all my cars are spoken for now…
i’d hot safety that shit in a second before putting $ into it.
Thanks! I’m assuming “hot safety” just means find a garage that’ll give me a certificate without checking anything?
One thing that may help is that if I put the rear body mouldings and mudflaps back on, the rubbery body mouldings that hold the mud flaps do cover the holes in the body, so if I get the car safetied somewhere other than the place I just took it, they may miss that.
I was told that I have a leak in or near the exahust manifold, and it could be a gasket and not necessarily the manifold. I’ll have to remove the heat shield to take a look; the guy at the garage made it sound like it’d be a hassle. Is that really so? I’ll give it a shot tonight after work. :?
I located an exhaust manifold and downpipe (do I need that?) on the parts forum for $20 each, so there’s a start. 
As for pictures I’ll try to take some pics tonight and post them.
"I located an exhaust manifold and downpipe (do I need that?) on the parts forum for $20 each, so there’s a start. "
there you go thats a start ! search is your best weapon… yes you can do what Bing suggested and get a HOT safety but like you said youre planning on keeping this car for a long time… so for yourself NOT because you have to… get these parts and get your car looking and running nicely.
hhmmmmm have you read my post yet?
Good news: my insurance just went from $3000 down to $1450 for the coming year, thanks to me switching to Belair; the condition is that my car needs to be safetied first.
That’s where the bad news comes in; I need some frame repair done in one spot, body repair on the rear wheels wells, new front tension rod bushings, exhaust manifold and exhaust from the cat back, front wiper blades, a battery clamp, and a license plate light.
In other words, I’m paying what I saved. 
But in the end I feel satisfied paying less to insurance companies. 8)
The light, clamp, wiper blades, and exhaust work I can do myself.
My questions are:
-
Can anyone recommend someone near Waterloo to do a good but affordable job on the frame and body work? I do want to keep this car for quite a while, but I will be poor until Sept. 2007.
-
Since I need to replace the exahaust entirely (except the cat), I may go for a header and good catback exhaust if it’s not much more expensive than cheap OEM replacement parts.
My initial thought is to order a Hotshot Header; I’m not sure what to do for the exhaust; many seem quite expensive. Has anyone had a good experience with the Monza catback http://tinyurl.com/lnswe ?
If not, any other suggestions?
Thanks a billion.
Most of these items you need you can get from a parts car for next to nothing, just search around…
As for your frame work etc. it all depends how much work needs to be done. take some pics and post them up let us get a better understanding of how much you actually have to fix…
“In other words, I’m paying what I saved” not necessarily… not if you do it smart, get the parts yourself install them yourself, then find someone to weld up your frame… Its not that difficult.
good luck
…Talk to Bing, hes got 3 cars hes parting out, im sure you can get most of these things you need off of him for next to nothing!
all my cars are spoken for now…
i’d hot safety that shit in a second before putting $ into it.
Thanks! I’m assuming “hot safety” just means find a garage that’ll give me a certificate without checking anything?
One thing that may help is that if I put the rear body mouldings and mudflaps back on, the rubbery body mouldings that hold the mud flaps do cover the holes in the body, so if I get the car safetied somewhere other than the place I just took it, they may miss that.
I was told that I have a leak in or near the exahust manifold, and it could be a gasket and not necessarily the manifold. I’ll have to remove the heat shield to take a look; the guy at the garage made it sound like it’d be a hassle. Is that really so? I’ll give it a shot tonight after work. :?
I located an exhaust manifold and downpipe (do I need that?) on the parts forum for $20 each, so there’s a start.
As for pictures I’ll try to take some pics tonight and post them.
"I located an exhaust manifold and downpipe (do I need that?) on the parts forum for $20 each, so there’s a start. "
there you go thats a start ! search is your best weapon… yes you can do what Bing suggested and get a HOT safety but like you said youre planning on keeping this car for a long time… so for yourself NOT because you have to… get these parts and get your car looking and running nicely.
hhmmmmm have you read my post yet?
Hiya, yeah I read your post and I’m interested for sure! Here are some pics of what’s going on. Sorry for the crappy quality. The people at the shop who did the inspection didn’t say anything about the bent frame rail, but I’m still wondering if anything should be done about that anytime soon…
FRAME:
BODY LEFT SIDE:
BODY RIGHT SIDE:
BENT FRAME RAIL?:
if you were living in jamaica I’d call that scary, but this is canada and what I see is normal canada rot
you should patch the framerail but otherwise it’s fine
I figured as much… The rusty hole in the front part of the right frame rail need to be done, I know that much. The bent-inward rear section of the left frame rail… anyone know how serious that is?
As for the body holes, I recently removed the body moulding/mudflap pieces because I think it looks better without them, and one fell off at some point (the rear right one). I may just reacquire that piece and put them back on, because they mask the holes in the body, and then get the car certified at a different shop. Anyone think that’d work?