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It's been about 3 years since my last vert, i had to sell because I was welcoming my son and my wife decided I could buy another :P
Found this gem
A 1989 white Vert with blue leather (my first s5 :P). A pretty good find especially in my province as most verts are well above 6000$ asking. A quick phone call (about 2 minutes after the ad for it went up) and I had reached and elderly gentleman. He was friendly, explained to me that he bought it a long time ago and stored it every winter in a trailer. We spoke for awhile and he told me he attempted to start it after storage and he couldn't. He had already put quite a bit of money into in the last 6 years and he decided to not persue the problem. Fair enough since this is my 4th Vert and I could fiddle with it here and there. His asking price was 1400. Talked him down to 800 before I even seen the car. I set up a date to visit it and proceeded to hope for the best.
Saturday came and I quickly drove 2 hours away. Arrived and I immediately noticed the paint chips missing ( I mean huge chunks ) and the bare metal had gotten some surface rust on the trunk.
I was not discouraged though as I proceeded to inspect the car I noticed it had zero rust holes, no bent pinch welds, no surface rust anywhere minus the trunk on the car. It had about an inch of undercoating so underneath was mint. And bonus it had brand new tires (score!!) A newer top as well
Inside was quite dirty, dry mud, leaves. The seats have seen better days but they were not torn just cracked quite a bit. Center console was broken and was not held in place at all. I was surprised to see a functioning factory radio. Carpet was faded in some spots but oh well. All power options worked minus the antenna which was stuck up and now it looks like a electric zip zap car lol.
The paint had seen better days but I went in knowing it was a project. Tried to start it and no luck. Just cranking and cranking.
We negotiated and discussed prices and the back history, he said he wanted to only sell it to an enthusiast and not someone parting out cars as he had already turned down other offers. He said since I seemed like a decent guy he said he would take 650 for it, and that was it. Sold !!
Came back next week and picked up the beaut with a tow and she was all mine
Got her home unloaded her and left her for the night. Read through the 700 pages of documents for the car and its service record which I have to same is pretty nice since only the dealer touched it. Also found out it had a factory bra but it's missing now Lol
The next morning I went to go work on her. Popped the plugs out and they were brand new, checked the levels and they were fine. AC belt was shredded. Pulled the egi fuse and cranked to see if it was just flooded. Cleared the chambers and put in old plugs in with a teaspoon of oil in each leading pkug hole to build compression. Let it sit for the day. Came back before bed and cranked her and she almost caught. I kept trying until the battery was getting low so I charged it and went back at it. I tried and tried until it finally caught on and stumbled to idle. Success! She idles perfectly and moves under her own power. Braked fine and went back to idle perfectly without any hesitation or stumble. I revved it slightly higher to see if I could burn off any excess oil. I let her run for 30 minutes and noticed it was up to temperature and everything was fine had a bit of a shake at certain RPMs, probably a mount. I shut her off and go to bed.
The next morning I go and start it and it doesn't catch until the last try. I let her warm up again and it starts every time while hot but not while cold funny :/ ... Also noticed the temp gauge warms up really fast, it gets up to 1/4 in about 3 minutes And settles at a little past half. Notice a coolant smell but no leak, levels fine and some smoke from back of engine. Hmmm
List of things so far:
Find out why it won't start cold
Figure out the shake at certain speeds
Make a battery hold down bracket
Clean interior
Sand rust on trunk
Find coolant leak
Figure out guage cluster because I think temp guage is faulty
Wipers only work at 2nd speed
Fogs don't work
Pass emissions/safety inspection
top looks nice. Enjoy man, I love the white verts with blue interior!
Originally Posted by adam73bgt
Looks a nice find at that price! Interested to see how you get on with getting it roadworthy
Top is minty fresh. Figuring out what I can use to make it a deep black again, as it seems it lost a little bit of color. Would of preferred black interior but it could always be worse, at least verts didn't come with red interior. Lol
I felt like I should go back and give him a tip for selling me a (now) running rx7 Vert for 650 . I'm slowly checking over the car and it looks like it almost needs nothing so far for safety.
Anyways got back to it today and put the other newer plugs back in and started her up and let her run for awhile. Smells like burning rubber which I think was the AC belt which is toast, I might as well cut it off.
Yay no lights on !! Boo no clock lol
I don't know S5s but is this the correct temp ( I know it's not accurate ) when warm ?
Don't mind the dust .... There is a crap ton all over.
To me a tad warm but not bad. Fc gauges are not known for being accurate lol as you know so it probably fine . Do a coolant flush next and go from there .
definitely way too hot. It should not move past the halfway point. For your top I recommend 303 Aerospace protectant. It will protect from UV and also give your top a deep black, you will have to apply it every few days or every week. It also works great on the interior leather.
Cut off A/C belt and now doesn't smell like burning rubber lol belt was showing the cords. How do I know if the AC is bad ? Before I took the belt off I pushed the button and made a lot more noise from belt area and barely blew cold. Also I can spin the compressor by hand the ( pulley and clutch. )
How do you release tension on the power steering belt to put on the AC belt ?
Did a PH test on the coolant and its fine and bright green.
Oil is very black. It was already on my to do list.
Checked brakes and I have about 75 percent left
Smells like coolant a little but can't find a leak. No white smoke out the back under any RPM or idle.
Randomly have an idle stumble as if it rises and drops rises and drops and only will it get corrected when I push the accelerator in neutral or park. Only happens 2-3 times in the 30 times I have moved it maybe time for plugs wires and fuel filter.
So i noticed a leaking transmission and wafting smoke coming from the tunnel which I presume is tranny fluid burning and would explain the smoke I was seeing a while ago. I think it's coming from the pan ? Is it an easy fix ? I guess I'll find out when I take a look in the day. The fluid level was checked while warm and idling and its fine.
Also found this, I think it's for the O2 sensor but there's only one wire coming from the sensor where as the plug has a frayed wire along with another unknown wire. Any ideas ?
100% on the road for about 1-2 months now. Everything works perfectly.
Installed the duckbill and realized it hits my stuck antenna. So i had to remove it and fold it back in manually.
Also decided to polish the trunk. And I might keep it that way for a bit just to test it. Trying a expensive clear coat and or Gibbs spray to keep it from rusting.
Well finished the trunk and clear coated with bare metal clear coat. Looks frosted and I love it. Pictures to come soon. It's unique and matches the white well.
Also picked up these bad boys for 60 bucks. I'm thinking a deep metallic bronze or a bright purple.
05-23-16, 11:39 PM
'89 Vert build !!
and my wife decided I could buy another :P 
