Year end bonus? New car! Thy name is Maxima!

[HRH]

So what do you do when you get a year end bonus for kicking ass at NAPA? You buy a new car!! I almost sold everything for a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata, but decided to go with my more frugal ideas. Craigslist Maxima for $400 obo. Picked it up for $260, drug it home, after lunch, going to put a new battery in it, replace a battery cable, and see if she starts!

Make no mistake, this is a haggard turd, but aside from some rust-holed rockers and dents and an interior full of shit, it has potential. Time will tell if it's going to be a good buy, or if it goes to Pull and Save due to too many things needing attention. I'm hoping to have it running today to figure out if it's going to be a driver relatively soon. Then I can be as cool as Pumpkin! Speaking of which, is he on NW Datsuns, or is he still doing that Failbook stuff?

[DRIVEN]

$260 is practically scrap value.
How many pedals does it have?

[HRH]

Three!

[DRIVEN]

Sweeeet. My best friend's parents had one when we were 15-16. Same color and a 5 speed too. We thought it was pretty pimp at the time. Bitching Betty still intact?

[Laecaon]

I want one, just to turn it Boso and drift it. I mean its a $260 car. At that price its acceptable to do anything you could possibly dream of to it.

[HRH]

True that! I'm celebrating with a victory beer while watching the superbowl now! 30 minutes of my time, she's a runner! Needs a few things, windshields, struts are clunky and shot, brakes are squeaky, has a bit of a miss, power steering rack is leaking, pump was dry, seems to be holding fluid though. I'll do a tune up tomorrow on her and see how that fares. I'll be uploading a video to youtube shortly.

The problem? Positive battery terminal was cracked, and there was a ring terminal with a two wire connector going to it. I can't remember what it does, but I know it's important. It didn't have a good enough contact. Replaced the entire positive battery cable and the negative cable end. Booyah! Fired right up!

[Laecaon]

simple fixes are the best!

[HRH]

[510freak]

Score for the money!

[Taterhead]

Damn I miss my '83.









Oh yeah,

fuck those calipers.

[HRH]

Yeahh, so anyone buying a car in Washington will be interested to know this. If you have a title that is ripped all the way through, or in pieces, REGARDLESS of if the pieces obviously match, it's considered void due to potential fraud. In which case you get to go back to the previous owner with a piece of paper AND a notary public and have sign it before you can register the car in your name. I probably shouldn't have bought this car, even for so cheap. It doesn't run that great despite doing a tune-up, going to have to dig a bit more into it. And the wonderful creature comforts, of which none were spared, seem to occasionally work at random. Like the radio. And the lack of heater blower motor.

Let's just say I could have bought a better non-running car, even for the money. Struts are definitely blown too. Sigh. As soon as I get my piece of paper signed I'll get a title and figure out if I want to keep it or not.

[RedBanner]

If not



Jump it a bunch!

[DRIVEN]

Screw the DMV. You can always look at it as the sum of the parts. I know the struts/brakes aren't exactly the same as ZX but they're really close. It does have a 5-speed. Is it a 71b or 71c? Any chance it has the same ratios as the "good" ZX version? What gearing is the rear? Rear disc brakes too, right? Wheels and tires aught to be worth $100. Sell all the parts and scrap whats left. Money way ahead.

[510freak]

^^
That right there

[HRH]

True that, had a thought today regarding vehicles that reinforced my previous thought. Went and test drove a 2004 Mazdaspeed Miata, but someone had put an aftermarket MAF on it and it had severe issues with anything over part throttle. Salesman showing it was nice, but he wanted some signature. I told him, fix it, call me when it's fixed, I'll drive it again. But actually, I decided that selling my red hardbody and replacing with a payment (albeit a very good payment) might not be the best option after all. Trying to figure out what I want to do. Half of me wants to sell the hardbody and pay off my credit card entirely right now. Which it's almost there anyway. I don't want to give up my 510 since I'll never get any money back out of it and I'll enjoy it once I have it back together, but for lack of time, it's too far away from putting together at the moment. Maybe when it gets warmer I'll be able to spend some long weekends wrenching. Then there's the title issue with the Maxima. I figure the crux of that car remaining or being sold/scrapped/parted comes down to whether the heater blower motor is going to be easily fixed. The motor is unavailable, if it croaked I'll have to find another to fit in. Not the end of the world, but not worth the hassle.

Did I mention it's 13 degrees with a 2 degree wind chill? It was -2 degrees this morning when I got up. The white autocross truck has been working wonderfully. Standard cabs are great for making the heater seem better than it is. If I do end up keeping the red truck and building another motor, I'm putting in a standalone heater core in the ext cab section that will put out some serious heat. I'm tired of having to drive a half hour (about my commute) to get the inside of the truck warmed up. (Without letting it sit and idle in the morning.)

[510freak]

Dont sell the 510,you will regret it after!

Keep the truck, get the maxima running better,drive the living shit out of it for how ever long,part it out..Profit

[izzo]

hahahah dude that thing is awesome. I saw a nice maxima in portalnd. It parked next to me a few days back. Gots a pic somewhere...

Cant wait to see work done on this one.

[z chopper]

pimp it da fark out

[HRH]

Well I dropped off the piece of paper the previous owner and notary need to stamp/sign today. Guy is pretty cool, he was curious to know what had happened to make it not run. I also found out the blower motor went out sometime last year so that needs to be probed for dead motor or dead resistor or possibly even a fuse. Warming up the garage at the moment though, probably going to start back on the motor mount project on the 510 seeing as I have to wait for him to find a notary at a bank next week, then meet up with him to get the paper back, then go back to the dmv. Blah. I hate dmv issues. If you do use the dmv in Spokane, use the valley one. They're much more pleasant 90% of the time.

[HRH]

Well the bitching Betty works if I wiggle the wires on the box just right. Trying to fix the heater blower motor. I'm actually not even sure where it is. Pulled out the glovebox, still can't find it. Need to read the manual I suppose. It's obsolete of course, so I'll need to make another one work, but oddly, I don't have any power going to the blower motor resistor, so I'm not sure if its the motor, but can't find it to test it! All the fuses are good. Suppose I need to start studying the wiring diagram. Maybe the Chilton's manual will tell me where the blower motor is too. The usual spot it's in is there, but no wires, just doesn't look right.