Previous owner of my daily removed thermostat and air filter cause someone told him it would make it faster... Took belt off smog pump and blocked off all hoses going to it but didn't take it out... Had a pieced together exhaust held together with fiberglass and some kind of sheet metal.. I kicked the muffler when I got it and it fell off. Previous owner of my tenth ann had injector plugs held on injectors with bread ties, also for reasons I cannot fathom I had 3 high impedance 550's and a low impedance 460 in it. Coolant hose going to throttle body was disconnected at throttle body and had a socket wrench extension jammed in it and hose clamped. But somehow managed to correctly wire in a turbo timer! And for weeks I couldn't figure out why it revved straight to redline when started, it had an acorn jammed in throttle linkage.

 

lmao! awesome

 

My 86 was said to have been "running great" but the engine was 100% locked up. The 88 had a Mazda reman, PO said it overheated and he didn't know why. There was no thermostat and the clutch fan was just freewheeling.

I just don't understand why people do things like this to vehicles. It just doesn't make sense.

Also, I live in the boonies of KY, so I've seen some pretty rigged stuff.

 

I bought my 91 na a few years back from a guy who was selling it because the car was slower after modding the car than it was before. It turning out the guy started by putting a k&n intake on the car, but he decided it was a good idea to remove the rats nest including all the solenoids and air pump but leave the acv bolted on unconnected to anything. Farther more, the aux ports and vdi were left none-functional in the closed position. Plus, he removed the cats gutted em with a coat hanger and bolted the shells back up leading to an insanely load exhaust.

 

Holy ****, this thread makes me feel really lucky to have gotten the deal I did. Going in I knew I'd have to rebuild the motor, a little over a year later I did just that, but goddamn most everything else been done properly and I've had few real problems with it...

 

i used to work at a dealership, ive seen people destroy cars in an astoundingly short period of time, like a weekend.

just as an example, a guy bought his 16 year old daughter a mazda 3 on saturday, and on sunday it was in front of the shop dead. 65 miles on the odometer. the burned clutch smell was INTENSE, car will probably smell like that forever

 

Ive made some noob mistakes with my car, but nothing ever to the amount that I have seen posted on here. My previous owner (on my 87) sold the car to me because it was smoking from the engine and sat for a couple months. It needed a battery, and a new hose from the engine to the heater core. It was a good score for $1800.

 

My po "fixed" two rust spots with spackle and rustoleum and a leaking seal on the trunk with silicone. I also have about 4 or 5 mystery wiring plugs sitting in my glove box. There was also a stuck apex seal til I picked up the car, was able to get it unstuck for a bit while I drove it home where the car sits in my garage with the seal stuck again, good thing it's a project/summer car and I already have a daily to get me through the winter.

 

I've seen rust holes "fixed" using aluminum ducting tape and rustoleum. (In my opinion, if you can't fix rust properly, just let it run it's course. It's going to anyway if you just slap stuff over it without eliminating it to begin with.)

I've seen spent airbag casings stapled back together to make it look like the airbag didn't go off.

The following was on a red '86 FC, the owner was a former friend of mine:

A transmission to body mounting bolt was cross-threaded literally at a 45 degree angle; the owner just kept tightening until the bolt was permanently wedged in and didn't move anymore.

At one point in time, he did a "rear brake job". He couldn't remove the caliper bolt on one side of the car, so he just did one side. This consisted of replacing ONE PAD with a JUNKYARD PAD that had more material on it. That's right, he only replaced one pad.

On the same car, the owner "replaced the clutch." This consisted of replacing the clutch disc with a junkyard clutch disc that had slightly more meat on it.

To top it all of, the engine in this car blew a coolant seal. The owner then proceeded to go to the junkyard and buy THE WRONG ENGINE. He bought a GSL-SE engine. I stayed up overnight trying to help him change out the engine because he had to make it to work the next day. The replacement engine had good apex seals, but no compression. We got so desperate that we tried push starting it with a Cavalier at 40 mph, no luck.

The aluminum hood that came off the above car is now on my GXL. It's a reminder to me not to cut corners when it comes to important things in life; like engines, brakes, clutches, transmission mounting bolts, etc.

That car was sent to the junk yard; the owner gave up on it.

 

My PO replaced the air filter with a wire mesh thing, to get more power out of the S4 NA. He also messed around with the brake lights, I still dont know what he was trying to do down there. For a matter of fact there are only 2 brake lights of 4 functional. However all 4 bulbs are of the combinated cruise and brake light type.
He also installed 3 gauges and ripped the lower part of the middle console apart.
Point being the gauges were never connected, just sitting there ...
Painted the inner door handles and vents metallic grey ...

Best part was the radio wiring, Trust me I have never seen such a mess before....
I am still wondering how he managed to NOT burn the car down with them.
Also interesting are the self repaired/welded rear mufflers with huge (10 cm) tips welded on them. Visco was also blocked with a plate, so it does spin at the engines RPM.
And I was wondering why the motor was making those whining noises at 7 grand ...

He also did all the brake jobs himself, so meaning just replacing all the pads and never replacing the liquid. Brakes were a nightmare on that car.
Of course he also bent the pinch welds under the car while DIY repairing stuff.

 

^^The pinch welds on my 89 are all smashed. But to be honest, I would have smashed them anyway with my floorjack most likely.

I'm fairly certain my RX belonged to a drug runner. First reason being, the head unit of a police scanner and a car phone was removed, but some sort of transmitter and all the wiring are still in the car (someday I'll get around to removing it). Second, the guy I bought it from was the sole owner of the vehicle, he even had is original receipt. And this guy looked "independently wealthy". So I have my suspicions...

 

the previous owner of my car sold it to me after he couldn't start it after buying it at an auction.
Shortly after the sale(about 2 weeks),He went "postal" and killed his 2 kids and his wife,set the house on fire and also doused himself with Gas in the front yard before shooting himself.
This is a TRUE story.

 

yeah, owning a 7 has made me want to do the same thing on occasion

 

Be glad you didn't do your inspection of the car two weeks later.