Ecomodding my winter beater: a unicorn no-rust (*) 2000 Chevrolet Metro 1.0 5-spd

[MetroMPG]

A pro/con summary, and some final pics before putting the car away for a while:

The good:

- minimal rust, super clean
- really healthy engine for the age/kms
- new clutch 20k kms (12k mi.) ago
- good synchros
- 3 year old battery
- summer tires, 1 year old
- winter tires/rims, couple of years old, like new
- new control arms & inner/outer tie rods on one side, 1 year ago
- service history shows that it was well looked after ($5200 in receipts, and that's missing several years)

The bad:

- front end is still pretty loose/noisy (tie rod / steering rack?)
- shifter bushings worn out
- driver's seat is pretty tired (fabric fine, but cushions are flat)

In closing (for now), some...

Beauty pics!

[RedDevil]

The metro of that model year always struck me as being a hatchback where the hatching has taken off just a bit too much.

But I believe it has fallen in good hands to resolve that issue. You must already be working out mounting points for the boat tail

[freebeard]

Describe 'put away? I'd back it onto a 25x25ft piece of polyethrlyne and duct tape it into a big tube with the ends closed. With a shoebox full of desiccant.

I'll bet you could find a Porsche Recaro heated seat in matching colors.

[MetroMPG]

^ It's not THAT nice!

(Either that or I'm trying to future-justify my using it as a winter car.)

RedDevil: I agree. A lot of hatchbacks look nose-heavy. I'm used to it & don't really notice it.

[MetroMPG]

Uh oh...



The last drive I took in the Metro, I swung past the property where I had spotted this gaggle of dead Suzukiclones a few years back.

THEY'RE GONE!

I had always figured those were my future parts cars, just conveniently parked on someone else's land.

Oops! Miscalculation. And something tells me they haven't been fixed up and put back on the road.

That means the ones I have are the only ones left in my area that I know of, dead or alive.

[Wonderboy]

Better take notice of your local scrap yard or whomever buys scrap cars - sounds like they may have ended up there if they're ALL gone. Pillage and stow!

...

Great find, btw Lucky automotive finds seem to frequently befall you.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

Great find, btw Lucky automotive finds seem to frequently befall you.

Thats what happens when you're constantly looking haha.

[bikeprof]

Awesome find 👍

Putting it away, like in a container full of desiccant in the Arizona dessert ?

Hoping for you the value spikes to comparable of Toyota 2000GT 😳 !
(PS. I'm your friend, hahaha...)

[Katmandu]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Just sold the Prius, and look at the unicorn that popped up in my email alerts!

I've owned (2) Geo Metro w/1.0L 5 speeds over the years.

I was able to squeeze middle 50s MPGs out of them on a consistent basis. That was driving like an old lady and with little traffic.

My opinion of teeny-tiny Economods all changed the day I decided to drive one of my Metros through morning rush hour traffic (Dayton, Ohio).

I got caught in between 3 semis.... 1 in front, 1 behind me and one to me leftside of me as I traveled in the far right lane.

I was literally boxed in with virtually NO protection around me. NO power to floor it out of there to escape. NONE. Boxed in. TRAPPED.

That was the last day I ever risked driving an teeny-tiny econobox in heavy rush hour traffic.

Need to consider to the state of people's mental health status, distraction status etc... as well these days. I don't know how it is where you live, but driver's around here are much angrier, hostile, rude and just down right mean !

What is YOUR life worth ?

If I ever get another econobox, it will be used around town and NEVER out on the highways. EVER !

[blownb310]

Darin, my '97 Metro hasn't been driven much in the last three years because I got my Fit EV then, but it has always had a somewhat worn steering rack. The slight play is only noticeable on center. Everything in my front end is perfect. It's simply rack wear. My car only has 90-k mkiles on it. As far as clunks go, it could be the upper strut mounts or the struts themselves.