Mk1 Ford Focus, cost, £0!
Discussion
Yesterday I collected a focus off a friend of mine. It's a mk1 1.6 zetec in ebony spec, which means met black paint, pleather seats and a CD player player player!
I'm changing jobs which means giving back my company car (XC60 D4 r-design) which I couldn't stand and reverting back to private car ownership. He's owned it from new, 15 years, and it has 150k miles on the clock. The engine was replaced at 100k because he ran it out of oil. I needed something reasonably cheap while I get into my new job and was looking at Subaru foresters and Volvo XC70s. However he put this up on Facebook and asked if anyone was interested, I was wild camping at the time with no phone signal but my wife got first dibs on it.
He said he didn't want anything for it but the the arrangement I've come to with him is if it fails on a sheet full on the MOT (it ran out in December) I will split the scrap value with him, however if it passes or only needs minor work which I think is much more likely, when I do eventually sell it I will give him half the sale value. An arrangement we are both happy with.
It's booked in for the test next Friday and I don't want to spend anything on it before I know the results! However I have fettled the front brakes, put 3 litres of oil in it, a litre of coolant, charged the battery up, put some air in the tyres, and found the code for the stereo and got that working. It will definitely need discs and pads on the rear but like I said I will see what else it needs before committing and money to it.
Pending a good outcome on Friday my plans are to get the bodywork up to scratch, it's not bad but has seen 15 years of car washes and has lots of bird poo etching. Decontaminate the interior, it's fairly bogging and has half a Dalmatians worth of hair in the boot. Repair the drivers seat bolster, it has split on the inside bolster which is unusual. Some form of rust treatment on the underside, it's amazingly good but I don't want it catching me out. Drop all the arch liners and give a really good clean. Oh and it needs a set of mats!
I haven't taken any photos yet but I will take plenty of before and after and keep this updated.
Let's see how a £0 car gets along!
I'm changing jobs which means giving back my company car (XC60 D4 r-design) which I couldn't stand and reverting back to private car ownership. He's owned it from new, 15 years, and it has 150k miles on the clock. The engine was replaced at 100k because he ran it out of oil. I needed something reasonably cheap while I get into my new job and was looking at Subaru foresters and Volvo XC70s. However he put this up on Facebook and asked if anyone was interested, I was wild camping at the time with no phone signal but my wife got first dibs on it.
He said he didn't want anything for it but the the arrangement I've come to with him is if it fails on a sheet full on the MOT (it ran out in December) I will split the scrap value with him, however if it passes or only needs minor work which I think is much more likely, when I do eventually sell it I will give him half the sale value. An arrangement we are both happy with.
It's booked in for the test next Friday and I don't want to spend anything on it before I know the results! However I have fettled the front brakes, put 3 litres of oil in it, a litre of coolant, charged the battery up, put some air in the tyres, and found the code for the stereo and got that working. It will definitely need discs and pads on the rear but like I said I will see what else it needs before committing and money to it.
Pending a good outcome on Friday my plans are to get the bodywork up to scratch, it's not bad but has seen 15 years of car washes and has lots of bird poo etching. Decontaminate the interior, it's fairly bogging and has half a Dalmatians worth of hair in the boot. Repair the drivers seat bolster, it has split on the inside bolster which is unusual. Some form of rust treatment on the underside, it's amazingly good but I don't want it catching me out. Drop all the arch liners and give a really good clean. Oh and it needs a set of mats!
I haven't taken any photos yet but I will take plenty of before and after and keep this updated.
Let's see how a £0 car gets along!
I had a new mk1 focus 1.6lx on a Y plate and it was fun to drive, good boot space and very practical. It was the first non mini car I had that really handled well!
A friend has one thats been in his family since new and its well overdue a cam belt though its his spare car so he’s not too bothered about it.
Unusual to have discs on the back - I thought it was only the 2 litre and heavy diesels that had them.
Ian
A friend has one thats been in his family since new and its well overdue a cam belt though its his spare car so he’s not too bothered about it.
Unusual to have discs on the back - I thought it was only the 2 litre and heavy diesels that had them.
Ian
Here's what a free 15 year old focus looks like after a very quick wash and vac!
I've put some new plates on it as the old ones were faded. It's booked in for the MOT on Friday so the outcome of that will decide the future of it. But having had it over the pit and given it a good once over I'll be very surprised if anything major comes to light.
I've put some new plates on it as the old ones were faded. It's booked in for the MOT on Friday so the outcome of that will decide the future of it. But having had it over the pit and given it a good once over I'll be very surprised if anything major comes to light.
bern said:
Here's what a free 15 year old focus looks like after a very quick wash and vac!
I've put some new plates on it as the old ones were faded. It's booked in for the MOT on Friday so the outcome of that will decide the future of it. But having had it over the pit and given it a good once over I'll be very surprised if anything major comes to light.
I reckon in 20 years time Mk1 2 door Focus will be worth a lot of money as people turn them into Focus RS reps or whatever.I've put some new plates on it as the old ones were faded. It's booked in for the MOT on Friday so the outcome of that will decide the future of it. But having had it over the pit and given it a good once over I'll be very surprised if anything major comes to light.
Just watch.
JakeT said:
Apart from the propensity to rust you've got pretty much the ideal winter car there. Heated seats and screens, and the Sigma engines always seem to come up to temperature in about 4 yards. Nice looking example too.
On the rust front I know they like to go in front of the rear arches and around the arches because of the silly carpet style arch liners but apart from a few bubbles it’s appears very solid. 
Peanut Gallery said:
Open the doors and clean underneath please!
As in just open the doors, not take the door cards off! I have seen many where the drain holes in the bottom of the doors block up, and they rust out from the inside.
Really good catch! Enjoy!
Will do. When/if it gets its MOT I know I won’t be able to help myself and it will be getting a major fettle. Machine polish the bodywork, seats out, deep clean the carpets and scrub everything. Under seal / coat the underside, paint the calipers, etc. As in just open the doors, not take the door cards off! I have seen many where the drain holes in the bottom of the doors block up, and they rust out from the inside.
Really good catch! Enjoy!
I decided to do the rear brakes before the MOT as I was quite confident in the the rest of the car being ok.
The result?
Passed with no advisories! Happy days.
There is still loads to do to it but I don't hand my company car back till the end of the month so I have loads of time to get it sorted. I've also added the complete removal of the interior to my to do list, including the carpets as they are filthy and there is mould under the back seats! Better than rust I suppose.
The result?
Passed with no advisories! Happy days.
There is still loads to do to it but I don't hand my company car back till the end of the month so I have loads of time to get it sorted. I've also added the complete removal of the interior to my to do list, including the carpets as they are filthy and there is mould under the back seats! Better than rust I suppose.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff