Looking to buy, money pit or bargain?

Try and get a video of the oil pressure when cold and also a walk around of the front bud.

Pajl

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Few more bits of info, the car has a brand new timing belt and water pump. Priced at £2700 for the car as it sits, with all the bits and a spare gearbox.

The gearbox in it won’t go into any gear, and the spare won’t go into reverse.

I’m going to look at it next weekend.

Thanks for everyone’s comments up to this point, it’s been a big help in knowing what to look for. If I do buy the car i’ll obviously get a forum membership as i’m sure i’ll be needing it :grin:.

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I have seen euro3sperformance sells a kits for the internal gearbox, seem to have bits in stock, but around €1350 then finding some one to fit it

I went to look at the car this weekend. Unfortunately this turned into a bit of an ordeal with the alternator on my car failing and having to get it recovered 300 miles back home, but that’s all sorted now :rofl: . Hopefully the forum will let me upload more pictures this time, just to get my own thoughts in order.

The paint is in even worse condition than I thought. It looks like every panel has either been done badly with a spray can or has laquer peel.

The OSR wing is very wobbly

Quite a few spots of rust that look fairly advanced.

I suspect the sunroof has been leaking as the sun visors felt a bit damp and had some corrosion. It does open and close although the handle is very loose.

The interior is overall not in terrible condition but some parts seem modified, not attached properly or missing. The door card leather is coming away.

And other various problems to avoid more pictures:
Air con compressor is open to the elements, probably dead.
Unknown alarm fitted and wired into somewhere.
Intercoolers missing most of the fins.
Brake discs very rusted and pitted.
Hole in exhaust centre box.
Lots of fasteners rusted or stripped.

But, the not so bad parts. Despite the car having a low battery and needing a jump pack to start, almost all of the electronics worked. Pop-up headlights, exterior bulbs, Power windows, wipers, adjustable seats and lumbar support, active aero (only the rear is installed and it only cycled once), climate control (except the screen). The only thing I found that didnt work was the wing mirror adjustment.

The garage has apparently spent a fair bit reconditioning the engine including timing belt, water pump, various gaskets, fixing a coolant leak, rubber hoses and a new clutch and flywheel. I saw the engine running and only a small amount of white smoke came out of the exhaust which went fairly quickly.

When they recieved the car they did a mock MOT and have fixed a lot of items on the list of fails. I’ve managed to decipher most of them from a very faded and water damaged piece of paper.

Seeing the car in person made me realise how neglected it has been. I’m fairly certain it’s done more than 33k miles as a lot of the wear wouldn’t come from just sitting. While it could be a project for someone, I now appreciate that I probably don’t have the workspace or tools to take on something this involved.

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I think that is probably a wise decision.

My first one hadn’t been particularly well cared for, and snapped off bolts get old very quickly. There will most likely be rust in bits you can’t see like the boot floor and under the plastic sills.

You’d be better spending a bit more on one that’s been cared for and not sitting for so long IMO.

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