Hi, I don’t have the ability to get on here as much as I would like, so if I am missing for some days just take it as I’m really bad, and will get back here when I am a bit more able, so, please don’t think I have lost interest, etc, it couldn’t be further from the truth if you tried.
Now down to business, I ended up buying a right lemon, with an MoT that has had every single garage who has seen it to almost say, is it a legit one, but stop short as they don’t want to be caught up with anything, due to the extent of the work, I’m going to look at getting a bit at a time, that said I need to be careful about my approach, there is no point doing all the obvious stuff, only to find the bit I left till last will be more than it’s ‘worth’ as they say, but I did get one up on the seller though, turns out I have an easy entry\exit on the car, and for that alone, I have to stick with it, because it is pure heaven for my legs, being disabled, as I won’t be able to afford such features again.
The most part of the work is under the car (you’ll see why in a sec), but it led to one guy asking if it had been flood-damaged, to my eyes it is pretty serious rust, and from the service I had done, I was able to follow up on it knowing the areas of concern, but when they said it was bad, they weren’t kidding, they were booked to do the main service, but came out saying it’s impossible to do this because there should be a filter housing in the bulkhead, and that should have a filter changed to do the full service, well not only did I have no filter, the physical filter housing is missing, let alone the filter.
But let me start by saying I don’t want to bog this thread down with the other factors, it’s not the right section, I only list them incase someone sees a really expensive problem because if it’s that bad it won’t be worth continuing, but if they are as I suspect, I will continue in their proper sections as I get there, so here goes:-
So assuming none of those bits are not deal breakers, I can start with the biggest job, as this will be the killer, and relative to this section, the underside of the car is rusty, and the brake hoses need doing, probably the brakes as well, disks worst case, and a bit of welding to fix the exhaust back properly as the bracket has gone, you can get an idea of how bad it is from the pictures I was able to take when one place had it on the ramps to give me a quote (which they never did), I tried to picture the brake pipes back to where they reckon they would have to cut into and renew, very limited access they said from experience if it’s where they think, so I will just stick some pictures up and let you see what you think, I’m hoping by doing a bit at a time, I can make it more affordable.
I’ve been housebound since Xmas because the MoT was due at the best time of year to get it done, January 2nd, what with Xmas, Wife's birthday, MoT, Repairs, and Insurance, all in a matter of weeks, so I sorned it and it’s turned out to be a saving, as I’m not allowed out anyway being in the highest risk group, so small mercy’s there, but I need it for hospital appointments coming up it would be good to have my own car to get there, here are the pictures anyway:-
Now to recap, this is to see the cost of repairs is affordable to me, and I know its a hands-on before you can see the whole amount of work (so just ballpark numbers), if they are too great then that's it, if they are looking better than I fear then its a go, also just remembered this will be needed as well, its a 3.2ltr CLK Avantgarde Coupe (W209), Manufactured 2003 on a 53 plate, first UK Reg 02/02/2004, I hope I have made sense, I tried to find any guide to image sizes, but got nowhere as pages no longer existed, so I hope they are OK.
Now down to business, I ended up buying a right lemon, with an MoT that has had every single garage who has seen it to almost say, is it a legit one, but stop short as they don’t want to be caught up with anything, due to the extent of the work, I’m going to look at getting a bit at a time, that said I need to be careful about my approach, there is no point doing all the obvious stuff, only to find the bit I left till last will be more than it’s ‘worth’ as they say, but I did get one up on the seller though, turns out I have an easy entry\exit on the car, and for that alone, I have to stick with it, because it is pure heaven for my legs, being disabled, as I won’t be able to afford such features again.
The most part of the work is under the car (you’ll see why in a sec), but it led to one guy asking if it had been flood-damaged, to my eyes it is pretty serious rust, and from the service I had done, I was able to follow up on it knowing the areas of concern, but when they said it was bad, they weren’t kidding, they were booked to do the main service, but came out saying it’s impossible to do this because there should be a filter housing in the bulkhead, and that should have a filter changed to do the full service, well not only did I have no filter, the physical filter housing is missing, let alone the filter.
But let me start by saying I don’t want to bog this thread down with the other factors, it’s not the right section, I only list them incase someone sees a really expensive problem because if it’s that bad it won’t be worth continuing, but if they are as I suspect, I will continue in their proper sections as I get there, so here goes:-
- The boot-mounted brake light, cheap enough I guess?
- Electrical issues with intermittent rear plate lights, but I suspect the boot-mounted light may be a factor there.
- Brakes are probably a given when you see the rest, not cheap, but given timing is affordable?
- Disks, maybe, but not the end of the world?
- Now I am unsure about the filter housing (side by side pic's wide and close up below this), I don’t think I am using the correct name for it, as all I find are filters or lumps of something that I haven’t seen before, and as I don’t know what I am expecting to see, searches are not as clear as I don’t know what it looks like, any pointers would be great, and if it’s cheap or not (relatively speaking)?
So assuming none of those bits are not deal breakers, I can start with the biggest job, as this will be the killer, and relative to this section, the underside of the car is rusty, and the brake hoses need doing, probably the brakes as well, disks worst case, and a bit of welding to fix the exhaust back properly as the bracket has gone, you can get an idea of how bad it is from the pictures I was able to take when one place had it on the ramps to give me a quote (which they never did), I tried to picture the brake pipes back to where they reckon they would have to cut into and renew, very limited access they said from experience if it’s where they think, so I will just stick some pictures up and let you see what you think, I’m hoping by doing a bit at a time, I can make it more affordable.
I’ve been housebound since Xmas because the MoT was due at the best time of year to get it done, January 2nd, what with Xmas, Wife's birthday, MoT, Repairs, and Insurance, all in a matter of weeks, so I sorned it and it’s turned out to be a saving, as I’m not allowed out anyway being in the highest risk group, so small mercy’s there, but I need it for hospital appointments coming up it would be good to have my own car to get there, here are the pictures anyway:-
Now to recap, this is to see the cost of repairs is affordable to me, and I know its a hands-on before you can see the whole amount of work (so just ballpark numbers), if they are too great then that's it, if they are looking better than I fear then its a go, also just remembered this will be needed as well, its a 3.2ltr CLK Avantgarde Coupe (W209), Manufactured 2003 on a 53 plate, first UK Reg 02/02/2004, I hope I have made sense, I tried to find any guide to image sizes, but got nowhere as pages no longer existed, so I hope they are OK.
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