eek, stuff that I need done...

[Morat]

Just had Bob the Spanner God take my car up on the ramp.
Here's the list of defects on a car that was MOT'd 4 months ago
Local garage described it as "not a bad car, really" probably because they could see their holidays paid for....

Rear Shocks (dangerous condition)
Front roll bar links "utterly shagged" - not just the bushes
Valve Stem Seals are causing the smoke
Exhaust Manifold Gasket - causing the ticking
Rear Brake Pads - ok, I can handle that!
N/S fuel sender unit - causing the half-a-fuel-gauge problem
Camshaft breather rubbers knackered - causing oil in the inlet.
New engine rubbers all round - apparently the engine has been "cooked" at some point, and has a suspicously new water pump. Head is OK apart from the stem seals.

Ouch.

OK, everyone point and me and shout "EBAY VICTIM!"

On the other hand, he says that it handles like a bowl of porridge - which means that once its fixed I'll REALLY be enjoying it. I thought it was great

Bugger.

[oze30]

I can sympathise!!

I havent dared take mine over the pit yet.. I just changed the rear subframe, and need to do the front shocks ( The pax side is leaking) Rust ( which I was told was non existant... Possibly busted top mounts, definately shagged ARB bushes and wishbone rubbers. not te mention the fuel tank leak, the busted o ring on the oil cooler, no oil cooler grill. obscenly cut rear exhaust hack, non working rev guage, exhaust blowing, no PAS/ABS ( going to hopefully remedy this ABS rules!)

AND I flew to Scotland and drove back in it! Bloody fun that was!


BLOODY EGAY!!!!!

[Morat]

Ouch, it sounds like you've got a real mission there too
As for the rev counter - that cable is the one that took a journey into my fan. Its an armoured cable from one of the HT leads that heads off towards the ECU. Worth a try mate. Mine wasn't severed so the rev counter still works but the insulation was knackered..and it was only a matter of time.

[Dan318-is]

Rear shocks are cheap and easy. roll bar links are a 20 minute job. brake pads are easy too, the new rubber hose is cheap and easy. if you bought the parts you could get that lot done in a morning right?

stem seals and manifold are a bit more of a pita i spose but thats e30s mate!

[Morat]

Well those bits are being done right now, to keep it on the road. The stuff inside the head is going to have to go on my project list I think. Ouch.
Thanks for the support tho

oh, rear brake pipes too - I've just heard

[dobbie82]

my 4dr was an ebay bargain in my mind, though after 12 months it needed a small weld, front and rear brake pipes, clutch slave and master cylinders, headlights and a few other bits.


rear brake lines are a PITA! BMW hid the left/right line splitter thingy (sorry dont know what its called!) on top of the diff, so that needs dropping and the fuel tank if I remember right?

[dobbie82]

p.s you could ring VOSA about the duff MOT though if your garage say it shouldnt have passed.

[cliffybabe]

Not fun

[Morat]

Well, thinking back its 6 months since the MOT now and although I'm pretty sure that some of the things would have been at least borderline back then, I doubt it would be possible to prove anything now. I think I'm just going to have to pucker up and take this one on the chin.
At least I've got a proper mechanic on the case now, he used to spanner for touring car E30 M3s and the Hesketh F1 team. To be honest, putting him on a car is a bit like having Gary Kasparov double check my chess moves. Its embarassing and painful on the wallet but at the end of it I'll know all I need to know about the state of my car!

I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of getting a car with 12 months MOT tho. Probably better off doing deal on a 6month car and going 50:50 on the costs at a neutral location.

[dobbie82]

Yeah I like to buy a car with 8/9 months MOT

1st thing one off the staff at one of the auction houses told me was steer clear of those with 11/12 months MOT as they could well be dodgy (11 months mot mean it had been round last week and nobody touched it with a barge pole!)

of course there are a lot of genuine cars on eBay too!

[Morat]

add rear shock mounts to the list.. apparently one of the shocks was actually bent
New mounts are £50, I'm enquiring about the E46 M3 Cab mounts. Whats the advantage?

[Morat]

Well, I got the car back last night and OMG - its transformed. Fantastic

Its got a quiet supple ride, awesome roadholding considering its on bottletops and no-name tyres and its just great. So chuffed - and now I know what a good one feels like I won't get conned again! Also, I can now understand why uprated rollbars are a good idea. I wasn't able to corner it hard enough to make it roll before it was fixed. I guess every improvement moves the weakspot on to another area, but I'm chuffed to bits!

I don't think the fuel gauge is fixed, but its great to have a speedo again! Anyway, this was stage one - getting it safe - stage 2 is fixing the other bits and will probably continue for years ;)

[Cyruz]

When i bought my E30 it had a new MOT, which was not legit, it was a real form but must have been a from "A friends garage". Never take the fact that a new MOT means the car is safe