Coffee Brake: Weekend Wrenching
Happy Friday — time for another Coffee Brake and today I’d like to open the discussion to the readers with a simple question. What are you doing this weekend in the garage?
I’ve got some work on the rear end of the Mustang that lives in my garage — something is out of whack on my axles and I need to pull things apart to figure out where the run out is coming from (bent axle flange, busted bearings, bent axle shaft?).
What about you? What are you doing in the garage?
Wrench schmench. I just got CFO approval to go look at a 996! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
We will expect a full report on our desk by Monday!
green flags: great car, no question – seemed to drive basically perfectly, sounded incredible, rock steady engine noise, clean and tidy, nice upgrades, meticulously detailed history
red flags: several previous owners, current owner purchased just a few months ago
yellow flag: history can't show there are no current problems – can't prove a negative
plausible but ultimately unverifiable reason for selling – hesitated on the PPI, again plausibly, as it's a bit of an inconvenience and the car is a driver – seller is much more knowledgeable than me (not difficult) and no matter if it's audio equipment (don't get me started) or a house or a business or a poodle, the seller could be aware of a serious problem that i would never catch (actually, if it's a building i'd have a good chance) – living in the middle of nowhere there won't be a convenient Porsche expert, it would be just a regular mechanic – chatting with Vince, i'll 68%-confidence the unknown here as about a $3000 question mark
ultimately, however, i guess, it's hard to justify – yes, the consensus is these will be going up in value and it's probably a reasonable "investment" – this one aced 'enjoyable to drive', no question, but $15-20k opens a *lot* of options for very nice cars meeting more of my requirements — will age well, stick — and preferences (no order of preference) — comfortable back seat, reasonably modern safety, enjoyable to drive, mostly reliable
i think i have to fall back to the E38 and W124 firm ground – will keep an eye out for a special 159 or last of the 9-5
i should clarify, *seller* hesitated when i asked about a PPI
I would hesitate on giving a private seller 20k without a PPI. Best to keep looking.
Cleaning out a bunch of junk that's been sitting in our garage for 40+ years so we might actually be able to fit something useful in there.
Changing the gear oil in the transmission, transfer case, and both differentials in my recently acquired 1984 Land Cruiser. Also plan to install a bypass line as a band-aid to a failed internal seal that allows the transfer case to send all of its gear oil to the transmission.
I'm a little jealous.
Looking at a snow blower that needs a carb kit and a new electric start.
Yeah the generators that need carb rebuilds are just sitting there staring at me.
Just did ANOTHER window regulator on my X5. I have probably done all of them at least twice. nothing like having your arm jammed up a door.
At the muffler shop getting the Vanagon exhaust tightened up. They just fired up a torch 😖
Shop had to bend the J-pipe about 1.5" upward to get things to mate and seal. I feel better, no, less bad about my ability to not get things to seal up right-like. Now if I hadn't tagged an empty dumpster at slow speeds as I was backing out, it would be a success story all around. The bumper did it's job, but damnit, man, learn to drive!
Doing a pre-sale inspection on a mostly original 18,000km 1990 Citroen 2CV, as I help a friend sell her late husband's toy collection. I might also take a quick once over on his 1986 Mercury Capri (Mustang clone) 5.0L 5-speed. I think I need to drive that one, to get the cobwebs out!
Just finished re laminating the last piece of wood trim on my 3.0 CS. Starting the re installation of… everything.
Best napoleon dynamite voice, "LUCKY!"
It's been a long strange trip getting to this point. She's no longer a Flintstones mobile. That's a big improvement.
Bleeding the brakes of my '79 911…again. I get a firm pedal without the motor running, than start up and pedal goes down to the metal when pushing hard. Hoping it's just air trapped.
Best napoleon dynamite voice, "LUCKY!"