The Black Pearl - Progress Thread

stykthyn said:

should have kept the vert though

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Darkwriter77 said:

I look at my paycheck and I gnaw away at it like this:

1. Bills
2. Fuel (enough to get to/from work)
3. Food
4. Crap that needs fixin'
5. "other" (car upgrades and fun stuff)

Usually, I have nothing left at all after #3, and if I do, #4 pretty much chews it all up. About the only time I have anything left for #5 is around tax return time, or if I get any kind of extra paycheck or bonus from work. Such is the under-$30k-per-year life.

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Darkwriter77 said:

That's one problem I know I'll have if/when I ever get myself another S10 pickup/Blazer. Not only will I inevitably have to fix a bunch of things here and there to get it up to DD-level reliability (fluids, tune-up, tires, brakes, steering/suspension repairs, etc.), but I'll also want to lower it a couple of inches (spindles/blocks), swap in an electric fan, change a few minor appearance items, and probably do something with the exhaust ... at which point my DD will, in itself, be something of another "toy car" money pit for me because I'll have between $500 and $1,000 wrapped up in assorted crap in the thing (beyond the cost of the vehicle, itself). And then, inevitably, I'll get bored with it like I do with every other damned vehicle I've ever owned, and I'll turn around and sell/trade it off like a frickin' moron and start all over again.

It's no wonder I'm always broke. I'm too retarded to know when to quit throwing away good vehicles and dumping money into basket cases.

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Darkwriter77 said:

Not true. The Black Pearl has been, and continues to be, a royal PITA. Leaks that appear, then mysteriously heal themselves, and then start leaking again at random, a cooling system that I have completely gone through and STILL continues to leak and be fussy, brakes that continue to squeak no matter what I do with them, a surge/miss at cruise that will not die, a never-ending chase for vacuum leaks, and three letters that really put the crimp on that car right from the start: C-F-I. Crappy exhaust that's a major hassle to upgrade, crazy one-off fuel system and ignition parts, lousy performance, and an intake that causes the front two cylinders to run lean and ping at WOT even with the timing at 10* and running 91 octane.

Sure, these are all issues that could be resolved, but that would entail spending hundreds if not THOUSANDS more to correct, on top of the $400+ I'd need to spend on the car in the immediate future just to keep the thing safely roadworthy. And if I go spending all that money and time pimping the thing out to fix all that stuff, you KNOW what's going to happen: some random Mexican or tweaker without insurance is going to wreck the damned thing while I'm driving it to/from work someday, and I'll be left with nothing to show for all that but a pile of junk and no cash in hand ... or some old snowbird will destroy it just like my '87 Firebird, and their insurance company probably won't give me more than $500 for the whole damned thing. I'm not going to sink a bunch of time and money into something just for some random, selfish, reckless butthole to destroy.

Alternative: sell the Black Pearl, pick up a cheap S10 pickup or S10 Blazer like I did before, clean it up, change the fluids, and drive the snot out of it. I won't really care as much what it'll look like, whereas with a Fox I'll be a lot more anal about it (I think I washed Stinky, what, MAYBE three times?). If someone dings it in a parking lot or if I scratch it loading/unloading crap from it, oh well. I won't catch hell for having the "wrong" rims or steering wheel on it, or for having a ghetto paint job, or that I "need" to swap out the top end and put on a carb'ed setup, and I "need" to do this or not do that with it - it's a frickin' truck, an outright beater, and it gets me to/from wherever reliably.

Teh Notch needs, what, a rear-end rebuild or swap and ... ummm ... that's it. And it sees only weekend duty and short trips, anyhow. So, what, $200 and that car is kosher. Use the money from the Black Pearl's sale to acquire said S10 pickup/Blazer and fix minor crap, and just drive the damned thing without having to sink hundreds upon hundreds more into the turd. Seems more economical to have one about-right-where-I-want-it weekend toy and a DD beater, versus trying to maintain two "toy" cars.





I work 40 hours/week, but my commute chews up another 8 hours per week (basically four 12-hour days). All my weekend days are spent fixing or maintaining either my cars, others' cars, fixing stuff around the house, or trying to get out and away from the usual work and home routines. I don't see a point in taking up a second job just to finance an automotive hobby. Yes, maybe an extra job to dig myself out of debt caused by other things - although that would leave me ZERO free time to get anything else done outside of work like laundry or whatever - but working a second job to support a hobby seems excessive. I'm trying to shift my focus slightly AWAY from car stuff by doing this; rather than obsessing over upgrading TWO cars, I'll be cutting it down to ONE car (which is already pretty close to where I want it), and getting something for a DD beater that's less of a maintenance attention whore than the Black Pearl, so I'll have time and money to spare for OTHER things in life ... y'know, like going places, seeing things, and doing other stuff.

Jeez ... y'all act like I'm selling BOTH of my Foxes and buying a frickin' Geo Metro or something...

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Darkwriter77 said:

While I welcome the input, and you do have valid points, it would be a better if you could offer it without headlining it with an insult.

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1990Coupe said:

Your right. My apologies. I was not having a good day yesterday at all. I am sorry.

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