Howdy!
I don't post very often, but read frequently for both information and entertainment... this place is great on both counts.
I've got myself a little puzzle to solve, and a few related questions. For one thing, I've definitely got the rover bug, and some people are telling me I'm nuts and should bail and get something else. But I just can't do it. Thought I'd check in here to see if
1) they are right, my "rover bug" is impeding my judgement and I should bail OR
2) no, ya'll would probably be considering doing the same thing OR
3) somebody that knows better than I has a better idea on what I should be doing/thinking
The dying D1
So here's the deal:
My beloved 1998 D1 appears to be on it's last legs. Well, not really... but it is overdue for a serious engine overhaul, not to mention plenty of miscellaneous non-critical problems. It's around the 190,000 mile mark, and here is a list of issues, most of which have just turned up or "gotten bad" in the last few weeks. (Beyond typical rover seepage.)
Mech
- Rear main seal is leaking pretty badly.
- So is the front, and just about everywhere else that can leak oil.
- Oil is actually getting on the cats at hwy speeds, to the point of producing smoke. (Eek!)
- Power steering leak. The worst has been fixed (hoses & connections) but still some leakage.
- A very recent external coolant leak (looked like valley gasket, dripping out the back) was shockingly cured by GM sealtabs (despite my scepticism) at the reccomendation of my current (and possibly former) mechanic. Or maybe it wasn't. It doesn't leak externally at all anymore, but...
- Apparently there is now (or maybe always was) an internal coolant leak. One of the front cylinders, forget which.
Non-mech
- Heater/AC fan motor is pretty much dead. Haven't had chance to yank out & fix.
- Rear bumper is munched on one side. Backed into an oddly placed and practically invisible guyline in the dark. Felt like a dumbass, but I guess it gives me an excuse to replace it with a rovertym at some point. It was already slightly dented in middle after being rear-ended at a red light by a minivan. Cosmetic damage only. But holy crap you shoulda seen how it crushed in that poor minivan! (Serves 'em right.)
- Sunroof bad & leaking. Was fine until a friend monkeyed with them. Was going to disconnect & seal 'em up, but forgot. Not a terrible issue... fitting a perfectly sized and color-matched heavy canvas top to the SD rack was the fastest/cheapest fix, and I actually like how it turned out.
I guess we've manage to really tear up this poor thing. And somehow, despite all of that, it still runs and drives like a champ. If not for the evidence on the driveway and the hint of smoke when oil gets on the cat, you'd never be able to tell. Wacky. But not going to drive it anymore, not after finding that fire hazard and the head leak.
Summarizing and compounding the problem
So it looks like I need main seals front and back, intake manifold, heads, and so on. At this point and at that level of dissassembly, it makes most sense to me to go ahead and pull the motor & just do the works on it. I wouldn't mind that at all, but I simply don't have the time or space to do it myself right now and I need another drivable vehicle ASAP. (Two kids under 2, two project cars filling up the garage already.) I do have another truck (83 toy) only one step away from running, but that does me no good as I can't take the kids in it. The vette in the garage is no good for that either. The mustang would work, but it is far, far from being even close to usable.
Was considering buying a new car, but my wife has REALLY wants a Ford Fiesta, and has been waiting for them to become available here since before all of this came up. She'd still prefer to wait. In the meantime, we need another rig.
The scheme/solution
So here's what I'm thinking, and what people say is crazy. I want to get another disco. A cheaper disco would cost less than payments on any new or newish car we'd be interested in, until the car my wife thinks she wants becomes available. If it lasts without too much trouble for even two years, we come out ahead as far as I'm concerned. I can transfer the rack, practically brand new tires, etc from the dying disco, which would then get put away (in one of dad's big shops) for a little while.
Then finish the toyota first, so I have a backup rig in case of new disco trouble. (We can get by temporarily with our other car like we are now, but not for long and would rather not.)
Then fix the vette, but not a full resto. Just get it running again (intake manifold, not too big a deal) to sell as a project for someone else. Get it out of my way, and get a space to put that disco back in my own garage to work on at my own leisure. (Or maybe sell it as is, or part out. Don't know yet.)
In the meantime, the car the wife wants becomes available, and we get one. Which frees us up to sell the toyota truck.
The way I see it, we go from the current mess:
- A working newer/regular car
- A nearly dead disco
- A non-running 2 seater truck
- A non-running 2 seater vette
- A non-drivable mustang
to this:
- Two working newer/regular cars
- Two working discos (yeah!), one recently overhauled
- A non-drivable mustang, that I will actually have room to do a full resto on
with a reasonable amount of money and hassle, while at the same time being the cheapest/fastest way get two working vehicles that can accomodate kids again. We'd end up with the same number of vehicles, but all much more practical and fun than what we have now. Not to mention a semi-devious way of adding to our rover collection, while still getting the wife what she wants!
Am I nuts? Or is this a reasonable plan for improving our vehicle situation both short and long-term?
New disco choices and some market questions
I've made an appointment to look at a 1994 disco. It's a bright blue, which is cool. I don't see that often around here. (I mostly see the same dark green ours is.) It also has high miles (right at 200k) but is supposedly in great condition for that age. Well, except for a "minor" oil leak they mentioned well after plans were made. I'm gonna look anyway, and hope to find typical seepage as described and not anything worse.
They are asking for $2000, which brings me to another major question, possibly one that deserves its own post.
I've done plenty of reading here (and some elsewhere) to think I have an idea on what discos of various condition/milage/modification/etc are typically considered to be worth, to folks that know them. For that much money ($2-3k) it would seem that I should be able to get one in great shape with fewer miles, no leaks worth speaking of, and maybe even a few goodies. This truck sounds like it belongs more in the $1000 to $1500 range.
But that never seems to match market reality, at least around here. Any D1 with under 150k miles in almost any condition always seems to be listed around $5000, give or take. Higher miles knocks it down some, but usually not below $4000. And they apparently sell at that, so it's not like I can just tell anyone they're full of it and should be asking half of that. I'd get the boot in favor of the other guy right behind me, who is happy to cough up that kind of dough.
Check portland.craigslist.com and salem.craigslist.com to see what I mean, as far as what the market around here looks like.
A 1999 w/no detailed info for $5500 (might be D2)
A 1996 SE w/110k miles for just under $5000.
A 1999 D2 w/150k miles for $5000.
A 1995 w/no mileage info for $5000.
A 1997 w/111k miles for for $5000.
A 1997 w/no mileage info for $4500.
A 1995 w/123k miles (and no detailed info) for $4000.
A 1996 w/112k miles for $3500.
A 1994 w/130k miles for $3000 (firm, was listed higher)
Does anyone know why that is? Why I see folks on the other side of the continent (east coast, midwest, etc) buying and selling usable-to-great discos in the $1500-3500 range? While out here on the west side it seems rare to find anything better than a barely-mobile parts bin for under $3000?
Do I just not know where to look? Or am I just a terrible haggler, and all of those $5k rigs are really going for $3k or so? Is there anything different about the cheaper rovers over there and here (environmental effects?), or is it just a market/perception difference?
A few of those look better than the others. The D2 might be nice. Wouldn't be able to transfer my rack though. (Am wondering if I can swap tires between a D1 and an early D2. Will search for that in a bit.) Those two under $4k seem to break the typical price mold around here, and might be worth looking at. Of course they have to be the farthest away from me, too.
OK, that's enough for now. Thanks, especially if anyone bothers to wade through this whole post. Perhaps I should have broken it into more bite-sized chunks, or edited more. Sorry!
I don't post very often, but read frequently for both information and entertainment... this place is great on both counts.
I've got myself a little puzzle to solve, and a few related questions. For one thing, I've definitely got the rover bug, and some people are telling me I'm nuts and should bail and get something else. But I just can't do it. Thought I'd check in here to see if
1) they are right, my "rover bug" is impeding my judgement and I should bail OR
2) no, ya'll would probably be considering doing the same thing OR
3) somebody that knows better than I has a better idea on what I should be doing/thinking
The dying D1
So here's the deal:
My beloved 1998 D1 appears to be on it's last legs. Well, not really... but it is overdue for a serious engine overhaul, not to mention plenty of miscellaneous non-critical problems. It's around the 190,000 mile mark, and here is a list of issues, most of which have just turned up or "gotten bad" in the last few weeks. (Beyond typical rover seepage.)
Mech
- Rear main seal is leaking pretty badly.
- So is the front, and just about everywhere else that can leak oil.
- Oil is actually getting on the cats at hwy speeds, to the point of producing smoke. (Eek!)
- Power steering leak. The worst has been fixed (hoses & connections) but still some leakage.
- A very recent external coolant leak (looked like valley gasket, dripping out the back) was shockingly cured by GM sealtabs (despite my scepticism) at the reccomendation of my current (and possibly former) mechanic. Or maybe it wasn't. It doesn't leak externally at all anymore, but...
- Apparently there is now (or maybe always was) an internal coolant leak. One of the front cylinders, forget which.
Non-mech
- Heater/AC fan motor is pretty much dead. Haven't had chance to yank out & fix.
- Rear bumper is munched on one side. Backed into an oddly placed and practically invisible guyline in the dark. Felt like a dumbass, but I guess it gives me an excuse to replace it with a rovertym at some point.
It was already slightly dented in middle after being rear-ended at a red light by a minivan. Cosmetic damage only. But holy crap you shoulda seen how it crushed in that poor minivan! (Serves 'em right.)- Sunroof bad & leaking. Was fine until a friend monkeyed with them. Was going to disconnect & seal 'em up, but forgot. Not a terrible issue... fitting a perfectly sized and color-matched heavy canvas top to the SD rack was the fastest/cheapest fix, and I actually like how it turned out.
I guess we've manage to really tear up this poor thing. And somehow, despite all of that, it still runs and drives like a champ. If not for the evidence on the driveway and the hint of smoke when oil gets on the cat, you'd never be able to tell. Wacky. But not going to drive it anymore, not after finding that fire hazard and the head leak.
Summarizing and compounding the problem
So it looks like I need main seals front and back, intake manifold, heads, and so on. At this point and at that level of dissassembly, it makes most sense to me to go ahead and pull the motor & just do the works on it. I wouldn't mind that at all, but I simply don't have the time or space to do it myself right now and I need another drivable vehicle ASAP. (Two kids under 2, two project cars filling up the garage already.) I do have another truck (83 toy) only one step away from running, but that does me no good as I can't take the kids in it. The vette in the garage is no good for that either. The mustang would work, but it is far, far from being even close to usable.
Was considering buying a new car, but my wife has REALLY wants a Ford Fiesta, and has been waiting for them to become available here since before all of this came up. She'd still prefer to wait. In the meantime, we need another rig.
The scheme/solution
So here's what I'm thinking, and what people say is crazy. I want to get another disco. A cheaper disco would cost less than payments on any new or newish car we'd be interested in, until the car my wife thinks she wants becomes available. If it lasts without too much trouble for even two years, we come out ahead as far as I'm concerned. I can transfer the rack, practically brand new tires, etc from the dying disco, which would then get put away (in one of dad's big shops) for a little while.
Then finish the toyota first, so I have a backup rig in case of new disco trouble. (We can get by temporarily with our other car like we are now, but not for long and would rather not.)
Then fix the vette, but not a full resto. Just get it running again (intake manifold, not too big a deal) to sell as a project for someone else. Get it out of my way, and get a space to put that disco back in my own garage to work on at my own leisure. (Or maybe sell it as is, or part out. Don't know yet.)
In the meantime, the car the wife wants becomes available, and we get one. Which frees us up to sell the toyota truck.
The way I see it, we go from the current mess:
- A working newer/regular car
- A nearly dead disco
- A non-running 2 seater truck
- A non-running 2 seater vette
- A non-drivable mustang
to this:
- Two working newer/regular cars
- Two working discos (yeah!), one recently overhauled
- A non-drivable mustang, that I will actually have room to do a full resto on
with a reasonable amount of money and hassle, while at the same time being the cheapest/fastest way get two working vehicles that can accomodate kids again. We'd end up with the same number of vehicles, but all much more practical and fun than what we have now. Not to mention a semi-devious way of adding to our rover collection, while still getting the wife what she wants!
Am I nuts? Or is this a reasonable plan for improving our vehicle situation both short and long-term?
New disco choices and some market questions
I've made an appointment to look at a 1994 disco. It's a bright blue, which is cool. I don't see that often around here. (I mostly see the same dark green ours is.) It also has high miles (right at 200k) but is supposedly in great condition for that age. Well, except for a "minor" oil leak they mentioned well after plans were made. I'm gonna look anyway, and hope to find typical seepage as described and not anything worse.
They are asking for $2000, which brings me to another major question, possibly one that deserves its own post.
I've done plenty of reading here (and some elsewhere) to think I have an idea on what discos of various condition/milage/modification/etc are typically considered to be worth, to folks that know them. For that much money ($2-3k) it would seem that I should be able to get one in great shape with fewer miles, no leaks worth speaking of, and maybe even a few goodies. This truck sounds like it belongs more in the $1000 to $1500 range.
But that never seems to match market reality, at least around here. Any D1 with under 150k miles in almost any condition always seems to be listed around $5000, give or take. Higher miles knocks it down some, but usually not below $4000. And they apparently sell at that, so it's not like I can just tell anyone they're full of it and should be asking half of that. I'd get the boot in favor of the other guy right behind me, who is happy to cough up that kind of dough.
Check portland.craigslist.com and salem.craigslist.com to see what I mean, as far as what the market around here looks like.
A 1999 w/no detailed info for $5500 (might be D2)
A 1996 SE w/110k miles for just under $5000.
A 1999 D2 w/150k miles for $5000.
A 1995 w/no mileage info for $5000.
A 1997 w/111k miles for for $5000.
A 1997 w/no mileage info for $4500.
A 1995 w/123k miles (and no detailed info) for $4000.
A 1996 w/112k miles for $3500.
A 1994 w/130k miles for $3000 (firm, was listed higher)
Does anyone know why that is? Why I see folks on the other side of the continent (east coast, midwest, etc) buying and selling usable-to-great discos in the $1500-3500 range? While out here on the west side it seems rare to find anything better than a barely-mobile parts bin for under $3000?
Do I just not know where to look? Or am I just a terrible haggler, and all of those $5k rigs are really going for $3k or so? Is there anything different about the cheaper rovers over there and here (environmental effects?), or is it just a market/perception difference?
A few of those look better than the others. The D2 might be nice. Wouldn't be able to transfer my rack though. (Am wondering if I can swap tires between a D1 and an early D2. Will search for that in a bit.) Those two under $4k seem to break the typical price mold around here, and might be worth looking at. Of course they have to be the farthest away from me, too.
OK, that's enough for now. Thanks, especially if anyone bothers to wade through this whole post. Perhaps I should have broken it into more bite-sized chunks, or edited more. Sorry!
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