(image Kinja’d)
Tires & wheels are temporary, but sort of awesome.
Fuel leak is fixed. O-ring (actually a square ring if you want to be pedantic) had split and “somehow” got repaired by smearing it with epoxy. Siphoned 5 gallons out after losing 2 or 3 to the leak (it was gushing), crawled under and did the job in 5 minutes. Added the 5 gallons back in, and no more leak. Bueno.
However, the transmission is still borked. Added some Sea-Foam tranny medic, drove it around and finally got it to shift into OD... and OD ain’t there. Second neutral. The 1-2 shift is too harsh, 2-3 is delayed and 3-4 only happens (or tries to) above 60 mph. I suspect, given the bootleg nature of the tank repair, that they jacked the line pressure around to keep it out of OD long enough to sell. Can’t confirm. Dropped it off at a tranny shop, and we’ll see what they have to say about it. Worst case scenario is a $1500 total rebuild.
I got a second speaker to come back to life, but they’re both on the right side. Could be the factory amp in the trunk is blowed up. This is purely a secondary concern.
Bought fluids, hoses, plugs, and some zinc oil additive. Nobody seems to know how to tell if this is a roller cam or flat-tappet. 1988 was a transitional year, it almost certainly has a roller-cam block, but flat tappets didn’t go away until 1990. So I’ll dump some zinc in there to be on the safe side, once I get it back from the tranny shop and my Fumoto valve gets here.
AC needs a shot of R-12, the third most smuggled substance coming into the USA from Mexico. Or a 134a conversion.
Brake job is unnecessary, they’re in good shape although the rear shoes are getting a little thin.
Algnment is also unnecessary. Once I got some good shoes on, it started behaving. I’m surprised the tires that came with it lasted for the 30 mile drive home.
I’m looking at it this way: A Mitsubishi Mirage costs $14,000 and it’s a hateful little turd. I can get this into shape for less than that, and have a car that I actually love. So I’ll be ahead of the game. Looks like I’ll end up with about 10 grand in it when it’s all said and done.
Trivia: The donut spare has an aluminum rim. Never seen that before.