The car saga.... finally nearing completion

[ManglerYJ]

So a little back story...

A couple years back, my older step-daughter bought a high mileage 1999 Pontiac Sunfire from a friend of hers. She drove it for a while, not paying a cent for maintenance and ran bald tires for a LONG time. She lost her job and decided to take a weekend trip to the beach, during which time they hit a bad rainstorm and she hydroplaned into another car and wrecked the front end.

I had her send me some pictures of the body damage and it appeared to be mostly superficial, so I told her if she got it home to my house (she no longer lives here), I'd work on it and get it car-shaped again. $400 in junkyard parts and a brand new Napa radiator and it's car shaped again and ready to fire up. Upon cranking it up, we notice coolant pouring out the front of the motor. I tell her that her free labor only goes as far as body work, so she has to have it towed to a shop to have them fix it.

The shop immediately tells her that it's a blown head gasket and that it will be more to fix the car than it's worth, and it would be better to scrap the car. Since it sounded as though the scrappers would give her about $200 for the car, I tell her that I'll buy it from her for $200 and I'll tow it home and work on it.

My wife asked about fixing it up for the other step-daughter (who is 18) to drive. So I begin to work on the head gasket and get everything up to a safe level.

This includes:

new head gasket set
remanufactured head
new timing belt
new battery
new tires
new water pump and thermostat
new windshield and windshield wipers
new coolant temperature sensor
both new side view mirrors
new driver's side headlight

All total, she's into the car for about $1000. We got a temporary 10 day tag on it since the inspection had gone out and I drive it to get the new tires and inspection the other day. I got the dreaded "OBDII sensors not ready". We didn't have enough miles/time/startups on the system since the ECM reset, so I had to drive it more. During some of the driving, we got a Check Engine light and had the codes run. First was Crankshaft Position Sensor. That's pretty major if it's legit. Pretty much the car won't run if it is legit. Since the car was running fine, I figured it would go out on it's own - which it did.

Took it back to the inspection station today and it PASSED!!!!!! Woo HOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Some time this week, my wife will get her a tag and it's road worthy again!!!

Be on the lookout for a half red/ half blue Sunfire!

 

[xjtrailrider]

Oh man I have a story to tell about my son and Jeeps.

I gave him my old trail rig, a 96 XJ with low miles. I put it back almost stock;

He made a left turn in front of a Chevy Avalanche running 45mph, it slide sideways 30' into a yard and it ended up like this;

I drove it 3 blocks to the house like this after I put the spare on LOL!

Insurance gave us $4700 for it so we bought a MJ for $250. I bought the XJ back from the insurance company and stripped it for parts for my 96 trail rig.

The MJ

I used the rest of the XJ money and completely rebuilt the MJ, here it is when it was done;

He rolled it in a snow fall. The CAD malfunctioned, he lost 4wd and slid into the creek and rolled.

He lost 4wd and slid off the road and into the creek upside down.

It ran upside down for at least 5min before he regained consciousness and turned the engine off. It ended up like this;

So, he got a job and paid me to rebuild it again. It has all new sheet metal and a new top welded on, all done in my garage! It just needs paint(again) which he is saving for.

Here it is today;

I feel your pain.......

 

[Croatan_Kid]

Damn....I've totaled 2 vehicles with my K30. I had to straighten out my rear bumper and tighten the bolts on my grille guard. I guess I'm lucky! I even got enough money from one insurance company to buy my welder.

 

[Falko]

Being mechanically inclined is helpful for one's self as well as the family.

My sister's civic spent about a month in and out of the shop, with them unable to figure out why it was randomly overheating. To help her out, I bought it off of her for trade value of it in good condition so she could afford to buy something else. After repairs its still going strong at 213,XXX miles, and gets 20 MPG higher than my previous beater. Win Win

 

[ManglerYJ]

Being mechanically inclined is helpful for one's self as well as the family.

My sister's civic spent about a month in and out of the shop, with them unable to figure out why it was randomly overheating. To help her out, I bought it off of her for trade value of it in good condition so she could afford to buy something else. After repairs its still going strong at 213,XXX miles, and gets 20 MPG higher than my previous beater. Win Win

Out of curiosity, what did you end up fixing on it?

 

[Falko]

Out of curiosity, what did you end up fixing on it?

It needed a head gasket. A small seep from one of the cylinders was pressurizing the cooling jacket and blowing all the coolant out of the overflow bottle. I assumed the shop didn't find this because the leak down test didn't show a loss of pressure. I also did the other normal Honda maintenance items when you have to go into the front of the engine: timing belt, water pump, etc.

 

[ManglerYJ]

So the saga has finally come to an end with an ending I never saw coming. After roughly 6 months of working on the car to get it car shaped and safely drivable, she spent less than 30 minutes behind the wheel trying to learn to drive a stick shift (that she SWORE would be no problem at all), and has now given up on the car. I am PISSED. I guess with having a father that walked out on her at 3 years old, it is in her blood to quit when things get remotely difficult. It just amazes me because she has a very resilient mother who as a single mother of two managed to provide for them, finish her degree in Occupational Therapy and never once have I seen her "give up" on anything.

 

[ManglerYJ]

Oh man I have a story to tell about my son and Jeeps.

I gave him my old trail rig, a 96 XJ with low miles. I put it back almost stock;

He made a left turn in front of a Chevy Avalanche running 45mph, it slide sideways 30' into a yard and it ended up like this;

I drove it 3 blocks to the house like this after I put the spare on LOL!

Insurance gave us $4700 for it so we bought a MJ for $250. I bought the XJ back from the insurance company and stripped it for parts for my 96 trail rig.

The MJ

I used the rest of the XJ money and completely rebuilt the MJ, here it is when it was done;

He rolled it in a snow fall. The CAD malfunctioned, he lost 4wd and slid into the creek and rolled.

He lost 4wd and slid off the road and into the creek upside down.

It ran upside down for at least 5min before he regained consciousness and turned the engine off. It ended up like this;

So, he got a job and paid me to rebuild it again. It has all new sheet metal and a new top welded on, all done in my garage! It just needs paint(again) which he is saving for.

Here it is today;

I feel your pain.......

Impressive work!!!!!!

 

[xjtrailrider]

Impressive work!!!!!!

Thank You! I have done a bumper to bumper resto-mod on my Dad's old 90 XJ which is my DD now. There is a big long story behind this XJ but after my stepmother sold it when he died, it took me 3 years to find it and bring it back home. I found it with a blown engine and a homeless guy living in it. I paid way to much for it, $450. My wife was ready to kill me but I was all smiles with my dad's old XJ sitting in MY driveway!

Here it is today;

Rebuilt original 4.0, bored .040/decked .020/milled .020

New interior, the original interior was trashed!

I would love to rebuild/restore XJ's for a living if I could make a living doing it!

Sorry for the hijack of your thread! I just know the pain a dad can go through with his kids cars!

 

[ManglerYJ]

So the saga has finally come to an end with an ending I never saw coming. After roughly 6 months of working on the car to get it car shaped and safely drivable, she spent less than 30 minutes behind the wheel trying to learn to drive a stick shift (that she SWORE would be no problem at all), and has now given up on the car. I am PISSED. I guess with having a father that walked out on her at 3 years old, it is in her blood to quit when things get remotely difficult. It just amazes me because she has a very resilient mother who as a single mother of two managed to provide for them, finish her degree in Occupational Therapy and never once have I seen her "give up" on anything.

Here's a couple of pictures of the completed vehicle:

 

[braxton357]

Pontiac sure does (did) make some ugly cars.

 

[ManglerYJ]

Pontiac sure does (did) make some ugly cars.

It wasn't much better looking before the accident....