Much of my car history
Discussion
I thought I'd post much of my car history over the last five years, as it has been fairly eclectic.
The first car I'll mention is my Audi S3. I bought this with 15k miles on it in January 2006 and owned it until July 2010, at which point it had covered 68k miles. After owning it for all of two months, I got the car remapped by AMD Bicester, which gave an output of 265 BHP at the flywheel. Here it is just before I sold it:
While I owned the S3, I fancied another mk2 Golf, but this time with a 20vT conversion. I'd owned three mk2 Golfs before this point, a 1.8 8v GTI, a 2.0 8v GTI and a 2.0 16v GTI with a TSR Snetterton engine. So, I bought this car and fitted a BAM engine from an S3, 02J gearbox with Quaife diff, G60 brakes, etc.:
Sadly, I did this to it one day:
Though I'd had the car on the road with the BAM engine for a year with no problems, but the damage to the car and everything I had going on in my life at the time meant I'd had enough of it.
The S3 had always been good to me, but April 2009 to August 2010 brought some huge changes for me and it just didn't make sense to keep it anymore. In April 2009 I had a hernia operation, then in August of that year moved in with my girlfriend. Two months later my mum was diagnosed with lung cancer and from November 2009 to when I sold the S3 in July 2010 I did 11,000 miles travelling from London to Lincolnshire to spend time with my mum before the inevitable happened. In Decemember 2009 I detached my right retina and we also discovered my girlfriend was pregnant, so I proposed (I was going to anyway) and we started wedding plans and the search for a house, meanwhile I continued to travel up and down the country every weekend to visit my mum. In March of 2010 my wife and I were married, then moved into our house in June 2010, my mum passed away in July 2010 and my wife and I had our eldest daughter in August 2010. It was all very hectic and I think it took me a long time to work out the huge changes that had just taken place.
The S3 was sold at this point, as I needed some money to fund work on our new house. I bought my friend's E36 M3 Evo as a replacement:
As always, it wasn't long before I'd done a lot of work to the car:
New windscreen
New front wishbones with poly lollipop bushes
RTAB poly-bushes
Whiteline front anti-rollbar with new droplinks and polybushes
Rogue Engineering rear topmounts
HSD coilovers
I was fed up of the Golf and thoroughly loving RWD, plus wanting to turn the M3 into a project, so the Golf was sold at this stage.
While I was working on the M3, I came up with the ridiculous idea that I should sell all of my mk2 Golf parts collection and buy a Pulsar GTI-R. This was probably the biggest automotive mistake I've ever made. I don't think I even have pictures of the piece of scrap I bought, but suffice to say it was rotten. The previous owners had filled in the completely rotten sills with expanding foam and then sealed over the top of the foam. It actually looked pretty good until one day I went to do some work on the car and saw something a bit weird, so prodded it with a screwdriver. Thankfully, I hadn't spent much on the car, so knew I could either break the car or build it into a decent shell and not lose too much money.
Of course, at this point our ancient back-boiler decided to give up and so we needed a new heating system. I didn't quite have the cash spare for this (having spent the mk2 Golf money on other parts of the house) and so the M3 was sold to fund the new heating system. I really didn't want to sell the car, but it was January when the system packed up and I had my wife and five month old daughter at home. I'd also discovered the rot on the Pulsar at this stage and knew I wouldn't be able to break the car to raise sufficient cash for the work.
I let the Pulsar sit for a few months and then contacted Bob at GTIR-US, who offered me a great deal on rebuilding my Pulsar into a rust free shell he had. Normally, this is work I would have undertaken myself, but since the birth of our eldest daughter, time for such things has been very rare. I also had him fit some Tein Superstreets to the car and then once I had it back I fitted a 330mm D2 brake kit to it.
The Pulsar was running around 290 BHP and with the brakes should have made for a pretty good b-road car, but I just didn't find it particularly fun to drive. I think the Superstreets were very poorly suited to our roads and so driving it along a bumpy b-road was less fun than it should have been, with the nose bouncing all over the place and generally not doing a particularly good job of turning. While I could have changed the suspension to cope, I decided I wanted something I could fit the family in, so that I could drive it more often. The Pulsar was sold to some Danes and I purchased an Impreza WRX PPP wagon.
The Impreza looked great, drove well and was even used on several occasions for tip runs. I even sold the family Focus estate as a result and gave into the wife's requests for a little Micra for her to run about in. At this point we were in October 2011 and in December 2011 we discovered my wife was pregnant with our second daughter. The obvious thing for me to do was to buy another mk2 Golf as a project. Of all five of my mk2 Golfs, this was in the best condition when I bought it.
It took a couple of months to realise I wasn't going to do the 24vT Haldex project I had planned, so I sold the Golf. My wife and I also realised that both the Micra and the Impreza wouldn't work with two children and a double buggy, so in March 2012 I traded the Impreza to my friend for his E36 M3 Evo, as my wife had decided she wanted a Zafira, which meant I didn't need an estate.
This car was incredibly mechanically sound, though I did have to do the standard E36 clutch hose and throttle cable replacements. My mate had done all of the suspension jobs I'd previously done on my old E36 M3 Evo, but also had replaced all four discs with genuine BMW items and all pads with Performance Friction Z-rated pads.
In May 2012 I chanced upon an FD RX-7 with rebuild history on eBay. The car was going cheaply and so I placed a bid thinking I'd never win, but I did. Convincing my wife to let me keep the M3 and sell which ever car I liked least didn't work, so the M3 was sold (to two lads who have turned it into a track car) and the RX-7 was purchased. I ended up regretting this, as we used the M3 regularly to go out as a family when I felt like driving something more interesting than my wife's car, this was impossible in in the RX-7.
The RX-7 was utterly gorgeous and handling was phenomenal, particularly turn-in. It was running 341 BHP and being fairly light was probably the fastest car I've owned; however, I didn't get on with the power delivery, never drove the car as I couldn't take any of my family in it and had a compression test done that showed the engine to be very strong 7.7 to 8.0 on all tips on both rotors, so decided I would try to make a bit of money on a car for once and so put the car for sale. Which brings me to my current car:
It's an Evo IV running 310 BHP, has Tein Superstreets with EDFC and Evo 6 brakes. I've only had it a week now and hope I'll actually keep it a decent length of time.
The first car I'll mention is my Audi S3. I bought this with 15k miles on it in January 2006 and owned it until July 2010, at which point it had covered 68k miles. After owning it for all of two months, I got the car remapped by AMD Bicester, which gave an output of 265 BHP at the flywheel. Here it is just before I sold it:
While I owned the S3, I fancied another mk2 Golf, but this time with a 20vT conversion. I'd owned three mk2 Golfs before this point, a 1.8 8v GTI, a 2.0 8v GTI and a 2.0 16v GTI with a TSR Snetterton engine. So, I bought this car and fitted a BAM engine from an S3, 02J gearbox with Quaife diff, G60 brakes, etc.:
Sadly, I did this to it one day:
Though I'd had the car on the road with the BAM engine for a year with no problems, but the damage to the car and everything I had going on in my life at the time meant I'd had enough of it.
The S3 had always been good to me, but April 2009 to August 2010 brought some huge changes for me and it just didn't make sense to keep it anymore. In April 2009 I had a hernia operation, then in August of that year moved in with my girlfriend. Two months later my mum was diagnosed with lung cancer and from November 2009 to when I sold the S3 in July 2010 I did 11,000 miles travelling from London to Lincolnshire to spend time with my mum before the inevitable happened. In Decemember 2009 I detached my right retina and we also discovered my girlfriend was pregnant, so I proposed (I was going to anyway) and we started wedding plans and the search for a house, meanwhile I continued to travel up and down the country every weekend to visit my mum. In March of 2010 my wife and I were married, then moved into our house in June 2010, my mum passed away in July 2010 and my wife and I had our eldest daughter in August 2010. It was all very hectic and I think it took me a long time to work out the huge changes that had just taken place.
The S3 was sold at this point, as I needed some money to fund work on our new house. I bought my friend's E36 M3 Evo as a replacement:
As always, it wasn't long before I'd done a lot of work to the car:
New windscreen
New front wishbones with poly lollipop bushes
RTAB poly-bushes
Whiteline front anti-rollbar with new droplinks and polybushes
Rogue Engineering rear topmounts
HSD coilovers
I was fed up of the Golf and thoroughly loving RWD, plus wanting to turn the M3 into a project, so the Golf was sold at this stage.
While I was working on the M3, I came up with the ridiculous idea that I should sell all of my mk2 Golf parts collection and buy a Pulsar GTI-R. This was probably the biggest automotive mistake I've ever made. I don't think I even have pictures of the piece of scrap I bought, but suffice to say it was rotten. The previous owners had filled in the completely rotten sills with expanding foam and then sealed over the top of the foam. It actually looked pretty good until one day I went to do some work on the car and saw something a bit weird, so prodded it with a screwdriver. Thankfully, I hadn't spent much on the car, so knew I could either break the car or build it into a decent shell and not lose too much money.
Of course, at this point our ancient back-boiler decided to give up and so we needed a new heating system. I didn't quite have the cash spare for this (having spent the mk2 Golf money on other parts of the house) and so the M3 was sold to fund the new heating system. I really didn't want to sell the car, but it was January when the system packed up and I had my wife and five month old daughter at home. I'd also discovered the rot on the Pulsar at this stage and knew I wouldn't be able to break the car to raise sufficient cash for the work.
I let the Pulsar sit for a few months and then contacted Bob at GTIR-US, who offered me a great deal on rebuilding my Pulsar into a rust free shell he had. Normally, this is work I would have undertaken myself, but since the birth of our eldest daughter, time for such things has been very rare. I also had him fit some Tein Superstreets to the car and then once I had it back I fitted a 330mm D2 brake kit to it.
The Pulsar was running around 290 BHP and with the brakes should have made for a pretty good b-road car, but I just didn't find it particularly fun to drive. I think the Superstreets were very poorly suited to our roads and so driving it along a bumpy b-road was less fun than it should have been, with the nose bouncing all over the place and generally not doing a particularly good job of turning. While I could have changed the suspension to cope, I decided I wanted something I could fit the family in, so that I could drive it more often. The Pulsar was sold to some Danes and I purchased an Impreza WRX PPP wagon.
The Impreza looked great, drove well and was even used on several occasions for tip runs. I even sold the family Focus estate as a result and gave into the wife's requests for a little Micra for her to run about in. At this point we were in October 2011 and in December 2011 we discovered my wife was pregnant with our second daughter. The obvious thing for me to do was to buy another mk2 Golf as a project. Of all five of my mk2 Golfs, this was in the best condition when I bought it.
It took a couple of months to realise I wasn't going to do the 24vT Haldex project I had planned, so I sold the Golf. My wife and I also realised that both the Micra and the Impreza wouldn't work with two children and a double buggy, so in March 2012 I traded the Impreza to my friend for his E36 M3 Evo, as my wife had decided she wanted a Zafira, which meant I didn't need an estate.
This car was incredibly mechanically sound, though I did have to do the standard E36 clutch hose and throttle cable replacements. My mate had done all of the suspension jobs I'd previously done on my old E36 M3 Evo, but also had replaced all four discs with genuine BMW items and all pads with Performance Friction Z-rated pads.
In May 2012 I chanced upon an FD RX-7 with rebuild history on eBay. The car was going cheaply and so I placed a bid thinking I'd never win, but I did. Convincing my wife to let me keep the M3 and sell which ever car I liked least didn't work, so the M3 was sold (to two lads who have turned it into a track car) and the RX-7 was purchased. I ended up regretting this, as we used the M3 regularly to go out as a family when I felt like driving something more interesting than my wife's car, this was impossible in in the RX-7.
The RX-7 was utterly gorgeous and handling was phenomenal, particularly turn-in. It was running 341 BHP and being fairly light was probably the fastest car I've owned; however, I didn't get on with the power delivery, never drove the car as I couldn't take any of my family in it and had a compression test done that showed the engine to be very strong 7.7 to 8.0 on all tips on both rotors, so decided I would try to make a bit of money on a car for once and so put the car for sale. Which brings me to my current car:
It's an Evo IV running 310 BHP, has Tein Superstreets with EDFC and Evo 6 brakes. I've only had it a week now and hope I'll actually keep it a decent length of time.
Edited by SuperVM on Sunday 18th November 07:54
jaybarts said:
Some very nice 'PH' type cars, do like the e36 m3's.
Thanks, I was tempted to buy another E36 M3, but decided I'd had two already so I'd best try something else. I'd really like to get an E46 M3, but I couldn't really justify the extra expenditure at the moment. C.A.R. said:
Lovely collection you've had, liking the current steed too; I have a soft spot for evo's...
Ordinary_Chap said:
Awesome choice of cars and I love the EVO, great choice!
Lee
Thanks guys, I'm loving the Evo so far. I'm surprised how good it is at turn-in for a 4WD car with the engine fairly far forward, but it is pretty great and the grip after is awesome too.Lee
Aphex said:
Nice collection of cars you've had there. Weirdly enough, I bought that black mk2 last week
Wow, how's it running now? When I had it, cold starting took absolutely ages (at least two minutes of cranking), which I suspected was a cold start sensor, but because of my plans for a major project, I didn't much mind and did no investigation.Disco You said:
Ordinarily I'd slate you for feeling the need to buy a people carrier once you have two kids... But you managed to get an M3 out of the deal, so well played!
Yep, I felt dirty buying the Zafira and got a lot of stick from my mates, but it was the only large car my wife seemed comfortable driving and it meant I could get more interesting things, so I gave in. TotalControl said:
My favourite Evo in the bed colour. Lovely choice.
Also, you've been strong to go through most of what's in the beginning of your post. Hope things are better now.
Thanks, I love the Evo so far and agree it is the best colour for the Evo IV. Thanks for the kind words, after everything that happened before, I'm very grateful to have my own very healthy family now. Also, you've been strong to go through most of what's in the beginning of your post. Hope things are better now.
Current plans for the Evo are to stick an Evo 8 MR engine of some description in it and then go for 400/400 (as they're always quoting on MLR). That won't be until the summer at the earliest though and is very much dependent on me not being distracted by anything else.
I adjusted the clutch rod yesterday, as the biting point was extremely high and it seems better at the moment, though the previous owner hasn't had a clutch fitted in the six years and 40,000 miles he owned the car, but it had been replaced just before he bought the car. I'm still expecting the clutch to need replacing before too long, but for the time being it isn't slipping in any gear.Still terrible from cold start but the guy I bought it off I think just had it on his drie to use as spares for his oaky.
It's been eventful, the drive home the expansion tank cracked. Lots of wiring all over the place and tonight it split a coolant hose and pissed itself. Going to take all the inlet side off and give it all a good clean, new temp sender and see where we're at.
Don't suppose you know of any history of it? I don't have much in the way of back info on it.
Bit of a rolling resto and am really enjoying being back in a mk2.
It's been eventful, the drive home the expansion tank cracked. Lots of wiring all over the place and tonight it split a coolant hose and pissed itself. Going to take all the inlet side off and give it all a good clean, new temp sender and see where we're at.
Don't suppose you know of any history of it? I don't have much in the way of back info on it.
Bit of a rolling resto and am really enjoying being back in a mk2.
Aphex said:
Still terrible from cold start but the guy I bought it off I think just had it on his drie to use as spares for his oaky.
It's been eventful, the drive home the expansion tank cracked. Lots of wiring all over the place and tonight it split a coolant hose and pissed itself. Going to take all the inlet side off and give it all a good clean, new temp sender and see where we're at.
Don't suppose you know of any history of it? I don't have much in the way of back info on it.
Bit of a rolling resto and am really enjoying being back in a mk2.
The chap I sold it to said he was going to get it running properly and sell it on, but I guess that didn't really happen. It's nice to know it didn't end up getting broken, as it is pretty solid, especially for a car that so obviously hasn't been particularly cared for (the headlining being pinned up is a nice example of this). It's been eventful, the drive home the expansion tank cracked. Lots of wiring all over the place and tonight it split a coolant hose and pissed itself. Going to take all the inlet side off and give it all a good clean, new temp sender and see where we're at.
Don't suppose you know of any history of it? I don't have much in the way of back info on it.
Bit of a rolling resto and am really enjoying being back in a mk2.
The guy I bought the car from is a mechanic in Croydon, who had bought the car from his mate after his mate decided it needed too much work to continue using it as his daily commuter. The mechanic did the work for the previous MOT, replaced the starter motor (no wonder given it needs so much cranking to start) and did the welding to the nearside sill. i'd check the temp sender and also the fifth injector, as either playing up could certainly cause the starting issues. Are you going to leave the big bumpers on and find matching trim to suit or go back to small bumpers? I'd also be getting rid of the DTM exhaust straight away.
Lovely cheers for that. The guy I bought it off must have got it from that guy in Croydon. Will be checking on those ta going back to small bumpers once pay day rolls around, like to keep things as they were! Haha yep the dtms going asap, proper chavez cannon. Takes me back to the days of my first mk2 when I just passed my test!
Just going to keep it nice clean and standard looking. Will be getting a gl hatch sprayed up and put on, and give the outside a blow over as its looking a bit tired. Little bit of a drop, sort the interior and keep an eye out for some summer wheels.
Also have a mk1 in the garage looking for love. They get under your skin somewhat
going back to small bumpers once pay day rolls around, like to keep things as they were! Haha yep the dtms going asap, proper chavez cannon. Takes me back to the days of my first mk2 when I just passed my test! Just going to keep it nice clean and standard looking. Will be getting a gl hatch sprayed up and put on, and give the outside a blow over as its looking a bit tired. Little bit of a drop, sort the interior and keep an eye out for some summer wheels.
Also have a mk1 in the garage looking for love. They get under your skin somewhat
SuperVM said:
Indeed they do. I'd love to have either a mk1 or mk2 with 20vT or 24vT sitting in the garage, but as I found with the black mk2, I don't have enough room for more than one toy. I bought the car from the mechanic in Croydon, I sold it to a guy from Brentwood who worked for D&G cars.
Looks like you've had plenty of toys 
I've had a 20vt mk1 but to be honest it was a bit all or nothing and wasn't a very original car, didn't gel with it at all really. My old 2.0 mk2 was the best car I've ever had.. saying that it would be nice to have a vrt to listen to 
Ahh Brentwood would make much more sense. Cheers for the help and sorry for hijacking
Aphex said:
Looks like you've had plenty of toys I've had a 20vt mk1 but to be honest it was a bit all or nothing and wasn't a very original car, didn't gel with it at all really. My old 2.0 mk2 was the best car I've ever had.. saying that it would be nice to have a vrt to listen to
Ahh Brentwood would make much more sense. Cheers for the help and sorry for hijacking
To be fair, my old 2.0 16v mk2 with a TSR Snetterton engine producing 190 BHP was the most fun of all my mk2 Golfs, but that might be because I was 22 when I built it and hadn't owned anything nearly as fast before. I do think high revving NA suits the car more than a turbo, but I still like the possible power upgrades available with a 20vT and that it is a much more recent engine. I agree regarding the VR, it's a great sounding engine, which is why I was seriously considering a VRT/24vT with that black mk2. I've had a 20vt mk1 but to be honest it was a bit all or nothing and wasn't a very original car, didn't gel with it at all really. My old 2.0 mk2 was the best car I've ever had.. saying that it would be nice to have a vrt to listen to Ahh Brentwood would make much more sense. Cheers for the help and sorry for hijacking
No problem regarding thread hijacking, I'm always happy to discuss my cars.
bazza1000 said:
Enoyed reading that. Like your current Evo it looks like a tidy example
Thanks very much. The Evo is pretty solid, though there's a bit of surface rust on one of rear arches, which I'll sort out in the spring.ManBetterKnow said:
That was a nice read loved everyone of the car's aswell
Thanks. DanielJames said:
Great history, 2 of the best BMW E36 colours, a white Mk2 Golf GTi, a blue scooby with gold wheels
youve had it all!
and now a white on white jap motor, you're after my heart
Thanks. youve had it all!
and now a white on white jap motor, you're after my heart
I still fancy an E36 in Dakar, but I'm hoping my next M3 will be an E46. When I bought the white mk2 Golf, Alpine White was probably one of the least desirable colours, but I had it for so long it came back into fashion. I've really got to thank the previous owners for how the Evo and the Impreza look.You have great taste in cars and very jealous of the car history you have! I have recently found out my mum has lung cancer so I'm travelling the long distance home to see her a few times a week. As I've just moved out and have a couple minute drive to work I bought something a lot thirstier which is drinking the fuel on my way home now. So reasonably similar situation. On a lighter note I'm considering an s3, any in the future, anything bad points that should put me off?
Jack
Jack
jaacck said:
You have great taste in cars and very jealous of the car history you have! I have recently found out my mum has lung cancer so I'm travelling the long distance home to see her a few times a week. As I've just moved out and have a couple minute drive to work I bought something a lot thirstier which is drinking the fuel on my way home now. So reasonably similar situation. On a lighter note I'm considering an s3, any in the future, anything bad points that should put me off?
Jack
Thanks Jack, I have a list of cars and just keep ticking them off. I thought some of the cars, the Pulsar and Evo in particular, might divide opinion, but I've never really let the image people may associate with a car deter me from buying one. I also like showing my single friends with more disposable income that plenty of fun can be had with cars for around £4k. Jack
I'm really sorry to hear about your mum, I hope her prognosis is good and you're doing the right thing travelling back to see her so much. If you have any questions about my experience with my mum's illness, feel free to send me a message and I'll do my best to answer.
Regarding the S3, I had mine from 15k to 68k and didn't have very much go wrong with it. The N75 valve went, which controls the wastegate and is about £45 from VAG (very easy to fit). When mine went, it first became apparent in 6th on the motorway, with a distinct lack of power. Diverter valves can break, so I replaced mine with a Forge item. Coilpacks can be a problem, but I think they're generally more reliable than the screw in items. I've had both types and no problems with either, as my 20vT mk2 Golf was originally an AGU with K04 turbo and uprated injectors, before I replaced the whole thing with a BAM engine, which is a long story. I ended up keeping the AGU cam cover and coils, as the coilpacks have different wiring. The cambelt, tensioner and waterpump should be done every 40k or four years, which I had done by Audi at a cost of £350. My alternator went and set me back about £250 on exchange, but that was because I also ordered a new pulley. Some may tell you that you have to remove the front bumper to replace the alternator, but I managed to do it without so doing. The OEM clutch is pretty good and mine was on the original when I sold the car, though I believe the new owner had to replace it shortly after. Mine did about 50k remapped, so you don't need to upgrade the clutch to cope in my experience. £800 fitted for a new flywheel and clutch seems to be the going rate. Rear springs and ARB drop links can crack, Eibach springs are a good replacement. The oil pump pick-up can get clogged, which the forums lead me to believe is a result of the long life servicing with very infrequent servicing. Though I changed the oil more regularly on mine, the car would go over 20k before it would indicate it required a service. I know people on PH don't rate the S3 particularly, as the Haldex system isn't the most driver focused thing ever, but I loved my car. I kept it so long because every time I thought about changing it, I couldn't think of anything for the same money that offered me the same level of practicality, comfort and b-road performance. It's a very easy car to drive quickly on a b-road if you so wished, yet I travelled all over the country on motorways in mine. I don't think I'd have one as my only toy car, but if I needed a commuting car, I'd definitely consider one again.
Sorry for the lengthy post, I hope that helps.
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