GTA Atmo Buyers Guide

[mettersl]

Or buy a car where the pictures of the rot repairs are on here!
Clee and stephen Dell will do assessments for you, but a known and worked in car is your best bet.
Lee

I have one here that will be totally sorted .Rot has all been done and will have a full engine rebuild with hotter cams and low compression pistons,decent paint ,all running gear refreshed,brakes etc etc .Will be up for sale by the owner when completed for £10k min dependent on what extras go in
I have another 'project car' complete but with a lot of rot,non std engine,turbo,Omex ECU.16" alloys with bigger brakes up front £3k SAS.

I can inspect any potential purchase,but certain areas cannot be seen without a ramp or removing items so judgement on those areas can only be assessed relative to the bits we can see ....The last 4 cars I've had in have all had recent if not full MOT's but all had major rot with the cross member being the most worrying .

I'm having a car delivered Weds that has recently been purchased for recommission .Complete,hopefully minimal rot but the paint is shot .....

As I say the days of the £5k minters are now long gone .Better buying a shitter and fixing it

Or buy a car where the pictures of the rot repairs are on here!
Clee and stephen Dell will do assessments for you, but a known and worked in car is your best bet.
Lee

Pros and cons I guess. Get a well sorted one and enjoy it or find a decent one to improve and bring to the fold! ... depending on the expected outlay of course. Which from this thread could get serious! But that's the response I'm after, warts and all!

I have one here that will be totally sorted .Rot has all been done and will have a full engine rebuild with hotter cams and low compression pistons,decent paint ,all running gear refreshed,brakes etc etc .Will be up for sale by the owner when completed for £10k min dependent on what extras go in
I have another 'project car' complete but with a lot of rot,non std engine,turbo,Omex ECU.16" alloys with bigger brakes up front £3k SAS.

I can inspect any potential purchase,but certain areas cannot be seen without a ramp or removing items so judgement on those areas can only be assessed relative to the bits we can see ....The last 4 cars I've had in have all had recent if not full MOT's but all had major rot with the cross member being the most worrying .

I'm having a car delivered Weds that has recently been purchased for recommission .Complete,hopefully minimal rot but the paint is shot .....

As I say the days of the £5k minters are now long gone .Better buying a shitter and fixing it

How on earth do they pass the MOT if there's rot in places like crossmembers? Perhaps buying one without an MOT at the right price and doing that up would be reasonable?

They are not allowed to remove anything and the crossmember is hidden by a plastic undertray below and boot liner above so unless there is rot showing at the bottom of the front turrets it wont be seen .I've had two cars in recently, one ,in it's Ebay ad stating this work had been done and the other ...well... just a well dodgy MOT .Both had thin bits of sheet metal glued over the rot and then lathered in underseal .

They are not allowed to remove anything and the crossmember is hidden by a plastic undertray below and boot liner above so unless there is rot showing at the bottom of the front turrets it wont be seen .I've had two cars in recently, one ,in it's Ebay ad stating this work had been done and the other ...well... just a well dodgy MOT .Both had thin bits of sheet metal glued over the rot and then lathered in underseal .

Jeez what a nightmare!

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. No worse than any other 30 year old car.

How many 80s cars do you see on the road these day, thats D to G registrations?

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. No worse than any other 30 year old car.

How many 80s cars do you see on the road these day, thats D to G registrations?

Didn't intend to get drawn into semantics. Think my comment was reasonable considering how easy it appears to get one of these through an MOT and it probably applies to many more with undertrays. And yes I know how the reg system works.

[BIG_MVS]

Talking of the 80's.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qQnoMC2NY

Talking of the 80's.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qQnoMC2NY

Ha! Or is that A-Ha! Reminds me of the 21GTX I had back then. Wonder where that is now! Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Talking of the 80's.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_qQnoMC2NY

Ha! Or is that A-Ha. Reminds me of the 21GTX. I had back then. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

Hi there
I live in New Zealand and own two Atmos, a New Zealand new 1986 Black and a 1990 Blue purchased new in the UK by an expat Kiwi who bought it home in 1997. It had two other owners before I purchased it., one neglected it relying on somebody who was far from an expert to do work for him sadly.Well intended I am sure, but unfortunate. Still, all sorted now.
Neither is affected by rust (no salt on roads here). both have needed work on the cooling system, and electrics, and the black car had been resprayed during which the painter rubbed through the gelcoat on the bonnet and in a couple of areas. A couple of efforts to fix the bonnet (small star marks appear over time) failed until my paint and panel guru, who used to work on Alps before immigrating here from the UK) found a special sealer after which he did a full glass out respray. The blue car is about to go into the paint shop for the same treatment - the paint job on it is pretty dodgy with a number of runs and sags and some osmosis.
Both of my cars have a WEBER DGAS conversion (the same twin-choke used on V6 Fords and others at the time). These are a really good carb, they a readily available, and are easy to set up. The conversion simply involved blanking off the small Solex port on the manifold, making up an alloy adaptor plate with studs for the DGAS that bolts to the manifold.
Both cars go really well with no issues.
If you decide to go down this track after you get an Atmo let me know, I will send you some pix plus jet sizes.

[mettersl]

Hi,
My atmos has been undergoing repairs at RATS and is about to start the reassembly journey. I want a reversible carb change and the DGAS seems a good choice. If you have the jetting for them, that would be really helpful. Are these cars otherwise std...heads, exhaust etc? Mine is at present , but I'm contemplating some changes, but want a reliable set up and a car that won't need much more than standard maintenance when finished.
Did you go for electrical or hot water choke, both seem to be available, but the how water one seems to be a more predictable option.
Thanks
Lee

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. No worse than any other 30 year old car.

How many 80s cars do you see on the road these day, thats D to G registrations?

This is what I found when I started scratching the surface of my 93 Alfa 155.
It had just been approved, all this was hiding under the boot lining and hidden by the undertray at the back bumper.

Normal rule of thumb for me, unless you are buying at the price of the national debt of Azerbaijan, factor in another 3K or so to get a car right.
Less if you can do the work yourself.
And take an MOT as an indication only, don't presume that the tester has seen stuff, and be ready that he could have been friendly with the person presenting the car.
Had many a car which had a full ticket which should never have passed.
As well as the rust, the Alfa had a broken coil spring on the front which had been welded....

Oh, and if the previous owner says they have done something, unless there's pictures or a receipt, presume it hasn't been done.
If you are doing the work, remember to take pictures.........

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. No worse than any other 30 year old car.

How many 80s cars do you see on the road these day, thats D to G registrations?

This is what I found when I started scratching the surface of my 93 Alfa 155.
It had just been approved, all this was hiding under the boot lining and hidden by the undertray at the back bumper.

Normal rule of thumb for me, unless you are buying at the price of the national debt of Azerbaijan, factor in another 3K or so to get a car right.
Less if you can do the work yourself.
And take an MOT as an indication only, don't presume that the tester has seen stuff, and be ready that he could have been friendly with the person presenting the car.
Had many a car which had a full ticket which should never have passed.
As well as the rust, the Alfa had a broken coil spring on the front which had been welded....

Oh, and if the previous owner says they have done something, unless there's pictures or a receipt, presume it hasn't been done.
If you are doing the work, remember to take pictures.........

Bet that was a bit of a shock!