A little body work:
Since I posted my initial blog entry for this car in spring of 2017, I've done a few more things....
The front 2 fenders were starting to rust out. I realized the cause of this was because, for a few years, at my old house, I kept this parked outside in the summer. It was parked under a tree and plant matter had landed on the windshield area and been washed down to rest against the sheet metal of the front fenders. Flash ahead about 6 years and it started to eat through, to the outside.
the first appearance of rust bubbling.
Rust getting more advanced.
Solution:
The community college I where I studied automotive maintenance, (see below for the mechanical work I have performed), also has a body shop program. I bought 2 fenders for about $75 each, and they painted it. Free labor. I just had to pay for the paint. Total bill for everything on this job came to around $640. They repainted the whole front end, as if it had been in a collision. So hats off to them for doing a really good job. They had it for about a month. That is the only down side of this arrangement. Cheap... but don't rush them.
Just before dropping it off for the fender R&R.
The fenders, hood, bumper cover were painted, and the doors were blended.
Bonus that the bumper cover was repainted, as it had 14 years worth of rock chips.
New winter tire package.
As well as showing the finished paint results, these photos show my latest winter wheel and tire package, alluded to in the earlier post. General Altimax Arctic tires mounted on NOS factory EM-7 wheels, and coated with white Plasti-dip. Matches the body paint to a tee. this will be my 3rd winter on them, and Plasti-dip still holding up well.
Maintenance work I have done.
In the last year or two, I learned how to, and did, the following:
Serpentine belts replaced at 78k
Brake fluid drain and fill at 78k
OE coolant drain and fill at 78k
OE manual transmission fluid, drain and fill at 78.5k
OE power steering fluid drain and fill at 79k
Spark plugs at 79k
Replaced PCV valve at 79.7k
Replaced the OE battery with an aftermarket at about 77K
Current milage: 85,XXX
No comments:
Post a Comment