A day at the workshop...

[agw_01]

As I mentioned in the 'Do you rent a lockup' thread, me and a few mates recently decided to rent a unit.

The keys were handed over on Thursday evening and my friends have been busy moving their stuff in over the past few days.

As I was working this week, I didn't have any spare time and so couldn't go down until today. Got there at about lunch time ready to crack open the toolbox.

(These pictures were taken late afternoon after work had commenced)

My friend was telling me that he had a surprise for me, so we get in the car and set off... all the while wondering what the hell he's talking about.

We get to the destination and directly in front of us is a dirty, mouldy M reg Rover 220 GSi. He'd had his eye on it for a while and while having a look around it, I noticed the bonnet was open. Had a nosey and checked a few things out until deciding to knock on a few nearby houses to find the owner.

We found the owner who then proceeded to tell us that it'd sat unused since October 2007. He mentioned that the alternator would drain the battery to which he'd fitted a new alternator, only to find the same problem.

Knowing that it'd need a bit of work, we offered the guy a fair amount (less than it would cost for 6 months tax ) and set to work. The expansion tank was empty so filled that up, the tyres were flat and the battery was dead. Hooked the jump leads upto my car and what do you know... she roared into life on the first turn of the key!

Left it idling while we inflated the tyres (along with a few other checks) and got the car back to the unit.

The car was in a sorry state so we immediately started stripping it.

After having a short break, I decided to have a look at the electrical issue. It seemed that the alternator was charging fine yet the battery voltage wasn't increasing. Luckily, I'd brought a new battery along... which seems to have sorted out the starting problems... RESULT!

As the car was so dirty we decided to push it around the corner to the petrol station and give it a good jetwash. As most of the panels had been removed we were able to get into every nook and cranny... it's actually quite a tidy car bar a bit of rust on the rear arch. I've already got dibs on the bonnet.

So, that's where we're upto so far. Going back tomorrow to clean the interior and re-fit the majority of body panels. The coolant needs flushing, we're going to give it an oil change and it could do with a new inlet cam cover gasket as it's weeping slightly.

Here's how it looked earlier today...

I'm sure the neighbours love us!

 

[agw_01]

oooh sweet.....what moneys are you paying and where abouts is it btw mate? Something like that could come in uber useful every now and then

We're paying £250 a month, but that's split between 3 of us. That money includes electricity and water too!

Whats going on with the rear bumper on that newish ZS?

It's actually a 45 but with the ZS kit fitted. Well... it had the ZS kit fitted until some **** crashed into it outside my mate's house. He removed the kit while it went in for the bumper repair.

Jesus, that looks like fun!

What plans have you got for the car once its all sorted? track day car? or selling to make a profit?

Originally, the plan was to buy the car to repair and sell on but my friend with the 45/ZS loves the 3 doors and wouldn't mind keeping it. It'd be nice to have a car spare anyway, just in case one of us decides to take ours off the road for whatever work.

And oh yeah, it's fun alright. Being able to work on a car not having to care about the weather or what time of day it is. Today just flew by!

Danny, see above re prices

 

[agw_01]

LMAO, you now have the last rover dealership in the world.

We've got a Rover 620Si coming next week

Bunka, if only it was closer to work lol

 

[agw_01]

Don't ask me... I went away for some lunch, came back and they'd already started

It had been sitting for 6 months though and was absolutely filthy. The seats and steering wheel are quite mouldy and will be coming out tomorrow for a clean.

It's all good fun though.

 

[agw_01]

Lol, okay - I've never removed the wings to polish a car though

haha. We didn't exactly polish it... we just took it around the corner to give it a good blast with the jetwash. It was parked down a dirty track road for months so was absolutely caked in mud and general rubbish.

One of the wings was a bit dented so my mate is going to take that to work on Monday to get the dent removed

R124, cheers

 

[agw_01]

Ok, spent some more time at the unit today... here's a few pictures to show the progress made.

Both cam covers removed to inspect the cams, clean the covers and fit new gaskets. All was going well until my mate dropped a bolt into the head

New plugs were also fitted and the dizzy cap/rotor arm cleaned.

After prodding away at the rear arch, we were fairly happy that it was only surface rust. A few minutes with a grinder, and we were back to bare metal ready for treatment. Lovely stuff.

Quite scary how quickly you can outgrow a workshop. We've been in a day and are already hankering after more space!

Horrible pinstripes removed and body panels cleaned and given a coat of T-cut.

Interior removed ready for a good clean. It's absolutely disgusting in there at the moment.

The unit is already becoming worthwhile. Imagine working outside in this weather!

After the rain cleared up, the sun came out. We moved the car outside to drop the coolant. The results of which you can see above. Eurgh.

The system was flushed, back-flushed and then flushed again. We then filled the car with clean water, got it up to temperature and drained again. We filled it again, this time with a nice mixture of anti-freeze.

I had to dash off early so left my mates to put the car back in the garage. I got a call about 20 minutes later telling me that it wouldn't start. After scratching my head for a few seconds, I suggested checking the king lead as when one of the guys was refitting the airbox, he might have disturbed it.

Low and behold, the king lead was loose... but they'd already killed the battery trying to start it

 

[agw_01]

It's just rusty water

 

[agw_01]

It's the power steering fluid cooler

 

[agw_01]

So how much do you think you'll get for this once you've done the work mate?

Not much in all honesty.

Probably £300-£350, perhaps a little more at a push. One of the guys is thinking of buying the two of us out anyway as he really likes the hatches so not sure what's going to happen.

Really impressed with the engine though. It was sat 6 months and started first turn of the key. It's very smooth, very strong and idles absolutely perfectly!

 

[agw_01]

No, there's a Turbo badge to replace the 16v badge on the turbo models

 

[agw_01]

The T series (NASP or Turbo) doesn't suffer HGF as such, just on earlier gaskets, an oil way at the front right corner of the block tends to weep a bit. That was fixed with the release of (you were spot on with this one) the Klinger triple layer gasket. Mine's been fine reliability wise... it's covered about 10k in the past 6 months and apart from the bits I knew about for the MOT, I've not had to spend anything on it bar oil changes and petrol.

I'd say the Turbo's are more popular (have a look on RT and see how many turbos there are to NASPs) but due to availability, the changes of seeing a Turbo parked up full of mould is quite small. I've only seen one other 220 Turbo while out of my travels (excluding RT meets or friends who own them) and that was last month 5 minutes from my house. The 620Ti's seem to be getting ever more popular though.

I'd love to find one in the same state we found this 220... "Argh, this thing needs a lot of work doing to it. I'll give you £50 for it"

 

[agw_01]

If you get a known good one, I see no reason not to pay £800 for it. Mine was £600, but that was only because the guy wanted to get rid of it.

After I've sorted the bits of bodywork and rebuilt my TorSen box, I see no reason why it wouldn't fetch top dollar on PH and the like. But that's boring and I'm not going to sell it until I've tinkered with it

haha, the gearbox is now down at the workshop. I removed it from the boot after an incident involving a tight corner and a dented bootlid

 

[agw_01]

Thats not a lot of space for £250 pm like. But i guess it will do. how did you get the car back to the workshop after starting it?.. im guessing it had no tax / mot

The £250 includes water and electricity too, so it's not all bad

My mate added it to his insurance... and, yeah. Not that I condone doing that.

 

[agw_01]

haha, I was trying to think what to put so as not to incriminate myself

The magical fairy drove it.

 

[agw_01]

Car has now had an oil change and a new exhaust (£10 from the cat back from a scrappers!)

I had the fortune of pouring the old oil back into an oil container. The sludge left in the bottom was horrible. Poor engine

Runs lovely now and very quiet with the new exhaust! Interior has been cleaned and just needs a new drivers seat as the bolster was ripped.

Not a bad little car, especially for the money. No pictures of the car I'm afraid, might take a few if I'm down there tomorrow.

I also spent the day giving my mate's E46 316Ti a service. Surprised at how easy it was! And to think, BMW would charge a fortune!

You can't see, but I'm stood on a step ladder so that I can reach into the engine bay

 

[agw_01]

Nice one, just knocked a good few hundred quid off its value then!

Aha, don't you think I told him this

He's bought the car on finance and told me he plans to keep it for 4 years (until the finance is up). By that time, the car would be 10 years old and so wouldn't be worth too much anyway.

Funny though... the car was supposed to have full BMW service history, yet the oil was nasty and the plugs looked like they were 3 years old. The air filter (which he changed a few weeks ago) was black.

Not to mention the oil filter... which fell apart when removed from the housing.

Nice!

And I'm genuinely interested now... how much for an oil service?

 

[agw_01]

On one of those? About £100 but it isn't just an oil change, there are a number of check items also.

What oil did you use?

Interesting.

I did advise the guy that it would harm the residual value. I'm not an idiot.

I told him to get Castrol Edge, as I know that's what BMW recommend. He got 0w30 grade.

 

[agw_01]

And BMW recommend a service every 12k miles/1 year?

edit... Sorry, what I should mention is my mate was told that the car had just been serviced. Obviously not, going off the state of the oil and air filters.

Good point Fox. But still, I had a fun day and that's all that matters I'll make a point of getting it serviced properly next time it's due. Just to point out, I made NO money out of doing it so have absolutely no reason not to recommend a genuine service

 

[agw_01]

Too late Leon! Check out post 47

 

[agw_01]

The local BMW dealer is advertising an oil service for £55 for cars over 6 years old

And that includes parts? If so, that's not bad! The oil alone cost my mate £50 for 4 litres of Edge.

A few pictures, not very interesting... again, crap quality as they were taken on my phone.

New exhaust on the 220. £10 from a scrappers for backbox and middle section. Backbox looks new too! Car is lovely and quiet now.

New drivers seat fitted now too as the old one was ripped to shreds. Brake bleeding will come later on in the week along with a change of the gearbox oil... input shaft is quite noisy.

Gives you an idea on size. Can fit two cars in and still have room between them. Mine was about two inches from the shutter with about 1ft between the 2 cars. The ledge at the far end is about a meter wide.

Moved the 220 out to get mine on the ramps so that I could seal the join between the backbox and mid-section. There's nothing worse than a blowing flange Sounds much better now.

Note the trolley jack... had to jack the rear end to get the bumper clear of the ramps

And yes... that is a dent on the rear quarter. Courtesy of some **** in a carpark