Over the years we’ve purchased the odd broken car that’s arrived in the shop and treated as a wee project to do when we have down time. Often the cost of repairs can be more than the value of the car, so unless you have some real attachment to the car sometimes its easier just to get out of it and move to the next one. So this was the case with MZM532, stretched timing chain, resulting in 8 bent valves and zero compression.
So, WEEU bought the car to save it from the wrecking yard and popped it down the back end of the shop and waited for a quiet day to start some repairs. This picture is before we bought it, having just discovered the extent of the engine damage. As you can see its not in the best shape so its never going to be a show car, damaged bumpers, door gaps not great etc etc.
Anyway, a look over the the car uncovered other items, such as the drivers door window switch pack in pieces, some WOF items like front subframe bushes, and lower arm reaction bushes, roof lining starting to sag (Standard). What was going for it was, decent rubber and brakes, nice wheels (Likely changing anyway). Leather interior in reasonable condition.
So!!!!!! $500 buys the car. What is the plan?
In the first instance I figure we can save it from the scrap yard and keep costs down by having it as a ‘filler’ job. From there I don’t know. Fix and sell? Fix and sign write it, another loan car maybe? We don’t have anything really promoting ‘Wellington European Tyres’. So a tyre promo car??
Some jobs to take care of.. Window switch and door card repair, easy. Something we hadnt spotted with the car on the hoist and the tailgate up was the top of the tail gate was damaged., you will see we are now sporting a Black tailgate (for now).
Below, well the cylinder head came off and went to headmaster for repairs/rebuild, including 8 new valves and the re assembly included new chain kit, gaskets and the usual odds and ends. Interior is pretty good.
So we get the car going, ticked off the WOF work and some trim work and went driving. Other things to sort were some general tune and maintenance work, coils, plugs, and a DSG service. And while this was happening the apprentices added a sneaky bonnet stripe. For giggles it’s stayed on and might be inspiring something for the future branding on the car if that’s the way we go……
Now What?
So its together, its legal, its going well, and it has a black tail gate! And in amongst all of this we’ve engaged with a new tuner ‘EuroTune’ so we figured why not plug some power into it and have some fun.
So on paper a stage 1 power tune takes this little 1.4 to 200HP. We’ve also done some other minor mods like a decat/downpipe and added the pops and bangs for a laugh. For now aside from the downpipe the exhaust is standard so the pops and bangs are minimal. I know plenty are going to hate on the pops and bangs, but hey, we are having some fun!!!
Now what/ watch this space.
We do have some wheels that we might try on it, and possibly give it a little lowering job, and then some signage…. But the immediate future is to get some km’s into it and make sure everything is working as it should, and enjoy the 200 HP’s!!!
Some time ago we added tyres to our growing list of services on offer. We have a large range available, Continental, Maxxis, Goodyear, Pirelli, Nankang and Hankook to name a few. Recently we managed to get YOKOHAMA on board. We had a request for some road legal track style tyres for the car pictured. Great outcome as we have now added Yokohama to our available tyre brands.
Here’s is a great pic and a great example as to why cars get inspected like they do. On older cars with brake drums and shoes, the car had a way of telling you there was a problem. the brake pedal travel would get longer as the shoes wore out. The handbrake might not hold like it used too. The pedal may go soft or spongy.
In a modern car with disc brakes all around you can virtually have no brake linings left, but still have brakes that perform well, as was the case with the car in the picture below. By design the brakes are continuously adjusting as the pads wear. So they don’t go out of adjustment like an older car might. These brakes pictured well and truly passed the WOF brake test on our electronic gauge, however on the visual inspection they are about as low as you would dare to go and in fact were failed a WOF.
Other factors here too are this is only 1 of 4 pads in the front, and the pads don’t always wear evenly so often the one we cant see easily is worse off.
Check out these massive stoppers! These things are absolutely huge. Huge power under the bonnet requires matching huge stopping power to match. Nice Genuine fitment here, we also have some nice aftermarket options out there for these.
BMW in for heavy oil consumption. The car was performing fine however the oil usage was high. Tests came back with using about 1Litre of oil per 1000km’s. Thankfully this owner had a mechanical breakdown insurance who came to the rescue and paid for a large portion of the repairs. As it turned out we did 2 of these jobs in August.
Both with policy’s through different providers. This one required ‘exhaust’ valve guides and valve stem seals. A reasonably common issue. The work involved removing the cylinder head for inspection and repairs as required. The owner in this case opted to renew the timing chain ‘kit’. The timing tool in ‘blue’ is fitted here as we ‘time’ the engine and torque up the crank and cam pulleys.
Our car TOY006 was in for brakes and then its twin arrives for the same job. Snap, hit repeat in the shop.
Something we’ve talked about for sometime now is to be doing our own tyres onsite. Machines, stock, consumables, and training all happened last week…. The reasons we’ve held back has been space, equipment and set up. However recent changes have created more room in the workshop, as well as 2 new junior techs started with us have both come from tyre shops, and have tyre fitting and balancing experience. Being members of 2 of NZ’s largest co-ops also gives us great buying power for a large range of wheels and tyres.
So…… we have done it with our first retail sales done in oct 2021. Ahead of schedule as we wanted to be up and running for November. We do have many brands to choose from with more in the pipeline, however the market we are in we think of Pirelli is a great fit.
Our aim is to provide better turn around timeframes with our tyres, as relying on outwork in general can lead to disappointment. Local supply will mean same day delivery in most cases and in time we will build our onsite stock.
Our new business venture in Hamilton, take a look at some snippets from our first newsletter….
terapaautoelectrical.co.nz Note, the website is still to be updated, but you get the idea….)
Very exciting times for us here at Wellington European, taking on another business in another location, a great new challenge for us and we see both businesses will complement each other and add to the services offered in both locations.
Some new tech on board. With the purchase of ‘TeRapa Auto Electrical’ we have opened up some avenues for other services and accessory’s.
To get things going we have got into stock the top spec Dash-cam system mongoose offers. Front and rear camera systems with multiple functions. Added peace of mind while driving, check out all the features here..
Check out the Mongoose Range here
Quick visit to the British and European car day today, prompted me to pull a few photos from a few years ago when I took my Cortina, which is currently locked up in the back corner of the shop needing some attention. Lack of time so the poor cars being neglected.
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