The Joy of Running an Old Shed

[anonymous-user]

Lemming Train said:

CrgT16 said:

That maybe so. Clutch is consumable anyway for what I require of it will do nicely. Quite comfortable with purchase. It will be a sub 1K investment for a very reliable engine/gearbox. No rust anywhere. I think it fits the bill.

If not... oh well have shoes more expensive than that lol

How much is a clutch for them and will you be fitting it yourself or will it be a garage job?

I picked up a 55 plate Civic type S on eBay last month for £720 with 104k on the clock. Can confirm the engine and gearbox are great and I am averaging about 40mpg half urban half motorway.

Mine was filthy but after washing it three times now and spending 10 hours on the interior it looks great. Total spend so far on tinkering is :

Mats : £12
Pedal rubbers : £4.58
Rear wiper blade : £5.95
Touch up paint : £11
Door mirror indicator :£9
Front drop links : £26

Drop links have stopped the clonk and made the steering feel much more precise.

Turning circle is terrible though but used to it now. I think it is a great shed with Honda reliability and a bit of performance when you want it

[aaron_2000]

Well the first fault came up on the V70. Needs, or should I say wants an O2 sensor.

[JaredVannett]

wormus said:

Something terrible has happened. I washed my Saab today and realised it comes up pretty nice after a scrub. It’s got some parking scrapes but nothing some paint correction won’t fix. Now getting in touch with my friendly smart repairer to take a look. To be fair, the car is mechanically perfect and only done 85k miles in 16 years. Interior is immaculate. So as good Saab 9-5s become rare, I’ve started to restore mine instead of running it into the ground. These things get under your skin, how did that happen?

womus you're letting us shedders down...

[g3org3y]

JaredVannett said:

wormus said:

Something terrible has happened. I washed my Saab today and realised it comes up pretty nice after a scrub. It’s got some parking scrapes but nothing some paint correction won’t fix. Now getting in touch with my friendly smart repairer to take a look. To be fair, the car is mechanically perfect and only done 85k miles in 16 years. Interior is immaculate. So as good Saab 9-5s become rare, I’ve started to restore mine instead of running it into the ground. These things get under your skin, how did that happen?

womus you're letting us shedders down...

[anonymous-user]

g3org3y said:

But it’s so comfy and not beyond saving. I drove a 9-3 the other day with 300k miles on it and it was hanging. I put a plastic carrier bag on the driver’s seat to avoid 300k miles of farts transferring to my trousers. I don’t believe in bringing crap cars back from the dead but there’s merit in preserving a good one surely?

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 16th September 19:08

[g3org3y]

wormus said:

g3org3y said:

But it’s so comfy and not beyond saving. I drove a 9-3 the other day with 300k miles on it and it was hanging. I put a plastic carrier bag on the driver’s seat to avoid 300k miles of farts transferring to my trousers. I don’t believe in bringing crap cars back from the dead but there’s merit in preserving a good one surely?

Have to admit, I get where you're coming from tbf. My old E36 328, I neglected/never washed it (but if it needed mechanical stuff doing, I didn't mind spending the money).



That was proper shedding

Am however starting to get fond of the E46 330Ci I recently posted about. Found some nice original details on it.

Full OEM first aid kit (under passenger seat).




Glovebox torch (working!)


Toolkit - was missing pliers, spark plug tool and wheel alignment pin but had spares (from various previous BMWs). Need a new locking nut key.


Clean boot complete with all the kit (warning triangle, jack, chock (and spacesaver under the cover)





Will probably find it hard to treat it like a proper shed now.

[Tango222]

2007 320d for £400 update
Going well so far in 2500 miles
Arch liner tore out on motorway

Still only boosting over 3k rpm
Code scanner shows turbo actuator fault

Other then that lovely !

[magpie215]

Condi said:

Lemming Train said:

I still need to pop off the top rear brake light and reseal it to stop the rain from getting in and filling up the spare wheel well, but I've found if I park it facing down the hill outside, the rain instead runs along the roof to the front of the car and the boot stays dryt!

Proper shedding would be to liberally cover the whole of the top of the rear break in clear silicone sealant, in such a way that it lasts for 6 months before looking tatty and having to be reapplied.

Incorrect...propper shedding is drilling some drain holes in the spare wheel well lol

[CrgT16]

Joey Deacon said:

I picked up a 55 plate Civic type S on eBay last month for £720 with 104k on the clock. Can confirm the engine and gearbox are great and I am averaging about 40mpg half urban half motorway.

Mine was filthy but after washing it three times now and spending 10 hours on the interior it looks great. Total spend so far on tinkering is :

Mats : £12
Pedal rubbers : £4.58
Rear wiper blade : £5.95
Touch up paint : £11
Door mirror indicator :£9
Front drop links : £26

Drop links have stopped the clonk and made the steering feel much more precise.

Turning circle is terrible though but used to it now. I think it is a great shed with Honda reliability and a bit of performance when you want it

Pretty much my view. Mine was 400 but it does need 300 spent on it which brings it to the 700 mark. I am ok with that as it will be pretty solid. The engine is really smooth even with this high mileage. We shall see. I think attending to age/mileage I probably should have paid 300 but never mind.

Still crazy cheap an entire car for 400!!

[CrgT16]

And yes turning circle is bad.. lol

[egor110]

CrgT16 said:

Joey Deacon said:

I picked up a 55 plate Civic type S on eBay last month for £720 with 104k on the clock. Can confirm the engine and gearbox are great and I am averaging about 40mpg half urban half motorway.

Mine was filthy but after washing it three times now and spending 10 hours on the interior it looks great. Total spend so far on tinkering is :

Mats : £12
Pedal rubbers : £4.58
Rear wiper blade : £5.95
Touch up paint : £11
Door mirror indicator :£9
Front drop links : £26

Drop links have stopped the clonk and made the steering feel much more precise.

Turning circle is terrible though but used to it now. I think it is a great shed with Honda reliability and a bit of performance when you want it

Pretty much my view. Mine was 400 but it does need 300 spent on it which brings it to the 700 mark. I am ok with that as it will be pretty solid. The engine is really smooth even with this high mileage. We shall see. I think attending to age/mileage I probably should have paid 300 but never mind.

Still crazy cheap an entire car for 400!!

How are they on the motorway ?

are you revving the nuts off it doing 70 ?

[martin mrt]

After my last disaster with a mk5 Golf I’ve picked up two sheds over the last couple of months, the latest on Friday

First..... the £350 225 TT roadster


It’s needed bits for its MOT, but I’ve done the work myself so it’s outlay is currently around £700, I’ve a replacement cat to fit and I’ll test it next week

The second came up on FB marketplace, from a colleague of my MrsMRT

2010 Astra van, 1.7diesel, just been motd, had a few new bits but for £700 I couldn’t say no. It even has a rear seat conversion. Perfect for tip runs, taking junior MRT to the skatepark with his BMX and just generally handy to have.



Neither will be daily driven, the TT I may (probably) won’t hold onto but I hope shedding round 2 for this year goes better than last

[carinaman]

martin mrt said:

The second came up on FB marketplace, from a colleague of my MrsMRT

2010 Astra van, 1.7diesel, just been motd, had a few new bits but for £700 I couldn’t say no. It even has a rear seat conversion. Perfect for tip runs, taking junior MRT to the skatepark with his BMX and just generally handy to have.

Is your local tip OK with vans? Do they give you the Nth degree about who you are what your rubbish is?

[Lemming Train]

Are you taxing them as well? Surely you'll be up to £1200 now for the TT (£500 tax?) plus another £250 ish for the van (not checked current LCV prices but I know it was £220 a few years ago when I had an Astravan and will have gone up since then). I'm quite fond of the Astravans, particularly the Sportive models which have superb suspension for enthusiastic B-road driving. I had a 2010 1.7 myself - the last of the okayish 1.7 CDTI engines before they strangled them to death with DPFs and the reliability of the late 2010 models til the phase out was terrible (DPF issues, EGR issues, vacuum/boost pipe leaks). They respond really well to a fuel economy remap as they are really sluggish in standard form. I saw nearly a 20% improvement in mpg after having mine done although I did run it on V-power as well.

And yes, my local tip wouldn't let me in with any of mine which was one of the reasons I changed to an estate car.

Edited by Lemming Train on Wednesday 18th September 12:30

[magpie215]

magpie215 said:

The joy!!

£38 for a replacement calliper and an hours spannering back in business.

[S100HP]

Lemming Train said:

Are you taxing them as well? Surely you'll be up to £1200 now for the TT (£500 tax?) plus another £250 ish for the van (not checked current LCV prices but I know it was £220 a few years ago when I had an Astravan and will have gone up since then). I'm quite fond of the Astravans, particularly the Sportive models which have superb suspension for enthusiastic B-road driving. I had a 2010 1.7 myself - the last of the okayish 1.7 CDTI engines before they strangled them to death with DPFs and the reliability of the late 2010 models til the phase out was terrible (DPF issues, EGR issues, vacuum/boost pipe leaks). They respond really well to a fuel economy remap as they are really sluggish in standard form. I saw nearly a 20% improvement in mpg after having mine done although I did run it on V-power as well.

And yes, my local tip wouldn't let me in with any of mine which was one of the reasons I changed to an estate car.

Edited by Lemming Train on Wednesday 18th September 12:30

The TT won't be £500+ a year tax, its pre 06

[Sheepshanks]

Somewhat to my surprise my Merc C270CDi Estate passed its MOT today with only a couple of advisories.

I was thinking it was close to worthless but find myself wondering how much its value has increased with 12mths MOT and whether now would be a good time to bale out!

[viciousj377o]

Love a bit of shed motoring.

Recently bought a bargain BMW 320d. Cheap because it was the compact and everybody hates them.

Low mileage, immaculate one lady owned with a full BMW service history, two advisories in its entire life from MOTs and never a fail.

But it was cheap, returns 50+ to the gallon and I don't really like BMW's that much so bar servicing and fuelling it gets hammered to work and back and dropped in the nearest/cheapest car park to where I want to be, shopping and whatever.

Funny though, in actual value it isn't worth much less than my pride and joy, which is probably the best B5.5 passat left on the road, one of the lowest mileage and easily the best looking (but that is of course only my opinion)

This is when being a massive VW fan and modifying vehicles really makes the least sense, I am thousands into a car that would only achieve maybe 500 quid more than the BMW if I came to sell it (which i never will) yet I spend out all that extra in tax insurance and fuel to ensure the car park vultures don't put a scratch on my precious baby!

[Lemming Train]

S100HP said:

The TT won't be £500+ a year tax, its pre 06

You're right it's not, but having checked, it is £325 so that takes it over a grand when it goes on the road (as it's SORN right now). Also a pretty impressive MOT failure history for it as well!

[figtree]

Lemming Train said:

S100HP said:

The TT won't be £500+ a year tax, its pre 06

You're right it's not, but having checked, it is £325 so that takes it over a grand when it goes on the road (as it's SORN right now). Also a pretty impressive MOT failure history for it as well!

Are you the shed police or something?