And Then There Was One

This happened a bit ago. It was actually a month or so before we got the Matrix, but within the window when I was already planning on buying another car. My thought was to buy a replacement, and non-op Jade, since she would likely not pass smog. Then, at my leisure, drop the oil pan and pull the cylinder head, knock the pistions out, and replace them with new ones & new rings. While I had it that far apart, I'd go ahead and get a valve job on the head, and replace the timing chain and oil pump. That would probably make it into an engine that would go another 200m to 400m miles without much issue. Probably around $750 to $1,000 in parts and machine shop work, and who knows how many of my all too brief weekends, but since it otherwise doesn't have many issues (besides the seat covers coming apart at the seams, the clear coat on the paint flaking off, and the sunroof and rear passenger side window not working) for not that much, I'd have a long lasting reliable car.

Anyway, what happened was this: We were driving home one evening on a road with 3 lanes each direction. This particular kind I don't care for, the right hand lane is available for parking... sometimes. In the evening is one of those times. We are in the middle lane, crusing along, when a Ram pickup comes flying up in the right lane, passing everyone on the right, where there's a semi trailer parked up ahead. They could slow down and drop in behind us, but do you think a passing-on-the-right jerkwad is going to do that? Nope, they just sideswipe us coming into our lane, then drop in behind us. As soon as there's room in the right lane, I do what any rational person would do, pull off to the side to get their information. Do you think a sideswiping bonehead is going to do that? That's what I thought, they just headed on, so I followed them. I had my boy write down their liscense plate number, and my wife call the law. Their attempts at evasion were fairly laughable, at the next light, they got in the left turn lane. I followed them. They got out of the left turn lane, I followed them. Where we were just before the freeway ramp we were heading for, they had gotten all the way into the right lane, and were heading as though they were going to turn into the restaurant, I was right behind them to follow them. Then, they go from the far right lane that would get onto the northbound to the next one that would go to the southbound. I followed them. When the light changed, they cut back into the northbound lanes and entered the freeway. I followed them, but this time I wasn't able to keep from getting a couple of other cars between us, and after we were on the freeway, I mistook another pickup for theirs, and at that point they got away.

Meanwhile, my wife has gotten connected to the CHP. by the time she had, I'd given up and we were headed home. They asked us to return to where it occurred, and they would send a unit out to take a report, so we doubled back. It ended up being about another hour, and based on previous experiences with hit and runs, even having the information of the other vehicle, I didn't expect anything to happen.

Fast forward a few weeks (it's blurry now, it may have been before or after we got the Matrix, but I think it was after) and out of the blue, I get a call from an insurance company about an accident I'd been involved in. I replied, "oh, the hit and run???" Yes, that was the one!!! They asked for my version (pretty much what I've related here) and they tell me they are taking full responsibility. Yeah, that seems right!!! On account of the CCP flu, the auiditor wants me to send pictures, pretty much what you see here, scrapes along the door and wheel arch, along with rubber transfer and scraping on the face of the wheel. Nothing that would be that big of a deal to repair and paint over (did I ever mention that the paint on the hood had gotten so bad that I painted it with some hammer tone paint? I don't think I did. I was considering doing the whole car with the same color since it looked pretty decent, although not a match to the Homecoming color) but they came back with the result of it being totalled!!! If we didn't retain the vehicle, they will pay us...$250 more than we'd bought it for!!! I had to think for a bit, I think it was around $500 less if we retained it, but I decided against it. Before it was towed off, I yanked off the black badges, the radio and phone holder unit, the glasspack muffler, and swapped the battery for one that wouldn't hold a charge. I left the dash cam-back up cam unit in, because it was always rather dim, and would have been a lot of work to remove. If I'd had time and inclination, I would have gotten a plain instrument cluster and held onto the Homecoming gauges. The tires were also almost new looking, I have a couple more tired tires I could have swapped on, but honestly, they are pretty cheap, and right now I don't have anything they could go on (although there's a really janky '95 SL-2 that they are only asking $800 for...)

Kind of sad to see her go. Farewell, my friend.

The Sound of Jade

Finally did this yesterday.

When we bought Jade, I quickly discovered she had the same trash can type of center muffler that Baby and 3 came with, and just like both of those, it was leaking from the crimped on end of the front. It was getting worse, to the point it would billow exhaust up around the front of the car if you were stopped for a while. I still had the first one I'd gotten for Baby, with the front and rear flanges for bolt-on interchangeability. Of course, 3 still has the glass pack, and whenever I get around to yanking the drivetrain out of her, I'll take the whole back end of the exhaust system. Yesterday I took her to the same muffler shop that had made up the original 512 Labs exhaust, and had them put in the middle muffler.

My wife had always liked how quiet Jade was, after having driven Scruffy around with her voice. I had the thought that if I removed the rear muffler, but kept the extra twists and turns over the rear axle and had it exit at the rear, it should have less volume but still have better flow. I had given them instructions to do so, but there were two customers ahead of me. That gave me time to do a little sifting through their pile of old tips, and I found this nice looking double tip. I'd wanted a double tip, if I had my choice of style, I would have something similar to the Gale Banks F-body power pack system I had on my Camaro, with the last couple feet chrome, a slight bend towards the end, and maybe a 20° slant to the very end. This isn't anything like that, but still looks good, and fills up the bumper clearance nicely. Also, the outside tip is slightly shorter that the inside one, matching the curve.

I asked how much to put it on, and it was an extra $20. I'll take it!!! The whole job ended up being $120, plus $10 tax. The price keeps going up!!! They used the strap that had held the original muffler to hang the pipe. It looked like it was a good fit where they had it positioned.

But when I got a look at it later, I realized it wasn't lined up with the body of the car. It comes out at a slant. They have a 90 day warranty, I wonder if they'll honor it to straighten it out, or if it will cost extra to have that done.

Well, it sounds good, but not significantly quieter for having it exit the back. I'll see how it is after I get the glass pack off 3 swapped in. For the first time, it actually seems like it's added some power!!!

Jade Gets Shanked

Haven't done a lot about Jade here, because there hasn't been a whole lot to post about, but now I've got a couple things. A couple weeks back we were driving home one evening, and there was a loud noise from under the hood and the alternator light came on. Pretty instantly I correctly analysed the problem to be the serpentine belt to have let go. We're around 7 miles or so from home still, but on the freeway and moving pretty good, and it's been California-cold these nights, so I kept her moving with an eye on the gauges. Coming off the ramp by our home, and it made a pretty bad sound going around, so I pulled into a parking lot for a quick visual inspection. Sure enough, there's tattered belt, but nothing else seems out of sorts. I proceed home, going around the back way, which is not as steep so as not to get the engine any hotter than it already is. About halfway, it starts not going, like the engine has lost power or the transmission is slipping a lot. Parked and walked home for the other car to fetch my wife.

On my way home the next evening I pick up a new belt, then head over with my tools and a scissor jack. The belt is a little tight, but is a lot easier if you pull the top engine mount off and jack up the engine a bit. Only five nuts to pull the mount, but I'd forgotten to grab my 15mm deep socket, so it didn't come off so easy. Tried with my combo wrench, and could only get one. Oh well, I'll try just snaking it in and working the tensioner to see if I have any luck. I start trying to get the belt in position, and notice it's short an idler pulley. Hmmm... I start looking closer, and there it is, down by the crank pulley!!! I fish it out, and even find the bolt that is supposed to hold it on resting on the frame rail!!! Looks like the bearing on it has seized up, and I theorize that having done so, it unscrewed the bolt. Looks like I'm not finishing tonight (and it's just starting to rain) so I try starting her up and driving her, and she works just fine for the little bit over the hill and down to our home. The next night I picked up a pulley and finished that job off with no further issue, and she's been running fine since.

THEN, this last Friday, We're out on our way to pick the younger up from school and head out for some dinner, and as we're getting near I start hearing a tick-tick rotational noise coming from the rear right. Huh. When we arrive, I go to investigate, and as I near the offending corner, I can hear the air hissing out!!!

I check it out, and discover it feels like a spike sticking an inch or more out of the inner sidewall!!! I ask my awesome shadetree mechanic friend if he's got a local place that'll sell me a tire, and he says he's got one guy who'll set me up with a used one for $35, or another place that will sell me a new one for around $55. Of course, for $20 difference, I'm going new!!!

We head over, and since he knows the guy he goes in and asks the guy if he's got a tire for $50, and the guy right off says yeah. Should have said less!!! I say at that price I'll take two!!! That's all mounted and balanced, for just a bit more than some shops charge just for the labor!!! A bit more background, Jade had two nice Goodyears on the back when we bought her, and a couple cheapies worn off on the edges in the front, and a pretty good pull to the right. Early on, we took her for an alignment where the guy noted the disparity in tires and suggested rotating the good ones to the front, which I'd already been planning. He did so at a bargain rate.

Anyway, that's the good news, it got the bad tire. When he got it off, it turned out to be a hex driver bit that had nicely speared the sidewall. In the shot of the strut, you can see it has an area where the paint is chipped away to metal!!!

Turned out, it was a lot longer than it originally appeared!!!

And So It Begins

That tenuous transitional step between concept and reality, to actually stop just thinking about something and start doing something. I suppose the real first step was finding Jade (thus far the name my wife has decided on for her new ride, as good a name as any, I suppose. She is SO happy with her, you'd think I bought her a new Cadillac!!!) so I can get to modding on Scruffy. The next, and and finally getting some actual skin in the game, step occurred on this last Friday. New tires are a very soon necessity for her (Scruffy), and prior to doing that, I'd wanted to locate the next set of rims, to keep from having to pay to get the tires moved around. Currently she's rolling on the alloys that came on 3, which are also the exact same style as jade has. All that works out, because one of them on Scruffy was said to have been bent, and feels like it at certain speeds. A couple on each also have some curb damage, so between them there's likely a good set.

SO, I had the idea to find some steelies I could moon-cap and maybe do in the contrast color, whatever that turns out to be. I slightly rued having sent the originals of Scruffy's west with Baby, but in the interest of saving alloys, it was necessary. Also, it looks like the profile of Saturn steelies isn't well suited to having a center cap hub cap. Lots of cars have the same bolt pattern, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find a junkyard set that would work, and over Thanksgiving weekend, my dad and I were thinking of heading over for their sale day. That never happened, I worked Black Friday for the double time and a half, as well as my normal Saturday shift, and it was far too busy to get that in.

Another thing I'd been looking at was some manufacturers are now making larger rims of steel. First noticed this on the lady friends' Scion, which has hub caps on 16" wheels. I was going to jam her up and see if she'd be interested in trading for some factory Saturn alloys that would have a lower cost to put tires on, but alas, it's the newer model with 5 lugs. As is my custom, I kept looking around to see what people might be selling, and came upon these!!! Not what I had in mind, but a good looking style that will go fairly well with the primer black aesthetic I have in mind, and are also larger diameter. Currently they have 205-40R-17's on them, which are shorter but wider than what I've got, but by just a tad each way. Nets about 3/8" of drop. There's probably a year's worth of tread left on them, but I'm planning on going with 35's eventually, which will be even smaller than what I've got, as well as surprisingly affordable!!! That will get a total drop of about 3/4", plus the around 1 1/2" that dropped springs get. Of course, that's a ways out still, and will give me plenty of time to decide if I like it fine with what I've already got. Speaking of affordable, the guy only wanted $200 for the whole set, which of course is almost less than just getting 4 tires mounted!!! No curb rash whatsoever. Ironically, they were off the earlier model Scion with the same bolt pattern as Saturns.

So now it's time to start getting other things in order. The wear patterns on the current tires suggest that things aren't right with the alignment, and I know the tie rod ends are shot. At 190,000, likely that's not all!!! If I'm going to be putting in dropped springs, she'll be needing an alignment anyway, and may as well refresh everything before that happens. Of course, while I'd be putting on new springs, new struts are only logical. I have ordered both the springs and struts thus far, and will soon be ordering tie rod ends and ball joints. May also get some polyurethane bushings to tighten everything up even more!!! I'd already planned on going with rebuilds on all the brake cylinders while I'm in the course of refitting and new hoses, as well as probably new rotors and pads up front, since I'll have to give everything that will show through the new rims a coat of paint. Oh yeah, also I ordered the necessary lug nuts to fit on such a rim.

This morning I took the original picture from when we'd first got her where I'd tinted the rear windows and put it back in Paint Shop Pro. First I removed the rear doors, then made the panels continuous from front to back. Came out better than the first attempt!!!

Hmmm, while I have Paint Shop Pro going, how about seeing how she'd look with a bit of a drop??? With them old hub caps, no less!!! Got that done, and did the scroll back and forth between the files, and was amused by the jumping effect of the drop I'd performed... a GIF is in order!!!

After that, I messed with the shadow to make it look proper, then black and whited it to simulate primer, as well as mirroring it to make it look different than the other shots.

Hey, you may ask, what about your idea to gull wing her??? Still knocking around in me melon, it is, but thought I'd share the sketch lady friend did before I did mine, back on the reunion lunch day. There you have it, folks, the first rendering of a Saturn Gull Wing Wagon!!! Upon completion, it was noted that it looked a bit like a space alien!!!

Collect All Three!!!

So, Scruffy is getting a bit long in the tooth. Over 190,000 miles now she has. She still runs good... kind of. In the last couple weeks she had a low idle issue on and off, happened once while I was driving her, and then started again about a week back, more on than off. What's more, the transmission has been acting up a bit. Not a whole lot, but for the last few months losing a bit of fluid, and when that happens, she starts not upshifting. All it takes is a bit more transmission fluid, and she's good to go again. I was able to give the filter almost a quarter turn a bit ago, and it really hasn't had that problem since. Of all the Saturns we've had, this is the only one I've had this issue with, and several times!!! More troubling is sometimes shifting into reverse, it'll not go, then finally do a slam into gear. I've seen this symptom before, and I suspect a bad solenoid, which is fairly easy to do, but at the same time rather involved. Oh yeah, the tires are at the end of their lives, too.

So for quite a while I've been keeping an eye out. Mostly the criteria was automatic, power windows and door locks, and low miles at a decent price. A couple months back I'd seen an ad for a fairly low mile wagon that looked good in the pictures. Ended up not looking nearly as good in person, and I messaged that back to the seller and left without even taking it for a spin. Not long after I saw another wagon with similar low miles. Ad didn't specify if it had power windows and locks, so I'd messaged them and asked, to which they replied yes, come and have a look. I moved money around until I had it in hand, then went out to take a look, planning on jumping on it if it ran and looked as good as the pictures. Got there, and what do you know, no power windows and door locks!!! What, do you think I'm not going to notice that??? Don't waste my time.

Kept an eye out, and one I kept seeing recently was priced on the high end of my range, $2,500, with 90,000 miles. Looked fairly clean in the pictures, and had the bonus of a sunroof. The distinction I'd never heard of was that he had it listed as a "Glenview Edition". Last Friday my curiosity got the best of me, and we went out and looked at it. The mechanical and interior were fairly flawless, and the body wasn't especially bad, but had all the bumpers scraped, a tweak in the lower part of the driver's door down to the metal frame, and a wrinkle on the front of the hood. While we test drove it, he told us of one time he'd come out and found footprints over the top, and on the sunroof!!! After the test drive, I noticed a small dent on the back of the roof that fit the tale. Indeed, it had "Glenview Edition" pinstriped on the side, and was fairly loaded, even having ABS and traction control, but with steel wheels instead of the alloys I would have expected. There was one more about an hour's drive away I wanted to look at with 100,000 miles but only asking $1,750. We headed out, but Friday traffic was too much, and we went home instead, and I replaced the idle control valve that seems to have been causing the low idle problem on Scruffy.

When I'd gotten in touch with the second one on Friday letting them know I wouldn't make it that day, I asked if I could come by Saturday after work. They weren't going to be there, so I'd been planning on going Sunday. As is my custom, I kept looking, and Saturday night I saw an ad down in the farther away section. The price of $1,800 caught my eye, and the miles of 75,000 sweetened the deal. A scan through the pictures showed something that put it into the extraordinary category, white faced gauges!!! The only other ad I'd seen these in was a Red Hot edition coupe that I was never able to get in touch with the seller of. A closer look at the picture showed the Homecoming Commemorative Edition script on the tachometer.

These came with most of the options, and as the Red and White Hot coupes feature, blacked out badges. The interior has leather on the outer edges of the seats and cloth on the center portion, which given the propensity of G.M. leather to crack out, seems like a distinct advantage!!!

Also featured on the Homecoming Commemorative Edition was a pearl Mint Green paint. The paint has seen better days, having quite a bit of clear coat delamination on the hood, trunk, rear wing (also included in the package), and door surrounds. The seller hadn't done the current smog check on it, but I was reasonably confident that it would pass with no issue. It did, with almost undetectable amounts of NOX. I offered $1,600 on account of the lack smog check, and they agreed. Less than a minute later, they said they'd take an additional $100 off for the smog!!! Told my wife, "See, I can't spend more on your car than I did on mine!!!"

I'm seriously considering looking into getting a repaint on her, and there's a myriad of little things that could use fixed. Hadn't realized she has a salvage title, but with those low miles and niceish condition not a big deal. Being 18 years old, I don't think we'd ever get that much as a payout from anyone's insurance anyway, and hope to never find out. I'd like to get the back windows tinted, and a 512 Labs exhaust made up for it, but my wife kind of is enjoying the quietness of it right now. I'm thinking maybe just hack off the last muffler and straight pipe it out the back and see how that goes, or maybe put another resonator out back.

In the meantime, now I've got a wagon to play with!!! I've of course had the idea to sedan delivery her since we got her, and now I've also got the outlandish idea of doing gull wing doors!!! Before I get going on that, new tires are in order, and I've been kind of looking around for some 16" steelies I could wrap in low profile rubber, and I'd probably do a refresh on all the struts and tie rod ends as well as getting those lowering springs. Now all I need is a lot of time to do so.

Once again, The younger boy is pretty excited about it, showing off all the special features to his friends. My wife is thrilled with her new ride, and once again I was able to tell her "Merry Christmas!!!"