what do you all recomend as a cheap (under £50) donor car ??

the sierra seems to be a firm favourite but prices seem to be on the increase latley....

I paid £130 for quite a local sierra in fairly good condition, and after stripping my bits I scrapped it for £65, I still have a brand new Ford battery I could sell?
so not far out of your price range for what would prob be the high end of sierra money???

Steve.

I got £65 for scrapping i, in case you were thinking thats what it cost me...

[Edited on 29/12/06 by worX]

spend a bit more on the donor and drive it for a while so you know everything works ok

hi mate I think you need to take a good looke at your pricing

or wait and save some more money

£50 !!!!

Yep pricing does seem to be going up (at least not the Bangla Bangers £1200 for a PoS).

The problem is you won't get a 50 quid car easily when Mr Breaker will pay 65 quid to tow it away. Factor in 50 quid return for your scrap + any tax on the car that you could get refunded and 50 - 100 quid is possible given say a 150-200 outlay.

I paid 275 (IIRC) for a 1.8 pinto'ed saph with alloys (the only ones going around this area are about 300 sobs. But then I got 3 months of use, 100 quid back in road tax and hopefully will get 40 to 50 quid back from the scrappy. I could possibly try and sell the lighting but for the hasssel it isn't worth it.

I could have got an estate for 225 but it was not pinto'ed and had dodgy front suspension.

Try asking on the Ford Sierra owners club forums (though you may need to get a few posts before you can post in their wanted section).

what volvo is that?

940 turbo - that ones a wentworth model meaning it comes with an lsd .

keeping your beady eye open will net you a good find , i waited over 12 months for a cheap version .

a 940 that needs a bit a of work for mot will be sub £100 almost anywhere .

Balls to stripping a 940, just keep it on the road and find a scrap Ford, Volvos are usually too good to break.

well , i was gonna say , find an early 740 - its usually free .

any links you can suggest that give info on using volvos as donor cars?

are the engines big/heavy ?

are the manual gearboxes big/heavy/reliable?

power?
Front uprights adaptable?


cheers

Matt

the engines are no heavier than a pinto - they have an alloy cylinder head and a much better inlet manifold design .

if a pinto fits so will the volvo , ie a bulge

you have to allow 28 inches for the engine in length . thats why i went 442 chassis to give me some extra room , altho they do fit .

the fuel injected 2.3 comes in at 135 hp , the turbo 2 litres start at 155 hp , due to low boost - the 2.3 came with upto 190bhp from the factory .

youll need custom intercooler for a turbo - since the volvo one is huge .

axle is about the same width as the capri/cortina one - the front uprights are easy to mod , just like the sylva stryker - you get to use 5 stud wheels from a ferrari if you wish , altho most 740s come with 14 inch wheels and most alloys are 6x15 so thats the wheels taken care of .

std gearboxes handle upto 250hp - with a remote linkage makes it easier .

youll have to use a sierra shortened steering rack since nobody would shorten the volvo one for cheap enough .

any more questions PM me .

Try sticking a wanted ad in the local paper for your Sierra. I put a note on my notice board at work "wanted Sierra, no Mot or tax essential". Within 48hrs I picked up a running 2.0IGhia Sapphire on the `G` plate for £70! Bargain. I completely stripped the car of most parts, flogged anything not required on the build on places like Ebay, and made my £70 outlay back easily. Be careful though. When it comes to scrapping they will only pay good money if the car is virtually complete. Mine was so bare by the time I had finished with it I had to pay them £10 to take it away! Lol.