Well, I guess my car has reached project status, so as pointed out by addz, it needs its own thread.
Basically my cars life started out in the hands of some chav, who'd put a charming body kit on the car, and proceeded to drive into something a lot harder than a clio. So I purchased the car from a salvage yard in sheffield for considerably less than the cost of a good 182, in november '07. (You have to remember that 182's were going for 8-9,000 when i was looking at them)
Original salvage yard pics
Looking around the car initially there was only superficial damage to the panels, but the most serious looking bit of damage was the drivers side wheel being at some crazy angle. This was enough to warrant it being a Cat C write off. Being the daft t**t I am, I purchased the car thinking it would only take a couple of grand to repair.
It ended up being double that sum to repair, I was dissapointed to say the least.
So after buying the car, I had it transported down to a garage in ilkeston which my dad knew was good. There it spent much time being put back in one piece.
In the end it needed:
new subframe
new drive shaft
new steering rack
new radiator
new brakes and pads all round
new wheel bearings
new A/C condensor
new wings
So all the damage done to it was underneath the body work, and there was not a chance in hell that when it had the accident, it was on those wheels. I imagine the original alloys would have resmbled a paper clip shape.
Several months went by, and it came to the time where we needed to get the car VIC'ed to get a new V5 for it. We were all set for it to pass the MOT on the wednesday, and drive it down to the VIC centre in derby on the friday... however it went and failed the MOT on emissions and rear seat belts:dapprove:
So very quickly posted up help, and managed to get a trailer on thursday afternoon
off it went and passed the VIC
Later we learned that in an attempt to decat the car, previous chav owner had broken the cat into lots of little pieces with something similar to a crow bar. So a new cat was needed. Renault being Renault were wanting £900 for a new one, so managed to get one for £190 in the end.
With that done, the car could finally be handed back
The day we picked it up:
and pics of it after much cleaning
Now all I had to do was buy insurance on it:dapprove:
for some strange reason, insurance companies don't like 19 year olds on modified Cat C group 16 cars...
having rung every possible insurance company up, I couldn't get anything below 3,000 so... something had to change.
The car started to become unmodified.
First thing to be ripped off were the sideskirts
Then managed to source a new rear bumper and sideskirts, bargain for 100 pounds:approve:
(first bargain this car has seen)
Then got the new standard exhaust system for it
Spent a couple of weekends putting all the bits on but was pleased with the results
Much quieter without the "Stateside Cherrybomb" centre section on it... I was mortified when I read that
So with all the done, I turned my attention to the front splitter... The most akward b*****d to get off, glued on with only the finest tiger seal. (as a word of warning, if i hear tiger seal mentioned again on this forum, god help you)
This brings us up to last week, where Addz popped up to help me get all the adhesive off the car, I think I'm still high on paint thinner and white spirit
One for the CS perverts out there, you'll be asking for a pic of her anyway:rasp:
...and as she stands now
Thanks for reading
Basically my cars life started out in the hands of some chav, who'd put a charming body kit on the car, and proceeded to drive into something a lot harder than a clio. So I purchased the car from a salvage yard in sheffield for considerably less than the cost of a good 182, in november '07. (You have to remember that 182's were going for 8-9,000 when i was looking at them)
Original salvage yard pics
Looking around the car initially there was only superficial damage to the panels, but the most serious looking bit of damage was the drivers side wheel being at some crazy angle. This was enough to warrant it being a Cat C write off. Being the daft t**t I am, I purchased the car thinking it would only take a couple of grand to repair.
It ended up being double that sum to repair, I was dissapointed to say the least.
So after buying the car, I had it transported down to a garage in ilkeston which my dad knew was good. There it spent much time being put back in one piece.
In the end it needed:
new subframe
new drive shaft
new steering rack
new radiator
new brakes and pads all round
new wheel bearings
new A/C condensor
new wings
So all the damage done to it was underneath the body work, and there was not a chance in hell that when it had the accident, it was on those wheels. I imagine the original alloys would have resmbled a paper clip shape.
Several months went by, and it came to the time where we needed to get the car VIC'ed to get a new V5 for it. We were all set for it to pass the MOT on the wednesday, and drive it down to the VIC centre in derby on the friday... however it went and failed the MOT on emissions and rear seat belts:dapprove:
So very quickly posted up help, and managed to get a trailer on thursday afternoon
off it went and passed the VIC
Later we learned that in an attempt to decat the car, previous chav owner had broken the cat into lots of little pieces with something similar to a crow bar. So a new cat was needed. Renault being Renault were wanting £900 for a new one, so managed to get one for £190 in the end.
With that done, the car could finally be handed back
The day we picked it up:
and pics of it after much cleaning
Now all I had to do was buy insurance on it:dapprove:
for some strange reason, insurance companies don't like 19 year olds on modified Cat C group 16 cars...
having rung every possible insurance company up, I couldn't get anything below 3,000 so... something had to change.
The car started to become unmodified.
First thing to be ripped off were the sideskirts
Then managed to source a new rear bumper and sideskirts, bargain for 100 pounds:approve:
(first bargain this car has seen)
Then got the new standard exhaust system for it
Spent a couple of weekends putting all the bits on but was pleased with the results
Much quieter without the "Stateside Cherrybomb" centre section on it... I was mortified when I read that
So with all the done, I turned my attention to the front splitter... The most akward b*****d to get off, glued on with only the finest tiger seal. (as a word of warning, if i hear tiger seal mentioned again on this forum, god help you)
This brings us up to last week, where Addz popped up to help me get all the adhesive off the car, I think I'm still high on paint thinner and white spirit
One for the CS perverts out there, you'll be asking for a pic of her anyway:rasp:
...and as she stands now
Thanks for reading
Prize goes to this man here
