I was worried when i bought a 125k mile Williams, as i thought it might become a bit of a money pit. I got a good deal on it, so it gave me some extra cash to throw at it incase anything needed replacing, and sure enough it did. Now i could have spent twice as much as i did getting a low milage one. However, from speaking to people, it seems lower milage cars have the same problems as mine. Now according to my service history im not replacing these things for the second time, so it must be related to age, or maybe its just that my car had these problems at say 60k, and the previous owners were driving around in a soggy car from 60k to 120k. If i hadnt have driven my other Williams i wouldnt be that impressed with the handling. I wonder how many people test drive Williams and think well its ok, but why did Clarkson say it was the best hot hatch ever?. Thats the impression id get after driving my second Williams. I am confident that on a track 0002 would be absolutely miles ahead of 0200 (10s of seconds depending on the track), tuning aside, just down to the handling. I have kept up with little lotus elises on country lanes in my 0002, but i wouldnt be able to in 0200, i just wouldnt have the confidence. Not until its sorted out anyway. Its slowly getting better. Poor baby has been neglected. I pity people who buy a second hand Williams and never spend the time or money to straighten it out. They are missing out on one of the biggest buzzes ever and getting the impression they are driving a normal hot hatch.
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Old Williams = Chocolate tea pot
- Thread starter king.stromba
- Start date
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- Tags
- williams
I was worried when i bought a 125k mile Williams, as i thought it might become a bit of a money pit. I got a good deal on it, so it gave me some extra cash to throw at it incase anything needed replacing, and sure enough it did. Now i could have spent twice as much as i did getting a low milage one. However, from speaking to people, it seems lower milage cars have the same problems as mine. Now according to my service history im not replacing these things for the second time, so it must be related to age, or maybe its just that my car had these problems at say 60k, and the previous owners were driving around in a soggy car from 60k to 120k. If i hadnt have driven my other Williams i wouldnt be that impressed with the handling. I wonder how many people test drive Williams and think well its ok, but why did Clarkson say it was the best hot hatch ever?. Thats the impression id get after driving my second Williams. I am confident that on a track 0002 would be absolutely miles ahead of 0200 (10s of seconds depending on the track), tuning aside, just down to the handling. I have kept up with little lotus elises on country lanes in my 0002, but i wouldnt be able to in 0200, i just wouldnt have the confidence. Not until its sorted out anyway. Its slowly getting better. Poor baby has been neglected. I pity people who buy a second hand Williams and never spend the time or money to straighten it out. They are missing out on one of the biggest buzzes ever and getting the impression they are driving a normal hot hatch.
Depends what you want doesnt it?. I could have got as lot of things with the money i spent. I bought the Williams because i like rare things that nobody else in the world has. Plus ive always wanted one as a kid, and it was the realisation of my dream / goal (achievements of goals is an underestimated feedback mechanism to allow greatner acheivements in the future). I dont usually do second best, its first or nothing, so i guess Frank has one up on me with 0001, but then he has to put up with left hand drive. Oh well.
Drive shaft is leaking at gearbox end. Exhaust might be blowing a bit from the manifold area, but not sure. Brakes are worn. The car drives ok, but i want to get it handling well. Its this weather, i really hate it. All the little jobs i could do, i just cant do them as its dark so early and so cold. Even if the car falls apart, i still have alot of spares for my other car.
King - with regard to clarkson comment, you have to remember that he drove the williams when it was brand new, i have a 03 reg Corsa as a courtesy car at the Mo it drives nice, smooth with 5k on the clock, but in ten years it will drive like poo, im sure of it, so in comparison regardless of milage I think your second willy is doing all right.
Alot of people to buy cars to drive and dont think about the running costs, but people like me dont want things to go when your driving so you almost look for things or listen for things that are not right, which prevents you getting stuck when something dies and your stranded!
But if i were you King i would put the miles on the 125k willy and keep 0002 as your showpiece, BTW did you get rid of the CRX?
King, how did you get on @ Hillpower the other week? Has the suspension made alot of improvment? (what did you have done?)
i feel i have alittle play in my steering, mine has done 78k, ive had both bearings done upfront so i know it nothing to do with those. How can i tell if my column / rack needs replacing? Would i have to get someone else to move the wheel while looking for play under the rack?
I was told you can just replace the track rod ends rather then the whole rack - this true?
Remapped derv Golf
JC has also said that about the 205 GTI!
I think its fair to say we all know there are common problems that crop up with owning a wiliams/valver.. having a low milage example its true that the car has not had many things replaced and hopefully wont need to for a couple of years but still im still aware of the kind of stuff thats likely to happend and i try to sort them out before it does...
A lot comes down to how its been looked after, if its been thrashed 4eva more its gonna be a pile of poo and if its looked after properly all things well its happy motoring
P.s the only problem ive had so far is a wheel bearing.. im putting that down to it being stood for months on end in the previous owners garage
williamsclio.co.uk/forum
Haha - Ive been driving around with a bust drivers side spring, for 3 months. Still feels sweet as to me. Yours must be bad
Just in the process of changing it - but its putting up a big fight. So far ive snapped 2 6mm allen key sockets trying to undo the top strut nut. When it was last changed at renault garage they must of put loctite on as its well tight.
Keep with it pal - Turn her into the beast she once was.
If you pull up the rubber bung at the bottom of the column youll see a joint where the column meets the rack and its this joint that car wear leading to the column needing replaced. If you wiggle the steering wheel at standstill to check if it does actually move the connection to the rack youll know if it needs replaced - it should be fairly obvious.
There was someone on here who had the same problem and welded the joint but youll be far better/safer getting either a new or secondhand column rather than doing this. Secondhand theyll go for about £70 or so....
Glenn, the problem is that people sell the cars on with problems, but they never tell you. Bit immorral if you ask me, ive always been honest when selling a car. Lets face it one of the biggest reasons for selling an old car is that it has something wrong with it. Each owner adds a few problems until the car is a virtual wreck.
king -
First thng tio replace has got to ht e the track controll arms (Not ends) these are a wearing part and are easily sourced and relativly easy to fit. They are attached using the nuts that are designed to shear and are tricky so would be money well spent on 2 hours labour. They are cheap to buy from euro or GSF. Do a search as a while back (about 12months ago) there was a chap with similar play in his williams steering which was finally resolved by replacing the track controll arms also when i contacted the guy with the web site detailing the 200k + williams re-build advised me of a few thing that needed doing one being the track controll arms / rods or what ever you call them
I did all that 16v - 2.0 mentioned above to my old Valver and it made a lot of difference (it was on about 90k at the time).
IMO people spend a lot of time discussing which mod to do next, when the real performance gains are to be had by taking the time and care to renew all the little bits that get forgotten about. Bet Strombas Willy 200 went a lot better after a new dizzy cap and ignition system - it probably added more bhp than a new zorst or something.
Funny you say that Ben, but it does feel much nicer to drive. I didnt notice the difference the new springs made until i did the 200 mile journey back from my parents house to my home. The steering doesnt feel as bad as i thought, or maybe its just that im getting used to it. I will definately try have someone look at the track control arms to see if they are worn 16v - 2.0, what else did the guy with the 200k Williams say say worth changing. Nick said my exhaust was blowing and i can hear it now, i must be losing at shed load of power from that. The car is going into a garage tomorrow for them to look at because i want someone to quote me for the work that needs doing. What priority would you give to the following, based on ergency and price (i might as well do anything cheap asap):
Leaking drive shaft seal (small leak)
Worn discs and pads, possible siezed caliper
Slightly blowing exhaust (might be temproarily mendable until summer, might put exhaust i took off 0002 onto it
). However could be the manifold i guess.Steering looseness (been told this could be anything on the column or rack but there is a wobble in the offside wheel and it does creak on tight left hand bends). I wouldnt argue with Nick at Hillpower and he said play in the join between rack and steering rod arm
And also - WHAT IS A TRACK CONTROL ARM?????
I did over 2600 track miles on my Willy with original dampers. The car had over 100,000 miles on it! It still handled quite well although doubtless it would have handled much better with fresher dampers. It did wiggle about a bit on sections where my Ragnotti is quite stable, but the Willy still braked and cornered better, due, no doubt, to the lighter weight.
track controll arms are cheap!! replace them as a matter of course.
in simple terms the rack connect to the arm which are conncted to the track rod end via a threaded rod (For tracking adjustment) this is the track rod end
the rod is a solid bar with a thread at one end (male in your case i think) with those funny shearing connection at the rack end.
I think they are about £20 each or there abouts, you need R19 16v ones but Euro will probably call them williams ones they seem pretty good at listing willy specific stuff rather then you assuming like with GSF
cant remeber what the chap said about, its was the rods and transmission oil and i think it might have been wishbone bishes but cant remember, His williams 3 is on nearly 300k now and AFAIK ont he original rack
So would the track control arm be the same as the steering arm rod? (The bit that conect to the rack via a ball and socket join and passes out towards the wheel side?)
B
