Total cost of ownership

[Matthew Goeke]

Rule #1 Never add up all the receipts
Rule #2 NEVER let the wife see all the receipts!

Luckily, my wife is a good sport about it, so not a problem

haha im only 17, no wife to worry about yet XD

 

[Matthew Goeke]

If your not a car guy, then maybe you should sell this car. There's a good chance you'll put a $1000 in it. Radiator, V belts, rubber and steel brake lines, possibly calibers and rear wheel cylinders, tires, Yada yada. If someone makes a reasonable offer you may want to take it. JMO. Ken

i am definately a car guy but i am looking into other cars, im going to hang onto this one though.

 

[Matthew Goeke]

Matt you have a beautiful car. If you really want it money would not be an object to get it running. You haven't got any money in this car(other than your list) and I would hope you would want it for sentimental reasons. If your worried about money you have spent you still have a long way to go. Your working on the brakes and your system has been opened. You need bleed your system and flush out the old brake fluid and replace w/ new. my guess is the bleeders will break and require wheel cylinder and or caliper replacement - hope you don't but a vehicle this old I would replace them anyway w/ new master cylinder and put new brakes on while I'm there. Don't know why you put stop leak in it but did notice a water mark on the passenger floor mat which is a possible heater core. You mentioned radiator, if you do that replace the water pump while your at it. The headliner is sagging which requires removal to replace or if your talented repair by cleaning and installing new headliner material - it will take time and patients to do without breaking. The rear bumper filler is broken and requires replacing - once you get one it will need to be painted, might be a good time to fix the ding in the right rear and the hood. Put pen to paper and this would be a good START to a dependable, presentable car.

yea dont worry man, once i am done with the car i am basically going to leave it in my garage until i have my solid job and have no debt, but for now i am using it as a platform to learn so i can use that information on cheaper cars also the watermark could be the heater core like you said, but my grandpa would have had it fixed. he had about 7 cars when he first got this one and he always took them to the shop no matter the problem. i actually found quotes for the ding in the right rear to be replaced, both of them said 300-400 dollars back then.

 

[Matthew Goeke]

a wise old man told me many moons ago to set aside $1000 per year per vehicle for maintenance once they got to be 50k miles or 5 years ( whichever came first ). That was 20 years ago so I now set aside $100 per month per vehicle.
Once you hit the 5 year 50k mark the payments are typically done ( and very little has been spent on maintenance ). So you need to consider what it takes to keep them rolling. That's all-in pricing including tires, oil changes, brakes, every 2nd year undercoating, etc... BTW

Because the Monte is so old and not winter driven I still set aside that amount and typically I spend $300 on storage and $900 in upgrades and maintenance every year. What you don't spend some years rolls over to the next.

Using this formula I have 2x 14 year old vehicles as DD's in the household. They are not new or pretty but safe and reliable. One is due to be replaced as it reached $1300 in repairs just the last year. The next repair will take some consideration and likely if its over $500 I will have it sent to the shredder.

Learning how to do things yourself will save you the $90/hr shop rate. As far as a rad, the Fbody rad slips tight in. Its aluminum cored, plastic tanks and the one in my car has been great for 5+ years now

i will look into the fbody radiator, thank you man.

 

[Matthew Goeke]

i dont mind spending money, but i kinda feel bad since i was saving for a 240sx ever since i started working. i told myself i would get it this year, which is still possible, but i have about 1200$ saved so far and i want around 3000 and i am looking to spend 2000

 

[pontiacgp]

The great thing about G bodies is you don't have to be an electrical or mechanical technician to work on them and you don't have to go buy an expensive set of tools to get most jobs done. I drive my GP instead of my Jeep as much as I can in the summer cause the GP will still run if something goes wrong and if something does go wrong it's easy to diagnose and fix. Plus so many parts from other cars can be made to work on a G body.....did I mention my son with his Infinity Q50S needs two new rims, dealers price is $3,600.

 

[Matthew Goeke]

The great thing about G bodies is you don't have to be an electrical or mechanical technician to work on them and you don't have to go buy an expensive set of tools to get most jobs done. I drive my GP instead of my Jeep as much as I can in the summer cause the GP will still run if something goes wrong and if something does go wrong it's easy to diagnose and fix. Plus so many parts from other cars can be made to work on a G body.....did I mention my son with his Infinity Q50S needs two new rims, dealers price is $3,600.

hah yea thats why i love older cars like this, parts are plentiful and cheap, and like you said theres really no electronics on board like most modern cars. plus its easier to diagnose since your ecu is basically your carb

 

[Opie Knievel]

I think if you get this car drivable and take a few drives, you'll really like this car.

 

[Matthew Goeke]

I think if you get this car drivable and take a few drives, you'll really like this car.

im sure its probably a better driving experience than my mazda 6, mainly because ive never driven rwd in my life. also i probably would take it for a few drives before i put it back in storage. im just worried about taking it for a drive and having it break down while im far from my grandparents house.

 

[ssn696]

Spend money on driveline and suspension first, bodywork last. That way if an idiot finds your quarter panel with his radiator support, you can let his insurance pay for another car and swap in your 'known' drivetrain and suspension. Keep you receipts, no matter what advice you've seen here. They will come in handy arguing the settlement with Idiot's insurance company. These cars have negligible value at this point from a Blue Book standpoint, so just drive and enjoy as long as you can. If you have a rare one or a survivor seriously consider Hagerty and the like. They consider restoration and customization, though their contracts usually limit annual mileage..