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Topic: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V (Read 2200 times) previous topic - next topic

1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

I'm sure a lot of you reading this can relate to... "ill just have a cheeky little bid on this, I'm sure I wont win it"
 
Enter the Ibiza....
One owner, 55k from new.


So basically, 91 year old guy had to give up driving due to ill health. He went to the local classic car dealer and said "I have this 25 year old Ibiza, that's a classic right, can you sell it for me?" I think the dealer took pitty on him and popped it on ebay.

So back to the car, it seems very honest and has done just 200-300 miles per year for the last decade. It has been looked after in the sense that he's had it serviced every year. But other than that its just been sat.  Won it and collected the next day. Went equipped to break down but ran quite nicely the 100 or so miles back home.

First things first. Clean the damn thing....






Spent more time than I'd like to admit on it....


But it came out great...




Now nice and clean, I turned my hand to sorting its other problems. As soon as I got it home I ordered 4 new tyres they were dry rotted to hell and were down right dangerous. I'm pretty sure 2 out of 4 could have got served in a pub when I checked the dates on them. It then went straight in for its MOT, and thankfully it flew through no issues. I also bought 2 new door handles, for some reason instead of fixing the locks, t'old lad just decided to use a flat head screwdriver instead of a key to lock and unlock it.

Engine bay wise so far I replaced the thermostat housing due to it leaking and also the timing belt. Fun story... It was the original fitted way back in 1997. This had been flagged up to the guy in 2015 when he last took it to a Seat garage for a service. They said it had perished and cracked but he didn't care.




Never done a timing belt before so it was a little daunting but plenty of research and logical thinking made the job simple enough.

Its also had full new ignition system, coilpack, leads, plugs, dizzy cap and rotor arm. Still on the agenda is brake fluid, disks and pads and front top mounts.
 
As you might have notice both rear arches are crusty. I'm planning to sort this out this winter and hopefully give me some practice for the bits on the golf that need attention.

Long term plans? Haven't a clue. It costs next to nothing to insure and tax so it might stay around for quite a while.

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #1 –
Well saved!
The crack about the tyres being old enough to be served got me chuckling too!
Mk2 Driver
Mk2 Silver 8v
Corrado G60 Turbo
Mk2 Red 8v
Mk2 Grey 16v
Mk2 BBM ABF
Bora 20vt
Mk2 Green VR6
Mk2 Green ABF
Mk2 BBM 20vt
3.2 TT Roadster
Mk2 Red 16v
225 TT Coup
3.2 TT Coup
Mk4 Anniversary
Mk7 Red GTI Performance
Mk2 Red GTI Restoration
Mk2 BBM R32
911 Carrera 4S
 

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #2 –
Love it.

I was on holiday in Tenerife when i first saw these. They were everywhere and I hadn’t ever seen one in the UK. I’ve had a soft sport for them ever since.

You know that feeling the first time you see a car and when it really makes an impact. I really miss that feeling, it’s  "uncommon"  to get it these days when all cars look the same, regardless of brand, designed by the same software so the output is always the same.

I was close to getting the opportunity to an internship at SEAT in the design department. My collage tutor had a connection there through his girlfriend… but unfortunately they had a messy separation before the details were approved. Gutted, my life might had been quite different.

Anyway, enough about me. Good luck and great punt!!!

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #3 –
Nice buy.
Are the rear arches 'well rotten' or can you get away with a rust convertor?
Also has the previous owner added a bit more of a concave dish to the driver's door or is it the angle of the pic?
Does this model have aircon?

1991 Tornado Red BB 8v GTI Moredoor
2008 Skoda Octy Scout aka dirty diesel

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Eddypeck on
Love it.

I was on holiday in Tenerife when i first saw these. They were everywhere and I hadn’t ever seen one in the UK. I’ve had a soft sport for them ever since.

You know that feeling the first time you see a car and when it really makes an impact. I really miss that feeling, it’s pretty common actually to get it these days when all cars look the same, regardless of brand, designed by the same software so the output is always the same.

I was close to getting the opportunity to an internship at SEAT in the design department. My collage tutor had a connection there through his girlfriend… but unfortunately they had a messy separation before the details were approved. Gutted, my life might had been quite different.

Anyway, enough about me. Good luck and great punt!!!

Thanks pal! I do have a soft spot for Seats, this is now my 3rd one and my daily is a MK3 Leon. A bit like you in Tenerife, I remember when I was a kid going on holiday to Spain. Seeing all kinds of stuff we didn't get over here. I think I was most captivated by the MK1 Toledo. God knows why, but I'd love one now. Unfortunately they only ever come up for sale here in the UK once in a blue moon.

Funnily enough I'm one of those sad people who goes on holiday and takes pictures of all the automotive tat that you just don't see here anymore. Last year I was in Portugal and took a pic of a white MK2 Ibiza. I think it must have been a sign haha

I'm also loving how familiar everything is when I work on it! It's almost exactly the same as a MK2 underneath.

Quote from: AndyBa on
Nice buy.
Are the rear arches 'well rotten' or can you get away with a rust convertor?
Also has the previous owner added a bit more of a concave dish to the driver's door or is it the angle of the pic?
Does this model have aircon?

I think in places I'll be able to just hit it with a bit of that but although the bigger patches aren't flaky, I have a feeling if i go over them with the wire wheel the metal is going to be so thin it'll just go through. I've found a place that does replacement arches so I guess I'll just have them on standby.

Yes there's a rather big scrape across the drivers wing and door.




The black line is whatever he has hit, and I think with some more work it will completely polish out. Unfortunately the door has creased, the paint has cracked and it's started rusting over. The wing is a little better I tried pushing it out from behind but didn't get very far.

And no it doesn't have aircon unfortunately! I also get next to no heat, or change in the air settings. It appears these Ibizas also suffer from the degrading foam in the heater boxes as it's now all over the footwells. I think it's a dash out job to sort on the Ibiza so leaving it till I get super fed up of being cold.  :))
 

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #5 –
I should probably be working on the Golf but here I am doing stuff on the Ibiza. As you can see it was very much ready for new disks and pads. Did a full flush of brake fluid too.



I'll admit that I wasn't particularly careful with removing the old pads, but they were in a right state and fell apart as I took them out.

Cant beat fresh disks and pads.  :))


I've also been trying to get the remote locking working to no avail, there is simply no response from the car when you try and pair it and the fob. I've tried 2 different keys, 2 different receiver boxes and the fuse is fine. I've traced the wiring as far as I can without ripping the carpet up. I cant see an issue and I don't know what to check now.
 

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #7 –
Quote from: PWardy on

It looks like it is due for new pistons and or slider pins too.  Are the calipers a bit sticky?

I had the thoughts going through my head that the pistons would be stuck, but they went back no problems. The slider pins I just put a dab of extra grease on them and they seemed fine. I'll keep an eye on them though.

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #9 –
I'm interested to know how much you paid? I keep eying up more project cars - crazy really but always want to expand the fleet!

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #10 –
Quote from: PWardy on
It was the grooves on the discs and pads combined with the pads falling apart that made me thing something was sticking.  If the new pads and discs start to wear the same way I'd definitely look at the calipers.
My experience with similar VAG brakes, https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/brake-woes-front-disc-failure-at-low-miles-and-other-problems.44374/

I see what you mean. I'll keep a eye on it! I'm pretty sure the disks and pads I took off were the original ones.

Quote from: Michael_Mc on
I'm interested to know how much you paid? I keep eying up more project cars - crazy really but always want to expand the fleet!

£480 :D

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #11 –
wow - an absolute steal!

Where do people find these amazing bargains!?

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #12 –
Just seen another low mileage bargain Seat on Facebook Marketplace.
Seat Ibiza
1991 Tornado Red BB 8v GTI Moredoor
2008 Skoda Octy Scout aka dirty diesel

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #13 –
Left off with me struggling to get the central locking system working. I never did get it working on the original system. I ended up ordering a fob and receiver from ebay and making a adapter between the Chinese aftermarket box and the original central locking car wiring. Working perfect now  ;D


I'm getting a bit nerdy with this thing now. Taking it to the Festival of the Unexceptional in July. I decided I would wash all the wheel arches out to see how good condition they were in. As with most things I start I got a bit carried away and 3hrs later you could eat your dinner off them  ;)



Last boring thing I did was fix a massive coolant leak that suddenly appeared. Running the engine for more than a few minutes would mean it would dump a nice puddle on the floor. For those that are familiar with the small block engines from this era the coolant pipe that comes out of the water pump and goes across to the thermostat housing was the culprit. Looks like when I replaced the thermostat housing it upset the o-ring on this pipe. Unfortunately the only way to get this pipe out is to take the intake manifold off. Of course as usual that means a full strip, down and clean.




Oh nearly forgot! Replaced the speed sensor on the gearbox because the revs were sometimes increasing rolling into a junction and hanging on whilst stood still. Speedo seemed laggy so went for a drive with it unplugged and it behaved perfect. Ordered a new one, the old one came apart when I was trying to change it over, it was all corroded inside. Seems to have done the trick!


Currently its having a proper shake down on daily duties as my Leon has a smashed windscreen  8)  :'(

Re: 1997 Seat Ibiza SXE 1.4 8V

Reply #14 –
Some of you might have seen the Ibiza at the national meet. Unfortunately it's track debut was cut short by the distributor imploding. The bearing in the distributor went making the shaft that the rotor arm pushes onto wobble, smashing the rotor arm into the dizzy cap. It limped to the pits spluttering and backfiring and then in true comedy fashion completely cut out as I pulled up and wouldn't start again.

Unfortunately I couldn't get recovery for a reasonable price on the Sunday so the Golf had to drag it away. We stashed it and went back the next day to pick it up with a trailer. New distributor on and everything is running well again  :D