Wooscary's TZD 1993

[Tim Leech]

Yeah I can't spot any rust so far. There's been a slight repair around the passenger door handle (probably a break in),
which is hardly noticeable.

I've actually just got off the phone with the garage about the timing belt. He's quoted me £199 for
the belt, water pump (which has the tensioner integrated?) and coolant change. Does that seem reasonable?

At that age it was a case of hammering a screwdriver above the door handle and then you could reach the lock, hence probably why the original is missing.

If the £199 includes parts and VAT then I think its quite fair.

[mat_fenwick]

From memory on that engine you rotate the water pump to tension the belt - would guess 3 to 4 hours* labour plus parts.

*That's assuming you know what you're doing - first time I didn't, and spent ages heaving on the crank bolt, only to realise you can change the belt just by taking out the allen bolts which hold the auxiliary drive belt pulley on...

[Tim Leech]

Ive always said if you dont know your way round cambelts then probably best to get someone who does! hence why I dont touch mine.

[Wooscary]

Exactly. The handle and lock are still there, but the lock was loose, maybe someone levered it a bit,
then the area of paint around the handle has had some slight touch up/respray. It's not a bad job, just
a slightly rougher finish than the surrounding area.

Yeah, that's the price all in with VAT. Booked in for Friday. And Mat - so yeah, 3 - 4 hours, plus parts, VAT. It sounds about it right.

New tyres on the back (the old ones still had tread but were obviously really old/soft/cracked).
Parcel shelf arrived today.

And the major success of last night was fixing the blower. It only worked on the fastest speed, traced the fault
back to the connector block/resistor on the blower housing.


IMG_3992b by Wooscary, on Flickr
Obvious break in the wire.


IMG_3993b by Wooscary, on Flickr
Holly solders the first new section of copper in.


IMG_3994b by Wooscary, on Flickr


IMG_3995b by Wooscary, on Flickr
And all wound back up and soldered in place.

It now works perfectly.

[Tim Leech]

Dont you love old School electronics! I think all in all Martin youve bought a nice example, you can buy toughened lock "shields" that fit round the lock end of the handle, which would maybe cover up the patchy paint and deter people in the future. We used to sell loads of them.

[tzd-92]

Wooo another Polo owner!! Yours does look a little minter. I've got a '93 1.0l Genesis coupe. I can't fault them at all, I passed my test in March 2012 and so far have covered about 18,000 miles in the Polo and its still going strong and had very few problems. Overall its done 156,500 miles which I think is brilliant for an old 1.0l! I do still keep looking around at BX's but being 17 the Polo is that bit cheaper to insure etc.

This is my baby

[Tim Leech]

ex vw uk car by the looks of the plates on that, the 1.0 and 1.3 engines are very robust asides the headgaskets.

Are you going to attend any BX meetings this year? doesnt matter what you drive.

[Wooscary]

Fingers crossed for the head gasket then!

Not sure if you're asking me or tzd-92, but I'd love to get to some meets this year.

At the moment Holly wants me to sell the BX, as we don't need two cars and the Polo
is cheaper in some ways.

I've gone along with this, but am now starting to think it would be great to take the BX
away from being a daily and give it some TLC, really clean it up etc. Put it on a limited
mileage policy... Sounds like a good idea in theory, just need to do some persuasion now.

[Tim Leech]

Fingers crossed for the head gasket then!

Not sure if you're asking me or tzd-92, but I'd love to get to some meets this year.

.

Either!

[mat_fenwick]

limited mileage

Yeah, would be a shame to clock up the miles on it

TBH, I was wondering about that when I bought the Focus. But I don't think I will - every time I get in it I wish it was the BX! But I can see your point - if the pleasure you get from using it is starting to be balanced by worry about breakdowns and deterioration, then it makes sense. Would secure parking be an issue for you? I would guess that a long term stationary car would attract more unwanted attention than one that's regularly used.

[Mickey taker]

Just needs a garland hanging from the mirror Martin,
Seriously though unabused dubs are soooooo much better than silly edition 38 types and lowering them do's nothing for the handling, my last MK 2 golf had standard suspension ( although I did rebuild it) and out handled most on the road

[Wooscary]

Also tzd-92, that's a good looking car!

Mat, exactly! Secure parking, well...not like anything has ever happened to it round here...
I've got this new slightly more enclosed parking area which seems quite successful so far,
so might be ok. I quite like the idea of having a weekend car and getting it all sorted out
in some nice weather this summer.

Mickey - I totally agree, it's got to stay natural.

[Wooscary]

Polo now has a new timing belt, water pump, coolant and fan belt. They wouldn't let me leave! "Ooo it's so clean", "It'll last forever that". Ha ha.

BX is still at the other garage. The pipe work is now done, but he's been struggling to find an exhaust box. One is arriving on Monday now.

The task for tonight is resealing round the bath. Joyous.

[saintjamesy89]

Bugger, I have a new estate TD rear box that came with the TXD. I have no use for it as it won't obviously fit my hatch. Should have read the thread more thoroughly I guess! Sorry Martin.

[Wooscary]

Ah don't worry about it Tom, it's not your job to do that! It's not like I made it very obvious.

Thanks for the thought anyway.