The "bring the Black Sheep back to life" story

bear1

So as I mentioned yesterday in the chat thread, I've been give a 1.3 multijet Punto for free.
To say it's been treated like ****e would be an understatement.
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to.. the Black Sheep.

First of all I'll attach the pictures of what the car looks like as of 1 hour ago.

bear1

And the rest of the car.
Warning lights galore and the rear seats actually look better in the photo than in reality.

bear1

I got to drive it for the first time this evening and I'm genuinely surprised.
It drives worse than it looks.
For a start, those of you who can will see that the tyres are, lets say for lack of a better word, dangerous.
The drumming and vibrating and screeching coming from them had me pretty scared and why wouldn't I be? Manufacture date 1512...
Next up is the sheer fright you get when you start braking and the car pulls almost violently to the left, it doesn't help that the ABS light is on which I suspect may help me in crashing this thing easier.
Then I've got the famous Fiat airbag light on which is a bastard to repair.

So the handling? There is none.

Next up is the gearbox and I began reminiscing about the times I had the 156. Feck all gear linkages and you need to guess where the 3rd of 5th gear is as 1) the stick doesn't reset to neutral and 2) it's as unwilling to move as a prisoner waiting on death row.

Then the rear window. The 3 door has a latch on the rear windows that lets you minutely open them, I was feeling ice cold air on my neck while driving and then realised that the latch is broken and is held on by wire...

Passenger? Good luck opening the door as the handle has snapped off.

bear1

The handbrake doesn't work at all which I guess also means it's linkage has snapped.
The wipers are destroyed and the linkage also is out of place so the wipers move somewhat like the old Mercs of the early 90s..
And last but not least the dash console for the AC and heating has no light so the bulbs have gone.

To sum up, this 12 year old diesel which was perfect near on 2 years ago has been reduced to a pile of dung that even a scrapper wouldn't take.
But I will presevere and tonight I'll be ordering the first parts to get this car back to the condition it was.
I'll update as I go along and post pics so that a before and after can be done and I hope by January the car will be at the very least driveable

Oh.. and the horn doesn't work.

bear1

So I've priced up a few bits and I'm having 2nd thoughts about replacing the front headlights.
As you can see in post 1 they are faded badly so I figured I'll just replace them seeing as 2 new lamps are 60e delivered.
Would cleaning them be better? If so how? I want to do as much as possible on my own to keep the costs down so if removing them and washing is best then I'll do that and put the 60e elsewhere.

ba_barabus

Regarding the headlights check out the detailing forum. They can be brought back to life

mullingar

bear1

That will be the last stage.

winnie the schtink

the headlights prob need replacing anyway as its LHD

bear1

winnie the schtink wrote: »

the headlights prob need replacing anyway as its LHD

I'm in a LHD country
Anyway to update slightly, I'm in Ireland currently for a break but the day I was leaving i ordered the horn, the door handle and replaced the **** and completely incorrect windshield wipers to the originals so you can actually see where you're going.
Next up, next week it's going to my mechanic who will do a head to toe check and tell me things I can't see and price.
Tyres being ordered next week so in theory the car should actually stop vibrating and rocking.
Take some pictures when I'm back

jca

A mechanic? I thought you were doing it yourself. It will cost a fortune if you have to pay someone to do the work, hardly worth it imo.

bear1

jca wrote: »

A mechanic? I thought you were doing it yourself. It will cost a fortune if you have to pay someone to do the work, hardly worth it imo.

I'll do most of the stuff myself but the gear linkages I won't manage.
The rest is just for him to give it the once over so I know if something major is hidden.

joujoujou

bear1 wrote: »

[...] replaced the **** and completely incorrect windshield wipers to the originals so you can actually see where you're going.
[...]

So now, you actually will see a ditch you gonna hit, right?

bear1

joujoujou wrote: »

So now, you actually will see a ditch you gonna hit, right?

Better yet, once the tyres are done I'll be able to chose the ditch

SmartinMartin

"I got to drive it for the first time this evening and I'm genuinely surprised.
It drives worse than it looks."

LOL

winnie the schtink

winnie the schtink wrote: »

the headlights prob need replacing anyway as its LHD

sorry i saw your galway tag:)

bear1

Car is off to get it's small bits and bobs fixed.
Have the door handle, the interior roof handle and the horn to put in which should be done today or tomorrow.
In the mean time I've picked up these alloys which were originally on the car, they need a serious clean up as you can see but my god the gap between the wheel the wing is huge...

bear1

Balls... cant be arsed changing that :P

bear1

bear1 wrote: »

Balls... cant be arsed changing that :P

Good thread. Handbrake is also working it seems ^

bear1

Got the car back today so I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.
Horn now working, passenger door can be opened, rear window now closes and the interior handle reattached.
Gear linkages are also sorted so no more fumbling around.
Needs a clean inside and out and it's finished.

bear1

And it's all done.
Below is a before picture before i gave it a clean




And after:

bear1

Next up was the exterior, this is how the car looked when i first got it including it's terribly dangerous tyres..





And this is how it looks now:

bear1

Balls how do I turn the pic the right way up?

bear1

Things done:

1) horn repaired
2) all 4 steelies and tyres binned and original alloys with better rubber put on, this cured the terrible traction and swaying of the car
3) passenger door handle reattached
4) interior roof handle reattached
5) old incorrect wipers thrown out and new original versions put in
6) handbrake tightened and now holds
7) new gear linkages inserted and car now actually goes into gear as it should
8) everything cleaned and ****ty carpets thrown out

Issue still present:

1) rear left abs sensor needs replacing
2) passenger airbag light but nothing shows up with diagnostics
3) More than likely one of the driveshafts needs replacing

Think it's looking well considering the way it used to look.