Updates
What's happening with the wagon, what we've figured out, and what comes next.
I went into this week bracing for a full engine rebuild. The mechanic called with a very different story.
Nervous and excited in equal measure. The wagon got towed to a shop in North Hollywood today. They're tearing it down and giving me a final quote before touching anything.
The private mechanic was a bust. A Yelp auto-quote landed in the right inbox. Diamond Auto Center came back with a real answer and a real price -- under budget.
Got a new gig, the budget problem is solved, and the wagon is going to a mechanic. Finding someone who will actually touch a 1985 anything turned out to be its own project.
I have not touched a bolt yet. But the compression test told me everything I needed to know, and this is the job. Here is the full plan before I start pulling things apart.
Cylinder #1 came in at 61 PSI on the compression test. The other three were around 140. Here's what the symptoms are telling us and what comes next.
Getting the research done now so the parts are figured out before the wrench comes out. Two of three components confirmed -- and one that's still proving hard to track down.
The spring is original. The shock bushing is cracked and crumbling. Here's what shocks and springs cost across budget, mid-range, and high-end tiers for this specific car.
A photo of my grandpa in his '85 straight from the dealer, two ways a whitewall tire is actually made, and what actually fits this car.