This weeks Classic Irish bargains that I'm not buying

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/k-series-midget/20759056





Look at this!

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/alfa-sud-project-1983/20609537



Nice project here for someone, though it isn't (IMO) particularly cheap. Not as pretty as a chrome bumper model, but still and all!

Beware the words "easy project" - I have yet to find such a mythical creature!

unkel wrote: »

996 still ridiculously cheap for what they are. Around the bottom of the curve right now, will go up, and up in years to come.

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Shame you take a gamble with the engines in the 996 (unless you get a nice Turbo one).

You need one where the engine has been done and certified properly as having been done.

If this one checks out it's a bargain at £8,500

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201901103812717?sort=sponsored&price-to=8500&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=Used&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=New&model=911&make=PORSCHE&radius=1500&postcode=tw74qw&price-from=8000&page=1

Ryano87 wrote: »

What's the issue with K-Series? I thought these were supposed to be decent engines and with uprated head gaskets pretty decent engines?

I think that would be an extremely fun little car, circa 160bhp in a little mg!

I see the seller also has another Midget up which is standard but also looks spotless

I suppose my issue would mainly be with a modern engine, I'd just prefer an original engine (or at least a period-correct engine), preferably one that was uprated.

Secondly, despite popular opinion, the K-series is almost never reliable, uprated gaskets (and bolts) or not. On paper it is a great engine, but it is unreliable no matter what you do. I know of K-series engines that were uprated in the UK at a large cost, and still failed. They have a design flaw that makes them prone to overheating, and the length of the head bolts means even slight overheating invariably leads to hg failure, regardless of the gasket fitted.

pablo128 wrote: »

Fitting steel locating dowels instead of the crappy plastic standard ones helps a lot on those engines.

Yup the plastic locating dowels were a joke, but replacing them does nothing to address the fundamental design flaws in the engine.

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/one-for-the-strange/20789677



I don't really know..

"HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY"

Yeah, there's a reason for that.

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I have a soft spot for the old K-Series. With some uprated parts they are great. Our race school cars have had them in them for years and take awful abuse with no real complaints.

unkel wrote: »

+1

Had the K-series in my MG-F. Drove it very hard, redlining (7k rpm) the engine morning noon and night. Not a bother on it. Also had it in my Rover 75 which I also picked up dirt cheap when it was 5 years old. Kept it for 5 years, never any engine trouble on that K-series either (or anything else really except a coolant temp sensor that I replaced myself for €15)

Like I said earlier, a great engine in many ways, but with fundamental design flaws. When running well, it had superb power-to-weight ratio and low centre of gravity (thus why it was used in so many race and track conversions) and it was a sweet-running unit - I owned a Rover 75, an MG ZT, and an MG F with that engine, and loved them all, but it was always prone to overheating at the slightest excuse (especially in the F where the engine was enclosed) and combined with poor factory rads in many of the cars it was fitted to, it was always borderline for reliability. Despite what most people think, the biggest problem with it was the length of the head bolts, as they were prone to stretching, which meant that it didn't matter what head gasket you fitted, it would fail (no matter what some clever UK marketing departments said!). I've heard of lots of people that got away with no trouble, but sooner or later every single one of them will fail in my experience. I know that Rover did an insane amount of testing to find a way around the problem, but they never could. High tensile bolts, steel spigots, and a multilayer gasket postponed the inevitable, but couldn't solve the fundamental problem.

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/mercedes-350se/20798277



Ropey '116 350, €1500

Be nice if you were looking for a fairly major project - the good thing about those is that you can get pretty much everything for them. You'd want to like welding though.

unkel wrote: »

That looks like a wreck tbh, Duke.

The 6.9 badge doesn't inspire confidence about the car having a decent history either :rolleyes:

Complete strip and rebuild would be the only job I'd say.

unkel wrote: »

That looks like a wreck tbh, Duke.

The 6.9 badge doesn't inspire confidence about the car having a decent history either :rolleyes:

Probably..

Test exempt though, you know as well as I do that theres more than a few out there who'd be happy to fill it up with isopon and drive it on!!