Copart car

[AnthonyH]

I've just been watching 1st Track Dents, a channel on youtube. I didn't think it was possible to do such good dent removal. I might give this a go on the door which is dented. Very cool stuff!

 

[AnthonyH]

In hindsight I probably have over paid for the car, and under estimated the cost and difficulty of fixing it, but I've wanted another car to repair for months and always found a reason not to buy. Learning new things isn't easy and I'm ok with everything - so far...

 

[rmjbn1]

I've got my fingers crossed for you that you can get it roadworthy without too much headache.

Bodywork repairs, decent paint finish and matching silver are notoriously tricky.

But as someone who, like you, isn't bothered about scruffiness or resale value, trying your luck on a copart gamble is intriguing... Good luck!

 

[AnthonyH]

I've got my fingers crossed for you that you can get it roadworthy without too much headache.

Bodywork repairs, decent paint finish and matching silver are notoriously tricky.

But as someone who, like you, isn't bothered about scruffiness or resale value, trying your luck on a copart gamble is intriguing... Good luck!

Thanks LOL. If i could go back in time i'd not do it! My intution says its going to be mechanically sound, but more scruffy than i'd want. I've checked the pictures more closely and I can see more scratches and dents that i didn't notice before.

The car has had three owners, one was a trader who owned the car for a few weeks and doesn't count, so essentially two owners. The second owner was probably a learner or just a bad driver and dented/scratched the car for a couple of years before writing it off.

I can fix most things mechanical these days, but i've got a new challenge...i'm going on a crash course in bodywork. Excuse the awful pun lol

I watched more of the 1st Track Dents removal videos and the guy times himself. He took 5 hours to do one bumper dent, and he knows what he's doing. Mmmm.

 

[AnthonyH]

I took delivery about half hour ago. My initial reaction is that the car is a win. My wifes opinion - "its nice". Mechanically it appears to be fine, it drives without issue, changes gears, has oil, water, no engine management lights, although i couldn't take it far. I've not had a chance to look underneath it yet but i'm hoping there are no gremlins.

The body work is what i'd hoped for. All I definitely need are the side panel and wing mirror, the rest is probably repairable, leaving some of it in no way mint condition. I have to go out now but will post pictures and an update as soon as practical.

 

[AnthonyH]

Here are some pics of the Copart Car;

I'm generally impressed with the car! The aircon works! Holy smoke what is that about lol. Somebody cared about this car. I haven't done anything to the car except tear the side panel enough for the bonnet to lock. I took some pics and video. I'm only posting the bad photos, when you see it on the whole it looks great.

The side panel needs replacing, the bumper under the wheel trim will bend back into shape and the damage will be covered by the plastic wheel trim. The bonnet itself is fine.

Rear passenger side door will repair, it'll be a lot of effort to push and pull it into shape, it'll never look new unless i take it to a body repair shop, so i'm hoping to get it to 80%.

When i started it up for 30 seconds i got a check glow plug engine management light, but that went out. Thoughts on that?

The lights work, but the bracket has broken it won't be too hard to repair that.

I doubt there's a spare tyre under that, not checked yet, anything missing from here?

The sat nav looks less useful than a phone. The audio works, but not checked the speakers. There's stop start...it turns on and off at the button but i can't really test it until the car is driveable, i doubt i'll use it anyway.

How do i get rid of the Arnold Clark sticker? I already tried soap and white spirit.

The airbox / cover is shaking, will have to get that off. The oil filler cap is currently stuck, it has oil, on the dipstick it is half way, but it looks very black, that might be because its a diesel engine rather than petrol?

 

[porta]

Check earth on battery, body and engine/gearbox for glow plug warning light
Hairdryer for removing arny clarke sticker
Looks pretty neat

 

[AnthonyH]

Check earth on battery, body and engine/gearbox for glow plug warning light
Hairdryer for removing arny clarke sticker
Looks pretty neat

Yes its neat. I'm not sure of the sales of the 500X but it should be more popular i think.

I'm going to fetch a hairdryer.

There's no spare wheel, not that i wanted one, it seems i've got more boot space instead.

 

[AnthonyH]

There were some parts for the side mirror in the boot, so i'm actually only missing one piece of black plastic. The mirror itself isn't cracked and all of the electrics in the body of it work.

I could possibly get just part of the side mirror? Or patch it up with something else? Any ideas on how to salvage this?

It came to me like this;

But with the parts from the boot it looks like this;

The Arnold Clark sticker is off, the hairdryer did the trick.

 

[porta]

I think, for that bottom part of the mirror, it comes complete, the covers are available but that looks fine. Guess you could try glassfibre, but to get it looking well you have to be pretty good at it

 

[AnthonyH]

I think, for that bottom part of the mirror, it comes complete, the covers are available but that looks fine. Guess you could try glassfibre, but to get it looking well you have to be pretty good at it

I can't imagine too many sellers wanting to give part of a side mirror.

Is glass fibre easy to work? I've never done so.

 

[porta]

I can't imagine too manlky sellers wanting to give part of a side mirror.

Is glass fibre easy to work? I've never done so.

It takes a lot of getting used to and practice, plus getting blathered in the stuff

 

[AnthonyH]

It takes a lot of getting used to and practice, plus getting blathered in the stuff

I'll see if there are any guides i can look at, and investigate the costs, i think i saw a side mirror whole unit for about £150, so if the equipment is more than that it might not be worth doing.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Is glass fibre easy to work? I've never done so.

You could always wrap the bottom with a bit of black duct tape

 

[AnthonyH]

You could always wrap the bottom with a bit of black duct tape

I was already thinking that'd be a good temporary fix which might last years lol. I really need to do better than that though lol.

 

[AnthonyH]

The oil filler cap came off with some persuasion and there's nothing milky there, its just very black like a service is well overdue.

I checked the sound system using a USB stick and i have 8 working speakers. I'm used to a button on the steering wheel that allows a next song function but the 500X doesn't have one.

 

[porta]

The oil filler cap came off with some persuasion and there's nothing milky there, its just very black like a service is well overdue.

I checked the sound system using a USB stick and i have 8 working speakers. I'm used to a button on the steering wheel that allows a next song function but the 500X doesn't have one.

It’s the same set up as the Renegade and that has a track up function, but it takes some figuring out

 

[AnthonyH]

It’s the same set up as the Renegade and that has a track up function, but it takes some figuring out

Your post prompted me to read the user manual that came with the car. There are buttons on the other side of the steering wheel out of view

The aircon doesn't work after all. I thought working aircon was asking a lot lol.

 

[AnthonyH]

I got the wing off, it was easier to peel it back with tin snips than remove the bumper and wheel arch to get access to the bolts holding it in place. There's no damage behind wing.

The only thing that went wrong is that two of the bolt heads sheared off. Drilling out bolts is my least favourite job, any advice regarding that?

 

[AnthonyH]

I've just looked on ePER and the Fiat 500X isn't listed. So how do I find OEM part numbers for this car?