182 potential revival cost

[macron]

Imagine one of these that's been laid up a while, occasionally started and moved so brakes are free, but 30 months since an MOT.

How much is a dephaser and all the belts/ fluids these days? They never were cheap, but I'd be thinking if it MOT'd OK it would be worth taking the hit to resurrect it.

[SkankHunt42]

I got the belts / dephaser / water pump done last week with TwoTechs in Dartford. It was £1,150 including VAT. I would expect that there are probably a few other items that need doing on a car that has been sat for that amount of time - new tyres, full service, wiper blades, etc.

[s p a c e m a n]

Yeah, ours had belts and dephaser done at the end of last year for about £1k

General service stuff isn't hard or expensive to get hold of in my opinion, it's random crap that gets to be annoying. Ours had an airbag light on before last MOT because the steering angle sensor was on its way out, new ones aren't available anymore so had to risk expensive second hand ones because no-one can get hold of them.

[SkankHunt42]

I'd also add that if they are doing the belts / dephaser / water pump service, you may as well get the O/S engine and dogbone mounts replaced - that's what I did.

[macron]

Thanks all,

Was expecting maybe a grand, but that seems like the tip of the iceberg!

Yikes!

[jamesbaylis]

I suppose that you have to take the view that it is a special car before making the decision to bring it back up to speed. If you want to refresh everything you’re probably looking at the value of the car in parts and labour. However, if you like the driving experience and expect that it will one day carry the same value as something like a 205 GTI, it’s worth doing. I am personally restoring mine in drips and drabs.

[s p a c e m a n]

How cheap is the car? They are already worth a bit of money for a clean one and having the belts done with receipts pushes it up there.

[macron]

It'll be costing about market rate by the time it's done, maybe a little higher, but with me at least knowing everything HAS been done.

But that ignores the time/ hassle/ risk in the middle.

[s p a c e m a n]

Yeah, if you're not doing the labour yourself it has to be cheap cheap. I do all of the maintenance on mine apart from the cambelt and I'd wouldn't bother with a non MOT off the road for a couple years version for more than £1500. It would have to be stored in a garage and just 'not been used' raher than abandoned on a driveway outside and left, I don't suppose that the previous MOT history is exemplary on it?

[macron]

The history is really quite bad.

1st mot, recorded clean at 30k. Same day another test (correction? Can you swap kph to miles?) 19k.

2nd. 4k later, brakes all shagged.

3rd, an odd 18 month gap, +15k miles, silly bits.

And it goes on. Last pass was Oct 2023, tyres and brakes noted.

Think I'll swerve this one, seller "knows the value of the car", which seems to differ from my interpretation!

Appreciate the help anyway.