Croc Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I saw this car in person a few years back and liked the look of it. Immaculate condition and surprisingly the gold panasports work well with the green. I really feel for the owner though - 3 cars and all that flooding through his garage and house - my commiserations if you are reading this. I would consider the Caterham at $10k but it is over that now. By the time you add on sales tax and auction premium and transport home and then allow for the unknown in repair work and then you have the $5K+ in value diminution from having a salvage title (although that can be cleaned away in that part of the US too...legal but unethical in my opinion) then for the effort I am not seeing enough of a payoff for the risk. Quite a good project car though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfast Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Reserve still not met! Salvage pools usually don't have reserves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffersonRaley Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I'm actually high bidder on this right now. I'm sure some will question whether this is still a good deal, but I'll actually go higher if I need too (and I might regret it!) I am not too worried about the flood damage. I expect to have to replace the engine and ECU. Hoping the trans is ok, but who knows. Some of the gauges are likely to be shot. And the interior might smell like old shrimp. On the other hand, the paint is right and I'm not afraid of doing the work. I just finished a full rebuild of my daily driver 1966 Suburban, and am fabricating new rear suspension for my race car over the holiday break. So I'll need another project soon. Heck, if I wanted to make a sensible decision, I'd buy an Accord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scannon Posted December 29, 2013 Author Share Posted December 29, 2013 I saw that the bid had jumped $5k today. Was someone bidding against you or did you just make a big jump to discourage other bidders? Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I saw that the bid had jumped $5k today. Was someone bidding against you or did you just make a big jump to discourage other bidders? Good luck! I think I bid it up to either $12,500-$13,500 (can't remember), not bidding further as I bought another unfinished V8 Miata project late yesterday afternoon :svengo: Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffersonRaley Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I guess it was Bill and me jumping the bidding up. Maybe someone else too. Sounds like me and Bill both have a thing for V8 Mazdas too. My current race car is an '82 RX7 with a Ford 302 in it. Double the stock horsepower, triple the torque. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I guess it was Bill and me jumping the bidding up. Maybe someone else too. Sounds like me and Bill both have a thing for V8 Mazdas too. My current race car is an '82 RX7 with a Ford 302 in it. Double the stock horsepower, triple the torque. V8 Miatas make great winter projects, keeps me busy, and in the spring, I can sell them off for a little extra money to sink in to the Shelby restoration :cheers: Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyzMG Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I can just picture what's going on right now inside all those 1" square tubes. Even though the outside of the tubing is either painted or powder coated the inside will corrode until the powder coat is the only thing holding the tube together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfast Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 What are the chances of the tubing splitting from the ice if the car was shipping to say Boston where it is about 20 today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manshoon11 Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I can just picture what's going on right now inside all those 1" square tubes. Even though the outside of the tubing is either painted or powder coated the inside will corrode until the powder coat is the only thing holding the tube together. It'd have to remain submerged for a long time for this to happen. There may be some mild passivation of the metal, that is it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 What are the chances of the tubing splitting from the ice if the car was shipping to say Boston where it is about 20 today? If the lower tubes have a weep hole in them, not likely there is enough water inside to cause such an occurrence. Keep in mind, the flooding happened months and months ago, and the car has been sitting in a dry storage area ever since. I'm thinking quite a bit of the water and humidity trapped within is already dried up. Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hill Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Assuming it has been in its present AZ location for a few weeks then I would think Bill to be correct: the heat and lack of humidity would have a strong drying effect. I bought a '93 GMC Topkick truck in Lake Havasu AZ that had spent most (if not all) of its life in AZ. Absolutely ZERO sign of rust, even the brake line running to the rear axle from the front was still shiny. The original paint on the inside of the doors looked like it was painted last week. The brand new trucks at the Chev dealership next door to me show more rust than this truck. So from that experience I would not be too concerned about rust being an issue. Now...corrosion of electrical components, odors from foam rubber or upholstery with moisture trapped inside or behind, different issues entirely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomove Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Besides the mud, what is the difference for a Seven chassis between "flooded" and "driving a few hours in heavy rain"? Waters get everywhere in both cases but it is supposed to handle the latter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmustang Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Besides the mud, what is the difference for a Seven chassis between "flooded" and "driving a few hours in heavy rain"? Waters get everywhere in both cases but it is supposed to handle the latter. Water immersion creates pressure on the item under water, where driving in the rain does not. The pressure of the water on the item forces water in to areas that normally would not have been affected by driving in the pouring rain. As an example, find yourself an old metal childs lunch box, place it out in the rain with a few pieces of paper inside. The lid of the box is designed to keep the rain out. Now take that same lunch box and put it in your bathtub full of water and hold it down. See how the exterior water pressure causes water to flood the interior of the box in short order. Science class is now over for the early morning :cheers: Bill S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off Road SHO Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 And as an addition to what Bill said. The places where Gravity forces water into will take normal dry air under atmospheric pressure and flow years and years to evaporate, all the while the rusting process continues. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manshoon11 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 it is an non-problem for the chassis. Just dry it out if it isn't already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemk1 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I'm a bicycle framebuilder by profession and therefore know more than I care to about steel tubes and water. I agree - submersing the chassis is MUCH different than having water splash on it and even when there are holes in the chassis splashing water won't really enter the tube. If this were my car I'd want to drill small holes - say 1/8" (big enough that surface tension won't keep water from moving through them) at each end of every tube in the chassis and then I would want to tip and tilt it to the most extreme angles I can to allow the water to run to the holes and exit. If you are pulling the drivetrain this would be the time. I'd want to winch the front end high in the air so the water runs to the rear holes and out..........and I'd want to lift the rear end the same way. Then tilt it onto both sides to promote the water getting out. I would guess that there are 'gas holes' that were drilled where ever one tube meets another that are now covered by the joined tubes. These allow the hot gases/air to expand and move out of the area and not blow the final weld beads out due to the escaping air pressure. This means that water may be in most ever tube in the chassis..........and if it's left there in the long term it will corrode the ends of the tubes, where they have been welded, the most due to all the mill scale and oils being cleaned and burned off during the welding process. I doubt in the long run there will be rust holes in the middle of the tubes but I would not be surprised to see tubes, or welds, fail at the ends. I think making the chassis safe and durable in the long run is more than doable but that it will require some real effort and if it's just allowed to dry out on it's own that there will be real issues in the future. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyMike Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Would it be possible to drill holes in one corner of the frame and blow air in from the other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemk1 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Would it be possible to drill holes in one corner of the frame and blow air in from the other? I think that could work very well. dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffersonRaley Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Bidding just went over $20k. I think that's too high for a Zetec car that may need a new engine, so I'm dropping out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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