Celebrity is dead, long live the Suburban...
I've got water in the oil in the Celebrity and my wife decided we're getting a truck. So instead of plunking $1500 down on some late model truck, we paid $900 for a 1984 4-wheel-drive 3/4 ton Suburban. It's huge. We call it Moose because the horn sounds like a dying moose. Kids think it's a school bus because of all the exposed yellow metal in the interior. But it seats us, all 6 of our kids, and there's even a 9th seatbelt if I decide to be nice and NOT to tie my mother-in-law to the roof.
www.cardomain.com/ride/2534514
So at some point I'm going to try and fix the Celebrity. I need to take the intake and exhaust manifolds off and then pull the head. The previous owner did put a new head on it, but it's apparently failed somewhere. Got water in the oil, oil in the water, it's nearly impossible to start, it backfires when starting cold, and the lifters tick more until it's warmed up. Also consuming about a gallon of coolant every 200 miles. So it's sitting on the street until we have our garage sales the next 2 weekends. Then I'm bringing it back in, taking it apart, and see what it needs. Worst case, cracked block, and I can buy a remanufactured 2.5 long block for a few hundred bucks at most. Even saw one go for $312 shipped on eBay not long ago. And I think it's the intake manifold gasket because of the backfiring on startup. That would be the cheapest possible fix, and I'll see it without having to remove the exhaust manifold or head. Hopefully that's all it needs. But anyhow, at least I'm only out $450 on it thus far includiong tax and title and license plates.
The Suburban came with tags and inspection good to 11/07. That saves me $105 right there alone. It will need front brakes (pads are $16 on eBay) and it's in dire need of a tune-up (got 2 8pc sets of plugs on eBay, $12 shipped), but it hauls everyone in one vehicle and it can haul payload and tow up to 5K. Good stuff. I think we'll have this rig for quite some time. The Celebrity OTOH, might go away as soon as it's running, or else I'm parting it out. Those headlights are popular for people converting their early 80s cars to a Euro-headlight look. Best fitment is the 89-91 Blazer/Suburban front clip which is popular for swapping onto the 73-87 Chevy/GMC trucks. Headlights are worth $40 each!!!
I've got water in the oil in the Celebrity and my wife decided we're getting a truck. So instead of plunking $1500 down on some late model truck, we paid $900 for a 1984 4-wheel-drive 3/4 ton Suburban. It's huge. We call it Moose because the horn sounds like a dying moose. Kids think it's a school bus because of all the exposed yellow metal in the interior. But it seats us, all 6 of our kids, and there's even a 9th seatbelt if I decide to be nice and NOT to tie my mother-in-law to the roof.
www.cardomain.com/ride/2534514
So at some point I'm going to try and fix the Celebrity. I need to take the intake and exhaust manifolds off and then pull the head. The previous owner did put a new head on it, but it's apparently failed somewhere. Got water in the oil, oil in the water, it's nearly impossible to start, it backfires when starting cold, and the lifters tick more until it's warmed up. Also consuming about a gallon of coolant every 200 miles. So it's sitting on the street until we have our garage sales the next 2 weekends. Then I'm bringing it back in, taking it apart, and see what it needs. Worst case, cracked block, and I can buy a remanufactured 2.5 long block for a few hundred bucks at most. Even saw one go for $312 shipped on eBay not long ago. And I think it's the intake manifold gasket because of the backfiring on startup. That would be the cheapest possible fix, and I'll see it without having to remove the exhaust manifold or head. Hopefully that's all it needs. But anyhow, at least I'm only out $450 on it thus far includiong tax and title and license plates.
The Suburban came with tags and inspection good to 11/07. That saves me $105 right there alone. It will need front brakes (pads are $16 on eBay) and it's in dire need of a tune-up (got 2 8pc sets of plugs on eBay, $12 shipped), but it hauls everyone in one vehicle and it can haul payload and tow up to 5K. Good stuff. I think we'll have this rig for quite some time. The Celebrity OTOH, might go away as soon as it's running, or else I'm parting it out. Those headlights are popular for people converting their early 80s cars to a Euro-headlight look. Best fitment is the 89-91 Blazer/Suburban front clip which is popular for swapping onto the 73-87 Chevy/GMC trucks. Headlights are worth $40 each!!!
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Re: time for another another winter beater
Sun, January 7, 2007 - 11:41 PMSounds Panpurposeful..just like I like 'em..
