One dumb Mum????

[casbah]

Hello people

I've bought my teenage Son a saxo vtr, it was in need of repair and as his ambition is to be a mechanic, I thought it would be a good project for him to work on whilst waiting to get his qualifications.
So, I have two major issues;

1) The saxo is beyond repair and has cost me a fortune, I'd like to re-coup some money and was wondering if it was worth stripping it down and selling off parts, as opposed to just scrapping it.

2) Academically, my boy is not college material, so is there any way he could learn the old fashioned way, an apprenticeship. But more hands-on then class room taught? He has a brilliant knack with cars, by the time he was 16 he could practically strip a car down and rebuild it. So I want to boost his confidence and keep him interested but college is not for him.

Regards
Cas

[UKtom]

if you're looking to sell it, the best way to go about recouping as much money as possible would be to sell the parts... if you get premium membership or 100 posts you'll be able to post in the for sale section on here, allowing you to sell on the parts...

[Venns]

Thats abit gutting, why is the car beyond repair and how much did you pay for it?

Why cant your kid go to college and start of a level 2 course or somthing?

[TheDanBurgess]

Thats abit gutting, why is the car beyond repair and how much did you pay for it?

Why cant your kid go to college and start of a level 2 course or somthing?


Some people are not cut out for college, cannot handle the pure boredom they put you through / cannot concentrate.


If you're son is 16 and he strip down a car and rebuild the engine that is impressive! If hes confident he should go straight to a local mechanics and show his interest and i'm sure if he is a good as you say he is a local garage could put him on a temporary 5 week contract or whatever to give himself a chance to prove himself!

[wicked-vtr]

As above, what's wrong with it that makes it beyond repair?

[mlawlan69]

being well behaved in here, peter-d not seen this thread i take it lol :p

[MunkyBoy]

If its unsalvageable... Get a premium account here so you can sell, and let your boy strip down the car for bits and sell it on here. You'll get some money back, he will get the experience of stripping the car down and taking bits off while you look for something else?

As for apprenticeships, this is the site my friend was looking on a while ago... Might be some help!

Apprentice Site. (https://apprenticeshipvacancymatchingservice.lsc.gov.uk/navms/Forms/Candidate/Apprenticeships.aspx)

[casbah]

Thank you all of you
I'll try and answer all of your queries.
1st the saxo cost around the £500 mark.
it was bought at auction and the classic mistake was made " sold as seen" !!!
Had it checked over and three pages of faults, later. ( the guy that checked it out for me was extremely thorough)
Wasn't too put off but Son has checked door cills and they appear to be rotten.
Now with regards to him touching the engine, he hasn't. I told him thats a no-no till he is qualified.

I like the local mechanic idea, will check that out.

Can I post pictures on here?
And if you like I can list all the faults. and indicate what he has repaired.
He is now 18 and just about to take his theory ( 2nd attempt) and TBH I think he wants a car that can be driven.
The car has the full body kit ( whatever that is) and bucket seats and alloy wheels.
When he is around I'll get him to post anything I've missed.

Thanks again for your responses

Casbah

[casbah]

P.S I'm not getting any e mails telling me poeople have posted on my thread so sorry for delay

C

[Paul]

Sounds like you'll make the money back easily splitting it for parts, especially if it has bucket seats and alloys.

Which model saxo is it? VTR/VTS etc?

To post pictures you need to sign upto www.photobucket.com then its a simple job of copying and pasting the IMG code that they provide once you upload the photos to their servers.

To be fair you shouldn't hold him back by not letting him touch the engine, if hes showing interest get him to read a few guides and jump in and do what he wants. He'll probably ruin the thing but its only cost £500. Priceless compared to getting him enjoying and involved into something which could turn out a successful career.

Let him rip it to pieces and try build it back up together.

I remember when i was 18, me and my mate down the road bought an old peugeot 106, we knew nothing about cars, we had it in a garage and used to go down and just practice simple jobs on our own, like changing breaks, taking engine out, putting it back in etc.

[RustySkull]

Strip and sell for parts, if your kid knows that much about cars he can do that in a day, There is quite a wide market for Saxo parts on here as they are getting quite old now and parts are getting rare, as most Saxo's have been crashed or scrapped. While others are in good nick.

[charischambers]

cant be too bad surely, it sounds pretty sweet :/ we need to see pics, and yeah...what model is it?

[manta]

Better off breaking it for parts.

The seats n alloys if they are anygood may fetch possibly 300 to 350.

But next time don't buy a car from an auction before you have had a look all around the car.

[casbah]

hey
Its a saxo TVR on a V reg
cas

[casbah]

I'm just going to get the list of faults then I'll write them up
cas

[RustySkull]

hey
Its a saxo TVR on a V reg
cas

TVR? SWEET!

Haha, nah I take it you meant VTR, Yeh, If it's as bad as you say, then strip for parts. You'll make more than half your money back, in fact, I think you'll be in profit! :)

[casbah]

If its unsalvageable... Get a premium account here so you can sell, and let your boy strip down the car for bits and sell it on here. You'll get some money back, he will get the experience of stripping the car down and taking bits off while you look for something else?

As for apprenticeships, this is the site my friend was looking on a while ago... Might be some help!

Apprentice Site. (https://apprenticeshipvacancymatchingservice.lsc.gov.uk/navms/Forms/Candidate/Apprenticeships.aspx)

MunkyBoy,
Thanks for the link found one that is within a 5 minute walk from me.

Cas

[casbah]

TVR? SWEET!

Haha, nah I take it you meant VTR, Yeh, If it's as bad as you say, then strip for parts. You'll make more than half your money back, in fact, I think you'll be in profit! :)

Guess you now know I know NOTHING about cars ;)

[wicked-vtr]

When I was 17 I knew next to nothing about the inner workings of cars, two years on I'm confident that I could do any mechanical job myself (ran into a lot of problems with mine and mates cars) granted my dad helped me out with a few things, got me started on welding for instance, bur he's only a DIY mechanic with little experience of big jobs and no experience on these cars. There's masses of information and skilled members on here for when he inevitably gets stuck with something.

I would let him have a crack at it tbh, get a Hayes manual and some half decent tools and he should be fine. from my experience its a good feeling to be driving around in a car you've fixed/rebuilt yourself. Post up a list of the faults and we can warn you about anything that might be a little in depth for him to have a go at

[casbah]

here goes

1 Air box missing
2 ECU insecure
3 Steering damper gaitor split
4 Engine breather unattached
5 Offside hand brake seized
6 offside inner wheel arch rear excessively corroded
7 nearside and offside frint bumper insecure
8 Bottom radiator hose worn through
9 suspected rocker cover gasket leak
10 Air bag light flashing
11 Gear selector Synetic bush missing
12 Nearside frint inner wing excessively corroded
13 offside plastic seal insecure
14 offside handbrake cable insecure
15 fron to centre exhaust blowing
16 Nearside headlamp insecure
17 Both front wipers split
18 Nearside front wheel binding
19 Nearside front tyre perished
20 Rear wiper broken
21 Nearsdie brake hose twisted front
22Nearside frontwheel fouling wheel arch
23 nearside rear wheel binding
24 nearside rear inner wheel arch excessively corroded
25 Nearside rear shock absorber leaking excessively
26 Rear exhaust blowing
27 Nearside front floor corroded
28 Nearside rear tyre on legal limit
29 loose wires in engine bay
30 Front seats not secure
31 washers not working
32 horn not working
33 Nearside rear indicator not working
34 Interior nearside Tell Tell warning light not working
35 offside rear brake light not working
36 offside rear number plate light not working
37 offside front indicator not working
38 front side lights not working
39 front headlights wired incorrectly with main beam
40 nearside rear selt belt not checked
41 Bonnet dent insecure
42 offside mainbeam not working
43 nearside and offside door locks not working ( possiblt wrong keys)
44 remote control locking not working

[mclovin9091]

Thank you all of you
it was bought at auction and the classic mistake was made " sold as seen" !!!


Sold as seen means fuck all, if the vehicle was sold with an MOT get it taken back as the item is not fit for purpose.

If sellers want no come backs from the sale they have to say or write "sold as spares or repair"

[mclovin9091]

also this auction place should be named and shamed, just looked at the faults list. I dont think even a scrappy would have touched it.

[Paul]

Doesn't seem like alot of work really, if its something to work on. Infact its probably the perfect car to learn stuff on if hes 16. I'd get the welding done professionally, then leave him to attempt the rest and get it all checked over once done.

Most the jobs there are tiny little ones.

Split them up into groups of 5 jobs, and try do a group a day, crossing off the ones as he goes.

[Mochachino]

Thats all minor stuff to repair. Il write out the remedys to each if im free tonight if not then tomorrow.

[williamanderson31]

yeh - i was just looking through them, and alright you'll need to buy a few bits and bobs but it doesnt seerm like anything that'll be hard to fix :)

[paulio1000]

some ppl just get given it

[Mochachino]

I havnt even replied because all the jobs are so minor, its like 'cigerette lighter is not pushed all the way in the hole' push it in then.

[ryanmt]

That car sounds ripe for a few lessons in scrap yard mechanics. Most bits can be liberated from other cars for the cost of a few quid each. I wouldn't even be phased by the air bag one either, thats 99% just the wire on the pre-tensioned under the seat.

When i got my first car i think i spent more time in the scrapyard than I did in college.

[Saxo-KidNI]

Hello people

I've bought my teenage Son a saxo vtr, it was in need of repair and as his ambition is to be a mechanic, I thought it would be a good project for him to work on whilst waiting to get his qualifications.
So, I have two major issues;

1) The saxo is beyond repair and has cost me a fortune, I'd like to re-coup some money and was wondering if it was worth stripping it down and selling off parts, as opposed to just scrapping it.

2) Academically, my boy is not college material, so is there any way he could learn the old fashioned way, an apprenticeship. But more hands-on then class room taught? He has a brilliant knack with cars, by the time he was 16 he could practically strip a car down and rebuild it. So I want to boost his confidence and keep him interested but college is not for him.

Regards
Cas

You sound like my mum.... but she found the car and i bought it ive repaired mine to what is needed to make it road worthy and legal

and you son sounds like me as my ambition is to be a mechanic lol :)

sell the car for parts and see how much you get

[nicole_]

tbh half that list seem to be problems we all have but ignore lol
lights not working is hardly the end of the world, a new bulb/fuse/check wiring whatever
my cars central locking didnt work and i left it unlocked the whole time i had it
front seats not secure, secure them then?
i could sort the majority of those problems and im a 19 year old girl lol

[casbah]

Hey everyone
Thanks for all your replies.
My Son is now 18 and has done most of the silly fiddly little jobs, but I think he is a bit bored with it now. When I can get him to sit still for a full five minutes I will let you know what jobs are still outstanding.
I do believe some careers in life are better off taught 'hands-on' I doubt there is very much a class room enviroment could teach him, but nowadays they have to take academic lessons too and that is where he switched off :)
I agree with the welding, and it just so happens that his driving instructor is a fully qualified mechanic, and decided to have a career change a couple of years ago. But I am he would help him with the welding.
I'll let you know
Cas

[Mochachino]

Welding would be a very good skill to learn and finding a job in. Its usefull and well paid and can lead onto alot of jobs, self employed and whatnot. Custom fabrication, restoration, repair work etc..

[casbah]

So does a welder have to have a certificate?
And could he learn 'hands on'
then site the exam?

[Mochachino]

Theres certificates and courses for everything :y:

Depends on the business he wants to work for, for what they require.

[Paul]

So does a welder have to have a certificate?
And could he learn 'hands on'
then site the exam?

Yeah theres all different types of welding..
Theres qualifications for each, and different levels.

Theres a lot of money in welding if he was to work his way up.

[Furio-Gazza]

id keep the car and just do the jobs it needs doing :y:

[casbah]

here goes

1 Air box missing
2 ECU insecure
3 Steering damper gaitor split
4 Engine breather unattached
5 Offside hand brake seized
6 offside inner wheel arch rear excessively corroded
7 nearside and offside frint bumper insecure
8 Bottom radiator hose worn through
9 suspected rocker cover gasket leak
10 Air bag light flashing
11 Gear selector Synetic bush missing
12 Nearside frint inner wing excessively corroded
13 offside plastic seal insecure
14 offside handbrake cable insecure
15 fron to centre exhaust blowing
16 Nearside headlamp insecure
17 Both front wipers split
18 Nearside front wheel binding
19 Nearside front tyre perished
20 Rear wiper broken
21 Nearsdie brake hose twisted front
22Nearside frontwheel fouling wheel arch
23 nearside rear wheel binding
24 nearside rear inner wheel arch excessively corroded
25 Nearside rear shock absorber leaking excessively
26 Rear exhaust blowing
27 Nearside front floor corroded
28 Nearside rear tyre on legal limit
29 loose wires in engine bay
30 Front seats not secure
31 washers not working
32 horn not working
33 Nearside rear indicator not working
34 Interior nearside Tell Tell warning light not working
35 offside rear brake light not working
36 offside rear number plate light not working
37 offside front indicator not working
38 front side lights not working
39 front headlights wired incorrectly with main beam
40 nearside rear selt belt not checked
41 Bonnet dent insecure
42 offside mainbeam not working
43 nearside and offside door locks not working ( possiblt wrong keys)
44 remote control locking not working

Jobs done are nos;
1,2,4,5,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,15,16,24,29,31+32

[Matty1Off]

oooh dear :/ i would say best bet is to strip it for parts, but you may not be able to sell that much of it.. you could give it a try or buy another saxo and use parts from both :)

[Matty1Off]

oooh dear :/ i would say strip it for parts but there may be not alot you can sell :/ you could also buy another Vtr and use parts from both to make one??

[mclovin9091]

oooh dear :/ i would say strip it for parts but there may be not alot you can sell :/ you could also buy another Vtr and use parts from both to make one??

I would say probably read the thread and the faults are easy enough to fix. :wall:

Yes welding is required but how many cars 10 years+ dont need any welding?

[Mochachino]

oooh dear :/ i would say strip it for parts but there may be not alot you can sell :/ you could also buy another Vtr and use parts from both to make one??

Buy another VTR for some light bulbs? :S

I dont mean to be rude, but I havnt even suggested how to sort out the problems because a 10 year old could sort half of them out. Theres no serious problems with it.

[casbah]

Buy another VTR for some light bulbs? :S

I dont mean to be rude, but I havnt even suggested how to sort out the problems because a 10 year old could sort half of them out. Theres no serious problems with it.

But can a little old Grandma? :wacko:;)

[tony5haw1988]

just get your son on here and he will learn how to do all those niggly jobs within a few days, they are all minor faults and are not hard to find and fix. just need a little patience thats all

[dave_1]

Job number 10 will probably be because you have bucket seats in as the pretentionrs will have been taken out look under the seat for a loose wire. Easy fix can be easy as bit of tape over the light

[Mochachino]

But can a little old Grandma? :wacko:;)

Tbh yeh! lol as long as she aint got autheritis and sill has feeling in her fingers!

[jeffchiz]

god i think my car has most of those faults haha that reminds me i really need to secure my ecu, air box and sort out my breather pipes as nicole said msot people on here have those problems but we decide its best to ignore them and buy some shiney new wheels instead :P lol

[f13sta]

i agree with not going to college to learn mechanics it is shit i did both my level 1 and 2 at college and learnt nothing i'd already learnt it at home in the garage working on our old cars, at the age of 14 i stripped and rebuilt my first engine (only and old a-series) been wanting to be a mechanic for aslong as i can remember, at 16 i helped remove the engine out of my dad's trooper, learnt more at home that i ever did at college, now i'm an aprentice mechanic at a garage local to me and belive me its ok the guys i work with are great but its just mostly servicing, brakes and suspension. not really get a chance to re-build engines ect even tho we do get them in. BUT i do recon it will be a better route for your some than college besideds if he finished his aprenticship and moved onto a better garage he'll be in more sted than somone just out of college -- same qualifications but more experience. i'm 19 now and just undertaking the removeal of the engine out of my saxo furio- easiest thing i've ever done :)

but the problems with your vtr are not the end of the world spend a few hundred on it (sel the bucket seats for example) and he'll have a nice car he built himself

as we say in the old skool scene BUILT NOT BOUGHT

i run a mk2 fiesta aswell if your confused lol

kyle.

[casbah]

Hey everybody I'm Char
and I'm ready for lesson 1.
I've done nos 1,2,4 and 5 but will you tell me how to do them so I know I've done them right.
re-cap
1) air box missing
2) ECU insecure
4) Engine Breather unattached
5) offside hand brake seized
No 3) (not done yet) Steering damper gator split

Cheers
Char

[casbah]

here's some photos' ( I hope :))
<a href="http://s1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/casbah31/?action=view&amp;current=charliemobile029.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/casbah31/charliemobile029.jpg" border="0" alt="saxo vtr"></a>

[saxwesty]

click the img buttion then paste the link in there

[casbah]

here's some photos' ( I hope :))
<a href="http://s1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/casbah31/?action=view&amp;current=charliemobile029.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/casbah31/charliemobile029.jpg" border="0" alt="saxo vtr"></a>

didn't work

so try this

http://s1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/casbah31/

[casbah]

i think that has worked

[f13sta]

omg thoes rear lights are terrible. sell them sell the front lights and spend the money doing the little bits tbf it doesn't look that bad in the pics.

[mclovin9091]

What the fuck is it with teddies hanging off the back of cars?

and as above sell the lights to get some cash.

[casbah]

ok guys, what do i replace them with? style wise?

[casbah]

and how much would I sell them for?

[f13sta]

just to get it up and running i.e road legal i'd just put soem std light units in maybe some mk1 rears

[mclovin9091]

id guess £30 for the rear pair and £50 for the fronts, although only if someone wants them. As for replacing them the only way you'd make money out of it would be to go standard but thats not bad is it?

although you'd probably only be £30-£40 better off after buying new lights.

[casbah]

Its a catch 22 situation.
If the car was up and running then Char wants to drive it, but the insurance is an absolute joke for young drivers and saxos.
I agree with the standard but then I'm old so a glammed up car doesn't appeal to me, I learnt a long time ago, just so long as it gets me from A to B I'm happy.
Cas

[jeffchiz]

id guess £30 for the rear pair and £50 for the fronts, although only if someone wants them. As for replacing them the only way you'd make money out of it would be to go standard but thats not bad is it?

although you'd probably only be £30-£40 better off after buying new lights.

the front lights are pretty sort after get much more than £50 for them! £100+ easy

brand new they are about £300!

[VTR-GAZzA]

Just from quickly glancing through the thread, it seem most things on the list are easily do-able.
The hardest thing would be the welding but as you've mentioned his driving instructor could help and it'd be cheaper than a garage.
If you decided to break the car you'd easily get £500+ with the buckets alloys lights and the exhaust, or you could fix it back to a decent and roadworthy state and sell it on :)

If you do decide to keep it and use it though just be wary because of insurance as they a robbing tw*ts.

[charischambers]

its not half as bad as i imagined, the pics are decent! get it sorted definately!

[mclovin9091]

the front lights are pretty sort after get much more than £50 for them! £100+ easy

brand new they are about £300!

Seriously! :fcuk: Personally i think they look utter gash.

[mclovin9091]

Meant to add to the above, "well there ya go, plenty of cash sitting around on your saxo" although as said before you'll only get what people are willing to pay.

As for the jobs you gotta do, well they are simple in comparison to a suspected driveshaft that was knackered, which turned out to be true but the diff was also knacked so off with the box and on with a nice "new" one

[ashley08]

im at college nd you dont lean much in class room hand on stuff the best u lean it a lot easyer and im 20 and studying to be a mechanic dont now why i bothed with college

[casbah]

Ok thanks guys,
Char has also been working on a peugeot 106 that had an argument with an astra and the astra won, he has repaired the peugeot and today it passed the MOT.
Over the weekend I'll try and post beofre and after pics.
Now with regards to the saxo we have talked it over and have decided to go with repair, so I will be asking for lots of advice, so please be nice to me :)
Cas