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Hey y'all --
Many thanks to everyone who told me what engines will fit in my car. But now, with your indulgence, I'd like to get some more moral/ethical/spiritual thoughts on what you'd do in my situation.
Which is:
I'm a grad student (read: I make $8000-12,000 a year, depending on how much I teach) and have been driving my '74 99L since my dad gave it to me for my 16th birthday, back in 1990. He (an amateur mechanic, but not bad at it) assembled the car between 1980 and 1983, with me as a small child helping out. Needless to say, I love the thing.
However, it recently lost the timing sprocket on the idler shaft and, according to my mechanic, bent some valve stems in the process. He (the mechanic) is trying to talk me out of fixing it: he thinks that it needs a whole new motor, but doesn't think I'll find one in decent condition. He also claims that the valve parts are no longer available, and that it's not worth it to put a used idler shaft into the engine I've got.
I've got quite a bit of time (I won't really need a car until late June), but not much money. I can't do these engine repairs myself, and my mechanic (the only one in town who'll work on a 99) doesn't work cheap. These look like my options:
1. Find a used engine, if one is to be found. Spend around $2000 putting it in and hope it works for a few more years.
2. Put in a used idler shaft and find the valve parts somewhere (again, if they're to be found), spending about the same amount of money and hoping it doesn't bust again soon.
3. Try to sell it as is. Cry. Move on and get a sensible car.
4. Find some nice-guy farmer with a barn in the country somewhere where I can park it for about 10 years, 'til I (maybe) have a real job and can better afford to play this game.
So what would _you_ do?
-Vexed in Virginia
posted by 172.150.23...
, Thu, 14 Mar 2002 19:32:34
, Thu, 14 Mar 2002 08:14:06
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