5 GT Turbo R5 GT Turbo: needing a push……..in the right direction.

[WF5GGT]

Hi all

This post has been years in the making, mainly because I may find out what I’ve been dreading for the last 15 years or so.
This is the first forum I have ever joined, so apologies if I’m not up to speed on the etiquette.

I own a 1990 R5GTT that has been stood outside in a friends garden for over 15 years, probably closer to 20 years if I’m being honest. I bought it back in 93/94. I am the second owner. The previous owner was in his 60’s, and it was immaculate when I got it. Things started to take a turn when I left it stood for 6 months on my parents drive to pursue other interests. I never seemed to have enough money for the maintenance and upkeep of the car, and after time I lost trust in all the garages I took it to.

The car is ‘bog standard’ (do people still use that phrase?). The only thing(s) that will be seen as abuse is: I put some speakers on the parcel shelf, had an immobiliser fitted, had a amp fitted in the boot, and, here’s the big one: had two tweeters installed on top of the dashboard .

It’s been covered with a weatherproof breathable cover (nothing special). It’s got to be in a sorry state. I haven’t looked at it properly for years. I’ve been burying my head this whole time. I get annoyed with myself that I’ve left it to rot away. I have no other excuses, life just got in the way.

Over the years, people asked me if I’d sell it, saying I need to scrap it (who aren’t mechanics), family, friends and acquaintances giving me a hard hard time over my indecision on what to do with it. But I’ve always felt that one day, maybe I’d have some disposable income where I might be able to bring it back to life, before it turns to dust and needs sweeping up, like everyone predicts.

I’m based in the North East and ideally I’d like a trustworthy place to take it, to diagnose and give me an honest opinion with the option to do the work required. Maybe the dream won’t happen. It may turn out not to be cost effective, but I’ve got to at least try.

I have a feeling it’ll be a commitment in order for me to get it on the road, I’m know it could mean taking it to all different places who specialise in particular parts of the car. I don’t think many garages these days have the time to hold my hand through the process, that’s why I’m asking you the questions below. Hopefully they are the right questions.

So here are my questions to everyone:

• What are my first steps to getting this car back on the road? It will need recovering. It’s been stood in a friends garden for the last 12 years. Fundamentally, what needs to be done. What are the important things to get right?
• Is there a one-stop shop that exists, where an enthusiastic garage would take on a project like this and hold my hand through the process? Most garages these days have a high turnover of jobs. Do garages exist that would have a car project like this in their shop for months?
• Should I just look to get it road worthy (if possible), then use it as an hobby when I get time to fulfill all the finer parts of the car, or do I throw some money at it now and get it as best I can within my financial means. The CarSoS treatment will have to wait until I win the lottery.
• Could the car be too far gone? Should an option be to bite the bullet and break it down for parts to sell? This situation would be heartbreaking after holding on to it for all these years, and having heard the amount of abuse and ‘I told you so’s’ from friends and acquaintances.
• Do I have other options?

If the dream has the potential to come to fruition, I aim the keep it a secret, would love to see all those peoples faces when I pay them a visit in it.
Just imagine: if I could get it somewhere near to where it was. I could relive the days of spending 3hrs cleaning the car on a Sunday.

Thanks in advance

Will

 

[andybond]

Will,

Stick some pictures up on here of the engine bay, where the rust is and we will be able to tell you quite quickly if the dream is alive or rusted into 1million pieces.

 

[WF5GGT]

It’ll have to wait a few weeks. The car is in a friends front garden atm.
Can I close my eyes and take photos???

 

[WF5GGT]

Oh….I forgot to mention that the friend in question, isn’t close enough to just pop in. It’s probably a 2-3hr round trip.

 

[clarky_gtt]

If you want it restored and restored correctly, you'll be the wrong side of £10,000 easily

Especially if it was left outside for years

 

[WF5GGT]

now I’m already scared.

I’m under no illusion that it’ll cost money. 10k+ isn’t an option to pull out all at once. May consider a loan if it were to get the showroom treatment, but who could I trust to do that?
Maybe I should be asking: if I commit, what do I need to get right at the start, so it won’t come back to bite me on the arse?

 

[clarky_gtt]

but who could I trust to do that?

no one unfortunately, unless you use a high end restorer who charge £80+ per hour

just to paint my car (even though i work in a body shop, but had not time), no bodywork or repairs, was £7,100. But look at my thread to see the results. And that was left gun finish, not stripped or refitted!

if it is too steep, cough up or buy another restored car while you can this side of £30,000

savage, i know, but the reality

 

[Big Steve - Raider]

Depending on where you are in the North East, @Brigsy has been in the scene for years, and can possibly pop round and give you an honest appraisal. He's in Redcar. What he doesn't know about the 5 and C1J engine isn't worth worrying about.

For sure after being outside in all weathers under a cover it's fair to say Rust is going to be a bit of a challenge, but everything is fixable, depending on your budget, patience, and commitment to getting it done!!

Word of warning though... bits & pieces for these cars are becoming harder and harder to source, so if the car is nearly complete to begin with, you're over the worst!

Was there a reason you left it standing in the first place... did the Engine let go or something??

• What are my first steps to getting this car back on the road? It will need recovering. It’s been stood in a friends garden for the last 12 years. Fundamentally, what needs to be done. What are the important things to get right?
• Is there a one-stop shop that exists, where an enthusiastic garage would take on a project like this and hold my hand through the process? Most garages these days have a high turnover of jobs. Do garages exist that would have a car project like this in their shop for months?
• Should I just look to get it road worthy (if possible), then use it as an hobby when I get time to fulfill all the finer parts of the car, or do I throw some money at it now and get it as best I can within my financial means. The CarSoS treatment will have to wait until I win the lottery.
• Could the car be too far gone? Should an option be to bite the bullet and break it down for parts to sell? This situation would be heartbreaking after holding on to it for all these years, and having heard the amount of abuse and ‘I told you so’s’ from friends and acquaintances.
• Do I have other options?

To answer your questions:

1. First you need to have somewhere to rebuild it yourself, or find someone to do the work for you. Before that though, you need to decide what you want for the car..? Do you want the car to be patched up and get an MOT and then be able to be used... or do you want to go into a @Chris74# or @clarky_gtt mega OE rebuild..? First important thing to get right, it decide what YOU want to do with it.
2. There's two places that could help
   1. CGB Motorsport in Telford - Bob has been in the scene for years, but more recently has got out of 5GTT's because the market is drying up. However he's still got all the skill to pay the bills
   2. Mike at GT Turbo Spares in Portsmouth (Kind of area, exact location is a closely guarded secret) - He's got loads of old 5's that he is stripping and working on. If you watched the Meguiard Tom vs Dale series on YouTube, where Tom rebuilt a 5 GT Turbo Dimma, he got the car from Mike's yard.
3. Back to point 1. Decide what you want to use it for.
4. Anything is fixable, all depends on budget and if you think it's worth it? 5's are no-doubt going up in value but those ones demanding the money are super clean. Putting £10K into your car to bring it back to life would not be a loss of money at the moment, from what you have said about its history when you got it??
5. Stand on one leg and bark like a dog!

 

[DaveL485]

As has been said above you need the car assessed by someone who knows their shizzle.

North East would be Brigsy or Mart, failing that I would pay a TurboRenault friendly professional car restorer like @Mark_L to visit the car with you for an honest assessment. It's worth offering these guys some cash to help you out because they know the cars inside out, where to look for your biggest threat - Rust. If the shell has somehow miraculously escaped the dreaded tin worm under that cover your resto bill just went down by literally thousands of pounds and many many months.
Under cover most of the plastics should be OK, you'll probably get away with minor rebuilds on the engine and box, you'll likely have to overhaul the braking system but parts are still available for that. Fuel lines, carb rebuild, blah blah...if its a complete car then it's a good start.

If its badly rotten, reading your messages above, I dont think you are the type to get in to, and complete, a shell restoration. Too long, too expensive, it's a killer that rattles even the hardcore enthusiasts (believe me I know!). Sell it as it is, they're still fetching decent money if its got some decent OE parts on it. I bet it would sell for not far off what you paid for it 20 years ago, if not more.

 

[Mark_L]

Without any pictures it’s so hard to say but a full resto on any car your looking at £30k minimum and that’s if the shell is reasonable. Unfortunately the hours go into it are unreal, I reckon around 300 hours pulling it apart, refurbing everything and putting it back together properly. That’s without metal work and paint.

 

[Chris74#]

Hey Will, I feel your pain!
I took my 5 to a classic car resto garage, I didn’t think mine was all that bad, I was driving it at weekends and loving it. The resto garage charged me £250 to carry out an inspection and produce a report. The report outlined some obvious issues and the bill for getting the car restored was quoted at £17k all in. This was 3 years ago. Since then as you can see on my posts, I have been mithering the good people on Turborenault with my updates. It took me 12 months just to cut all the rust out and weld new metal in!
Roughly where is the car? I’m no expert, but know where to look for the rust! If your not too far away I’m happy to come and have a look for you! Have a look at my post, I’m pretty sure I had rust in all the usual places! and some!

 

[WF5GGT]

First of all, thank you all for your replies. Yeah, I’m losing confidence in the project reading them. But I was sort of expecting it. My naivety has had a reality check early on and it’s only been a day
With family commitments I don’t have the time or the space to labour with it. I thought that time may come when we got a house with a garage, but who knows when that’ll be. I have a toddler and people keep telling me not to miss out on the formative years….’you’ll never get that time back’.

The car didn’t stop running as such. It may have needed a head gasket, and I couldn’t afford the bill at the time. I can’t think, maybe it was an accumulation of things.

I’ll try and get over to the car in the next week or so and post some pictures. That will probably open up a load more replies from you all. In the mean time, I’ll just digest what you have all said.

 

[Chris74#]

Don’t give up on it Will!! Get some photos posted and take it from there!

 

[Mark_L]

If you were able to the work yourself then it’s not going to cost anywhere near that. The problem is it’s sat so long that everything will need refurbing/replacing.

Definitely get some pics up and I’m sure we’ll all give an idea.

It’s definitely worth saving if it’s a low mileage low owner car as long there’s enough metal left.

 

[DaveL485]

I have a toddler and people keep telling me not to miss out on the formative years….’you’ll never get that time back’.

Doesn't mean you can't take time for yourself also.

Get the pics, all angles, underneath if possible, engine bay, inside.

 

[Duncan Grier]

To add to what others have said get a clear head, get as many pics of key areas and post, its not all doom and having a complete car is massive.

Family life is great but kids are also hard work no problem having a little you time..........easier said than done at times lol

Plenty of knoweldge and support on here to help

 

[WF5GGT]

Evening everyone,

So, I managed to take these photos with the limited time I had on Sunday. Probably missed some important areas
Let me know your thoughts. I’ve been doing some thinking after reading some of your replies. To be honest, it was never a possibility to throw ‘mega’ money at the project, I think I was being far too optimistic before I join the forum. I knew it was going to need more than what I can afford right now. I’m willing to spend money on it so I’m guessing I need advising on what to get right first (being conscious of it not being half baked), possibly making it road worthy(?), then maybe, when the day comes, giving it what it deserves. I’m sure to get different views on this……
30K+ though! Can’t see me having that kind of money unless we downsize the house and I can’t see that happening as we don’t have the room now.

Anyway, have a good weekend and thanks in advance for your time

Will

 

[Duncan Grier]

Ok, so my 1st question would be have you now got access to storage for the car and or storage for removed items?

Expect based on some of the pics your in for a new set of sills, jacking points and prob bumper moumts etc. Nothing too silly money wise and a few good options (oem hard to get and mega expensive unless lucky)

New bumper a given but def keep the under bonnet material as they are expensive and hard to get

Are you in a postion to consider stripping the car ready for welding? This would help save some £

 

[Duncan Grier]

Bonnet not bumper

 

[Turbell]

If you can get it in a garage at home, spend some time shopping around for bits for the right price, gather bits and bobs, keep car in one big lump , play around with it and enjoy it as a hobby as, and
when you can , then crack on .
Other than that I'd pressure wash it off, clean interior and get it moved on to the highest bidder, close the book and move on.
Young families take up loads of time, each of us deals with it in varying degrees of commitment, I haven't been the best in the past, I can picture myself half heartedly pushing a swing with a tab on, looking bored ......I'm embarrassed what a miserable git I was at times, sat cross armed at a smelly ball pool somewhere......at the boy with the big ears birthday party..
Enthusiasm will push you far, far beyond what you thought possible, but what when it ebbs?
Stuck with a pile of bits, family nagging, in a friend's garage you don't seem to get time to go to?
If you can tuck it away, dry and safe, no incumbent to anyone, keep it, just in case , won't lose money, if it stands any longer on wet grass sweating under a cover it will be feck, fecked.
It looks a decent, standard, unmolested car, it'd make a good project for someone capable or able to spend or both.
Best of luck , whatever you do, but if you love it....you do what's best for it.