My $300 Score!

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My neighbor has had this Ford Taurus sitting in front of his house for over a year on Jack stands. It was his mom's and just needed an AC compressor. She decided to finally sell it so I picked it up for $300! It only has 87k miles and is in decent shape overall. Some of you may recall I have a long commute, so that is what it'll be used for. Yesterday amd today. I replaced the compressor (not fun), changed the oil, got new tires, and cleaned it up. Trans drain and fill and brakes are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Here it is

.
 
Originally Posted By: WillsYoda
For about $1.5k all in that is going to be a sweet ride.


I hope so! Just a good polish and some tires made it a whole new car.
 
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
My neighbor has had this Ford Taurus sitting in front of his house for over a year on Jack stands. It was his mom's and just needed an AC compressor. She decided to finally sell it so I picked it up for $300! It only has 87k miles and is in decent shape overall. Some of you may recall I have a long commute, so that is what it'll be used for. Yesterday amd today. I replaced the compressor (not fun), changed the oil, got new tires, and cleaned it up. Trans drain and fill and brakes are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Here it is

.
nice score, i have an 03 ses with the 3.0 vulcan i picked up 4 $1,800 back in December. It also needs needs an a/c clutch. A/C blows ice cold but the clutch likes to rattle if the A/C is not on. I've got a few small leaks ( oil pan and p.s pump ) along with some rust on the LR wheel well. But the taurus is my beater car and the Malibu is my DD.
 
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Originally Posted By: RichardS
Sweet! My Mom had an 02 for about 6 years. Fantastic little car. I think you've officially beaten my $300 buick, at least on body condition.


It's really in decent shape. I was surprised that it buffed out so nicely. The roof has some spots that wouldn't come out but oh well... it's great for a $300 car. The leather isn't even torn, just really dirty.
 
Originally Posted By: gabriel9766
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
My neighbor has had this Ford Taurus sitting in front of his house for over a year on Jack stands. It was his mom's and just needed an AC compressor. She decided to finally sell it so I picked it up for $300! It only has 87k miles and is in decent shape overall. Some of you may recall I have a long commute, so that is what it'll be used for. Yesterday amd today. I replaced the compressor (not fun), changed the oil, got new tires, and cleaned it up. Trans drain and fill and brakes are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Here it is

.
nice score, i have an 03 ses with the 3.0 vulcan i picked up 4 $1,800 back in December. It also needs needs an a/c clutch. A/C blows ice cold but the clutch likes to rattle if the A/C is not on. I've got a few small leaks ( oil pan and p.s pump ) along with some rust on the LR wheel well. But the taurus is my beater car and the Malibu is my DD.


I decided to buy the whole compressor because the price of a clutch was too close to not just change it. Plus it's such a pain to get out that I didn't want to have to do it twice.

Here's the old one. Look at the clutch! It was banging on everything, making all kinds of noise.
 
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
Originally Posted By: gabriel9766
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
My neighbor has had this Ford Taurus sitting in front of his house for over a year on Jack stands. It was his mom's and just needed an AC compressor. She decided to finally sell it so I picked it up for $300! It only has 87k miles and is in decent shape overall. Some of you may recall I have a long commute, so that is what it'll be used for. Yesterday amd today. I replaced the compressor (not fun), changed the oil, got new tires, and cleaned it up. Trans drain and fill and brakes are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Here it is

.
nice score, i have an 03 ses with the 3.0 vulcan i picked up 4 $1,800 back in December. It also needs needs an a/c clutch. A/C blows ice cold but the clutch likes to rattle if the A/C is not on. I've got a few small leaks ( oil pan and p.s pump ) along with some rust on the LR wheel well. But the taurus is my beater car and the Malibu is my DD.


I decided to buy the whole compressor because the price of a clutch was too close to not just change it. Plus it's such a pain to get out that I didn't want to have to do it twice.

Here's the old one. Look at the clutch! It was banging on everything, making all kinds of noise.


thts how my clutch is but not tht bad yet. The p.s pump is leaking on the compressor. so eventually i plan on changing out the p.s pump and since i have to take it off to do the compressor ill just change out the whole compressor to while im in there.
 
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Originally Posted By: gabriel9766
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
Originally Posted By: gabriel9766
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
My neighbor has had this Ford Taurus sitting in front of his house for over a year on Jack stands. It was his mom's and just needed an AC compressor. She decided to finally sell it so I picked it up for $300! It only has 87k miles and is in decent shape overall. Some of you may recall I have a long commute, so that is what it'll be used for. Yesterday amd today. I replaced the compressor (not fun), changed the oil, got new tires, and cleaned it up. Trans drain and fill and brakes are on the agenda for tomorrow.

Here it is

.
nice score, i have an 03 ses with the 3.0 vulcan i picked up 4 $1,800 back in December. It also needs needs an a/c clutch. A/C blows ice cold but the clutch likes to rattle if the A/C is not on. I've got a few small leaks ( oil pan and p.s pump ) along with some rust on the LR wheel well. But the taurus is my beater car and the Malibu is my DD.


I decided to buy the whole compressor because the price of a clutch was too close to not just change it. Plus it's such a pain to get out that I didn't want to have to do it twice.

Here's the old one. Look at the clutch! It was banging on everything, making all kinds of noise.


thts how my clutch is but not tht bad yet. The p.s pump is leaking on the compressor. so eventually i plan on changing out the p.s pump and since i have to take it off to do the compressor ill just change out the whole compressor to while im in there.


Worth it for sure.
 
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Originally Posted By: WillsYoda
For about $1.5k all in that is going to be a sweet ride.


How'd you figure $1.5k? $300 car + around $400 for tires.

Can't see compressor, ATF, brakes making up the remaining $800.
 
Originally Posted By: daddi
Nice looking car. It was on jack stands for a year because of a bad AC compressor??


Yeah, haha. It's a pain in the butt for sure though. His mom got a new car and it just fell by the wayside.
 
Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
Originally Posted By: WillsYoda
For about $1.5k all in that is going to be a sweet ride.


How'd you figure $1.5k? $300 car + around $400 for tires.

Can't see compressor, ATF, brakes making up the remaining $800.


There's a guy in town that ghas crazy deals on tires. I only paid $230 for them. Compressor was $95. Brakes about $50 if the rotors can be turned. Trans fluid was around $30. Filter $20. Oil and Filter $22. Belts were like $30. For a grand total of $777.
 
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
There's a guy in town that ghas crazy deals on tires. I only paid $230 for them. Compressor was $95. Brakes about $50 if the rotors can be turned. Trans fluid was around $30. Filter $20. Oil and Filter $22. Belts were like $30. For a grand total of $777.


That makes more sense!

It makes sense to change the transmission filter so you also get a look at the pan. You should change all the transmission fluid though. If it's never been changed, you'll contaminate the new half with the old half. Disconnect the return line, pump it out, then drop the pan and change the filter. Keep on adding and pumping out until the color coming out is the same as going in.

Congrats on your score though!
 
But there are lots of other stuff you can do. Quick struts all around, front/rear sway bar links, tie rods, motor mounts, ball joints, plugs, wires, coil pack, etc. If you do the power steering pump, make sure you get the oe Teflon washers for the line otherwise it will leak. I think rotors are pretty cheap. I always changed them when doing the pads. Should do wheel cylinder and get a spring kit on rockauto when doing the rears.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
But there are lots of other stuff you can do. Quick struts all around, front/rear sway bar links, tie rods, motor mounts, ball joints, plugs, ............etc, etc . See above.


.....learn Chinese,.....take up knitting.....have a sex change operation.

But they probably aren't necessary either.
 
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Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
Originally Posted By: tomcruise
There's a guy in town that ghas crazy deals on tires. I only paid $230 for them. Compressor was $95. Brakes about $50 if the rotors can be turned. Trans fluid was around $30. Filter $20. Oil and Filter $22. Belts were like $30. For a grand total of $777.


That makes more sense!

It makes sense to change the transmission filter so you also get a look at the pan. You should change all the transmission fluid though. If it's never been changed, you'll contaminate the new half with the old half. Disconnect the return line, pump it out, then drop the pan and change the filter. Keep on adding and pumping out until the color coming out is the same as going in.

Congrats on your score though!



I figured I'd just do drain and fills every 30k. I might consider the cooler line flush though.
 
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