Everything Else

Raion-Fox wrote: The Sonic has been sold with it's new engine. My girlfriend has her silver IS300 and is happy and I am happy knowing I won't have to afford to pay for her piece of shit Daewoo rebadge, plus I got to keep the profit on selling the Sonic since I did all the work for her.

The IS300 has 160k on a well maintained engine. No rattles, knocks or anything. The transmission fluid was brown but I replaced it and no metal shavings were on the drain plug so I think we're good. The AC had a leak at the drier so I just popped in a new one and vacuumed it down, charged it up and it blows ice cold.

Now to change my Miata's transmission oil, diff oil, rip out the half assed cruise control and fix the A/C. I'm also in the market for a manual rack but those are expensive so that won't be until after I've recovered some expenses. I mean the PS rack is fine but I prefer fuel economy over light steering.

Holy crap, sounds like you have a full blown repair shop going. And we thought you were just a computer nerd.

mopar5150 wrote: Holy crap, sounds like you have a full blown repair shop going. And we thought you were just a computer nerd.

Not really. I just have a concrete slab behind my house and some nice friends who are willing to help with the bigger jobs. Replacing the Sonic's shortblock took about 3 days. One to pull the engine, one to swap the parts over to the shortblock, and one to put it back in. Biggest pain was reinstallation. The Sonic has a tiny engine bay made for Korean child labor.

Now I did work as a low end mechanic at one job and learned a lot of shit, that's how I know to do what I do.

Still haven't got around to reinstalling the A/C in the Miata. Waiting to see if I can find a non-power steering rack that fits my '99.

In the meantime, met up with a guy in Virginia Beach who had a front bumper from a 2001, two door panels and a 3 spoke Nardi wheel and airbag. The bumper will be living downstairs for a while.

In other news, I broke up with the girl about 2 weeks ago (we're still friends). She had asked back when her Sonic broke why I didn't pay for her new car since I insisted on it - this is why. I still have $1300 from selling the Sonic, and she has a car she's happy with. If I had paid for it, I'd have another IS300 and she'd have a car payment from a buy here pay here because she's shit broke. Only tangentially related to the discussion, but I'm officially single so I have room in my driveway to fix up a 1995 Cabrio that was given to me - I get to sell it and split the profit with my brother once it's sell-able.

Also hoping to move to Southern VA again so I can get away from the worst of the winters - my Miata with it's rusty rockers doesn't need anymore holes!

Here's my newest project.

1994 Green Mitsubishi 3000GT (Jade Fox)

84k miles (branded not-actual-mileage due to a DMV transcription error, not my fault)

Automatic/FWD

It's not perfect. It has a hacked up alarm system that needs to be yanked, the transmission may need to be replaced, there's an exhaust leak and there's problems abound.

But I've wanted one of these for decades.

Raion-Fox wrote: Here's my newest project.

1994 Green Mitsubishi 3000GT (Jade Fox)

84k miles (branded not-actual-mileage due to a DMV transcription error, not my fault)

Automatic/FWD

Do you have all-wheel steering in it and will you paint it red later?

Raion-Fox wrote: Here's my newest project.

1994 Green Mitsubishi 3000GT (Jade Fox)
[...]
But I've wanted one of these for decades.

Congratulations on getting an awesome car! I think everyone I knew wanted one of those (well, actually it's Dodge Stealth twin) back in the day.

Good luck with the project, and I hope you have lots of fun with the car!

johnnym wrote:

Raion-Fox wrote: Here's my newest project.

1994 Green Mitsubishi 3000GT (Jade Fox)

84k miles (branded not-actual-mileage due to a DMV transcription error, not my fault)

Automatic/FWD

Do you have all-wheel steering in it and will you paint it red later?

Why? It looks like great shape, and that green is totally 90's

johnnym wrote: Do you have all-wheel steering in it and will you paint it red later?

Jade Fox does not have AWD/4WS. That is the VR4 only.

The car does have some problems, namely a car alarm I need to rip out, a repair to the radio harness, and the transmission is acting funny (either the solenoids are bad or the linkage is out of whack), and the passenger sideskirt is cracked/loose.

The car alarm has been disabled but I hate leaving hacked up wiring in a car so I'm going to probably have a shop remove it if it's sliced up a bunch of wiring.

The car's engine does appear in good shape as it's original to the car, doesn't knock or tick and it doesn't leak much either. Just

Careful with those alarms. I thought I had mine competely out of the eclipse, but there was a kill relay on the B+... so I was driving home on a dark and rainy night and the car died, I had no lights, no hazards, no horn, took a good whack on the dash pad to get it working. Happened twice but was perfectly fine every other time. After the second time was when we traded it for the escape (kuga/maverick to the euros out there )

I learned my lesson to never buy a used car if you see any "aftermarket" wiring but a nice project like that is an exception

Also this eclipse had a bunch of other stuff, custom leather, custom fiberglass interior with "sub" holders probably very nice back in the day but I guess the 2nd owner didnt take much care of it.
We got a good deal on it but I wouldnt do it again.

Does it have one of those sirens that sounds like a toy space blaster?

I didn't hear the alarm because I disconnected it's power the first thing I got the car towed home. It had a loud looking siren, though. I kept that for obvious reasons, I could potentially use that elsewhere.

I plan to have the dash out of the car at least once, so I'll make it a priority to survey the wiring and fuse panel then.

One possible upgrade is to get the VR4 climate control and drivetrain in it one day, but for now, I just want to get it driving well, nice and clean and take care of the immediate issues.

If the transmission is shot and the shop that did the work for the previous owner (It's all under warranty) refuses to fix it I'll simply either get a junkyard AT or put a 5-speed in it. We'll see what happens there.