Versanick
06-12-2003, 10:43 PM
Since my first car, a 1986 Accord sedan LX, I was in love with the 3g. I drove that car until 225,000 miles, and drove it like I stole it every day. I raced and beat many a kid around my school, and at the drags (I had a racing clutch, and would hold at about 6k all the way through first gear... noone could figure out how I moved so fast haha)
Anyway... skip a year or so blah blah blah
I'm looking for a 3g... I want a real nice one with very little/no rust, something to make a project out of to show up at Carlisle with... so off went my search on eBay, cars.com, and a few other places, and after looking at many cars, I found one within my reach.
Some other lady won the auction for it, but she didn't want it... so we made outside contact w/the seller, and went down to check it out. It's a light blue 89 LX sedan with a few (popp-able) dents, 177k on the odo, and ZERO RUST, and I don't mean low, I mean NONE ANYWHERE... the car was from florida, and I was more than happy to have found it in New York. On the way down, driving my friend's car, I got a ticket for 90 in a 55 (still figuring out what to do about that... I must have been excited!) When we finally got down there, met the folks, and inspected every external and internal square inch of the car, I drove it around for a while (ran REAL REAL rough), it couldn't rev past 5k, had some exhaust noise, a few ticks, but the suspension, tires, and everything else was rock solid. I decided that it would make the 150 mile trip home (the car was 30 miles outside NYC). The car could make it home IMHO, and my friend (we're both honda nuts) concurred. It just had to hold out the ride home, until I could get the engine removed, to install a machined, high-revving b20 and transmission.
So we talked the folks down to $750 and drove the Honda away, slapped the plates on it from my normal car (the plates are insured, and in NYS, that's all that you need to make sure the car you're driving is insured), didn't register it (didn't count on getting pulled over in it-thankfully didn't) and didn't call the insurance company. Long story short, my friend's 95 Buick, impeccably maintained, 50k on the odo, starts pouring coolant all over the pavement while we're getting gas at the local gas station for our trip. After about five hours of trying to decide whether the car was driveable, and discovering that turning on the heat or A/C was all that caused it, we drove home, my two friends in the Buick, and me in the new Honda (SOOOOOO beautiful that body... UGH)
After a couple hours of driving, I decide that this car needs some TLC pretty bad, engine-wise. It drives almost as if the foreign folks that had it before me NEVER changed the oil... it felt like it was running with so much friction that it almost hurt to drive.
We're between 30 and 45 minutes from home (I can't recall exactly), and the engine suddenly becomes much louder, making a VERY VERY LOUD lawnmower-like sound, straight from somewhere under the hood... putting my intent on pulling over at the next exit (to find out WHAT'S HAPPENING...)
We're going around a slight turn, my friend's car ahead of me 30 ft in the passing lane, and suddenly, BOOOOOM, the front end of the car jacks off of the ground, as if I just hit a large gopher with both tires at the same time, the tires and wheel lock up for a split second, and I see flames reflect off of my friend's shiny car ahead, light reflect off of the guard rails on the highway, and flames SOMEWHERE inside the car and in front of it... and the RPM's drop in a VERY LOUD, painful fashion. Through the walkie-talkie, my friend Chuck from the buick screams PAUL PULL OVER NOW!!!!... and me, being in shock, took the advice and pulled over ASAP...
The next thing I hear through the walkie talkie is PAUL YOUR CARS ON FIRE, GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!! Knowing this, but having NO IDEA where the fire is at this point, I throw opened the door and dive out, and sprint away ahead as fast as I can. By the time 100ft passed, we could still see my car, pulled over, fire underneath the engine.
Having experienced this, I attempted to collect myself, and we finally brought ourselves to pop the hood after about 3 minutes of the fire appearing to be gone. Besides a WHOLE LOT of smoke and even more heat, nothing seemed wrong from the top. Well, it's 2:45 AM, so we can't see much without lights. Checking underneath with a flashlight, there is NO oil spilled ANYwhere, no cracks in ANYTHING, and a whole lot of nothing looking wrong all around.
The problem now is that the owner left me NO old registration and NO old inspection in the windshield... so if we leave it for a cop to come by, it will more than likely be impounded on the grounds that it looks STOLEN! Luckily, my other friend has his cell phone.
After somehow getting the car's seller to pay for a toe truck the rest of the way home (since the car they sold me EXPLODED on the ride home), the shop happened to have the exact engine and tranny pulled from the same model car that rolled over a few weeks ago, and are going to slap it in for me.
So the car costed me $1750 instead of $750... would you pay that much for a rust-free gem with a working motor and tranny?
The one guy thinks that the CV-boot caught on fire somehow, and that all the old dried-up oil under the engine had ignited from a hole in the downpipe sending a slight spark... but good lord... what a crazy experience.
But I've got a honda! FINALLY!
Anyway... skip a year or so blah blah blah
I'm looking for a 3g... I want a real nice one with very little/no rust, something to make a project out of to show up at Carlisle with... so off went my search on eBay, cars.com, and a few other places, and after looking at many cars, I found one within my reach.
Some other lady won the auction for it, but she didn't want it... so we made outside contact w/the seller, and went down to check it out. It's a light blue 89 LX sedan with a few (popp-able) dents, 177k on the odo, and ZERO RUST, and I don't mean low, I mean NONE ANYWHERE... the car was from florida, and I was more than happy to have found it in New York. On the way down, driving my friend's car, I got a ticket for 90 in a 55 (still figuring out what to do about that... I must have been excited!) When we finally got down there, met the folks, and inspected every external and internal square inch of the car, I drove it around for a while (ran REAL REAL rough), it couldn't rev past 5k, had some exhaust noise, a few ticks, but the suspension, tires, and everything else was rock solid. I decided that it would make the 150 mile trip home (the car was 30 miles outside NYC). The car could make it home IMHO, and my friend (we're both honda nuts) concurred. It just had to hold out the ride home, until I could get the engine removed, to install a machined, high-revving b20 and transmission.
So we talked the folks down to $750 and drove the Honda away, slapped the plates on it from my normal car (the plates are insured, and in NYS, that's all that you need to make sure the car you're driving is insured), didn't register it (didn't count on getting pulled over in it-thankfully didn't) and didn't call the insurance company. Long story short, my friend's 95 Buick, impeccably maintained, 50k on the odo, starts pouring coolant all over the pavement while we're getting gas at the local gas station for our trip. After about five hours of trying to decide whether the car was driveable, and discovering that turning on the heat or A/C was all that caused it, we drove home, my two friends in the Buick, and me in the new Honda (SOOOOOO beautiful that body... UGH)
After a couple hours of driving, I decide that this car needs some TLC pretty bad, engine-wise. It drives almost as if the foreign folks that had it before me NEVER changed the oil... it felt like it was running with so much friction that it almost hurt to drive.
We're between 30 and 45 minutes from home (I can't recall exactly), and the engine suddenly becomes much louder, making a VERY VERY LOUD lawnmower-like sound, straight from somewhere under the hood... putting my intent on pulling over at the next exit (to find out WHAT'S HAPPENING...)
We're going around a slight turn, my friend's car ahead of me 30 ft in the passing lane, and suddenly, BOOOOOM, the front end of the car jacks off of the ground, as if I just hit a large gopher with both tires at the same time, the tires and wheel lock up for a split second, and I see flames reflect off of my friend's shiny car ahead, light reflect off of the guard rails on the highway, and flames SOMEWHERE inside the car and in front of it... and the RPM's drop in a VERY LOUD, painful fashion. Through the walkie-talkie, my friend Chuck from the buick screams PAUL PULL OVER NOW!!!!... and me, being in shock, took the advice and pulled over ASAP...
The next thing I hear through the walkie talkie is PAUL YOUR CARS ON FIRE, GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!! Knowing this, but having NO IDEA where the fire is at this point, I throw opened the door and dive out, and sprint away ahead as fast as I can. By the time 100ft passed, we could still see my car, pulled over, fire underneath the engine.
Having experienced this, I attempted to collect myself, and we finally brought ourselves to pop the hood after about 3 minutes of the fire appearing to be gone. Besides a WHOLE LOT of smoke and even more heat, nothing seemed wrong from the top. Well, it's 2:45 AM, so we can't see much without lights. Checking underneath with a flashlight, there is NO oil spilled ANYwhere, no cracks in ANYTHING, and a whole lot of nothing looking wrong all around.
The problem now is that the owner left me NO old registration and NO old inspection in the windshield... so if we leave it for a cop to come by, it will more than likely be impounded on the grounds that it looks STOLEN! Luckily, my other friend has his cell phone.
After somehow getting the car's seller to pay for a toe truck the rest of the way home (since the car they sold me EXPLODED on the ride home), the shop happened to have the exact engine and tranny pulled from the same model car that rolled over a few weeks ago, and are going to slap it in for me.
So the car costed me $1750 instead of $750... would you pay that much for a rust-free gem with a working motor and tranny?
The one guy thinks that the CV-boot caught on fire somehow, and that all the old dried-up oil under the engine had ignited from a hole in the downpipe sending a slight spark... but good lord... what a crazy experience.
But I've got a honda! FINALLY!