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My GF's bro Tommy calls me up last week and asks if I want to buy an EF hatch w/mpfi conversion for $450. I say what's wrong with it; he says it wont start. So, I grab a couple dizzys and main relays and make the 45min drive. I get there to meet him and his friend Bob who is also interested in the car. Bob don't know jack btw.
Immediately I notice 2 problems with the car: 1) it has no valve cover ground 2) the tranny ground is relocated to the thin sheet metal by the radiator. I turn the ignition and there's one click from the main relay. I cycle the ignition again and now there are 2 clicks. Did compression test and results were, 40,20,40,30. :shock: ...whatever, I knew I had all the spare parts laying in my basement to fix this car. So the guy wants 450. I say I'll give you a hundred bucks 'cause it probably needs an engine, refer to comp. results. We settle on a buck fifty.
I tow it back to Tommy's place and try to figure out the wiring mess of a multi-point conversion to no avail. Got fed up and ripped the whole bird's nest out then I did my own damn conversion. Finished that, replaced main relay, fixed the grounds, and VROOOM.... Good right? Well you'd think but I put it in gear and release the clutch... NOTHING, no go! So now I drop the tranny and find shredded disc material everywhere. No biggie, I've got spare clutches. So I drive home and come back another day with a clutch. Installed it and got the heck out of there. Car actually ran strong despite the initial compression test results. Felt like a high 15 second car.
Yesterday (monday) Bob has Tommy call up and offers me 800 for the car. At first I said no cause I planned to paint it and sell it for ~1200 but then I thought about all the projects I got going on and want to have going on and agreed. That very afternoon, Tommy and Bob come down to Milwaukee to pick up the car. I jacked the iceman intake, front, and rear strut bars btw, hehehe. So Bob hands me 8 one hundred dollar bills and I hand him the title. All good right? Well you'd think but he gets in the car and tries to adjust the seat... no worky. Turns out those seats don't even belong in that car and was bolted through the floorboards in such a way the seat couldn't be adjusted.
Sooo... I pull the seat which was a pita to get out and re-ghetto-fab it so it would adjust. Reinstall, Bob gets in, adjusts seat, we shake hands, they drive off. All good right? Well you'd think but 20 minutes later as I was sitting in my neighbor's front yard having a beer and chatting over a hot grill about this very car, I get a call: "hey we're on the freeway in rush hour traffic and the car is dead." You could imagine by this time I was getting very annoyed by this car.
I get there and turn the key. Main relay clicks twice, good. Then I look at the fuel gauge... hey it was nearly empty when it left my driveway, if Bob put in gas, why didn't he fill it all the way instead just filled it half way? Then I thought, what if this gauge is funky? So I get out, go to the rear of the car, reach under the car, and knock on the gas tank... ting ting ting. :roll:
So in conclusion, though I put $650 in my pocket with extra parts I had laying around, there was alot of BS I had to deal with. Hmmm now what to spend this money on? Oh wait, it's already good as gone. NVM.
Immediately I notice 2 problems with the car: 1) it has no valve cover ground 2) the tranny ground is relocated to the thin sheet metal by the radiator. I turn the ignition and there's one click from the main relay. I cycle the ignition again and now there are 2 clicks. Did compression test and results were, 40,20,40,30. :shock: ...whatever, I knew I had all the spare parts laying in my basement to fix this car. So the guy wants 450. I say I'll give you a hundred bucks 'cause it probably needs an engine, refer to comp. results. We settle on a buck fifty.
I tow it back to Tommy's place and try to figure out the wiring mess of a multi-point conversion to no avail. Got fed up and ripped the whole bird's nest out then I did my own damn conversion. Finished that, replaced main relay, fixed the grounds, and VROOOM.... Good right? Well you'd think but I put it in gear and release the clutch... NOTHING, no go! So now I drop the tranny and find shredded disc material everywhere. No biggie, I've got spare clutches. So I drive home and come back another day with a clutch. Installed it and got the heck out of there. Car actually ran strong despite the initial compression test results. Felt like a high 15 second car.
Yesterday (monday) Bob has Tommy call up and offers me 800 for the car. At first I said no cause I planned to paint it and sell it for ~1200 but then I thought about all the projects I got going on and want to have going on and agreed. That very afternoon, Tommy and Bob come down to Milwaukee to pick up the car. I jacked the iceman intake, front, and rear strut bars btw, hehehe. So Bob hands me 8 one hundred dollar bills and I hand him the title. All good right? Well you'd think but he gets in the car and tries to adjust the seat... no worky. Turns out those seats don't even belong in that car and was bolted through the floorboards in such a way the seat couldn't be adjusted.
Sooo... I pull the seat which was a pita to get out and re-ghetto-fab it so it would adjust. Reinstall, Bob gets in, adjusts seat, we shake hands, they drive off. All good right? Well you'd think but 20 minutes later as I was sitting in my neighbor's front yard having a beer and chatting over a hot grill about this very car, I get a call: "hey we're on the freeway in rush hour traffic and the car is dead." You could imagine by this time I was getting very annoyed by this car.
I get there and turn the key. Main relay clicks twice, good. Then I look at the fuel gauge... hey it was nearly empty when it left my driveway, if Bob put in gas, why didn't he fill it all the way instead just filled it half way? Then I thought, what if this gauge is funky? So I get out, go to the rear of the car, reach under the car, and knock on the gas tank... ting ting ting. :roll:
So in conclusion, though I put $650 in my pocket with extra parts I had laying around, there was alot of BS I had to deal with. Hmmm now what to spend this money on? Oh wait, it's already good as gone. NVM.
