dobbo 0 Posted February 19, 2009 Just had an MOT failure. Lots of little things and the big one is that the front cross member is apparently corroded. It's probably going to come to £500 - £600. I am thinking that the time has come to say goodbye to the Corrado but with no MOT I think my options are pretty limited :( If I was to sell the car as it is I am thinking I would get a few hundred but will I get any takers? My other option is to break it. Interested to hear from anyone who has broken a corrado before as to whether it was worth the time and energy and how much money did it generate? For info it is a metallic green 2.0 16v. L Reg. 180,000 miles. Average condition on the outside (few rust spots coming through on the doors and wings), interior in good condition, new clutch and box reconditioned 10,000 miles ago. Here are some pics. Any advice much appreciated. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Critical_Mass 10 Posted February 19, 2009 Cant see it costing that much to get another cross member, try looking for a decent secondhand one for a hell of a lot less the £600. Then you just need to get it fitted. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dobbo 0 Posted February 19, 2009 Should have explained properly! The other MOT failures are going to come to £300 or £400 and I was factoring on the cross member being at least £200 including fitting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CorradoVR6-Turbo 0 Posted February 19, 2009 are you willing to have a go yourself and fit the crossmember? you can pick a used good one for chips and plenty of us will haelp you along the way explaining what to do etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
was8v 0 Posted February 19, 2009 Breaking it is probably a heck of a lot more effort than fixing it yourself? List the failures? £200 for a crossmember fitted is steep, can't see it being for than £50 used for a 16v (no demand unlike VR6 ones to go in Mk2s) and 2 hours to fit yourself. Breaking it might net you more money than selling it as a failure, but what price do you put on your time! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Critical_Mass 10 Posted February 19, 2009 Agree with the above ^^ its sounds like its worth just changing the cross member rather then breaking it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KADVR6 0 Posted February 19, 2009 what else did it fail on?? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
junkie 0 Posted February 19, 2009 Looks too nice to break, sell your gran or something to fix it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dobbo 0 Posted February 19, 2009 I am not the greatest mechanically and that is why I was asking about how much effort breaking a car really is. Sounds like it could be a ball ache so fair enough. The other MOT failures are: break hose corroded front abs sensor needs replacing front anti rollbar bushes new cv joint indicator problem (keep blowing fuses, replaced the flasher relay which helped but it is still happening, must have a loose connection somewhere) rear shocks need replacing A mate of mine has a vehicle lift and after speaking to him he reckons he'll be able to help me with most of the work, including the front cross member. If it is replaced will it be a welding job? What else fixes to the front member? Any advice on where to buy a used cross member? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colinstubbs 0 Posted February 19, 2009 Cross member is bolt off bolt on as far as I know. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Valerian 0 Posted February 19, 2009 My opinion is to fix it, but before you do, get someone who knows about cars to check all the faults the garage has listed just to make sure they weren't trying to screw you over. Apart from the brake pipe(s), which costs next to nothing if you do it yourself, all the other parts can be sourced secondhand for i reckon around £100 or less. To me the car looks (from the photos)to be too good to break. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
was8v 0 Posted February 20, 2009 I am not the greatest mechanically and that is why I was asking about how much effort breaking a car really is. Sounds like it could be a ball ache so fair enough. The other MOT failures are: break hose corroded front abs sensor needs replacing front anti rollbar bushes new cv joint indicator problem (keep blowing fuses, replaced the flasher relay which helped but it is still happening, must have a loose connection somewhere) rear shocks need replacing A mate of mine has a vehicle lift and after speaking to him he reckons he'll be able to help me with most of the work, including the front cross member. If it is replaced will it be a welding job? What else fixes to the front member? Any advice on where to buy a used cross member? Get it fixed :) All of that is dead easy to do. All easily bolt on parts from GSFcarparts.com. Just get your mate to help with the brake line (as it says "hose" it might be just the flexy hose that has corrdoed ends, so even easier than changing a hard brake line). You could have all that done in a day / weekend at the most and £200 in parts max. Post a "wanted" ad in the classifieds here, I bet you get offered a few X-members very cheap. Use parcel2go.com to pick it up if its a long way away - £8. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Leonard 0 Posted February 20, 2009 I have only just started 'tinkering' with my car sorting out a few problems myself and it is hard work if you are not very mechanically minded. However it gives you a great deal of satisfaction and saves you a shed load of money! Most things are just time consuming and fiddly rather than actually beyond the capabilities of the average Joe :grin: I would say at least attempt to fix it yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised at what you can do. And what is the worst case scenario, you cant do it and then you end up breaking it.... Go for it, you know it makes sense, save another rado :clap: Matt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
corozin 0 Posted February 20, 2009 Rather than try and persuade you not to break the car I have a few tips on what to do if you *do* decide to break it. - Get the car offroad, SORN it and recover any remaining road tax refund. You can't break the car on a public road legally, and the tax will be your first bit of cash. - Make a list of what you think you can reasonably sell before you start. Try and focus on stripping and selling the "big ticket" items first; engine, wheels, gearbox, interior, bonnet. These are the items which will generate the most cash. - Do a price list before you advertise. The objective is to realise cash so better to price stuff keenly and just move it rather than try to squeeze every pound out of it. If you don't sell the bits, they're worth nothing. Also most enthusiasm comes at the start of a sale - you've more likely to find people after lots of things so consider bulk discounting if someone wants quite a few bits. - There are also a number of small items which are now becoming sellable particularly if yours is an older car. Many interior switches, doorcards, early headlights, front bumpers, early sunroof switches and some of the footwell trim are now all unobtainable from dealers and should be on your list. - Buy a car cover to cover the car whilst you break it. That way if you have to sell a door you can keep the remaining car out of the elements. Cheap ones in Halford for around £40. Medium size. - The various controllers (ABS, windows) may seem to be valuable items but they aren't. Loads of them on eBay already. Ditto steering wheels. - Paypal is ok but direct bank transfer is cheaper and better for you. - Get to the post office and know what things will cost to send out. Parcelforce is actually a very good service. - I found it was easiest to strip things off as people ordered them rather than tear the car down and then sell. For big items the buyers will have to collect anyway and will often offer to help you remove the bits they want. This is particularly useful when it comes to selling the engine, the 'box and the bonnet. - Most councils have arrangements with scrappies for free removal. HTH, john Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dobbo 0 Posted February 21, 2009 Thanks for all the encouragement guys (and useful info on breaking a car, Corozin). I'm going to get most of it done myself. Had the car on the lift last night. The cross member is indeed corroded. It's annoying though since the rusty part is the bit that holds the chin spoiler, doesn't look structural at all. There isn't enough good metal to patch it so I'm going to have to get a replacement. So as advised I'll post in the classified. Is second hand the only way to go? Is it possible to still get parts like this from the dealer? I realise that'll be expensive but GSF don't do big parts like this do they? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RaddoMan 0 Posted February 23, 2009 get her fixed up there mate ,I just spent over 300 on mine , On a service and some other bits. as long as the floor is not rusty i would spend out on it end of Raddo man Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dobbo 0 Posted February 24, 2009 I had a good day on Sat sourcing and replacing the cross member :D Not too much left to do, hopefully fitting the new shock, bushes, abs sensor and cv boots tonight. Then it'll just be the brake hose left to do. The nut connecting it to the brake line is stuck fast so I'm going to take it round to the garage and see if they can loosen it off or maybe make up a new line if it needs to be cut. All being well I should be back on the road next week which is a good job because I am having to get up at 5.30 everyday to catch the bus :( Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The_Dude 0 Posted February 24, 2009 WINNER! Glad to see you didn't break it mate. :salute: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Critical_Mass 10 Posted February 24, 2009 Good news! :clap: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
