The four hundred thousand mile mark

So this is my daily driver its a 1994 Geo prizm
engine: Toyota 1.8 7A-FE
Transmission: 4 speed automatic with lockup torque converter.

It had 316k in 2017 when I got it. I bought it off my sister-in-law, she was hard up for money and had two cars. The brakes on this car were not working, the exhaust was effed up, it didn't run right, shifted weird so she offered this to me for $300. I countered with $400 and it be delivered to my house. She made her POS baby daddy drive it over. Once the title was in my name I started diagnosing the problems. It had a little brake peddle and the hand brake wouldn't engauge, so I checked out the rear brakes and the shoe adjuster had never been set the drums,shoes an hardware were all new nothing was stuck.

So now that it had brakes I took it for a test drive it was loud cause the catalytic converter flange had rusted away, the pipe had been tied up with a ratchet strap to keep it from dragging the road. Anyway it never got up to temp. A bit of welding and a new thermostat fixed those problems. I ended up replacing the distributor from a junker cause the guts were torn up and causing a check engine light, then tuned it up plugs, wires, rotor button oil/filter change.

I also undumbed the radio and got it working and drove it a for a year. I eventually replaced all suspension parts an have replaced a quite a lot of parts as they have failed.

I have figured out that I have about $2000 in it including buying it. 2000 is a lot for a shitbox however I have gotten 84k miles out of it and it's still going. I have a 06 toyota that I paid $6000 for and have put 100k miles on so the Geo has been far more dollar efficient in my mind but it looks like hell.
Yes, that pile is next year's coal.

Sorry for the sideways pictures.

Thats my kind of car Old enough to vote and lots of miles! I drive mine til they rust into 3 pieces. 2 pieces can be fixed.

And have been W!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s not always about the car you drive but the bed you sleep in.

Great job, Carl, on getting excellent payback on the old Geo Prizm. About 2 years ago I bought my stepson a '90 Prism. That one had the earlier 4A-FE 1.6 in it. Had about 110k on it, had sat around mostly for some time . Rockers rusting away. I think I paid about $1200 for it. I only had 2 days to do what I could, mostly replacing everything in the ignition system, thermostat and new tires. It ran surprisingly well for a 105 hp and a 3 speed auto. Last Spring I put in a set of rebuilt fuel injectors and got lucky with those.

He's put on another 50k since and it has gotten no love from him. Two oil changes in 50k. It still has the original super nasty brake fluid, coolant and ATF in it. I have all that sitting in my garage as well as other parts for it. It drinks oil as many of Corolla dynasty engines did. That was the 6th car I either bought for him or sold to him super cheap. I was very clear that the Prizm would be the last one.

An old bud also has a '90 Corolla he inherited years ago. He keeps it tagged as a second car and rarely drives it. That car never had any love and it still runs. By the late 90's and VVT, I've been told that the reliability went downhill some.

Great stories of success! My mom bought a 1978 Chevrolet Chevette in 1979. It had been totaled, and bought at an auction for $300 by a local auto body shop. It only had 15k miles. They sold it to my mom for $2300 after it was fixed. She drove it until 1987 and gave it to me, with the understanding that it was my complete responsibility until I left home and that I pass it down to my brother next to me in age. At that time it had 100k miles on it. I passed it along to my brother, as agreed 2.5 years later as promised, with 152k on it. The same agreement stood for my brother and he passed it on to our youngest brother nearly 3 years later with 208k miles. 2 years later prior to his leaving home, hecsold it to a junkyard for $300, because the front shock mounts rusted out. He came home after boot camp with intentions to purchase it back and have the mounts replaced. They had sold the car and another one like it for $600 and it was still driving around locally for the 6 years I was in the military. Best car ever! Regular maintenance and it ran like a charm for nearly 16 years in our family and at least another 6 for someone else.

johnjoseph wrote: ↑

Sat. Jun. 27, 2020 3:53 pm

Best car ever! Regular maintenance and it ran like a charm for nearly 16 years in our family and at least another 6 for someone else.

Super Chevette! I had a former neighbor, a farmer, who bought a new strippo Chevette in 1980. His previous car, a '62 Chevy, had separated it's body from the chassis on a hard stop. In 1998, it was still going and very low miles. His widow quickly traded in when he passed as it had serious rot. I think that they had some connection to Opel and Isuzu.

hank2 wrote: ↑

Sat. Jun. 27, 2020 4:20 pm

Super Chevette! I had a former neighbor, a farmer, who bought a new strippo Chevette in 1980. His previous car, a '62 Chevy, had separated it's body from the chassis on a hard stop. In 1998, it was still going and very low miles. His widow quickly traded in when he passed as it had serious rot. I think that they had some connection to Opel and Isuzu.

Ours was blue and nicknamed the "blue bitch" and also called our first "vette".