My Replacement Car Has Arrived !! Options

[gas65]

Just drove it home today, runs really well for an auto but definitly needs some major cleaning and a little tender loving care to the outside and a few repairs.That is the picture from the ad I saw it in, but I will post some pics later on when I get a chance to take some.





Let this be a warning to you younger folks out there, if you buy a car and have your parents cosign for the loan and than you decide you are tired of paying on it, I will be there to take over your payments for you.Your loss is my gain.

And the best part was his dad was paying his insurance so he could make the payments, and he still would'nt.And since it had a lien on it, his dad had to have full coverage on it.Guess who won't be getting a cosigner again?

Now for some advice from some of you who have actually done some of this stuff I need to do.

1.I need to replace some lights in the gauge cluster, seems 80 mph is the lowest number you can actually see at night, Johnny Law's gonna love that.But how do you get into them? Also, can you get the spotty looking water marks off the glass covering the gauges, looks like water buildup but it must be on the inside of the gauge.

2.Any suggestions on cleaning the filth off the alloy wheels, and I mean major filth without harming the surface, and without using some high priced cleaner.Not that I won't buy cleaner, but I'm not spending $35 for some little spray bottle of overly priced cleaner.

3.Removing the interior panels(probably all of them including the hatchback area), seats, carpet, console, etc, not that these are too awful bad but I got a black leather interior package that is really clean from my wrecked car to put into this car.Any of the panels going to be hard or have tricky pieces holding them in? My wrecked car had a manual and this car is an auto, can I switch the consoles over?The one in this car is really low, low enough when you have a 12 oz can in the cup holder, you arm rests on it instead of the armrest.The one in my wrecked car is alot higher and more comfortible, will it fit instead?

4.And probably the hardest of the tasks, removing the steering wheel.I want to put my leather steering wheel(from the wrecked car) into this car but the airbag deployed on it, but this car has a good airbag, so what steps do I need to do to remove the steering wheel and than change the airbags from the plastic one to the leather one and also without having the thing deploy while I am trying to do this?



My first project with this car is getting some new wiper blades, and changing out the radiator, seems the young fellow liked using water instead of antifreeze in it.That was another reason his dad sold it to me cheap, he already spent $600 replacing the heater core and the freeze plugs.These I don't need help on, should be easy to do.

Any help would be appreciated and I thank you in advance.

[PlanetFuzz]

2.) Get a wheel brush and some of that foam stuff that you spray on. I use Black Magic Wheel Wipes and they work wonders,but I don't know how much grime you're talking about here. Hope I helped

[bufferdan]

some orange blaster stuff on the wheels...you can get it at walmart or autozone in the clearish orange bottle. I actually had to refinish the wheels on my g/f's celica. They were all pitted from salt. I got some wire brush sets for a drill and went at it. Then i painted them up with some dupont wheel paint. Like new now!

[macavely]

1. check the how-to section...it is so simple your laugh when your done..
those water marks might be from some type of leather shine liqued stuff... just use a glass cleaner. you'll be fine

[aaronc222]

3) It's fairly easy. There are two screws at the hinge that let it come right out. The old one should fit without a problem. Speaking of which, how much would you want for the new one? Mine is the same type as your old one, but the vinyl(sp?) is splitting, and I prefer the model that came in your new one.

As far as the rest of the panels, if I make it to the digicam tomorrow I'll post a bunch of screw placement pics. I need to take some things apart to clean myself. Most of the panels are real easy, but some can be a pain in the rear.

This post has been edited by aaronc222: Nov 26, 2003 - 12:31 AM