare wheel with a mint 2019 Firestone tyre, a much better boot carpet and replacement centre console as well that had the little ashtray pot that was missing.

I've also bought the steering wheel, as ours has some damage and electrical tape around it? 

Weirdly the battery went dead, but three days of charging bought it back so that's a result.

Also the bonnet cable has popped out of the release lever inside the car, they've clearly stretched so I think some new ones are in order as they're only £9 & 15 pounds new from Kia as it has two cables.

Today after a bit of faff, skinned knuckles, and some swear words we have one car sort of fixed. Ignoring the wheel arch of course, paint match isn't bad although the rear door has been painted before but hey for two complete doors I'm not complaining.

As you can see in the before photos Vs the after photo at the bottom the original doors were in a battered condition, best of all I've now got two tidy interior door panels with the replacement doors and no glued up mirror with glue residue down the door!

And with the replacement door the central locking now works!! swapping the door barrel although fiddly wasn't that bad in the end.

For some reason Kia used some horrible messy black gloop to hold the waterproof door membrane on, but we battled through and celebrated with curry and a beer tonight.

Also the Blaupunkt radio cassette is working now, before it was randomly switching off and on I have no idea but whatever I'll take the wins where I can.

One thing I'd suggest if anyone is going to replace doors on one of these, is leave the hinges on the car and unbolt the doors from those. Although getting the bolts on was a bit fiddly, the doors were pretty much lined up on the first try with minimal adjustment needed.

 

 

 

[PicantoJon]

17 hours ago, puntopaul said:

I've also bought the steering wheel, as ours has some damage and electrical tape around it? 

Hahaha fucking hell I'd forgotten about that, dad had a steering wheel lock on and lost the key. Guess which tool he reached for... 

Little thing looks infinitely smarter already. 

[puntopaul]

4 hours ago, PicantoJon said:

Hahaha fucking hell I'd forgotten about that, dad had a steering wheel lock on and lost the key. Guess which tool he reached for... 

Little thing looks infinitely smarter already. 

Cheers it's coming up well 👍 my brother did us a solid and gave it a little polish and clean inside today.

Ah.. well that explains it! I wondered what the tape was hiding but figured it was probably better if I didn't 😂