Previous convictions?
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:11 am
Started off in a 1.3 (!) C reg bugandy Mk III Ford Escort Estate...... It met its demise 2 month after I passed my test. I "lent" it against a tree.
My Dad and I took the engine out of it and put it in a silver (mk III) Ford Escort Estate. This one survived long enough for me to put some XR2 pepperpots on it. I stuffed it into the back of a lorry.
Had a break from cars for a few months the bough a K reg 2.0 Mondeo off my Dad. Had it 18 months. It needed a head gasket, core plugs, a front suspesion rebuild after I hit a kerb, and god knows what else. All because I was 19 and drove it everywhere like I had stolen it.
Moved on to a Vectra 2.5 GSI. 21 years old and I bought one of them. It cost a fortune to insure, drank more fuel than a tank but it sounded ace and never let me down. After 18 months I was nearly bankrupt (fuel and insurance costs) sold it to my best mate for a song.
I ended up buying a J reg Citroen ZX Volcane for 500 squid. No MOT, needed a head rebuild and various other odds and sods. It was black, I put 1.9 205 GTi wheels on it and debadged it. It didn't look to bad.
Got it through an MOT after about 2 months of work, and it was spectacularly unreliable. Two head rebuilds, heater matrix, clutch, drive shafts, brakes, exhuast, radiator, plug leads, ignition module, crank sensor, battery, alternator, starter motor, ignition barrel, starter motor again, corroded earths, clutch cable, throttle cable, bonnet release, the list goes on and on.
The best one was one morning, a neighbour complained to my Mum that my car was in the way and they couldn't get out of their drive. Mum comes up to my room in a panic (as all flapping women do) and grabs my keys. I'm lying in bed when I hear an almighty bang, I did wonder what it was but didn't think anything more of it. 5 min later my Mum comes up and says "I've blown your car up......"
Faulty fuel pressure regulator on the injection rail had leaked fuel into the plastic inlet manifold with predictable results.......
It got broken into twice, driven into three times, but it was really good to drive. I had it sideways everywhere......
Next was the 155. My first Alfa.
I really liked that car. It died when someone pulled out in front of me in a rolls. I took to a grass verge, nearside rear wheel hit 200mm high wall in the verge and tore out the rear suspesion. I've still got most of the car in my lock up - bought it back and broke it for bits.
I put the engine in this:
Got rid of that and bought a 156 V6, Feb 05:
It made a luverly noise, but OMG, it was worse than the vectra on fuel. Most reliable car I've had.
I decided to go all sensible after the V6 and bought a remapped JTD - supposedly 200bhp and 300lb/ft:
It wasn't the best purchase I've made. The airflow meter was fubar, hence the black rear end, the clutch slipped - dual mass flywheel = tres expensive, I put a new rad in it, the turbo was kaput:
and the driveshafts were knocking. None of this was apparent on the test drive. Fortunately befor I had time to do anything with it, this happened:
A pillar was bent. Write off. I bought it back for 200 and flogged it on ebay as a recorded write off.
They gave me this to smoke around in whilst the claim was sorted out:
(taken at Leeds festival, '06)
Which was nice.
We had a spare 156 at the time, so I put the money from the JTD into my project and drove this up untill last week:
Its got a silly gearbox on it but its for sale if you know anyone who'd be interested. Be warned though, whilst the engine is superb, it has a appetite for engine oil.
And now I've got the BX. Pics to follow.
My Dad and I took the engine out of it and put it in a silver (mk III) Ford Escort Estate. This one survived long enough for me to put some XR2 pepperpots on it. I stuffed it into the back of a lorry.
Had a break from cars for a few months the bough a K reg 2.0 Mondeo off my Dad. Had it 18 months. It needed a head gasket, core plugs, a front suspesion rebuild after I hit a kerb, and god knows what else. All because I was 19 and drove it everywhere like I had stolen it.
Moved on to a Vectra 2.5 GSI. 21 years old and I bought one of them. It cost a fortune to insure, drank more fuel than a tank but it sounded ace and never let me down. After 18 months I was nearly bankrupt (fuel and insurance costs) sold it to my best mate for a song.
I ended up buying a J reg Citroen ZX Volcane for 500 squid. No MOT, needed a head rebuild and various other odds and sods. It was black, I put 1.9 205 GTi wheels on it and debadged it. It didn't look to bad.
Got it through an MOT after about 2 months of work, and it was spectacularly unreliable. Two head rebuilds, heater matrix, clutch, drive shafts, brakes, exhuast, radiator, plug leads, ignition module, crank sensor, battery, alternator, starter motor, ignition barrel, starter motor again, corroded earths, clutch cable, throttle cable, bonnet release, the list goes on and on.
The best one was one morning, a neighbour complained to my Mum that my car was in the way and they couldn't get out of their drive. Mum comes up to my room in a panic (as all flapping women do) and grabs my keys. I'm lying in bed when I hear an almighty bang, I did wonder what it was but didn't think anything more of it. 5 min later my Mum comes up and says "I've blown your car up......"
Faulty fuel pressure regulator on the injection rail had leaked fuel into the plastic inlet manifold with predictable results.......
It got broken into twice, driven into three times, but it was really good to drive. I had it sideways everywhere......
Next was the 155. My first Alfa.
I really liked that car. It died when someone pulled out in front of me in a rolls. I took to a grass verge, nearside rear wheel hit 200mm high wall in the verge and tore out the rear suspesion. I've still got most of the car in my lock up - bought it back and broke it for bits.
I put the engine in this:
Got rid of that and bought a 156 V6, Feb 05:
It made a luverly noise, but OMG, it was worse than the vectra on fuel. Most reliable car I've had.
I decided to go all sensible after the V6 and bought a remapped JTD - supposedly 200bhp and 300lb/ft:
It wasn't the best purchase I've made. The airflow meter was fubar, hence the black rear end, the clutch slipped - dual mass flywheel = tres expensive, I put a new rad in it, the turbo was kaput:
and the driveshafts were knocking. None of this was apparent on the test drive. Fortunately befor I had time to do anything with it, this happened:
A pillar was bent. Write off. I bought it back for 200 and flogged it on ebay as a recorded write off.
They gave me this to smoke around in whilst the claim was sorted out:
(taken at Leeds festival, '06)
Which was nice.
We had a spare 156 at the time, so I put the money from the JTD into my project and drove this up untill last week:
Its got a silly gearbox on it but its for sale if you know anyone who'd be interested. Be warned though, whilst the engine is superb, it has a appetite for engine oil.
And now I've got the BX. Pics to follow.