After 4 years of not being moved -- it's ALIVE

[bp787]

Long story short, I've had my '89 starion since 1994. About 4 years ago, I took it to a shop to have some paint work, etc... done to it. well, for a myriad of reason, it stayed there. It got buried in their back lot and I had too much other stuff going on to do anything with it.

 

Well, after 4+ years, the starion is back in my garage. I replaced the battery, plugs, and oil. The damn thing started right up. no smoke. idles fairly well. but could use a little tweaking.

 

I was surprised that there weren' any critters living inside the car or the engine.

 

Here's what I've noticed so far with it:

1. After running for 30 minutes, the engine feels really warm. But the thermostat doesn't get over the midway point. So that may or may not be an issue. Any thoughts on this?

 

2. There's appears to be something burning off in the enigne. might be dust/cobwebs/old paint. Doesn't smell like oil or coolant. Can't see where it's coming from. And it's very faint.

 

3. Exterior is going to need some paint restoration. it's not too bad except for some rust in front of the rear tires where it develops on most cars. There is also a few other places that thereare spots of rust, but it's not bad. The doors, especially, have some "waves" in them. Not bad, but probably need to be worked on. The clear coat needs work. But outside of the rust, there's no body damage whatsoever. Airdam is as perfect as the day I put it on 5+ years ago.

 

4. NO BRAKES. There was no fluid in the resevoir. I filled it, and there's still no pedal pressure. The car's idle also goes wacky when I push the pedal in when the car is running. I think this is probably a vaccum leak, but I'm not sure. It could also be that the master cylinder is shot. Anyone have ideas?

 

5. exterior "trim" around the sunroof needs replaced.

 

6. There's a bit of mold or what appears to be mold (it's greenish) around the rear tail lights. I think this will come off easily.

 

7. There's a weird turbo whine I noticed while reving the engine to get it off the trailer. I'm afraid there might be something very wrong in there after sitting for so long.

 

8. and the window tint is pretty much shot. but the rest of the interior is pretty good. The headlight switches aren't working well though.

 

Here's what I think I need for sure. Please make suggestions as to what you think I should go ahead and replace or rebuild:

 

Vaccuum lines

Rotors

Calipers/pads

wheel bearings

turbo (or rebuild)

vaccuum advance/retard diaphragm

tires

electrical wiring

ignition coil

plug wires

exhaust manifold gasket

radiator/intercooler flushed

master cyliner (maybe)

 

what else?

 

Should be a fun project for the next 6-12 months or so. Probably do the paint/body stuff last though.

[Kreal]

Hey, sounds like a good project. If you need any parts let me know, I am parting & have parted 7 cars from year 83-89. I have just about everything you need.

 

Paul

xkreal@aol.com

[bp787]

hey thanks. I'm thinking I will need the master cylinder and some brake calipers. But I haven't taken them off yet to see if they're bad or not.

[jr_ss]

Glad to hear it's alive once more.

 

One thing, with the master and new calipers, just buy em' new. Don't waste your money on used parts that will save your life if the time comes..

 

I'd say go over the TPS/ISC resets. Do any of the basic fixes and see how it responds to them.

 

Glenn

 

BTW, check out the VM for more information..

[bp787]

well, the engine is actually running pretty strong, so I'm not sure how much work it will take.

 

I need to get the car to stop running rich like it always has (like most quests do LOL).

 

The bucking will be solved when the advance/retard diaphragm and vac lines get replaced (hopefully). Along with that, I'll be replacing most if not all, of the hoses.

 

After the brakes, those are the first things that are getting dealt with. Following that, is replacing the fuel filters, pcv, and eliminating the EGR. Followed closely by adjusting the timing and checking the timing chain.

 

Does anyone sell a complete vacuum line kit for the starion? Not that buying some vac lines and cutting them is difficult, i'm just lazy haha