15 year old looking for a project car
Discussion
Also buying the car is the cheapest part of a project, tools are the most expensive. The reason I suggest a midget (a sprite is the same car in a different body) is you want something with a lot of available parts and information that is also cheap to get hold of. My mr2 cost 250 to best, I spent around 3000 in total on it, and that's not including the tools. Just please don't rush.
Oh, I was once told, it's only a mistake the second time you do it, the first time is a learning exercise. I found that good for keeping me motivated.
Oh, I was once told, it's only a mistake the second time you do it, the first time is a learning exercise. I found that good for keeping me motivated.
caledoniacation said:
Oh okay then. The car will be kept in a garage and worked on in their also.
Most shirt wheels base Land Rover are very narrow and very short! Look at the official length figures before you dismiss it. It's ultimately a 1950's platform, cars were much smaller back then. My 90 fitted into my 5m long garage and there is a few feet of workbench up front too! I still had enough room to change the Cambelt, starter and a whole bunch of other stuff.
Like I said in my previous post, more than happy to show you my mx5 (it's supercharged) and show you how easy it is to repair.
I also know of an mx5 with a dead engine that's been sat for 12 months in mountsorrel. I bet that'd go for a song. It'll need new sills, swapped out engine and a brakes/ suspension all round I would bet.
julian64 said:
Out of interest why are kit cars classed as 'a bit rubbish to drive'?
Seems like a strange thing for a chap to say who wants to learn. After all the difference between a mainstream car and a car that is a bit rubbish to drive is exactly what you're trying to learn isn't it?
i have no idea why I just think they don't seem to be very good and they seem to be way out of my price range as well. Seems like a strange thing for a chap to say who wants to learn. After all the difference between a mainstream car and a car that is a bit rubbish to drive is exactly what you're trying to learn isn't it?
chrisgtx said:
I would go with the MX5, see your point about the kit car,and the BMW are good cars but the spares can be a bit pricey.
MX5' s have a good reputation for being reliable and fun,and spares are plentiful,which will make your life easier in the long run.
Just research what to look for rust wise when buying.
I'd agree. As nice as E30s are they can rot very very badly.MX5' s have a good reputation for being reliable and fun,and spares are plentiful,which will make your life easier in the long run.
Just research what to look for rust wise when buying.
OP, I have been in the career you aspire to enter for over 25 years, and graduated from Imperial College London which is a pretty good University. Cars are great fun and all that, but thinking back to the first 10 years of my career everybody drove popular cars like Ford Escorts and Ford Capris.
I would recommend you buy a car that just failed it's MOT for something fixable yet time consuming like brake lines that are rusty. Once you fix it, MOT & sell it. Then do another.
A bit of practical knowledge is helpful, but a Mech Eng degree requires you spend time in a workshop learning to mill, drill etc, so by the time you graduate your experience would on paper seem to be the same as anybody else's. So you are learning a practical skill and getting your motoring cheap or for free, but you won't really have an edge on anybody.
What really counts is going to a good college and getting the best degree possible. Try to get summer work at an automotive supplier or OEM. Work your nuts off when you are there and do whatever you're asked to do and they'll be trying to hire you straight out of college.
The big employers you are looking to work for want the very best people and they can afford to be very choosy because they are so swamped with applications. If they can fill their vacancies ten times over with 2:1s and 1sts then they will ignore people with 2:2s and lower. That may not seem reasonable but it is just the way it is, so you need to focus mostly on books and minimally on car.
I'm not saying don't fix a car, it's good, but it's not a criteria that the guy or girl deciding whether you get interviewed or not is going to use.
I would recommend you buy a car that just failed it's MOT for something fixable yet time consuming like brake lines that are rusty. Once you fix it, MOT & sell it. Then do another.
A bit of practical knowledge is helpful, but a Mech Eng degree requires you spend time in a workshop learning to mill, drill etc, so by the time you graduate your experience would on paper seem to be the same as anybody else's. So you are learning a practical skill and getting your motoring cheap or for free, but you won't really have an edge on anybody.
What really counts is going to a good college and getting the best degree possible. Try to get summer work at an automotive supplier or OEM. Work your nuts off when you are there and do whatever you're asked to do and they'll be trying to hire you straight out of college.
The big employers you are looking to work for want the very best people and they can afford to be very choosy because they are so swamped with applications. If they can fill their vacancies ten times over with 2:1s and 1sts then they will ignore people with 2:2s and lower. That may not seem reasonable but it is just the way it is, so you need to focus mostly on books and minimally on car.
I'm not saying don't fix a car, it's good, but it's not a criteria that the guy or girl deciding whether you get interviewed or not is going to use.
GavinPearson said:
OP, I have been in the career you aspire to enter for over 25 years, and graduated from Imperial College London which is a pretty good University. Cars are great fun and all that, but thinking back to the first 10 years of my career everybody drove popular cars like Ford Escorts and Ford Capris.
I would recommend you buy a car that just failed it's MOT for something fixable yet time consuming like brake lines that are rusty. Once you fix it, MOT & sell it. Then do another.
A bit of practical knowledge is helpful, but a Mech Eng degree requires you spend time in a workshop learning to mill, drill etc, so by the time you graduate your experience would on paper seem to be the same as anybody else's. So you are learning a practical skill and getting your motoring cheap or for free, but you won't really have an edge on anybody.
What really counts is going to a good college and getting the best degree possible. Try to get summer work at an automotive supplier or OEM. Work your nuts off when you are there and do whatever you're asked to do and they'll be trying to hire you straight out of college.
The big employers you are looking to work for want the very best people and they can afford to be very choosy because they are so swamped with applications. If they can fill their vacancies ten times over with 2:1s and 1sts then they will ignore people with 2:2s and lower. That may not seem reasonable but it is just the way it is, so you need to focus mostly on books and minimally on car.
I'm not saying don't fix a car, it's good, but it's not a criteria that the guy or girl deciding whether you get interviewed or not is going to use.
That's all good advice, get a car with known faults, fix over time then sell, you'll learn a lot admit won't cost much more than time.I would recommend you buy a car that just failed it's MOT for something fixable yet time consuming like brake lines that are rusty. Once you fix it, MOT & sell it. Then do another.
A bit of practical knowledge is helpful, but a Mech Eng degree requires you spend time in a workshop learning to mill, drill etc, so by the time you graduate your experience would on paper seem to be the same as anybody else's. So you are learning a practical skill and getting your motoring cheap or for free, but you won't really have an edge on anybody.
What really counts is going to a good college and getting the best degree possible. Try to get summer work at an automotive supplier or OEM. Work your nuts off when you are there and do whatever you're asked to do and they'll be trying to hire you straight out of college.
The big employers you are looking to work for want the very best people and they can afford to be very choosy because they are so swamped with applications. If they can fill their vacancies ten times over with 2:1s and 1sts then they will ignore people with 2:2s and lower. That may not seem reasonable but it is just the way it is, so you need to focus mostly on books and minimally on car.
I'm not saying don't fix a car, it's good, but it's not a criteria that the guy or girl deciding whether you get interviewed or not is going to use.
Triumph Spitfire.
I bought one of these when I was 16 and restored it over the further year to use as my first car. Now 19 unfortunately the car has been sold on as it wasn’t practical enough for my college/work commute.
They’re cheap if you go for the MK4 style, either 1300 or 1500 engines. Parts are readily available with big companies such as Canley’s Classics or Rimmer Bros selling parts to build one from scratch! I was lucky that I had local to me a breaker of specifically British sports car so was able to get a lot of my spares second hand at miniscule prices.
They’re easy to work on and there are many owners clubs and forums available for help when needed. I joined a couple of clubs and had help from local members when tackling things like tuning twin carbs for the first time. Once you know how it’s easy but having a little guidance to begin with helps greatly.
Furthermore, if you’re planning on technical engineering as a career you could get creative modifying a Spitfire. A good example I’ve seen recently was someone who fuel injected their Spitfire with custom throttle bodies and Megasquirt ECU management. Showing how you planned, designed and created something along the lines of this will look great on a CV and should make you stand out from the rest at uni who’ve simply achieved the grades to get in.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do and if you do get a project car keep us updated with it!
I bought one of these when I was 16 and restored it over the further year to use as my first car. Now 19 unfortunately the car has been sold on as it wasn’t practical enough for my college/work commute.
They’re cheap if you go for the MK4 style, either 1300 or 1500 engines. Parts are readily available with big companies such as Canley’s Classics or Rimmer Bros selling parts to build one from scratch! I was lucky that I had local to me a breaker of specifically British sports car so was able to get a lot of my spares second hand at miniscule prices.
They’re easy to work on and there are many owners clubs and forums available for help when needed. I joined a couple of clubs and had help from local members when tackling things like tuning twin carbs for the first time. Once you know how it’s easy but having a little guidance to begin with helps greatly.
Furthermore, if you’re planning on technical engineering as a career you could get creative modifying a Spitfire. A good example I’ve seen recently was someone who fuel injected their Spitfire with custom throttle bodies and Megasquirt ECU management. Showing how you planned, designed and created something along the lines of this will look great on a CV and should make you stand out from the rest at uni who’ve simply achieved the grades to get in.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do and if you do get a project car keep us updated with it!
Bradley1500 said:
Triumph Spitfire.
I bought one of these when I was 16 and restored it over the further year to use as my first car. Now 19 unfortunately the car has been sold on as it wasn’t practical enough for my college/work commute.
They’re cheap if you go for the MK4 style, either 1300 or 1500 engines. Parts are readily available with big companies such as Canley’s Classics or Rimmer Bros selling parts to build one from scratch! I was lucky that I had local to me a breaker of specifically British sports car so was able to get a lot of my spares second hand at miniscule prices.
They’re easy to work on and there are many owners clubs and forums available for help when needed. I joined a couple of clubs and had help from local members when tackling things like tuning twin carbs for the first time. Once you know how it’s easy but having a little guidance to begin with helps greatly.
Furthermore, if you’re planning on technical engineering as a career you could get creative modifying a Spitfire. A good example I’ve seen recently was someone who fuel injected their Spitfire with custom throttle bodies and Megasquirt ECU management. Showing how you planned, designed and created something along the lines of this will look great on a CV and should make you stand out from the rest at uni who’ve simply achieved the grades to get in.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do and if you do get a project car keep us updated with it!
That sounds like a good idea as well. I'll keep it in mindI bought one of these when I was 16 and restored it over the further year to use as my first car. Now 19 unfortunately the car has been sold on as it wasn’t practical enough for my college/work commute.
They’re cheap if you go for the MK4 style, either 1300 or 1500 engines. Parts are readily available with big companies such as Canley’s Classics or Rimmer Bros selling parts to build one from scratch! I was lucky that I had local to me a breaker of specifically British sports car so was able to get a lot of my spares second hand at miniscule prices.
They’re easy to work on and there are many owners clubs and forums available for help when needed. I joined a couple of clubs and had help from local members when tackling things like tuning twin carbs for the first time. Once you know how it’s easy but having a little guidance to begin with helps greatly.
Furthermore, if you’re planning on technical engineering as a career you could get creative modifying a Spitfire. A good example I’ve seen recently was someone who fuel injected their Spitfire with custom throttle bodies and Megasquirt ECU management. Showing how you planned, designed and created something along the lines of this will look great on a CV and should make you stand out from the rest at uni who’ve simply achieved the grades to get in.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do and if you do get a project car keep us updated with it!
GavinPearson said:
OP, I have been in the career you aspire to enter for over 25 years, and graduated from Imperial College London which is a pretty good University. Cars are great fun and all that, but thinking back to the first 10 years of my career everybody drove popular cars like Ford Escorts and Ford Capris.
I would recommend you buy a car that just failed it's MOT for something fixable yet time consuming like brake lines that are rusty. Once you fix it, MOT & sell it. Then do another.
A bit of practical knowledge is helpful, but a Mech Eng degree requires you spend time in a workshop learning to mill, drill etc, so by the time you graduate your experience would on paper seem to be the same as anybody else's. So you are learning a practical skill and getting your motoring cheap or for free, but you won't really have an edge on anybody.
What really counts is going to a good college and getting the best degree possible. Try to get summer work at an automotive supplier or OEM. Work your nuts off when you are there and do whatever you're asked to do and they'll be trying to hire you straight out of college.
The big employers you are looking to work for want the very best people and they can afford to be very choosy because they are so swamped with applications. If they can fill their vacancies ten times over with 2:1s and 1sts then they will ignore people with 2:2s and lower. That may not seem reasonable but it is just the way it is, so you need to focus mostly on books and minimally on car.
I'm not saying don't fix a car, it's good, but it's not a criteria that the guy or girl deciding whether you get interviewed or not is going to use.
Thanks for the advice. My parents would make sure that this project won't get in the way of school work (so will I ). It will be a weekend holiday project for me.I would recommend you buy a car that just failed it's MOT for something fixable yet time consuming like brake lines that are rusty. Once you fix it, MOT & sell it. Then do another.
A bit of practical knowledge is helpful, but a Mech Eng degree requires you spend time in a workshop learning to mill, drill etc, so by the time you graduate your experience would on paper seem to be the same as anybody else's. So you are learning a practical skill and getting your motoring cheap or for free, but you won't really have an edge on anybody.
What really counts is going to a good college and getting the best degree possible. Try to get summer work at an automotive supplier or OEM. Work your nuts off when you are there and do whatever you're asked to do and they'll be trying to hire you straight out of college.
The big employers you are looking to work for want the very best people and they can afford to be very choosy because they are so swamped with applications. If they can fill their vacancies ten times over with 2:1s and 1sts then they will ignore people with 2:2s and lower. That may not seem reasonable but it is just the way it is, so you need to focus mostly on books and minimally on car.
I'm not saying don't fix a car, it's good, but it's not a criteria that the guy or girl deciding whether you get interviewed or not is going to use.
I may be able to get some experience in engineering companies Over next summer after my GCSEs.
I am 17 and was thinking about gettin my neighbors old skoda felicia for 80 quid and putting a vw 1.6 polo engine or a 1.4 lupo gti engine, then change suspention to coilovers, upgrade brakes and change alloys aswell as change anti roll bars and add sway bars.
Any advice or tips and thoughts please.
Thanks!!
Any advice or tips and thoughts please.
Thanks!!
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff