Taza's $300 L-Series

I need to continue and finish the journal for my Forester but I will start one for this anyway.

While the Foz is being repared (new gearbox, engine work, subaxtreme bullbar fitment and finish off the supercharger) I bought a cheap L-Series from gumtree.
Cost $300 and its a 91 L-series Sportswagon, 230,000km on the clock, smooth gearbox, engine runs really well but dies on idle and doesn't blow any smoke at all! The body is in great condition for a car thats 21years old. A few dents but can all be popped out.
No rust at all, and barely any on the exhaust.

Needs a new front CV, has a small oil leak (not going to fix it), 3 bald tyres, engine dies on idle, temp guage doesn't work and no stereo or immobilser..

Just gotta do a few things to get it over the pits and she should be running and road licenced for about $500!!!

The ad on gumtree
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My house

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taza said:
The L didn't pass the pits because the two front ball joints were stuffed and the tie rod ends need tightneing as they were loose.
Other than that everything else went well,
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Sorry to hear that it didn't pass mate :sadbanana:
I'm sure you'll nail it on Monday though taza :)

As a matter of interest, are they just going to check the 2x ball joints & tie rod ends when you go back on Monday?
Or do you have to get the whole lot checked again ?

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
mr turbo said:
Sorry to hear that it didn't pass mate :sadbanana:
I'm sure you'll nail it on Monday though taza :)

As a matter of interest, are they just going to check the 2x ball joints & tie rod ends when you go back on Monday?
Or do you have to get the whole lot checked again ?
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Thats ok, im actually not too dissapointed since its onyl 2 small things. They are just going to check the 2x ball joints and tie rod ends, thats it. I asked that and he said its a 5min check so it should be quick and easy. Took 25mins to go over the whole car today and is pointless to do it all again.

Hoping I get the same bloke though to make it easy!

The car end up on the hoist today and everyone said don't go in the lane with the hoist but atleast it was all checked under the car and is all good rather than that being an issue on Monday and having to go back for a 3rd time.
 
Sorry to hear that, Taz

taza said:
The L didn't pass the pits(Vehicle Examination) because the two front ball joints were stuffed and the tie rod ends need tightneing as they were loose.
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Flaming sight better to find out at a roadworthy inspection than at 100 km/h! I dropped a ball joint once at speed. Very lucky it was only a tow truck job.

Other than that everything else went well, the guy was hell nice and was telling me about his old L-Series. He couldn't believe the condition of it and how well it ran. It scrubbed u pretty well over all :raspberry:
Taking it back early monday morning :D
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Those comments must have cheered you up.
When Ross (our regular mechanic) said that Roo2 was in beautiful condition, it certainly made me feel good that I had snaffled a good 'un :) :).
 
Ratbag said:
Flaming sight better to find out at a roadworthy inspection than at 100 km/h! I dropped a ball joint once at speed.
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I was on a 4wd trip a few years ago, when the vehicle in front of me had a ball joint let go. To make things worse, it was a night trip (12.30AM in the morning) :puke:
Luckily we were only going at a slow speed, as we had just hit the dirt :cool:
If it had let go about 5 mins earlier, things could've been very different :eek:
Mainly because we were going at around 100km/hr & still on the black stuff :o

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Easy peasy, considering the age of the car that's great news, hope you got a permit today to drive it back or you'll have to wait till opening on Mon to get one. they only last 48hrs unless things have changed.
 
d_generate said:
Easy peasy, considering the age of the car that's great news
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Agreed! You've got off very light there! Easy work once you've got the parts ;)

Cheers

Bennie
 
Ratbag said:
Sorry to hear that, Taz

Flaming sight better to find out at a roadworthy inspection than at 100 km/h! I dropped a ball joint once at speed. Very lucky it was only a tow truck job.

Those comments must have cheered you up.
When Ross (our regular mechanic) said that Roo2 was in beautiful condition, it certainly made me feel good that I had snaffled a good 'un :) :).
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Yeah I came out actually feeling alright, annoyed but it could of been worse. Im kind of glad about the supsension stuff because if something went wrong at 100km/hr I could very possibly be dead or hurt and would hate that I tried to go cheap on the car!

mr turbo said:
I was on a 4wd trip a few years ago, when the vehicle in front of me had a ball joint let go. To make things worse, it was a night trip (12.30AM in the morning) :puke:
Luckily we were only going at a slow speed, as we had just hit the dirt :cool:
If it had let go about 5 mins earlier, things could've been very different :eek:
Mainly because we were going at around 100km/hr & still on the black stuff :o
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That could of ended badly, im glad it was picked up on mine!

stilson said:
Good to have all your suspension in good nick anyway. Well done mate.
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Very true, you will hae to see it when its running 100%. You won't even think its the same car!

d_generate said:
Easy peasy, considering the age of the car that's great news, hope you got a permit today to drive it back or you'll have to wait till opening on Mon to get one. they only last 48hrs unless things have changed.
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Yeah very easy, sorting it out tomorrow arvo with a mate. They only last 48hours but I will just get another one.

El_Freddo said:
Agreed! You've got off very light there! Easy work once you've got the parts ;)
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Yeah I know. I am still going to get away with the car for under $1000 when its all sorted so that should be good :biggrin:
 
taza said:
The L didn't pass the pits(Vehicle Examination) because the two front ball joints were stuffed and the tie rod ends need tightneing as they were loose.
Other than that everything else went well, the guy was hell nice and was telling me about his old L-Series. He couldn't believe the condition of it and how well it ran. It scrubbed u pretty well over all :raspberry:
Taking it back early monday morning :D
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Small world hey :biggrin:

Great to hear they only got you on those, & like everyones said its good to get em done anyway.

One step closer... :iconwink:

taza said:
Hoping I get the same bloke though to make it easy!
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I hope so too lol :iconwink:
 
Got it all sorted yesterday arvo with the help of WagonMan(Ausubaru memeber & mechanic). Replaced the both ball joints which was reasonably easy and both tie end rods. All with new ones!

Took us 2 hours with one person on easy side.

He also helped me fix the misfire as it was skipping between 3-4 cylinders at random. Replaced the dizzy cap and spark plug leads which solved the issue.
He even had a old/spare JVC cd player I could have which has an Auxilary input!!! Stoked about that :raspberry: Now I don't have to sit in silence..
So all in all its a great little car :cool:

Just have to wire up the CD player which will happen soon enough then I can get the Foz fixed quicker :iconwink:

Best of all its been fun learning. Never done a ball joint or tie end rod before and the CV was certainly interesting to do on the L.
 
Ratbag said:
Great news, Taza :ebiggrin:
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It's on the road!! Licencing and Rego was only $296 and the rego is for 6 months.

Did have any tools to be able to fix the new number plates on so I just blue-tacked them to the windows :raspberry:

All done for just under $1000 :biggrin:
 
Much better than the car is the pits :lol: Well done!
 
Congrats, and well done.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow night, i will have my other L-Series registerd. It is booked for 3:50 tomorrow arvo. It also needed a heater, screen and a few other things. Biggest problem was finding someone that had more that two clues about Subarus when it came to passing RWC. Took two goes, but it is there now. As Bennie said, it must be the week/s for L-Series to get back on the road.

Beigewagon.
 
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