NigelM
Dedicated Member
So I finally found the right car and bought it home a couple of weeks ago. 1998 S50 Roadster in Estoril blue.
As with all 20 year old cars the jobs list is building. I found on the way home that I appeared to have no clutch, which was interesting on the M6 at rush hour around Birmingham. I bit of thinking and some help from the forum and I took the gamble and replaced the rubber tube between clutch master a slave cylinders with a steel braided one which has thankfully cured the issue.
Hard top off when I got home and went to put soft top up. Unfortunately it had no interest in playing. Investigations found I had no brake lights either (all the way back from Wales!) so brake light switch replaced followed by micro switch and that's all working again.
The Eisenmann 83mm race exhaust looks and sounds stunning but is touching the rear bumper on both sides. I think with a few spacers I can sit it central in the cut outs which is a job on the list for this weekend.
Tyres need replacing so I think I'm going to go for a set of Goodyear F1 A3's all round. At the moment it's sitting on some well worn Michelin Pilot Cups that are fairly old and I really don't want to get caught out in the wet with them. While I'm at it I will put on some 20mm spacers - I like a set of wheels to fill the arches properly. The wheels could do with a refurb as well.
There are a frightening number of stone chips on the bonnet and front spoiler - 30 or 40. I don't really want to respray as I would like to keep it in original paint - I might need to compromise and fill the 10 on the bonnet and respray the spoiler. A job for the winter I think. The rest of the paintwork is very good. A couple of small rust spots which I will sort at the same time but nothing serious.
The leather is looking tired and the drivers bolster is pretty worn (but no holes) so I will get myself the kit from Gliptone and have a crack at it - again a winter job.
Overall the car is great. Mr Vanos has done all he needs to do on the engine and it sits on new suspension and purple poly bushes all round, so it's tight and drives very nicely.
It's had a good wash, clay bar, polish and wax so is looking nice and shiny, ready for what hopefully is going to be a very pleasant Bank Holiday weekend.
Old cars always come with a jobs list and this one is no exception, but the list is thankfully much shorter than some I have owned!
As with all 20 year old cars the jobs list is building. I found on the way home that I appeared to have no clutch, which was interesting on the M6 at rush hour around Birmingham. I bit of thinking and some help from the forum and I took the gamble and replaced the rubber tube between clutch master a slave cylinders with a steel braided one which has thankfully cured the issue.
Hard top off when I got home and went to put soft top up. Unfortunately it had no interest in playing. Investigations found I had no brake lights either (all the way back from Wales!) so brake light switch replaced followed by micro switch and that's all working again.
The Eisenmann 83mm race exhaust looks and sounds stunning but is touching the rear bumper on both sides. I think with a few spacers I can sit it central in the cut outs which is a job on the list for this weekend.
Tyres need replacing so I think I'm going to go for a set of Goodyear F1 A3's all round. At the moment it's sitting on some well worn Michelin Pilot Cups that are fairly old and I really don't want to get caught out in the wet with them. While I'm at it I will put on some 20mm spacers - I like a set of wheels to fill the arches properly. The wheels could do with a refurb as well.
There are a frightening number of stone chips on the bonnet and front spoiler - 30 or 40. I don't really want to respray as I would like to keep it in original paint - I might need to compromise and fill the 10 on the bonnet and respray the spoiler. A job for the winter I think. The rest of the paintwork is very good. A couple of small rust spots which I will sort at the same time but nothing serious.
The leather is looking tired and the drivers bolster is pretty worn (but no holes) so I will get myself the kit from Gliptone and have a crack at it - again a winter job.
Overall the car is great. Mr Vanos has done all he needs to do on the engine and it sits on new suspension and purple poly bushes all round, so it's tight and drives very nicely.
It's had a good wash, clay bar, polish and wax so is looking nice and shiny, ready for what hopefully is going to be a very pleasant Bank Holiday weekend.
Old cars always come with a jobs list and this one is no exception, but the list is thankfully much shorter than some I have owned!
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