Black spyder...daily driver its not.

[marco_1978_spyder]

**I changed the header. Still the same old thread, just not as negative sounding**

The sad thing is, no matter how damn fed up I am,
its really no ones fault but my own crappy maintinence.

I'm totally dissapointed....I had a call I needed to catch at 4:30

So.....what does the car do?

gets finnicky.

in 90* heat.

all I wanted to do was kick every fender and leave big dents.

I never get like this, but today seemed like the last straw.

First I ran it out of gas....my own damn fault.


had to walk about 500yds to a gas station, halfway there a super nice motorist gave me a ride. (godbless them!)

after fill-up I had to slap the tank to get the fuel pump to work.

Then on the thruway, she konked again.

So I hooked up the accy fuel pump and tried to drive home.

made it most of the way, and fortunately when she konked AGIAN, there was plenty of room to pull over.


I sat there really boiling over (meaning I was pissed and pictuing the car getting flattened in a crusher....the accy fuel pump would clattered like it just wouldnt get any gas.

The pump wouldnt come on and I was stuck for a while.
Then it dawned on me that I was parked over big crushed stone.

I grabbed the biggest one I saw and bashed the tank.

HARD.

pump came back.


drove the rest of the way holding my breath for another konk out.

sweating my arse off.

and after all missed the f'ing call.

If I only had about 100 bucks I could get her into reliable shape.

Trouble is, I'm tired of it as a daily driver, I want a brand new suzuki, or decent used geo metro.

[starfire383]

Generic inline electric pumps are like $25 at your local parts store. Purolator makes one, plenty of pump for any stock 305. Ditch that in-tank junk, put a prefilter on it, and just run an external. Problem solved for $40.

Geo metro or suzuki? Dream bigger man!

I do hear ya on the reliable daily driver thing though.

Good Luck!

[marco_1978_spyder]

Thats what I did on the thruway.....I keep one in the trunk...a spare $25 purolater pump.

I can rig it up in minutes Im so used to it.

trouble is, it dosent like to draw through a frozen pump I guess.

I saved the rock for tomorrow.

I want the Geo for 37mpg.....no new cars are doing that.

I dont need anything but mileage right now.

I park at a shopping center all day for work, so used is best.

I want a suzuki, to have the freshness of a new car, with as little out of pocket as possible.

I've eye'd lots of better cars but there's just no way.

I dont need the big payments, another ride to worry about scratches on....
And then getting something else for winter..

forget that, if I go fwd, its going to be a winter warrier with all the modern bells, and scratch and dentable.

=geo=
or an even an ASSpire.

[marco_1978_spyder]

Jeeze, I'm easily aggrivated lately?

crush a spyder? someone slap me quick!!

gosh how dare I.

Seems the air conditioning in the apartment helped chill me out, also this:

Callled a local Suzuki dealer and inquired about

a reno/forenza/anything small new and cheap.

asked how aggressive there credit department was, there going to have to slap my bank around a bit.

cool thing was , never got a call back in 10 minutes as promised.

It was against my better judgement to be inquiring there....they should have took advantage of me while they had me.

So I called the autostore and got a new fuel pump headed my way in 3 days.

[monzamess]

Besides, if you're going to get a non-h-body daily driver, look for something fun like a Miata. A 90-93 model will get good MPG, be cheap, and be as reliable as they come. They do well in snow too. Buy one in winter, not now when the weather is nice (when it's under 100 degrees that is). Ditto for a CRX. I got up to 50MPG in my old 86 CRX Si. If you want "domestic" look for a Chevy/Geo Prizm. Just throwing out some ideas.

[Monza1979]

*slap*crush a Spyder? crazy talk right there. if you considering getting a new car get a Cobalt, some bitchin new chevy's, even tho they are FWD

[starfire383]

Cut that stock junk off. Buy 99 cents worth of 3/8 steel fuel line and cut it to an approximate length to reach the bottom of the tank. Take it to any muffler or repair shop with a gas torch and have them braze the tube onto the sender. Run that purolator pump as your primary and don't ever look back. Just my opinion. Good luck either way.

Edit- if it locked up from debris once, it'll do it again. A buddy has been fighting this on a TBI suburban for 3 years. The beauty of the external pump is you can run a large paper element fuel filter on on the inlet side and never worry about debris jamming the pump again. Stock fuel tank socks will let large debris get into the pump again and again.

[ColinOpseth]

Get a Cavalier Z24. Cheap as shit and good on gas. They're peppy, hold their value well and you can smoke most stock Honda Civics. They look great and best of all...........they are reliable

If you want a stock in-tank pump I can probably snag you one out of my other vegas. I sure as hell don't need any of them
Later,
Colin

[marco_1978_spyder]

Naaa.. after my 97 cavalier deal,
I'd never touch another one.

I was going to say I wouldnt get another chevy, but I will be stopping in to see iof I can get a new AVEO FOR 10K.

I appreciate the suggestions, some are funny....u guys must live in the midwest or south. No miata's in the snow.

The cars I'm looking at are definites.

Sure a Scion with satellite radio would be totally hip...but I can do that.

I'm either going to go brand new aveo(chev)/aerio(same but suzuki) or possibly even reno.

or get a bank loan for 3500 and get the best 2001 Geo/chevy Metro I can find. 3 door 3cyl 5 speed.

we'll see.

fuel pump arrives thursday.

Spyder is pissed at me....

today.....the drivers door wouldnt open.

(a thank you for slamming it shut for sure)

I managed to get in the car and use my left foot to open the inside door lever and press with my right foot ( back against the pass. door) and it popped open without too much force.

[bill1978v8]

how much you want for that there junker?

seriously, the h-body isn't the best daily driver when your looking for a good low maintenace, good mpg car. The best you could do is get a 2.5 tbi/5 speed or a 3800/5 speed and team it up with 2.73 to 3.08 gears. Go efi and don't look back. You could do the swap for under $2,000 and still drive an H-body everyday. Please just say no to imports...

Bill

[monzamess]

Well, seriously, my Miata did great in the snow. Perfect weight balance and all that. Now, my old Neon with summer tires in the snow... Barely made it home that day!

Aveo is a Daewoo. After Daewoo's US operation went under, GM bought them (or some stake in them). I saw a local dealer advertising a brand new Aveo for $4995 a few weeks ago--probably an outright lie or "after your trade-in of $5000" or something.

Not sure how this helps at all, but what the heck...

[monzaman69]

I saw a local dealer advertising a brand new Aveo for $4995 a few weeks ago--probably an outright lie or "after your trade-in of $5000" or something.

You'd be surprised after rebates and such..


The dealership in VA Beach about 1 month after the Aveo made it's debut was offering "Get 2 cars for the price of 1" They would give anyone an Aveo free who bought a fullsized GM SUV/Truck or Corvette...



Later,

Adam

[ColinOpseth]

The $5000 deal isn't bullshit. They are stripper cars without air conditioning and very, very basic amenities. If you live in an area where air conditioning isn't desperately needed you definitely can swing that deal.

We had a Cobalt at the dealer on special sale for $10999 the other day. It had air, CD, manual windows and door locks and the 147hp 4 cylinder. Not a bad deal, really.

Then again, the Tahoe for $26899 wasn't a bad deal either
Later,
Colin

[peterpan]

gas milage whats that this is a pic of my daily driver a built 350 with a 4 speed 9 inches of lift and 38 inch tires i get about 10 gallons to the mile but i live in a kinda small town it only takes around 10 minutes to get across town

but it does really good off road that is a older pic of it alot has been done sense then i started it with a bare frame

[roadhawkc06]

Hey just read all the fuss here about the fuel pump.......yea I bought a new one for my Roadhawk.......do it once, and get peace of mind knowing whats in your tank.....and or clean it while its apart.

I drive a Chev Aveo, I hate it......I had a mustang before....and I miss the power.

Yup, the aveo is DECENT on gas, but I drive it harder than a prostitute takes it in the A**........JUST to get some action and performance. The Aveo is the same as a Swift, same DOH engine, 1.6L.......but man.....I will say one thing........

If you spend even 300 to get a new tank, fuel pump, lines etc for your spyder.....you Will save 9700 dollars(you said your willing to shell out 10 g's for a new car right?)

Just my 2 cents.....and yes...the aveo is good on gas ...if you like senior citizen style performance.....LOL

Cheers Marco