SRi restoration project

[Telegram Sam]

Looks like the eBay Fife rolling shell has been sold before the auction deadline next Tues. Back to the drawing board ..

[Telegram Sam]

Mk 3 shells themselves seem to be as rare as hen's teeth but there are a few complete cars for sale on eBay at hugely varying prices. Would folk agree that if (big if ..) I can get an impression of the condition of the shell in advance, stripping and swapping one of these would be the least worst route to go?

[btcctroy]

Your not going to find an Sri to use as a donor car. You might find a standard cavalier, but after you have gone about paying someone to swap all the bits and like, your cavalier will end up whatever the log book states ie l, gl, gli. Unless you find an Sri. I think you should restore what you have. I honestly can't see it being worse than robseys was. In fact it's the worst cavalier I've ever had to repair.
It's nearly complete!

[Telegram Sam]

Rocks and hard places. Funnily enough a 95 SRi has just now appeared as a potential donor car on the net but in confab with Gary my first preference is for a low mileage LSi that's been advertised and do the swaps. I'm not particularly fussed what it says in the log book as long as it looks like and does what an SRi does! I suspect that nothing is just not-doable, at a cost, but the advice I was given was that to restore the shell that I have (after the "restoration") would be vastly more work than re-shelling. I can appreciate if you take a different view post-Robsey but would you want to go through the same experience again??!!

[colin1]

Can't DVLA just change the model designation on request?
Or is it now a much more bureaucratically, mummified in red tape, complicated affair in triplicate than it used to be?

If you can swap out engines and inform them, why can't you swap out a couple of exterior badges?

[Telegram Sam]

And if the shell is from a '95 LS (or SRi) but the engine etc is from my '91 SRi, which does the reg doc go by and what happens to the VIN number? Compared with this the Brexit decision is a doddle. I can see myself spending many hours on the phone to DVLA

[colin1]

...I can see myself spending many hours on the phone to DVLA

Many hours of your life that you'll never get back
DVLA have become a waste of time

[humbucker]

"...if the shell is from a '95 LS (or SRi) but the engine etc is from my '91 SRi, which does the reg doc go by and what happens to the VIN number"

You will be putting your SRi bits into the new car. The new car will be the one you're keeping, therefore that log book and VIN will be valid. The SRi will cease to exist.

This isn't really re-shelling, you're just putting the SRi's engine and body parts into a new car. You'll no doubt be keeping much more of the newer car, especially if it has superior chassis components already (brakes, suspension etc.).

[Telegram Sam]

"The SRi will cease to exist." And with it my 25 year old H Reg no plate

The current choice seems to be between a 95 low mileage LS MOT'd in good condition, and a 95 SRi 118K miles but no MOT. I'm trying to find out the reason for the latter. It is down in Hampshire of course. Did I not once see a post from someone offering good deals on car transport?? Otherwise this could prove costly. Against this there would presumably be less "conversion" work?

[colin1]

"The SRi will cease to exist."...

True
but in a parallel universe it will still exist. Unfortunately it will be composed entirely of anti-matter which would make attempting to buy it a complete waste of time - as soon as you jumped in both your mass and a Telegram Sam-sized chunk of the anti-Cavalier's mass would annihilate each other.

Hope this helps.

[Telegram Sam]

That's what happened to the shell when I got it restored by ** 2 years ago. It's there now.

[btcctroy]

I'm not being funny, but I'd say you got it patched up 2years ago. You did not get it restored!
At the end of the day all your sri bits will live on in a fresh body, you will essentially be scrapping your current car. Don't expect the replacement car be rust free either, it's 21 years old at the youngest.
Your car would live on ase a pre face lift Sri replica.....
May not de-value the car much though if it's immaculate. Pre face lift cav Sri's are more collectable though

[humbucker]

Bearing in mind you're talking about buying another car to use as the recipient of your Sri bits, the obvious solution to all of this would be to pay top dollar for a mint Sri and then keep the good bits from your car as spares or upgrades. There was a pre facelift Sri with only 9k miles on it for sale a short while ago.

[Telegram Sam]

"I'm not being funny, but I'd say you got it patched up 2years ago. You did not get it restored!
At the end of the day all your sri bits will live on in a fresh body, you will essentially be scrapping your current car. Don't expect the replacement car be rust free either, it's 21 years old at the youngest.
Your car would live on ase a pre face lift Sri replica.....
May not de-value the car much though if it's immaculate. Pre face lift cav Sri's are more collectable though"

I can't disagree with your first sentence - unfortunately.

>> Are you saying that you'd be prepared to "restore" (literally, not patch) it if I left it in Oldham for however long, for the reasons that you have stated, or am I reading something into that which was not intended??? Emotionally of course that would be the better option, but emotions ...

" obvious solution to all of this would be to pay top dollar for a mint Sri and then keep the good bits from your car as spares or upgrades. There was a pre facelift Sri with only 9k miles on it for sale a short while ago"

I missed that unfortunately but unless it was way under-priced I'd imagine that it would be quite an investment. I have long since given up pretending that I had a budget - but somewhere a line has to be drawn!

Oh for a simple life.

[humbucker]

"I'd imagine that it would be quite an investment"

A mint new car is gonna be massively cheaper than restoring or re-shelling yours, especially if you're not gonna be doing the work yourself. As hard as it is to hear, an SRi is not worth a massive amount of money right now. I think the 9k miler was up for £4k, something like that. Or if you're gonna shift your bits over anyway, how about something like this? 12k miles from new. A much better bet than buying some shonky old SRi that may or may not be better than the one you already have:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282033400266

[humbucker]

This one is half the price, only has 51k miles on it

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281984832472

[btcctroy]

"I'd imagine that it would be quite an investment"

A mint new car is gonna be massively cheaper than restoring or re-shelling yours, especially if you're not gonna be doing the work yourself. As hard as it is to hear, an SRi is not worth a massive amount of money right now. I think the 9k miler was up for £4k, something like that. Or if you're gonna shift your bits over anyway, how about something like this? 12k miles from new. A much better bet than buying some shonky old SRi that may or may not be better than the one you already have:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282033400266

Be a shame to spoil the originality of that

[Telegram Sam]

There seems to be a wide range of prices for what may or may not be in comparable condition. Two "mid range" possibilities that I am considering are around the £800 - £850 mark. Even if they might not be totally rust free hopefully media blasting / acid + dipping would rectify things. I'd take some convincing that paying (way) over twice that was warranted and some of the claimed mileages over such a time span strike me as ..

[humbucker]

So £850 for the car, £1000 (plus VAT) for a dip or blast, plus however much you pay someone to strip the car down and build it back up again (£1000?), plus paint (£3000?)... possibly into £6k territory already, and that's not taking into account any remedial work that your new shell might require, or any costs for new mechanical and service items along the way. A Cavalier like those listed in my earlier posts seems to make much more sense if cost is a concern for you.

Else, if you're dipping, blasting and all the rest of it, why bother with a new shell at all? Just restore the one you've already got?

[Telegram Sam]

Else, if you're dipping, blasting and all the rest of it, why bother with a new shell at all? Just restore the one you've already got?

That is option 3 - IF it was do-able that would be ideal. On that the jury is very much out however.

As far as the other options are concerned, with the possible exception of the £4750 one, unless I have missed something I'd most likely have to invest in remedial treatment anyway if the aim of the exercise is to end up with a SRi fit for the longer term.

[btcctroy]

Else, if you're dipping, blasting and all the rest of it, why bother with a new shell at all? Just restore the one you've already got?

That is option 3 - IF it was do-able that would be ideal. On that the jury is very much out however.

As far as the other options are concerned, with the possible exception of the £4750 one, unless I have missed something I'd most likely have to invest in remedial treatment anyway if the aim of the exercise is to end up with a SRi fit for the longer term.

If your going down that road then fix yours .
It's only metal which can be repaired

[Super89]

Just drop the car off with btcctroy if he is willing to do the work.

[Telegram Sam]

I think he's so popular / got so many fans / backlog that much as I'd like to do this I'd be waiting till next year!

[Telegram Sam]

I finally bought myself today an eBay N-reg 1.8 LSi with 56 K on the clock from which to take the shell and quite possibly a few other bits as well as long as they are compatible with an SRi. It came from near where Super 89 lives so must have a good heritage. Unanimous opinion here is that I am totally bonkers.
I should end up with quite a few useable but superfluous parts, for example the engine. What is the best way of disposing of them when the list is drawn up?

[ilovedmymantas]

Sounds like a great find Iain, photos soon ?
Enthusiasts first ...advertise parts on forum first, with a timescale.
Then on a well known auction site ( first checkout courier prices, e.g. parcel2go, for sending items ) .
For collection & payment in person, request a non-refundable deposit ( say 10-20% of selling price ), believe it or not there's a lot of time-wasters out there
There's nothing wrong with bonkers. That's what keeps older cars on the road
Look at all the forum member postings with "personalisation/mods"

we're all a bit bonkers, just some more than others