Yesterday saw me head down to Kent to pick up my new Shortie! :D I got on the motorway to come back home about 4pm.

 

At 9pm, I was safely tucked away... on the hard shoulder of the A1(M) near York with a grand total of 1 wheelnut holding my rear passenger wheel on!!! The other 4 studs decided to shear off while I was in the outside lane - there was an almighty bang, the back-end of the car went completely loose so I had no choice but to dive for the shoulder! :(

 

The recovery truck arrived at 11pm and I slowly edged my new tripod onto the flatbed, before we headed off back to mine.

 

Spoke to Mr F this morning and he's ordered me 10 new rear studs, so my new car is currently undrivable. Seems it had cheap slot-on spacers on the back, no spigot rings and the end result was 4 wheelstuds missing.

 

Gotta love Zeds, eh...?!

Edited December 4, 201411 yr by Mondo

All being well, my Stillen lip should be arriving this week at some point. :) Once it's painted and fitted, that should pretty much complete the exterior as far as I'm concerned.

 

Then it looks very much as if she'll be going up for sale! :sad: I think I need to accept that I can't really afford to keep her, as much as I wish I could... with the new workshop and the fact that all the work I'm currently doing being priced as if I had minimal overheads, my finances are taking some pretty heavy hits right now.

 

I honestly can't see another solution. :sad:

Sounds to me like you've answered your own question, the solution is stop pricing jobs up as if you have minimal overheads. What happens when the capital from the sale of your car is gone? What will you sell next in order to continue to give people great prices?

 

I'm also confused as to why you would fit an aftermarket bodykit part to a car you intend to sell. Generally speaking, the vast majority of potential buyers would always prefer a blank canvas over a modified example, it seems to me like you're wasting money as you will be reducing the market to sell to, even with an arguably subtle modification.

Sounds to me like you've answered your own question, the solution is stop pricing jobs up as if you have minimal overheads. What happens when the capital from the sale of your car is gone? What will you sell next in order to continue to give people great prices?

 

I'm also confused as to why you would fit an aftermarket bodykit part to a car you intend to sell. Generally speaking, the vast majority of potential buyers would always prefer a blank canvas over a modified example, it seems to me like you're wasting money as you will be reducing the market to sell to, even with an arguably subtle modification.

 

As I'm booked so far in advance, the work I'm doing at the moment was booked in long before I knew my overheads were going to increase. I thought I'd made that clear in my previous post. There's nothing I can do about that.

 

As for the lip; I bought it before things took this turn. It's either sell it as soon as it arrives, or fit it. As I'm still not absolutely 100% certain that I'll have to sell, it'd be nice to see the thing fitted.

You seem to invest a lot in your Z Simon, could you not just aim to maintain it for a while? Honestly I put no more than €200 a month to mine (not including tax and insurance :whistling:) and that keeps it going, with some nice goodies every now and then.

Get yourself down to Coventry so I can talk to you and you will be in striking distance when you mention selling up. :gunsmilie: Big mistake selling mate just store it for a year and then see how work is going.

What stillen lip is it Si?

You seem to invest a lot in your Z Simon, could you not just aim to maintain it for a while? Honestly I put no more than €200 a month to mine (not including tax and insurance :whistling:) and that keeps it going, with some nice goodies every now and then.

 

It's not so much the maintenance costs, Jay - it's more the fact that it's a lot of money to have sat on the drive for the bulk of its life.

 

Get yourself down to Coventry so I can talk to you and you will be in striking distance when you mention selling up. :gunsmilie: Big mistake selling mate just store it for a year and then see how work is going.

 

I don't want to sell her, Gaz. It's just looking increasingly as if that's going to be the best all-round option.

 

What stillen lip is it Si?

 

It's a Type III TT lip.

Nm then, I'm after the other one.

Suppose I should update this thread slightly, especially now all the pictures have been ravaged by Photobucket's greed!

 

Not really much to report though; a pair of tinted side repeaters, courtesy of Mr Greenfield and a Stillen Type III lip supplied by the ever-wonderful Mike Feeney. The lip is starting to grow on me now as I honestly wasn't convinced when I fitted it a few weeks ago, but I'm getting more used to it now. :)

 

Lucille is no longer having to play Daily Driver (bankruptcy ahoy!) as I've bought a Golf GT TDi as a runaround. So why, you may ask, has she been brought to the front of the drive and given a decent clean? Local(ish) car show tomorrow so she has to look vaguely presentable!

 

As a bonus (if you like that sort of thing), Mrs Mondo's even in some of the shots!! :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking awesome Si and the front lip has greatly updated the front end mate.

Looking awesome Si and the front lip has greatly updated the front end mate.

 

Cheers Gaz. If nothing else, the new lip sitting higher than the old XEVSport one means that I don't have to worry (as much) about scuffing it on kerbs whilst parking!

Looks good si front lip is spot on and loving the side repeaters

Very nice example Si' :thumbup1:

Excellent addition Si....:wink:

 

The car is looking superb mate....:thumbup:

 

Richard:cool:

Thanks guys. :) I don't get much time these days to do anything on her or with her really. But that lip was a pain to fit!

 

There are a couple of niggly jobs still to do, so I'll be heading down to the Zed deity that is Jimmer at some point before this year's out and get some more exceptional work done by him. Then it'll be time to make some concrete decisions regarding her future. :thumbup1:

Looks unique Si, and not in a bad way!

Car is looking fantastic Si, :punk:

Thanks guys. :) I don't get much time these days to do anything on her or with her really. But that lip was a pain to fit!

 

Looks good mate. Why was it a pain to fit though? I managed to get mine on fairly easily although it wasn't glued on at that point due to me after the new car being built

Looks good mate. Why was it a pain to fit though? I managed to get mine on fairly easily although it wasn't glued on at that point due to me after the new car being built

 

It's not quite a perfect fit on the sides where it sits in the swage line so, ideally, it needs clamping on the sides while the Tigerseal goes off. Then the rear corners can be pulled into place and bolted.

 

Sadly, I didn't have access to clamps big enough...

MOT tomorrow at 10am..... :yes:

Good luck Si :clover:

Another clean sheet on today's MOT.

 

Rather pleased with that! :biggrin:

Another clean sheet on today's MOT.

 

Rather pleased with that! :biggrin:

 

Well done that man! :thumbup1:

Nice one Si :clap:

In light of recent revelations, I'm a little (a lot!) concerned about some of the work that's been done on my car by a certain mechanic in the past. So I'm driving down to Bristol in the wee small hours of tomorrow morning so the entire car can be thoroughly looked over by a professional!

 

I'm really hoping that nothing shady comes to light.... :scared: