Advice needed: Is it worth it?

[DavidRutherford]

Year-and-a-bit ago, I picked up a BX TZD for my sis. Cambelt, Water pump, LHM change, Rear arm bearing, MOT and it was a goodun.

She's driven it for a year now, and other than someone driving into the NSR door a while back (thanks again to Doc for the spare door) and the rear exhaust box falling off, it's been a great motah.

MOT's up, so I lend her my "spare" BX (the DTR turbo) while I put hers through an MOT. I was told it would need the rear exhaust hanger welding back on, as it was loose. No problem.

Except, like all easy jobs, it's not as easy as that:

This doesn't look too bad:


But after a good prod, it looked like this from inside the boot:


And after a very good prodding, I found more rust just next to the spring-hanger:


Now... I'm a great believer in the statement "if there's rust, there's more rust. Given that one side rear wheel arch has rot in it... I wonder what the other side is like?

Not much better. This is a photo of the auxilliary tank, from within the wheelarch. The cross-piece that the fuel tank strap attaches to crumbled away in my hand:


There's also some corrosion between the aux. fuel tank and the rear crossmember:


On further investigation, it's also going to need a small patch on the NS front inner wheel arch, and it needs the other rear arm bearing doing.

This is all a bit of a shame, as the car itself is still in fairly good condition. The interior is lovely, The mechanicals are all in fine fettle, and it's even an AirConditioning model (albeit not working at the moment) It even still looks fairly tidy:


So, the $64'000 question is, do I fix it? I recon it will take me at least a full day to weld up the offside holes, drop the fuel tank and then do the other side. Possibly a bit longer. Then there's the front welding, and the rear arm bearing. The main reason I'm not sure it's worth it is because my time is somewhat more precious than it used to be, and I have a multitude of other projects to be getting on with.

Failing that, is anyone interested in a 1991 BX TZD +AC that needs some welding?

[tim leech]

Tricky one really, depends on how much it would cost to weld it up if you were charging, plus if the rest of the cars ok and the weldings done right then you wont have to do it again.

A decent TZD with a years MOT is worth £500 easily so if it would cost less than that to fix I think its worth fixing, as you could go and buy another car that isnt as good.

[BX Bandit]

I'm not a welder, and so body work repair is like a foreign language..but if it takes two days...or even two weekends, then it would be highly worth it. The other approach (the one I've taken) is to buy another one to give yourself the time and opportunity to repair the tizzydee at..shall we say...a more liesurely pace. I expect my TD to be as bad once I get her naked but I don't intend binning her.

Go on...you know you want to

[tim leech]

And once its all done a good wash and polish to celebrate, cars always look more worth saving when there shiny! thats my reason anyway!

[cavmad]

Tricky one really, depends on how much it would cost to weld it up if you were charging, plus if the rest of the cars ok and the weldings done right then you wont have to do it again.

A decent TZD with a years MOT is worth £500 easily so if it would cost less than that to fix I think its worth fixing, as you could go and buy another car that isnt as good.

Exactly what I was thinking. After the work you`ve already done plus what is needed now you should have a strong reliable car with most faults ironed out for the cost of a few days welding/general repairs. What happens if you buy another with MOT and when it expires you have the same problems?
Go for it. Do the work at your leisure and enjoy the car once it`s been completed.

[jeremy]

Its one thing getting yourself another car - as there will be some faults that you can live with, drive around and do at your leisure. However if its for someone else - then unless you are extremely lucky or pay a lot of money or both you're going to have to do work on whatever you purchase. Our ZX is a good example - new MOT - only 53,000 miles - yet it needed 2 tyres, a thermostat, full service and new brake pads as well as the clutch adjusting (seemed to have had a new one as the bell housing bolts were rusty - and as usual the cable hadn't been adjusted), new dashboard bulbs and a few minor things.

Having done all that the brakes were lousy - and eventually I discovered that the pads I'd fitted were a different shape and were rubbing on a rusty strip at the centre of the disc and not making proper contact.

It seems like a lot of work - but I think you'll end up doing that amount of work eventually anyway whichever way you go.

[Stewart (oily!)]

Most of the welding looks straightforward, the boot floor is only a box, the inner wing is reasonable (remember to remove the plastic liner ) if the car is othrwise sorted then its a no brainer, go fot it Dave.
Stewart

[DavidRutherford]

Please do bear in mind everyone that this ISN'T my car. It belongs to my sister.

Which is a pain, as if I do fix it, and MOT it, I then have to give it back (although that does mean I get my DTR turbo back)

and of course, I'm expected to do all this for nothing. My family have seen me maintain my own cars for the last 14 years, and assume that I can fix anything in no time at all. (actually, that's unfair, but I do wonder sometimes)

Everyone's comments so far are absolutely correct of course. Any car you buy for sub-£1000 is likely to have problems akin to this, so to have the car already "for free" means it's well worth doing.

Or at least it would be... if it were mine.

[Stewart (oily!)]

Perhaps your sis would like the DTR? Youi culd then soort out the nice Aircon TZD for yourself, that mght help with your motivation, I know what you mean about the family thing, I have been subsidising their motoring for years
Stewart

[MULLEY]

Stewart's suggestion sounds like the best plan, yup relations just expect freebies which can be a little bit unfair, so why not do a swapsy???

[sleepy0905]

Easyish repair did it on my old diesel just remember as stewart says remove all the plastic on the inside and also remove the loom that goes from one tail light to the other I didnt and had to replace it after i burned right through it and once done and seam sealed and plenty of paint and underseal it will last for years.
What causes the rot there is the cross brace from the outer wing to inner wing it collects all the salt and muck of the rear wheel and starts the rot process the giveaway sign on the passenger side is the exhaust hanger falls off.

[tim leech]

All in favour!

[Stewart (oily!)]

Aye!!

[cavmad]

Aye! (And my exhaust hangar is knackered too!).

[DavidRutherford]

I had a feeling that was going to be the response.

Bummer.

*breaks out the grinder*