Chrshndrsn
New member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2016
- Messages
- 10
- Points
- 3
Another point of view,
How expensive is the car?, if it's around £1500, I'd be tempted to do the best I can cleaning it ( marine clean from a company called Frost's) then if it has to be scrapped in 3 years time it's cost you £500 a year.
Look at what you can get if you buy a £500 every year and you'll see the pandas worth a risk.
The hole in that argument is it assumes nothing else will need repairing in that three years - and IMO the axle won't be safe for that long anyway without serious treatment. It may not even be salvageable now. If the rest of the car is in the same state as the axle, it could turn out to be an absolute moneypit.
A lifetime of experience leads me to suggest strongly that, unless you're a fully competent DIY mechanic, this is a car to walk away from.
Probably why I have a habit of losing a fortune on motors and land rovers :slayer:
The hole in that argument is it assumes nothing else will need repairing in that three years - and IMO the axle won't be safe for that long anyway without serious treatment. It may not even be salvageable now. If the rest of the car is in the same state as the axle, it could turn out to be an absolute moneypit.
Just finding a third party who could do a proper job of repairing that axle will be a challenge. Dave has just spent half a day fettling an almost new one to get it into the best possible condition for painting - who in the trade can afford to put the amount of time into restoring this that it really requires to do a decent job?
A lifetime of experience leads me to suggest strongly that, unless you're a fully competent DIY mechanic, this is a car to walk away from.
This is why i spray everything i can get to underneath with wd40 once a month.
Always worked fine for me and spraying waxoyl etc over anything other than a brand new rust free part is a waste of time.
Well, I've long been the type to ask for advice and then totally ignore it, this may yet be another instance of exactly that...
The seller has been keeping in touch by email (he's away with work, back at the end of the week) and gave me the go ahead to inspect to my heart's content.
Sadly I couldn't find my VOSA-approved inspection hammer but I did spend half an hour this morning with a screwdriver and an LED panel poking, scraping and prodding the rear suspension cups from every conceivable angle I could get to with the car on the ground.
A fair few small flakes came away as well as some of the old paint, but there was no 'caving in' as I jabbed about, no big pieces broke away, it all felt very solid. And tapping with the screwdriver gave me the 'ping' I was hoping for, but as I say, highly unscientific given I wasn't really using the right tool for the job. Perhaps the photos make it look worse than it really is.
The rest of the underside of the car is remarkably clean, the only other noticeable rust is around the front suspension/steering but it's in a similar state (if not better) than the back end.
So, having seen all of that, I feel a little more reassured.
I've been looking around online for somewhere in Scotland that may offer the kind of service I'm needing (remove axle, blast, coat, re-assemble) but if I am being honest I feel inclined to give this a bash myself (under the watchful eye of someone who knows what they are doing!).
If I can deal with the really bad stuff around the suspension cups myself and get it through the winter without any further corrosion then I'll be a happy bunny, and by that point I'll have a better idea if I want to throw more money at the car (not to mention time to find places that would actually do it and what it could cost.)
I've been back, had yet ANOTHER look, and I'm not put off. Again, can't thank everyone enough for their input, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread and will happily update you all on progress of the tidy up if (...when...) I buy the car.
Now, who can recommend me a nice bolt-on chrome exhaust tip?
No idea for exhaust tip but I would say if everything else on the car looks good then buy it!
I bought an 07 plate low mileage from Aberdeen about 4 months ago. Spring cup snapped off a fortnight ago!!! Yes it's a pain but it's fixed. Welded using 5mm plate so it's now stronger than originally designed and only cost 150 to repair. I'm getting the other side down this weekend as a precaution. Older cars cost money...period but these are just so much fun it's worth it!
N <SNIP>
Older cars cost money...period but these are just so much fun it's worth it!
This is debateable. I can get a discount on a car plan through work (the group owns some franchises) but even then we are looking >£200 a month and won't own any thing at the end unless I fork out about twice what I paid for my Croma. I'd be really upset If I was paying £200 a month in repairs and maintenence on the Croma. Total spent so far, including the "normal" Croma failings of driveshafts & thermostat, brakes, wheel bearings and battery is under £600 or £30 per month. If it completely melted down tomorrow, that would be £180 per month total for 18 months motoring. Assuming it lasts the four years of a typical plan and same maintenence, the total Croma purchase and cost would be under £90 per month. Much less than the plan, even if I don't break the typical 7500 pa mileage limit.
And your plan car can suffer non-warranty failure, and you have to pay for any scrapes and dings.
So I think old cars are cheap.
Robert G8RPI.