i just brought home a 93 Dodge Spirit as a replacement daily driver for my Suzuki Sidekick(it spit out a spark plug from an already heli-coiled port.)i had been salting away a little money to buy an 80's mustang or charger as a fun hobby car.
but when the zuki spit up i had to have a daily driver that got decent gas mileage,so my stash got sacrificed to practicality.my habit of perusing craigslist yielded this car.a 93 dodge spirit with 76 k on the odometer.
the car was up around atlanta so me and the wife took a ride.when i got to the owners house i was a bit let down .the pics of the did not do it justice.it was in serious need of paint.it appears the car was originally oxblood and then had a cheap reddish metallic paint job.on the plus side the interior was about 90% good.it only had 1 ding and a pair of cracked signal lenses,it had 2 new tires(pep boys),new brake pads and rotors on the front.under the hood the 2.5 looked to be in decent shape.
after a 5 mile test drive i felt it was acceptable.i talked with the owner to get an idea of the history of the car.turns out he did not know much about the car.he and his son buy cars from car lots that the dealers deem unsalable and junk them.but they felt this car was too good to junk and put a few bucks into the brakes and an oil change.i forked over a grand and drove it home.
the front tires were badly dry rotted and cracked so the drive was a bit on the edge.but it turned out uneventful.
the car got 23 mpg on the drive home (about 160 miles) which was not as good as i hoped.after getting home and subjecting the car to a closer exam i came to the conclusion that the car was not abused but had been neglected.as i said the interior was in very good shape,the engine was not oily/grimy.however the anti freeze was brown and the brake fluid was gray.the oil was good and the transmission fluid looked and smelled ok.one spark plug wire has a small gouge in the outer coating,the champion spark plugs seem to be clean,though i have yet to pull one.
so now the plan is to flush the radiator and brake fluid.replace the plug wires ,rotor and distributor cap and maybe the plugs after i take a look at them.see if this improves the mpg.
i had the bad tires replaced and the mechanic said all of the front end hardware looked good.but i know it needs shocks as it wallows around corners.
maybe,just maybe after the major tune up and shock replacements the car will turn out to be fun.any ideas for tweaks guys?
but when the zuki spit up i had to have a daily driver that got decent gas mileage,so my stash got sacrificed to practicality.my habit of perusing craigslist yielded this car.a 93 dodge spirit with 76 k on the odometer.
the car was up around atlanta so me and the wife took a ride.when i got to the owners house i was a bit let down .the pics of the did not do it justice.it was in serious need of paint.it appears the car was originally oxblood and then had a cheap reddish metallic paint job.on the plus side the interior was about 90% good.it only had 1 ding and a pair of cracked signal lenses,it had 2 new tires(pep boys),new brake pads and rotors on the front.under the hood the 2.5 looked to be in decent shape.
after a 5 mile test drive i felt it was acceptable.i talked with the owner to get an idea of the history of the car.turns out he did not know much about the car.he and his son buy cars from car lots that the dealers deem unsalable and junk them.but they felt this car was too good to junk and put a few bucks into the brakes and an oil change.i forked over a grand and drove it home.
the front tires were badly dry rotted and cracked so the drive was a bit on the edge.but it turned out uneventful.
the car got 23 mpg on the drive home (about 160 miles) which was not as good as i hoped.after getting home and subjecting the car to a closer exam i came to the conclusion that the car was not abused but had been neglected.as i said the interior was in very good shape,the engine was not oily/grimy.however the anti freeze was brown and the brake fluid was gray.the oil was good and the transmission fluid looked and smelled ok.one spark plug wire has a small gouge in the outer coating,the champion spark plugs seem to be clean,though i have yet to pull one.
so now the plan is to flush the radiator and brake fluid.replace the plug wires ,rotor and distributor cap and maybe the plugs after i take a look at them.see if this improves the mpg.
i had the bad tires replaced and the mechanic said all of the front end hardware looked good.but i know it needs shocks as it wallows around corners.
maybe,just maybe after the major tune up and shock replacements the car will turn out to be fun.any ideas for tweaks guys?
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