project shoestring/bangernomics

petrolhead69

I dont know if anyone is interested but I thought I`d share some pics for anyone considering downgrading on cars to acheive financial peace, me and the mrs are working hard at being mortgage free in our 30s and one of the places we were spending money on unnecessarily was fancy cars, a CLK320 mercedes and a BMW728 plus my crappy company car. we decided to see how cheaply we could continue to run comfortable, reliable transport so we bought a 1995 Audi A4 1.8 Turbo Sport with 106K miles, and a complete service history, including a cambelt and shocks/balljoints the year before we bought it, we nabbed it for the grand total of £500 MOT`d and taxed.
Here it is at the beginning:




It runs like a dream, nice and docile and smooth until you floor it then the turbo does it`s job and your off. One thing I miss from the bigger engined cars is the high top gear, at 70 the audi is turning at 3400 rpm which is a bit higher than we are used to.
Over the last 8 months the only things that really needed done were the brake pads, and a battery in the cold snap, plus the cd player was on its way out it would skip a lot.
Time for some running totals:
£500 for the car
£130 for insurance
£180ish for 12 months road tax i cant remember off the top of my head
£17 QH brake pads
£50 Yuasa battery for diesel A4 (bigger capacity, because I sometimes leave the radio on for a long time)
£6 2 chrome tailpipe trims
£7 pair of new numberplates as the old ones looked shabby
£4 QH Thermostat kit
£20 used jvc mp3 cd head unit off ebay
£2.30 can of black spray paint
£15 Slim LED daytime running lights
£7 caliper seals and pins
£20 ebay alarm with remote start/remote central locking
Other stuff I fitted I had lying around in the hut was oil, filters and spark plugs that I bought years ago for my last A4, a NA 1.8 plus I blagged the headlights, taillights and gearknob off a 2000 model A4 a mate was sending to the scrappy, and an 4300K HID kit from my old zafira.

Tha bodywork was shabby with loads of scratches and oxidisation, I`ve fixed a lot of it by blowing in some scratches, wedsanding and rotary polishing with farecla g3 but i`ve still got the bumpers to do, but i`m going to leave them until the summer as it`s had a previous repair without the proper prep so it`s flaking away under where the foglights would go.
It`s not finished yet but it`s almost presentable, no one at the mrs`s work believes how much it cost.



Other than that I`ve had to strip and unseize the bonnet catch and everything else looks in order. The MOT is due end of march so we'll see then if theres anything amiss but it all looks ok at the minute.
next on the list is repaint the bumpers, tint the windows, and try to source some cheap oem 17 or 18 inch wheels off a newer audi.
Anyone else got any interesting cheap projects their working on?

mollycat

Great Stuff!!! Exactly the kind of car I buy.

Who needs to pay hundreds every month on a new car....Luxury motoring for £500, Quality!!

tiff

Brilliant, DH likes nice cars and need to get rid of the crappy Laguna we have at the moment but have been trying to persuade him to buy an older BMW, Audi instead. Have showed him the pics and hope he's inspired to do similar!

Rolandtheroadie

That is how I always done it till I got my last car.
Now?
Got shot of the Mondeo and got an R reg diesel corsa.
Secured 2 pubs to supply WVO. Going to try the WVO route before attempting Bio Diesel.
Sell the corsa in 6 months (with 6 months MOT left on it ) and buy something else that will run on WVO (might twin tank it) either 4x4, merc, rover 825 etc.
Ok, every now and again you might buy a squib but in 18 years of driving, i've never had anything that didnt last the length of the mot (always bought with 9 months minimum, scrap/sell when mot ran out) and always paid a price that reflected the condition.

petrolhead69

good stuff. avoid mercedes, they are cheap to buy old but rust like hell.
I`ve run bmw and audi bangers before and some nice recent bmws audis and mercs and if you want trouble free motoring go for an audi or a passat, the bmw is a nicer drive but you`ll never be done changing suspension bushes and doing wee bits and pieces, the audis are a bit more boring but more roomy, better built (epsecially during the late 90s) and galvanised so no rust to worry about and the paint is very good on them, even when they look knackered a good aggressive polish brings them up like new.

petrolhead69

run some millers or similar additive with the wvo and filter it well as the old corsa engine is an IDI diesel, i`ve heard from others doing the same if the fuel is not atomised fully you can crack the pre ignition chambers in the head. another tip is shim the valves, doing that on my cavalier made a huge difference to the economy and starting

scotsman4th wrote: »

That is how I always done it till I got my last car.
Now?
Got shot of the Mondeo and got an R reg diesel corsa.
Secured 2 pubs to supply WVO. Going to try the WVO route before attempting Bio Diesel.
Sell the corsa in 6 months (with 6 months MOT left on it ) and buy something else that will run on WVO (might twin tank it) either 4x4, merc, rover 825 etc.
Ok, every now and again you might buy a squib but in 18 years of driving, i've never had anything that didnt last the length of the mot (always bought with 9 months minimum, scrap/sell when mot ran out) and always paid a price that reflected the condition.

Hintza

petrolhead69 wrote: »

good stuff. avoid mercedes, they are cheap to buy old but rust like hell.

Not if you get a W124 or 190

phingers

Great stuff OP-looks beautiful. I have a 98 BMW Coupe which is overall in amazing condition, but the paintowrk is looking its 12 years old now-a few dings and chips, quite a few small scratches from neighbours cats and a few possibly 'blown'(?) areas on the roof so I am interested in your comments re sanding and polishing. How can I best go about doing this myself and what is the best 'stuff' and equipment to do it with?

Exemplar

£700 = 2001 51 plate Megane 1.9 DTi, 12 months MOT, 4 months TAX, excellent bodywork, full Renault service history. Major service December 2009 inc all belts...........

Rolandtheroadie

w124 seems the recommended for WVO
The corsas got a GM lump (forum speak lol). Absolutely gutless (59 BHP). But seems to like it.
I've just bought a motorbike that'll be used mostly, the corsas just a car incase I need it and to experiment on.

petrolhead69

best way to get started is go to the detailing world forums and read the beginners guides, and how to posts,everything is there.

phingers wrote: »

Great stuff OP-looks beautiful. I have a 98 BMW Coupe which is overall in amazing condition, but the paintowrk is looking its 12 years old now-a few dings and chips, quite a few small scratches from neighbours cats and a few possibly 'blown'(?) areas on the roof so I am interested in your comments re sanding and polishing. How can I best go about doing this myself and what is the best 'stuff' and equipment to do it with?