Scrapyards

they are paying 120 a tonne for shearings (today) so cars would be around 80 at a guess, I am running in more tomorrow (probably) so I will check then (morning)

In article , newshound scribeth thus

Probably as good as any....

Sold my olde Audisaurus 96 N reg for scrap they collected and paid £75 quid!..

so my guesstimate is near enough.

Dare I say that my 95 M Saab 9000 still looks and drive as new. However, I have noticed that you hardly see any rust on cars these days. This observation applies to almost any car on the road, whether new or old.

In more olden times, cars would systematically decay and fall apart over time; this seem no longer the case, at least not in this part of UK. It's rather that cars seem to dissapear above a certain age, a lot to do with the scrappage scheme.

The scrappage scheme was 8 years ago, and ran for less than a year. I doubt it had any significant impact on the standard of cars in use today.

The real reason that even old cars look tidy and run well is simply that they are infinitely better made than those of 30, or perhaps even 20 years ago.

The downside is that when they break, they are more expensive to repair. Apart from accident damage, that is why cars are scrapped nowadays.

A ten-plus year old car might look like new, and run perfectly, but something like a failed clutch, or even a leaking water pump, might be an uneconomic repair. If you had tried to tell me that when I first started driving I would have laughed at you!

Chris

It is not as bad, there are plenty of parts to find from different sources, and many parts are generic these days. Old cars are sometimes broken up for parts for traders to make a profit: The sum is greater than the whole. But eventually it could dry up, but it hasnt happened yet for my Saab.

Parts prices are the least of the problem!

The complexity of modern cars means repairs take longer, and garage costs are high, so labour charges have to be raised to match.

In the 80's, I could change a clutch on most rear wheel drive cars in a couple of hours on any level bit of ground on my own, using a handful of spanners. There's not many DIYers who would be able to do a clutch on their own on a modern car, even over a weekend.

Even small independent traders charge 70UKP/hour minimum around here, so any work that is going to run over a day will scrap an old car.

Chris

Thanks to all for the info

Going back further than Chris's clutch case, at (state grammar) school in the 1960's one of my mates changed the back axle of his Austin 7 in our 90 minute "lunch" by getting a couple of mates to roll it on its side.

The works Mini rally team of the Sixties used to push their cars over onto a pile of tyres.

Later, a company developed a curved tubular device that bolted on in place of the wheels on one side of a vehicle, and allowed you to push it over. The tubular structure protected the side of the vehicle.

A friend had a set for his garage business in Bordon, and it was quite an effective way if you were changing an exhaust, or doing a bit of welding.

Chris

a complete fiesta is worth 70 quid at scrap.

FWIW said N reg Audi A6 was getting a bit rough around the wheel arches but that wasn't insurmountable, what was is that the tailgate had a wallop a while ago and we had to remake the rear window from perspex and stick it into place with sealant. It did work but looked rough and no one had a second hand one and parts were getting a problem for the old girl plus the clutch was playing up and a few other problems..

For £2.8K got myself a 2008 version diesel Avant car so perhaps time for an upgrade and the heater works well in this one plus aircon and best of all is 42 to the gallon the old petrol one just managed 25!;)...

Yes I dread having to replace with a 'modern' car so totally immersed in chip technology, with switches replaced by a flaky touch screen. What will be the useful life expectency of such a car?

I remeber an unfortunate news screening when Honda once came up with an electric car:

Journalist/customer: "Oh but what is the lifetime of the battery?" Honda rep: "Don't worry, it will last the lifetine of the car"

No thanks :)

Saab was quite advanced it the 90'ties with Trionic ECU. This was needed for the turbo control.

I have replaced the gearbox on my MM Van in a carpark, in the dark and rain (I bought it with only 1st and reverse) and also replaced the gearbox / clutch on our Mk2 Escort based kitcar, both just up on ramps and as you say, using some basic tools.

I had the clutch changed on the Meriva a while back and apparently it's a 3 man job (without the right lift etc) as the front subframe has to come out.

Cheers, T i m

Its call progress, I recently changed a slave cylinder on a Mondeo. Not for the faint hearted.

I'd dispute that all 80s RWD cars had an easy to change clutch - although some did. And it's not impossible to have a FWD where it's quite easy too.

But I've no experience of doing this on a recent car. My brother was rather miffed to find his 2000s 3 series BMW needed a new flywheel too. But he did manage to DIY it.

I know a FWD car where it took 20 minutes to change the clutch.

Vauxhall then saw the error in their ways.

My E39 BMW (now gone) had very little directly switched stuff. Although not touch screen - just microprocessor controlled. And none of that gave any problems. It only had two electrical faults in the many years I owned it. The boot central locking motor, and the heater motor speed controller (a few times) both easy to change. Oddly with the last one, a cheap pattern part from Ebay lasted better than any of the OEM ones, despite looking rather crude.

That car was totally rust free when I sold it - despite having lived outside all its life. If only the SD1 had lasted as well. ;-)

I'd give the RWD Escort my vote for the easiest RWD car to change a clutch on. For FWD, the Triumph 1300/1500 would get my vote.