What have i done?

[Burnside]

Where to begin. Well i guess i'll go from the start. I've been out of work for a few months now an as things are tight to say the least

i decided that as the chances of getting a job soon seam slim to none then i needed to try an make some money for myself.

So stupidly now i've come to realise i brought a 1996 mk1 punto selecta [automatic ] off ebay [what was i thinking? nothing clearly! ]

to fix up an sell for £225 with a days mot.

Why a punto you might ask? Well my brother has had 5 including the current 2 a 1999V punto gt in broom yellow an 1995M 55s 3dr in met grey.

An having owned 3 mk1 uno's an a early tipo 1.4 DGT myself i've found them to be not only great cars to drive but basic maintance easy too.

An being an auto id thought it be better resale as small auto's are rare an seam to fetch good money locally. Plus i wouldn't be tempted to keep it as

i don't do auto's.

My plan was to replace the bumper's as they were both damaged. G3 the typical faded red paintwork. Replace the coil as it's knackard common

problem on punto's top up the fluids were needed. Replace the passanger electric window motor an fit a new set of wheel trim's. I was thinking of £150-£200 spent an selling it for £650. Sadly ive found some rust underneath that will need welding too. Now so far i've removed the rear bumper an one bolt is still attched to the car an one of the lower bumper mounting has rotted off too.

Two of the rear wheelarch bolts have snapped off leaving the the thread still attached in the hole. Same happend on one of the driver's

headlight bolt's an the front bumper is still attached as one bolt just spin's but won't undo.

Now i know seized bolts etc are to be expected but this car just seam's to be fighting me every step of the way an to be honest im at my wit's end with it

nohing seam's to go wright with it. It seam's my luck is no luck. Just wanted to share it with everbody on here an let you know what a prat i was an hopefully get some friendly advice as what i should / shouldn't be doing an don't think somehow i'll be doing this again.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Tips:

 

Get your mate Paul to help with any difficult jobs.

[Station]

Drill out the rust bolts in their threads, and buy a gasless welder on ebay for 40 quid and weld steel onto the bits you've cut out.

It's never simple! Sounds like you're going to make very little profit (a la Wheeler Dealers) not including your own labour. Stick to stuff that is desirable but the owner can't be assed getting it onto the road - eg. a lot of mk1 MR2's are suffering MOT fail rust that isn't too hard to plate up again.

[revolting peasant]

[Burnside]

Tips:

 

Get your mate Paul to help with any difficult jobs.

 

My brother is called paul funny enough, though apart from taking the pi## and snapping the headlight bolt in the slam panel hasn't been a great help!

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Stick the miserable thing over the bridge as punishment, recoup at least 50% of your money and find something more sensible/profitable to do with your time.

Like Forex trading with automated software you don't really understand. Might be less costly/painful than trying to fix up and profit from old cars.

 

I love old tin but I'd starve trying to make a living from it.

[Burnside]

Drill out the rust bolts in their threads, and buy a gasless welder on ebay for 40 quid and weld steel onto the bits you've cut out.

It's never simple! Sounds like you're going to make very little profit (a la Wheeler Dealers) not including your own labour. Stick to stuff that is desirable but the owner can't be assed getting it onto the road - eg. a lot of mk1 MR2's are suffering MOT fail rust that isn't too hard to plate up again.

 

Gunna try an drill the bolt's out like you said an got a mate to have a look at the weldng needed tonight as he good at it

So see what he think's an see if he think's it's worth bothering with 1st before i spend any more on it. Though saying that could buy a cheap welder myself an

have ago always wanted to restore a car an learn how to weld! Though a mk1 punto in a cramped garage an having no real spare cash to do it wasn't my ideal

way of doing it.

[trigger]

I hope this Punto also came with both it's keys, you'll never sell it with only one.

 

I can't imagine that a automatic Punto is at the top on everyones want list though, I'd do what Pog said and weigh it in as count it as a luckly escape.

[Cavcraft]

1996 means it'll have a cat. This *might* fetch £35+ alone. If the autobox is working you might get another fifty sov's for that and if you remove stuff like the complete lock set plus key/s and ignition they're probably worth something to someone along with shit like mirrors etc.

 

Take the rest over the bridge, scrap varies wildly but de-polluted you should see just over a ton on the right day.

[Burnside]

1996 means it'll have a cat. This *might* fetch £35+ alone. If the autobox is working you might get another fifty sov's for that and if you remove stuff like the complete lock set plus key/s and ignition they're probably worth something to someone along with shit like mirrors etc.

 

Take the rest over the bridge, scrap varies wildly but de-polluted you should see just over a ton on the right day.

 

Thank's cavette i think to be honest this is probbley the way things are heading at the moment the most likely outcome. Will see as i hate to see cars getting scrapped it's such a waste even this one much as i hate it at the moment. But anything worth keeping would be saved id make sure of it.

Unless i keep it an try an teach myself alot more about working on cars like the welding etc but as it's at my brother's house this seam's unlikely to happen.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I feel sorry for you Burnside, this sort of job is a recipe for misery unfortunately. if you dont have a welder you're scuppered from day one with these cheap old motors, they always need some welding. Even with a welder you're probably onto a loser for just the reasons you mention, rusted nuts and bolts etc, you'll inevitably end up having to replace (at some expense) a couple of bits that were perfectly OK, but ended up damaged while repairing somethign that did actually need doing, and the whole lot will drive you mental.

 

I reckon your best bet is to do what Cavette says too, strip it and sell the bits, on the bay. try and find out which Punto bits are fragile and ofetn need doing, and list them individually. Individual engine management sensors and bits usually do quite well. Weigh in the depolluted shell and CAT and then do it again. The 'earning' is in the bother of removing and listing the bits, and knowing which bits to list and which to not bother with. If you do a few of the same car you'll quickly learn what parts sell and for how much and you'll ahve a bit of knowledge then which can bring you a little of (resonably reliable) income. Your next problem will then no doubt be your neighbours mind you, who will object to all the goings-on in your driveway, unless you have somewhere to work out of everyones sight.

[Station]

unless you have somewhere to work out of everyones sight.

 

Do it at night.

[trigger]

Or do it naked, It gives them something else to worry about instead*

 

 

 

*I do not stand liable to any injury caused to your wedding tackle whilst doing this though.

[revolting peasant]

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Stick the miserable thing over the bridge as punishment, recoup at least 50% of your money and find something more sensible/profitable to do with your time.

Like Forex trading with automated software you don't really understand. Might be less costly/painful than trying to fix up and profit from old cars.

 

I hope Burnside (and anyone else reading this thread) realises that this is in jest. I know a couple of people who really got ruined by forex! I've made a little bit of money by trading shares and occasionally commodities, but I've never touched forex- there is so much leverage in it that you can get royally fucked by a price changing by about 0.000000000000000000000001p.

[Cavcraft]

http://www.scrapcatalyticconverters.org ... /home.html

 

Shop around though, EMR are (or were) the big payers so if you have one not too far away they're probably worth a try.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

[Pete-M]

Heh, you've got a load of useful bits there.

 

Couple of years ago my mates wife had a Punto with recurring HGF syndrome. Another chap had a battered but mechanically spot on (other than fubar autobox) Selecta.

 

So we transferred the brakes, anti roll bars, engine, wheels, radiator and exhaust to the one with HGF and weighed in the Selecta (with the dead bits from the other one lobbed in the back).

 

Selectas have loads of weird bits on. Ideal for making a boggo Punto into something a bit sillier. Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to just buy something else. Something that works.

[TimothyClaypole]

Run a search on Ebay for Punto bits and select the completed listings - gives you an idea what's selling and how much for.

 

 

Then trawl your local area for good Euro pallets instead and sell them instead at £2.00 a time.

[AeroNautiCal]

...i was an hopefully get some friendly advice as what i should / shouldn't be doing...

 

[Pillock]

i hate to see cars getting scrapped it's such a waste even this one

 

It's a Punto.

Break it, target 17 year olds who have just bought the same car to bounce off the scenery - lights, mirrors and bumpers will all go. Leave anything oily, it's not worth it - you can take the engine and box out but then you've got the arseache of getting it on a pallet ready for transport.

[Burnside]

Thank's all for the advice an comment's much appricated. To be honest i haven't made a decision on which way im going with it yet.

But breaking it would probbley be the easiest way to claw back some cash an maybe even make a profit which was the whole point in the 1st place!

Had some bad car news today which has made me and made me think. Me and my brother sold last year a 1987 mk1 fiat uno 60s that we shared to a so called fiat ethusiast who said he want to do it up. My brother needed the money an i couldn' afford to buy him out. So relunctly agreed to let my brother sell it.

Now i had spent alot of hard earned cash to get it back on the road an time on finding part's etc because i wanted to save another old car from the scrapyard an have a real love of fiat uno's an old fiat's anyway.

It still wanted further work but was a useable tidy car even had nearly a years mot when it was sold plus i gave him aload of spares. Got offered it back 2 mths ago but me and my brother turned it down as he rents a house with his girlfriend now who's got no work so my brother's strapped for cash an im out of work too so couldn't spare it etheir.

Now today my brother has found out that he gave up trying to sell it as nobody he clamied was intrested. Even though he only put it on the fiatforum.

Didn't try anywhere else. So broke it up and scrapped the shell with 4 mths mot!

Is it ok to want to kick the sh*t out this wa*k*r ? Sorry for the off topic post it's just im gutted an struggling to believe what's happend to this lovely little car.

It silly but it's bringing me to tear's as im typing. I fu*king hate life somtimes am kicking myself for not buying it back. Would have begged an borowed for the money if i knew that was gunna happen otherwise.

 

R.I.P E820 BBM. Gone but will never be forgotten. Thank's for the good times old friend.

[Rod/b]

It's only a car, it's not like he's punched your Nan or anything.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah i would try not to let that get you too down, its a bummer but he might have had a legit excuse, like his kids were ill and he didnt havee the time/resources to deal with it. You did your bit, thats about as much as can be hoped for with these old crates.

[scaryoldcortina]

Stick the miserable thing over the bridge as punishment, recoup at least 50% of your money and find something more sensible/profitable to do with your time.

Like Forex trading with automated software you don't really understand. Might be less costly/painful than trying to fix up and profit from old cars.

 

I hope Burnside (and anyone else reading this thread) realises that this is in jest. I know a couple of people who really got ruined by forex! I've made a little bit of money by trading shares and occasionally commodities, but I've never touched forex- there is so much leverage in it that you can get royally fucked by a price changing by about 0.000000000000000000000001p.

 

I wouldn't worry too much, I thought forex was an australian lager.

 

Re the punto. If the autobox works, it would have been worth some money if anyone else was still fixing mk1 puntos.