Typical eBay car

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:36 pm

I've Mot'd my TXD estate today, recently bought off ebay for the princely sum of £104

It had all the usual "ebay car" trademarks. One or two dents here and there, tax but no MOT.

The first picture is of most of the stuff I've had to replace, a couple of bits are missing from the picture, namely the tailpipe, that was lost on the way home from Keighley, the heater control module and a trackrod end. Just about everything else is there.
The timing belt was a real issue, why it hadn't broken I'll never know.

I'm not knocking the seller in anyway, but just pointing out that buying these cheap cars on ebay is the easy bit.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:33 pm

There are some bargains to be had, I had with that 14E

cavmad · Post by **cavmad** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:28 pm

And my £1.60 BX petrol was quite a good deal!

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:59 pm

True, it doesnt take much to make a good car if you know what your doing.

mnde · Post by **mnde** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:55 am

Well done Ken. Another one saved! Looks a beaut too!

Mark.

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:40 pm

The spare roadwheel looks relatively good compared to what was on the "free to good home" BX I'm currently running. Had a front puncture recently, and discovered that roadwheel was unable to seal, so had been treated(?) to an inner tube...

Cue load of corporate garf from tyre supplier ("we don't stock the inner tubes required for an early car like this, sir").

BCXM · Post by **BCXM** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:02 pm

whatever way you cut it that car looks a bargain...Very nice and you should make a tidy sum when (if) you move it on..
I bought a one owner from new TXD like that off ebay on a buy it now for £100 needing a new clutch and was amazed at how much information was omitted!! The engine had been treated to a complete strip down and rebuild there was every bit of paperwork from new..Most people not just off ebay omit something or other when selling a car, nice to be pleasently surprised like that...

heres a pic of said car
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p143 ... ure072.jpg

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:49 pm

Well she's loaded up and ready for work tomorrow. This will give the XM a well earned rest and give me a chance to get the thing cleaned up and the remaining issues sorted.
I thought the ride on the BX was a bit hard at the front, I know the spheres are good, so I checked the tyre pressures. 40psi

why on earth would anyone have 40 in the darn things.

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:24 am

Hi Ken,

nice car, same colour as mine....

I reckon someone didnt like the soft suspension, so pump up the tyres for a nice rock hard ride, blinkin idiots..... good job that was noticeable as otherwise if you had had to brake suddenly in the wet you would have felt like u were on an ice rink....very dangerous.

I owe u a couple of Saturday's remember, so if u need an extra set of hands for car maintenance (cant do much, but i can take instruction) then dont hesitate to contact me.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:27 pm

It's Sunday afternoon, so what else is there to do?

Pull the octopus out of the car!

Since I've been running this one, it's had the slightest LHM leak coming from the octopus area, however not the usual place but dripping off the BACK of the subframe. I had a look at it last weekend and decided the octopus must have been badly fitted.

The two rear to front offside return pipes were too short, only just reaching their respective places, one of these was leaking.

Today with the sun shining I could see what's gone on.

Someone has fitted a new octopus but instead of it seating nicely on the subframe, it was squashed in ON TOP of the height corrector pressed hard up to the anti-roll bar.

I wish I could've got a photo of this, but it's too inaccessible.

Anyway, a couple of hours later it's refitted and all seems well. I'll be watching the drive now for green spots.

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:35 pm

And green spots there were, but not from the front, from the rear. The rear gaiter has a pinhole in it.

Lucky for me, as the N/S rear cylinder is passing loads of fluid. Had it not leaked it would have quickly filled the rear subframe.

I took the cylinder out and to my amazement found a virtually BRAND NEW rear cylinder! so why is it passing so much fluid?

I stripped it down and found that the piston has a bad rusty mark on it, It must have been sat on a shelf somewhere for a few years prior to being fitted. Then the first time it gets used, the rusty bit damages the seals in the cylinder.

Does anyone know if there is a repair kit available?

Anyway I've fitted one of my newly acquired ones from the scrappers.