myaerocars Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 Hi. I got a Lumina from a friend who got it as part of a trade and didn't want it. I came by and found him on the phone to a junk yard. The only offered 108.00 for the car. It had good tires ab barely ran. He asked if I wanted it for 175.00 and I said yes. Straight body with typical thin paint, interior overal OK just filthy and full of junk. Trunk had 7 empty antifreeze jugs in it and a few cans of stop leak. HMMMMM - maybe that's why they stopped driving it!! Honestly, my plan was to swap the 16 inch tires onto my Crown Victoria and yank the battery then part it out. So I put the new tires on the Victoria but started looking at the old car. Not being a police model and have a base 3.1 engine didn't help much. But with all its problems it still drives nice. So I opened all 4 doors and the trunk and cleaned it out. I actually used a leaf blower to get all the dust and dirt out!!! The front seat back was bent badly from the xl sized previous owner. The body had so much mold and actual moss on it from sitting under the trees that I actually washed it by hand with hot water and dish soap - something I normally would never done. I washed one half of it -the passenger side- and thought about leaving the other side as is as a joke. My 16 year old daughter was not amused! I degreased the engine to find all of the leaks. Came to this site and read about many of the problem areas and how to fix. Clearly this car is just gonna be an a to b car so it will get only mechanical work for now. It needed water pump, all hoses,LIM gasket set, replaced all lifters and push rods, plugs, and thermostat. Amazingly the oil was black as coal with no trace of water. The reason for the lifters was b cause of the constant clattering- plus the push rods were starting to actually get a ridge on the upper end. The passages were full of small hard carbon pepper sized flakes and clogging the oil flow. That's why I put new lifters and push rods. Now it's really quiet. I'm 52 and this is only my 3 rd GM product. Honestly I have had horrible luck with GM them and have restored mostly Mopar cars. But this cars only fault was a poor gasket design (thanks again GM for another lousy design) and just worn out. . But, I believe it still has some life left. It's at 155,00 now. Runs good and gets 20mpg in town. Total cost so far- just under a grand. It is my backup car now. primergray 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 By the way, great site and a lot of great information. Doubt I would have saved the car if the information wasn't readily available here 95GS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas Escobar Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 Welcome to the forum! GM's are reliable but notoriously cheaply built. These V6 engines can run forever.... once you fix the "nylon" plastic gaskets. myaerocars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runt Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 Sounds like you have a decent driver for not much money. Welcome to the site! myaerocars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 That is pretty neat. What a score that turned out to be myaerocars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 Yeah it has turned out to be a pretty good daily driver 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadfoot Posted January 18, 2017 Report Share Posted January 18, 2017 Welcome. I would love to see before and after pics of it. Where are you located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 I'm located in Gainesville Georgia. Just reread my post and didn't mean to come across so hard on GM. but I'm just glad it's still running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Here are 2 before pics. You can see the heavy mold on the car. On the interior shot see all the trash and empty antifreeze jugs. Plus the horribly bent drivers seat! I have straightened it out but need to replace it for safety sake because I'm sure the metal is fatigued. The blue "stripe" is masking painters tape. I was playing around with stripe ideas out of boredom. I removed it after the photos. The paint is shot so almost anything I do would be a great improvement! rich_e777 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GabsOlds Posted January 21, 2017 Report Share Posted January 21, 2017 Daaaamn! That seat is done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas Escobar Posted January 23, 2017 Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 So the mold is only on one side? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2017 The passengers side was dirtier than the drivers side. But I washed only 1/2 as a joke and told my daughter it was gonna be her first car 😀 These pics show how filthy it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted January 24, 2017 Report Share Posted January 24, 2017 That's a pretty clean Lumina! Welcome to the site! The paint doesn't look bad in the pics, I wonder if it could be wet sanded and clear coated. BTW we have a bunch of cool stuff in the FAQ section, and we use the "Whatever" thread as sort of a "Wall" just for social networking too. myaerocars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euro Posted January 26, 2017 Report Share Posted January 26, 2017 Wow, looks way better after a good scrub. Call me weird, but I like that painter's tape stripe..reminds me of a police car myaerocars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Yeah the "old police car" / city vehicle look is what I like. I put " 175 " in small black vinyl numbers on the fenders near the door as a nod to the cost. It's also a reminder to me not to go crazy dumping too much into it. I'm really bad about that........ My DD is a 1999 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor that has served me well for 12 years now. Former South Carolina State Police vehicle. A " slick top" car with full cloth interior, carpet and power drivers seat. Windows are not tinted- just a lot of heavy shade! 248,000 and counting-motor never apart and trans still holding up well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas Escobar Posted January 27, 2017 Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 That Vic looks really nice. If I didn't know any better I'd say it's a 2009 instead of a 1999 95GS and myaerocars 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myaerocars Posted January 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2017 Thanks. I've hand waxed it every year since I bought it in 2004 after it left service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movielover40 Posted February 1, 2017 Report Share Posted February 1, 2017 That Vic looks great... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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