New car, Bought today, hopefully a good buy...

[Xist]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

#2 - Assuming that a Spanish-speaking guy would do a half-ass service just because of Spanish-speaking is not so accurate. Have you never seen any piece of "redneck-engineering"?

Good point!

[deejaaa]

Originally Posted by sarguy01

To assume a camo truck is owned by a red neck? Yes, you are probably right and you probably aren't going to offend anyone.

But, to say that all cars owned by Spanish speaking people can be assumed to be wired wrong and use the wrong parts? 30 years in the car market doesn't give you the right to bash an entire group of people because you've seen a few of those people make different choices than you when it comes to fixing their cars.

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

#1 - Not so unusual even for older folks to just work around one of those ricer-looking air filters.

#2 - Assuming that a Spanish-speaking guy would do a half-ass service just because of Spanish-speaking is not so accurate. Have you never seen any piece of "redneck-engineering"?

is all this REALLY necessary?
i like the looks of the car and think you got a good deal.
maybe post the wheels on Craigslist, include a spanglish message that no one understands, post a pic of them on the back of a pickup truck, on the tailgate, with empty beer cans all around, and you will sell them.

[ngarover]

Well an update.

The car got here and wow, it was a mess. Car came in on 4 flats, bad battery, suspension totally shot, (damage from larger rims) Some body damage in the drivers rear (bondo)

I still have not licensed the car as I have been working on it off and on to correct it. The car has not been maintained and those

The list of stuff I've done to the car so far...

replaced the inner and outer tie rods.
replaced passanger axel
replaced all wheel hubs
replaced the rims with original 13" bought 4 new tires.
removed the coil over crap and replaced all 4 struts and new springs.

Things to do
replaced heater core, It's currently bypassed.
remove the fart can on the muffler. The muffler is new, but to loud.
Fix a few of the small cosmetic issues.

I drove the car for the first time this weekend, bringing it home fro a friends shop. It actually drives well, but there seems to be an issue with Overdrive hunting at highway speeds. I may just find and swap in a manual if it's not something simple. The engine is strong, zero smoke. The speedo is correct now since the car is back on factory sized wheels.

Going to start with some of the more common mods, like the rear wheel skirts and front block. Of course is cold here... so work is very slow. But I'll keep chipping away at it.

[Ecky]

That's enough to scare me away from ever buying a car on eBay. Check for evidence of the cluster being swapped out. Does the interior look like the pictures?

At least it's an auto, so it probably hasn't been abused too badly.

[ngarover]

Originally Posted by Ecky

That's enough to scare me away from ever buying a car on eBay. Check for evidence of the cluster being swapped out. Does the interior look like the pictures?

At least it's an auto, so it probably hasn't been abused too badly.

Actually, the inside is almost like new. The cluster matches the carfax, the low miles make a lot more sense considering how it came to me, this car has not been drivable in some time. It looks like others bought it, and thought the cost fix was going to be too high and just let it sit and sit.. My guess at this point was the car was "modded" early in its life, and the modding caused the entire suspension to fail.

Oh well, at least it's coming together now and should be an ok car when I'm done with it.

[awcook]

Yeah, I assume people wouldn't like the half-@$$ed rice work, but it should've been safe to assume it ran, which is why other people bought it then sold it. The fart can muffler is the worst mod that has ever come into a car. I don't know why they aren't illegal, they sound bad and make the car sound like it will just fall apart in the middle of the road.

The car being an auto doesn't mean it wasn't abused. There are a lot of things you can do to hurt the transmission. Not to mention automatics can go fast, but you have to tune the heck out of it for that to happen.

I used to think about ricing my car out, actually. Adding the decals and big rims so I can pull out the extra 45 horsepower. But then I saw one of these cars on the road and thought it looked terrible.

[ngarover]

May have a 98 Vtec Civic EX to play with. Has 180K on it, thinking of swapping manual trans into mine, maybe a few other parts as well... will see, have to get it here first.

Parts are in for the heater core, I have the dash already out and weather is in the 50s this weekend, so I should have it back together tomorrow. At that point, the car is technically drivable. (still need to figure out why the Auto is hunting OD) Also, will need to register and get insurance on it.

[ngarover]

So, moving along.

Turns out the Head gasket was also bad.

So I replaced the heater core, Replaced the Head gasket, replaced the timing belt, rebuilt the head with all new gaskets, redid the valves etc.. and now it's running nice.

Getting insurance and registration on it in the morning. For the first time since it showed up.

On to fix some of the other issues then I can start modding it. I did end up buying a 98 civic EX for 200 bucks, has 140k on it, the Vtec engine and a 5 speed. Drove it home. Originally was going to just take the 5 speed but thinking about just transplanting the whole engine also. Anyways, with the original engine in the hatch going, I have all the time I want to pull the EX engine and rebuild it so when I do put it in it's nice.

[Ecky]

Keep us informed. I love transplants.

[cosmick]

Are you sure you wouldn't be money ahead to rent a room nearer your job for 4 nights every week?