[eekazum]

1990 L coupe, manual transmission, gold, 157000 miles.

the guy was shady as all hell, buried knee-deep in lies... but all i'm really lookin for is a good frame, steady engine and tranny so this wasn't a bad deal at all for me.




only 10000k miles on the tires. i don't recognize those rims but it says acura on them and it matches the car's color..


that ding on the passenger side is more noticeable here. the red coupe is my old 5-speed and the gold one at the end of the culdesac is my auto!


a better shot of the damage



the driverside mirror was hit or something. they filled it with foam so the motor struggles against it. it sucks to think a fellow japanese did this as a fix...


another shot of the damage. i really don't know what caused this. it looks like the dude was powersliding and slammed into a fire hydrant or something.

other than that, minor things i need to fix on this vehicle of the top of my head are:

1) that darn driverside mirror! foam is NOT a repair option for our cars!!
2) hood shocks are shot. gunna swap over the ones from my old 5-speed.
3) the lights don't come on when the doors open. hopefully it's not some battery killing short.
4) bottom of the line sony head unit (gt21 or something) with 180w clarion speakers. i promised the dude i'd call him once i remove it since i didn't want it and he didn't know how to take it out himself.
5) the dimmer knob is really finicky.
6) power steering feels kinda stiff. i noticed a leak near the center of the axle when i changed the oil. gotta look into that.

anyhoo, i'm sleepy. i'ma update a bit mroe later...

 

[eekazum]

i paid $1895. didn't bother haggling cuz the dude i got it from was so fulla lies, i didn't want him to actually mess with the car to make it his ideal of my price.
i found it on craigslist as "clean car no dents" and when i pointed out the passenger side, he acted surprised. he then told me he's the second owner and that he's selling it cuz he just bought an audi and has no parking space. black dude with a heavy unrecognizable accent. on friday, when i went to purchase it, the title has a japanese name on it (i know cuz i'm japanese myself) so when i call that to his attention, he says he was selling it for his exgirlfriend who moved back to japan... more bs as the name "daisuke uchizawa" is a masculine name. *sigh* i was ready to just walk away but he didn't slip up anymore and the transaction commenced. as it is, i test drove it and the engine really had me hooked. call me a sucker...

and i'm really teetering on the rims. it's not....bad. and if i felt like it, i'll swap over the rims from my old 5-speed before i retire it.

 

[eekazum]

pacallen: yer right, it was the door sensor switches. it seems someone broke off both of those switches since the button in the ignition that tells the car the key is still inserted gets stuck. i swapped over the switches already and a light tap after i remove the key sets that straight.

and i intend to make it my daily driver but i'm opting to repair that door in time.

another update: so i changed the oil and noticed one of the cv boots was oily and that one of the middle boots on that assembly was torn in half. could this be the reason for the power steering being so stiff?

and now a bigger problem. when i shift into first or second gear, the whole car vibrates. everything smooths out when the clutch is fully engaged but there's that moment of shuddering that just won't go away. it's a pain driving in slow traffic. my friend told me it's a common thing with new clutches that weren't installed correctly. it sucks not having ANY maintenance records...

lastly, i just found out my passenger side shocks are probably out. i went over a speed bump at work and my right end bounced around unhappily.

i'm probably gunna swap the axle and the shock over from my red 5-speed... anyone know if it's difficult to do?