Well, back in May or June 08....
Now...
Shows the good and bad spots I guess.
Id really like to get the wheels cleaned up, as well as the lights. The tail lights are nasty. Ill deal with the rust. Its pretty much everywhere on the lower body.
Filling a 22gallon tank with premium can be fun. I got 28mpg on my first fillup since getting it back together. Miss the 45-50mpg fillups of my festy but at least its better than the 19mpg the government says Im supposed to get. Its also theeeee most comfortable car I have ever driven. I may be heading down to West Virginia in it Friday.
I also miss lugging around in the capri or festiva at like 1000 rpms around town in 5th. For some reason the 2.3 just hates being under 2000 rpms. Im not sure if its the weight of the car (probably 3400lb empty) or just the design of the engine, but anything under 2000 rpm and it starts lugging and theres no possible acceleration under 1600 or so. Basically I have to shift at close to 3000 rpms. It cruises at 55mph at around 2000-2200 rpms. The computer switches to open loop at around 3000 rpms, so I can go up to 80mph without losing too much mpg, after that it drops significantly.
It has a "ranger roller cam" swap, which is slightly milder than the stocker and has the benefit of being a roller setup instead of a slider. It may improve mpg slightly.