So here's a project I will be workin on next weekend, the 27th, 28th of June.
My girlfriend had a problem with her nice little Ford Fiesta that she bought in Kelly's of Kilcock. The wheel seized up and she hit a kerb. It sounds like there was a problem with the car before she hit, either way the wishbone in the front left wheel was snapped. There may also be damage to the drive shaft as well, we've yet to find out exactly what the story is.
Anyways, the car was sent back to Kelly's and they gave a quote of 1800 euro to repair the damage. The car cost 2000 euro so you can imagine how annoyed she was with this quote. With a bit of haggling, they got it down to 1400 euro, which is still way too much money for what's involved.
So I figured I'd ask my Dad who knows quite a bit about cars to go inspect the damage and try get a feel if we can do the job ourselves. One quick trip to Kelly's and we figure we can do it. Another short trip to Higgin's Scrap yard (Kilcock car recycling centre) and we found out we can get the part off another car for about 30 euro. To tow the car to my grandad's around the corner could cost another little bit. So all in all the main goal is to get it all under 100 euro which is totally achievable. It's not a huge job unless we find out the drive shaft is damaged. There's also a possibility the gearbox is damaged as well. We hope it isn't as this is a much bigger job to do.
Higgin's scrap yard was amazing, it was like a children's playground for people who like to fix cars and build things. Will post a pic later to this blog to show how cool it looked.
-Mike
