How to bring a sat car back to life?

[ben711200]

Firstly, thanks to all who talked me through what I should think about for an engine swap.. I located myself a donor on eBay, viewed it, I've won the auction and I'm picking it up on tuesday.

Am I going to use it as a donor? Am I curse word! It's in far too good condition and I quite fancy the idea of blatting about in a cheeky MX-5 now.

It's been sat for about 18 months though, and I'm not sure what I should do to bring it back to life. The 'devil may care' side says I should just charge the battery and turn the key, and see what happens but I plan on giving it a bit of a service before it gets pushed into use so does anybody have any pointers about how to bring my new metrosexual puchase back to life?

Here it is...

[ben711200]

What a marvelous naughty word filter. 'Gosh darnage' sounds much better!

[grumpybadger]

Check it's got oil, water and fuel and you can turn it by hand then fire it up.
You don't want to service a wrecked engine, if it fires then idles turn it off and service away.
For a car thats been stood I'd be more concerned about the brakes and clutch, though 18 months isn't that long really.
I'm Taking a 30 year old camper for test next week and thats been stood about the same time but I don't expect any problems.

[piperfish]

Looks quite tidy, Go through it, change the oil etc. Spin it over with no spark plugs in to get some oil pressure up then re-fit the plugs and she should go. J cars like this are usually pretty good. It looks like its been garaged as well, which helps.

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, rear calipers seize up even when the car is being used, so expect some work there. But otherwise, I'd just opt for firing it up.

[ben711200]

Brilliant, sounds good to me. It hasn't been garaged, but it has been looked after even when sat (covered in winter etc) and the fact that when I viewed it, it was parked on a different part of the drive to the photos is an encouraging sign that the brakes should still be okay.

In that case, my biggest concern is the cost of the new tyres on those rather girthy wheels

[popuptoaster]

I wouldnt worry about spinning it over with no plugs in it to get the pressure up, a normal car starts with no pressure every morning, i'd check the tyres are ok, stick some jump leads on it and start the thing up, see if the clutch is stuck which i doubt on that, and then see if the brakes are seized up which i reckon they could be although they may be stuck off rather than on. Last car i started after a lay up had been standing 9 years, had to put fresh fuel in that one though.

[magnumpi]

Jun 20, 2009 17:15:35 GMT ben711200 said:

In that case, my biggest concern is the cost of the new tyres on those rather girthy wheels

You can solve that by selling me those rims i think they are rather tasty myself.

Oh and great purchase and good luck with getting it back on the road again

[keithyboy]

Pound to a penny if the battery is charged, that thing will fire up like it last ran yesterday. If the handbrake's been off all that time, the handbrake will be curse word though.

[bxer]

I'd go for taking the plugs out, and squirting some oil down the bores first...

[waveman1500]

18 months sitting is like 5 minutes to a modern Japanese car like an MX-5. Just check all the fluids and turn the key. My mum parked our Nissan for about that length of time when she replaced it with a new car in 2004. We did nothing to it whilst in storage. When I got my learner's permit we just turned the key. The battery was dead so I think we push-started it backwards down the driveway. Ran like a new one, and it was perfect once a new battery had been installed.