2016-03-19_12_10_51.jpg

Punto (Mk2/2b) Marcelline the 1.4 Sporting

Introduction

Say hello to my new daily driver, Marcelline!






She's a 1.4 Sporting, picked up off eBay for a mere £519! She's going to be my new daily driver to replace the Pajero as I'm getting pissed off at how much petrol that thing uses!

Plans? Not a lot, replace the wheels with something OEM, replace the headunit with something that has bluetooth and that's pretty much it.

The previous owner's didn't really seem to take much care of her so I'm hoping to rectify that, step one was a wash as I don't think she'd been properly cleaned in so long that, well, I'll let these pictures of my clay bar do the talking ...


Which is fair.. doubt I will ever buy a Mk2 but I would probably get a 1.8hgt and I think they only came in the earlier style


Nope they didn't, there was a 1.8 HGT mk2b and a diesel HGT as well however the 1.4 was a better engine, far less fragile than the 1.8 Alfa engined HGT.
 
I initially wanted the HGT JTD but this was just too good a price to pass up.


I had one it was an awesome car but they are few and far between and often mistreated. The 1.4 is equally a nice car and probably faster and handles better. Also less gizmos to go wrong, our HGT JTD Had quite a few issues
 
Not a massive fan of the exhaust - it's a bit too in your face for my liking but it's been well installed with the bumper. Is the exhaust stainless all the way through?
 
Not a massive fan of the exhaust - it's a bit too in your face for my liking but it's been well installed with the bumper. Is the exhaust stainless all the way through?

Yeah it's not the kind of thing I would choose personally, and it sticks out way too far for my liking, but you're right, the bumper could definitely have been cut much worse! I've not really stuck my head underneath tbh but I suspect it's just the backbox.

Edit: Just noticed you're in N. Yorks, I bought the car from York ;)
 
Last edited:
Note to self: Do an HPI check next time you buy a car privately.

Turns out she's a Cat C repair job, I'm not overly concerned but the fact that the seller never mentioned it irrtates me as I probably could've got the car cheaper. Alas, onwards and upwards!

A couple of little issues have presented themselves recently. I was dropping a friend off and the "Power Steering Failure" came on when I stopped. Turned the car off and restarted and it went away and hasn't come back since. I'm now getting ESP and Hill Holder failure warnings though, so am thinking that the battery is goosed.

I'm also getting an engine failure warning, but she still runs perfectly fine, however there was no oil in there when I checked yesterday. I've refilled it now. God knows when the last owner previously did any kind of servicing so I've got more fresh oil, filters and spark plugs to go in there. Also ordered an EML cable so I can reset the codes and see if they come back.

I have a feeling that the warning might be related to the coolant as well as when I was poking around in the engine bay I came across a load of crystallised pink goop around the temp sensor and thermostat, and the temperature isn't rising properly, so I've also ordered a new sensor and stat.

attachment.php
 
Back
Top