The Continuous Car Thread of S_S - Dream Car #1 Achieved '23

[surprisingskoda]

Getting ever closer to being fully up to date for this mess of a year, the Impreza:

I said before about ordering up some new spacers and bolts to replace the previous incomplete/damaged ones, and they finally came.


Shiny wheelnuts:


And rear arches sorted. Removed and refitted the driver side one, so it's better secured now and tidier, and the replacement passenger side came from ABW which was sprayed and drilled and bolted on with new holes, because the riv-nuts used previously were wrecked and unusable, a few missing too.
Looking tight again:


Now, I'm still chasing this electrical fault. I've been test driving the car up and down the road for weeks with lots of different body connectors unplugged entirely, no dash, no lights, no doors, basically running it with nothing but the ECU and fuel pump still plugged in, and it's still popping fuses like no end.
It happens at random, sometimes when the car is sat still with ignition on, sometimes it's fine sitting idling but pops one when driving. Farthest I've got so far is about 2.5 miles. Very frustrating.
For this reason I've not been able to use the car at all. This pangs as I kind of decided to stick with the Impreza and forego a couple of other cars/projects/ideas in favour of it. I'm not far away now from buying a complete new wiring loom for it, but it does need a few other things too and I'm not sure if I want to go down the road of complete resto on it when I could still (just about) find another standard one to replace it and transfer the mods over. It's a bit of a nuisance in this state but I have shooed away a couple of annoying people trying to buy it so I'm definitely not done with it or fed up with it yet. In fact car selling seems to be extremely irritating at the minute and all I'm getting is people with grubby mitts trying to get a hold of cars that are appreciating fast, and of course shafting you the owner in the process. It's really unpleasant, I've always tried to be fair with people both buying and selling, and this rude, entitled, money-grubbing trend recently really gets on my wick.

Anyway I do like Subaru's and one was offered to me cheap, not quite cheap enough but I haggled until it was, by a person of no permanent abode with a Transit recovery truck - this 2009 Outback.

Now it's a really nice car and it was sold to me as a "non-starter". I found it advertised online before I'd even paid him with "broken cam". I still bought it anyway, before researching further and finding that the crank snaps in the early boxer diesels and knowing full well that would be the problem, I got one of the guys to confirm for me then shoved that into the corner to break for parts later. It's a shame as it's a really nice place to sit inside, but an engine is £2.5k+ for them (as they're so hard to get) and it's not worth that. This is why I buy cars with unknown faults cheaply and I've no regrets and wont lose any money, but for about one day at least I was able to think about driving around in a car that actually looked like a modern (only 11 years old!!!) with heated leather seats and inoffensive mileage.
Ah well, back to 20 year old bangernomics for now.

[surprisingskoda]

I believe we have finally come to the point of being up to date, just about, and so I need to just round it off by showing the updates to the fleet.
By updates, I of course mean additions.

Firstly, at the end of July I added a 2004 BRG MG ZT-T 135 CDTI with "interesting" interior modifications - wood, screws and bolts used to make things that should have been plastic from the factory - and 19" wheels.
That was bought to be (yet) another parts donor. I think subconsciously I've been future-proofing myself by stocking up on MGs and parts supply so I can navigate the next few years with those as dailies.

It must be something because at the end of September I also added a Navy Blue one!

Immaculate interior, Xenons, no rust, MOT and only 2 miles away, all for a couple of hundred quid!
Well, there was an "intermittent" non-start issue, which may or may not be (it totally is) an expired high-pressure fuel pump. We spent about 2 days on it changing the whole rail and sensors and also the ECU set trying to eliminate fault possibilities, because the ECU would not connect and so we initially thought that was the error, but even after putting another one in there were still OBD communication problems. Eventually a trial-and-error diagnosis was reached and sometime very soon this car will get the whole engine and box transplanted from the silver saloon, because, despite riding like a bag of gloop on a broken skateboard, the actual engine and box in that car were pretty good.
So that's another project which shouldn't prove too hard but it has been 2 months since I looked at it because, well, lots of other projects taking precedence.

And one last addition:

Yeah!!

[surprisingskoda]

As time goes by I find myself less and less inclined to have any "online presence" and I'm quite happy to not have have used social media for anything other than work for months. Which means every time I go to put up an update on this very thread, it takes a few days of "can I be bothered" "is it worthwhile" "there's x or y things need done" before I get up the motivation to write something. Not that I've no motivation otherwise, you understand, just struggling to continue doing things that I can't see the purpose of. I'm sure there is a purpose - to that end, if you know what it is, do share please. Why do we want reader's rides threads? What do you get from them that makes them worth the effort?
Hopefully I'll figure it out and can re-energise these posts.

This one will have some words in it. Do you prefer something to read, or pictures to look at? I've got both.

Tractor picture:



The Fergie got a couple of runs out. I've never driven an old tractor above walking speed before so this was a definite trail by fire, and it was great. Tipping along in 4th gear it was much faster than I anticipated, and much less shaky actually. I guess my wee grey has been better maintained than most as there's good brakes, good idle, good mpg, in fact it just works properly and it doesn't even have any of the typical rust problems that many of them do.


Car picture:


The S110R got tyres inflated, and driven home from where it had been in storage in work for a couple of years, so it can go into my garage at home, wait out the winter and be ready for adventures next summer. It's 100% a dry weather only car, simply owing to the rarity and obscurity meaning I won't risk it getting rusty, dirty, or damaged. But I absolutely LOVE driving it and even bringing it home in the cold and the wet in November it was still fantastic. Would have been better with both headlights working though!



Talky bits:
Y'all have read how I grew to like the Discovery 2 I bought in a pinch a couple of years ago. You might even have read the bits where I moan after it got steadily more damaged and ended up being impractical to fix, although I did start into it anyway. Eventually though the Disco got relegated to yard shunter and the search began for a "nicer" one. Well, a more roadworthy one, anyway. I would have liked a fully optioned one in a nice colour, to keep as a tidy weekend use car with the occasional towing job of off-road excursion. However I knew that I'd really got to like the bash-ability of the silver one and I'd probably ruin a really tidy one. It's the same reason I can't just go buy a Range Rover Sport TDV8. You can't shove old trailers out of the way with them or reverse them through overgrown thickets.
So with this constant "on one hand / on the other hand" debate raging in my mind, I tried to find and purchase a "reasonable" D2. One that was sufficiently tidy but also slightly scruffy so that it wouldn't matter if it got the 'odd' ding. This went on from last summer to late autumn. I kept trying to buy whatever came available, but it was all broken down or very tidy (with a price to match). There were no middle of the road examples coming up. I considered travelling to England but with the travel restrictions it was always proving awkward, and despite a healthy budget much of what was available was just overpriced, high mileage, worn out junk. Top end of the scale shouldn't have cars with oil leaks and non-functional central locking, and bottom end of the scale were mostly no better condition than the damaged D2 I was trying to replace!
Eventually a red high mileage TD5 came up about 50 miles away on ebay, and being the first thing I had seen in N. Ireland that actually ran and had an MOT, I bid away on it. I actually didn't win it but a fortnight later it went back up and that time I did get it. It had belonged to a few mechanics who one after the other all used it as a parts hauler and it was in reasonable mechanical shape but pretty untidy inside as you can imagine. But it wasn't badly priced, had recent tyres, a decent clutch and most of the electrics worked. Other than a whining wheel bearing it was good to go and so that was added to the fleet about the middle of November.

Not done with that, I bought my dad a new car, I bought several cars for work and before I knew it was staring down the barrel of a record breaker for me - most cars bought in a week - 9 in all. I know it doesn't sound like many really, but that's finding them advertised, going to see them, doing the deal, bringing them back - it can take all day or a couple of days to complete a full purchase. I've done big buys before getting many cars off one person, but not as many as 9 and even then they don't all get picked up in the same week.

The first one of the week had been a 2005 BMW 325ci cabriolet M Sport manual, in Mystic Blue with grey leather. I'd seen it for sale a couple of times over the preceding month, and it moved around a bit between some driveway traders, but I managed to pounce on it when it came up again. It was 50 miles away as well - several of the cars this week were all located within 5 miles of Carrickfergus and that's not the same side of the country as I'm on.
The 325 is just an average mileage, not very exciting spec, but fully functional cabriolet in a colour I like, and having all but given up on trying to find that red one I'd missed by moments 3 times in a row as it also bounced around various driveway traders last year, this Mystic Blue example was driven straight home and parked up, so I'll have a pretty cabrio next summer. I feel like it's going to get modified a bit - I haven't had a shiny car for a while, and a sport cabrio with some lows and nice wheels would suit that quite well and be very easily done.
A picture, you ask? No, no pictures. Not until those 'orrible MV2 wheels are off it, and it's had a decent clean. It's still a diamond in the rough, although at least it's not an undiscovered gem any more, I've got it now, just needs cut and honed into something a bit more sparkly.


Then, if you are still following the timeline (unlikely), after getting back to the yard with a maroon red Discovery 2, which was a bit rougher than desired but the only one in the country that was MOT'd and wasn't suffering fire damage, I happened to flick through the classifieds again. Always a dangerous game, especially when in the buying mood, which I was, as I was actually hunting cars for work all week, and I saw an advert roll up for something that made me look out the window and say that well-known onomatopoeic phrase, "d'oh!"
I contacted, I went to view the next day, and I bought, a good condition, but high mileage, Discovery 2 Landmark TD5 in black, with black heated leather; mechanically good, non-rusty, well equipped - pretty much a basis for making a really good one. A worn steering wheel, lacquer peel on the 18" wheels (will get changed anyway) and unfortunately, twin sunroofs, completed the list of good/bad points. The heated leather was the real deal-maker for me, but I'd actually have preferred a solid roof (no leaks then) and the lower spec heating (twisty knobs instead of unreliable climate control system) but it's surprisingly original with all the handbooks, original radio etc.
It certainly does need tidied up a bit inside, just owing to the mileage on it, but it drives quite well indeed and it's very much ingraining itself into the more permanent end of the fleet.
A picture of this one is available - did I mention just how many miles it had? :



And there is one more car to tell you about from this week of automotive pursuits.
I told you it was going to be a bit talky, this post!

[surprisingskoda]

Let's dip back to 2013 or so. I bought a Cosmos Black BMW E34 540i 6-speed manual, one of the original 249 RHD saloons made, which had been turned by previous owner(s) into a fast track/road car. I continued with that theme, adding some other performance and aesthetic upgrade / rare parts, notably one of 50 M5 Limited Edition champagne interiors, making it a very fast road car, a bit hairy in fact with the final drive ratio I ran it with. The car suited it perfectly, what with scuffs on the rear quarters, stonechips all over, and being one of the most common colours and high mileage it was never going to be a candidate for being restored to factory.
Regrettably I sold that car, which is a long story oft-rehashed.
Let's fast forward now to 2018. A few other V8s had come and went, as had many other E34s, but this 540i/6 thing was still a massive niggle. Then, up popped an ad for one of the 62 RHD manual Tourings from a guy I knew from the BMW circles. I re-made that acquaintance and got talking about this Touring, a bit of a project but with a large amount of the remedial work done, needing only some things I could easily take care of. Much humming and hahhing ensued but eventually I made the purchase on the grounds of these things are so rare, I won't get another chance, and more than that, I won't allow myself to continue looking for one if I pass up the opportunity to buy a 1 of 1 car from someone I trust, within an affordable price range.
But, a touring could never replace a track car. Much less, being the only 1 of 1 made in Avus Blue, of only 62 ever made, with probably 50% long gone - despite being another high miler, I just couldn't allow myself to pop rivet arches onto it and strip the interior out. Not that I wanted to exactly - but I want to have the option. And it is just too rare. It needs to actually be restored, and used for what it is. A fast road load lugger - it was the perfect car for a few trips I made, and great at covering distance in a hurry - but you can't fit a BGW to a touring.
So I fixed that. A succession of very timely events resulted in finding and procuring, once again, one of 'the worst examples of the best cars' (TM). I can't recall where I heard that phrase, but I love it. My E28, my Impreza, and now my E34, are all terrible examples of desirable and rare cars, which really bugs some people and which is ideal for me. I can do what I like without worries about "ruining" a good example, and the purists can go moan about non-period correct tyres to someone else.
So, here, would you like to see my latest bundle of scrap?


THIS junk is one of the original 249 540i/6 RHD saloons, in one of the other most common colours, which has been used a drift car for the last half decade. It's passed through a couple of owners in that time, and I've followed it's progress around the UK and actually tried to buy it once before.
The bodywork is shocking. It's seen a wall or two and of course it's been subject to many drift-arena repairs, i.e. cable ties, but you know what, despite all that, it's not bent out of shape entirely, and I can't find any reason not to make it road legal again. A Zender front bumper came with it to match those riveted on Zender skirts (poor things), and the wheels will have to go, and it has BC coilovers and the bootlid is held on with pins. The interior consists of a couple of bucket seats, some gauges, and a hydraulic handbrake.
I love it. Coming soon: Fast road / track 540i/6, built exactly how I want it to be. Ugly, wide, no pretty just all function, nobody allowed to argue about it because at the end of the day this cars next stop was likely drivetrain donor for something immensely dull like an E30. This way, I get to keep one of these rare cars alive, and have the track focussed weapon I always wanted a 540 to be.
It really is having your cake, and eating it, too.
Except, no more cake is allowed. Bucket seats are a bit tight around the middle!

[dikkehemaworst]

You are writing your stories for us and a little bit for yourself as a momentum to look back at.
I enjoy them, and your style of writing and i'm sure a lot of us do. Thats why i nodded you for updates a couple of weeks back. Love your wide variaty in,and love for the unwanted cars. Like a bolivian childrens rescue home, but then for wibblepoo cars and in Ireland...
Keep up the good work and keep writing.
Makes my days more bearable.

[georgeb]

Jan 3, 2021 0:50:03 GMT dikkehemaworst said:

Your writing your for stories for us.
I enjoy them, and your style of writing and i'm sure a lot of us do. Thats why i nodded you for updates a couple of weeks back. Love your wide variaty in,and love for the unwanted cars. Like a bolivian childrens rescue home, but then for wibblepoo cars and in Ireland...
Keep up the good work and keep writing.
Makes my days more bearable.

Exactly.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

[varelse]

Bragging rights without the bragging?
Its a pretty impressive list!

Also, more S110R updates!

[Battenberg]

For me your love and passion for what you do, and why you started to do it. You have a very unique and engaging way of bringing your stories to life through this thread, I also use to enjoy the YouTube videos.

[dikkehemaworst]

I also use to enjoy the YouTube videos.

[/quote]


YouTube video's?
now you tell us...

[pandaman]

I’ve spent the last four days reading through this whole thread, and I dof my cap to you.
The way you write is very entertaining and the cars you pick are the cars I would love to pick up!
I would love to do some of the stuff to my car that you’ve done with some of yours, but with my financial situation, I’ll live with my ratted K11 Micra
Please keep going with the updates, I love old Skodas and all the bangernomics you keep finding!
Definitely bookmarked!

[thebaron]

I also enjoy your writing. I left Ireland 9 years ago now and a lot of what you do resonates with me as I always had in or around 5 well used cars taking up space around the farm sheds at our home place. While my new home offers me other things that I didn't have before it has removed my ability to continue with my car passion/hobby in the way I did when I was in Ireland. Your penchant for BMW's of a certain era also aligns with mine as I was and still am a sucker for E30/2/4 models.

Additionally I used to compete in grass roots motorsports and although it was mainly on the multivenue autotest and retro navigation rally side of things I know a lot of my competitors also hillclimbed in the older vehicles as you do.

Having said all that, if you are not getting any enjoyment out of sharing then you should stop. It will be a loss for those of us that enjoy it but if you are not getting anything positive from it then call a halt.

If you do decide to stop, (and I hope you don't) please give us a detailed history/review of the S110R before you go though ;-)

[escapereality]

Personally I love both reading this thread and seeing the pictures. I hope you don't stop but I totally get why you struggle to find a reason to post. As said above I think it does serve as a nice way of creating a historic diary you can look back on if nothing else. It also gives us something cool to read and look through.

I should comment more often as I've noticed over the years that while you post quite often you don't get many comments. I've always loved the content... Maybe the majority don't appreciate all the BMWs?

I hope to see another update from you but understand if it doesn't happen.

All the best

Phil

[varelse]

Yeah I don't comment much because I don't really have much value to add as I know next to nothing about most of these cars.
Which is why I read it!

I do try to remember to hit the like button at least, but the new layout means I have to scroll back to the top of a post to do that, so less common now haha.

[georgeb]

Jan 21, 2021 6:12:20 GMT varelse said:

I do try to remember to hit the like button at least, but the new layout means I have to scroll back to the top of a post to do that, so less common now haha.

Just hit the "like" button at the bottom of your post (on my screen).

[varelse]

Jan 21, 2021 10:30:29 GMT georgeb said:

Jan 21, 2021 6:12:20 GMT varelse said:

I do try to remember to hit the like button at least, but the new layout means I have to scroll back to the top of a post to do that, so less common now haha.

Just hit the "like" button at the bottom of your post (on my screen).

It depends on whether I'm browsing in mobile or desktop mode. Mobile mode its at the top, and I have to be in mobile mode for bookmarks to show properly. If I'm looking at participated threads I can stick to desktop.

.. its complicated.

[dikkehemaworst]

Jan 22, 2021 0:59:41 GMT varelse said:

Jan 21, 2021 10:30:29 GMT georgeb said:

Just hit the "like" button at the bottom of your post (on my screen).

It depends on whether I'm browsing in mobile or desktop mode. Mobile mode its at the top, and I have to be in mobile mode for bookmarks to show properly. If I'm looking at participated threads I can stick to desktop.

.. its complicated.

Maybe an HoTWire can adres this..

[HoTWire]

Until we have a unified mobile and desktop view the buttons are at opposite ends, sorry. However Proboards are now in Beta with the updated site which has just one mobile and desktop layout option, so we're moving closer (and I'll have to re-do all the work we did over the last year with the layout again *sigh*)

[varelse]

Haha. I didn't drag Hotwire in because I knew he was already working on it.

Anyway, enough of this, show me that S110R!

[surprisingskoda]

This'll just be a "how did the cars fare through January?" post.

Well.

I started off the year using that weird olive green X5 diesel with heated seats.
It wasn't exactly tested with 1mm of snow earlier in the month.


I had actually come to like the X5 (almost) until one frosty morning the door handle broke off in my hand. Someone then came and gave me a deposit for the diff that this one had, and that was it away to die.
Back to the black Landrover. No issues other than the handbrake being a bit wick. That we eventually figured out was because of a small leak from a rear transfer box seal making the handbrake shoes wet. The handbrake drum on these is between the transfer casing and the prop-shaft.
That's good because the cables therefore are very short, and the red one needed cables! (and a bearing).
The parts took ages to come so the red Landrover sat on the lift for over a week, annoyingly. Once the bearing was bolted in (4 bolts on the rear of the hub [rather like an E39], nice and easy) and the handbrake adjusted up, it actually drives REALLY well. For that reason I still haven't decided if I want to get rid of it. I'd like to make myself choose between the black one and the red one (and keep the silver one for shunting around the yard) but I keep putting the decision off. Maybe I just need to find a really good reason to keep them all.

Right, IMPORTANT stuff. After 3 years of waiting, I sectioned off on the calendar all of late January for one very special car, and committed that now with 2 lifts (50% of the reason for getting a second lift last year) there was absolutely no way I would be deterred from this mission.
And with that said, on the 22nd of this month, my beloved and far-better-condition-than-people-think E28 M535i was fired up for the first time in 6 months. Did I prep it? Did I give it some fresh juice? Did I advance warn it in any way before cranking it over from cold in literally freezing conditions? NO! And she fired up after only 23 or so turns. What a champ!


So that's now residing in the workshop waiting for me to get started on it. It's been a long time so to refresh, it came off the road with some welding needing done above the back axle, a typical 5 series spot, not major but requires the rear axle to be dropped out. The fuel tank in an E28 is located further back so that's not in the way. Likely when it's up there I'll be renewing brake and fuel pipes, and any remaining bushes that haven't already been converted to poly. Also I had found that along it's long list of owners in England, someone had used all manner of tack screws, nails and other rubbish to make the side skirts stay on, so I have lots of little scabby holes in the sills to seal up and then rectify that whole arrangement. I do have some Zender skirts hiding somewhere I think which might make it on for a while.
So welding, basically. The rest of the car is perfect. I will probably have to address the lower parts of the drivers wing now as well, if I leave it any longer it won't have any strength left. Yes it looks like it's been through a fence - because it has. Also the guys in work have convinced me to wash the green algae off before taking it for an MOT, so I guess that will happen too.

A bit of bad timing meant the black Land Rover was up on the lift with a sickly 840ci blocking it in when the snow fell. So I had taken the second most obvious choice and was using the Mini which was entertaining (not). The next day it was frozen over inside and out and took forever to thaw, and when it did I found the windcreen cracked up the middle. Sigh. I still used it anyway because it's a complete throwaway car and the one I'd least mind about binning.
As you'd imagine, it was only after the two days of snow that I realised I should have went and got the red Land Rover with the near-new A/T tyres on it. Duh!

So I didn't do that. Instead I went and got the Mystic Blue 325ci I mentioned before and navigated that up (and down and up and down and up again) the snowy road to my house. The road I live on gets quite high for the area, and running parallel to the sun-path with a line of hedges and trees to the southerly side means this road never gets any sunlight during winter. So it compacts and freezes - it's a complete death-trap. And people still do 70mph on it anyway despite walkers, horses and tractors. It's a full on farmyard-on-each-side argricultural road, and not wide enough for two SUVs or vans to pass each other, but it's a major shortcut between two villages so it's just treated/driven like a main A road.
Anyway.
Sunset in a RWD Cabrio, having just climbed the snowiest, highest bit of hill.


I'll tell you more about the Cabrio later.

[surprisingskoda]

I do appreciate the recent comments too guys. I wasn't trying to complain, or garner more comments just for the sake of it, just wanting to sound it out about the purpose of the thread at all. I feel like (having firmly arrived into middle-aged-ness) that whatever I do, of the many things pulling at me for attention and time, that there should be a specific and worthwhile purpose to whatever I take the time to do.
I considered many changes and various other endeavours over this last while, which I won't go into here, but the end up of it is that the thread does have its merits, and I won't just stop.
I never write for likes or comments anyway, but feel free to chime in - even if you don't think you know much about the cars in the posts, or have anything to add - everyone's input is valuable in it's own right and I do appreciate someone taking the time to ask a question or take an interest.