This October, I will have had my SE-i for 10 years. I got it with 86k, and now it has 235k, so that's 150k of fun motoring. I put on Eibach springs (1" drop) and revalved Bilsteins, both now out of production. It took me two revalves to get the front shocks exactly right. The original paint, or the repaints on the two minor front enders is pretty nice. I don't think I burn any oil, but I do use oil, I think from either the distributor O ring or possibly the return passage from the top end. I have the O rings, just not installed. The oil filter mounting stuff, including the pressure sensor has all been replaced. All the hoses, including the little ones, are pretty new, and I have religiously changed the oil every 3k to 4k miles. I'm the guy that drove from CT to Montreal to score the last SE-i bronze-tinted windshield in North America. The last one.
The gray leather interior, except for the passenger seat which has some minor cracking, is basically mint. I have treated it every year. The 5 speed is fine. The Bose system works well with the Infinity speakers I installed after I got the car. Last year, I replaced every single rubber suspension bushing, including the big ones on the rear swing arms. The original a/c compressor soldiers on with R-12 additions in 2001, plus 1 lb in 2005 and 2009, it's nice and cold. I have replaced pretty recently both front and rear wheel bearings and the front wheel studs, just because I figured it was a good thing to do. The rear calipers are kept nice and free. I use Honda manual trans fluid.
I installed camber adjusting UCA mounts a couple of years ago. The tires are brand new Michelins. The cat was new probably at the 150k mark. The cooling system has been regularly flushed. The radiator is about a dozen years old, but seems fine. Headlights are Hella conversions. I have some spare parts - another CPU, sunroof motor, various stuff. Main relay is pretty recent. New auto drop relay in the driver's door.
Mechanically, a couple of the injectors need new seals, I can occasionally smell them. The rear shock mounting -somethings- are allowing making noise on a good bump....I saved a post on what I didn't replace when I installed the Bilsteins, and now the rear shocks have to be taken out and new mounting bushings or whatever is wearing needs to be replaced. It's more aggravating than anything else. The cruise control finally stopped working a couple of years ago, but I never used it anyway so didn't bother to fix it.
The car has never wanted for anything.
On the down side, body-wise, the rear wheel arches both have rust. I did a couple of Bondo patch-ups, but you know how the rust comes back. I bought two of the steel replacement arches in expectation of cutting out the rusted parts and welding the arches in.
A few months ago a pickup truck backed into me in a gas station. He got me on the right rear fender with a basketball-sized dent, which didn't involve the trunk, the rear door, or the tail light lens. The check from his insurance company was $1,700. Then a month or so ago a bookshelf I keep in the garage fell over and dumped its contents on the hood, making some gouges. Another $600 from my insurance company. So I have taken $2,300 out of the car.
The estimate from a body shop to fix the rear arches, replace both front and rear bumper caps, and the hood is about $3,300. Add in maybe another $700 for the injectors, distributor seals and miscellaneous stuff and there it is, $4,000. Although I'm feeling vaguely sick at the idea of giving up my baby, the economics are pretty challenging. I would park it and think things over for a while longer, but I'm also driveway and garage-space challenged, with too many vehicles competing for too little space.
My wife reminds me that I run a company that charges clients about $80,000 a year for our service (an elderly companion agency), and that while I might be enamored of my 3G, to most of the rest of the world it's just an old car, and might not be good for my image when I visit potential customers. For sure, I can't use it with the big dent in the back and the Bondo patches on the wheel wells.
So I might give it up. If so, I don't need a lot of money, but what I do need is someone that will keep it going and not drive it into the ground. An SE-i with a mint leather interior, a 5 speed, and unobtanium Bilsten/Eibach suspension stuff just can't be replaced easily, so I would want a real enthusiast to have it. Both Mark and Carotman have seen it. I think it should go to someone who can do the body work themselves, or at least the paint part of it. As to whether I will spring for the $4k in spite of it being a lousy economic decision, I still might, because just writing this makes me feel sick at the possibility of giving up the car. So I don't know.
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