I really don't like red cars, but I've got 2 - UPDATED 1/19
ProOnThaSnow
Wagonist
And I picked up my second one today:
Supposedly the timing belt went on it. When I got it to my shop and popped the hood to take a quick look it was obvious the mechanic never even took anything apart on the car. I think it may be something simple and he was trying to take the owner for a ride...
Unfortunately I have to go back to ND for work at 4 AM so I didn't want to tear into it tonight. Hopefully saturday I will have a better synopsis of what's going on with it.
Still, even if I do need to replace the head or engine, for $350 I cannot complain!
125K on it. Needs buffed too, but I'll get to it.
Supposedly the timing belt went on it. When I got it to my shop and popped the hood to take a quick look it was obvious the mechanic never even took anything apart on the car. I think it may be something simple and he was trying to take the owner for a ride...
Unfortunately I have to go back to ND for work at 4 AM so I didn't want to tear into it tonight. Hopefully saturday I will have a better synopsis of what's going on with it.
Still, even if I do need to replace the head or engine, for $350 I cannot complain!
125K on it. Needs buffed too, but I'll get to it.
Comments
^^^ no freaking doubt.
I hate red cars too, but I would have picked that up in a heartbeat...and it would have been my 4th red car.
There it sits inmy shop with my old one. Jake got the brown one running right with a lot of time and effort after I gave it to him. I was in the middle of doing my K swap in my EK at the time so I didn't have time for it and I knew how much he loved it. It took him nearly as long as doing my K swap to get all the bugs worked out of it.
Anyways, thinking about picking up a set of Group N's for it, or possibly putting my SSR's on it since I am going to be buying some skinnies and drag wheels for the EK for next season. Also considering putting the Function Form coilovers on it, as I'll be putting drag coils on the EK as well.
Now I just need to get home from this job so I can track down what exactly is wrong with it. Of course, I drive 6 hours to get to this location and am told I am going to be waiting at least 10 hrs. Damnit.
As far as the deals, this is neither the first, nor second I've come across for this price or cheaper, however it has been the straightest. I couldve picked one up a few weeks back that was pretty beat up, but ran. I wanted a decent body at least. I will still be keeping my eyes open as they always come up - the thing is I am always all over the state and surrounding states for work so if I do find a deal I can just bring the car trailer with me to work and load it up on the way home. Unfortunately I dont go West much and that's where the deals usually are. When going to pick this one up, I saw another just like it that looked like it had been sitting a while. Next time I'm over there I'll be knocking on the door to see if they want to sell it as well
I'm going to pull the head and see if there are any damaged valves. If there are we've still got the A6 out of the brown RT so I can either pull the head off that one and install it, or refresh one of them to put on. Assuming there's damage to the bottom end, I'll get one of them freshened up as well.
It's actually pretty ridiculous how clean the underside of this car is. No oil leaks, trans fluid was fresh. Rear end fluid was a little dark, but I was going to replace all fluids anyways.
I think I have got the wheels sold from it too for $150. I am keeping the tires to put on steelies and I'll rock hubcaps for this winter since I've got 2 or 3 sets floating around. I may put the Type X's on it, but really value those wheels so for a DD I don't know. I was also thinking about putting some M8 Knockoffs on it, or possibly find something in like a 15x8 +15 offset and go that route. I don't wanna do the super stretched and slammed look, because I want it drivable, but I'll do something to make it look good.
I can't wait to get it running so I can buff the paint and clean it up. I'm pretty eager to get this thing cruising down the road!
The teeth are all missing right there. Wierd thing is, they were all around the pulley on the crank, so I am almost wondering if this didn't happen when the previous owner tried to start the car?!
Anyways, here's what the head looks like:
I can't see any definitive signs of impact on the valves. There appears to be some carbon on them, that looks like it came off the pistons:
But I don't see anything that indicates a full blown valve to piston collision on any of the pistons or valves.
I am planning on taking the intake manifold off, and rotating the valve train to close each set of valves, then pouring some diesel fuel in the intake and exhaust runners to see if it leaks through - diesel, because it will help clean up any carbon.
If none of them leak, looks like a new timing belt, tensioner, gaskets, and clutch will be going on it and I'll put it back in the car and run it as is. If any valves do end up being bent and leaking the fuel through I will just bring the head to my machinist and have it rebuilt.
I have yet to pull the oil pan and take a look at things in there, but I'll do that later this evening as well.
Gotta get this beast goin, its supposed to possibly snow as soon as tomorrow!
Oh and I've come to a conclusion on what my perosnalized plate is going to say. Being that I have a kid on the way and this is going to be my baby hauler for around town when my girl has our Grand Cherokee at work I think "FMLY MAN" is fitting - going to be kind of funny too, because I do plan on lowering the car with some 15x8 +0 or +10 offset wheels eventually.
But, alas, one step at a time. Priority right now is to get it running then concentrate on building the exhaust mani, intercooler, and intake manifold for my EK.
Depending on what he wants to do a valve job, I may or may not have it done. We've got another known good A6 head floating around so I may just put it on with a new headgasket, tb, wp, and tensioner and call it good.
Gotta get it running and get the work done on my EK so I can order the wheels and suspension for this thing!
Donor Head (still on that D16)
I may even get the two together tomorrow, but then I still need to order a clutch if I can't find one in town.
Everyone loves build pics. Keep em comin!
I've got the head all cleaned up and ready to go on the block too, just didn't get any pictures of it. Its always hard for me to remember to get pictures - I dont know why, lol. I also rolled the car out of the shop and Purple Powered the hell out of the engine bay then sprayed it all down with water. Came out amazingly clean for not a bit of scrubbing. I'll put in the elbow grease before I put the engine back in.
Also got the tranny skidplate, oil pan, and dust shield sitting in the parts washer overnight. It was almost as if the dirt and rocks on them is on there like concrete or asphalt. Weird, but it comes off, slowly.
Got a passenger mirror coming for it too! Today I am going to pull the flywheel off the block and drop it off to be resurfaced at Clutchmasters here in town. I've got to call around to see if anyone in town has a clutch in stock, but carquest doesn't so that leaves O'rielly's and Napa. and well, Clutchmasters, lol. Hopefully one of them has it, because I don't want to wait (however I probably have to go to ND for work tonight, so I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world).
I've got an EF spoiler floating around the shop so I am going to try to retro fit it to the car in the coming days as well. I'll just paint it black for the time being, or I have another idea, but it will be a surprise for later.
Seeing as snow is still in the forecast I've decided to postpone putting the Function Forms on it until spring and I'll just rock the RT4WD wheels all winter at monster truck heights, mainly because they have practically new tires on them.
I live in Billings.
Right now I am actually just outside of Watford City on this location. Glad they told me they'd be ready at 8, they're nowhere near ready. That's time I couldve been putting this engine together and getting my clutch resurfaced! Oh well, tomorrow hopefully I can get something accomplished. I've still got to find a clutch anyway - today was a wash between driving here for work and the Dr's appt for the baby this morning. The clinic forgot we were sitting in the waiting room, for an hour and a half. Needless to say I wasnt very pleased, knowing I had to leave directly from there to get over here.
I'm constantly down in Dickinson (would be even more if 22 wasn't closed). Know of any good parts wagons around? I'll bring my trailer with and swoop them up!
I don't really know what specific stuff I'd be looking for... I guess I need the two knobs to fold down the back seats, and also a lock knob in dark gray if he's got them (my car came missing them all).
I typically dont get as far east as Fargo. Was there in April when my Grandfather was in the hospital there and passed away. I kind of liked it though. If it weren't for ND's cold ass winters and all my family being in MT, I'd probably move to Bismarck so I'd be closer to over here for work. Since I work on call I make the trip from Billings to various areas around here 2-3 times a week, at least (8,000 miles on my truck last month!). With a little one en route, I won't be moving away from my parents' or hers (in Miles City) anytime soon.
As soon as I am done out on this job (you can see by my posts the awesome hours I get to keep) I am going to go back home and try to get something done on the car. This weekend I plan on going to Broadus to a friend's ranch to see if I can slay a Muley. Good luck to you hunting man! Let me know how it goes! My two main hobbies are cars and guns, lol.
Yesterday we went to go test drive a truck - then my brother and I ended up being there all afternoon while he was working a deal on the 06 cummins he wanted.
Today we went back in this morning for him to sign papers on it, then I came home and noticed the sink in the bathroom was clogged - poured drain cleaner in it and waited the 5 minutes. Started running water to have it leak out of the cabinet the sink is in onto the floor, but not after the cleaner ate away the carper (don't ask, its a rental, the bathroom is carpeted). So all afternoon the landlord's repair guys have been here tearing out the plumbing and getting that fixed, I still don't know what theyre going to do about the carpet (I kind of feel like its my fault, but not really?!?!?). So they should be finishing that up shortly, then I am FINALLY going to go to my shop to simply move the car out of the way of the lift so the other guys who rent it with me can use it this weekend if need be since I either have to go to work tomorrow morning, or if not head across the state to go Hunting for the next few days at the ranch.
Clutch is on the way though. Exedy OEM replacement. Should be good enough for kid toting!
Updates on the car. I apologize for the crappy blackberry pics.
Engine going together:
Engine bay cleaned up - You can see Red now!
Since I am in there, may as well replace it:
Pass Side Mirror (courtesy of cbaracing - Excellent seller!!! Would buy from again!)
Anyways, on to THE pic, lol. Took it as we were running out of the shop because we lost track of time.
Got it all back together finally this evening. Got sidetracked this morning. My Dad brought my Mom's Honda Pilot up to the shop and it had a bad wheel bearing. Of course the only thing I dont have [yet] at the shop is a press it seems like, so we had to wait 2.5 hrs for it to get pressed in and out of hub. Finally got that done so the "Grandson Hauler" as we've dubbed it now can safely cruise down the road.
Of course the inside CV joint of the driver side axle came apart in the boot and no one in town has a repair boot. I couldn't make it across town before the warehouse closed, so tomorrow morning I am throwing an axle in and she'll see her maiden voyage.
thums up
in for moar...
I let it warm up at idle last night, revved it up a couple times and she didn't explode. lol. I'm probably a little too excited to drive it today, but having to wait until 9 is about enough to make me go insane. I'm pretty pumped to get this thing on the road and excited to get it all buffed out and cleaned up. When I do that I'll use a much better camera to get the pictures, lol.
Got the axle (after they tried bringing me a long one for any other model EF hatch the first time around), and got it installed!
Went to take it for a drive around the block and discovered the driver's window didn't want to roll up very well. So I took the door panel off (first time it had ever been done!) and lubed the track, and gear mechanism that runs the window. Now its smooth as butter!
Went to my buddys to pick up the XJ my dad bought from him and it ran flawlessly there. Then brought him out to his parents' house to put some miles on it and also so he could grab the title for the XJ and then ran it out to my parents' place. All in all I've got 75 Miles on it so far with no notable engine/drivetrain problems. The exhaust shield rattles a bit under the car, but I'll put it on the lift tomorrow and tweak it so it doesn't.
Forecast tomorrow and Tuesday is snow so I am hoping to put the 4wd to work!
Its been so long since I've driven a non-vtec single cam in a car, or a vehicle left stock in general that I forgot how slow they are! lol.
My Powerstroke is chipped, I/E and has torque, My EK has the K24 in it so it just felt wierd driving a slow vehicle. I still love it though! Went to fill it up from about 1/8 of a tank and only $29! I even put midgrade in it
Tomorrow, weather depending, I may get the compound out and start buffing it. If not, I'm going to at least get to cleaning the interior up some.
Being a goon to my girlfriend right before the maiden voyage (please note, I need a haircut severely. I've been putting it off to get this damn car running, but looking at this picture and my sideburns look like fkn squirrels on the side of my face!:
I just drove it for the first time in the snow going to get breakfast for my girl (she's pregnant). Yep. This thing is AWESOME!!!!
Here's a little story of my experience purchasing this car. Its a little long so I'll forgive people who don't want to read it. Cliffs at the bottom
I can't believe I forgot to post the story of what happened when I picked this thing up. My girlfriend and I were just talking about it, so I figured I'd post it here.
So I called on this car on craigslist 2 days prior to going and pick it up. I was stuck up in ND on a job, waiting for what seemed like an eternity to start working. As per my usual, I bring my personal laptop to see if I can steal a wifi connection while on location. A lot of well sites while the rig is on them have a Com-Sat and all it takes is an MWD hand with a porno fetish to hook up a wireless router. Conveniently enough, they never secure the connection (rarely have I seen anyone do it).
So I was bored, sitting in my truck and decided to do my usual bored routine of perousing Honda-Tech, K20a, the local forum and Craigslist. Since I am in Montana, Craigslist doesn't move so fast that I can't keep up and I usually know of every deal thats been posted throughout a day around the state. Anyways, I stumbled across this gem for $350 and was like a little kid on christmas. I immediately called the guy and made a deal with him, asking (since I couldn't go immediately to pick it up) that if he hold the car for me, I'd pay his asking price and not even try to haggle, but he had to take the ad down and I'd be there within 3 days to pick the car up. He agreed (SCORE!).
Anyways, the job went like complete hell - was up for like 38 hours by the time it was done (typical, bleh). I Hauled ass home as quick as I could and slept the rest of that day away, all the while keeping in contact with the seller to inform him of my progress. The car was 2 hours away in Bozeman so I didn't want to make the adventure over on minimal sleep, especially while towing my enclosed trailer (its my second favorite toy next to my EK).
So the next morning comes and I go load up my trailer first thing. I store it at my parents' house out of town, so of course the half hour out there and back was enough to kill me damn near. I come back into town, grab my tie down straps and hit the road running to Bozeman. 75+mph behind my Powerstroke, excited as can be to go pick the car up.
The owner told me it was at a shop, downtown. I didn't realize that a 21+ foot long truck and 24' (+tongue) enclosed car hauler was pretty wide for old downtown streets. After I finally find an ATM and get the cash out, its off to find the shop. Great, just great, its on a corner in the HEART of downtown at a busy intersection. How the hell am I going to do this? I circle the block once to get an eye of how I am going to approach where to park my monstrosity to load the car up. Bingo - pull into the alley that dead ends at a parking block for a tire shop, but I'd have to pull over the parking block with my truck. It was a tight fit so I went 3 blocks down so I could swing wide enough to weasel the trailer into the alley at a less busy cross road.
Get there, call the owner. He says "I'm not going to be able to make it down". My heart dropped like a sack of bricks. I ask him what time is going to work and he says "Well, run the money down here and then go back and load the car up. Its only like a 15 block walk, takes about 10 minutes". Easier said than done with my trailer and I'm illegally parked just waiting for the tire shop to call a tow truck. So I say F-It and go into the shop to find the mechanic. He's more than helpful and gets a 4 wheeler out to push the car back and then up into my trailer. I didn't even break a sweat. Awesome!
We get the car loaded and strapped down. Rather wierd that he, a guy in his 50's asked what I raced and I told him about my EK and he replies "Those K series engines are amazing, I'd love to put one in a civic for a track or autocross car". Anyway, I call the owner and tell him we just loaded the car up, because of my parking situation and he gives me directions down to his shop. Telling me its down the main street, across from the old hotel (I can't remember the name) on the side road. So I proceed to block traffic while backing out into the intersection with the mechanic guiding me. He looks at me with an akward smile when I get out and says "Have fun down there". I chalk it up as this guy is a wierdo or something, but it did strike me odd he would say that.
So I go down there and circle the block once to try to get an idea of where this store is that he apparently owns. Don't see it, but this has to be the right spot... with nowhere to park my truck, I choose to block the alley and pull through it. Throw the hazards on and jump out of the truck and start walking up the block and it dawns on me that theres a sex shop to my left. You know, a "Dildo Distributor". I think to myself "this can't be it"and keep walking up to the corner hoping to christ there's another door. Fuck. No.
Goddamnit, now I'm walking back down the street and into a sex shop, in the heart of downtown, broad daylight. Shit. Whatever, fuckit.
I walk in and notice this guy behind the counter. He's a goofy looking bastard "This must be him" goes through my head and I ask if he is indeed "Bill". I tell him I bought the car from him and he says "Oh yeah, I've got the title right here". Its a pretty standard transaction as far as car sales go, save for the fact I'm surrounded by fucking blowup dolls, Dildos the size of my arm and nudey paintings EVERYWHERE. Oh, there was a blowup sheep too - and we wonder why Montana gets this stereotype.
So I am about to walk out of the store thinking thank Christ that is over and done with when I hear "Hey, do you have a girlfriend?!" from the Sex-fiend behind the counter. "Ummmm, yeah. She's like 6 mos. pregnant" I reply. He says as excited as a little kid on his birthday "Here, maybe she'd like one of these and walks over to the shelf. He proceeds to grab a vibrator and sets it on the counter. I'm thinking to myself "You have got to be fucking shitting me right now, only to me does this kind of shit happen". So in an akward gesture of kindness I pick it up and kind of say "Thanks" while still completely in shock this is happening. I wait akwardly for him to put it in a bag and he looks at me and says "Oh! You're gonna want these too" And like some dildo dealing crackhead hands me batteries like we just passed an 8ball in front of a fucking sheriff's station. Brilliant. So at this point I realize I'm walking out with this thing with no bag. Fuck - Thank god, it fits in my coat pocket (normally I don't wear a coat so this was maybe the only good to come from the situation). I walk out of the store feeling like someone just molested my brain and hop in my truck and head down the road, in complete amazement at what just happened to me.
I call my girl to tell her what happened and she's laughing hysterically. Mid laugh it dawns on her and she says "It isn't used, is it?!". Of course not - It was new in the plastic or I wouldn't have touched it.
You may not find this situation as hilarious as I did, but some days it just feels like someone is fucking with me.
So now, when people ask what I paid for the car I say "Got it free with a Dildo". That gets some intriguing looks and/or questions.
Cliffs:
Stuck at work
Call seller of car
If asking price, pick up within 3 days
SOLD!
Get home
Drive to Bozeman to get car
Load car up after hassle
Head to seller's store
Owns a dildo shop
make transaction on car
get a free vibrator with purchase
FML.
Completely worth reading through
how did she like it?