Grumpy the Rally Van

[midnighthunder89]

[ihatemybike]

Were you able to figure out why the van won't start properly yet?

Not yet. Now that I can afford to TTL it I'm going to be much more proactive about fixing it though.

[ihatemybike]

Hell, yeah! Grumpy gets registered tomorrow and it started and drove today. Only took three starting fluid shot/engine cranks to get it started, didn't even need to jump it off Green. Let it warm up for a couple minutes then drove it on a minor road by the storage location. I then shut it off for 20 minutes while I visited with the lot owners, after which just for kicks I tried starting it without the starting fluid. First try no probs.

I'm thinking about taking it to a car dealership just so I can get them telling me it's trade in value on video. In 2003 when I bought my 2000 (Blue), they offered me $400 for '94 (Red) which was in much better condition and had 211K miles.

[ihatemybike]

I grabbed Grumpy's seats today cause it's seeing moving duty tomorrow. When I went to open the back door the the handle broke off into my hand. Looks like I get to hit the yards early tomorrow so it's fixed for the move.

[potskie]

In 2003 when I bought my 2000 (Blue), they offered me $400 for '94 (Red) which was in much better condition and had 211K miles.

OWWW last year I did that for kicks with my 93. They offered me 1200 for it. even with 700K KMs on it and the rockers completely rotted out.

[ihatemybike]

Just a quickie before I run out the door. Replaced the rear door handle fairly easily this morning and topped the tank off for the first time ever w/ the addition of some Lucas fuel injector cleaner. So far I've done over 100 mile with it today. I think the trans is slipping, the alignment needs a little work, the horn doesn't work, and it needed its shot every time to start. Looking forward to actually taking a wrench to it.

[midnighthunder89]

Glad your getting out and driving it at least. It will be an adventure with the starting fluids at the babe, but i think you should leave it like that so they stop giving you are hard time about how it is to new. Keep it up.

[ihatemybike]

Right now my main concern is the trans, but I think a tune up will make it start correctly.

[ihatemybike]

Stopped by the stealership to have fresh keys made based on the VIN and damnit they still don't open the doors. However they work the ignition fine. I'm gonna pull a lock to see if I can figure it out. Talked to Mr. Goodwrench while I was waiting for the keys about only starting with starting fluid then running fine. He said the first thing he'd look at is the fuel pump, he doesn't think it's getting the pressure high enough to start. Wouldn't you know it I forgot to get the RPO codes while I was there.

Since Grumpy is my temp DD, I'm testing its performance. I've noticed a vast improvement since I added Lucas fuel injector cleaner to it's last tank. Acceleration has much improved, as has uphill starts. Beginning to think much of what I thought was trans slipping was the engine not fueling fast enough. I've been playing with engine braking today and 2nd gear isn't having a problem with it. Haven't tried 1st too much yet as I've been conducting these tests as part of my normal driving.

2nd tank of fuel means I finally get to see what kind of mileage it gets. 15.1 mpg with lots of idling and Chicago city traffic as I was helping my sister move. I've been asking my wife what she'd do if Grumpy got better gas mileage than her Jeep and Grumpy has done it, beating her Jeep by .36 mpg on the last tank. Not bad for a $250 POS.

[midnighthunder89]

haha i wish i got 15 there must be something wrong with mine cause i got 14.5 on a 500 mile freeway drive 55 for most of it
glad to see it is working well.

[potskie]

You appear to dragging more weight tho. Look how high the rear of the van sits. Unless the suspension has been modified, at that mileage it would be sagged right down with the seats and such in it which tell me it's probably carrying 250 -350 LBS less than your's which does add up.

[ihatemybike]

Both vans are sans seats in my sig. I wouldn't be surprised if the shocks were upgraded by the PO since they were using it as a cargo van. They told me they hauled some pretty big stuff in it. Big enough that they tossed the roof line trim piece to fit things in.

[midnighthunder89]

That is the first inside shot of grumpy i have seen. it looks like it will clean out nice. I don't have the rear bench seats in but i guess that could be why i get worse mpg but i dont think i should be getting that much worse.

[ihatemybike]

That is the first inside shot of grumpy i have seen.

Really? I had interior shots posted on AS when I first got it. Gotta love those crashes.

I'll get the interior shots added to its CarDomain.

[midnighthunder89]

I never got to see it on AS i kept getting locked out and stuff. Looks very similar to mine did you put the wood in there what are you doing for the rally are you putting mattress in there or seats or ?