Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Posted ImageWelcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are features you can't use and images you can't see. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Join our community!




Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Hi everyone!; New member
Topic Started: Jun 30 2011, 12:30 PM (567 Views)
stevenlee
New Member
[ *  * ]
Greetings all, My name is Steven and I live in Omaha Nebraska. I have a 1996 Geo Metro with a 1-liter and 5-speed manual. I bought this car several years ago off Ebay from a dealer in Philadelphia. I then took a one way greyhound bus and drove the car back to Nebraska. Previous to this car, I had a 1994 geo metro. I love these cars! Awesome gas mileage, easy to work on. My 1996 has been welded together due to damage to the frame horns from the Nebraska winters. It is no longer my daily driver because of the harsh road salts here. But hopefully it will last me a few more years.
Edited by stevenlee, Jun 30 2011, 12:31 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kurtis1971
Member Avatar


welcome
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jittney
Anchorage 92 XFi

Welcome to the forum, stevenlee :coffee
The salt on the roads sure is hard on cars.
Glad you are getting use of the car.
Any plans to strengthen the existing frame horns?
How about a picture? :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
stevenlee
New Member
[ *  * ]
I will try to get a few pictures over the next few days. But I have taken it to two separate welders. They both used angle and square tubing to strengthen it. they say "its 10-times stronger than before." My frame horns were perfect with no rust when I bought the car. But when I drove it back to Nebraska the road salts did its work in just a few short years. 3-4 at the most. Getting anyone to weld on this car has been very, very difficult as they do not want to be liable. I got started with my Mig welder but blew a fuse in the garage I lease. Once that happened the woman I lease from said "no more." I see lots of metros that have been customized in different ways here in Omaha, but those guys don't really talk and I don't find them posting anywhere.

I have an arm and a leg into this car. I replaced the water pump, timing belt, CV axles, brakes, both oxygen sensors, a cam seal, an entire exhaust from a new exhaust manifold to the rear tail pipe. New inner and outer wheel bearings all the way around, clutch, ectera. The welding work does not look pretty. But they are tough, strong welds with good penetration. and a brace from one horn to the other. These guys say the welds will outlast the car since its much stronger than the original design. You cannot see the work unless you get underneath the car.

Looking back now, I wish I had a donor car with good frame horns I could have cut out and swapped. But the welders told me that was a design flaw. They say the engineers did not make the sheet metal strong enough, as in thickness. So it rust out fast and the car is rendered inoperable. But like I said, this is Nebraska and the salts are brutal. They not only have rock salt, but a liquid too. Very corrosive. I use an old econoline van for the winters now.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
flea
Member Avatar


Welcome to GMF. There is a wealth of info in this site.


Also, if you have any pics....?


Flea
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
bogs
Member Avatar
Duct tape heals all wounds

Welcome here :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Introductions · Next Topic »
Add Reply