Well I guess I should start a journal now, hopefully I will get some pictures on line soon.
Bought my Sunbird last month for $700 USD with a 99% rust free body. It would not start so I had to buy a new battery, cap and rotor right away.
Next we thought we should check the brakes as it had been sitting for at least 6 months. Oh yeah and the lovely grinding noises that we were hearing when we first drove it. Discovered the front brakes were completely shot. New pads, hard ware and rotors required. Thanks goodness my buddy had just bought some rims off of someone and they threw a pair of almost brand new rotors in the deal.
Made sure I got an oil lube and filter done before bringing her home.
Now up to almost $900.00 for the car. oh yeah, plus $70.00 in insurance and temporary permit fees. And the wonderful taxman. The border guy at the border didn't believe that I only paid what I paid for my car and made me pay more in taxes than I should have.
Drove the car home from Seattle on Sept 29th.
So far, I have spent over $300.00 more on parts. New shoes and wheel cylinders, new door seals and trim for both doors, upper and lower control arm bushings. And other misc parts and pieces.
This week so far:
I dropped and reinstalled the half full gas tank by myself, to replace the sending unit hoping to get my gas gauge working (not successful so far).
Pulled the door panel and trim off the drivers door as it was not opening (now opens, just got to figure out how to reconnect the rods).
Torn the dash partially apart twice, changing bulbs and now changing the gas gauge hoping that will give me a working gas gauge.
Torn the console around the gear shifter apart trying to figure out why the shifter won’t stay in gear. Know why that is now, the part with the teeth that should be holding it in gear is broken off. So I need a new shifter. Thank goodness I have a spare one from my parts car.
My buddy and I were beginning to regret paying the $350.00 that we paid for a parts car we bought in July as we have not been able to sell any of the parts. But now I am very happy I have all those spare parts. Even better yet, the parts car was a TC, the same as my Sunbird.
Maybe I should have listened to my buddy when he complained so much that these cars are nothing but a money pit.......NOT