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Not literally, of course, but moreso a worthless pile of scrap metal that one insists on ploughing money into in hope that one day it may come good.
Mine is a 1982 Jaguar XJ-S, 44,000miles, one owner from new (my old mans) He spent a fortune on it over the years to keep it in shape. And it seem that I'm destined to do the same....
Ignoring what I've spent previously. This week alone I had to have the ECU repaired (£210), new ignition coils ( £45), new air/coolant temp sensors (£30), Wiring repairs (£0 - just time diagnosing ), Vacuum advance capsule (£25) as well as hours spent diagnosing the running issues and swapping parts with known good (interchangeble) items from my Landy, testing wiring, sensors and scratching my head looking at oscilioscope plots that made no sense.
After that, whilst its much better, its still not quite right. Injectors need cleaning and flow testing (£?). They were done about 15 years ago, so its about that point in time again where they need doing again. On the plus side, it produces less CO than the average decatted scoob
Then there is other stuff that needs doing; Front suspension needs attention, as does the front subframe. Thats not going to be cheap nor simple (may need to drop the engine out).
The kick in the balls is the lengthening to-do list and the fact that despite putting £50 of fuel in, it only half filled the tank.
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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the back of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you send the wall across the field once youve hit it.
I had one of the first Sierras .... complete with all their teething problems - taught me never to buy a 'new' model early on - better to buy a run-out model when everything has been sorted out.
It's why I keep my cars standard, I hate an unreliable car - and actually paying to make it unreliable is madness IMO.
XJS's were ****e when new - they will never be better than the day they rolled off the line! Haul it down to the scrappie!
I owned it for 5 months and in that time had to repair numerous faults and ended up getting shot of the bloody thing due to an intermittent fault that couldn't be found but resulted in the car loosing power and rolling to a halt.
I might get another one as the chances of having two money pit MX5s should be pretty low
a Mk1 Escort mexico, that I have never driven, wont be in the near future, I have owned it 12 years and have spent over 20k on it so far.......................
The little Italian bscuit tin of doom, bought because the wife loves them and because it's a car I have very little interest in, couldnt be an Escort Mexico or something useful could it now, no a ratty, infested lump of tragic, mouldering post war poverty motoring, so slow its terrifying, and thats the rare occasions when it runs on both cylinders, when it decides to shut down a pot for sh1ts and giggles you usually attract a swarm of angry blokes in Q7's. The brakes work now, before my attention it used to slew alarmingly to one side, now it stops but if you are used to modern brakes you are in for a shock. When driving it there is a whole gamut of smells, ancient plastic, petrol (the tank is basically on your knees), hammerite, burning oil, exhaust and my bowels loosening due to utter abject terror. The handling is interesting in that its a tiny car that heaves around corners like a supertanker. These are the good bits, the low points were the rear wheel falling off due to the previous owner thinking split pins in driveshafts were optional, clutch cable going on the M56 and numerous inexplicable cutouts.
Bought for £2100 with MOT, put it in for a new one some months later and had a shock, how it had got an MOT 8 months earlier and then only done 200 miles I dont know. We were going to look at a really nice restored one for £6000 but she bottled out on spendign that despite my protestations that this is what good ones cost, buy a good one, have some fun and get your money back, but no a two grand one that needs loads of work was the way to go, being cheap always costs you money, buy cheap, buy twice etc.
Anyway, a grand later and it had an MOT, that was mainly parts as I did the work, and its still not charging the battery and conking out, its coming out of hibernation so it will spoil my summer again, will get it right and then she will decide to get shut.
I wouldnt mind the work if I wanted to drive it, ok, its sort of amusing but being 6ft/16 stone I feel a right Gibbon getting out of it.
The bodywork is worse than it looks, the rear arches were a work of Isopon engineering, the sills had to come off, the paint is wafer thin.
So this summer, sort the charging of the battery out, sort the engine running problems, retrim the interior, rear arches and then list goes on......
Location: ex UK [SE], now Sunshine State [QLD,AUS]
Posts: 410
I had an XJ-S for 5 years, the baby one (3.6 Litre Strait Six).
That was a real money pit, and most of the £ was spent on mechanical repairs or servicing.
Used to go to a Jaguar Specialist (Marcus someone ?) so his rate were a lot cheaper than Jag main dealer.
Was replaced by the Scooby (WRX Type R) that I've had for 8 years.
All the $ spent on the mods, I only wanted one mod, but it never stops there, does it.
The little Italian bscuit tin of doom, bought because the wife loves them and because it's a car I have very little interest in, couldnt be an Escort Mexico or something useful could it now, no a ratty, infested lump of tragic, mouldering post war poverty motoring, so slow its terrifying, and thats the rare occasions when it runs on both cylinders, when it decides to shut down a pot for sh1ts and giggles you usually attract a swarm of angry blokes in Q7's. The brakes work now, before my attention it used to slew alarmingly to one side, now it stops but if you are used to modern brakes you are in for a shock. When driving it there is a whole gamut of smells, ancient plastic, petrol (the tank is basically on your knees), hammerite, burning oil, exhaust and my bowels loosening due to utter abject terror. The handling is interesting in that its a tiny car that heaves around corners like a supertanker. These are the good bits, the low points were the rear wheel falling off due to the previous owner thinking split pins in driveshafts were optional, clutch cable going on the M56 and numerous inexplicable cutouts.
Bought for £2100 with MOT, put it in for a new one some months later and had a shock, how it had got an MOT 8 months earlier and then only done 200 miles I dont know. We were going to look at a really nice restored one for £6000 but she bottled out on spendign that despite my protestations that this is what good ones cost, buy a good one, have some fun and get your money back, but no a two grand one that needs loads of work was the way to go, being cheap always costs you money, buy cheap, buy twice etc.
Anyway, a grand later and it had an MOT, that was mainly parts as I did the work, and its still not charging the battery and conking out, its coming out of hibernation so it will spoil my summer again, will get it right and then she will decide to get shut.
I wouldnt mind the work if I wanted to drive it, ok, its sort of amusing but being 6ft/16 stone I feel a right Gibbon getting out of it.
The bodywork is worse than it looks, the rear arches were a work of Isopon engineering, the sills had to come off, the paint is wafer thin.
So this summer, sort the charging of the battery out, sort the engine running problems, retrim the interior, rear arches and then list goes on......
It's a good job that isn't yellow and red, J4CKO. I would be expecting Noddy to jump out of it
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A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
I put 13k into my old scooby, and that was with me doing the majority of the fecking work on it to keep costs down!
Lessons to be learned
Putting nothing into the MG unless something is broken or needs replaced
The front lip spoiler was not really necessary, but the original one was missing, and i paid for it by flogging old subaru junk from work on ebay, so it does not count
There are times when I wish I still had my Jag Mk 2-3,4l. It was a fine old car, fast and surprisingly good round corners, as well as pretty comfortable. It did a lot of car trailer towing too without any problem.
I think that by now it would certainly be a real money pit par excellence!
Money pits
