Yes, another project thread from me......
So for the last 8 and a half years, I've been driving my 2002 Mondeo Zetec-S. A silver, 2.5 V6 saloon. A superb car, good looking, relatively quick, super reliable having done 94k in my ownership and never ONCE let me down and generally a nice car to drive.
However, as I'm sure some song lyrics once said, nothing ever lasts forever. As much as I love this car, a new job and a 65 mile a day round trip commute in a V6 was never going to cut it. A lack of modern comforts, a V6 that drinks petrol like I drink cider of a weekend and the inevitable signs of age creeping in, coupled with being offered a proper bargain replacement has pretty much sealed it's fate. So, she will be going. I'll replace the rear calipers, discs and pads, MOT it and let her slip away. I will be very very sad to see her go. A lot of memories and miles in this one.....
So, onto the replacement. My neighbour is a great guy who I get on very well with. He recently bought himself a 2.7 V6 diesel Jag to replace his Insignia. Now I've never been a Vauxhall fan really at all but always liked his Insignia. A conversation about selling it ended up with him telling me it was up for £5k but if I wanted it, I could have it for £4k. 59 plate, black, 61k miles, , 2.0 diesel, full comprehensive history and just two owners (him and one other). He Lent it me for a week to see if I liked it........
Yesterday, I transferred the money to him and bought it.
SRi trim level, lots of modern options (climate, sat have, cruise, auto lights, parking sensors etc). Quiet, comfortable, surprisingly brisk and doing 51-52mpg on the work run as opposed to 32mpg at best from the Mondeo. No contest really. Clearly been looked after mechanically. It's had some body/paintwork as it got hit on the driver's side but got repaired. Not the greatest of repairs in terms of paint but I can live with it. Generally very clean for a 60k car but being black has the inevitable swirling. I can sort that however.
So, plans? Get it properly clean and winter prepped and then look at a few upgrades.
Need a few more detailing supplies (clay, spray bottles as tardis seems to have munched all my spray heads ) to do a proper job so that will wait until payday. For now, I started on the wheels. The fronts have clearly seen a poor refurb job so will be done again by a mate in the refurb business. For now, all 4 wheels got taken off and attacked. Rears worse than the front and the history shows work done on a sticking caliper so might explain the state of one wheel. Method was clean down with Bilberry, Autosmart Fallout (several goes as necessary), Tardis, Bilberry again then two coats of Jetseal and three of Poorboys Wheel sealant. Should stop any significant build up....
Wheel as it came off the car.....a fair amount of baked on crap, I think perhaps from the seized sliders. This is one of the rears.
Old wheel weight sticky stuff...
Wheel after several goes with fallout and onto the Tardis. Clearly doing its thing...
And all finished and about to go back on.
So all 4 wheels got done like this and look ok. I don't have any pics of the front but they clearly have seen a refurb, and not a great one at that. Lifting and peeling lacquer etc. Some recent kerbing and generally not happy with them. I'll take them down to my mates place and take the tyres off and then take them to the refurbers.
Plans on the body are a full decontamination with fallout, plenty of Tardis (tough to see either a dragons breath or tardis type product working on a black car, hence just using fallout!) But hey, we shall continue. Then a full clay and correction detail using the Flex. I tried out on a panel and got a 90%+ correction without really trying. Then Jetseal, Black hole and I've got a Dodojuice wax (purple one?) to use over the top.
Then it's onto other mods. Car seems to have full phone prep but no Bluetooth. Looks like you can retro fit the factory Bluetooth but it's a pain and you need a code that Vauxhall are reluctant to give out. Other possible plans are leather to replace the cloth and just maybe VXR alloys. However, that is a 'just maybe' as they are rare and bloody expensive!
So for the last 8 and a half years, I've been driving my 2002 Mondeo Zetec-S. A silver, 2.5 V6 saloon. A superb car, good looking, relatively quick, super reliable having done 94k in my ownership and never ONCE let me down and generally a nice car to drive.
However, as I'm sure some song lyrics once said, nothing ever lasts forever. As much as I love this car, a new job and a 65 mile a day round trip commute in a V6 was never going to cut it. A lack of modern comforts, a V6 that drinks petrol like I drink cider of a weekend and the inevitable signs of age creeping in, coupled with being offered a proper bargain replacement has pretty much sealed it's fate. So, she will be going. I'll replace the rear calipers, discs and pads, MOT it and let her slip away. I will be very very sad to see her go. A lot of memories and miles in this one.....
So, onto the replacement. My neighbour is a great guy who I get on very well with. He recently bought himself a 2.7 V6 diesel Jag to replace his Insignia. Now I've never been a Vauxhall fan really at all but always liked his Insignia. A conversation about selling it ended up with him telling me it was up for £5k but if I wanted it, I could have it for £4k. 59 plate, black, 61k miles, , 2.0 diesel, full comprehensive history and just two owners (him and one other). He Lent it me for a week to see if I liked it........
Yesterday, I transferred the money to him and bought it.
SRi trim level, lots of modern options (climate, sat have, cruise, auto lights, parking sensors etc). Quiet, comfortable, surprisingly brisk and doing 51-52mpg on the work run as opposed to 32mpg at best from the Mondeo. No contest really. Clearly been looked after mechanically. It's had some body/paintwork as it got hit on the driver's side but got repaired. Not the greatest of repairs in terms of paint but I can live with it. Generally very clean for a 60k car but being black has the inevitable swirling. I can sort that however.
So, plans? Get it properly clean and winter prepped and then look at a few upgrades.
Need a few more detailing supplies (clay, spray bottles as tardis seems to have munched all my spray heads ) to do a proper job so that will wait until payday. For now, I started on the wheels. The fronts have clearly seen a poor refurb job so will be done again by a mate in the refurb business. For now, all 4 wheels got taken off and attacked. Rears worse than the front and the history shows work done on a sticking caliper so might explain the state of one wheel. Method was clean down with Bilberry, Autosmart Fallout (several goes as necessary), Tardis, Bilberry again then two coats of Jetseal and three of Poorboys Wheel sealant. Should stop any significant build up....
Wheel as it came off the car.....a fair amount of baked on crap, I think perhaps from the seized sliders. This is one of the rears.
Old wheel weight sticky stuff...
Wheel after several goes with fallout and onto the Tardis. Clearly doing its thing...
And all finished and about to go back on.
So all 4 wheels got done like this and look ok. I don't have any pics of the front but they clearly have seen a refurb, and not a great one at that. Lifting and peeling lacquer etc. Some recent kerbing and generally not happy with them. I'll take them down to my mates place and take the tyres off and then take them to the refurbers.
Plans on the body are a full decontamination with fallout, plenty of Tardis (tough to see either a dragons breath or tardis type product working on a black car, hence just using fallout!) But hey, we shall continue. Then a full clay and correction detail using the Flex. I tried out on a panel and got a 90%+ correction without really trying. Then Jetseal, Black hole and I've got a Dodojuice wax (purple one?) to use over the top.
Then it's onto other mods. Car seems to have full phone prep but no Bluetooth. Looks like you can retro fit the factory Bluetooth but it's a pain and you need a code that Vauxhall are reluctant to give out. Other possible plans are leather to replace the cloth and just maybe VXR alloys. However, that is a 'just maybe' as they are rare and bloody expensive!