First Timer/92 Sunbird/help!
SquirlyHooch
12-05-2008, 09:58 PM
(I KNOW I WROTE A LOT BUT JUST BEAR WITH ME PLEASE!! I REALLY NEED THE HELP!!!)
What's up everybody,
First off let me say I'm almost completely clueless when it comes to cars. I was given a 1992 Pontiac Sunbird LE for free this past Sunday. It's a 4 cylinder automatic with about 115K on it.
There's an oil leak in the engine, I think it's the valve cover gasket, and the temperature gauge is broken. May need a new thermostat. Beyond that I haven't come across any other engine problems. I haven't looked closely but the muffler/exhaust pipe area looks pretty chewed up with rust, may need replacing.
The paint has some decent sized sunspots, and there is a small dent on the rear driver's side fender. The driver's side door gets stuck closed unless I slam it shut in which case it opens fine. Haven't seen a lot of rusting or decay on the body at all.
The interior is fairly jacked up. Dirty, obviously, but the driver's seat is a little torn, and the cloth on the ceiling is coming down. There is a lot of duct tape on the light controls on the left of the steering wheel, and a piece covering the anti-lock break light on the dash; no idea why. There is a pretty big hole where it looks like the dash should come down and form a seam against the radio; possibly just warped and popped out of place.
So here's what I would like to do:
> get the engine fixed up first, make sure the thing is running well and will keep doing so for a substantial amount of time.
> repaint it, pop out the dent, possibly get the driver's side door fixed.
> I don't care about speed performance at all, but adding mods to make it run better and longer I would like to do, I just don't know what they would be beyond better plugs and a better battery.
> Eventually, if it looks like it'll stay on the road, I'd like to add a body kit
> Rims would definitely be nice
> Fix the seat, roof cloth, dash
> Possibly a CD player but not really interested in a massive sub or anything.
SO the major question is do you think I should do any of that? It was free, and it's already 16 years old, so I'm not worried about resale in the least. I am, however, concerned with putting that much money into the thing only to have it fall to pieces in a year or less.
Should I go the rout of rebuilding the engine or just fixing up the one it's got and modifying it?
I'm a community college student right now, and may end up going to a 4 year next fall, or waiting until fall 2010, so I want to do what I can but not end up leaving behind or taking with me a half finished car. Also, I only make about $240 every two weeks part time, so it's not like I'll get anything better anytime soon, but it's also not like I'll be fixing this thing up rapidly.
Again, I know I wrote a lot but I wanted to be thorough. Please help this young car owner figure out what to do! THANKS!!!
What's up everybody,
First off let me say I'm almost completely clueless when it comes to cars. I was given a 1992 Pontiac Sunbird LE for free this past Sunday. It's a 4 cylinder automatic with about 115K on it.
There's an oil leak in the engine, I think it's the valve cover gasket, and the temperature gauge is broken. May need a new thermostat. Beyond that I haven't come across any other engine problems. I haven't looked closely but the muffler/exhaust pipe area looks pretty chewed up with rust, may need replacing.
The paint has some decent sized sunspots, and there is a small dent on the rear driver's side fender. The driver's side door gets stuck closed unless I slam it shut in which case it opens fine. Haven't seen a lot of rusting or decay on the body at all.
The interior is fairly jacked up. Dirty, obviously, but the driver's seat is a little torn, and the cloth on the ceiling is coming down. There is a lot of duct tape on the light controls on the left of the steering wheel, and a piece covering the anti-lock break light on the dash; no idea why. There is a pretty big hole where it looks like the dash should come down and form a seam against the radio; possibly just warped and popped out of place.
So here's what I would like to do:
> get the engine fixed up first, make sure the thing is running well and will keep doing so for a substantial amount of time.
> repaint it, pop out the dent, possibly get the driver's side door fixed.
> I don't care about speed performance at all, but adding mods to make it run better and longer I would like to do, I just don't know what they would be beyond better plugs and a better battery.
> Eventually, if it looks like it'll stay on the road, I'd like to add a body kit
> Rims would definitely be nice
> Fix the seat, roof cloth, dash
> Possibly a CD player but not really interested in a massive sub or anything.
SO the major question is do you think I should do any of that? It was free, and it's already 16 years old, so I'm not worried about resale in the least. I am, however, concerned with putting that much money into the thing only to have it fall to pieces in a year or less.
Should I go the rout of rebuilding the engine or just fixing up the one it's got and modifying it?
I'm a community college student right now, and may end up going to a 4 year next fall, or waiting until fall 2010, so I want to do what I can but not end up leaving behind or taking with me a half finished car. Also, I only make about $240 every two weeks part time, so it's not like I'll get anything better anytime soon, but it's also not like I'll be fixing this thing up rapidly.
Again, I know I wrote a lot but I wanted to be thorough. Please help this young car owner figure out what to do! THANKS!!!
wafrederick
12-20-2008, 08:09 PM
If it is the 2.0,it is a Brazilian made engine that is a huge POS.Parts are hard to get for this engine.Parts for this engine have been being discontinued.
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