First Night of Ownership... Let the problems begin!

I gave 8k for it and it looks great, no strut rot, doors and closures are perfect.

Found the previous owner had screwed 2 self tappers through the fuel tank so should get that sorted shortly and get her back on the road for the interim.

All good fun... I guess!

Chris, I don't think you've been robbed. Like Lee said, sort the rot & you have a good car. Rot is very difficult to spot on these cars, because of the construction. You need a trained eye & access to a hoist.

Anyway. Anyone can buy the default Ford, Porsche, Lotus TVR etc. However you have something rare & interesting. Yes there are issues, but that only makes them interesting.

Get it sorted & start to enjoy

Paul

I think £8K is a bargain rust and all! How many other hand built pedigree sports cars from the 80's can be had for such little money? Sorry I know yours is 1990....
Mine has issues that either the previous owner did not want to disclose or was not aware of, but ever since I was 12 years old I wanted one and I wasn't going to miss the boat like I have done so many other cars that are now out of reach.

Back in 2003 I went to look at a pearl white R5T2 that was for sale from a garage and it was up for £8.9K, I walked away because the paint was bubbling on the drivers side door mirror...what was I thinking!! But then this was still the era when you could still pick up a 3.0SC 911 for £8K...enough said.

You have made the right choice!

Matt

Funnily enough the shortlist was;

TVR Cerbera
996 911
M3 E46 manual convertible
80's Sierra Cosworth
Alpine...

Criteria was an appreciable car with 4 seats, but I ruled others out for one reason or another. Like you said, Im sure when I get over the initial idiosyncracies, It'll be a good car. BTW, I saw a R5 Turbo 2 for £70k+ this week

Cheers

A Quick update after having the car for just a week now.

Managed to pick up a spare fuel tank locally (thanks Martin!) which, when fitted, fixed the leaking fuel tank problems. The Speedo has miraculously started to work again... though at the cost of the Passenger Side Window now not working! It was a nice sunny day today, so took her out for a good blast to a Client, and about a 25 mile round trip. Goes very well and I'm quietly impressed, though there is a small flat spot / misfire occasionally which I intend to address with a new rotor arm and Magnecor plug leads, to go with the new plugs and new Dizzy cap already fitted. Hopefully this will sort the problem out.

So, just the oil pressure gauge to sort now (reading 7 / 8 bar continuously and never moves) - not sure... Does anyone know can you get the 2 spade ends on the sensor the wrong way around? I was thinking if the gauge is reading the output intended for the Oil Pressure light, would this make the gauge read at the top of the scale? I shall investigate... Oh ... and the Service Light needs turning off which I'm sure is something to do with the brakes. The previous owner thought you needed to earth everything to turn the light off but I believe it's expecting the opposite, no earth.

Anyway, so far so good I guess!

Cheers

[Alpineandy]

Hi Chris,
This may not be the issue for you but the number 1 thing to check with electrical problems (engine, indicators, gauges, whatever) on a Fibreglass car is always always always the earths.
Look back on here and it's amazing how many times guys have chased their tails only to find it's a simple earthing problem.
Sometimes it's broken wires, sometimes dried connections, sometimes loose connections and sometimes no connections.
Good luck.