How many times have you bought a car, and then found some really nasty surgery that was performed by the then owner that you didnt find when you looked the car over and handed over you hard earned cash?
Here's a couple I found
1. Xb GS that had a funny clunk from the rear end everytime I turned right, figured it might be a wheel bearing so no big problem. Popped out the shaft, replaced the bearing, still had the clunk.. Pulled out the diff (8" cone type LSD)..Previous owned must have damaged the splines on the cone, so instead of replacing the unit decided to machine all the splines out and stick it back. Which left the end of the free to move around hence the clunk..
2. My 2nd 3.0lt Capri with auto box. Drove her home everything felt fine, started to clean the engine bay and discovered a 1/4" gap between the bell housing and the back of the block, strange I think, better tighten them bolts up, did that only to discoved that the motor had locked solid, scratch head, loosen off bolts, motor free's up..weird..more head scratching. Decide to drop auto, discover that some clown had WELDED the torque converter to the flex plate, not only that but it was the wrong converter. Then to my disgust i notice a ridge of what looked suspisously like araldite running from the left front side of the box to the right rear.. It turns out to be sealing a massive crack in the casing.. Went back to confront the guy I buy the car off, seems he blew the converter, couldn't find/ couldn't afford/ couldn't be bothered getting a new one so used an old one he found in his garage, welded her on and found the motor wouldnt turn so he tried a tow start which split the auto..Renegotiated price of car and got the cost of new auto and converter deducted
brought my charade from carpoint and freighted it over here noticed a slight crack down the side of the body about 8 months later took it to the panel beaters and said the car had been crashed showed me photos of when he fixed it had a replacement panel put in where it was smashed only welds that were there was in the corners where it had been tacked and a 20mm gap right around the panel that was only bogged, the side window(its a hatch)had been stuck in with black silicone instead of the proper window resin and was only just sitting in there. still got it but i,m planning to get rid of it as soon as i can afford to buy a new car
when i bought my xe it had chopped rear springs which were bouncing around in the back. butchered parcel shelf and most of his wiring was not soldered, just wires twisted. had 6 cylinder springs in the front with a v8. springs were massive when took them out but compressed so muh that it looked as though it was lowered. also worlds dodgiest backyard respray didnt remove any of the crome strips and very abdly cleaned there was many spots where he had painted over dirt and paint just flew off when blowing down.
Not a dodgey fix, but the people I got mine off were complaining that it went through too much fuel. At the time I figured they were just used to little 4 bangers and the like.
A few weeks later when I got a good chance to drive it I noticed it was going through heaps, and never heating up. 25 bucks on a thermostat later that issue was fixed.
The prep job and paint job on my bonnet (I'm guessing it happened around 2000, seems that's when the radiator is dated) is shocking. Sanding marks all over the front of the bonnet, the paint is shithouse.
Previous owner must have rear ended my EF on something, they welded the rear quarter panel on (HUGE weld seam right next to the passenger seat, but no point taking it off and doing it properly).
To top it off, they painted it with whatever white they could find, thus resulting in one very f**ked up paint job. Further emphasised thru dodgy smash repair at the beginning of the year.
The result? A car i hate to own, am stuck with until June of next year, and would like to see at the bottom of a river.
Yet funnily enough it hasnt given me an ounce of mechanical trouble.
The previous owner of my 4 door Mk II Escort decided he wanted the drivers side rear view mirror - so he decided to cut around it with an anglegrinder, ruining an otherwise perfect door.
__________________
1985 Ford XF Falcon GL.
4.1L carby Inline 6 cylinder crossflow engine, 3 speed auto, ZL Fairlane instrument cluster and seats, EA Fairmont 15" alloy wheels... Coming soon: Extractors and decent exhaust...
when i smashed my HQ years ago, some people i knew gave me a free HQ that had a spot on front end (the front had never rusted either- that was a suprise for a HQ), and they had got it from the local natives. lets just say that it was painted blue, with house paint, and with a paint brush. apparently it took them 3 slabs to paint it. also when i pulled the bog out of the back of the car i found brand new, un-used steel wool that you wash dishes with. it even had the pink 'soapy' stuff still on it!!
__________________ HSV Herpes Simplex Virus GAME OVER!
We bought a EA ex-Victoria Police car from a wholesale yard at a Ford dealer in 1992. When I started getting interested in the car I found it only had one service receipt, and that was for 40,000km. That was the ONLY service record that came with the car.
Im going to assume some of those who bought the dodgy cars then went and onsold them to other owners without out disclosing the dodgy issues.
These dodgy cars could have been sold to them in a dodgy state so the dodgy buggers decide to be dodgy and sell the dodgy cars to someone else. Well i just think that's dodgy. :-)
Sinful to mess with an original GT though (as stated in the post above)
__________________
Congratulations. You are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive, but not you. Not anymore.
I found the heater in the mustang wasn't working, so I checked the hoses. They were on the wrong way around. Correcting that improved it slightly. So I had a good look at the heater box under the dash... for ducting, they used wire and masking tape, and as there were a few gaps here and there, the heater was doing a good job at warming the dash...
__________________
'67 Mustang V8 4sp... what fun to drive!
The AutoGuide.com network consists of the largest network of enthusiast-owned enthusiast-operated automotive communities.
AutoGuide.com provides the latest car reviews, auto show coverage, new car prices, and automotive news. The AutoGuide network operates more than 100 automotive forums where our users consult peers for shopping information and advice, and share opinions as a community.
Linear Mode
