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This addiction to Scoobys starts many, many years ago. I was fresh faced and newly passed looking for my first set of wheels. I looked at all the usual new driver cars but being from Brum insurance was insane. Far to many scams being done by others in the city is what caused it. Crash for cash anyone? I remember looking at an old rusted out fiesta that was £400 and the insurance was £4,000, defeated I was about to give up when my Mum said why not look at scoobys. She is into her performance cars and modding but I moaned about how could I ever get insured on a scooby when I can't get a Fiesta for a decent price. She said trust me, have a look, so thinking I knew better I decided to humour her. Put in details on the comparison website and while it was loading I noticed the first few prices weren't £10-12k a year, then the rest loaded and I was shocked at the quotes. So like any youngster at that age I saved the quote and started my hunt. Found a classic, looking back I didn't know much about cars at all but it was my first car and it was a scooby lol so who cares. I abused that car like no tomorrow. Fast forward a few years and that had long gone, moved on to a Blob and then a Hawk. I found out my first classic had been stolen and was involved in a very serious crash in Romania.
My dream car was a Type R Limited (didn't really know the differences V Limited/Limited V5, V6 etc but) the one with the really short ratio gearbox. Part of me always wanted one but the other part was like no because you will want to mod it and how can you mod such a rare limited version.
I found myself looking for a car and really wanted to get back into a scooby. So after a lot of searching I found this which my wife bought for me for my birthday.
Apologies, tried sorting out the colours but looks like there are loads of filters added.
It felt a bit laggy but put that down to the front mount because thats all you used to hear on the internet. Front mounts make a turbo laggy, thats not the case at all as I found out but more on that later. Car had loads and loads of service history, and I mean loads, receipts for all work carried out. One thing I did notice is that everytime the car went in the bill would somehow end up to £800. Servicing £800. Front wheel bearing was on its way out so the garage had to import a hub from Japan for £400 and then to fit it was £400. It was a UK car too so should be stock here. Powdercoat and fit wheel and strut brace yep you guessed it £800. So car was bought and became my daily.
A few months later and disaster struck, a blocked PVC valve caused the seals on the turbo to break and then that starved the engine of oil on the motorway. At the time just assumed it was a blown turbo so decided to upgrade. It was running rough and had a bad oil leak and then started cutting out when it should be idling at a junction. Decided I should take it a specialist. I won't mention who it was but they seem to be recommended on this forum. Any way drove the car down for diagnosis and sort out the oil leak they said your shells have gone then it was your big eng has gone so the whole block is destroyed and there is no way the car will drive. I thought lets just find out how much it will be to repair and lets just say for a stock rebuild I wasn't at all happy with the price. So I got in the car a drove it back to Brum considering it wasn't supposed to be driveable and there was no way I would make it back. Good thing I didn't listen to them. Now others have used this garage and have good things to say even a friend of mine who admits he is very picky takes his car there to. So my experience doesn't seem to line up with others. While I was having this car issue I was made redundant was a very tough time to say the least.
I needed a car to get me about so started speaking with @Mattybr5@MB Developments and decided to get the car towed to him. Decided on a fully built engine including heads done too, didn't go AVCS, used RCM headers and Harvey Smith Trick Up Pipe and bigger turbo. I had a whole speech ready about how I know he is used to working on cars worth over £100k but this car is still important to me. I didn't need to when the car was being offloaded the guys pushed down on the tow truck to make sure the carbon lip didn't scrap. It really did put my mind at ease. The guys there made quick work of it and what they found was shocking. Gunck and sealer in the oil pan, it just wasn't done properly. Even though the previous garage was charging the previous owner £800 a shot doesn't mean the work was being carried out properly. I went to buy a carbon fibre bonnet and it turned out he was a friend of the previous owner. I was speaking to him about the issues I had with the car and how all the receipts seem to be £800 and he said he used that garage once and it went in for a service and ended up having a HG being done. This conversation took place a few years after owning the car.
Think this was on mapping day but thats the engine installed
On mapping day the knock sensor was playing up, it looked like it had a previous repair that hadn't held up. Matty and Yam fixed it and it was ready to be mapped. Big shoutout to Matty, he didn't map it, but it was mapped at his place, he came up to me and said this is the outcome would you like to go for a test drive to make sure you are happy with it. He didn't need to do this at all, he was making £0 from the mapping because you pay the mapper directly.
Car was mapped and off I went, it didn't feel laggy at all with the front mount than the 5 speed let go. So it was parked up for quite a few months till I found a 5 speed. Couldn't find the correct gearbox so went with a gearbox and diff change at Pole Position.
The original idea was to keep the car for a bit while saving up for a Type R but with the amount spent I thought I might as well collect bits and mods to either modify this car further or find a shell and swap the bits over. The rear arches had bubbling so either repair or get a clean shell. But I wanted a clean shell that would be cheaper than doing the arches lol.
If you have gotten this far you might already know the car I bought and who it used to belong to. No spoilers lol for the people who don't know.
Last edited by NOSSY_89; 12 January 2021 at 02:47 PM.
Nice write up & that's a very serious looking coolant header tank cap
Thanks mate, it sure is, came with the car and has held up well don't think it is a fake part looks like a genuine D1 Spec header cap. It does have an aftermarket radiator with no radiator cap, you can see space for one on the brakets but then I'm not entirely sure if classics came with a cap on the radiator.
The header tank was in a right state but Matty and the guys cleaned it up really good. It is looking tired again so will try and sort it out. Thinking of going for a different style in the engine bay now.
Thanks mate, it sure is, came with the car and has held up well don't think it is a fake part looks like a genuine D1 Spec header cap. It does have an aftermarket radiator with no radiator cap, you can see space for one on the brakets but then I'm not entirely sure if classics came with a cap on the radiator.
The header tank was in a right state but Matty and the guys cleaned it up really good. It is looking tired again so will try and sort it out. Thinking of going for a different style in the engine bay now.
My header tank cracked around the neck piece on my Blobeye so I replaced it with the black plastic version off an 05-07 (I think) model.
Blends in nicely, can't corrode & has (probably) fixed a potential failure point.
So I got a bit lazy updating this after the first post, thought let me take a break lol.
Car was parked up and was hit, car has been hit so many times being parked up its no joke.
Thought it was damaged bonnet and grill but it was much worse then that. Bumper support bar was gone and the front was bent. Car still drove straight and when I was trying to find parts thats when I was told about the extensive damage. Hit a run, the person knew the damage they did but never came forward.
So on the hunt for bits and trying to find a bonnet was much harder than I thought. Deep down I wanted a carbon bonnet but prices were insane, I just couldn't justify the cost. I then found a carbon bonnet being sold by a member on here. Sorted out a price that I think was decent. Pictures taken from @turbotog who I bought it off and was someone who knew the car.
Went with a mate to pick up the bonnet and while I was there were got talking about the car I owned and the fact I've had to replace so much, when Tog saw pictures of the car he recognised it instantly as it was his mates car previously, the person I bought it off some years prior. I mentioned the shoddy work carried out by the garage and he confirmed he used them once and never again. Just goes to show even if you have a folder full of receipts doesn't mean its all ok. There is always that risk buying a used car you don't know. It really is hard to find places you can trust.
I used to park mine at the train station and it would get hit 2 or 3 times a year! No one ever admits to it though.
the car park even has security cameras but they refused to check the footage every time.
When I bought the black one I decided enough was enough and started cycling to the station instead.
I can't understand why people can't be honest anymore. It seems like it's standard practice to just drive away nowadays...
Nice to see this still going!
the blue shell on your car was originally owned by my one mate - rich - who let me test drive it when I was looking at scoobies myself and finally convinced me to buy one! He used it for track days until the engine blew at donnington I think it was, car was recovered and left to sit, whilst my other mate, Matt, had a red Scooby which turned out to have been previously written off and repaired badly, so he bought the shell off rich and had his engine fitted.. my mate rich went to a local garage which are useless and dodgy and charge over the odds. My mate Matt, who you bought off the car off, also had work done at this crappy garage before using another crappy garage (Scooby projects in ledbury - there have been threads about this company!) Which have since gone bust.. Matt always thought he was getting good work done considering the amounts he paid to have it done up.. Think the garage really took advantage of my mate.. and this is the type of stuff that led me to work on my own cars and get qualified and has eventually led to me working in the trade building British sports cars..
little back story for you, hopefully it's all running sweet now! Wouldn't mind getting into another Scooby myself! But prices are on the way up!
take it easy
Straight line performance, Malvern.
used to say they were vw/audi/subaru specialists..
but only speciality, is over charging people and carrying out shoddy work.
That car was mapped when you bought it too, but by powerstation, Tewkesbury. Dont know why he went there in the first place, it ran rough as soon as it was mapped, esp at low rpm..
Thanks mate, lot of people don't like carbon on cars but I do lol, think it will look good with the lip and spoiler if I get round to fixing them. The carbon bonnet is brand new, it was put on teg's car and was never driven. Theres some lacquer damage but I was told about that before I bought it. Should be able to repair it or might leave it lol. Can't complain at the price I got it for.
Originally Posted by turbotog
Nice to see this still going!
the blue shell on your car was originally owned by my one mate - rich - who let me test drive it when I was looking at scoobies myself and finally convinced me to buy one! He used it for track days until the engine blew at donnington I think it was, car was recovered and left to sit, whilst my other mate, Matt, had a red Scooby which turned out to have been previously written off and repaired badly, so he bought the shell off rich and had his engine fitted.. my mate rich went to a local garage which are useless and dodgy and charge over the odds. My mate Matt, who you bought off the car off, also had work done at this crappy garage before using another crappy garage (Scooby projects in ledbury - there have been threads about this company!) Which have since gone bust.. Matt always thought he was getting good work done considering the amounts he paid to have it done up.. Think the garage really took advantage of my mate.. and this is the type of stuff that led me to work on my own cars and get qualified and has eventually led to me working in the trade building British sports cars..
little back story for you, hopefully it's all running sweet now! Wouldn't mind getting into another Scooby myself! But prices are on the way up!
take it easy
That has jogged my memory I remember Matt telling me some of this. I think he was saying a rod or piston broke the block and the ac compressor stopped it from coming pout the bonnet. I don't even want to know how he managed that or what he did to get the internals to shoot out at that angle lol. I saw the scooby projects sticker, didn't realise he went there to have work done . He works at the same place as you over in the Morgan company but in a different department if I'm not mistaken. He did a fabulous job on retrimming the seats. I'm surprised he didn't do other work on the car himself. Unfortunately rust got the better of the car on the rear and with all the hits it had I just sort of had enough of it. Literally everything on the car has needed doing and that was never the point of the car to begin with. I thought leave it as is, might sort some of the bodywork then sell it in a year or so, didn't want a car that needed any work doing to it. But as we know that didn't go to plan at all.
Last edited by NOSSY_89; 20 January 2021 at 12:39 AM.
Straight line performance, Malvern.
used to say they were vw/audi/subaru specialists..
but only speciality, is over charging people and carrying out shoddy work.
That car was mapped when you bought it too, but by powerstation, Tewkesbury. Dont know why he went there in the first place, it ran rough as soon as it was mapped, esp at low rpm..
Where each visit will cost about £800 lol. I'm shocked at the wheel hub invoice. Get it imported from Japan and then fit it. Then powder coat and fit wheels and strut brace.
The wheels need refurbing, they are flacking off on the inside where they meet the tyre.
It took a while to come on boost but like I said I put that down to the front mount. Didn't know any better.
I was looking at type r shells, not many come up and when they do they are just that, bare shells. Man maths I kept saying to myself all I need is a bare shell and I can swap all the bits over. Honestly door cards and stuff start adding up very quickly. I've seen a set on sale and they are £500, the condition isn't very good on them either. So bare shell wasn't really a good idea. I saw a few, doors missing, not the door cards, the actual doors and then others that couldn't be registered but still they wanted a lot of money for. One came up that I was so close to getting and that was one Matty had on sale, he messaged me saying he had one in but I was being made redundant again so was very hesitant. It didn't hang around long and sold very quickly, think a guy from Germany bought it and had it shipped over. I've now been made redundant 3 times in 4 years, yay for the Tory government.
I was browsing scoobynet and saw @burns car history was reading through and noticed he was looking to sell it. The post seemed like a post someone would make when they are hurt which is completely understandable. Your car has been stripped and robbed of so many parts. It had also been some time since that post was made so in my mind it was a case of its has already sold or he has had a change of heart if it hasn't. Any way I thought let me message him and see if he still has it and wouldn't mind me coming to look at it. Sent him a pm and the next morning I had an email notification saying I had received a pm. I was expecting it to say its sold or not for sale but to my surprise it was available. I had to read it a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Called my Mum up and said I think I have found my dream car. She said let me cancel work and we will go see it.
Made the trip up to go see it and it was sat in a warehouse blocked in by steel with a cover on. Pulled the cover off and there she was, my mistress looking so sorry for herself. I knew I had to take a step back so asked my Mum to have a good look around and if she thought I should go for it. I didn't want to make an offer there and then because as I get older I try to be less risky lol. But some times you end up being so overcautious that you end up going the other way. I told Burns I didn't want to make a decision because there was a lot of work and I needed to try and figure things out. I spoke to my Mum about it and she said its a lot of work but how often do they come up for sale. Honestly they don't, I haven't seen a limited come up that wasn't like £25k. She said just go for it.
Its funny my Mum and burns were chatting about cars and even motorcycles and when I went to see him a few months later after lockdown one of the guys who works with him mentioned that burns had said I had come up with my sister who knew a lot about scoobys. I said that was my Mum lol.
When lock down happened I couldn't really do anything and I started work at a new place. I needed to sort out a tow truck, it would have to be taken to either the body shop or the garage but trying to get schedules to match up was very, very hard. Did I mention Burns also needed to move the steel so the car could be moved outside. I felt like a project manager lol. Just as I was getting it all sorted I found out redundancy was just around the corner and was about to leave the car when my Mum said everytime you look at these you are going through redundancy so if you have been saving up and you have enough to cover yourself then don't give up. She was right had I said no I would have been kicking myself because I've been looking for years and even import prices are going through the roof. No way would I be able to afford one later and if I could would I really want to spend that much.
Went to pick up the car, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it on the trailer so I'm using one from burns.
Looking very sorry for herself. She went straight to the body shop to get the rust sorted out and removed. Little did I know this was the start of a lot of body work. Fix the arches and clean up the rust not a massive task lol. How wrong I was. Decided to get involved to keep costs down as much as I could .
I'm really looking forward to see this progressing!
I'm actually contemplating looking for a similar 2 door project later in the year once I've built the new garage.
I may be after you for where to source some of the parts! :-)
I actually did find a P1 recently that has been left in storage for years, would need a full overhaul. The owner had no intention of selling though. :-(
A type R does command a heavy premium, good job your mum was there to egg you on
Deffo mate we all need support in life
Originally Posted by adam.pah
I'm really looking forward to see this progressing!
I'm actually contemplating looking for a similar 2 door project later in the year once I've built the new garage.
I may be after you for where to source some of the parts! :-)
I actually did find a P1 recently that has been left in storage for years, would need a full overhaul. The owner had no intention of selling though. :-(
Thanks lads appreciate it.
@adam.pah stop being so greedy looooooooool. You have a heavily modified blob and a Spec C Ra.
When I went to pick the car up there was a pile of bits, didn't realise how much was there. So the Type R was full of parts and I put stuff in my daily. Lol I can't believe I thought I would be able to fit the parts into my daily only. I didn't realise how big the bumpers were, when you see them on the car they don't look that big at all.
So got the car to the place where I would be doing the body work and started to empty it out. I found so much rat poo, like massive piles. The droppings were huge so I wouldn't want to see the size of those rats. It was rat poo on top of rat poo but the rats had cleared out. I'm assuming the rats were there when the car was abandoned. Had to make a few trips to empty out the car.
After checking up on the car I was on my way back and was involved in a serious accident. I was on the main road when a young kid reversed out of a side street and smacked my daily. My car wash pushed while I tried to avoid the other cars. I couldn't open my door the impact had damaged it a lot. I don't know how I walked away from that accident, I had injuries but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Looking at the damage I knew the car was a write off, a very large expense I hadn't budgeted for. I was out of action for quite a while.
Work had been done on the arches and sills but wasn't finished off with paint etc prior to getting the car.
Courtesy of Burns who sent me these pics
When you leave bare metal exposed rust does start to come back so it had to be cleaned and prepped ready to be sealed. Hopefully the rust doesn't come back once its all sorted. So that was what I had to do, clean the metal and try to get rid of the rust on the arches and sills and any other bits of rust. But I was out of action due to the accident so would be a while before I got to it to make a proper start. Had to find my PPE, it really isn't worth the risk.
12 January 2021, 02:36 PM
The Mistress
. He works at the same place as you over in the Morgan company but in a different department if I'm not mistaken. He did a fabulous job on retrimming the seats. I'm surprised he didn't do other work on the car himself. Unfortunately rust got the better of the car on the rear and with all the hits it had I just sort of had enough of it. Literally everything on the car has needed doing and that was never the point of the car to begin with. I thought leave it as is, might sort some of the bodywork then sell it in a year or so, didn't want a car that needed any work doing to it. But as we know that didn't go to plan at all.
