05-08-2020, 11:05 PM
Well now we're officially allowed here, seems a '99 2.0 SE cabriolet followed me home tonight!
It's a car we'd seen about locally for years, but had vanished from the road a couple of years ago. Our eldest lad spotted it languishing on a driveway under some trees and covered in moss earlier & on a whim I knocked on, expecting the usual story "yeh, I'm restoring it one day just need to find time"... Anyway, that was not the case & the guy said make him an offer so having looked over the car and heard the back story of how the head was cooked I went in at £150, fully expecting to be talked up to 3... "no worries mate it's yours if you want it at that"
That's not how I expected negotiations to go!
So, as it was only 2 minutes walk from home (and a downhill ride too) I went back up there with cash, a battery and the kids & did the deal. Fella poured some water in the rad as I hooked up the power, 5 seconds of cranking and it's alive... And running sweet as a nut???
Certainly didn't tally with what I expected from the story of it having a rad failure and subsequent HG failure, so drove it home and gave it a wash while it sat idling with a beady eye on the temp gauge. No bubbles in the rad bottle, heater nice and hot, temperature at 70.... 80.... 90............. 95............. 100c..... no fan activity so shut it down and let it cool while we finished washing it. After a cursory glance round the engine compartment, problem found, the fan switch isn't in the new rad and the plug was just dangling in the breeze!
So, jumper the plug out & we have a fan. Restart engine, 70c..... 75..... 80..... 80..... 80.... fast idle for a few minutes, 80.... 80..... rock bleedin' steady!
So, couple of jobs to do. There's an ABS lamp presumably rust on the reluctor rings, the indicator/headlamp stalk is snapped off, front reg plate broken & there's a couple of tyres look borderline, then I'll throw it at the MoT station and see what sort of trouble I've bought us.
Honestly doesn't look too bad, roof needs a good clean to get lichen off it so will have to get some mohair care stuff and there's some niggles to sort like 3 of the windows don't work (eleccy roof does though!) and the driver's seat needs stitching repaired but I think it's turned out a real bargain, better than hoped anyway.
will have to get some pics tomorrow, need a shower now after scrubbing mould out of the interior lol.
TL;DR You can't kick me out now, we've got a 306!
It's a car we'd seen about locally for years, but had vanished from the road a couple of years ago. Our eldest lad spotted it languishing on a driveway under some trees and covered in moss earlier & on a whim I knocked on, expecting the usual story "yeh, I'm restoring it one day just need to find time"... Anyway, that was not the case & the guy said make him an offer so having looked over the car and heard the back story of how the head was cooked I went in at £150, fully expecting to be talked up to 3... "no worries mate it's yours if you want it at that"
That's not how I expected negotiations to go!So, as it was only 2 minutes walk from home (and a downhill ride too) I went back up there with cash, a battery and the kids & did the deal. Fella poured some water in the rad as I hooked up the power, 5 seconds of cranking and it's alive... And running sweet as a nut???
Certainly didn't tally with what I expected from the story of it having a rad failure and subsequent HG failure, so drove it home and gave it a wash while it sat idling with a beady eye on the temp gauge. No bubbles in the rad bottle, heater nice and hot, temperature at 70.... 80.... 90............. 95............. 100c..... no fan activity so shut it down and let it cool while we finished washing it. After a cursory glance round the engine compartment, problem found, the fan switch isn't in the new rad and the plug was just dangling in the breeze!
So, jumper the plug out & we have a fan. Restart engine, 70c..... 75..... 80..... 80..... 80.... fast idle for a few minutes, 80.... 80..... rock bleedin' steady!
So, couple of jobs to do. There's an ABS lamp presumably rust on the reluctor rings, the indicator/headlamp stalk is snapped off, front reg plate broken & there's a couple of tyres look borderline, then I'll throw it at the MoT station and see what sort of trouble I've bought us.
Honestly doesn't look too bad, roof needs a good clean to get lichen off it so will have to get some mohair care stuff and there's some niggles to sort like 3 of the windows don't work (eleccy roof does though!) and the driver's seat needs stitching repaired but I think it's turned out a real bargain, better than hoped anyway.
will have to get some pics tomorrow, need a shower now after scrubbing mould out of the interior lol.
TL;DR You can't kick me out now, we've got a 306!