Exhausted. The auction Corolla now looks pretty good, however it sounds like a tin can full of flatulent bumble bees. The old muffler was pretty rusty, well what was left of it:
I found a pretty good deal on mufflers at Amazon. $23 bucks shipped with my prime membership, however, it had a 2.5" inlet, and the Corolla had a 1.75 outlet. I didn't want to spend a bunch of coin on adapters, so I got to work.
You can see the difference in sizes (above). The first order of business was to make an adapter plate. First I took a price of scrap and drilled a 1.75" hole.
Then I cut out the plug for the 2.5" inlet in the muffler.
Then I popped it on the muffler and welded it up.
I'm no professional fabricator, but this worked swimmingly and I saved about $15 in adapters by building it myself, out of scrap! It sounds real nice on the Corolla too! In the next Corolla post, I'll cover some of the final cosmetic touches before I put it up for sale.
In part one, I told you about my impulse buy, in part two I showed you a few of the challenges I found that will need to be solved to make this car flipable. In part three, I'm gonna show you the transformation of a cancer hole from "this is hopeless" to "I can live with that."
My fist order of business was to cut the cancer out.
Next, I traced the approximate shapes I needed on wax paper. Then I cut the shapes out of the wax paper and transferred the stencil to some 22 gauge sheet metal.
After cutting my metal shapes I trimmed as needed to fit correctly and welded the whole mess up.
Then I ground the welds with an angle grinder and applied a coat of body filler.
Sanded the first coat with 80 grit sand paper.
I eventually did a second coat of filler, also sanded with 80 grit, and a coat of glazing putty sanded with 80, 120 and then 320 grit papers. After wiping it down and priming, I think I have something that's passable.
I also did some reconstruction of the front of this same fender arch, and the rocker panel with the same methods. I repeated the same process on the passengers side.
To finish this off I needed some paint. A huge point of cost in any flip is paint. I could prep and paint the whole car for around $200, or I could spot paint it for much less. I chose to spot paint for $20, finding a close color in a duplicolor rattle can, figuring that I can paint it later if I it doesn't sell. I've never painted a car before, so I followed this tutorial for blending a rattle can touch up (nsfw).
The final product came out fairly decent. I'm obviously no expert, but my guess is the person shopping for a car in this price range can't be to picky. Each car is practice, and I'll get better on the next one I suppose.
I love mid summer car shows. It doesn't matter if they're at the local Tasty Freeze or at billion dollar race tracks. For 3 years I've taken my camera to Kentucky's biggest car show, the Keeneland Concours d'Elegance, documenting the competition, cars and owners. Featuring Enzo #399, Tucker #25 and a the worlds only Fuel Injected Dino Ferarri (also raced by Paul Neuman).
I saw this majestic beast parked in the handi-spot outside Kroger. It seems to be a mid 80's-ish Dodge Ram Van, with an identity crisis.
The conversion style rear quarter windows conflict with the 70's metal flake-faux wood paint. Every body knows you don't put picture windows on the side of a shagg'n wagon. Also, most conversion vans were long body's. The 90's American Racing rims bring us a third decade of confusion, while the luggage rack and Family Truckster double stacked headlamps complete the rape van look.
Despite this vans creeper status, I kind of digg it. I mean look at the fiberglass sun visor! Those were made for only the Chachiest of rides. Honestly, I can see Scott Baio rocking this right now! If it where my van, I'd hop on craigslist and score some cheap 13" reversed offset wire wheels, put War's Lowrider on repeat and call it a day... but, to each their own. I lift my beer in the air to you Mr. Handi Van, you may not have taste on your side, but you've got style, and that's good enough.
In part one, I told you how I stole a 1990 corolla at auction for the low sum of $250. My intent was to buy, clean and then flip the car for $500-$800. Well, the idiot tax for buying old used cars adds up pretty quick. I won the car for $250, but then come the added auction fees.
Winning Bid: $250
Auction Fee: $75
Online Bidding Fee:$39
Lot Fee: $30
Suddenly I'm into this heap for $394.00, and I haven't even gotten it home yet. Speaking of getting it home, how am I going to do that? My Ram 3500 is in the shop. I guess I'm taking a long lunch from my 8-5, renting a car dolly (+$55) and borrowing the wife's mini van.
Most of the car batteries on the auction lot are dead because most cars sit on auction lots for weeks, and even months with doors open or accessories on. My first order of business after getting the Corolla home, was to charge the battery and take stock of what works, what doesn't and what will need to be fixed.
I saw these rust spots in the auction listing (from a picture taken far away), at the time they didn't seem so bad. But then I started investigating. I wish I hadn't.
So the major problems so far are rusty quarters, a saggy headliner, a missing mirror and the bombshell in the picture below:
Dammit.
How are we going to fix all this and make a profit on our flip? Check out part 3 next week and find out.
I happened to be marching through the bureau of purple curbs when I caught this majesticness with my smartphone:
I took me 2 passes (24 hours apart) to realize this marvelous monstrosity was more than some local guy's experiment with Krylon and masking tape. No, this is a full on tribute to the 3rd gen eclipse in 2Fast 2Furious. See the original picture car in the pic below.
I was never a huge fan of the 3rd gen Eclipse, nor was I a fan of the sophomore version of the Fast franchise. I remember my initial reaction to the 2Fast Eclipse in the theater, it was something like "I don't love it, I don't hate it, but I can't think of any sane reason you would do that to a vehicle." It's now ten+ years since the film premiered, but it certainly left a impression someone.
This tribute brings us the all the essence of the original vehicle, without any of the details. Sure, the purple is not the same color, the wheels don't match, the body kit is missing and the owner can't be bothered with the rear wing. If everything were correct it would be a replica, and (as Tenacious D says) this is not the greatest replica in the world, this is just a tribute. Either way, I lift my beer in the air to you, Mr. 2Fast tribute owner, for keeping and old Eclipse on the road, and for shining your light on the most forgettable vehicle of the entire Fast & Furious franchise.
