The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[Jimmy No Hands]

Brilliant buy. Get those horrid swirl flaps gone if they haven't already.

[obscene]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Brilliant buy. Get those horrid swirl flaps gone if they haven't already.

Already bought the kit off ebay to delete them, might set about removing the manifold tomorrow.. Hoping to run it for a very long time. It pulls surprisingly well, I was impressed by it on the drive home.

Myself and a friend are going to start a shed based youtube channel. He picked up a Yaris for £50. Might of interest to this thread, will have to post up a link when we get some videos up, first one is recorded introducing the channel but want to film 1/2 more before we upload it to youtube. Not too bothered if it goes anywhere but it will be good for a laugh and who doesn't love a shed?

Edited by obscene on Saturday 20th February 20:49

[ARHarh]

aaron_2000 said:

Those of you who were shedding 20+ years ago, what did you run as sheds in the 90's to the early 00's? Pictures if you have them

in 1987 when I bought my first property I spent 2 years in the tastiest 1.3 metro on the planet. My MOT tester wrote "surface rust almost everywhere except tyres and windows" I was given it as the previous owner had spent a fortune on it fixing brakes rust repairs etc. Then it wouldn't go into gear anymore so he gave it away for scrap. I put the gear linkage back together and carried on using it for 2 years without fixing anything. In 1989 I was feeling wealthy so bought a 1984 cavalier 1.6l my mate had taken in px. Lasted 3 years.

[ooid]

aaron_2000 said:

Those of you who were shedding 20+ years ago, what did you run as sheds in the 90's to the early 00's? Pictures if you have them

I can easily say, Air-cooled 911's were "fun-sheds".. Back in 2006, I politely declined to buy a friends Air-cooled 911 Targa (CAT D), with 11 months MOT on it, around 6k? I thought it is better to keep that money in the bank than a 4 wheel rust bucket, but hey a proper idiot me!

I think early 2000s, the cars were in shed territory; Ford Escort gen4, Toyota Corolla gen7, Honda Civic gen 5-6... Oh also MG's and midgets were pretty cheap to pick around! and VW beetles, ofcourse!

Edited by ooid on Saturday 20th February 20:22

[Eyersey1234]

dunc01965 said:

Reading through some of the past posts on this thread there seems to be 2 schools of thought here. Firstly buy as cheap as you can, extract every mile you can with zero maintenance and scrap when it breaks making for very cheap motoring if you get lucky.

Second option is to buy something in good condition in the first place and look after it and keep it years.

I belong to the second school, I find changing cars both expensive and stressful with no guarantee that what you buy will be any better than what you had. I can't see the point of abusing something just because it's cheap.

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

[Jaguar steve]

Eyersey1234 said:

dunc01965 said:

Reading through some of the past posts on this thread there seems to be 2 schools of thought here. Firstly buy as cheap as you can, extract every mile you can with zero maintenance and scrap when it breaks making for very cheap motoring if you get lucky.

Second option is to buy something in good condition in the first place and look after it and keep it years.

I belong to the second school, I find changing cars both expensive and stressful with no guarantee that what you buy will be any better than what you had. I can't see the point of abusing something just because it's cheap.

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me too.

I detest buying cars because it always sucks up time and money that'd be better used elsewhere. When I do have to I'll go for something that'll last and treat the oily bits with sympathy and care to get as much use out of them as I can.

[OllieJolly]

Eyersey1234 said:

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me three.

My Auntie not long ago bought an '07 Panda 1.1 Active for £1,700 or so.
Don't get me wrong, the Mk3 Panda is one of my all time favourite cars, but my advice was not sought otherwise I wouldn't have let her get an Active.

My '57 Focus 2.0 Ghia (a few pages back) was £300, and that was from a dealer.

£1,400 cheaper, newer, bigger car, 5 seats, alloy wheels, auto lights, auto wipers, front and rear armrest, extra 91hp, cruise control, the list goes on.
Sure, it's tired. But I could spend £1,000 and easily replace almost all of the consumable/worn parts on the car with brand new OE spec parts (fitting them myself) and I'd still be a couple of hundred better off.

Car values are strange.

[A500leroy]

OllieJolly said:

Eyersey1234 said:

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me three.

My Auntie not long ago bought an '07 Panda 1.1 Active for £1,700 or so.
Don't get me wrong, the Mk3 Panda is one of my all time favourite cars, but my advice was not sought otherwise I wouldn't have let her get an Active.

My '57 Focus 2.0 Ghia (a few pages back) was £300, and that was from a dealer.

£1,400 cheaper, newer, bigger car, 5 seats, alloy wheels, auto lights, auto wipers, front and rear armrest, extra 91hp, cruise control, the list goes on.
Sure, it's tired. But I could spend £1,000 and easily replace almost all of the consumable/worn parts on the car with brand new OE spec parts (fitting them myself) and I'd still be a couple of hundred better off.

Car values are strange.

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

[mercedeslimos]

A500leroy said:

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

What an utterly strange post...

[MrGTI6]

A500leroy said:

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

[anonymous-user]

A500leroy said:

OllieJolly said:

Eyersey1234 said:

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me three.

My Auntie not long ago bought an '07 Panda 1.1 Active for £1,700 or so.
Don't get me wrong, the Mk3 Panda is one of my all time favourite cars, but my advice was not sought otherwise I wouldn't have let her get an Active.

My '57 Focus 2.0 Ghia (a few pages back) was £300, and that was from a dealer.

£1,400 cheaper, newer, bigger car, 5 seats, alloy wheels, auto lights, auto wipers, front and rear armrest, extra 91hp, cruise control, the list goes on.
Sure, it's tired. But I could spend £1,000 and easily replace almost all of the consumable/worn parts on the car with brand new OE spec parts (fitting them myself) and I'd still be a couple of hundred better off.

Car values are strange.

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

?? How do you know they will break? Front and rear armrest will break and write the car off?

[A500leroy]

dunc01965 said:

A500leroy said:

OllieJolly said:

Eyersey1234 said:

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me three.

My Auntie not long ago bought an '07 Panda 1.1 Active for £1,700 or so.
Don't get me wrong, the Mk3 Panda is one of my all time favourite cars, but my advice was not sought otherwise I wouldn't have let her get an Active.

My '57 Focus 2.0 Ghia (a few pages back) was £300, and that was from a dealer.

£1,400 cheaper, newer, bigger car, 5 seats, alloy wheels, auto lights, auto wipers, front and rear armrest, extra 91hp, cruise control, the list goes on.
Sure, it's tired. But I could spend £1,000 and easily replace almost all of the consumable/worn parts on the car with brand new OE spec parts (fitting them myself) and I'd still be a couple of hundred better off.

Car values are strange.

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

?? How do you know they will break?

Automatic, autobks as an elderly relative once told me, ie if you want a reliable car that you wont have to fix dont have anything with lots of sensors in it.

[PrinceRupert]

Managed to scrape the 75 down my fence post this weekend. Again ...

Two minutes with my meguairs foam pad on end of combi drill and cutting solution and it looks fine. Sure it looks a bit ropey if you get close up but at least I'm not having to fork out hundreds of quid on a bodyshop repair...

[The Mad Monk]

PrinceRupert said:

Managed to scrape the 75 down my fence post this weekend. Again ...

Two minutes with my meguairs foam pad on end of combi drill and cutting solution and it looks fine. Sure it looks a bit ropey if you get close up but at least I'm not having to fork out hundreds of quid on a bodyshop repair...

Would it be worth scraping the other side as well?

[Ste372]

I've just bought a 2009 seat leon 1.9tdi the other week to keep the miles off my yaris grmn & keep me out of the fuel station.

Paid 1k for it with 148k miles on it.

I usually run a 'shed' at some point throughout the year. It's so refreshing not to worry about where your leaving it or my personal favourite is the idiots who come barrelling through when there is obstruction on their side of the road. No sir sorry not today!

[Jaguar steve]

egor110 said:

aaron_2000 said:

Those of you who were shedding 20+ years ago, what did you run as sheds in the 90's to the early 00's? Pictures if you have them

Ford sierras , vauxhall cavaliers .

100% Renaults.

Back in the '80s it was a few R12s and a R18 then onto the '90s I had two R5s, a 19 and a Extra then a Kango van as my everyday weapons of choice.

Kept the first Kango 'till it died and bought another for work but moved away from sheds for a while with needy and precious and shiny things on the drive but now very much back into shed world with a huge sigh of relief.

[MrGTI6]

A500leroy said:

dunc01965 said:

A500leroy said:

OllieJolly said:

Eyersey1234 said:

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me three.

My Auntie not long ago bought an '07 Panda 1.1 Active for £1,700 or so.
Don't get me wrong, the Mk3 Panda is one of my all time favourite cars, but my advice was not sought otherwise I wouldn't have let her get an Active.

My '57 Focus 2.0 Ghia (a few pages back) was £300, and that was from a dealer.

£1,400 cheaper, newer, bigger car, 5 seats, alloy wheels, auto lights, auto wipers, front and rear armrest, extra 91hp, cruise control, the list goes on.
Sure, it's tired. But I could spend £1,000 and easily replace almost all of the consumable/worn parts on the car with brand new OE spec parts (fitting them myself) and I'd still be a couple of hundred better off.

Car values are strange.

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

?? How do you know they will break?

Automatic, autobks as an elderly relative once told me, ie if you want a reliable car that you wont have to fix dont have anything with lots of sensors in it.

I am also of the opinion that there is less to go wrong with a basic car. But firstly, I can't understand why the armrest would be expected to break on the Focus. And secondly, why on earth would that write the car off? Perhaps it's a joke that's gone straight over my head, wouldn't be the first time!

[anonymous-user]

MrGTI6 said:

A500leroy said:

dunc01965 said:

A500leroy said:

OllieJolly said:

Eyersey1234 said:

I agree, I want to make my shed Focus last as long as possible as I like the car.

Me three.

My Auntie not long ago bought an '07 Panda 1.1 Active for £1,700 or so.
Don't get me wrong, the Mk3 Panda is one of my all time favourite cars, but my advice was not sought otherwise I wouldn't have let her get an Active.

My '57 Focus 2.0 Ghia (a few pages back) was £300, and that was from a dealer.

£1,400 cheaper, newer, bigger car, 5 seats, alloy wheels, auto lights, auto wipers, front and rear armrest, extra 91hp, cruise control, the list goes on.
Sure, it's tired. But I could spend £1,000 and easily replace almost all of the consumable/worn parts on the car with brand new OE spec parts (fitting them myself) and I'd still be a couple of hundred better off.

Car values are strange.

auto lights, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
auto wipers, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
front and rear armrest, Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
cruise control,Which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got it
the list goes on.most of which will break and write the focus off id sooner have the panda which hasnt got any of it

?? How do you know they will break?

Automatic, autobks as an elderly relative once told me, ie if you want a reliable car that you wont have to fix dont have anything with lots of sensors in it.

I am also of the opinion that there is less to go wrong with a basic car. But firstly, I can't understand why the armrest would be expected to break on the Focus. And secondly, why on earth would that write the car off? Perhaps it's a joke that's gone straight over my head, wouldn't be the first time!

Same with the cruise control, a minor inconvenience yes if you do a lot of motorway driving but write the car off? I've managed for about 32 of the last 38 years without cruise control, it's no big deal

Edited by dunc01965 on Sunday 21st February 16:36

Edited by dunc01965 on Sunday 21st February 17:01

[aaron_2000]

I'm about to scrap my shed Audi Allroad, it made £800 on eBay then the buyer showed up, complained that a piece of plastic trim was missing at that it had been smoked in then refused to pay. £800 for a running and driving Allroad 2.5 with MOT with the coil conversion and that's what they complain about. This is the one thing I hate about running sheds, I then have to sell them to that kind of prick. Been offered £400 scrap which I'll take for the ease of not having to sell it, shame to scrap a perfectly good Allroad because someone bid on a car they couldn't fulfil payment on

[Starjet99]

Has anyone run a Jaguar X-Type as a shed, specifically a 3.0 V6, who can provide some insight as to how good a shed it might be?