New owner worries

[amosian]

I took delivery of my 1.4SS this weekend and though I am really pleased to finally have a Seven in the garage, I am now feeling a little worried in case I have bought a bad car. The car looks great, but can anyone give any advice about how I might be able to tell if it has had an accident, been abused, etc.

 

On a different note, when I took it out and gave it a few revs, I noticed that at about 6,000 rpm, the revcounter needle jumped around quite a lot. Is this normal, as the road was a little bumpy? Could there be an easy way to fix this?

[Peter Carmichael]

The revcounter is not the best quality item in the world. Now we have Len Unwin on the forum I hope he won't mind me borrowing a phrase he coined: "They all do that."

 

Best to look at the earths, both for the instruments and the engine to chassis (lower front of engine). Might be worth removing the strap and cleaning a bit of muck and corrosion away and retightening with a smear of grease.

[John E]

I would suggest that if it looks great then that is a step in the right direction.

You are probably going through the "have I done the right thing" phase which most of us go through once we have parted with our hard earned cash. Presumably before you bought it you checked the obvious such as colour differences in natural light, ripples on the skin, other signs of repair such as overspray, missing bolts or rivets etc etc. does it drive OK, doesnt pull and stops square. Is there any bare ally to worry about. Is the underneath dented or showing signs of corrosion. Does it loose oil, have you put in on stands and checked the front chassis rails for dents and things.

Most of us become paranoid about something like a 7 but at the end of the day most things can be fixed and everything is relative to what you paid for it.

 

 

[Simos]

Amosian,

 

No worries, John is quite right, just a case of seconds thoughts which are quite easy to correct - a track day should do the trick !

 

Per the tach, PC's advice is well worth following but I have to question why you're looking at the tach long enough to work out it wobbles when pulling over 6k smile.gif

 

Your first of many mods will be to add a gear change led so you don't have to watch the tach when events outside the car should be getting "interesting".

 

Per the damage, a quck look at the main chassis tubes underneath and ally skin will give you an idea if they've been re-worked. Just stick it on some ramps or even just jack it up and have an eyeball.

 

Some of the manyfold advantages of a seven are that it is fully repairable and there are so few places that will/can do it that you are pretty much assured of a good job. A pranged hot-hatch is a real liability as the monococque chassis and integral skin are to all intents non-repairable so bad damage is "hidden". A seven chassis returned to Arch can have new tubes brazed in on a jig, be re-skinned and as good as new.

 

I guess what I'm saying, like John, is if it doesn't look stuffed - mashed ally, bent tubes etc it is almost certainly fine. A bit more 6k+ and you'll stop questioning !

 

Cheers, Simon.

[amosian]

Thanks for the reassurance. I checked all of those things mentioned and the car seems tidy.

 

As for the revcounter, I already have the LED light but I was a bit worried about relying on it in case it didn't work. I guess I just have to have a bit of faith.

 

Thanks again (my mind is now more at ease)