Great little mini in the shop for a very minor repair, but brought back some fond memories of working on, modifying, tinkering, racing and navigating these great little machines.
Good times.)
BMW I3 in for service inspection, This car does have a small petrol engine which was up do date, the rest of the usual service type checks still apply, It still has brakes and tyres, etc etc. Fun little car, the owner insisted i take it for a drive… Loved it.
After a small break (wife having a child) its time to make some moves with little blue. I have been accumulating parts in the mean time, so we have ready to go, new front swivel kits, all new seals and gaskets, new wheel bearings, and axle bearings. As per the rear axle (Part2) I will be doing new brakes also, likely the only original brake parts with be the backing plates and adjusters, so new cylinders, shoes, return springs, drums etc.
4/5/19 was day one of getting back into it, the axle was front axle assembly was already largely stripped, so now it clean up and time for some fresh paint. Ideally a lot of these components could have been sand blasted (or similar) etc which we don’t have on site, and this is an exercise of resurrecting this old truck on a limited budget. That said it was time to get dirty with a wire brush, wire wheels in a drill…. The end result I am very happy with.
Want to see Part 1 & 2… CLICK HERE
First pic is what we started with, total mess, collapsed wheel bearings, play and slop in everything, 27 years of farm use without a wash…)
Winters on… June 1 and I’m in the back of the shop with little blue. Some good progress today. I was donated some axles from my good friend Paul, who I blame for introducing me to landies.. I’ve removed and replaced the bearing and seal collars. Also assembled the RH front swivel assembly to the diff housing, set up preloads etc. Diff is on hold, needing shims to set up the pinion bearing pre-loads. (
12 Months down!
Wow what a year we’ve had, year one with the re-brand and its been such an amazing boost for the business. To all our old customers who have continued to come back and see us, thank you soo much. To the customers who have been told we are closed, and I know there are a few, we hope you find us again. (many have). And too all the new customers, welcome to ‘WEEU’. Hopefully we have met your expectations and we get to see you again.
The change has come with a huge increase in inquiry which has led to some changes in the shop. We had to opportunity to take on some more real estate with in the building which we grabbed, and immediately knocked down some walls. We’ve added a hoist, bought another scan tool to add to the arsenal, as well as a couple of battery supports for 2 of the hoists.
As per usual the cars coming through have been varied, from old to new, family wagons to Lamborghini’s, a bit of everything.
Parts, we’ve continued to grow our contacts in this area, no parts dept on site as with all brands you could end up with a lot of money tied up on shelves, however with our network we’ve surrounded ourselves with I would think that now 85% of our service and repair parts are overnight to us. In particular our Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover parts delivery time has improved 10 fold, with parts often arriving from Aus overnight…
Warranties, we are still educating people in this area, we are facilitating more and more warranty sales, giving more people peace of mind motoring in their British and European cars.
Our fleet, we are working our way through the old BMW’s that we had a great run with.. Two of them have been sold and replaced with much newer VW Golfs, a MK5 and MK6. We also have an Audi A4 in the works which may replace the last BMW…. We want to continue running 3 Courtesy cars as we see the benefits they provide….
Above and below show the wall in and the wall out!!!!
For 5 years we had 3 E46 BMW’s running around town. The name change was a great opportunity for trade up to newer, with fewer kms.
So 2 of the BMW’s have been sold and gone to new homes. TOY001 I just couldn’t let go….Maybe its time??
So we have added a MK5 Golf GT,
And new to us, not yet signed up is a 2010 MK6 Golf wagon.
Also yet to be decided on is the A4 Audi in the background. This might be the new TOY001 if i can finally part with my old BMW
Wow I cannot believe it but we are coming up on a year on from re-branding. What a wild ride its been.
We’ve done everything we set out to do 12 months ago, We’ve added a hoist, bought more tools, changed up the loan cars and more…
BUT!!
There’s always more to do, improvements to make, and more cars to service and repair…
Watch out for the 12 month summary blog!! And whats up next…
Tools Down!!
Epic year for us, Huge thank you as always to our staff, suppliers and customers. Looking forward to 2019, wrapping up our first year as Wellington European.
All the best over the holiday period, drive safe and we will see you soon.
John and the team…
New to the blog and want to check out part one of Little Blue/ Check it out here—- LittleBlue
I thought I would kick off with Part two after having a wee break from Little Blue, there has been some weekend progress, however some family commitments have take over my weekends for a while….)) (With a little land Rover helper on the way)..
So here is a little of the more recent progress. Last featured we had a complete stripped down landy, chassis on stands, and I had made a start on the rear axle..
Chassis repairs are well under way, hopefully in the next week or two all the new outriggers will be on and the new cross member as well.
Below, completed rear axle tidied up, this was a complete mess. Diff itself was in good order, have renewed everything brake related, shoes, drums, cylinders, hose, pipes etc. Also wheel bearings ands seals etc, came up nice.
Hows that for a before and after!!
Next up is the front axle, strip down has started.
Chassis updates, well the rear top section was a patchwork quilt, and when removing the tub we found only one bolt holding it on.. (oh and gravity). So its had farm repairs or bush repairs and is in need of some professional help. So in goes some new steel, out comes the straight edges and measuring tapes.. Happy with progress so far.
Tacking in some new steel!!
Below, rtear homemade crossmember has been removed and we ar getting ready to fit the new re-production part..
Next month is the holiday season, xmas and new years break will be here in no time.
How are your cars, servicing up to date? Ready for a road trip?
Peace of mind motoring, is a mechanical breakdown insurance for you?
So, being the guy at the desk organizing the shop, the customers the repairs and quotes, I often find myself asking the question, do you have a warranty or breakdown insurance on your car..? This is often followed by “No, I purchased the car privately”, or ‘Ive had the car for years now”.
Its not common knowledge that you can go out and purchase a policy on your car from the likes of ourselves or various finance companies and car yards around NZ. Providing the car meets the criteria and is checked for any pre-exisiting faults, its just a matter of providing some very basic information and choosing the level of cover you would like.
We can put mechanical breakdown insurance in place for most European cars up to 16 years old and 250,000 kms. All policies come with a 24/7 road side assist if something were to happen while travelling this holiday season and beyond. Seeing some of the failures and the repair bills, we are huge advocates for mechanical breakdown insurance. A good way to future proof yourself against costly repairs with the added bonus of the road side assist. Obviously there are terms and conditions, however in a nut shell we can put in place cover for most European vehicles up to 16 years old and a whopping 250,000kms. Exclusions are the likes of AMG, and RS Audis etc (still an option , but much lower age and km’s restrictions). Any questions, give us a call, happy to assist.
A brief summary of whats covered, in most cases its mechanical and electrical items that are not deemed to be routine maintenance items. We have replaced everything from window regulators to engines. Depending on the level of cover, some policies have a claim limit of up to $10,000 (per claim). This is a significant sum which we have seen spent on a few occasions now on policies. The list of items covered is just too long, however if you had any specific questions feel free to give us a call, I’m sure I will be able to answer most questions on the spot.
FAQ
- Is there a claim excess.,? Yes there is usually $350-$450
- Is there a limit on claims.,? No there is not.
- What do I have to do.,? The car must be serviced every 12 months, and in most cases, Diesels are 10,000km and Petrol’s are 15,000. So annually or by km’s, whichever comes first.
- Are oils and fluids covered on claims.,? On the top tier policies, yes they are, IE A water-pump
- job may need fresh coolant. Also often covered are wheel alignments, freight, diagnostic scan tools if they are required to complete the job. Lower tier cover these would be additional.
Below is an engine failure, had the policy been in place in time I’m sure the repairs would have been covered, as it is this cost many thousands to replace the engine and all the additional items required to be able to guarantee the job..
New on the market and at the time of posting this, not yet advertised.
Any information wanted, contact john@wellingtoneuropean.co.nz and I will put you in touch with the owner.
Serious buyers only.
Recent Comments
What others have to say