Project Car Reduction

"I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker" (qaaaaa)
04/22/2020 at 16:45 • Filed to: None

How did I get to this point? A quick recap of my fleet, as of this morning, in order of how long I’ve had it:

1996 Golf: Daily. Reliable ish, gets horrible gas mileage.

1994 Saturn SC2: I bought this last summer from a fellow Opponaut. It drives pretty good, but is pretty loud and I don’t have a ton of time to mess with it, because there are five other cars.

1986 Cabriolet: I pulled it out of storage a while ago and I’ve been driving it when the weather permits. It’s good, but needs some love in terms of brakes and CIS tinkering. The interior also isn’t great.

1981 Rabbit: There is still no engine in this. I have a short block in pieces in my living room needing assembly.

1995 Jetta: Also does not run, but it cranks. Again, not really finding a ton of wrenching time.

1991 Jetta: Fun, but again, has issues. Daily driver potential, and I drove it daily for a week or so. I didn’t really like it, so I listed it.

As of 4pm today, however, I’m down to four cars. I had the Saturn listed for a while and finally sold it, despite its numerous shortcomings for way less than I’d spent keeping it alive and on the road. Also sold is the turbodiesel Jetta, to a friend of a friend. I was back and forth on selling either for a while. But in the end, having four daily drivable cars is a bit silly.

However, this leaves me with no fewer operable cars and a greater percentage of inoperable shitboxes. So now what? Hope the Golf doesn’t break? Fix the Cabriolet? Fix the other two cars?

For now, my plan is to slap together a motor for my Rabbit and get it driving. After that, it will still need an everything.

The diagnostic work I’ve done on the black 95 Jetta indicates that the ECU is fried. Which should mean it’ll be relatively simple to get back on the road, but VWs being VWs, a drum seized while it was parked for however long it was parked, so I had to take apart the wheel hub to get the car inside my workshop area. So now I need to rebuild that wheel hub (and all the other brakes as a precaution) and bleed everything before I can even drive it for the first time.

Now I just need to not buy any more broken VWs.

DISCUSSION (13)

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/22/2020 at 17:42

So you have the following left:

-1996 golf With bad MPgs

-1986 Cabriotlet With no brakes

-1981 Rabbit with no engine

-1995 Jetta that is not running.

My thoughts are that you should get the 1996 Golf in decent running shape so you have at least one daily driver. The bad fuel economy is likely caused by something relatively simple like a bad thermostat, a bad O2 sensor, bad coolant temp sensor, bad PCV or some other relatively straightforward thing

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/22/2020 at 17:42

“Now I just need to not buy any more broken VWs.”

Narrator: “That’s when he went and bought more broken VWs.”

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
04/22/2020 at 18:10

The Ca briolet stops alright, just not as well as I’d like. I need to get it running right.

I do need to figure out the Golf fuel consumption though.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
04/22/2020 at 18:11

maybe

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/22/2020 at 19:17

Here’s a link that might be helpful for that:

https://www.vwforum.com/threads/causes-of-bad-fuel-economy.34684/

ttyymmnn > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/22/2020 at 19:45

Now I just need to not buy any more broken VWs.

Don’t they come from the factory that way?

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
04/22/2020 at 20:12

I’ve gone through the regular culprits. Most of that seems to be more applicable to CIS and Digifant cars. If I’m gentle on the throttle I can score mid-20s, so it’s really not that broken.

TrickJos > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/23/2020 at 08:24

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > TrickJos
04/23/2020 at 08:58

Yeah... I just didn’t have the time for it and wasn’t driving it. And it somehow ended up being the most expensive car to insure. If I had infinite space and infinite money, I’d have turned it into an autocrosser, but it ended up just sitting for weeks at a time on the street and bums kept trying to break into it.

TrickJos > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/23/2020 at 16:25

Wow the insurance thing is surprising!

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > TrickJos
04/23/2020 at 16:30

Yeah, it was a surprise to me too. I think it came down to the lack of safety features, rebuilt title, and a power to weight ratio that was much more favorable than any of my other cars. I totally understand why you like it though. But most of the time, it just sat, and it was a bit sketchy even after I refreshed the suspension. I drove it to base one time and it stalled out on me and I had to push it a few hundred feet to a parking lot, which was no fun. Then it started like nothing was wrong first try when it was time to leave. Go figure.

TrickJos > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
04/23/2020 at 20:50

Lack of safety features!?!? It has automatic seatbelts!!

I’m just glad it lived on to have a little more fun.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > TrickJos
04/23/2020 at 22:56

The passenger side one stopped working like... a month into ownership. The passenger restraint module in the center console broke. It just clicked and clicked and clicked and drained the battery. There were a few electric gremlins.

That car will be on the road as long as we’ll be alive, as long as the new owner keeps it full of oil. They’re good cars.