Got my third SS yesterday

[Tleg93]

It's red, auto (will change that soon hopefully) and in reasonable OK shape for what I got it for. In the short term, at least, I have a good tranny to put in it while I wait and see what's going on with this other one...

[555BCTurbo]

Yay!

[legacy92ej22t]

Congrats Scott. I can't wait to get a peep.

[Tleg93]

Yeah, it's pretty alright. Red was never my fav color but it can look good with nice wheels and TLC.

[bmxkelowna]

rio red and look really good! congats

[Tleg93]

So it looks like I've managed to asses all the things that need done.

Driver's side Control Arm needs replaced - pushed back about an inch
Driver's side CV joint needs replaced
Gas fill neck needs replaced
Oil Drain pan is crushed - needs replaced
Passenger valve cover gasket (moot point)
Driver's side parking light needs replaced
Air dam on the sunroof needs replaced
Transmission needs fixed or replaced - trying to drop engine and tranny in
Trunk rug and interior carpet
Seats need replaced
Fuel senders malfunctioning
Timing belt cover and gasket missing
Rear sway bar link missing
Front passenger fender needs replaced
Need new speakers
Rust on rear passenger wheel well

[Tleg93]

The saga

Replaced the bent control arm and ball joint today. Took around 20 minutes.

Oh, I just wanted to add that I went to Williamsport Auto to get the work done because Linda told me to come in today. I got there and she said it might not be till the end of the week. I asked her politely why she kept pushing my appointments back, since I do have a schedule and life to live and all. She told me that they're really busy and I said that it was just a control arm replacement. Then she said she wasn't really fond of working on Turbos. I had to remind her that it was a control arm, not a turbo...what a hack.

So, I took it to AR Kinley's and they're pretty cool about it. They scheduled me a day to do an alignment and some other stuff. I'm liking them far better. Linda's prejudice against me or turbos is strange to me, it business not personal. I think it comes from the time that they did another job for me and forgot to re-connect the PCV hoses off of the valve covers and it sprayed oil all over the place. I was kind of disgusted and I think it pissed them off.

[legacy92ej22t]

I agree. I used to stand up for them but lately I've been very dissapointed with their service. She orders the wrong parts and I've even scheduled appointments with her and then brought the car in and she acts like I didn't have an appointment! WTF!?

I don't really like AR though. I've only ever been there a couple times but they kind of acted like assholes....

I pretty much only trust myself to work on my rides. The thing that sucks is that I just have zero time to work on cars anymore.

[Tleg93]

Yeah, it is hard to trust that any given mechanic is putting everything back together ok. Especially so for me since there's a ton of noise coming from the control arm that was replaced. Everytime I hit the brakes I'm getting a thudish sound. I'm thinking he didn't seat the ball joint properly or messed it up while he took it off. He popped the control arm off after removing the bolt holding the ball joint in place. I'm not sure you're supposed to do it that way for some reason.

[Tleg93]

Well, the crank pulley just died on me. This is turning into a fucking nightmare!

[Tleg93]

I gotta tell ya, I'm not at all pleased about this car. I feel totally ripped off. I guess it's my fault for being desperate for a car and taking a chance when my gut was telling me to pass it by. F&%*!!!!

[legacy92ej22t]

What do you mean the crank pulley died? Did it just throw a belt or did the pulley fall off?

[Tleg93]

No, I was parked outside my house and I heard a clacking noise. I popped the hood to find the crank pulley wobbling around, ready to pop off. Basically, it's burned out and if I understand correctly, the pin will be sheared off inside and it probably needs a new timing gear.

[legacy92ej22t]

Well that fuckin' sucks!

I've been holding my tongue since day one but I have to say that I think you got ripped off. I think $800-900 would have been a fair price but $1200 is too much. I'm not trying to add to your disgust or frustration and I haven't said anything up until this point because I knew you were in a pinch and needed to get a car asap and I didn't want to bring you down. I think it's pretty fishy that so many problems are going wrong with the car so quickly and that bepa didn't know about all the problems. Seems like he dumped it off without being totally up front about the cars condition, to me.

[legacy92ej22t]

What is it now?

Bad tranny, bad crank pulley (could be a bad crank if the key got fucked up too bad), bent control arm, bad fuel pump wiring, horrible interior, rusted out fender, Inhibitor switch (or whatever the hell it's called) is bad, bad purge control solenoid, broken and loose hood scoop, I know there's more but I can't think of it all right now.

It's not even my car and I'm all worked up over it!

[legacy92ej22t]

Oh, and all the stuff I didn't mention that you listed up above.....

[Tleg93]

Yeah, all that and last night the control arm that was replaced started making noise. The castle nut on the ball joint was stripped out. The other passengers can't roll down their windows and the the timing belt cover is missing? I'm pissed about this and I have to now contemplate what I should do about it. I was planning on doing something about the tranny but again and I'm forced to do it now. Oh, and the oil pan is totally smashed too. Yep, I got totally screwed...

[555BCTurbo]

I wish you were closer...because I would totally be all over helping you get that car dialed in!!

[Tleg93]

Yeah, me too. My dilemma is that I don't have the tools or place to work on it myself so guess what that means, ugh. Basically, I'm looking at a 700 dollar fix. So I want to drop my other engine in it but the other car sits in a bad spot and it has no strut tower or wheels. Get a rollback you say? Well, that's only half the problem. So now I'm looking at pulling two motor/trannies and installing one of them, tearing the other block down and selling the short block. It would be nice to do sometime but right now I just want to buy another car.

[Tleg93]

Well, it's been towed to the scrap heap. Thanks a lot man. Just kidding. I wish I had the time to do it myself but, alas, I don't so it went to a master tech and we'll see what he says.

[legacy92ej22t]

Did you try to see if the crank pulley just needed tightened? I'm sure you did but it never hurts to ask....

[Tleg93]

As it turns out, the mechanic said it might be the rubber part of the pulley that's worn out. Still though, it's a pain even if it is something I could have done myself easily. I'd rather let someone else do it at this point. Later on, when I've got myself situated I'll be more proactive.

[BAC5.2]

My goodness Scott, this really is a disaster!

Who sold you the car? Why weren't they up front about all of this nonsense? These are things a good owner should have known, and things they should have told you!

I'm with Matt, it's not even my situation, and I'm all flustered!

[Tleg93]

The guy who sold me the car was a recent board member, Bepa. He did tell me about the tranny but did not tell me about the smashed drain pan, control arm, fan and a couple other things he had to know about. The crank pulley is hard call but it seems odd that the timing belt covers were missing and then this happens. If the guy was asking 800 I'd be happy.

[Tleg93]

The saga continues...


So, in the next chapter of this red car's history I have learned during the engine swap that the crossmember is bent into and around the sway bar and the engine mounts are torn to hell. Most likely the cause of this and all the other issues was an impact on the underside. Since the oil pan is crushed, control arm bent, cross member bent and sway bar bent I'm guess the impact was on a rock or something that crushed the pan while pushing the engine upwards, breaking the hood scoop and engine mounts.