Stupid things that PO's did to your car

[Dirty e30]

i win.



fuhraze weight savings

[Massive Lee]

The most stupid thing the PO of my Hartge H23 did was NOT to tighten the accelerator cable when selling it to me. It had tons of slack. So, when I did the road test with him, he was bragging about how much power it had. Yeah sure. I explained the motor was supposed to be much zippier. To which he agreed. He concluded the motor was perhaps indeed in need of a rebuild... Price got lowered by $2k to cover half an motor rebuild.

Paid the car and had it registered with the owner at the local Florida DMV. Packed my stuff in the trunk, said goodbye to the owner and headed North. I stopped on the highway at the first rest area to tighten up the accelerator cable at the the throttle, and unbend the accelerator lever under the dash. Back on the highway. I had a $4k rebuild instantaneously... Car was zippy now... ;-)

[fiftytakedowns]

My po cut the wires under the dash, shitty alarm install, took out hte blower motor, the AC, and just failed.

[VicSkimmr]

Instead of replacing the control arm bushings, he jammed a big bolt in the old ones to keep it from moving. Once I saw that I knew I was dealing with a seriously neglected car :(

[accident]

Instead of replacing the control arm bushings, he jammed a big bolt in the old ones to keep it from moving. Once I saw that I knew I was dealing with a seriously neglected car :(

pictures?

[VicSkimmr]

Unfortunately no

[graffeedy5]

A/C and PS belts on the wrong pulleys, ghetto walmart shift knob that didn't fit right, and was held in by little allen wrench screws, and it still spun around, so he must have cranked them down with something and it gauged the shit out of the shift lever. Aftermarket security system that he lost the password to and said he had never had any problems with. 4 days after I bought it it wouldn't do anything when I turned the key. Removed the security system, started right up. Spare that doesn't fit (what's the point?) shift boot and e-brake boot that don't fit, don't line up right. 1 wheel has a nice wobble in it, another one spins straight but has a slow leak in it (lip is bent, that's what I'm assuming it is, cause the tires surprisingly enough look brand new). I guess he didn't own a funnel, or have any hand eye coordination, cause it looks like he spilled oil all over the top of the engine whenever he changed it cause no oil comes out when it's running.

Think that's it.

Oh wait, I forgot about the exhaust. The whole exhaust except for the manifold is custom, and badly done. The downpipe has some weird mesh patch on it, that does absolutely nothing to contain either the sound or the exhaust fumes. There's another shitty patch right before the cat. And then the dumbass welded the cat (and poorly at that) and wrapped it with hockey tape (like that does anything). Then hung it with coat hangars.

[HarryPotter]

At least he changed the oil? Amiright?

[mr.vang]

Yes that's right, he painted the seats, interior panels, grill, and bumper trim blue, and installed spring clamps to "lower the front of the car", cut the rear valence with a sawzall to fit a fart can, covered the engine in blue wire loom, installed a LED light-up shift knob, and ran speaker wiring ACROSS the carpet under the floor mats.

Beat that.

that is the smartest idea out there, spring clamps. lol. its better then cut spring

[Rodoni]

i win.



fuhraze weight savings

You lose because you've had the car longer than a year and it still has no bumpers....

[call me jack]

my PO hit a tree....

[BrooklynMW]

I believe that my car was previously a drug mule

[charlescho]

i win.



fuhraze weight savings

see this on my way to the arc all the time

[KennyT]

My DD, 97 Ford Contour. Bought from zainy old lady. 60k miles in 08, she wouldn't let husband drive it, or anyone else. Within a week of leaving the show floor it had 35% tint all around and a glass moonroof. (Receipts to prove).

By the time I bought it, all the tint was scratched to hell and rear window bubbled on each defrost line. Jesus figurine glued to dash, cross stickers on front window.

Front rotors were gone, came off in pieces with BFH. Coolant temp sensor, Temp gauge sensor, and low speed fan resistor didn't work. If only I had known about the rocker rust problem Contours suffer from, and realized what was growing in front of my rear tires.

Initial purchase $2000, parts to become safe and reliable $300. Had new all seasons I promptly sold for $200, and picked up summers+wheels, and snows for $400.

Vert E30

Originally a NYC car. During teardown everything seemed in good shape, no hacked wiring (factory stereo), pristine dash, not a single spliced connector. Shell was rusted and top had the ultra rare moonroof option. PO stored the car, top down, in his garage. His cats happened to live in that garage. After 3 weeks in the rain it finally didn't reek of piss anymore. If it weren't for the rust and hole in the top that vert would have been beautiful.

[playtimeover]

car probably handles better without all that shit in it.

That is right. Just have all the important parts of the car. :D