It’s taken a year but the 90 FINALLY has a title and it runs but isn’t finished yet. After acquiring a title (I wasn’t going to do anything until I knew I could get it registered), I replaced the t-belt and water pump. The car was parked in 2010 in the midst of the DC titling process because of a failed water pump. When I got it apart, I found that the t-belt had been recently replaced (7 years ago) and that the timing marks were incorrectly set at that time. This explained why the car had been notoriously hard to start even with 7 year old gasoline.
After reassembly, I started the car and let it warm up. It almost immediately started losing water around the water pump – ugh. I let it get good and hot so I could easily identify the problem. The culprit? A $5 by-pass hose that had been nicked by the a/c belt – given it’s location, this explained why the radiator was half-full when I removed it. A quick wrap later and the cooling system is 100% leak-free.
All the little niggling things are slowly getting fixed – the radio (missing a faceplate) has been replaced and all the brakes have been bled. The Snugtop top that I acquired has the flimsiest latches known to man so I replaced them with Garagestar bolt-in plates. That top had been Plastidip coated but poorly and it was starting to peel. I stripped the coating (I’m STILL high) and re-painted with a “gloss” version from Rustoleum. I also had to reset the wiper part position but fortunately the wiper motor, which I thought was a goner, is fine.
Periodically I raid my friends’ parts cars – so far I’ve scored a spare tyre, mounting hardware, jack, jack handle and the battery hold-down hardware. Naturally though, no good deed goes unpunished. I lubricated the window tracks and the passenger side went up, down and decided to DIE. I’m still trying to source the passenger-side p/w motor and regulator!!
The other thing left on the ’90 is a heater core. The dash is about 90% out – just gotta “do it” and then the car will be finished. I’m eyeing a set of used tyres on a friend’s parts car – I just need to convince him to trade for the junk tyres that were on the ’90 – tyres with so much dry rot that I can inspect the INSIDES of the rims without having to dismount the tyres.
The ’97 Pinata is a rarity – it’s NOT red!!! And in all honesty, that’s why I bought it from a co-worker’s friend. It’s a decent car although it has some rust and the body is beat up. The only mod on the car was (unfortunately) an aftermarket air filter – I’m hunting for an stock 1.8 airbox if anyone has one (hint, hint). After purchasing it, I found a black h/t (OE) and decided that was the way to proceed. Aside from a coil pack and a set of plugs, I’ve done NOTHING to the ’97 except drive it – 4000 miles and counting.
Now for the funny story – I took the ’97 to a Mercedes-Benz Club autocross on Sunday, 11 Jun 2017. My goal with the Pinatas has been to keep them STOCK and have some fun. I rolled up in the 210K mile ’97 on full-height Prime Well tyres (185/60/14), Durajunk pads both front and rear and shocks that are dated 04-10-97. Keep in mind that I haven’t been to an autocross in probably 5 years AND I’ve been effectively out of the car for 8 months (not entirely self-mandated) so my skills, which were never that good, are REALLY rusty.
The ’97 barely has enough power to spin the tyres at launch. Body roll is akin to the Land Rover but with axle tramp that could probably shake the h/t off the car. The brakes weren’t that bad but the tyres are horrible – actually, horrible tyres are BETTER than these Prime Wells. Between runs, I dumped a bunch of air from the tyres and it started to at least respond like a car instead of a barge. The brakes can overpower the tyres without trying so it is mandatory to brake as early as possible and as gently as possible. At the extreme limit, the back kinda comes around but not enough to make it appear “tail happy”. The only downside to the ’97 is that it seems to attract cones with great relish.
All told – I’ve done what I intended to do – have a cheap fun car FOR THE STREET. Now to find a decent rollbar for both cars and decide which of the 2 I should sell. I’m thinking to sell the 90 b/c it’s in better condition with lower mileage BUT the again, it’s in better condition…at least they were both cheap….
Matthew
