My '95 Caprice Classic STW, "Sally"

[Arquemann]

Looks like the shock took way more of the control arm with it than I though. One side's shear line was mostly rusted already, so it had been partly cracked for a while. I am glad that it wasn't broken off just around the bolts and nuts I used to mount the shocks. I didn't have the special large shock nuts so I was worried the regular sized washers had just ripped through, but it's not the case. This time I will have the correct shock nuts!

Also do they paint these shocks at the factory with fucking water colours or what? The front shocks haven't even seen two full winters and under 15k KMs, and they look like shit.
But I did spray it with wax (fluid film type stuff) so hopefully it'll last longer.

[sly]

It's always interesting to see how bad the markups are in other countries and how just being willing to wait week or three for the part can reduce the price by half and sometimes more.

[Arquemann]

Welp, ordered a new control arm off RA. Threw in the end links and caliper slide pins for the same shipping, which was 70€. As usual, goods value to shipping cost is about 50/50.
Mevotech end links were 1.63€ a piece, slide pins were 1.59€ a piece, it's just hilarious what car parts cost over on your side of the pond.

Whatever replacement I get for the Caprice, I hope the new car will have parts available off RA, so I'll get them cheaper off of there. I had bought some stuff for my Volvo 850 on RA and it was way cheaper than here, y'know neighbour of Sweden.

[sly]

Yeah. Being illegal kinda kills that option. Bonus sucks on the end links. At least it's a relatively easy fix if a little spendy due to shipping issues.

[Arquemann]

DOH!

Gonna weld a plate in there or order a new control arm?

Repairing/welding control or steering arms is illegal in Finland. An inspector would have a field day seeing a plate welded to a control arm. Maybe it could be done inconspicuously, but it's super close to the spring bucket, I can't weld and my dad prolly won't do it since its illegal.

New control arm is ~200€ locally, RA sells mevotechs for 66€ plus whatever much shipping and VAT is.

Gonna need new end link(s) too since the bolts are seized in the sleeves.

[sly]

DOH!

Gonna weld a plate in there or order a new control arm?

[Arquemann]

These fancy bluetooth shock absorbers seem like a nice deal, way less effort to install/remove and seemingly no difference in ride quality or handling.



Shock nuts ripped through the rusty control arm.

Fuck.

[Arquemann]

Anything semi affordable and new/er is a throw away car with no frills and low build quality.

Build quality is kinda subjective, but "no frills" doesn't fit a new car IMO. Everything has a bajillion electronic gizmos and gadgets, but on cheapo models the things you'd actually want might be missing. I just want cruise, ac and power windows, maybe keyless entry. I want comfort and quiet with fuel efficiency, but it's a hard combo to find within my small budget. I do have one brand in mind, but I'm not sure I dare go there.

[87gtVIC]

Anything semi affordable and new/er is a throw away car with no frills and low build quality.

[Arquemann]

I think I've ruined regular cars for myself.

This crappy and worn out 30 y.o. pile of Chevy is quieter and immensely more comfortable than any "economical" daily driver that I can come up with. If I want similar levels of comfort and quiet, with any reasonable improvement in fuel efficiency, I'm looking at premium models of either Mercedes, Audi or BMW. And there goes the whole idea of getting a more economical car.

Probably the biggest single thing about modern cars is that they're unibody, and noisy. I've got cheap tires on the Caprice and still there's barely any tire noise into the cabin. Most noise inside is just wind noise and the terribly loud blower motor, a quiet ride overall. In contrast to my parents' premium asf F11 5-series, nappa leather, new Michelin tires and all that bullshit. Still a considerable amount of tire noise inside, very little wind noise though. At highway speeds the noise levels in both cars are about the same I reckon, just different sources.


Oh and I have an exhaust leak that sounds like an intermittent belt chirp, had fun diagnosing that.
Put 150€ into the tank today, and didn't even get a full tank. Sucks major balls.

[Arquemann]

Got new front brake stuff ready, waiting on a good day and less irons in the fire to install. New discs, pads and wheel seals. Hopefully the hubs have new outer bearing races in them as I didn't feel like buying new bearings. What I already noticed is that the cheapo pads don't have any retainer clips attached to them, like ones that hold the pad to the piston...

A friend of mine picked herself up a cream puff Caprice wagon last week, so at yesterdays cruise night we just had to park the big booties side by side. The body's been off the frame, repainted, frame dipped and epoxied, not a spec of rust (except in the rear glass latch, which is rustier than mine) Has a nicely rebuilt and slightly hopped up 305 which runs like a clock. Note the EU-spec lights; amber turn signals in place of reverse lights and an ugly plastic wart added for a reverse and fog light. Side indicators in the fenders. Fronts are just amazon garbage, it would've had yellow parking lights, separate indicator bulbs and no marker lights.

[Arquemann]

Decided it was time for summer tires, so a few "while-at-its".

- I've had quite a bit of brake vibration from the beginning, so before ordering new discs I decided to check and go through the front brakes to make sure there's nothing else causing the vibration.
Everything was quite crusty, one slide pin should really be replaced, but nothing was completely seized or problematic. Some wire brushing, filing and a bunch of copper grease later, everything should be free and fully functioning. Did not improve the brake vibration, but definitely did not do any harm. I think I'll replace the pads and discs before selling the car, the vibration is kinda obnoxious and the discs are toast.

- Should really replace the front sway bar links, but for now I just tightened them.

- Greased the front suspension, minus one lower ball joint, I must've hit the control arm on something and the grease fitting has snapped off.

- Ziptied up the wiring for an O2 sensor that was hanging down under the car, loom clip had broken off.

Did get the summer wheels/tires on finally, a quick trip to check the tire pressures, the bing chilling ching chong tires and crappy wheels vibrate way less than I remembered, nice!
I am officially shopping for an economical daily driver to replace the Caprice, the voice of reason in my head is slowly getting louder. I've had a few realizations along the way.

[Arquemann]

After about 10 hours of work and ~50€, the car is in about the same condition it was a month ago. Now with a slightly less holey exhaust and firewall.
The joint behind the muffler to the tailpipe where the clamp broke is so thoroughly rusted that I could budge the slipfit even with a kick, structural rust!

Last time I dried the carpet and insulation, I sprayglued some of the insulation to the floorpans. I had to do it because I had to slide the carpet under the dash, but this time it really sucked because I had to rip it all out to dry.

Unless the Caprice throws another curveball at me, next job ought to be switching to summer tires.
Towards the next disaster!

[DerekTheGreat]

I'd be pissed too. Sometimes I wish I had different hobbies. But that's not the way I'm programmed. As a result, I find life too short to drive boring cars. I'll drive my low MPG garbage and enjoy V8 rumble until I can't afford to. At that point and if it comes, I'll either park the things until better days arrive or yeah, self-terminate after gifting them to people.

[Arquemann]

24mpg is damn fine.

It would be fine, if that's what this damn fat moses actually got for mpg. But that's what it gets when I baby it at 100kmh. My average mpg is around is 18, and that's what's not good enough.

Looking like you need to find yourself a lightweight econobox.

Yeah, and that's what pisses me off.
I've gotta get something fun with tolerable fuel mileage, or a genuinely efficient econobox, which aren't usually that fun.

For the money I'd likely get from the Caprice, I could buy a Golf that'll touch 60 mpg. But a Golf is as vivid and fun as a gravel parking lot, Id' rather spend the money on hookers and blow and off myself in the end. End result would probably be the same.

Just for some perspective; I'm on unemployment and a full tank for the Caprice is about a quarter of what I get per month.