History lesson time. I bought the Laser from a traveling youth pastor in Nashville who advertised it on Craigslist for $300. He moves from city to city at least once a year, apparently putting a fair number of miles on his daily drivers. Not sure if he bought it new or not, but at 201,595 miles, the manual transmission went kaput.
He removed the transmission, bought another at a junkyard, installed it, and… it didn’t work. He then diagnosed the “new” one’s problem, gave it some parts from his old transmission, and reinstalled. No luck. At that point I think he removed it, put it in the trunk, and gave up. It was still in the trunk when I bought it.
Besides being slightly misassembled (as were the brakes, I found later), it turns out the transmission also had a few small, but important, broken parts that killed 5th gear and reverse. I lucked into a good 5-speed during a trip to Pull-a-Part one day, and that solved the problem.
Beyond the transmission swap, I had to replace the battery and the front brakes (rotors and pad). Naturally I insisted on only the cheapest parts AutoZone could be pressed into selling me. Oh, and I gave it an oil change and new wiper blades.
So far it’s run 739 miles, which is about 300 miles farther than last year’s beater’s alternator made it. Fingers remain crossed.
Tags: BABE2008, Fuel Economy, Laser
May 22, 2008 at 9:07 am |
I cannot *believe* that it is after 11pm and you have *nothing* posted about the cars there this year. Djude!
May 22, 2008 at 9:13 am |
Too busy looking at the cars, making jokes, and applying the rest of the decals. Patience, grasshopper! There will be better light in the morning for taking pics.
May 24, 2008 at 5:38 am |
So when do we get a look at this fahn piece de automotive mochenry?
May 24, 2008 at 5:46 am |
There are about three shots of the Laser up there now, Fred. Since yesterday, even.