The Beater Thread

[the_experience03]

In light of the drift in Jason's Black Plague II thread I thought we might want to start a new thread about the beaters we own.

I've owned quite a few, but the ones nearest and dearest to me were my 1989 Toyota 4Runner (22re), 1993 LeBaron Coupe (3.0 SOHC Mitsubishi), and my current 1993 abomination of a Toyota pickup that I use as an offroad rig as seen below.

After the local mud runs/races....


Poseur flexing on a trailer that wasn't tall enough to really work the suspension.

[phillbus914]

My current beater is my 98 Crown Vic. I got it cheap because it needed a motor. I was working at a ford dealer as a service writer when it came into the shop. The company that owned it said they didn't want to fix it, so I offered them 100 bucks for it, they came back with $250.. which I was good with.

I've worked in a few dealerships in the service department. Often people will come in with an older car that needs more repairs than the car is worth, these are usually the best beaters you can find.

Since it had 170,000 miles on it I couldn't see buying a new motor for it (at that point I'd never even driven the car) So I looked to eBay... A few days later I found an engine with 140K on it. After winning the auction I called the guy to come and get it and he says "do you want the rest of the car it came in?" So for 170 bucks I got a 93 Mercury Grand Marquis, towed it home and finished removing the motor form it.



I ended up selling the transmission for $100 Intake from the 93 motor for $90 (different than the intake from my 98 motor) and took the car to the scrap yard and got another $110 out of it.

I got this car to replace my 92 Toyota corolla that I bought for $110 about a year earlier (needed a $60 radiator to make it road-ready) My sister really needed a car so I sold that one to her, when I got the crown vic. That was almost 4 years ago now. It's now got almost 232,000 miles on it, and still going strong... Well it does need a headlight now, I'm looking for a good deal on one.





This is sort of a "before" picture, since then, a friend thought it'd be funny to beat the hood with a broom, I thought it'd be a good idea to push a chevy blazer off the side of the highway (hey cop cars can do it... oh yeah they have push bumpers) and most recently I thought it'd be a good idea to tow behind Jason's bus. Now it pretty much looks like a pos... oh well it still runs.

[KC10Chief]

HA HA! There isn't enough room in this thread to list all the beaters I've owned! But currently, my favorite beater by far is my 1996 Chevy S-10. I've had it since 2003. It currently has 220,000 miles on the odometer. Everything works. The A/C works better on this truck than any other vehicle I've ever owned. It has the 2.2L engine and 5 speed manual tranny. Still runs like a top and I drive it pretty much every day. I've put 12,000 miles on it since the end of April.

Our next beater is a 1994 Chevy Cavalier. It's not the current body style, but the ugly boxy one before that. I bought it from my wife's cousin. She rear ended somebody with it. I paid her $300 for it and spend another $100 or so in parts from the junk yard to fix it. It has 95,000 miles on it and it runs pretty good. I had to replace a head gasket recently. I'm not real fond of this beater, but it does the job. It's ugly and it sits REALLY low to the ground. My wife drives this one most of the time.

Our third beater is a 1993 Honda Accord SE. We just got this one recently from my cousin. The dealership only offered him $100 on a trade in for it and then the master cylinder went out. He was going to take it to the junk yard, but he let me have it instead! I'm not too familiar with this car yet. I drove it back from Ft. Worth and the torque converter locks and unlocks constantly. It also gets pretty hot. I still need to fix the leaky master cylinder. The radio display doesn't work, but at least the radio does. It has 202,000 miles on it. I'll get some time soon to fix it up.

So basically, I have three cars worth a total of about $1,500. HA!

[the_experience03]

My daily driver 1989 Honda Civic base model has 277,000 miles on it and still manages to muster 38 mpg on the highway with a 4 speed direct manual tranny. I think you'll like your Honda.

[Steve]

I have a Sunbeam Alpine that may never stop smelling like mice.



And a huge Ford Thunderbird with a 460 V8

[pete c]

i wouldn't put much into than accord, KC. Sounds like the tranny might be on the way out. wonder how tough a 5 speed transplant would be on it. i love my 91 5 speed. drives like a go cart.

steve, you need to put the 460 from the bird into that alpine. that would be one badass alpine.

[Xtevan]

'96 Tacoma with 257,000 miles- It is starting to show the miles
'84 bmw 325e- odometer stuck @125, 000 miles over ten years ago
'87 280Z turbo the X left in the driveway

I really need fix up one of soon so I don't to buy another one. Really get used to driving paid for cars quickly!!

[KC10Chief]

Originally Posted by pete c

i wouldn't put much into than accord, KC. Sounds like the tranny might be on the way out. wonder how tough a 5 speed transplant would be on it. i love my 91 5 speed. drives like a go cart.

I don't think the tranny is going out. I think it's something a little simpler than that. I'm hoping anyways. It shifts perfectly. I was reading on a Honda forum I found, that for my type of Honda, they're really sensitive to the type of transmission fluid they have in them. They need the Honda brand stuff. My cousin that I bought it from was putting auto part store stuff in there. Some tranny's are just sensitive I guess. He said the torque converter has been doing that for years. Also, a dirty lockup silenoid came up a bunch of times too. I'm going to check it out this weekend and see if I can get it figured out. It's got a few other little problems too like a missing door handle on the passenger side, and the radio display doesn't light up. But those are easy fixes for the most part.

[lapeer20m]

I just bought a new car tonight. a 90 eagle talon tsi turbo all wheel drive. got it for $1K but it's not circulating coolant....i hope it's just a water pump.

[KC10Chief]

Originally Posted by lapeer20m

I just bought a new car tonight. a 90 eagle talon tsi turbo all wheel drive. got it for $1K but it's not circulating coolant....i hope it's just a water pump.

It probably is that or the thermostat is locked up. Should be an easy fix. How about that bus? When are you going to get it?

[behappystupi]

Originally Posted by lapeer20m

I just bought a new car tonight. a 90 eagle talon tsi turbo all wheel drive. got it for $1K but it's not circulating coolant....i hope it's just a water pump.

Pictures Lapeer! We want lots of pictures!

[the_experience03]

How many miles on that TSi? I guess a person would call that a DSM. Didja check it for crankwalk?

Pictures please.

[phillbus914]

I intercepted my roommates junkyard bound 94 Plymouth Acclaim last week. It blew a head gasket on his way home from work, and he bought a new car. The junkyard offered him 200 bucks for it, but I decided to fix it and give him the $200. I spent a few hours a day for the past few days workin on it and it's done, I've spent about $100 total in parts... I figure if I sell it for 800, I'll make $500. Not bad for about 8 hours work.

Here's the add I just put on craigs list.

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/car/468902649.html

The add's been up for about 3 hours now, and I've already had 2 calls and one email on it.

[KC10Chief]

You'll sell that Plymouth quick. Craigslist is great! You know, you can upload your photos to photobucket, and then copy the HTML link and paste it in the Craigslist ad. Then, you'll have big high resolution photos for your ad. As many as you want too! Af course, always post one photo the traditional way into Craigslist so that the little "pic" symbol shows up in the ad title. Just a tip!

[phillbus914]

Yeah I've posted photos like that before on there, but I just wanted to throw up a quick add.

Craigs list is great since it's free to post and search, however it does attract a less serious crowd (both buyer and seller) I tend to get a lot of low ball offers and almost everything I list gets several scam offers from foreigners offering to "purchase my item I have for sale on internet" I guess it's worth it though, since I'm a cheap ass.

[crazycal]

You mean like this?


Hello,

Just my first time of checking throug the listings on craigs list for my needs,and i came through you advert and it what i have being looking forward to buy,i will like you to tell me you asking price and the condition about it,i want you to confirm for me. i will not want any mistake to occur in the price,so i will wait to read from you now as soon as you get this message so that i can email you about the payment and shippment arrangement on it.
Cheers

[KC10Chief]

I used to get those scam E-mails too. Now, when I post an ad, I simply state that I don't fall for E-mail scams and not to bother trying. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I haven't had one of those stupid E-mails since. A while back though, I was selling a Mazda B2200. I bought it for $200, fixed the blown head gasket and sold it for $1,200. Anyways, I got one of those scam E-mails from some guy. I kept him going for over a month with a bunch of nonsense. I was trying to get him to send me a picture holding some stupid sign or something but he wouldn't buy it. He sent me a check for like $3000. I was supposed to cash the check, take out my money and send him the rest of it Western Union. This his "partner" was going to arrange to have a piece of crap truck shipped overseas. Right. That's the classic scam they try to pull. I just happened to find a picture on Google of a Mazda B2200 totally engulfed in flames. So, I told him that I had cashed the check and put the money in my glove box. On the way to Western union, the truck caught fire and all I had time to save was my camera. I sent him the photos. HA! He was pretty irate. Gave me a lecture about going to hell and what not. Then I told him that I had been screwing with him this whole time whenever I was bored. He sent a few more angry E-mails and kept saying that I like to eat cheese burgers. HA! That was his primary insult.

[KC10Chief]

Oh yeah, here's some pictures of my beaters. This one is my 1993 Honda Accord I recently acquired from my cousin. It needs some work, but I think it will turn out to be a decent car. My wife is already planning to steal it from me. She likes it for some reason. It has 202,000 miles on it.



We have a 1994 Cavalier that I paid $300 for. My wife's cousin rear ended somebody, but not too bad. All I really had to replace was the hood and the headlights. Cost me $100 for everything I needed at a junk yard. I noticed the head gasket was leaking after I bought it so I replaced that too. It runs really good. It's an ugly car though. It sits REALLY low to the ground too. That's how they came stock. It has 95,000 miles on it. The A/C works great and it gets good gas mileage. I don't have any pictures of it and my wife has it at work right now.

This is my 1996 Chevy S-10. I bought it back in 2003 for $1,200. A few months earlier, my dad had bought a brand new 2003 Chevy S-10. He paid for it in cash and figured that he had never had a wreck in his life and he dropped the insurance to liability only. Three days later, a tornado slammed it into the side of the GM plant about 30 times. HA! That truck had about 1,000 miles on it. The body and frame were trashed. He had it towed out to his barn. He bought another S-10 and had to finance that one! HA! Anyways, he told me that if I could find an S-10 that needed a motor, to buy it and I could use the motor out of his 2003. I looked for a few months and couldn't find anything. Finally, I found my 96 S-10 in Tulsa. The guy was asking $2,000 for it. He told me that it ran great, but had high miles (175,000). The grille was busted up too. I called him back the next day and offered him $1,000. He said he would take $1,200. I was pretty skeptical. But it ran great and drove great. It has yet to need the motor or tranny I have waiting for it if it needs one. I replaced the grille with a brand new one from Certi-fit. Brand new and painted it was $15. If you have a certi-fit in your area, they sell body parts. It's a fantastic place. The truck has 220,000 miles on it now. I drive it every day. I drove it from Oklahoma City to Oregon and back in April. That was about 4,500 miles round trip. It never missed a beat! I have used a few parts off of my dads 2003 tornado truck. Things like the A/C compressor, alternator, and the starter. I haven't needed much else thankfully! The tornado truck had one good wheel on it and I used that for my full size spare! I love this truck. I'm going to drive it until it breaks in half I think. Here's some pictures I took on my way to Oregon. I was taking my dad up there so he could ride his bicycle across the country.
Slapout, Oklahoma. It's in the panhandle.


On the beach in Oregon! WOO HOO!


Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. That's actual snowfall.


Driving across US50 in Nevada. Also known as the "Loneliest Road in America". Don't drive across here if you don't trust your vehicle!



By the way, my dad made it across the country in less than three months on his bicycle. Check out his website at http://www.grandpalosthismind.com

[lapeer20m]

good news on the tsi.....coolant was leaking out of a hole in the radiator....but the car came with a slew of parts, including a new (used) radiator.

took her out playing in the mud yesterday. She has about zero ground clearance, but the awd is very impressive. She has a limited slip rear diff too.

I think my turbo is shot. First she only made about 5psi, but i found a good sized leak in the neck of the intercooler. Fixed that, now It's still only making about 7 psi of boost at 6K rpm according to the aftermarket gauge. I wired the wastegate closed, and crimped off the gizmo that returns air to the airbox in case of too much pressure (not sure what that's called) and still only get 7psi. I did a leak test and she goes from 20 psi to 0 over about 30 seconds. sounds like it's leakign somewhere inside the exhaust manifold.

I'm pretty sure either my waste gate is bad or more likely the turbo is failing.

can't wait for the snow!!!! she's an excellent winter beater.

[swinada]

Thanks Matt, now I just spent 6 hours reading your Dad's story. Makes me wanna sattle my bike and go somewhere.
Say hello for me and tell him that he is a real inspiration to me.