General Stuff(tm)

[stephen_usher]

The SAAB went in for its MOT today...

Very bad news, some severe corrosion found which the garage couldn't fix. It's going in got a survey with a body shop next Thursday but if they won't fix it then it's the end.

I always knew it was a race against time to get it into a full rebuild/refurbishment but being made redundant last November put a spanner in the works.

[exxos]

Structural?

Dont get me started on MOTs...

My old car failed once because the sil was rusty.. Stupid as they said it was rusty near the rear arm.. Like if the arm was rusty it would have made sense.. I mean there was several inches gap between the 2 things.. Just seemed like BS to me. It's like saying the car has to be scrapped because the doors gone rusty.

I mean how can the drop link rods for the antiroll bar, which is a safety feature.. Be on their way out for years, they could snap and go though the tire... But a slight bit of rust which is questionable if it even exists, on a suspension part, and they are listing it as must fix fault..

Once when I changed a front wishbone and had to remove the suspension strut, I hammered into the C clamp a chisel to seperate it.. Put it all back together.. MOT guy said hes never seen a chisel in the suspension before.. He said he can't fail it because there's isn't anything in the test stating the suspension shouldn't have foreign objects in it.. But I should probably remove it

I miss our old MOT guy.. He mostly just used to laugh a lot at my fixes.. Well it's not dumb if it works

[stephen_usher]

Structural?

A bit, yes. The MOT failure doesn't mention the difficult one, which is around the area of the rear sub-frame fixing. It just mentions the bits around the steering box on the bulkhead, which have to be redone every couple of years on SAABs anyway.

We'll see when it goes for an assessment at a body shop next Thursday.

I was hoping to get the car in for a full rebuild early this year but being made redundant last November put a spanner in the works.

[stephen_usher]

I took the SAAB over to another garage for assessment this morning.

Basically the corrosion is in a place that if the engine wasn't in the car wouldn't be difficult to weld... That's a big if.

Unfortunately the garages generally don't have the equipment to take engines out of cars these days, so the car is off the road for the foreseeable future.

I've contacted a couple of classic car restoration companies, one which specialises in SAABs (but is up in Leicestershire) and one in Oxford. The Oxford one at least replied, saying that they have an 18 month+ waiting list. I've not heard back from the one in Leicestershire yet.

Seeing as this leaves me without a car which can do long distances I triggered the plan I've been looking into for the last week, replacing the MG ZS EV electric car with a plug in hybrid. Reading up the best in class for 2025 is apparently the Skoda Octavia iV estate, which has an 80 mile EV range before the engine kicks in.

I popped over to the local Skoda dealer this afternoon to enquire. Apparently Skoda (VAG) have removed the iV model of the Octavia from the line-up half way through the year, similarly the Supurb as well, only leaving the large SUVs. Second hand Octavia iVs seem not to exist but there was a 1 year old Supurb available in the group. The only issue is that it was used by a company as hospital transport which technically makes it a private hire vehicle which could make insurance and resale an issue... but it's available and cheaper.

So, the MG is going in about a week's time... Having lost about £10K in value since January. Oh well, normal for new cars.

The new car will be far better for lugging retro-computers and model railway stuff around the country anyway.

[PhilC]

@stephen_usher the Superb is a great car, Had a 4x4 all leather, auto on hire for a bit. Really enjoyed driving it

[stephen_usher]

@stephen_usher the Superb is a great car, Had a 4x4 all leather, auto on hire for a bit. Really enjoyed driving it

Well, no leather in this one, or electric seats. Just the base trim level, but it will do for what's needed of it.

[PhilC]

@stephen_usher the Superb is a great car, Had a 4x4 all leather, auto on hire for a bit. Really enjoyed driving it

Well, no leather in this one, or electric seats. Just the base trim level, but it will do for what's needed of it.

Still a good car no doubt.

[exxos]

Unfortunately the garages generally don't have the equipment to take engines out of cars these days, so the car is off the road for the foreseeable future.

That sucks Garage's don't want to do anything which requires much effort these days.

I was talking to a local one because I wanted to transfer the power steering rack over from my old van to the new one as its not got power steering and had a long conversation with them.. They said it might be better fitting a electric one on there and he has done retrofitting in the past so shouldn't be a problem..

Went back about a month later and then they basically refused to do it and said they don't want stuff that in the garage all day and only really want quick jobs basically.. I was talking to the actual owner of the company and he even said he remembers the conversation.. And that's why I don't go back to that garage again anymore.. Plus they put too much oil in the engine and cause the right mess in the air intake. People are such let down these days, it's unreal.

I gave up in the end trying to find a garage to do it because even specialist places are not very specialist anymore at doing anything. If it's not a monkey see, monkey do job then, basically forget it. They can't even get half that stuff right these days either.

Going back about 20 years ago when I had my Renault 19.. I somehow managed to blow up the engine. I was somewhat lucky because my ex-girlfriend's dad's brother was a mechanic and I managed to find a engine block and then that guy replaced it for about £100. I think the block was about £100 from a scrap yard. Don't get me started on scrap yards and how much I hate them either...

[stephen_usher]

Oi, you're starting to sound like Victor Meldrew!

The Oxford car restorer who replied say that they didn't do body repairs... They'd have to out-source it.

Given that probably 80% of classic car restoration is rebuilding the shell of the car, replacing the corroded bits and re-painting the whole thing I find this a bit strange.

[rubber_jonnie]

Oh no that all sounds like a rather expensive episode!

Very annoying I'm sure, Saabs are slowly becoming less present on the roads these days.

If you want a long range hybrid the new model Qashqai is touting a range of 743 miles with the ePower drivetrain.

Basically what was called a range extender previously, it has a petrol engine and generator but that just provides the fully electric drive system with power, so no charging required.

IIRC they drove two from Lands End to John O'Groats and did about 850 miles on a tank of petrol with some to spare.

My Qashqai is only a mild hybrid (it has no electric motor but can stop/start more than average) and that has a range of about 500 miles and is a great load lugger.