Edit: the more I investigate this car the less fundamental the damage seems to be. I've updated the thread title to reflect this and will post again once I've resolved those issues that I can tackle myself, then got a formal quote from at least two professionals for the rest.Edit 2: In addition to the above, due to work commitments I will be unable to arrange viewings from tomorrow (6th Feb) until the 14th Feb.Welcome!
A bit of background first.
.. Recently I bought this;http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=182726
It's a car which has been owned by members on here and MR2OC.
It has attended club meets and as a result a good number of members of both clubs have spent time with it and even worked on it. I consulted these guys widely before buying it and it was heartily recommended. 
It has a string of rolling road prints showing 255bhp, a hybrid turbo, an AVC-R, a blitz turbo timer, Berk exhaust
(minor damage to flexi), Japspeed Decat, HKS BOV, Lockwood dials, strut braces front and rear (cusco I think) quad brake light conversion, overhauled gearbox, grooved brakes, Toyota car mats, four fresh tyres, 17 inch alloys, USDM red rear corners, working air con, a double-DIN stereo and aftermarket speakers.There's possibly a fair few more bits I haven't thought of.
It was serviced around 3 months back by the PO and had the geo done just before I bought it (as I mentioned that the handling seemed a bit odd). Since owning it I've replaced the cam case breather hose (£2.78 but a hell of a job without taking the engine apart!).I test drove this car three times before buying and the PO was perfectly happy to allow me to perform any test I saw fit.
I stripped out the interior to check the inner sills, I stripped out the boot to check for accident damage and would have done the same in the frunk but for the remains of a huge sound system, which blocked everything up.I even swapped it's alloys
(one of which is buckled) for my stock wheels to check the handling. It all seemed fine, so I bought it.Sadly, when I got it over a pit at OC-member Stu's place an initially good-looking car turned out to have a nightmare history behind it.
The car has experienced a front end smash, which was privately bodge-repaired rather than taking it through the insurance.
I have no doubt whatsoever that it would have been a write-off if they'd done it properly. Instead the suspension control arm has been cut and welded two inches shorter;
..the body mount bracket has been bent, and welded back onto the snapped bolt stud rather than bolted through the captive nut. Of the three remaining bolts, one (the one shown next to the bodge weld in this image) has failed and is no longer "captive" therefore no longer holding the bracket on.
The chassis cross beam which it bolts up to has sheared at the front face on one end and they didn't even try to re-attach it
(though having looked again I now believe that the other faces are still secure, so it's perhaps not *quite* as bad as I thought).
The lower arm attachment to the shell has also been bodged, though at least this looks like it's not going anywhere.
Driver side
- (stock):
Passenger side
- (bodged):
Looking at the history folder it has had a complete front end respray in 2010 so I'm guessing that the damage happened around then.
It's certainly not recent as the welds are filthy and rusty - they'd never have been able to weld parts in this condition.There are other problems which I can't take photos of.
The bonnet / driver's side wing shut gap is very wide, implying that the problem is worse than "just" the suspension, there's a barely detectable "ripple" in the roof on the driver's side and the windscreen leaks from the passenger side - implying that the screen isn't sitting properly in it's sealant. Most likely the frame is subtly bent.In summary, we have a nicely tuned, freshly serviced car
- which in my humble opinion isn't safe to be on the road without a complete re-shelling.Strangely it seems to pass MOTs routinely
(and not just at one "tame" garage either - it's been inspected in both England and Ireland). I guess you have to really know these cars to spot the problem..? All I can say is "forget service history - have any car inspected professionally before you buy it".To ensure everyone has the facts
- in case I've missed anything - here's a link to my project thread on MR2OC -http://www.mr2oc.co.uk/forums/125/162431.htmlFor reference, here's the PPPO's ad
- http://www.mr2.ie/mr2-forum/6-buy-swap- ... price-dropI'm planning to recover as much cash as I can out of this little disaster, so if anyone is looking for a mega project
(to re-shell it and put it back on the road) or a donor car that you can test-run rather than just trusting someone that the engine / box is good, then this could be for you. I'd like £2,250 for it, including all upgrades. Given the condition of the mechanicals and the nice extras it has that doesn't seem unreasonable.
Unlike the previous seller I will listen to sensible offers, however I'm not going to let it go for silly money as I'd be happy to make a project of it myself come summer..If anyone wants the car without the bolt on extras such as AVC-R, strut braces, stereo etc then I'd be willing to negotiate on that basis as well, but I'm not breaking it for spares so please hold off on requests for piecemeal parts.
If I do make a project out of it myself I'll want a fair few of them, so they'll be sold with the car itself or only after I've seen what I need on my next car..Thanks for reading!
Edit
- would probably help if I provide a phone number.... 07595 716 213The car is in Enfield, Middx.
Best to view it at the weekend as the car park behind my flats has no lighting.
