Decision to make with the 200

[schumi84]

Hi everyone, it's been far too long since I last logged into the forum but glad to see it's still here.

So after 15 years of ownership the latest MOT flagged up some serious issues with the underside of the car with regards to rust so I'm in a bit of a quandary as to what to do with her. I popped over to a relatively local car restoration unit (Surrey Restorations in Egham) to get a rough idea as to how much it would cost to get it sorted.

To cut to the chase, the bill is going to be around the £6-7k mark to fully sort the underside and give me a car that will last another 10+ years, however I'm trying to work out whether it is going to be worth it. Getting hold of the money isn't going to be easy, what with a family and mortgage to think of and I'm at the stage where I'm thinking of letting her go and breaking for parts, or potentially selling as a project for someone with more time/money to properly sort her out.

Prices for the 200 still seem a bit mental at the moment, when I can find one for sale; and they're listed for anything from £10k to £25k but I'm under no illusion that mine would go for anywhere near that amount.

I'm really just putting my thoughts out there for a bit of advice as to what you good people would think of doing as I know I wouldn't be able to get another in the future and the money I would get if I sold/broke her wouldn't go towards a replacement car and isn't enough to warrant putting towards the mortgage in any meaningful way.

Your thoughts are most welcome, even if it's just to tell me to man up, sell a kidney and get her sorted . Looking online there are currently only ~200 registered on the round and ~1200 left that are SORN'd so it would be a shame to consign another 200SX to the scrapheap in the sky.

Cheers for reading

Andy

[markcro]

Is it garaged? If it is, then it won't get much worse. You could sit on her, and in a few years time roll her out and get her sorted. Or if its something that realistically won't happen, then it may be best to save yourself the mental anguish and sell her on... :-(

[piman2k]

Howdy how

Whatever you do, don't put yourself in financial stress for a hobby car. I reckon that's a one way ticket to resenting it.

Grab some up to date photos and specs and perhaps we can help you value it.

Ryan

[CrazySx]

Hey Schumi, where do you live now? I found myself in a similar position to you years ago and in the end I learned to weld and repaired it all myself.

I remember meeting you at Surrey Rolling Road and a few other meets. You have a green one right?

I live in West london near Twickenham Stadium if you wanna meet and chat?

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[schumi84]

Is it garaged? If it is, then it won't get much worse. You could sit on her, and in a few years time roll her out and get her sorted. Or if its something that realistically won't happen, then it may be best to save yourself the mental anguish and sell her on... :-(

It's kept on a drive as the garage isn't available to use for a car, unfortunately, so I imagine even with a decent cover to protect from the worst of the weather conditions, it is likely to deteriorate .

Howdy how

Whatever you do, don't put yourself in financial stress for a hobby car. I reckon that's a one way ticket to resenting it.

Grab some up to date photos and specs and perhaps we can help you value it.

Ryan

With the mortgage going up at the end of last year, finances have definitely been tight so tying up a load more money on a hobby definitely isn't ideal. I'll get some pictures taken once I've given the old girl a wash and see where we stand.

Thank you both for your input, it's really appreciated

[schumi84]

Hey Schumi, where do you live now? I found myself in a similar position to you years ago and in the end I learned to weld and repaired it all myself.

I remember meeting you at Surrey Rolling Road and a few other meets. You have a green one right?

I live in West london near Twickenham Stadium if you wanna meet and chat?

Sent from my SM-S908B using Tapatalk

Hey there man, good to hear from you, I have indeed got a green one yours is a Sapphire if I'm not mistaken? (for some reason I wanted to say you had a black one but my memory is awful nowadays )

That's really impressive that you were able to get those welding skills sorted, I imagine it comes in really handy and well done for sorting your car out

I'm still living in West Ewell, near Epsom so not a million miles away from you so would be well up for a meet in the near future, just let me know when works for you and we can get something arranged

[CrazySx]

Yes, great memory bud, it's the blue one.

My welding ain't the best in the world, but it was a necessity to learn as I did tsimilar to you. One place wanted 6k with a 10 year guarantee and the other wanted £250 just to wack on sills. I wanted it done properly but didn't want to pay 6k. I think it took me about 10 days full time working until late to sort it all. See my project thread on here.

Epsom aint far at all. Let's meet, let me have a look at it for you too.

Sent from my SM-S908B using Tapatalk

[schumi84]

Yes, great memory bud, it's the blue one.

My welding ain't the best in the world, but it was a necessity to learn as I did tsimilar to you. One place wanted 6k with a 10 year guarantee and the other wanted £250 just to wack on sills. I wanted it done properly but didn't want to pay 6k. I think it took me about 10 days full time working until late to sort it all. See my project thread on here.

Epsom aint far at all. Let's meet, let me have a look at it for you too.

Sent from my SM-S908B using Tapatalk

Sounds like a plan mate, I look forward to it

[CrazySx]

Pm me your number and we can plan it

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[sx rider]

Hey Andy!

Sorry to hear about the rust! Personally I’d say get it all fixed and then sell up because with it needing rust repairs it wouldn’t be worth very much.

Hopefully others will come along to let you know if the price you’ve got sounds reasonable or not to get things sorted.

Rosh

[BLAKTOOTH]

Get some quotes and get it sorted! It's that or let it go for peanuts and you give me your wheels

[green_rs13]

Happy to be the guy who gives you peanuts for it, if Blacktooth wants the wheels?

[piman2k]

It looks like a nice car in your pics on the other thread, touch wood Crazy can help you get it sorted.

Also remember you don't have to do it all at once. If you're happy to wait you can break it down into small chunks you can save for.

But deffo don't get into financial difficulties for a hobby mate

[schumi84]

Hey Andy!

Sorry to hear about the rust! Personally I’d say get it all fixed and then sell up because with it needing rust repairs it wouldn’t be worth very much.

Hopefully others will come along to let you know if the price you’ve got sounds reasonable or not to get things sorted.

Rosh

Cheers Rosh, good to hear from you again, yeah it's been a while since I took a proper look under there due to doing minimal miles in her over the last few years and the rust has crept up on me a bit.

Get some quotes and get it sorted! It's that or let it go for peanuts and you give me your wheels

Like a pack of hyenas, I'll bear you in mind regarding the wheels mate

Happy to be the guy who gives you peanuts for it, if Blacktooth wants the wheels?

We can look to do a deal on cashews as I'm quite partial to those

It looks like a nice car in your pics on the other thread, touch wood Crazy can help you get it sorted.

Also remember you don't have to do it all at once. If you're happy to wait you can break it down into small chunks you can save for.

But deffo don't get into financial difficulties for a hobby mate

Thank you for this, piman, I think I just needed to sound out my thoughts to try and figure out what options there were and getting the repair quotation was a bit demoralising, even though I was half expecting it.

Having a useable garage would make things a lot easier (it's only 4m long and the car is 4.5m ) but having the driveway is the next best thing and I've spoken with the mrs and my dad about maybe sorting out a cover/carport type affair to make working on the car a bit easier.

We'll see how things go as there's lots of little things I need to sort on the car (rear adjustable camber arms to fit, gauges to move and centre console to sort, rev counter to fix again, tidy the interior, rewire and buy new speakers and give the engine bay a good going over) but that is all pointless if the car is going to just fall apart

Cheers again I know I keep saying this but it's really appreciated.

[sx rider]

Like a pack of hyenas, I'll bear you in mind regarding the wheels mate



We can look to do a deal on cashews as I'm quite partial to those

.

This made me chuckle.

If you decide to fix it yourself I’d be more than happy to help out, still got the gear from when I did mine, no welding skills unfortunately but can help you get to clean metal for the welding to be done.

[schumi84]

This made me chuckle.

If you decide to fix it yourself I’d be more than happy to help out, still got the gear from when I did mine, no welding skills unfortunately but can help you get to clean metal for the welding to be done.

Thanks mate, any help on that side of things will be massively appreciated.

After doing a lot of thinking over the weekend I'm leaning towards taking my time with the car, so will enjoy her over this Summer and come up with a plan of action, fingers crossed.

[CrazySx]

Sounds like a plan. I can give you some pointers on what you need to do. Did you have a look at my project thread?

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[piman2k]

Thank you for this, piman, I think I just needed to sound out my thoughts to try and figure out what options there were and getting the repair quotation was a bit demoralising, even though I was half expecting it.

Having a useable garage would make things a lot easier (it's only 4m long and the car is 4.5m ) but having the driveway is the next best thing and I've spoken with the mrs and my dad about maybe sorting out a cover/carport type affair to make working on the car a bit easier.

We'll see how things go as there's lots of little things I need to sort on the car (rear adjustable camber arms to fit, gauges to move and centre console to sort, rev counter to fix again, tidy the interior, rewire and buy new speakers and give the engine bay a good going over) but that is all pointless if the car is going to just fall apart

You're welcome man, it's always demotivating finding out you have big bills coming, but part of the club existing is to be a place where we can talk to each other about how we're feeling, so you crack on.

Consider also doing what you can to prepare and then that'll save someone else effort later on to match.

[schumi84]

Sounds like a plan. I can give you some pointers on what you need to do. Did you have a look at my project thread?

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I have indeed, you've done some cracking work mate from what I've read so far, only got about half way through as had a busy weekend.

You're welcome man, it's always demotivating finding out you have big bills coming, but part of the club existing is to be a place where we can talk to each other about how we're feeling, so you crack on.

Consider also doing what you can to prepare and then that'll save someone else effort later on to match.

It's always been a great place and I miss going to the local meets etc; finding the time when you have little ones running around can have that effect

Never a dull moment with 200SX ownership

[sx rider]

Thanks mate, any help on that side of things will be massively appreciated.

After doing a lot of thinking over the weekend I'm leaning towards taking my time with the car, so will enjoy her over this Summer and come up with a plan of action, fingers crossed.

Sounds like a good plan mate, keep this thread updated when you decide. Happy to help if you’re going to do some yourself