Red92

Slightly off-topic, but I had a VW once that had been repainted white. I can't remember the paint code, but it was an old Chevy color. It was a *PERFECT* match for the Rustoleum Gloss White, and I can't say enough about how awesomely convenient that was. Up until a few years ago, I had been working on restoring the car piece-by-piece, and at least half of the car had been repainted or touched up, but you would never know. :cool: We went through the same thing as you though with another car... Touch-up paint was available in the original factory color codes, but due to aging and a slight color shift in a previous repaint, the new paint didn't match. :-\ We went to several different stores looking for paints which were "close", bought a half dozen test cans, and came away with some machinery paint from a farm implement store that is a near perfect match. The great thing, in either case, is that once you find the match you can keep buying or ordering more - a LOT easier than having to get custom blends put in cans from the dedicated auto paint stores.

Good point.

Search for 'steering rack boots', that should get you closer.

Any reason why you're pulling all the stickers/decals off? Aside from the AAA badge, they're all historical and skiing related... if anything, they add to the value of the car. :cool:

Awesome. That sounds like the best way to go for sure. I'd be interested to know how much it costs to ship the pieces too, as I've thought about doing the same thing myself. Can you cancel your order for the EA82 panels, or is it too late?

Unless, of course, you announce your felonies to the whole internet.

Simple Green is also corrosive to aluminum...

Bummer on the engine. :-\ Was it just oil loss that did it, or physical impact damage? Did you have to tow it out?

Yes, do try the direct test with the jumper wire. In my case a while back, that is how I determined that my ignition switch was bad.

Will it start with a jump? Those symptoms could equally be explained by a bad connection at the battery, a bad battery itself, or a bad charging system. An ignition switch could also be the culprit.

Wow! Blown engine or not, that's a clean car for $300!!

Yeah, we've been through all that in the other thread. I gave up. No need to bring it up again.

That will need some work for sure! The hard part will be deciding where you draw the line... how much to keep original (including decals), etc, etc. If you're OK with this level of rust, then you would have been just fine with my old Loyale. But this ski team car is way cooler.

Agreed. 10 seconds of cranking on a cold day?? That's a LONG time... I would certainly consider it abnormal, even on 20+ year old cars. I've never timed it, but even in the cold, I bet that my cars take well under 3 seconds to get started. ... and nobody uses pure water in an engine, which is why "frozen" is an ambiguous term when you are trying to describe an engine being cold.

The ski wagon, or the '88 GL?

Looks pretty classy with those whitewalls.

I figured it must be pretty rough, seeing as how it's an older gen in the midwest, a special edition, priced relatively low, and it was STILL for sale a month+ after being posted...

Actually, with your commute, you're the perfect candidate for a plug-in electric vehicle.

Welcome to the forum! Not sure if you've met any of them, but there's a few other members on here who live in Stoughton. I sold my red '92 Loyale to a guy out there too.

That's good to hear, but how far are you into your 2-mile drive when it gets there? Even if it does warm up, it might still be spending a considerable amount of time (percentage wise) running below temp...

He mentioned before that the drive to work and back was only two miles, the town was only 3.5 miles square, and the nearest population center was 102 miles away but he didn't have a reason to go there. So with those kinds of short short short in-town trips, I would bet that the engine probably never even warms up to an efficient operating temp. Considering the driving conditions, he might even be getting pretty good gas mileage!

eh, it's a pretty common mistake. But if you weren't accounting for the differences, then you've probably been speeding everywhere you go too.

215/75/15's are HUGE tires compared to the stock 185/70/14s, and the larger tire circumference is going to slow down your odometer. When your odometer says you have gone 82 miles, you've actually gone further, so your true MPG is higher than what you calculated.

Sorry to hear the bad news on this one... quote from the other thread:

Seconded.