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The $350 1992 Metro rebuild; Testbed for MPG mods
Topic Started: Nov 18 2010, 01:38 AM (9,568 Views)
bogs
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Duct tape heals all wounds

Well, you have our best whichever way you wind up going :thumb
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

bogs
Jan 16 2011, 12:38 PM
Well, you have our best whichever way you wind up going :thumb
Thanks! I appreciate it! I'm in the fight of my life right now financially between my pay cut at work ( New estimate: $297 per month!) and a "friend" I have living with me that is paying rent but ruining my house, life has not been really easy lately. I may be disorganized, but my roommate has no concept of keeping things clean. Disorder I can tolerate, filth and alcoholism I cannot. I now need to replace ALL of the carpets in my house before I can sell it due to his lack of care. So, I have no peace at work and no peace at home. Some nights I drive around on the phone until 3am to avoid dealing with the situation at home. The Metro was my light at the end of the financial tunnel, but Progressive just dynamited the exit.
Edited by Jim-Bob, Jan 17 2011, 11:27 PM.
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yiffzer
Forgot His Manpurse

:( I understand about the roommate crap. Wow, get a new roommate. He is costing YOU MONEY actually. And time for an intervention.
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

yiffzer
Jan 17 2011, 08:54 PM
:( I understand about the roommate crap. Wow, get a new roommate. He is costing YOU MONEY actually. And time for an intervention.
I have already given him 4 months notice that he has to find a new place to live. Why 4 months? that is how long it should take me to cut down to one vehicle, fix the house and be ready for new floors. After that, the house is going on the market so I can move back home and go to college full time in the fall. I will be happy to be rid of the house and chaos so that I can start anew. The stress is killing me right now and I just want to get away. I hope I sell the house early in the summer so I can take a few weeks or a month off and take a vacation. I don't know that I will return to delivery when I am in school though as I am sick of it.
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Coche Blanco
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If you were in North Alabama, i'd have a room for you. My dad has 2 extra rooms he wouldn't mind renting.
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

Coche Blanco
Jan 17 2011, 11:37 PM
If you were in North Alabama, i'd have a room for you. My dad has 2 extra rooms he wouldn't mind renting.
Thanks, but I already have a place to stay for free with my parents. What I am doing now is getting ready to sell off my house and cars. It will all work out but it's going to take a lot of time and work. Thanks for the sentiment though, it is appreciated.
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Coche Blanco
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Good luck! :rocker
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Bad Bent
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Facetious Educated Donkey

:+1
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

I found more parts for this car today. I managed to get a near perfect black trim piece for the center stack on the dash. I also found a 4 door 98 Metro with the 16 valve G13 and an intact 5 speed trans (what is the final drive on these again?) as well as a 93 Metro 2 door hatch with the shifter assembly and clutch pedal still intact. Since I didn't want to use the 4.10 or 4.33 transmissions this is a huge find. Now if only I had the money to pull it today... I guess I will see how fast the 91 Metro sells and for how much so that I can get the money to grab these parts.
Edited by Jim-Bob, Jan 20 2011, 04:55 PM.
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Coche Blanco
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3.79
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

I got a wonderful package from Canada today-yes, my 3 Tech head came in! :banana Little by little the parts are coming together to put this car together. Next step: pulling the transmission out of that 4 door I saw the other day along with the shift linkage, pedals, etc. from the 93 they had too. Add to it the 13 inch wheels and it should keep my highway RPMs down low enough to help fuel mileage and longevity.


Journal entry:
Also, a thought: $3 a gallon is the tipping point between profit and loss on driving a Metro due to the insurance costs. It makes sense to sell off my blue one as that presents more profit to finish this car. However, it may well be that by the time I have this one finished that gas will hit $4 a gallon. In that case, even with the high insurance cost I will still net a savings of $70 a month. Hmm... At that price it will be well worth the cost of insurance. However, in the mean time I still need the truck on the road to finish my AMC, Cutlass, and kitchen and bath remodel projects. After those are done though the truck can be sold off as the house will be on the market and ready for sale. Numbers are fun to play with (but my obsession with them is driving me nuts!)
Edited by Jim-Bob, Jan 23 2011, 01:47 AM.
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

Finally actually did some work to the car today. It has been sitting abandoned in my back yard as I worked to make the 91 metro a reliable daily driver. However, I had screwed up a bit with this one as I stopped work in the middle of ridding the door jamb seam of rust and let it rust over again. So, starting yesterday, I went to work taking it down to clean metal again. I got most of it off and went to town with a spray can of etching primer followed by some white Rustoleum. I'll have to seal the seam with urethane at a later date though as this was a rush job before it rains again. It is supposed to rain 3 of the next 4 days so I didn't want to leave it exposed and have to start all over again. I probably got 90-95% of the rust and hope it will be many years before it comes back again. I also have to start selling off my other cars soon so I can move forward on both the house and finishing this Metro to hopefully see a 10 mpg advantage over the stock 1991 Metro I am using now. When you drive 3200 miles a month, the extra 10 mpg equates to around $50 a month in savings.

Anyhow....more pictures (New camera...yay!)

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I hope to finish the car in the garage and not in the back yard. So, I really need to finish the other two projects and liquidate them so I can put it in there and get going. The problem is that there is only one of me and I can either spend time making money, parts hunting, or working on a project. It's exhausting as I can't rest because of the sheer volume of work to get done in a relatively short period of time.

I want to paint this car, but the paint is in bad enough shape that it needs to be stripped to the bare metal and properly prepped before it can be painted. The car is really straight with the exception of some dings, so it should be easy once it is stripped, prepped and primed. I can't do this though with the car out in the open as it will rust in no time at all. I also need to dismantle all of the trim, lights, etc. before work can begin so that nothing gets damaged. I haven't decided yet if the car will be painted in a booth or in the garage. I am leaning towards the garage right now due to transportation issues if I rent a booth. Sorry for the stream of consciousness rant, but sometimes it feels good to get it out on paper or online.
Edited by Jim-Bob, Feb 5 2011, 02:08 AM.
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Coche Blanco
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You're probably good with it there because the Metro ways so little, but if you were working on a heavier car, I would replace that paver with some wood.
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

Coche Blanco
Feb 5 2011, 11:42 AM
You're probably good with it there because the Metro ways so little, but if you were working on a heavier car, I would replace that paver with some wood.
Agreed, but the car is not getting assembled where it sits. I'll be putting the panels back on it next week after I seal the seams, putting the suspension back together with what I have and dropping it off the stands. After that it's going to sit a few months while I finish and sell my other stuff.
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Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

Today I found a complete 1992 3/5 Metro in the junkyard! :banana I am going tomorrow to strip off the clutch and brake pedals, shifter, clutch cable and transmission mount. I am leaving the transmission though as I plan to use the 3.79 trans and 13 inch wheels out of a later 4 cylinder Metro.
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