The guy at the body shop who is finishing up Mom's Capri is going to take a look at the pictures I posted and give me a recommendation for triage on the body. I was upfront about not being able to afford much until next year at the earliest, and that I want to stop the corrosion and make it driveable until such time as I can do it right.
Also registered on the long-running Capri mailing lists and forum so I can tap into the collective experience.
Insurance was annoying. I had to call and talk to someone (rather than doing it online) because their computers did not recognize the existence of a Ford or Mercury Capri in 1973. She had to override the system and manually add it, which makes me wonder how they could possibly determine how much to charge me...
Now I need to get it to the local shop to have them give it a good once over and change the oil (only 1k miles, but over a year old), and then new mufflers.
This probably won't be done before drill weekend, alas...
Actually, I thought all Christians looked more like Dana Carvey in
drag. (Did you notice "in a hot rod" was a link?)
My mistake, you are correct --- The Church Lady was Dana Carvey, not Mike Myers.
Well isn't that special.
someone offered to buy it from me in the parking lot.
I brought it now and now months ago when the inspection expired because I didn't think it would pass.
And the reason it wouldn't pass is because the rear brake light doesn't go on.
As I never use the rear brake, I could care less, but it's required for inspection. So I did without.
A few weeks ago I thought to look in my handy dandy motorcycle repair book and it said "try spraying some wd40 on it"
It being the switch. So I did. At that time I also noticed that my front brake light switch was sticking on.
So I just went crazy with the wd40 and after 10 minutes or so, both brake lights were working swimmingly.
So I went soon after to get in inspected before the magic wore off.
When The guy was doing the inspection, the front brake light didn't go off, and the rear didn't go on.
So I played with it alittle while he was standing there. At one point I got the front switch to go off, and then I got the back to flicker on.
"Good!" he says "it passes."
I like shops like that. :-)
I drove it once to work last week to get an oil change/look-see on the way home; someone offered to buy it from me in the parking lot.
I really wanted somebody a little more knowledgeable looking at it before I drove it much. The guys who did the oil change and checked the fluids didn't note anything in particular (aside from "it leaks"). I then realized I wanted somebody a LOT more knowledgeable looking at it before I drove it much, so I took it to a local chain shop with a good reputation. It's a good sign when the techs are arguing over who gets to look at your car, isn't it?
The verdict: "Yup, it leaks. Drive, but check fluids." It was quite a bit more detailed than that, but that was the summary. They recommended services to fix the leaks (valve covers, rear differential, and ?), but didn't seem to think it was particularly urgent. Even the obnoxiously loud (to me) exhaust was "fine, looks pretty new," so I guess it's supposed to be like that.
It's running a little rich (and they recommended a place for a carb rebuild down the line), and the temperature gauge is merely decorative, but they didn't see any reason not to drive it.
I bought the first upgrade: a very retro-looking beaded seat cover and equally retro leathery steering wheel wrap. The latter because the wheel feels way too skinny to me, and the former because one of the UNpleasant Capri memories from my childhood was the vinyl seats in August.
I'm kinda proud of myself. I was searching around for a cheap truck that I can fix up and use as a daily driver because my old car is dying. I need a truck because I plan to move soon and pulling trailers is easier in a truck than a car.
Anyways.
I was searching around for a few days, and I ran across an advertisement on craigslist for a 1996 dodge ram 1500 2wd ext cab for $1000. I called the guy to get the story and unfortunatly this truck needs a lot of work. After a few conversations and some careful looking around at it, i found that the repairs would be, at most, another $1000. I figured it would be worth the investment. For the many things wrong with it, he knocked another $100 off of the price. So I got a 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 for $900 flat-out, no trade, no gimmicks, just cash and sign. After all of the repairs, I will have spent a grand total of $1900 on a truck that is now worth $5000, or more, on the open market.
Here are the specs:
1996
Dodge
Ram 1500
V8 5.9L Lariat Magnum
Ext Cab - Full bench rear seat.
Regular box
Box Rails
"rag" box cover
"Hopper" bars on side of cab (for climbing into box from side)
25,000mi old WildTrak tires
Magnum straight-pipe exhaust
Blue/Black two-tone
Minimal body damage/rust/paint issues
What I've bought for it so far:
(1) used CD/AM/FM Deck
(2) new 6"X9" 4ohm door speakers
(2) new 5.25" 4ohm back panel speakers
(2) new WildTrak all-terrain tires on rear
(1) new front u-joint
(2) new bucket-style racing inspired seat covers
(1) new steering-wheel cover
(1) new 10CD sleeve (visor style)
Maint:
Sparks checked
Oil changed
Trans checked
radiator flushed
ToDo: ($600 max)
New thermostat for radiator system
Re-seal transmission (it leaks right now.. just a torn seal)
replace steering column
re-wire speaker system
fix headlight wiring and switch
so, what do you guys think? good deal?
--
Stephen D King
skpacman8629@gmail.com
My brother finally drove my car; since I'm in MD for the week, I swapped vehicles with him so he could get a first-person perspective on it. His verdict: I got really lucky with this one. He also suggested a possible course of action for the roof, from which the original vinyl cover is 90% missing (resulting in icky adhesive, and the worst rust on the vehicle (but still on the surface only)). He suggested that I might consider rather than replacing it or removing it (and then having to refinish the roof, patch the mounting holes, etc), I could actually refinish it with spray in bedliner material. That sounds a little odd, but I could get the semi-gloss finish, it would seal up the roof nicely, and it would keep a pretty close approximation to the original look of the car. He has done it for his offroad vehicle in strategic places, and it actually looks pretty cool, and is very durable.
The fact that this would be signficantly cheaper is also a huge bonus. It's the difference between getting something done in the next few months or the next few years.
A few weeks ago I thought to look in my handy dandy motorcycle repair
book and it said "try spraying some wd40 on it"
That sounds suspiciously like "try spraying some Windex on it"
(Hey, who knows, maybe it works)
so, what do you guys think? good deal?
Did you buy the truck to drive it yourself or to flip it?
Whether it's a good deal depends on whether you have the expertise to fix it, and what your time is worth. Sounds like you're making it work, though.
It's worth checking out and at the very least making sure whoever put the trailer wiring harness in did so at an appropriate spot and not where it was merely convenient.
you've got.
Been real happy with both of them. Traded my 95 in with 199,997mi on
the clock for the '99 that now has 204k-ish on it. The 95 saw a fair
amount of oilfield miles, so it was definitely on its last legs. The
one I've got now was my commuter vehicle, so it was mostly in-town, the
past few years it's been my long-haul/mountain-driving/tow rig since I
have the bike.
Mileage isn't that great. Not a worry to me since I need the motor for
pulling, not fuel economy. Bike gets 70+.
Get yourself a programmer, or at minimum a code reader. Makes
diagnosing problems way easier.
Stay on top of the usual stuff; diff fluid, spark plugs/wires, oil
changes, trans service, etc.
Honestly don't know if I'd recommend it as a daily driver, with as much
as it sucks fuel... but as a tow/hauling vehicle, it's great.
I'm not terribly worried about fuel economy since I only travel about 2 miles to work and back each day. I'm more worried about getting through snow and hauling stuff. the daily driving equates to about 60 miles a week, if that. It's not any worse on fuel than my 1990 oldsmobile cutlass, which is what this truck is replacing. The way I see it, i'm upgrading to more room, more towing, and better grip in snow, for about the same gas milage and a little work on the vehicle.
--
Stephen D King
skpacman8629@gmail.com
and yes, i'm double-checking the wiring before I do any major additions. My dad had the same make/model/year truck a while ago and had issues with the wires that come off of the dimmer switch for the dome/head lights. they kept overheating and melting together in the harness. that's the first thing I checked when I bought the truck.
--
Stephen D King
skpacman8629@gmail.com
If you're interested I'll send you the specs of the box I built (and I'm
working on a second for his other truck) that pulls a 100 amp cable from
the battery and uses relays to direct that current to the trailer rather
than the truck wiring harness.
In monospace font all of the above lines wrapped at the same place. Heh.
Dooring... what is it? how to avoid it (motorist and cyclist / motorcycle rider)
http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2011/09/25/excellent-dooring-analysis-video/
vide first shows crashtest dummies, then accidents, be prepared.
so I've heard, barely adequate for the lights on the truck, so when you
start adding a trailer's electrical load, it can cause an electrical
fire.
Despite our usual mode of greeting people around here, we actually do NOT want you to die in a car fire.
Despite our usual mode of greeting people around here, we actually do NOT want you to die in a car fire.
it would actually be a truck fire... but who's counting.
I guess this is a case of "Do as I do, not as I say"
That sounds suspiciously like "try spraying some Windex on it"
(Hey, who knows, maybe it works)
Well windex I would expect to make things worse because it would dry sticky.
I was actually surprised it didn't cause the switches to short, but it didn't, it got rid of the water and voila both switches started working.
I had some fun this weekend.
I had two sets of 3 hours to get some work done so I decided one set of 3 hours was going to be set aside for replacing the serpentine belt and the other was going to be spent on taking out the coil pack and wrapping it in epoxy. Again.
Having done the epoxy twice already it was a known quantity I figured I'd do it second, make more time for the belt.
So I drag out all my tools which are really far away now that I don't have a garage anymore, and proceed to take the wheel off so I can get at the side of the engine.
So I go to loosen the lug bolts.
so I go to take off the locking lug nut.
No go.
It doesn't move. Other bolts move with a lot of kicking and a breaker bar, but not the locking bolt.
So I tried the breaker bar on the locking bolt, ended up bending the pins on the lock.
Got out the heavy guns: the impact wrench.
First I broke the 12 point socket, it just stripped the socket. Why do they make 12 point sockets, it's not like there are any 12 sided bolts.
But okay, I expected that , I don't have any impact sockets, and I usually break a few when I use my impact wrench before I get whatever bolt I'm trying to get off, off.
So then I find another 17mm socket, this one's 3/8" drive, I find an adapter... impact impact impact.... sheared the 1/2" to 3/8" adapted right in half.
Okay... enough with the wheel time to work on the coil pack.
Later in the day, I figured out I was not the last one to put this wheel on and the garage that did was far far away. Oh well. so I took my bike out and went to home depot thinking that they were the only place open, and got myself another 17mm socket to replace the one I broke.
Then I rmembered sears! I love sears. They sell individual everything. Of course I should have thought of the auto parts place 2 miles down the road from home depot, but I did not. But I knew sears would be open.
So I eventually got to sears and sure enough they had a 17mm impact socket sold individually. I probably should have gotten the set, but this is all I needed right now.
go home, put it all together, and I figure something's got to give, and it won't be my impact wrench, and it won't be the socket.
hammer hammer hammer. Things getting kinda hot....
I take the key out (I have long since sprayed liquid wrench all over everything, but it's not getting past the bolt head) and I see the pins on the key are starting to really wear down, when it suddently occurs to me that this is the only key I have, if I ruin it, I'm not going to be able to get the other three wheels off either. So I go around to the other wheels and try and get the locking bolts off before the key is dead.
Two of them come off, a third does not. I go back to the first wheel, hammer hammer hammer bzzzzzzzzzzzz..... completely stripped the inside of the locking bolt head.
Go back the other locking bolt that didn't come off. hammer hammer hammer bzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... inside of other bolt completey strips off.
Oh well. That was fun. No serpentine belt for me today.