KA Bulid Quality...

[Demure]

I am looking at buying a cheapish Ford KA (£800< ) but on alot of the adverts I view there seems to be problems with

- Chassis Corrosion
- Tappets
- Suspension Bushes
- Power Steering

Is it only the early cars that are effected? what should I look for when buying?


Many thanks,

Matt.

Edited by Demure on Sunday 2nd March 17:54

[h4muf]

Had to put two new sills on a "r"reg one last week so be careful!

[neiljohnson]

Buy a basic one without power steering (suffer from rack leaks) they are light enough anyway, the corrosion appears on the sills normally just behind where the door meets the 1/4 panel so easy to spot. Suspension arm bushes do fail but the arms can be bought from a motor factor apx £20 each so maybe a barginning point when buying one but not really a serious problem. Tappets are always a bit noisey but normally down to lack of adjustment, beware one that is silent as they may have been over adjusted which causes more harm than good. Only other thing to really look for is when the spark plugs were last changed as they seize in the head and can be a pain to remove although it rarely requires the head to be removed and walk away from any Ka that is wet in the passenger footwell.

Hope this helps Neil

[Demure]

neiljohnson said:

Buy a basic one without power steering (suffer from rack leaks) they are light enough anyway, the corrosion appears on the sills normally just behind where the door meets the 1/4 panel so easy to spot. Suspension arm bushes do fail but the arms can be bought from a motor factor apx £20 each so maybe a barginning point when buying one but not really a serious problem. Tappets are always a bit noisey but normally down to lack of adjustment, beware one that is silent as they may have been over adjusted which causes more harm than good. Only other thing to really look for is when the spark plugs were last changed as they seize in the head and can be a pain to remove although it rarely requires the head to be removed and walk away from any Ka that is wet in the passenger footwell.

Hope this helps Neil

How much would I be looking at for a garage to replace the sills? Are they welded or screwed in place? (I should know this being an Engineering student but hey ho)

[neiljohnson]

To plate holes norm charge about £60 a side depending how bad it really is. Never actually replaced a complete sill on one, would guess about £100 a side. This would not include paint we just put underseal on them