When cars get to the beater stage it's time for a couple of standbys...
car-part.com is a huge database of just about every imaginable junk yard special. Haven't checked Volvo turbos but good Toyota engines from the early 90's can be had for a few hundred dollars. Stuck a new engine clutch and carburator in a 1988 Festiva for $500 parts and labor and the engine was strong enough to go another 100,000 miles, unfortunately the synchros were catching at about 170K and I got rid of it. Still kick myself. The original engine looked like it had rough use with little if any attention for the first 30K but I got another 80K uneventful miles out of it. Altogether a cheap ride.
If it looks like crap, I like to take it to Earl Scheib and get it paint job. Switch colors even. Had a whole lot of body work and a whole car repainted a candy apple red for $600 from Earl about 2 years ago. Paint job itself cost $250-- top of the line. After two plus years the **** thing still hasn't faded or peeled.
Two reasons why I really like old beaters.
[ June 09, 2003, 08:09 PM: Message edited by: rugerman1 ]