Sorry if these questions have all been asked before, but I went to my local breakers yesterday & got confused, so any pointers would be appreciated.
I'm pretty clear that I want a new-shape 200/25 with a 1600 engine and nothing fancy like ABS brakes to make the build more complicated. I read Iain Ayre's
Haynes Kit Car Manual recently and agree with his sentiments that it's preferable to hear the engine running before stripping the donor, so I'll be looking for a car that's nearly a runner.
I know that for some kits it's desirable to get a car of a certain age in order to get age-related plates & not require a cat. How relevant is this to the 5exi build? Am I right in thinking that any "bubble" 200 will be too late for this exemption and that the best way to deal with this is to simply fit a cat for SVA & MOT? I wonder if this would be effective in meeting emissions requirements for a engine performance-tuned with a cat-free exhaust? Is it worth obtaining an engine from an earlier, old-shape 200 and the other parts needed from a newer one?
Sorry if these are dumb questions - I'm really not aware of the period over which the 200 was built or when the catalytic-convertor requirement came in (1992?)
The breaker I spoke to yesterday won't supply the logbook for any car he sells, and I'm not really sure the implications of this. Does it matter at all? I don't feel the need for an age-related plate for "cosmetic reasons" and wouldn't be bothered having a "Q".
The breaker I spoke to yesterday also stated that he's not allowed to sell complete most of the cars he gets - he's only allowed to sell them as parts, presumably because the insurance company has written them off. Has anyone else dealt with anything like that? I'd much prefer a complete car to be sure that I don't later find myself missing something which'll then take me days to find, and I
really want to hear it running before I buy it, to be sure I don't buy a duff engine.
Any other tips on buying a donor? I thought I might try & find a big list of breakers & fax the lot of them with a standard enquiry, or use the forms at
Breakerlink.com or
find-a-part.com to achieve the same thing. Advertising locally is also an obvious move, but probably not the best likely to get results. I thought it might be possible to bid on write-offs directly from insurance companies - has anyone tried this?
Cheers for any advice,
Stroller.
Questions on buying a donor.
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