Not had the best afternoon. Running up the motorway this afternoon fb was running a bit rough. Thought it was just the exhaust blowing or rattling and thought I\'d get it on the axle stands tomorrow and have a look. Went past motorway services and heard an almighty bang. At 60mph the car swapped ends (in the 1st lane) and ended up parked on the hard shoulder pointing back at the traffic.
Balls I thought (and thank god I was in one piece), my diff has seized and spun me round and I have a major issue. Walked to the nearest SOS phone box and it wasn\'t working. Walked in to the Services and phoned the AA. Waited an hour and they picked me up and brought me and the car home.
Jacked back of the car up and drained the oil. Little bit of metal but nothing major (no big chunks). Came to turn the engine over and it just clicked. Took spanner to front of engine and the engine is completely seized ! Won\'t budge at all.
Now I\'m not sure what I should do. Should I break the car or fix it. I\'m already getting warned by my insurance I may not get cover in December because of the miles I commute a year.
I could replace the engine, but the value of the car isn\'t silly. Already been offered a REW engine but I\'m not sure it will be worth fixing.
In a real Quandry.
Shaun
Hard one Shaun. If you\'ve the time and inclination you would possibly get more cash breaking it. But if the body is good (I think it is still in good nick?) then someone might trailer it away as it is to do an engine swap on it.
Either way only you can say how much driving an FB means to you. You might want something else as a daily driver? Why not?
I\'m guessing the FD is too thirsty for the task.
Another possibility is to buy another S3 FB and use the black one as a doner car. Then of course you need some storage room.
Dave
Shaun, Sorry for your bad news, but happy you survived what sounds like a harrowing experience anywhere, but it must have been hightened occurring on the motorway.
Whilst it would keep the marque going by repairing the car, personally after our chat at Cadwell, you may want to consider giving yourself a break and getting a regular daily to give you time to concentrate on other matters.
Stay lucky
Chris
Adrenalin has worn off and I\'m a bit shakey at the minute.
I\'d probably say give me £650 to come and pick it up in its current state. The body isn\'t brilliant but it more than easily fixable. Would mean if its not viable then all the broken bits are easily worth the money. I would prefer somebody to keep it going than me break it.
I\'m going to have to buy another daily driver anyway. I need something to get to work and I only have a 3k a year allowance on the FD. Plus its got a drinking problem !
I\'m going to think about it some more, I\'d like to stick a 13-rew in the car as N/A but getting my hands on a suitable intake will be not the easiest of tasks with the LPG.
Shaun
Just amazed at how quickly it happened really. Class myself as very lucky, that\'s for sure !
Shaun
Glad to hear you are OK Shaun. I can\'t imagine how must adrenaline you must have been produced as that happened, especially at that speed :eek:. An amazing escape from what could have been a disaster.
Keep us posted on what you decide to do.
Scary stuff :(
Be interesting to know what caused the seizure, tip wedge or oil starvation...?
Scary stuff indeed Shaun - glad you are OK. Hard to know what to do in the circumstances.
I have a feeling either the chains broken and oil stavation or I\'ve chipped a seal and the engine has lunched itself.
One thing is I\'ll be pulling the engine out later today and taking it to bits to find out. More out of interest.
Shaun
Off to look at a mondeo estate tomorrow !
Shaun
bloody hell mate
Really glad to hear that you came out of it unmarked
Its very lucky that it put you on the hard shoulder and not the 2nd lane
im not sure what i would do at this point , is it not worth just leaving the Fb for a a few months to see what you would like to do and just picked up a 2nd hand car at the side of the road for a couple of hundred quid and drive that around for a while ?
I have a EGI engine in the back garden that you could poss use for parts if you fancy trying to rebuild yours ?
how long will it take you to pull the engine ??
And i love how you say it as a sort of "off the cuff comment" :D
Lol, couple of hours work to pull the engine out on the FB. I do need something worth the swap and I\'m viewing a 2.0lt TDCI 130 Zetec Mondeo estate tomorrow. It gives me the option of trailering cars to anywhere really and I should be able to afford something that will happily get me through xmas.
The insurance have been warning me that the FB may not get insurance next year because of the mods it has and the milage I use, so I\'ve been looking at doing the swap anyway.
Cheers for the offer of the engine, Is it a 6 port or 4 port engine ? Would be fun to get the thing rebuilt and sold to a club member. Not sure its worth for me to do it.
May be the end of the road for the FB.
Shaun
to be honest mate i have NO idea what it is
i think its blown the rear tips , but not sure if any of it is usable to be honest
its been outside for prob 6 yrs , so has been full of water !! LOL
Just seen this, never mind the car and I cant help with the decision.
To me the main thing is your up n walking around ok :Thumbs-up
Bloomin heck Shaun. Glad you ended up unhurt mate. If I were you I\'d take a couple of days to mull over what to do with the car now.
Ade
Sorry to her about the problems with the car
Hope you eventually decide to rebuild it or sell it on to somone that will
These are become rare and its a crime every time one is broken (then again I don\'t have to tell you that) maybe the car spinning out on the the hard shoulder is a sign telling you it wants to be saved (not destroyed like landing in traffic and getting hit)
Still as has already been said the most important thing is that you are safe and nothing bad happened.
Cheers Guys ! Priority at the minute is getting a daily. I can think about the FB later on. might pull the engine just to look at the damage (plus the weather is perfect to do it)
I\'m glad I do trackdays otherwise I\'d be a gibbering wreck. Very glad the car and me are in one piece. Left some interesting skid marks, that for sure !
Shaun
Quote from: grinder;837653to be honest mate i have NO idea what it is
i think its blown the rear tips , but not sure if any of it is usable to be honest
its been outside for prob 6 yrs , so has been full of water !! LOL
Be fun to crack it open anyway !
Shaun
Engines Out :D Started after last post, pulled engine and tidied up. Now sat on Trolley waiting to be stripped.
Autopsy of damage later in the week, definitely the engine has gone pop. Still seized without anything connected to it.
Shaun
Glad to hear you\'re okay, must have been more than a bit "brown-trousers".
It\'ll be interesting to see what caused the engine to seize though.
Mondeo is a good choice of daily though! It\'s what I have. :lol
Glad you\'ve got it out etc :)
You have to get it back on the road Shaun - its the law! :Giggle
I\'ll start a thread and take some photos whilst I\'m taking it to bits. I\'m going for the chain broke on the oil pump and its been starved of oil.
But I thought the diff had lunched itself at first.
I\'ll see what I can do !
Shaun
Been a busy time after work. Just put a deposit on an 03 mondeo 2lt 130ps estate. Its got a towbar, clean in and out and has 100k on the clock.
Just sorted my insurance out as well because Footman James don\'t want to swap the policy over or give me any money back. Although its only got about 6wks left on it !
Should be picking it up Friday :D
Shaun
Wow just read this glad your still about to put a deposit down!
Just seen this thread, Glad to you are ok Shaun you had a really luckly escape its a shame your FB did look really nice.
there is a few options..
first -
did you spin a rotor bearing?
if so then sometimes housings are OK and your cheapest option may be a home rebuild and your only looking for a crank and a rotor
OR
seeing the price of EGI FCs in britain , would be tempted to grab the whole car for the gearbox and engine.. these NA engines are capable of 250 000 + Kms
and can be adapted to run a turbo .. i have run 6p turbos for many years
else grab a FC or FD engine , and an impco mixer , adapt it to the TB hat ...and blow through it.. as easy as it reads
this way you keep the holy grail.. a rotor you can afford to use daily
.. fix / replace the engine ..add the turbo .. then you have fast cheap and clean...
a 1st gen with a highflow 13bt is a very fast animal and will give the FD a good shake
this is the excuse you need
Not really sure yet. Engine hasn\'t been opened up yet. Hopefully will be doing it this weekend.
The engine is out of an FC egi, but the cars are hard to come by in the uk with a good engine.
I have an impco carb already, couldn\'t actually find a manifold to fit an fd engine instead.
Been living the holy grail of a daily reasonably priced rotor for the past 4yrs ! Done about 50,000 on gas on current engine !
Shaun
to adapt any 200 or 225 impco then you only need the generic base fitting and weld it onto the TB snout.,,
with an impco 225 ( and on turbo inlet manifolds ) you have to take care to clear the oil filter ( use rx8 oil filter )
convertor reference pressure is plumbed to the TB ,, and it all works fine at mild and medium boosts with either FB solenoid with commander or non FB setups
dizzy can be the 12at ( though i mod them to DFI leading and shorten the mech curve, and set the base aggressively )
i think your nuts if you dont go one again and this time add the turbo .. suitable turbo manifolds for stock s4 or s5 turbo into a 1st gen can be found in oz
I was running a microtech LT8 for the ignition using an FC dizzy and a impco 305 carb.
Picked my mondeo up this morning so at least I can get to work and back. Got a cracked intake pipe and a squeal. Nothing that can\'t be easily sorted (well the pipe at least)
Seriously considering my options really now.
Shaun
Hi Shaun - HAPPY NEW YEAR matey.
Not sure where you are with this project now but for what is is worth I\'d replace the engine - would be a real shame to waste a body and running gear simply because the heart of the beast has died. Engines are far easier to procure than a full useable body - gone on matey, you know it makes sense.
Regards,
Cliff
:)
It is a very good car for somebody with a good 13b or 12a engine thats for sure. Justifying the cost of the rebuild is the hardest part of this really when nothing else is actually selling on the clubs.
Shaun