What would you buy to repair?

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Hey guys, dont come in here much, found myself enjoying auto repair lately, ive rebuilt some suspension struts re run brake lines changed some calipers fixed some body work what not. Got me thinking id like to get into doing up a car a bit over time. Mainly for learning not profit or anything, just something where i could put a few weekends into. What would you buy? No sense in it being flashy as i dont wanna be putting 4 fig parts on it and ending up in the next fast and furious. just something interesting to work on and repair?
 
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Hey guys, dont come in here much, found myself enjoying auto repair lately, ive rebuilt some suspension struts re run brake lines changed some calipers fixed some body work what not. Got me thinking id like to get into doing up a car a bit over time. Mainly for learning not profit or anything, just something where i could put a few weekends into. What would you buy? No sense in it being flashy as i dont wanna be putting 4 fig parts on it and ending up in the next fast and furious. just something interesting to work on and repair?


Depends how old you want to go and how much work you want to do.

Something mid-90's (Say, E36 BMW) will be simple enough for a DIYer and still likely to have good enough bodywork not for you to have to get the welding gear out

(Not all of them mind, but E36 is well built, well protected against rust (Better than many more modern cars really) and a relatively easy car to look after, has good parts availability, and is also quite fun)

Anything older and you will have to learn to weld. Anything younger and it will be increasingly complex electrically and very expensive, even unobtainable, if any of it goes wrong.

As above, MX5 is also a very good choice. But you WILL have to learn to weld! :p
 
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speaking of welding, im not opposed, what is it that generally needs welding? is it, sorry for the bad terminology, like joints in the subframe or chassis? Like bits of the main car that just need reattaching and reinforcing? Im interested as i often see "needs rear end welding" for example, but wonder what exactly this means. I know this is probably obvious when you get under it but having never even looked at it im intrigued.
 
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Depends which MX5.

They all go round the sills, especially if drain holes aren't kept clear.

MkII (NB) and the facelift version suffer horrendous rust in the chassis rails at the front. Essentially water gets in them and rots them from the inside. Mine, when I stripped it, I was surprised the front end hadn't just fallen off.
 
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Make sure it’s something that you’re interested in. Something old and British would be brilliant but you’d need to put in a lot of hours and probably do a lot of bodywork.

A Porsche 924 or 944 would be good too!

How much are you hoping to spend on a base car?
 
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I think it really needs to be a car you're interested in, do you like any genre of cars? Once you get 'into' a certain make or kind of car you get to know how they're put together and that makes things easier the more you're familiar with them.

For example i've got a classic Mini that needs restoring but i've just not got much motivation to do it as i really don't have much love for the car itself aside from sentimental value as it was my grandmothers, where as give me something 90's and Japanese and i'm all over it!
 
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speaking of welding, im not opposed, what is it that generally needs welding? is it, sorry for the bad terminology, like joints in the subframe or chassis? Like bits of the main car that just need reattaching and reinforcing? Im interested as i often see "needs rear end welding" for example, but wonder what exactly this means. I know this is probably obvious when you get under it but having never even looked at it im intrigued.

Depends entirely on what's rusted. There are common areas that certain cars will rust in but there is no general "all cars rust and need repair in x area". Rear end needing welding could be some rusty body panels or chassis rail or other components, you'd need to view the car to see what actually needs doing.
 
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My gen 7 Celica is easy to work on as I had to fix the front suspension and replace the front wing and wing mirror after it was mauled by a lorry. Parts were readily available and I found a same colour wing and mirror for £45 on Ebay.

Key for me is having space to work, comprehensive tool kit and at least 2 good jacks. My Halfords jack served me well building a kit car in the past but started to leak after 3 years where the 40 year old jack I mainly use can lift most cars on it's own! It is a big one from a commercial garage that upgraded but it's invaluable.

I bought a Merc C180 as a run a round while fixing the Celica. At first I though it would be complicated and expensive to fix but after changing the rear anti-roll bar drop links, fuel filter, and servicing the rear drum hand brake mechanism plus replacing the rear discs and pads it isn't that bad. The fancy multi-link rear suspension just turns out to have more simple pressed steel arms than the average motor and can be bought off Ebay.de very reasonable for a whole set.

Same for my previous Audi A4 TDi everything was easy to work on and readily available on Ebay.de great source of parts for Teutonic cars in general.
 
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Conversely my BMW i3 has just developed it's first fault. The driver side heated seat has stopped working. I know where the fuses and interconnecting parts are but they are Can Bus linked so I'm going to check with the dealer if there's any chance of a DIY fix without upsetting the fault codes etc.
 
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