I keep complaining to myself that I should start taking pics of really horrible things people do to cars, and post it up. Well, the day has arrived, and I took some pics. I am working on putting a 2004 alabaster coupe back into shape. The car doesn't seem to have been downright abused in driving, just in maintenance. The car came to us non-running, with oil leaks from everywhere, a very moldy interior, and generally just sorry condition. Throughout the car were some really terrible repair hacks. Needless to say, we have been going through every single system on the car with a fine tooth comb, trying to put things back right. And really, we have. The car is definitely in better shape, and it is getting to the point that I would trust it for a daily driver. Cosmetically, we're cleaning it up, too. Anyway, there were just some flat out stupid hacks in the car, from wiring, to holding the radiator in, to you name it. Three different types of tires on it, and the steering and suspension were so played out as to be completely dangerous (and it was). All of that fixed. We're cruising towards the finish line. One job left to do. The parking brake didn't work. The handle just goes up and down with little to no resistance. What can it be? I go under the car and the adjuster is set all the way loose. OK. I'll tighten it. No effect. OK, something inside the actual brake is broken. Pull the rotor, and imagine my surprise. NO brake hardware, whatsoever. None. In its place, one side had some wire wrapped around the hub, and the other side had string. String! Presumably there to keep the parking brake cable from flopping around. After sourcing the correct parts, cleaning up the rust, and a bit of paint, it's all back together. This is a manual transmission car. Not having a parking brake in any car is a problem, but on a manual? Come on man!








Seen some real interesting hacks on a Crossfire? Post them up here!

 

Wow. That CF is in really sad condition. Kudos to you for taking on the project.

 

I spent 2.5 days cleaning, sanding, and finally painting the windshield trim and the side strakes.

Here's the on topic content:
As I was sanding through the windshield trim that was painted with a paint brush (no joke), I sanded through that silver, which was thick, and then came to a new color. Pink! Sanding further revealed a purple layer! Sanding further found a re-spray of silver. Finally after that, the original silver was found. Smoothed it all out, and the new, correct silver went on nicely via HVLP gun. Next I need to get the car back outside, since the whole area under the windshield trim needs to be pressure washed to remove leaves and grime, and then and arduous chore of scraping off the clear caulking and other various adhesives people used to hold the trim on. Hint: if you use a caulking gun and at least three tubes of caulk, the trim will stay on.

General knowledge:
I figured out (as I am sure others have previously) that it easiest method for the side strakes is to break out the Dremel tool and mill out the plastic welds, separating the silver and black pieces. I then reattached them with epoxy. Will try to get some pics, but it all came out great. Interior panels have been selectively removed, and repainted with SEM color matched paint. Slowly, but surely, the car is becoming a respectable crossfire again. I also prepared a complete set of spare windshield trim, and a set of strakes for my SSB car. The strakes are extremely time consuming, but I think the end result will be worth it. Now I need to figure out how to get the door handles off, and shoot them, as well.

 

Not a Crossfire story..but I thought I woukd share this story in this topic. In the early 1990's I was the service tec for Sun Electric in Tampa. Was was working on a machine in this shop..that they had RUN OVER...when a lady in a beat up 1967 mustang pulls in. I smell something burning. Smells like a campfire. I'm thinkin smores and this needs a closer look. She had 3 kids in the back seat and 2 up front with her. She says she's having trouble stoping the car. She says she has no money. The shop pulls the car into a bay...VERY slowly because the car wont stop. Take the wheels off and what do you know.....CUSTOM 2x4 wood where brake pads should be. They had been there a whille as they were burned to a crisp. How the car did not burn to the ground I don't know. She says just give her the keys and she'll go on her way. The shop had already call FHP. They show up and tell her the car cannot be driven with out repair. Last I saw was an FHP officer loading 5 kids and a mother in his car to give them a ride home.

 

Isn't like 70%-80% of a car's breaking power delivered by the front wheels anyway? LOL! Well, when I was young and dirt poor I bought an old boat on a trailer. At some point the rusted axle on the trailer snapped in the middle. Fixed that with a pressure treated 4x4 and some big U-bolts bolted around the 4x4 and the axle and towed it fine like that for several years. The state I lived in at the time, like many, had and still have no trailer inspections so if ya can tow it and it rolls, it's good to go. Seen 6x6's attached to cars for bumpers too but those days are long gone. Picked up a 1974 Chevy Impala shortly thereafter with a totally rusted out trunk bay I fixed by laying roofing shingles over the entire rusted out base and then cutting plywood and with the right supports in the right places the trunk carpeting went back in and fit like a glove... no one would have known! LOL!

Maybe the worst was when I had a 1978 or so VW Scirocco that model had only 1 big windshield wiper and I was too poor to even buy a replacement motor for it when it died so I made sure not to drive it in the rain and if it did rain I had a piece of string I could attach to the wiper and run it through both the left and right windows when cracked and I could manually move the wiper back and forth by yanking that string left and right from the inside. My father never thought twice about me driving that thing that way. Different times.

 

I've heard of that particular hack before, but never have seen it. Scary stuff out there!

This car has been a real treasure for hacks like these (I've left a ton of them off this list, but wish I photographed them, now), but the good news is that when it is finished (expected this weekend), it will be a proper, well functioning Crossfire. I have gone through every single system on this car. It is my intention to sell this car, and I will not worry about a thing on it when it leaves. Very proud of how far it has come along.

 

Don't laugh about wood chassis parts. I have two 1910 Brush's, one a Runabout, and the other a Gentleman's Roadster. Both cars have entire frames made from maple. The axles are made of maple as well. I am just replacing the wood frames and the wood axles this year, so they went 113 years with just wood frames. Google them.
A popular saying back in the teens was "Wooden wheels, wooden axles, wooden frame, wooden run!"
But actually they were excellent little cars, and people who have them now think the world of them.
Wood doesn't fatigue, unlike steel or aluminum. The first Bell helicopters had wooden rotor blades. They had no life limit. Aluminum rotor blades had a time limit, after which they had to be changed out.