The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[magpie215]

rider73 said:

.

skodaSHED, skodaSHED not fails, skodaSHED (sing it to the spiderman theme)

Skoda shed skoda shed starts when other cars are dead...does it drive..yes it does makes a noise when brakes applied...look out here comes the skoda shed .

[Pat H]

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

The strut also looked a bit leaky, so I knew it was going to be an expensive day out.

A pair of genuine Ford struts was only £84, which is cheaper than most of the aftermarket options. A pair of genuine Ford springs was £63, which is about twice the price of some unknown Chinese springs from eBay, but I decided to spend the extra £30 for peace of mind.

New genuine Ford top bearings were £27.

Unsurprisingly, the old struts put up a bit of a fight and really didn't want to part company with the hub carriers, but otherwise the job wasn't too bad.

Felt a bit extravagant buying genuine Ford parts, but I've had the car since new and I'm trying to reach 225,000 miles so that I can say that it's been to the Moon.

[greenarrow]

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

The strut also looked a bit leaky, so I knew it was going to be an expensive day out.

A pair of genuine Ford struts was only £84, which is cheaper than most of the aftermarket options. A pair of genuine Ford springs was £63, which is about twice the price of some unknown Chinese springs from eBay, but I decided to spend the extra £30 for peace of mind.

New genuine Ford top bearings were £27.

Unsurprisingly, the old struts put up a bit of a fight and really didn't want to part company with the hub carriers, but otherwise the job wasn't too bad.

Felt a bit extravagant buying genuine Ford parts, but I've had the car since new and I'm trying to reach 225,000 miles so that I can say that it's been to the Moon.

Good job - I'll be interested to hear from you whether it sharpens up the drive. I had the front shocks done on my old Mazda 6 when it got to 130K and to be honest I could barely tell the difference apart from slightly less slack in fast direction changing situations and a bit more understeer in extremis, because the front was now tauter than the back which had original shocks on it......

[Cliftonite]

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

< < Snip > >

Felt a bit extravagant buying genuine Ford parts, but I've had the car since new and I'm trying to reach 225,000 miles so that I can say that it's been to the Moon.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings ( ) but the average distance to the Moon is 239,000 miles!

[Pat H]

Cliftonite said:

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

< < Snip > >

Felt a bit extravagant buying genuine Ford parts, but I've had the car since new and I'm trying to reach 225,000 miles so that I can say that it's been to the Moon.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings ( ) but the average distance to the Moon is 239,000 miles!

Ah, but only 225,623 miles at it’s closest!

[Monkeylegend]

Pat H said:

Cliftonite said:

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

< < Snip > >

Felt a bit extravagant buying genuine Ford parts, but I've had the car since new and I'm trying to reach 225,000 miles so that I can say that it's been to the Moon.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings ( ) but the average distance to the Moon is 239,000 miles!

Ah, but only 225,623 miles at it’s closest!

Are you planning on walking the other 623 miles

[Pericoloso]

Monkeylegend said:

Pat H said:

Cliftonite said:

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

< < Snip > >

Felt a bit extravagant buying genuine Ford parts, but I've had the car since new and I'm trying to reach 225,000 miles so that I can say that it's been to the Moon.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings ( ) but the average distance to the Moon is 239,000 miles!

Ah, but only 225,623 miles at it’s closest!

Are you planning on walking the other 623 miles

Have you never heard of the spacewalk ?

just take a pack lunch......

[rider73]

magpie215 said:

rider73 said:

.

skodaSHED, skodaSHED not fails, skodaSHED (sing it to the spiderman theme)

Skoda shed skoda shed starts when other cars are dead...does it drive..yes it does makes a noise when brakes applied...look out here comes the skoda shed .

wow - your a bloody genius ! love that :-)

[Poisson96]

Had the tyres on the front of the R100 replaced the other day. They were terrible but I wasn't expecting what they were. I had struggled to find a date code and now I know why, they were the original 25 year old tyres. Originality definitely isn't always best

[M4cruiser]

I recall the Metro having a weird size (315 or something, instead of 13 inch). Did they fix that for the Rover 100?

[Poisson96]

M4cruiser said:

I recall the Metro having a weird size (315 or something, instead of 13 inch). Did they fix that for the Rover 100?

They originally had metric tyres, obviously they are unavailable so I've had some 155/65/13 Toyos fitted to the front and the rears are the same size (marked 2015 thankfully)

[Digby]

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

You can probably thank the plastic coating they put on the springs for that. Once it cracks or gets chipped, water gets in and can't get out.
They rust away on the inside whilst often still looking fine on the outside.

[Alfa GTV]

Here's my shed - Daily runner, does just shy of 50 miles everyday, owned for just over a year now, that's good going for me! Had lots of PD130 previously, so know they are rock solid.

Car is a last of the B6 on an '05 Audi A4 Avant sport PD130, egr delete and remapped by FADR. Covered just 186k, good for 700 miles to a tank, recent new MOT mid March.
It just does everything I need it too, chuck crap in the back with no real care, give it a good clean up every few months, hasn't thrown any bills, everything works.



Not getting much use at the moment, but doesn't cost me anything either.
I have a BMW E46 330ci manual convertible for summer use and run a Mk2 Audi TT as a fun project car.

Edited by Alfa GTV on Monday 13th April 22:30

[Pat H]

Digby said:

Pat H said:

Had to have a bit of a spend on the old Focus.

She broke the NSF spring, which is forgivable after 14 years and 180,000 miles.

You can probably thank the plastic coating they put on the springs for that. Once it cracks or gets chipped, water gets in and can't get out.
They rust away on the inside whilst often still looking fine on the outside.

I agree.

The rest of the spring looked quite pretty, but the bottom coil was rotten.

I don’t think that 14 years of sitting in a crust of damp mud on the spring seat helps much.

They always seem to break on the bottom coil.

Still, 14 years is an adequate service interval.

[keo]

Alfa GTV said:

Car is a last of the B6 on an '05 Audi A4 Avant sport PD130, egr delete and remapped by FADR. Covered just 186k, good for 700 miles to a tank, recent new MOT mid March.
It just does everything I need it too, chuck crap in the back with no real care, give it a good clean up every few months, hasn't thrown any bills, everything works.

Edited by Alfa GTV on Monday 13th April 22:30

I still like these and I would of been better off with one than my A3. My brother had a 2.0 petrol se one years ago. Very comfy car without the s line suspension.

[greenarrow]

keo said:

Alfa GTV said:

Car is a last of the B6 on an '05 Audi A4 Avant sport PD130, egr delete and remapped by FADR. Covered just 186k, good for 700 miles to a tank, recent new MOT mid March.
It just does everything I need it too, chuck crap in the back with no real care, give it a good clean up every few months, hasn't thrown any bills, everything works.

Edited by Alfa GTV on Monday 13th April 22:30

I still like these and I would of been better off with one than my A3. My brother had a 2.0 petrol se one years ago. Very comfy car without the s line suspension.

Back in 2002/03 I owned a gen 1 Audi A3 TDI Sport, which needed a lot of trips to the dealer under warranty. I had the use of several Audi A4 courtesy cars of this vintage, all in SE spec, two of which were the 2.0 130PS model and one which was the 2.0 FSI 150 model.

I thought they all drove really well, far better ride and handling balance than my A3 tbh. My favourite was probably the humble 2.0 SE 130 PS estate. Probably the base model in the A4 range, but a very sweet drive IMO

Edited by greenarrow on Tuesday 14th April 10:11

[Plate spinner]

greenarrow said:

Back in 2002/03 I owned a gen 1 Audi A3 TDI Sport, which needed a lot of trips to the dealer under warranty. I had the use of several Audi A4 courtesy cars of this vintage, all in SE spec, two of which were the 2.0 130PS model and one which was the 2.0 FSI 150 model.

I thought they all drove really well, far better ride and handling balance than my A3 tbh. My favourite was probably the humble 2.0 SE 130 PS estate. Probably the base model in the A4 range, but a very sweet drive IMO

Edited by greenarrow on Tuesday 14th April 10:11

Yup, my dad has a base 2.0 SE auto on the smallest wheels as there was no way he was paying to upgrade. Very pleasant it was too.

[p4cks]

Just been looking at them as I wasn't aware that they were in shed budget territory but it appears they do creep in, just.

Off topic slightly but this would make a great car, but out of shed budget... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A4-Avant-2-0T-FSI-...

[mercedeslimos]

The 2.0 130bhp is an all-aluminium engine, 5 valves per cylinder and a decent drive. The 2.0 TFSI B7 from 05 on is fine, but not great on juice and a bit less reliable. But They can be made to have 270bhp for a small outlay.

[Pat H]

greenarrow said:

Good job - I'll be interested to hear from you whether it sharpens up the drive. I had the front shocks done on my old Mazda 6 when it got to 130K and to be honest I could barely tell the difference apart from slightly less slack in fast direction changing situations and a bit more understeer in extremis, because the front was now tauter than the back which had original shocks on it......

To be honest, the new springs and struts haven't made much discernible difference, which says something for the 14 year old/180,000 mile originals.

By far the biggest improvement was replacing the bottom arms, which eliminated all sorts of clonks and knocks, as well as correcting uneven tyre wear, sharpening up the handling and removing that horrible loose feel.

The original Ford bottom arms lasted 90,000 miles. The cheap replacements were completely knackered after half that distance. The decent ones currently fitted have done about 40,000 miles and are still pretty good, but I would use genuine Ford parts if I have to do them again. Some of the pattern stuff for sale on eBay is totally crap.