Why not to buy a 15 year old car

[JackoliciousLegs]

Part ugh

I still love the car... don't get me wrong. I'll start with just that...

Right before I left for california on dec 14th, I decided to paint my windshield wipers so they would no longer be that dreadful orange rusty color. I wasn't only going to paint them... I was going to plastidip them. I was going to do it right.

Well, while I was working in that mousehole of a workspace between the firewall and windshield, I was trying to get the lock nut off that holds the passenger wiper on. I tugged and tugged and finally it came off... along with all of the threads underneath. FUCK. So I painted the wipers and put the driver's wiper on and that worked, I began to scour rx7club for a parts car.

I left for cali knowing that when I got back, I'd have 4 days to fix this problem... sunday included.

In Cali, I found a guy who sent me the wiper rack for $25 shipped. Nice deal and he sent it to my house in Reston. When I got back, I was having a bad day. The airline lost my luggage, flights were delayed. It took me lots of running, yelling, and patience to get me from cali to NoVa in a whopping 14 hours. I got home just wanting to go for a drive in the car I hadn't seen for 3 weeks.

I got in and started it up. Awesome. I let the ebrake down and drove down my hill. I drove out of the neighborhood but noticed that the car slowed rather fast when I let off the gas. I tried coasting down a small hill not 100m from my house. The car came to a complete stop... but my foot was not on the brake. I got out to check and the rear right caliper was hot and smelled like it had seen a day at the track. Then, it started to rain. Slowly in first gear, I slowly dribbled my way back to my house and slammed hard on the brakes at the end in hopes of dislodging them. I went inside a broken man and fell asleep.

Part deux

Today, I called advance auto and found the caliper for 90 bucks and it would be there tomorrow. I drove to advance (after picking up my luggage that was miraculously at Dulles the whole time - thanks america west :evil: ) in a friend's car and found out that the guy had misinformed me on the phone. It would be here til saturday afternoon and with me having to leave sunday, it wasn't worth it. I left.... still a broken man.

I got home and started working on the windshield wipers... in the rain. Oh the irony! For ONCE, it all went smoothly. I put the wipers back together and they worked!!!! I decided to see if I could dislodge the caliper that had given me trouble. I took car out of gear and it started to roll!!! The final slam on the brakes last night had apparently dislodged the stubborn torture device and the wheel span freely!

Fin

My car works fine. No more stress. I'm unbroken.

[Sijray21]

damn, sounds like a really shitty time, lol

atleast it's all fixed now, that's including yourself

[Mike]

damn, you have it rough... you broke your windshield wipers.

here is some e-sympathy for your sore (and pansy) ass ---> .

[.RJ]

Hey jack, you want some kerosene rags?

[Mike]

the kicker... wanting a parts car because you broke the PASSENGER SIDE wiper... gawd.

[PDenbigh]

Jack, ya might think about getting a caliper rebuild kit and rebuilding that caliper. If it locked up once (granted after weeks of sitting) it might lock up again. Must be some gunk in there somewhur!

Rebuild kits are cheap, and rebuilding a caliper is easy stuff. At least on most car's I've worked on, can't say that from experience on an RX7.

[Evan]

Hey jack, you want some kerosene rags?

[white_2kgt]

Hey jack, you want some kerosene rags?

Why so the fire ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass. 3 for life! :roll:

--chad

[Dave]

thats a bummer dude. As opposed to the rest of these asshats, I will say I feel your pain an hope she treats you good for a couple months in return for being a bitch for leaving her alone for 3 weeks. Hopefully she won't blow up anytime soon :-P

[JackoliciousLegs]

Jack, ya might think about getting a caliper rebuild kit and rebuilding that caliper

I recently replaced both front calipers. I'm going to do both rears when I get back to JMU.

the kicker... wanting a parts car because you broke the PASSENGER SIDE wiper... gawd.

I meant someone parting out a car douche...

[Mike]

the kicker... wanting a parts car because you broke the PASSENGER SIDE wiper... gawd.

I meant someone parting out a car douche...

meant and said are two different things...

[Jeff]

Parts cars are fun anyways...accept storing like...oh...four of them. I know how it is to have an old car with no available parts. I've been down that road three times now. No rubbers for my Lebaron top, no nothing for my Omni, and just about the same for the Challenger. I got ripped on a fender that cost me like $500 and came in two U-haul wardrobe boxes taped together, it wasn't as strait as the guy said

[JackoliciousLegs]

You know what else is fun.... when you're replacing the caliper and the car falls off the jackstands.

[navin]

how the feez did that happen?

[BLINGMW]

hock: whooo... fatal mistake bud! Only way that happens is earthquake or careless jackstand placement. Be careful!!!

[Mike]

oh hey jack, where is my 4-way wrench?

[Chris]

You know what else is fun.... when you're replacing the caliper and the car falls off the jackstands.

shit... how bad is the car, and hopefully you weren't under it!