Well, I’m flying to LA tomorrow morning to pick up my car to drive home to Boulder. Wish me luck, it could be an adventure…
I’ve have a friend there going over the car to make sure it is safe to drive.
cheers,
bruce
picking up my car...
leggwork
#4
well, it was an adventure…
The shop that did my timing chain and LSD swap and a general checkup was nervous about letting me take the car due to the worn suspension and steering. I didn’t appreciate what they were saying about the front end shimmy until I hit 60 on the highway (still in town) and the whole front end started shaking - I pictured having to drive 1200 miles at less than 60 mph … Luckily, when I put new cheap tires ($35!, I’ve never spent that little on tires…) on it the shaking resolved and I just had somewhat vague steering to contend with. Could easily hit 100 on the drive home in straight bits.
My friend knows people that work at a place called Astor Classics so we stopped by to have a look. It is an amazing personal car museum with over 300 cars from the 20’s to the 70’s. Everything looked to be in perfect condition. This guy made his money in radio broadcasting and they also had antique telephone and lionel train museums. A tech was getting all the Fords in one room prepared to drive - Mr. Astor had said that he wanted to take some of them out for a drive that weekend! Amazing place to visit if you ever get a chance.
The car was only $700, but with the diff swap, new tires for the trip, new battery, timing chain replace, headlight rewiring, general checkup, food, gas and hotel on the trip, and compensating my friend for all his help, the bill quickly got over $2500. Maybe there is a $2500 law with these cars - you either buy it for >$2500, or you get it cheap and then have to do maintenance that takes it over $2500.
However, it is a straight Socal car with only a couple of minor rust spots. The engine is running much better after the 20 hour drive home. The shop reported low compression on one cylinder and fouling of one plug, but I’m waiting to get it rechecked to see if the usage has loosened the rings and seals up any (wishful thinking …).
Now I’m gathering up the various brake, suspension, driveline and interior bits and preparing the car to get the cage put in. I’m going to learn and do most of the suspension swap stuff so I know how to maintain that stuff in the future. I’ll leave the welding to experts though and will get somebody to double check my work.
cheers,
bruce
sdais
#5
Glad to hear you made it ok, that’s a long drive in an unknown car! When I bought in Orange County I was nervous about it making the 50 miles down to San Diego (it of course made it fine).
Good luck with the build - I’m sure it will be fun & educational. 18 months ago when I got my e30 I knew absolutely -0- about cars. I had a shop install the suspension, but otherwise I’ve done 80% of the rest of the work. It was enjoyable & I learned a great deal. I now wish I’d done the suspension myself as well, so that I’d have learned more about that part of the car.
leggwork wrote:
[quote] I didn’t appreciate what they were saying about the front end shimmy until I hit 60 on the highway (still in town) and the whole front end started shaking - I pictured having to drive 1200 miles at less than 60 mph … Luckily, when I put new cheap tires ($35!, I’ve never spent that little on tires…) on it the shaking resolved and I just had somewhat vague steering to contend with. Could easily hit 100 on the drive home in straight bits.
bruce[/quote]
Oh yeah. I actually did have to drive 1187 miles at less than 60 to get home from PA to FL once. The CA bushings were shot. Than truely sucked.glad it worked out for you.