The Joy of Running an Old Shed
Discussion
200Plus Club said:
I think it's great how certain (jap cars particularly) of an era seem to soldier on. A lot of that seems to be old folk buy them and do 3k pa while having a main dealer or local garage do the annual mot and full service regardless of mileage. Look at more modern stuff (mercs included) and the wings or arches are rotting away by 10yrs old.
I once had a taxi ride in a Carina II piloted by a fine Asian gentleman, Milton Keynes to Oxford when the train failed. It had done close to 300k then (2001) and it ran like a watch. Oil change every 6000 miles and two clutches, not bad going. I expect he still has it.
figtree said:
This is now mine after a painless haggle down from £995 to £650, was previously advertised for £1495. 1992 Toyota Carina II XL.
Lemming Train said:
Given the age, all the problems, lack of any service history and the bodywork damage you went on to detail, I find it comical that the seller wanted £1495 for it and nearly as comical that you've paid £650 for it. Even if it were mint it wouldn't be worth more than £500 and in that state it's £150 on a good day.
Reason being is that a lot of trade sellers now seem to add a sort of "classic tax" to anything over 20 years old. I'm currently looking for a retro second car from the late 80s/early 90s and the amount of chancers wanting £1500< for average cars in average condition which the previous owner probably got scrap value for in part ex is frightening. I suppose it's just the way the market has gone and if people will pay it then it will sell.
My swift that I've had for 6 years now has acquired shed status
was all good till I let a garage investigate an engine rattle
Their fix was not to fix it but to put 500ml of oil additive snake oil on top of near brand new oil that was already at max on the dip stick
It now has a slight oil leak, changed to oil and went from 5w30 to 5w40 on Oilmans recommendation, passed its MOT, occasional rattle is quieter but now I don't care about it any more, just going to drive it and keep the oil levels up until is too much to keep on top of.
was all good till I let a garage investigate an engine rattle
Their fix was not to fix it but to put 500ml of oil additive snake oil on top of near brand new oil that was already at max on the dip stick
It now has a slight oil leak, changed to oil and went from 5w30 to 5w40 on Oilmans recommendation, passed its MOT, occasional rattle is quieter but now I don't care about it any more, just going to drive it and keep the oil levels up until is too much to keep on top of.
Well have joined the ranks of the sheds... 2002 318Ci - only 83000 miles and full history and NO rust - petrol manual to keep it as simple as possible; cheap BT stereo installed an it's good to go.
Not the quickest off the mark, but with a 75 mile motorway commute twice a week and then left in a public carpark for 3 days its a proper leave and forget - but it has scrubbed up nicely I'm almost tempted to refurb a couple of the wheels that need doing....
Not the quickest off the mark, but with a 75 mile motorway commute twice a week and then left in a public carpark for 3 days its a proper leave and forget - but it has scrubbed up nicely I'm almost tempted to refurb a couple of the wheels that need doing....
Shed incident today as it happens. The auto the wife occasionally uses wouldn't start she says. Tonight I'll try the obvious stuff, but if it's not home fixable or is terminal friend will come with his defender and tow it off the drive then scrap it. The £120 back will go towards another. It was 3yrs ago we got it, it's done 45k miles since and the total cost of the car /insurance/tyres and repairs is about £1200 for 3 yrs trouble free motoring all over the uk
Update- it still lives! Flat battery ...
Update- it still lives! Flat battery ...
Edited by 200Plus Club on Tuesday 27th August 18:50
Touring442 said:
I hope it was sub £1000!
E46's can be quite needy, but you'd hope a Convertible in decent nick and not 'improved' will at least be worth what you paid for it when resale time comes.
6000 mile oil changes, and wash the arches out regularly.
I'm not up to speed with convertible prices, but certainly its getting to the point where a tidy E46 is more than a grand, but as you say either way unless you run it into the ground it should hold it value forever at this point.E46's can be quite needy, but you'd hope a Convertible in decent nick and not 'improved' will at least be worth what you paid for it when resale time comes.
6000 mile oil changes, and wash the arches out regularly.
I daily a 330ci and change the oil when the computer tells me, which works out to be roughly annually. 15k less reductions for short or hard millage.
I had an E46 330cd and it was horrible to drive over any rutted and patched surfaces, ie. basically all UK roads. The constant tugging on the steering wheel requiring endless corrections became annoying really quickly. Even the claimed fix of refreshing the all the steering and suspension control bushes did little to improve matters. I was glad to be shut of it.
The tip about keeping the arches clean is a good one. The V-shaped lip on the inner edge accumulates a huge amount of wet crud and rots them from the inside out. It's likely if you stuck your hand up there you'll be able to pull out huge clumps of soil if it's not been looked after.
The tip about keeping the arches clean is a good one. The V-shaped lip on the inner edge accumulates a huge amount of wet crud and rots them from the inside out. It's likely if you stuck your hand up there you'll be able to pull out huge clumps of soil if it's not been looked after.
Lemming Train said:
I had an E46 330cd and it was horrible to drive over any rutted and patched surfaces, ie. basically all UK roads. The constant tugging on the steering wheel requiring endless corrections became annoying really quickly. Even the claimed fix of refreshing the all the steering and suspension control bushes did little to improve matters. I was glad to be shut of it.
Was it a Sport with the 18" wheels?I had that problem on my old 330 Ci. They're very sensitive to tyre brand/wear and alignment. I replaced all 4 tyres, and had alignment checked/adjusted on a Hunter machine - and it virtually cured it.
It did have a myriad of other minor faults and problems that we haven't experienced (yet) on our E90. But when it did go wrong, it was usually fairly cheap to fix (unlike the E90).
What made me get rid in the end was the endless chasing of rust. If you're running one as a shed, you wouldn't care about it until it became structural I guess
stevesuk said:
Was it a Sport with the 18" wheels?
I had that problem on my old 330 Ci. They're very sensitive to tyre brand/wear and alignment. I replaced all 4 tyres, and had alignment checked/adjusted on a Hunter machine - and it virtually cured it.
It did have a myriad of other minor faults and problems that we haven't experienced (yet) on our E90. But when it did go wrong, it was usually fairly cheap to fix (unlike the E90).
What made me get rid in the end was the endless chasing of rust. If you're running one as a shed, you wouldn't care about it until it became structural I guess
Yes Steve, it was an M Sport with MV-2 (?) alloy wheels. Geometry was done after the bushes and it had fairly new Pilot Sport 3 rubber but it was still twitchy, to the point where I hated driving it and sold it ASAP ! Also the gear change in the manual ones gave me RSI in my wrist ! I think they've aged quite well - especially in Coupe format - but other than them handling well if you shove them into a bend at speed, I didn't find anything to like about them personally. Each to their own. I had that problem on my old 330 Ci. They're very sensitive to tyre brand/wear and alignment. I replaced all 4 tyres, and had alignment checked/adjusted on a Hunter machine - and it virtually cured it.
It did have a myriad of other minor faults and problems that we haven't experienced (yet) on our E90. But when it did go wrong, it was usually fairly cheap to fix (unlike the E90).
What made me get rid in the end was the endless chasing of rust. If you're running one as a shed, you wouldn't care about it until it became structural I guess
My old one.
Edited by Lemming Train on Tuesday 27th August 16:17
Lemming Train said:
to the point where I hated driving it and sold it ASAP !
It's funny... a few years prior to the 330, I had a 320 Ci SE (17" wheels, automatic gearbox) and I got on with it much better, and was actually really sorry to see it go. Everyone had said a 330 Ci with a manual box was pretty much the holy grail of E46 (this side of an M3), but I never ever gelled with it.
stevesuk said:
It's funny... a few years prior to the 330, I had a 320 Ci SE (17" wheels, automatic gearbox) and I got on with it much better, and was actually really sorry to see it go.
Everyone had said a 330 Ci with a manual box was pretty much the holy grail of E46 (this side of an M3), but I never ever gelled with it.
Never gelled with mine either - it had an extraordinary rubbery feel to the gear change whilst also being notchy.Everyone had said a 330 Ci with a manual box was pretty much the holy grail of E46 (this side of an M3), but I never ever gelled with it.
Smaller wheels - or more accurately - a higher tyre side wall make a world of difference to the steering feel over poor surfaces. My old ST was 235/40/R18 tyres and was a bit twitchy on patched up roads but I drove an ST-Line model of the same shape which had 215/50/R17s and the difference was like night and day over rough surfaces; it was much more comfortable to drive when tootling around urban roads.
That out of the way, back on topic.
figtree said:
This is now mine after a painless haggle down from £995 to £650, was previously advertised for £1495. 1992 Toyota Carina II XL.
Lemming Train said:
Never gelled with mine either - it had an extraordinary rubbery feel to the gear change whilst also being notchy.
Smaller wheels - or more accurately - a higher tyre side wall make a world of difference to the steering feel over poor surfaces. My old ST was 235/40/R18 tyres and was a bit twitchy on patched up roads but I drove an ST-Line model of the same shape which had 215/50/R17s and the difference was like night and day over rough surfaces; it was much more comfortable to drive when tootling around urban roads.
That out of the way, back on topic.
Back off topic Smaller wheels - or more accurately - a higher tyre side wall make a world of difference to the steering feel over poor surfaces. My old ST was 235/40/R18 tyres and was a bit twitchy on patched up roads but I drove an ST-Line model of the same shape which had 215/50/R17s and the difference was like night and day over rough surfaces; it was much more comfortable to drive when tootling around urban roads.
That out of the way, back on topic.
I had the use of a 2001 320i saloon a while ago, standard dampers and 205 tyres on 16 inch alloys. It was a typical heap of s
t E46 but it drove and handled so well, nice ride too. Lemming Train said:
figtree said:
This is now mine after a painless haggle down from £995 to £650, was previously advertised for £1495. 1992 Toyota Carina II XL.
It's worth £650 me, bit more about it than other sheds I've seen, imo of course...
figtree said:
Lemming Train said:
figtree said:
This is now mine after a painless haggle down from £995 to £650, was previously advertised for £1495. 1992 Toyota Carina II XL.
It's worth £650 me, bit more about it than other sheds I've seen, imo of course...
carinaman said:
figtree said:
Lemming Train said:
figtree said:
This is now mine after a painless haggle down from £995 to £650, was previously advertised for £1495. 1992 Toyota Carina II XL.
It's worth £650 me, bit more about it than other sheds I've seen, imo of course...
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