I love these car fixup channels on youtube. Mostly because that’s how I got my rides, back in the day. I’d buy beaters almost exclusively. Even now, I have a modern beater – a 2011 Rav4. Sure, it’s newer, and sort of shiny. But it didn’t cost much and although it’s low mileage, it’s nearly a dozen years old. BTW, it replaced the 2005 Sequoia I had before. That was 15 years old when I wrecked it.
So that’s what I do. I watch Vice Grip Garage, Turnin Rust, Restored,Budget Builds, and whatnot. I also watch Motortrend’s Roadkill Garage, and probably the whole catalog under the Motortread channel.
Derek at Vice grip does this, but the worst is Turnin Rust/Restored (Same guys) – the futz over this or that. Sand the points, clean up the plugs, cleanup the distributor cap. Sure, I get it – see if it runs first, then put money into it.
Vice Grip is probably the most normal. Once it barks off, he replaces stuff. But not everything.
Me?
I get the thing home and rip off everything. New plugs, wires, hoses, belts.
You’re going there anyway. Just do it.
Whether you’re keeping it or driving it, you replace everything that may go bad.
And what are we talking about here? $100? $200?
It’s nuts. As I was typing another post I was watching the Turnin Rust channel and they spent ten minutes fretting over points, and sanding them. Really? FFS, they’re what – $5? No fire?, get new ones, along with a cap and rotor. Sure you sand them and they work now. Then they shit out when you’re on a beer run.
Just. Do. It.
Replace the parts that have been aging for 20 years.
To be fair, the ones I’d buy would normally be running enough to drive. But still, I’d get them going and then replace it all.
I’m still on the hunt for an old truck to fix up. I’ll get there sooner rather than later.
Inspected By Pat 