Did anyone from here buy the S3 on ebay?

[beachbuggy]

As the title says, there was a blue s3 with a blown engine on ebay, it went for £1750 last night. I had been keeping an eyye on it as my next project but was only prepared to go to £1500, so just missed out. Was a nice car, highish mileage at 126000 but had a new gearbox and the rest of car was in not bad condition.

So did anyone from here buy it?

Welly was it you? You beat me to the one in Manchester, the one with the burnt wotsit in the turbo! so hoping you didn't get me on this one as well .

 

[benny-g]

Wish I did,looked like a bargain with a few coin to be made from it!

 

[1animal1]

beach you really need an auto bidding tool mate

 

[Welly]

Welly was it you? You beat me to the one in Manchester, the one with the burnt wotsit in the turbo! so hoping you didn't get me on this one as well .

LOL, I wondered if I would be mentioned in this thread as soon as I saw the title....

Not guilty mate, doing all this evaluation work for XS Power at the moment. Combine that with the day to day grind of job, child etc, I don't have time.

 

[beachbuggy]

Well I txt the guy selling the car to see if the buyer had actually bothered to show up and buy the car, and guess what he called me to say he hadn't and was I still interested? I was at the £1500 I had bid max. He called me back to say he would sell it too me at that price. A bargin I think and a nice little project.

However, I've just done a Reg chk on the car and it is a Cat C back in 2007. Now my predicament is, do I buy it as a project that I was going to keep anyway, or just walk away. At £1500, even if I spent £1500 ( that would be a BT engine ) on it and as I'll do all the work that'll go a long way so I could have a good runner for 3k but how much does anyone reckon it would be worth?

 

[sportstractor]

if its a facelift it might be worth 4k as a cat C? even less if its a pre. £1500 is good price, could break it up for more.

 

[beachbuggy]

Well I just handed over £1250 for it!! so I think I have just got a bargin.

I did a full HPI chk which was ok, however the mileage was a little higher than advertised when I checked the VOSA website so hence how I managed to knock him down.

should be a good little project.

 

[s3dave]

Well I just handed over £1250 for it!! so I think I have just got a bargin.

I did a full HPI chk which was ok, however the mileage was a little higher than advertised when I checked the VOSA website so hence how I managed to knock him down.

should be a good little project.

Bargain... even if you strip it down as said.....

 

[beachbuggy]

A little update.


I currently have the car sitting under cover in my barn. When I had the car delivered the old engine was sitting in the boot of the car along with just about all the anncillary's etc, unfortunately all the oil had been drained so there wasn't any mess! Buried under the engine I also found the original document wallet, with all the receipts from the last 2 years, which include a new recon gearbox, disk brakes, recon turbo, flywheel and clutch. Baileys DV, and other items, totaling £1100 which makes all the more of a bargin I think!

It seems this car is re-living one of Welly's Nightmares! Luckily I have just re-read his thread so am well adversed, and now a little ahead of the game...


The Rod on No.3 had broken and put a hole in the side of the block and sent the piston crashing into the head taking out the valves. I can only assume one of 2 things.

1) The oil pump got clogged, the bearing seized, snapped the rod and killed the engine. On inspection of the sump there does to be a bit of crappy floating around but the pickup doesn't seem to bad, however the crank journal is totally scored and dimpled so I am thinking it's the likely cause.
2) The head gasket went, Hyrdolock the cylinder and snapped the rod.

Either way the Engine is dead!

The guy selling the car was looking for an APY engine to fit, I don't think he was that mechanically minded and when he couldn't find one decided to sell the car. I have found a good low mileage AGU and like Welly plan on fitting that to the car instead.

I have also taken the decision to replace the Piston rings, Big-end bearing, Head gasket and in 2 minds about the Rods. Well I say 2 minds as I plan on selling the car on once done, so not really fussed about fitting stronger internals, however I am well aware of the consequence of not fitting some and thus think it may be prudent and possibly a plus when coming to sell it. I'm kind of thinking as well that it seems silly to put in a new engine, rebuild it only for an original rod to let go soon after!

So, presently I have an S3, which I have to say is in pretty good condition considering, a big hole under the bonnet, and garage floor full of bits and an ever increasing required parts list.

 

[sulaiman]

Nice one, get some pics up!

 

[finesse]

nice work!!

 

[Ash B]

Still got a bargain! as said get up photos up and keep us updated on how you get on!

 

[JD09]

Any parts you are looking to sell buddy? Awefully "vulture-like" of me, but hey! Don't ask...!

 

[DaveA3]

nice mate mate

 

[s3mad_dude]

Sweet1! Keep us posted on the "operation" and get some pics up as you do it.

 

[beachbuggy]

Ok a little update. Not really had much time to do much but have managed to sort out a few things, get hold of some parts and most importantly get a good AGU for the rebuild/replacement. I also bought an engine stand, to help with the rebuild. Appreciate it's not really that necissary but thought I'd been meaning to get one for a while so now was a good a time as any.

First up is just a picture of the car. It's pretty stock but in pretty good nick. I don't think the wheels are the originals or have been refurbed as they are pretty immaculate.

Here's a rather daunting picture of where the engine should be!

A big pile of engine bits! Need a little more sorting out I think

A very good picture of what happens when a rod decides it needs a holiday.

Take note. This happens if you don't change you oil regularily and the oil pick blocks

Where the rod hit the oil pick up

Finally a knackered cylinder head

I'm still in 2 minds as whether to buy new H beam rods for my build or not. I haven't seen the condition of the ones in the AGU yet and know it hadn't been remapped so the shouldn't have been put under too much stress. I also know that it's a shame to go to all this effort, for a rod to snap again in the future all for the sake of £350.

So that's where I'm at, hopefully I'm going start stripping the AGU engine next week. Also going to replace the Gearbox oil and Haldex oil/filter while the engines out.

I've notice also that the Clutch pedal is flat to the floor at the moment, I assuming it's because there is no pressure on the slave cylinder and if the engine/clutch was there then it would come back out. But what worries me more is that there is fluid in the bell housing so I'm guessing the Slave cylinder may have blown a seal, so for the sake of £35 for a new Slave cylinder I'll be replacing that too.