Since I have my mk1 fabia and my mk2 fabia on here I figure I may as well put my Matrix on here too.

This car was got a few weeks after I wrecked the mk1as its replacement. It was bought for 100 euro, like the fabia and even had a month of tax left on it. It was got with around 95000 miles on it.

It is a 1.6l gls model with 105hp. Mated to  a 5 speed box that is surprisingly short geared. It has a bluetooth silvercrest headunit with a broken volume knob and one of those Nokia handsfree kits installed. 

I was physically shaking first time driving this, wrecking the mk1 made me lose my nerve for driving but I spent a lot of time practicing and getting my confidence back. It seems stupid but I definately owe this car for allowing me to regain my confidence.

It had some pirelli winter tyres on it and I wore them down to the steel thread in about a month of driving, the alignment is fine I just drove it so hard I rubbed the tyres clean off. The brakes also couldnt handle my poor driving, they would overheat after not a lot of driving and would let go completely, I wore the pads down to the backing plate after a few short months also, one of the calipers seized too. I should say that this car was mostly driven around the yard rather than in the fields so it probably did take more abuse cause of this. It also ****ES blue smoke out of the exhaust when cold, more than likely valve guide seals, and I found out one of the ht leads is taped up where it goes over the spark plug. On top of this I at one point completely removed all of the airbox and just had an open throttle body drawing in air. It sounded godly but on hot days it was very noticable the loss in power cause of heat soak.

In spite of all this, it is honestly a nice car. It has electric windows and a sunroof that all works, a black cloth interior in good shape (the centres of the seats have a confetti look to them) 

I gave the car a much deserved polish and it came up a treat, the dark metallic blue paint just pops under the right light.

When it came to fixing the mk1 this car came in clutch carrying all of the bits I had taken off of it and moving it over to the big shed. I even managed to get the bonnet in the back of the car with little effort.

One of the subframe mounts is rotten and has been since I got it, its not let go or gotten any worse in all this time but it is there. The brakes are useless and the clutch occasionally slips (I presume its air in the system) 

Overall its continued to be a great car in spite of its problems, 

A Few Months ago I got bored, I couldnt think of anything that needed done on the mk1 fabia so I decided to try something I always wanted to do out on this, Mesh Grilles.

Being on a farm, there was reams of wire mesh lying about, I had a dremel, grinder and all the tools needed to do it so I figured this car would be as good as any to try it out.

I removed the top grille easily and ended up removing most of the vertical slats from the plastic structure behind it. I removed as much as I could while still leaving a little bit behind to let it hold its shape.

It was an easy job to do, and I quite liked the silver mesh showing from behind the grill. 

After I had the grill put back on I got to thinking about how the car would look with the whole front done with mesh.

Bumper came off, did the mesh and put all back together. Only problem came from the metal bumper clips being rotten. I sanded them bare and painted them to keep what little metal left from rusting.

Heres how it sits now, Looks good for a 100 euro junker. I had sprayed the lower lip black and It came out good, just doesnt seem to have lasted very long

I dont necessarily have any plan for it, I have been tempted several times to get some cheap alloys for it, mostly for the tyres as the ones on it now are sketchy, back ones are corded. It would need the brakes and clutch looked at, probably some bushings and some minor engine gaskets to see it right for the road, and that subframe hole fixed of course.

I think it would make a cool runabout with these cars being a bit of an oddity but since its an elantra underneath parts are about as cheap as a fabia.

Right now though, this cars gonna have to sit. I want to get the other fabia on the road before I put any effort into this car. Insurance is still daytime robbery for me and trying to insure a 18 year old 1.6l car is about as hard as me trying to insure a lamborghini. Tax is about 500 euro a year too because older cars are taxed on displacement. Currently its no problem keeping this parked up next to the fabia so I can hang on to it for another while.

Got sick of it not having its rear view mirror. Ended up using the silicone sealant/adhesive to hold up the mirror. Taped it up and have left it sit to cure.

Has sat for a long long time, at a guess last august was the last time it ran.

Old battery finally kicked the bucket so I got a used not great one for it.

Cables wouldn't reach the battery, hence...

No mould in the interior, happily.

Got it running too, with the battery in place properly.

Found more trouble though, namely the coolant has turned to jelly.Barely any fuel in it so didn't chance driving it.