Prices to expect / What to look for?

[rg-tom]

Hey guys,

Will hopefully be in a position to buy a car in the next few weeks, and after seeing agw_01's car on OcUK i've pretty much decided on a 214SEi.

What i want to know is what kind of things will i have to look out for when buying one? Any easy to spot problems? agw_01 has kindly offered to come with me to any I go to look at so that makes that a bit easier, he seems to know his 214SEis

What kind of price would I be looking to pay for a decent condition, nearly stock one do you think?

I have a few mods planned already, the main being a mk3 dash and perhaps a BMW MINI steering wheel (as seen on the dashboard conversion tutorial site), along with an ICE install (pioneer deh-p80mp, boston acoustics components, alpine amp and 12" JL sub that a friend is offering me cheap). Anyone have any reccomendations on the best way to get that installed regarding routing power, and mounting the components in the door etc.

Cheers fellas,

Tom.

[mach1rob]

You can pick up an SEi now for £100, although it'll probably be suffering from head gasket failure, £450-£500 seems the going rate on ebay, expect to pay a bit more for a private sale through autotrader/paper, and a whole lot more for one of a dealer! You should be able to find a good one with history for around £750
Check for signs of HGF, mayo in oil cap, oil in header tank, also have a look at the rear radius arm bushes, they don't last that long. Apart from that normal checks as you would on any car. If Andy's going with you, you should be ok

And it's not a b*w mini! Steve used one off a late classic Mini

[rg-tom]

You can pick up an SEi now for £100, although it'll probably be suffering from head gasket failure, £450-£500 seems the going rate on ebay, expect to pay a bit more for a private sale through autotrader/paper, and a whole lot more for one of a dealer! You should be able to find a good one with history for around £750
Check for signs of HGF, mayo in oil cap, oil in header tank, also have a look at the rear radius arm bushes, they don't last that long. Apart from that normal checks as you would on any car. If Andy's going with you, you should be ok

And it's not a b*w mini! Steve used one off a late classic Mini

Ah sorry my bad, i thought it was but when i mentioned it to a friend who is a mini nut he said "THAT's no mini steering wheel, it's a dirty bmw!"

There were a few decent looking sub £600 ones on autotrader last week, but a quick look today and they've all gone to >£1k

cheers for the advice

Tom.

[agw_01]

If Andy's going with you, you should be ok

Cheeky goit!

Hey Tom, glad you made it! They're a nice bunch of guys here, just watch yourself with a couple of them.

As you know, I picked mine up for £530 on eBay. It didn't take me long to find it either. I crashed my car in April, went looking on eBay the next day, found one that I liked and then waited until the last 15 seconds of the auction before putting my bid in Mine WAS in amazing condition when I bought it. Looking a bit worse for wear now though

Main things that go are the headgaskets, although this is blown WAY out of proportion. If you did get one with HGF, there's nothing to stop us replacing the HG. It's not a hard job.

You could probably pick up an SEi with grey bumpers for £300 or so, and as I'm replacing my bumpers in the near future you might as well take mine off me.

I'll catch you on MSN soon though (got no net at the new house yet - I'm at work at the mo )

[rg-tom]

There looks to be a good one on the bay atm for £300 with 3 hours left, grey bumpers in nightfire, but im not in a position to buy now and it's in durham :X


If / when i get one, how do you fancy aiding me do a mark 3 dash conversion andy? :p Maybe get 2 and drop one in yours too.

Tom.

[agw_01]

Yeah, that would be awesome mate. I'd love to help

Mine might depend on cash flow though... got quite a bit planned for mine in the coming months.

edit... Holy shiz!!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Rover-214-SEi-2-d ... dZViewItem

That's one rare SEi! Coloured coded 3 door. Think I've only seen 2 others.

[rg-tom]

that 3 door looks sweet as, but it's 170 miles from me and will probably go for a crazy price considering it is so rare.

The dash conversion doesn't cost that much does it? go to a scrappy and find a decent condition 200 dash, or ive read about £45 gets one?

Tom.

[GARY220]

Why is that rare? Its probabaly just been colour coded

[agw_01]

Why is that rare? Its probabaly just been colour coded

There are actually manufacturer spec colour coded 3 door SEi's. You hardly see them though.

[GARY220]

[southside]

Also check for whining gearbox's on higher milage ones. Mine went at 100k on my sei. Also check for oil begining to leak from the head (next to the cambelt cover) as this is a sign headgasket mite be on its way out. Also water pumps are quite common for leaking. check water level aswell. If it low could also be due to headgasket

[agw_01]

Good advice there from southside

Things I forgot about.

Gearboxes do tend to get a little noisier as they get older.

My first car had 78k on it when I crashed it and that box was fine. The current car's old box had done 76k and that was getting a little noisy. Had to have that changed though when I bust the gear linkages

Both of my cars have wept a bit of oil from the cambelt side of the head, although it's not really anything to worry about. It's just a wet patch, I've never lost any oil due to the head... just my bloody sump gasket, argh!

Water pumps... they do leak... but normally only after 75k. If the previous owner had the cambelt changed, they should have had the waterpump changed at the same time. My car was on original belts