Hi All
Thought id post my current bangernomics car and the story behind how it came to be.

Buying
Rewind to november 2012 I've just bought my first house having sold my lupo, weve kept the wifes fiesta because she doesnt like the lupo. Moneys tight and the house needs work to make it ours.
Her £1600 fiesta goes in for its second MOT and fails on welding to just about the whole car, two wheel bearings a stuck caliper, high emissions and broken suspension.
So i ask for a quote from the garage and they want £600-800 to fix it. Scrapyard time.
I've got £700 in savings to fix the house up and we now need a car. I look on gumtree and theres a polo 6n for £650. I had one as my first car and loved it so i thought why not have a look.
Off we go to essex and i find the car. Its got an abs light, no radio a load of missing trim, the electric windows dont work at all, the central lockings failed and when i put the seat back it comes off the runners. After further inspection i find minimal rust and it all seems ok. So after a bit of negotiation i get it for £400 with 10 months MOT and 6 months tax.
This is how she looked:


Initial Repairs
Once I'm home I set a budget of £50 to fix as much as possible and start work.
I find a breakers and grab the dash trim and the missing seat runner parts for £10.
I then find a central locking pump on clubpolo for £10 and fix that.
Then its onto the windows, having hit the motor on the passenger side it unjams and works, so i grease it and the runners and use a bolt to fix the broken mechanism mount thats putting strain on the motor causing the jam in the first place.
Then onto the drivers side, a quick check with a voltmeter shows no voltage at the motor, i swap the switches with no effect so start looking at the wiring. Low and behold i find a broken wire in the door to body tube, having soldered it back together and taped a spring round the outside to add strength i try the motor. Bingo it works but smokes and gets stuck at the bottom. So a couple of bits of wood later the windows wedged shut.
Onto ebay again and i find a second hand mechanism and motor for £20 and fit it, and bingo it works again, a quick grease and things are going well.
Onto the ABS, a scan with my fault reader shows a bad front left sensor, i find a dirty connection and after a clean the light goes out. Result.
So I've got £10 left, a local car boot turns up a cd player for £3 untested that ends up working fine and then on ebay i get a chinese remote locking kit for £5 and a new gasket for the ariel for £2.
The CD player goes in on goes the new gasket to replace the perished one, and after a bit of faffing the remote locking kit works. Budget spent and the cars useable.

Unexpected improvement
I now turn my attention to the way it looks and a mate gives me some oem wheels to replace the halfords multi-fit alloys in exhange for some old lupo bits i had laying around anyway. After a good scrubbing and a bit of love it now looks like this:
<a href="http://s6.photobucket.com/user/chris_p_bits/media/null_zpsdd399251.jpg.html"target="_blank"><img src="http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y245/chris_p_bits/null_zpsdd399251.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo null_zpsdd399251.jpg"/></a>

I then find a centre console with cup holders and a 6n2 gearknob and gaiter. The interior is then cleaned and ends up like this:



Making it last
The next job is a full service including HT Leads, Plugs, Dizzy cap and rotor arm, oil change, coolant change, brake fluid change and a new air filter.


MOT 2
The next mot rolls around and low and behold after a new mid section and backbox and a bit of welding it passes.

Year two is spent driving it mainly and in the time spent it gets a rear abs sensor a coolant temperature sender and a bit of welding then in for the next mot. After a new CV Boot it passes again.

The year i realised i was keeping it
Into year 3 and the water-pump starts to fail, at this point it had £400 spent at a garage for a new camblet water pump all rollers and all tensioners. Then a week later the alternator fails , gsf want £250 and the wife starts ranting about old cars, untill i get a used one on ebay for £20 posted. Two days of charging the battery to use the car i fit the replacement alternator and off it goes again.
And last week the drivers seat bolster failed and a large lump started poking my already knackered back. So onto ebay and i was allowed up to £150 for new seats, £130 and a trip to london later and I've spend the budget on two leather mk3 golf seats with heating elements.
They look like this:


Its still in daily use and its on 160k on the original engine gearbox and clutch. Not bad for a car that was supposed to last a year. I now intend to use it until i cant fix it anymore but i think its got a few years left.

Sorry if that was boring but i hope you enjoyed reading.
Chris :)

Edited 26 March, 201511 yr by madmanncfc

good to have a story with a car