Assessing the Damage

Bent Spindle

Okay, so you may not see much in this picture, but the spindle arm which connects to the outer tie rod end was bent enough to cause a really bad toe-out. I found a spindle for $45 bucks and replaced the ball joint here to be safe. I haven't found any other signs of bending in the front end yet.

 

Oct 2006 - Chevy Withdrawls

In October, I was still fighting with Budget Claims (they ended up giving me $900 for the damages, wow..) so I was suffering from not having an old V8 to drive around. I bought an '84 Chevy Camaro Z-28 from an nice middle-aged couple from central Oregon..

 

 

 

Feb 2007 - Mouse House Cleanup

 

Shortly after getting the old rig into the shelter of a garage, I realized how bad those little critters had smelled up the interior. I won't go into too much detail, but it was bad.

 

Yummy

 

I had time, so cleaned out the Jeep Cherokee interior, too. Wow, it looks like new!

 

What can't the Rug Doctor do?

 

 

 

Mar 2007 - Edelbrock 4160 Rebuild

 

Since I couldn't drive the car, and still can't afford the stuff to fix it up, I figured, "Why not rebuild the carb?" It was full of dirty fuel over mud, and runs much better now.

 

 

 

 

 

So What Now?

Well, the engine's running well, but what about the rest of this mess? The car will drive "wobbly" as at least two wheels are bent out of shape. During Christmas 2006, I found all sorts of parts in Craigslist, but now seem unable to find even a decent (reasonably priced) fender!

 

The core support appears to be fine, but plastic parts up front are in worse shape.

 

Over the last few days, I've begun removal of the miles of chrome molding from the car. The vinyl top was hiding new surprises, like pockets of rust.

 

Wow, it's even ugly from 15 feet away!

 

Next step = Find some parts!

2007 04 04