Am I mad?

[John_B]

I bought my first Zed last year. A high mileage (180k) 1.9 MOT failure. I purposefully wanted a car that I could work on - for the first time - and try stuff out on. A project, rather than a pristine example.

Fast forward to today and the car has been on the road for nearly a year and I have done a fair amount of work to it. The interior is sorted, the sills have been rust-treated and I have done a bunch of little mods such as fitting angel eyes. I have also learned a ton about the car and built up a 7-page progress thread! But ultimately it is still a high mileage (182k) 1.9 and while I love driving it, I do find it is lacking in grunt.

I wasn't even looking but an advert jumped out at me yesterday: a high mileage (but less-high 150k) 2.8 that's had a minor disagreement with a lamp post...

On the one hand, working up to engine swapping my 1.9 was always a distant possibility, on the other hand this could be an opportunity to switch course into a) a slightly lower mileage chassis and b) that is already set up for the 6-cyl with all of the beefier running gear etc.

Crucially, a lot of the stuff I have done and added to my 1.9 could be lifted and shifted across into the 2.8 once that damage was dealt with.

Tell me I would be mad to do (or not do) this??

 

[t-tony]

Sounds like a plan to me.

Tony.

 

[colb]

In answer to your question the answer is probably 'Yes'.
However looking at the photo a replacement bumper and bonnet from a breaker would probably restore that car, shame to pull your 1.9 to pieces after doing so much to it.

 

[Jam03]

You know you want to. It’s going to keep you out of trouble for the next year. Difficult to decide whether to start all over or use the good bits from your existing car. I guess it depends what you can sell it for.

 

[Duncodin]

I'm with @colb on this. It's a real shame to strip a roadworthy 1.9 Poor thing.

The 2.8 is likely a wide body. What parts from the 1.9 will work?
Any non critical trinkets in the 1.9 you could take those. But would be great if the 1.9 could be passed on to someone else as a roadworthy runner.

And you can have the fun of doing it all again to the 2.8 ( as long as you do all your checks to make sure you're not buying a bag of spanners)

 

[John_B]

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

I might have been unclear with my first post, the 1.9 would still be 100% roadworthy, I'd just switch things like the headlights, heated seats, stereo/speakers, custom seatbelts across.

still trying to get in touch with the seller. He's confirmed the car is still available but hasn't arranged a time or place for me to view it yet