14 days off,Four Aspire's into two DD's

[nitrofarm]

Time to get busy.The goal is to have one DD 5spd highway car. I average 40k a year. And the other car will be a grocery getting ATX backup. Wish me luck!
This will be the 5spd,Im going to put a 97 front end on it.It has a junk motor with a good tranny.Needs a complete front end with rear brakes.



This will be the ATX it needs axles/brakes and tranny seals. Its motor is ok,has some blow by.


This is the engine/trans donor


This is my current DD that will be scraped.Motor is great,but chassis is tweaked bad.Gonna use the complete front end for the black car.

Stop by the Barn & have a Beer on Nitrofarm!

[zoom zoom]

Nice..I always favored the 97 front end.

[nitrofarm]

ATX

So I decide to "Sackle" the 95 atx first. Here's the list. Frt/RR brakes with new pads/shoes/rotor/drums. Reman axles,LCA's,all new bearings frt & rear. New filter/oil for the trans & engine.Lots of rust underneath.Using the smoke wrench on everthing.Letting it cool,then lots of PB Blaster.Then patience with the impact. Nothing stripped thus far,knock on wood. drool
Spent @ 2 hrs prepping the pan for re installation.The gasket was shellacked to the pan.:eeeeeek:




Found the LCA Torque Box badly damaged from PO gonna have to fix that.

[nitrofarm]

MAking progress

[nitrofarm]

Just thought I'd update this thread.Half way through my vacation.We got "Head-On'd" by a teenage texting in the Wallymart parking lot :eeeeeek:My good 97 front end got wacked pretty hard.Well after drowing my tears with beer.I got busy,straightend the upr rad support.Jury rigged the headlight etc.And put it back on the road.Well today Geicko Ins just settled for $875.And I get to keep the "Baby". Not bad for a "Parts" car that I bought for $500 & have about $1500 invested in parts. But as far as recycling the 97 front end....I dont know if its worth it. Most of the plastic mount points for the bumber cover got "Sheared off" from the impact. Anyway just thought I'd share some good news.I thought they where going to screw me.But imo they did me right.

[Grey Vw]

Nice. That was a lot work.

[zoom zoom]

EBay had an early front end bumper for 1-200$ shipped awhile ago, they called it an aspire SE bumper, but it looked good. If you try to salvage that one, I used elmers all purpose epoch on my bumper and it is holding still! Maybe screw in something for new mount holes?

[blacklabels]

Nice work you doing great! Loving all the pictures!

[nitrofarm]

Thanks for the Positive Vibs guys! I gotta get this Aspire stuff done & start on my Festy now! drool

[ericsmith32]

At least you were able to save a few. Had to give up on my 97. What I thought was causing the front end pull wasn't the case.. frame's tweaked. Going to have to scrap it eventually. But at least I know the motor/trans is good and that along with the suspension is going into the Festiva. I'd give you all the 97 stuff if you need it.. not sure how you'd get it up there though! Hate to throw it away as I replaced the front bumper.

[nitrofarm]

At least you were able to save a few. Had to give up on my 97. What I thought was causing the front end pull wasn't the case.. frame's tweaked. Going to have to scrap it eventually. But at least I know the motor/trans is good and that along with the suspension is going into the Festiva. I'd give you all the 97 stuff if you need it.. not sure how you'd get it up there though! Hate to throw it away as I replaced the front bumper.

I have family in Kansas that my wife wants to visit

[Safety Guy]

Nitro, I'm glad Geico treated you well too. I was happy with how they handled my crash a couple years ago. I even got my $200 deductible back.

Good luck with your work!

Karl

[Flw Sock]

I had to do the same thing with my suspension bolts! Heated them up with my torch and torqued those things! Ended up I might have heated it up a little too much because then we broke the housing and ended up having to cut the factory hole in the frame a little bigger to reach in and grab the bolt.

[ericsmith32]

I have family in Kansas that my wife wants to visit

If you're coming down just let me know and what pieces you need. Probably won't be scrapping it till next spring.