After waffling back and forth for months, I now no longer own a rusty POS deathtrap. Major problems I encountered:
Exhaust fell off.
Lots of rust (but none on the towers!)
Shift bushings shot.
Gross.
Floor pans a winter away from having holes in them.
Trunk didn’t latch.
Stupid high miles
Iffy clutch cable.
Leaked oil.
Leaked gas.
Seized brake caliper.
No parking brake.
Oh and the steering vagueness?
Yeah, that’s the ball joint. Never going to Brownies Independent in Kettering again.
So, I did what anyone would do.
Took out the seats, rented a steam cleaner, and went to town. Then I pulled off all the good parts that I put on, listed the bitch, and took the first reasonable offer I could get where they would bring their own wheels.
I now have a set of good wheel in my apartment, plus six wheels with bad tires and three wheels with no tires. And a friend who has a set of bent 4x100 Miata wheels he doesn’t need.