Post a pic of your car here!

[Rewdalf]

 

After a long rest, the Porsche finally moves.

Too bad it still can't go under its own steam.

 

Ironically, I would start it around twice a week to keep the engine turning, and let it warm up.

The day I moved it, it wouldn't start...

Good thing the engine is getting a complete rebuild.

When I see something like this being kept going and restored in an age of disposable cars, it always makes smile.

 

That said, I also look at it and think how awesome it would be with 924 Carrera GT bodywork and power.

 

I've been looking at a few Carrera GT body pieces actually.

But only some.

Finding an engine that's affordable and still going isn't too easy, and I'm about spent on cash.

And I feel like if it isn't going to be a Carrera GT on the inside, there's no use dressing it up as one.

At least not completely.

 

But down the line I'm going to renew the bodywork. Looks like the fenders have been swapped with wider ones. Just need some nice cookie cutter wheels to fill them out.

Rear needs a bit of work.

And that front bumper that's on it definitely isn't stock, nor does it fit well. Going with a 944 bumper there after my next paycheck.

 

Still going to repaint the wheels though. I like black wheels on some cars, but they look tacky on a classic.

 

This is my first project, too. I've been wanting to do one forever. I've still got a lot to learn though.

Thankfully I've got people who can help.

[Pat]

The one center cap I ordered arrived today, and while I do like how it looks... it's too small. Not sure if I can make a spacer thin enough since it's only off by a couple millimeters, but I'm going to try to figure something out. Still, this is why I only ordered one - if I can't make it work, it's no big deal.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by Pat

[Murciélago]

Temporary whip while the Accord gets fixed

[HeavyDuke]

The imperfections on the lips get really obvious up close:

 

 

I suggest repainting and repolishing them, like i did with my Trans Am's rims. Totally worth it.

 

Also, i'm not sure how wide your rims are, but i'm currently driving around on 255 wide on the back and 245 front.

Edited March 18, 2016 by HeavyDuke

[Pat]

Mine are 7", so I'm sticking with 205s all around.

[Member's Only]

Took some headlight pics because why the f*ck not

 

[HeavyDuke]

^

 

Love fatty tires on those cars. Fat tires>big rimmed.

[Murciélago]

Got new control arms installed because the pothole screwed the old one up.

 

Guardian of the car parts, anyone?

[JRC99]

Mine are 7", so I'm sticking with 205s all around.

If I'm not mistaken, our Camaro runs 15x7s on 255s on the rear. Should be safe to go a bit wider than 205. Hell, my grandfather's gotten away with 15x7s on 275s on his Mustang.

[Pat]

The difference is that fat tires look good on muscle cars, whereas they look silly on German sport sedans. I've put a lot of consideration into it and decided that sticking with the same size as the current tires (205/55r16) will look the best without sacrificing performance.

[poppafewpills]

Here I am being goofy and playing the proverbial "mine is bigger than yours" bit... I really forget how much chubbier my jeep is than stock until I park next to one.

 

Edited March 19, 2016 by poppafewpills

[Rewdalf]

Just gonna flood in more pictures of the Golf since I can't work on the Porsche this weekend...

It just looks so much better in the rain.

Can't tell that I haven't washed it in forever.

 

Also finally got around to taking the rear wheels off to put the splash guards back on...

Still looking for a replacement set. Friend had some 5-lug jeep wheels lying around that almost fit, but they were a bit too big...

 

Edited March 19, 2016 by Rewdalf

[Gegon45]

summer wheels just put on

[Rewdalf]

Well, bad news on the Porsche.

 

Got most of it taken apart.

 

 

And that's pretty much as far as it came.

Damn driveshaft is so ridiculously long that in order to pull the engine free, I would need to remove the radiator.

Wasn't expecting that, most engine pulls I've read about and watched on youtube didn't require the radiator to come out.

Looked it up, and that itself is a 1-2 hour job.

On top of already going over schedule, I just couldn't leave the car up there...

So.

 

Since this isn't my garage, and I don't really have free use of the shop...

We had to cut our losses and just put everything back in to push the car back into the lot...

 

Guess I won't be rebuilding the engine.

At least, maybe I'll have time to just do the top end.

 

At least I looked over the undercarriage, and it has absolutely zero rust.

Exhaust looks good too, and the front suspension is pretty tough.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Rewdalf

[Pat]

A few months ago I bought a set of US ellipsoid headlights off a '95 E34 at Pull-a-Part, and they've been sitting around ever since because one of the brackets was broken and I couldn't find a guide anywhere on how to remove the headlights from the brackets. Today, I finally got tired of waiting and went at it myself, and an hour later (and much frustration - it is much harder than you think) I was done:

 

 

Luckily the other bracket is fine, so that one will be a straight swap, but for these two I'm gonna have to go through the process again to remove the old high & low beam from the old bracket so that I can put the new ones in. That's going to wait until tomorrow, since it's getting dark here now and messing with headlights at night is a terrible idea.

 

After I was done with that I felt like lining up one of my wheels again, this time with the new center cap in place. I cut divots next to each of the three tabs that lock it into place so that I could bend them out to make it fit snug, so that's no longer an issue; now I just need the other three.

 

 

I have got to stop doing this, because every time I do it I get more and more desperate to mount them.

[HeavyDuke]

Well, bad news on the Porsche.

 

Guess I won't be rebuilding the engine.

 

Just wondering,

 

Why do you want to rebuilt it? And isn't there any other place you can pull the engine? If you need to put your car up from the ground, there are quite a bit of tools that can help you out which aren't expensive. Pulling the engine can be done in quite a tight space.

[Rewdalf]

 

Well, bad news on the Porsche.

 

Guess I won't be rebuilding the engine.

 

Just wondering,

 

Why do you want to rebuilt it? And isn't there any other place you can pull the engine? If you need to put your car up from the ground, there are quite a bit of tools that can help you out which aren't expensive. Pulling the engine can be done in quite a tight space.

 

True, but I'm extremely limited by money.

 

I just wanted to do a simple rebuild, since the engine is quite old.

If anything, it desperately needed to be cleaned up.

 

The reason I'm not completely broken up about it is that it's still running pretty well.

At least, we'll see how it is once everything is back together.

 

It's just that, I have zero tools. Absolutely zero.

I was expecting help from three different people, but so far none of them have pulled through.

I thought that, out of three, at least one would have been true to their word.

But I was wrong.

 

So, be careful who you trust.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Rewdalf

[HeavyDuke]

 

 

Well, bad news on the Porsche.

 

Guess I won't be rebuilding the engine.

 

Just wondering,

 

Why do you want to rebuilt it? And isn't there any other place you can pull the engine? If you need to put your car up from the ground, there are quite a bit of tools that can help you out which aren't expensive. Pulling the engine can be done in quite a tight space.

 

True, but I'm extremely limited by money.

 

I just wanted to do a simple rebuild, since the engine is quite old.

If anything, it desperately needed to be cleaned up.

 

The reason I'm not completely broken up about it is that it's still running pretty well.

At least, we'll see how it is once everything is back together.

 

It's just that, I have zero tools. Absolutely zero.

I was expecting help from three different people, but so far none of them have pulled through.

I thought that, out of three, at least one would have been true to their word.

But I was wrong.

 

So, be careful who you trust.

 

Yeah those people are the worst. Look at the bright side though, the bottom of your car looks nice and clean, even the brushing don't look cracked and the swaybar isn't rusty.

 

If you got room, i suggest investing in some nice tools and do it at home. Saves you time, stress, people watching you and you can always use it on other cars as well.

 

 

I haven't posted an photo of my trans am for a while, mostly because i'm working on it. And from next month on out, the car will be in many pieces. I got a deal with a garage and will be able to use everything for 6 weeks straight for almost nothing and i also won't work for those 6 weeks. Long story short, expect a sh*tload of trans am photo's when i'm done because its going to be as good as new along with a nice new paintjob. Going to be a sick ride once done. Going to work about 8 hours a day on it.

 

 

PS: Red trans am will remain red. But all new red. I was thinking about painting the underbody red as well, but considering it will show dirt way to fast, i'll paint it black. Other things will also be red/gold ect, typical trans am colors.

Edited March 24, 2016 by HeavyDuke

[Pat]

Got my ellipsoids installed. Next up is deleting the fog lights. I've got plastic panels being shipped from Latvia, so I won't just have empty holes, but I never use the fog lights and the panels were cheaper than new lenses so it seemed like a no-brainer to me. I think it'll look better, too.

 

 

 

 

I'm so glad to be rid of that leaky high beam on the passenger side. It always looked like my car was tearing up.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Pat

[JRC99]

Rust be gone! Brillo pads, I love ya!

 

[Rewdalf]

 

 

 

Well, bad news on the Porsche.

 

Guess I won't be rebuilding the engine.

 

Just wondering,

 

Why do you want to rebuilt it? And isn't there any other place you can pull the engine? If you need to put your car up from the ground, there are quite a bit of tools that can help you out which aren't expensive. Pulling the engine can be done in quite a tight space.

 

True, but I'm extremely limited by money.

 

I just wanted to do a simple rebuild, since the engine is quite old.

If anything, it desperately needed to be cleaned up.

 

The reason I'm not completely broken up about it is that it's still running pretty well.

At least, we'll see how it is once everything is back together.

 

It's just that, I have zero tools. Absolutely zero.

I was expecting help from three different people, but so far none of them have pulled through.

I thought that, out of three, at least one would have been true to their word.

But I was wrong.

 

So, be careful who you trust.

 

Yeah those people are the worst. Look at the bright side though, the bottom of your car looks nice and clean, even the brushing don't look cracked and the swaybar isn't rusty.

 

If you got room, i suggest investing in some nice tools and do it at home. Saves you time, stress, people watching you and you can always use it on other cars as well.

 

 

I haven't posted an photo of my trans am for a while, mostly because i'm working on it. And from next month on out, the car will be in many pieces. I got a deal with a garage and will be able to use everything for 6 weeks straight for almost nothing and i also won't work for those 6 weeks. Long story short, expect a sh*tload of trans am photo's when i'm done because its going to be as good as new along with a nice new paintjob. Going to be a sick ride once done. Going to work about 8 hours a day on it.

 

 

PS: Red trans am will remain red. But all new red. I was thinking about painting the underbody red as well, but considering it will show dirt way to fast, i'll paint it black. Other things will also be red/gold ect, typical trans am colors.

 

I'm in the process of just getting a tool kit, since I do a lot of work on my car(s), and my parents keep spending ridiculous amounts of money on small repairs for theirs that I could do for half the price.

Seriously, $600 to replace the spark plugs in a Lexus RX350?

I'll do it for half...

 

But yeah, at least I got a good view of the Porsche's undercarriage. Absolutely rust free. Exhaust looks great, just needs a bit of touching up, and the entire steering assembly is clean.

 

Looking forward to seeing more of that Firebird, too.

[Pat]

^I'd replace spark plugs for a free meal. Hell, the hardest repair I've ever done was the head gasket on my old Volvo, and even that was only about $100 once it was all said and done. Of course, if I had taken it to a garage, it probably would have been $1200 at least, but that's why I've only ever bought cars that are easy and cheap to self maintain. People can go on thinking Corollas and Civics are the epitome of reliability, but until I see one hit 300K (and I've seen a bunch of 240s, E23s and especially E34s hit 300K) I'll agree to disagree.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Pat

[Rewdalf]

^I'd replace spark plugs for a free meal. Hell, the hardest repair I've ever done was the head gasket on my old Volvo, and even that was only about $100 once it was all said and done. Of course, if I had taken it to a garage, it probably would have been $1200 at least, but that's why I've only ever bought cars that are easy and cheap to self maintain. People can go on thinking Corollas and Civics are the epitome of reliability, but until I see one hit 300K (and I've seen a bunch of 240s, E23s and especially E34s hit 300K) I'll agree to disagree.

That's the reason I respect Tacomas.

Friend's dad got his up to 320k miles, and the only reason it ain't on the road anymore is because it's just so generally beat up...

That, and the clutch is out. But that's an easy and not-too-expensive repair, over an automatic.

 

Same with Golfs. I bought one because I know it can and will go above and beyond 200k easily.

 

But yeah. I mean, the RX350 (from 2001) has a V6, where two of the plugs are underneath the entire wiper assembly...

Tedious and annoying yes, but still not a $600 job...

 

I'm rambling again.

[Carlover325]

My mom's Corolla has been the most reliable car we have ever had. It has over 180,000 miles on it and still runs great. It has had no motor issues and no transmission issues, ever.

 

Here's a picture of her Corolla in front of my truck:

[Zyo]

[unbid]

You could really use the era-appropriate rims for your wagon. Maybe the 90's Mercedes W124 one:

 

[Zyo]

 

You could really use the era-appropriate rims for your wagon. Maybe the 90's Mercedes W124 one:

 

 

 

Yeah I think the wagon could look better with more traditional MB wheels on it too. This is an old picture, but I have this set of 17" AMG wheels that were previously on the CLK (its on winter wheels right now), I'm going to put them on the wagon and put the 18"s on the CLK. As soon as I get a decent day for it.

[Pat]

Those AMGs will definitely look a whole lot better on the wagon. The 18"s look kind of cheap and tacky to me, honestly, but that's just my opinion. I'm sure a lot of people would say the same about the wheels I plan on putting on my car.

[Zyo]

Actually I like the wheels that you are putting on the BMW, i'm looking forwards to seeing them fitted.

 

Yeah I get mixed opinions on the wheels on the wagon, some people love them, some hate them. They're not what I would have got if i was buying them myself, but they came on the car. They're straight, unmarked and have new tyres on them. Probably worth a few quid, which was my main interest at the time. Maybe they just dont photograph well. Sivispacem's original comment was quite funny the day I bought it. "the wheels are a little bit downtown Vilnius for my tastes" And still probably sums it up best so far

[Argonaut]

By what's occurred within the last few weeks, it seems as if some contributions can be made here- big images in the spoiler below.

 

 

 

So what I have come to buy as a first car is a 1990 Ford Sierra Sapphire 1.6, which has been sat for three years in a breakages yard (with no MOT, tax or documents- fun) as the owner wanted to use it for a Cosworth reshell but never got around to it, and so it was sold on to myself. It's done 86,000 miles and I managed to get it at a very reasonable price that made it a worthwhile project to buy, even with the damage detailed below.

 

 

If it isn't immediately obvious in the photo, then it came with some pretty garish five spoke, low profile tires. These hopefully will be replaced with something more appropriate, ie a pair of 14 inch Mini/superlites hopefully.

 

What the car also came with though was:

 

-Spax suspension all around

-Stainless steel exhaust (I think)

-A pair of horribly connected speakers

-The lifestory and invoice history of the previous owner, a self-employed electrician (Way too much private info was in the backseats)

-Instant win Macdonalds small fries/Mcflurry monopoly tickets from 2012

-Endless amounts of "Now that's what I call.." CDs

 

 

 

 

These shots were before I cleaned it- even still, as you can see the seats and door linings are pretty ruined and are going to end up being chucked out, after I've cleaned them to the best of my ability to pass it's MOT. I might keep the rear ones out if I'm honest, as I plan in the future to make this a drift car, which sounds like sh*t justification but they do weight a fair bit.

 

 

 

And this is the damage- a slight rear end shove that hasn't compromised the integrity of the boot, which was my main concern as I went to see the car. It's within my experience to have a new section welded in, so that'll be tended to in the future. Also the bumper- held in by a bolt and three wooden nails on the other side. The "it'll do" approach is the theme throughout.

 

 

 

But the main point about this car is that where it matters- sills, suspension turrets, underside etc- it's all in perfectly decent nick, even better than expected for a car sat for three years. For now, the immediate future plans are to get the thing running (air filter missing and battery is shot, alongside a literally rusted oil filter and other things. pic), road legal and drivable, and replace the tattered rear bumper and rather wank wheels, plus lights. Long term plans are vague at the moment- the plan is to make it a drift car within the future, and so the rather underpowered 1.6 will probably have to go in the place of something- probably the 2.0 DOHC EFI/Pinto engine is what i'm thinking at the moment. Potentially a Cosworth grille at some point, as I'm not a big fan of the current one and a closer-ratio diff along the way, for what little impact it may or may not have; basically, things are up in the air.

 

I don't intend to hoon it into walls when it does end up being drifted, either- you're not a hero for being an idiot, and I don't intend to ruin the good deal I orginally got just because of access to more disposable income in the future when it goes skidding.