Well, I have the car now. Weirdly, I actually polished this very same car for a mate who was working on it at the time, about 3 years ago. It would appear I bought it from the person, who bought it from the person who owned it at that time Funny how things come around....

Anyway, not done much so far. A quick spray of tardis to remove all the tar, and a thorough wash & claying.

Have cleaned up the offside headlight as definitely MOT failure. About to start the nearside.

Bleurgh

Ah, better!

Now the nearside one! :(

Will keep an eye on this thread.

Nearside headlight now

Both cleaned up headlights + front end

The car in general. Seats need doing....

And I think I have found the pesky battery compartment fuse that brings up the ABS fault! Bingo! (end one on the right, has a line across which I think is a break)

Return flow pump fault? Will be that fuse

Return flow pump fault? Will be that fuse

Yup -

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 6Q0-907-37x-ASR.lbl

Part No: 6Q0 907 379 D

Component: ABS/ASR 5.7 FRONT V00

Coding: 00124

Shop #: WSC 30011

VCID: 3E76B2EB3A16E6E8130

1 Fault Found:

00301 - ABS Return Flow Pump (V39)

35-00 - -

Well, I just had a moment of clarity looking at the picture of the fuses.... There's a fuse there not being used!

So I have just nipped out, taken the earth connector off the battery, and swapped over the fuses. The one for the relay was indeed in two pieces.... The one going in is a 50amp to replace a 40amp. I doubt that is going to cause any issues. [fingers crossed]

Well this morning the car got a thorough hoovering out. The PO used the boot and/or back seat for carrying a dog so there was a lot of fur everywhere, luckily not the type which really sticks, so its all gone now. Also replaced the fuse for the alarm siren into port 60, and tested it by activating chirps on lock & unlock. Does work. Also activated one click all door unlocking. Car now needs VAX'ing inside, which I am aiming to do in a bit. Then I'll start looking at the paintwork as there are some sections which look like smart repair has been done maybe, and its very dull. I shall be trying a little bit of flatting back and polishing to try and bring it back.

Seats all came up nicely, although once dry I had clearly "missed a bit" as is traditional. so I shall do again at some later point.

Found 20p when hoovering and a penny in the drawer under the radio.

Also found a rather odd assortment of wiring for an odd parcel shelf install....

Update around a month later. As with me, I have had to plough a load of money into this car to bring it back to my standard, so unfortunately now I don't think there is any money left in it. Had to replace a wheel bearing, CV boot, all the front brakes, but it now has MOT to 06/07/2014 which is good. Just a couple of advisories about one low tyre, and a damaged CV joint but not to the point of allowing ingress.

Now have put up for sale for £900 which is basically my current break-even point.

Few pics

Damn, that's a shame!

I'm the same, which is why I've taken the plunge on a "cheap fixer-upper" since I'd spend far too much money making it perfect, rather than merely "saleable".

Unfortunately all my money spent have been absolute necessities, apart from perhaps a new badge or little bits. The wheel bearing and such + MOT was basically a days garage labour due to faffing about and getting a wrong / bust part from somewhere, and then having to get one from somewhere else. :(

Ugh :(

Well, you can still have the pride in a job well done!

Well, its gone now! Owing me just over £100! Oh well, at least that can go on my 2013/14 tax return! (small things.....)

Not as bad as it could have been!