Geeto67

Google is just enough information to be dangerous. I actually tried to run this down when I first saw the CL ad last week, but I can't even find a consensus as to whether T series and A series engine mounts are compatible. Asking whether it has a MT or an auto, I guess what I am really asking is does it have a clutch pedal assembly and all the other bits that go along with that (console, etc) or not. Seeing that the rear is swapped means I have to ask about the driveshaft (is it there?). I've been looking for a 70's/80's jap wagon with a manual trans, but really wasn't looking for a project. This body looks so clean it is hard not to consider, but again I am not looking to put a v8, or a 1jz, or anything radical into it - trying to see if it is even feasible to just get a donor car and get it running and just use it for hauling the kid to cars and coffee and otherwise around town. but thanks. your post has been...something

I'm not super familiar with these cars, what donors can you pull an engine/tranny from? is it MT or an autotragic?

From personal experience, gov't, esp police forces, are religious about maintaining their cars. Old people? not so much. With a lot of modern (and I use that term loosely) cars that sit more than are used there are different problems but still problems - mostly cause by alcohol in the fuel sitting around and rotting/corroding things. Will a police service unit that was used to take people to jail be abused? yes. you probably don't want one where a perp might have shit himself in the back seat if you are at all worried about abuse, But keep in mind white shirts and other higher ups also get these cars and they are far less likely to be abused.

if it makes you feel better (it won't, I'm sorry) that's about par for the level of project you got so maybe not too bad. Case in point: http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4585964453.html and http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4591255103.html no such thing as a cheap F-body. I imagine this car will just hot potato from owner to owner until someone takes the loss and destroys it totally for parts. If you are going to move forward on this, one thing that might help is used parts. I just want to plug Camaro Specalties in East Aurora, NY (buffalo/Rochester region of western NY). http://www.camaros.com/ They have a barn full of old parted out cars including cut up shells so it might be possible to get an entire side of a car and weld that in place. I once bought a left side pontiac GTO quarter and it was the sill, the quarter, the inner wells and the trunk extensions all cut off at the factory seams and in one piece. They might also have cheap fill in panels for the really rotted areas you have. It's worth a trip.

this pic would have been a big red flag for me personally because.... http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e297/jclay_13/E4D2E8F1-6C81-4A23-8E8B-CE102D641B09_zpsfcxxn5gg.jpg there is no "firewall" brace separating the the trunk from the interior. From what I remember when I did floors in my GTO and my buddy did floors in his Firebird that you never touch this piece because a) it is almost never rotted, and b) you use it as a reference point for making sure things line up (like the inner fender wells, the floor pan, the trunk hinges, etc...). I don't know if this would have been a deal breaker because that piece does need modification if wheel tubs are to be fitted, but with stock wheel wells I would have at least asked about it. But then again I have (very limited) experience with these cars.

I think he paid him the whole amount via check and had the car shipped. When it arrived was the first time he saw it.

I've seen guys do engine bays with it and it's pretty fantastic. One thing I have noticed is that sometimes it does remove labels off the engine. I wouldn't do it on new computerized cars but for the old corvettes I have seen it done on it worked great (Corvette shop I worked for in the 90's used to send original cars out for this - they were all carb'ed cars older than 1968). I steam clean my kitchen floors, works great at getting grease/mung up. Used to do this after hours at a buddy's chicken restaurant in NY and that's what convinced me it was the way to do the house. I use a bissel little green machine on the wife's audi to get the kid stains out of it. It was recommended by this guy who does a car flipping series on jalopnik: http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/big-thrill-tiny-package-the-story-of-my-ep3-honda-civ-1586682425 . I had used a large upright home one on my E30 bmw vert interior and accidentally wiped out a seat belt sensor the first time (thank god e30 parts are cheap) so it pays to pay attention. It also brought the mildew smell in the carpet, which had been suppressed by layers and layers of fabreeze, right to the surface - but a couple of passes made it much more bearable and almost undetectable. So my near worthless opinion - for exterior: if all you are doing is new car detailing then it doesn't seem like it's worth it because the chance of damaging an expensive sensor is high for a relatively low return. If all you do is old american v-8, carbed sleds, then it might be worth it. For interior a small $90 unit might do you as good as any industrial machine would, the only advantage of the industrial machine is longevity but that all depends on the frequency on which you are doing interior details.

FWIW, the car is so bad that there is no way that the seller wasn't intentionally hiding stuff, so if you wanted to take legal action there might be something to stand on. However, financially it is absolutely not worth it. you paid for a lesson in what not to do in buying a project car. Ebay in general is a red flag, paying with a check is a red flag, pictures that look like they were taken with a potato instead of a camera is a red flag. so rather than dwell on what's happened....let's focus on the future. 1) Leave the seller negative feedback. It doesn't do much but it does something 2) how much did you pay for this wreck? If it wasn't a lot might I suggest that you look into one of the dynacorn Repop bodies. $13,500 and the car is all brand new sheet-metal ready to paint. You just weld the section that had the vin tag and data plate on to the new car and then you can cut up the old shell and sell the metal to some other restorer. Just looking at whats there and what's probably still hidden I think you'll be cheaper in the long run, unless there is a body guy on here willing to give someone the "bro price" on building a unibody car up from the vin tags. http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/gm_models2.html 3) you can sell it and recoup some of the losses. There is no such thing as a "cheap" first gen F body project anymore and while you probably won't get your money back for it you'll get something. Personally I would give you $500 for it (please don't take that as an insult) but that is what it is worth to me to cut up and resell as parts, someone with real stars in their eyes and basic working knowledge of a mig welder might give you a lot more. hey Farkas, while I agree with most of what you say there are ways to be less of a dick about it. And for the record this is still a scam - the seller knew this car had these issues and was fishing for a buyer who wasn't going to look to close. That's why it was on ebay in the first place, that is why the pics were taken the way they were, it was all setup to hide what is so glaringly obviously a wreck that if on the off chance that the seller really was ignorant then they are also probably mentally handicapped. These kind of actions are what separate good guys from scumbags, and this seller is a scumbag. You know what we (society) call people who willfully look for people to exploit? Scam Artists.

there is an emergency release switch to get the car out of park designed to be used by Firemen responding to an accident. Don't force the shifter out of park otherwise you will break something. On the monte carlos it requires you to remove an access panel in the console, I don't know exactly where it is on the cobalt but I know it is there (it's required by law). There is a shifter recall on the 2009 Cobalts. maybe take it to the dealer and make it their problem.

I am thinking about killing my cable as well. Any suggestions on internet providers as that was the #1 reason we got it in the first place since wife and I occasionally work from home?

I wish I had seen this sooner. The wife drove through a monster puddle on sunday and I spent the rest of the evening on my back in the rain re-attaching a lower apron that had shed most of it's mounting screws. Sounds like you guys had a great time.

I have to say...I know people want the panther cars because "hey, cheap well maintained RWD car that people move out of the way for on the highway" but what if you want something like a Chevy PPV (otherwise known as the cheap way to get a Chevy SS). In NYC this meant going down to your local taxi depot with cash or financing in hand and buying a "used" one with under 10K miles, but if you don't live in NYC, where can you get a chevy PPV? Also how does one locate and verify some of the old highway patrol 2wd tahoe 9c1 pursuit vehicles? I get it that most people are looking for old police cars because they are just dirt cheap, but what about if you just really dig police cars and want something other than a panther?

Passing this on to my wife, she's currently a Junior RE appraiser but looking for a change.

implemented? Maybe something, maybe nothing. It could be that there is another 97 4 runner with a similar plate as yours and they got a partial plate from the scene and are running down the leads, or it could be that you bumped someone's car without realizing it and they called it in as a hit and run (even though you may not have known). Did you get details? Chances are the officer inspected the car before talking to you, the conversation was more to size you up to see if you were hiding anything or acting suspiciously.

Sure it is the little 914 with a 911 6cyl jammed into it's ass, but at the end of the day you are still driving a 914. It's like having the best stock trabant ever made, sounds good in theory and draws a crowd at C&C but at the end of the day you still need to drive home in a tin can.

yes, that was my point. All V70Rs are AWD, but most plain jane volvos that are made in the millions are FWD. By being a limited edition with low production and not FWD, they are bound to be collectible.

Tuckers are awesome. All 40's cars should have been as awesome as a tucker. Actually everything from that era is better looking than the hat full of smashed assholes called the fox mustang. Seriously. volvo V70R, I've seen three of them this month. I know their production numbers are in the hundreds but I'm good on there not being more in the world. Besides volvo collectors need something to aspire to 30 years from now that isn't FWD. BMW 1M - they should have made all the cars. Only new car I know that appreciated in price within 5 years of it's original sale date. WTF. If they built more of them this wouldn't have happened and then I could afford to go buy one. the Porsche 914/6? Who blew who to get that car on the list.

Well....it requires a police inspection so if you were a bad guy doing bad guy things you'd probably get caught. Good news is you don't actually have to go to VT for the inspection. Actually the whole process is done by mail. Works for cars and bikes of a certain age. Also considering titled bare frames usually run about $150 for most old Japanese motorcycles and Harley's older than 1971 don't have frame numbers there are easier ways to get stolen old bikes paperwork.

I'm fairly certain with the big bulky honda keys that they have an electronic transponder in them that won't let you start the car without it. Might want to start with what year and model honda since some of them have switchblade keys styles you can order from honda. this might be of some interest:

just curious....what were the steps you took and the products you used. I am fascinated by people's different detailing techniques. Looks great by the way. Edit: saw the steps. Still curious about the products. I used to be a huge fan of Mother's 3 part system but then they made Phase 2 machine only so I couldn't do it by hand anymore.

Real Estate Scams tend to disproportionately affect the elderly because they are: 1) most likely to own their house outright or at least have sizeable equity 2) are usually on fixed income and in need of money 3) are not always as "mentally sharp" to protect themselves against stuff like this. Desperate people are also a large target and there have been a lot of them since the housing crisis of 2008 which has given rise to fake foreclosure counseling, phony forensic loan auditing, nonexistent mass rejoinder lawsuits, bait-and-switch ploys, leaseback programs, and fraudulent “government” modification programs. there is a pretty good forbes article that gives a high level view: http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/07/16/3-insidious-real-estate-scams-and-how-to-avoid-them/ The problem with Real estate scams is the problem with Real Estate - it is one of those processes that seems complicated to the lay person because there are a lot of steps and not a lot of easy access to information (the info is out there and easy to get a hold of but not everyone understands how it is written).

here is an adv rider write up on how to do it: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=655441 haven't done it in a while because I haven't bought anything newer than 1972 in a while and in NY, you don't need anything other than a bill of sale, a tax form and a vin rubbing, to get a transferable registration for 1972 or older.

What year is the truck exactly? Go get a Vermont registration. Vermont doesn't issue titles for vehicles 25 years old or older, and the dontvrequire you to be a resident of the state to register a car there. They do require you to have it inspected by a police officer to make sure not stolen. Anyway, you'll even get Vermont plates to use for the vehicle, and after a year re-register/title it in ohio. I've done this a few times for bikes I bought without titles. I'll tell you a quick horror story about cars in barns. So back when I was more active in GTO clubs (1990s) there was this guy in the club who found a GTO rolling shell in a barn in upstate NY. Same kind of story, people bought the house and farm with car in it already and no papers. So he buys it. Goes to register and the vin comes up stolen. Turns out the previous owners of the house used to rent his barn to a couple of local hot rodder kids and they must have stolen it in the 80's for the drivetrain and just left it. So the buyer is out the $1500 or whatever he paid, and the cops impound the car to return to the old owner. The moral of the story? Before you do anything, take the VIN to your local pd and have them run the number just to make sure it doesn't come up stolen. If it does the PD might remove it for him for free anyway.

Have you been to rice paddy? Used parts are better than no parts. Popping can be anything from an air leak to mis adjusted timing. Try checking the timing first as it probably hasn't been done in a long time.

Not only can scams like that still happen but they have gotten way more advanced. I used to live in New Orleans a decade ago and there used to be a little known filing loophole that allowed people to act as if they owned your house. By the time any clerk figured out their paperwork was bogus they have already started eviction proceedings, called the cops for trespassing, filed FEMA claims on your property, and tried to extort money out of you through "legal" harassment. Once the paperwork was discovered bogus it was just thrown out, most weren't filed under real names anyway so no action was taken. But the type of scam you are talking about with your grandfather is an old one and relies on the trusting nature of older generations. It still goes on but now it targets people at risk of foreclosure with high equity in the home. Usually the scammer will tell you to stop making payments while they work a solution with the bank, then the day before the foreclosure they will tell you the work out didn't work and to sign the house to them to keep living in it. Desperate people sometimes do and then they find they still owe the mortgage and now the scammer has their collateral and they are being evicted by the scammer or paying rent to him. I believe it is called equity stripping.