Rescued a Ka....

[DreXeL]

So I overheard a workmate telling someone that he was scrapping his wife's old Ka, due to 'the steering being noisy'. So I butted in to ask him exactly what the issue is, basically he is the type of person who is scared of a spanner, and pays a garage to do all his work. He didn't even take it to the garage to enquire about the steering noise, as his Wife has a new car and he didn't want to spend any more money on it.

Anyway, knowing that from the symptoms he described it is likely to just be the pump, I managed to get him to let me take it off his hands for a small sum, it'll be handy to have a second car again as a runabout, plus my Son is currently taking his lessons so it'll be something for him to drive when he passes his test.

Here it is as of now:

Aside from the PS pump (already have one on the way), it has a tendency to wonder about a bit when getting on and off the throttle. Research tells me it is probably a lower wishbone bush, easiest thing is to replace the whole wishbone. I'll do both as they are dirt cheap at £40 the pair.

Other than that it's a pretty solid little car, it has a couple of fairly large patches of rust next to the drivers side door slam, but other than that it's solid, no rust around the filler cap as is usual with these things. I'm going to rub the rust patches back and just flash them over for now, and it has some scrapes and bumps as expected, but generally the paint isn't bad.

Everything works as it should, even the A/C. The interior is in good nick, just absolutely filthy, and it even has some tax and MOT left.

Oh, forgot to say how much I paid for it......






£80

 

[DreXeL]

How do people live with a mess like that?

Can't knock that for 80 quid, they're cheap little runabouts. Looks like someone wet themselves in the drivers seat though

Yep, the interior really is filthy, but it should come up OK.

"I won't mod this one.."

Fully expecting a rotary in there by summer

LOL, no chance, not when my Son is going to be driving it...

 

[DreXeL]

Fair enough for the cash. That rust would be my biggest worry but even if it fails its next not you'll get the cash back

It looks bad but it's not gone through, even after poking it/tapping it with a screwdriver. I'll rub it back and stick some rust killer on there then flash it over. Sills are pretty solid (has had some welding done before though), and there is no other major corrosion underneath. I reckon I can get one more MOT out of it at least

 

[DreXeL]

Have they... peed on themselves on the seats

Looking at it............quite possibly

 

[DreXeL]

Banded steels, stretch and camber.

I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind

 

[DreXeL]

That's a bargain. I bet you could weigh it in for more than that.

Yep, he did say he was offered more for scrap but was happy to do me a favour

 

[DreXeL]

as for the noise... my bet says pas fluid leak and the pump is running dry!!

Checked that, there is still fluid in the reservoir though. Pump was cheap enough and is a fairly straightforward job to do. I'll be getting the boy to do as much spannering as possible, want him to have at least half a clue when it comes to working on cars, unlike most young 'uns these days...

 

[DreXeL]

Yeah it's very common, the wishbones are basically a consumable item on them.

 

[DreXeL]

OK, the PAS pump didn't turn up as expected, so I decided to tackle that rust before it gets any worse. I just rubbed the worst of it down, treated it with some Kurust and blew it over with a rattle can. Was just going to leave it primer until I do a prettier job when the weather gets better, but luckily I found a barely used can of the correct paint in the boot.

Before:

After:

Not the prettiest up close, but not really noticeable from a distance, and much better than the two large rust patches, and should stop it getting worse for a while.

Anyway, between coats I had another look at the PAS fluid, turns out it was lower than I initially thought, so I topped it up and..........the noise has completely gone

It's obviously weeping from somewhere to get low in the first place, but it's certainly not ****ing out from anywhere, I'll investigate it properly when I do the wishbones. I'll just keep the PAS pump I ordered as a spare.

I also took a look at the boot as it won't open by either the remote release button, or the key. The lock seems to be damaged, and the solenoid itself is faulty as there is power getting to it when the button is pressed, however if I manually move the solenoid I can open the boot, so I have a solenoid on watch on the bay at the moment.

CBA has kicked in now, but tomorrow I'll be tackling the interior and giving the outside a good wash

 

[DreXeL]

Should have put a skim of filler to level up the pitted area! Nice little bargain though, cheap as chips to run and great fun to drive.

Yeah I intend to do that when I do a prettier job of it when the weather/temperature improves, this was purely to halt the rust progress and make it look half presentable for now.

 

[DreXeL]

Pushrods FTW!!

 

[DreXeL]

Will your son thank you, or hate you though?

Well I didn't bring him up to be an ungrateful little ****, so he's very happy to just have the use of a car, especially considering he was worried he wouldn't have anything to drive after he passed his test.

So yes, very thankful, plus he'll enjoy working on it with me

 

[DreXeL]

Bargain.

How much have you spent fixing it up since the initial £80?

Including the paint and Kurust, about a fifteen quid

The P/S pump was £25 but looks like I won't be needing it now. A pair of lower wishbones are £40, that'll be next weekends job. Other than that, just cleaning products, most of which I have lying about in the garage

Oh, forgot about the boot solenoid, won one on eBay last night for a tenner

 

[DreXeL]

AND I CLAIM MY FIVE POUNDS!!!!!!!!

Yep, I discounted it because there was some fluid in there and it was REALLY noisy, but topping it up did the trick

 

[DreXeL]

Doh, quoted instead of editing.

 

[DreXeL]

Started a thread on that the other day:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18484231

 

[DreXeL]

Ok, me and the boy went out and gave it a bit of a clean up today. These are the kind of things that were all over the interior, dash etc:

It all came off the plastics dead easy:

Also tackled the stains with some upholstery cleaner, and gave it a hoovering out:

Seat stains are pretty much gone now, I'll go over it again when they've dried though. The carpet/mats need a deeper clean, I'll be borrowing a mate's Vax for that. Still, it's 100x better than it was. Onto the outside, I was going to get hold of some cheap wheeltrims, but I had some silver rattle cans lying about and some primer left over, so I thought 'what the hell', and painted the wheels. So here it is now, body washed and wheels painted, I was going to polish it too but it started raining:

Came up alright I reckon, and I quite like the steelies like that

 

[DreXeL]

I think I probably would, but I'm going to resist the temptation to make a quick buck as it's ideal for the boy and a little runaround.

 

[DreXeL]

Now spray that roof rack on the Defender in black, will look far more badass! Great job on the KA

The rack we more than likely be going black when I do the rest of the Landy when the weather improves

 

[DreXeL]

Used this a few times to go to work, it's an absolute hoot to drive, like a road legal go kart

Got hold of a working boot solenoid, will install that at the weekend. Will be doing the wishbones next weekend now, but all in all one of the better ways I've ever spent £80