Adamsgarage's Weblog

Junk Yard Dogs part II

adamsgarage — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 08:51:31 +0000

Since the new PT Cruiser has half the miles of the old one, and therefore we should be keeping it for a while, I decided to fix it up a bit to make it enjoyable for the baby. Finding a manual transmission car with the factory tinted windows is quite rare, so I did the next best thing. Junkyard. I found a yard that was a you pull it down in Lake Stevens. I rang Tyler and invited him along for company and a chance to get our hands dirty doing guy things. Of course it was pouring down rain, but I managed to pull all five pieces and got them for $100. Tyler ended up finding new window switches for his BMW, a shifter boot/ cup holder for his Mazda, and a tail light reflector for his Suburban. The cruiser I pulled the parts from had fog lights, but I had already bought new ones on ebay. I also got both of the extra accessory power outlets that the higher trim cruiser’s come with. Of course after we left we both though of more stuff we should have gotten, but I guess that will have to wait for next time. We did pull up next to a split rear window baja Beetle at a light in Marysville.

The Sneaky Six

adamsgarage — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:15:54 +0000

For whatever strange reason, Beau and I are mildly obsessed with manual transmission cars. I think it’s mostly the fact that driving a manual is more work, so it feels like the driving experience is more complete. Other bonus for manuals are (usually) better fuel economy, and a more robust drive train. If a manual transmission is good, then one with more gears should be better right? Since I have little else to say, here a list of six cars with six speed transmissions that are much older than the current crop where they have become almost common place.
1) Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale 1967-1971
2)Porsche 959 1986-1989
3)Audi V8 sedan 1988-1993
4)Porsche 968 1992-1995
5)BMW 540i 1995
6)Mitsubishi 3000GT 1994-2001
*Bonus Acura Legend 1993-1995

Sold the 544

adamsgarage — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:21:24 +0000

Bought a really nice 1967 122 with the money the same afternoon.

Scooter Adventure

adamsgarage — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:12:23 +0000

Andy is keeping his 125cc motor scooter in Bellingham this winter, so today he had a job interview in Seattle and he got a ride down with our mom so he could scoot back.Michael and Patrick were both working, so I rode down to Stanwood solo to meet up with him and ride the scooters “iron butt” back to Bellingham. We meet up at my friend Jeff’s body shop in Stanwood, Twin City Collision. I got a chance to visit for a few minutes with Jeff and his wife Wanda before Andy arrived and we headed north. Andy’s scooter is definitely faster than my Vespa, at this point in time. We had lunch a taco stand in Burlington, then when we were gassing up next door my the Vespa would not start. I kicked and kicked and tried to bump it, no go. Turns out I had bumped the kill switch. Once I figured that out we were on our way. I was a little faster than Andy on the twisties on Chuckanut, but I have several thousand miles on two wheels compared to his several thousand.

Beau’s P1800ES

adamsgarage — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:41:01 +0000

After sitting on windshield with an OEM Volvo logo on it, Beau finally had me install it for him. Even with all my experience, I was a little apprehensive about the job, since the stainless windshield trim is a style that I had never installed before. Luckily the gasket was still in good shape, so we were able to reuse it. This made it easier because the gasket already had the basic shape form fitted, so it doesn’t fight the installation as much. It looks much nice, all clear and shiny. It goes really well with the new dash pads, and recovered seats. It been fun seeing that car become what it should be instead of what I had. Beau has put correct sized tires on it, fixed the steering box, fixed the rear axle whine, recovered the seats, added a GT steering wheel, and an OEM radio.

Junk Yard Dogs

adamsgarage — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:55:02 +0000

Today I decided that if I’m serious about selling the Fiat, maybe I should replace the totally rotten mismatched ( 4 different brands) cracked tires on the car. Maybe I should have done it before taking the cars to the car show, but that was kind of spur of the moment anyways.
I didn’t feel like paying $210 and up for 13″ tires on a car I intend to sell, so I took Andy up with me to Beacon Battery and Tire up in Custer. We were able to climb up on a mountain of tires and found 4 decent matching Kumhos and had them mounted up for $75. Painted the wheels, and lug nuts silver, dressed the tires and they actually look good. The car looks decent now, after a good cleaning inside and out.

Car Show

adamsgarage — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:08:45 +0000

Today I took three of our cars and crashed the “Sunday at the Depot” show. I didn’t feel like paying the $10 per car entry fee (even though I approve that it went to charity, I just didn’t want to pay and have to stay all day) so we took the cars downtown and parked next to the show. Well, we ended up getting invited “in” for a smaller donation, so we showed the cars for a few hours. Didn’t win any awards which was expected, but I had hoped to sell the Fiat. Lots of cars were for sale there, but the Fiat was by far the cheapest- and the roof comes down!
Andy drove the Volvo, said it feels pretty modern except the view out the back window. Michael drove the Fiat, he complained because it wasn’t fast enough- go figure. I drove the Porsche, not because I didn’t trust the other two, I just drove it because it is actually the hardest of the three to drive.

1996 Miata Supercharged Miata for sale

adamsgarage — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:52:43 +0000

I figured I might as well put my own car up on my own blog site for sale since it’s a free ad. I’ll get some more information up later tonight. Here’s a link to even more pictures. http://s1017.photobucket.com/home/1996miata

Por-shuh

adamsgarage — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:03:56 +0000

I don’t want to be the gold chain, aviator sunglasses wearing (or be seen wearing Porsche design sunglasses either), but the first car I ever really wanted even before whole MG midget thing was a yellow 914. A guy that I went to high school with had a piece of junk example, but when I came across a 83,000 mile one owner chrome bumper survivor, I had to get it. It was many things I had never had before. Targa top, fixed back bucket seats, vintage dog leg gear box, mid engined, German. It’s a really nice clean honest car. Doesn’t really have any needs.

Volvo in a wedding.

adamsgarage — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 05:01:17 +0000

My good friend Cam’s younger sister got married yesterday and after seeing the Volvo in last year’s Christmas card she asked if the Volvo could be used as her wedding car. I was happy to do this for a friend, so they used it without a hitch. And it even stop raining by the time of the ceremony. Hopefully I will get some pics of the car in action up here in the near future.