Fixing up the $100 Elantra
 

This is a short story to bring everyone up to speed. I have been posting adds on the local radio show for scrap metal for a while and finally got my first call. 2003 Elantra. She bought with rebuilt motor that had a failed T-stat and it blew the head gasket. I just got the title to the car so its on. Pulled the head on it. I am going to have it milled since it has some groves where the old gasket was. Trying to leave the intake on. Also left the lower timing cover and accessory's on the motor. No need to remove that much to get this pulled. Pictures coming.

Total spent so far.
Car $100.
Towed home with a chain.
Gas $20
Book $26
Title $12

I got the head back from the shop today. Looked up the head gasket set and it has valve steam seals and looks like a few other things I wont need also. I am running out of money and everything so far has cost more then it should have. The shop said $60 to mill the head and that ended up being $100 to clean and check for cracks. They seen me coming. To make matters worse it was a 60 mile trip one way x4 and on the first trip a truck tossed a rock at the windshield and to get that fixed was $25 more. So here is the new total.
Total spent so far.
Car $100.
Towed home with a chain.
Gas $20
Book $26
Title $12
Head grind $100
Gas $40
Glass fix $25
Total: $323

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That's a pretty sweet deal on that, even if the work ended up being a little more. KBB value starts at $5300. Awesome find for $100 (plus work)

Shoot. That is a lot more then I thought it would be. Never looked at the value on it and just figured around $3500. Im pretty down and out on cars as we speak. I have 4 of them and they all need work. I bought my wife a 89 Buick Electra 2 years ago for 2 grand with 70k on it and its been work since day one. So I hope to get this one going so I can take a break on wrenching for a while. I will have to pull the trans on the Buick just to change a freeze plug. Not looking forward to that one. Let this be a lesson to everyone that reads this. DO NOT EVER USE RADIATOR STOP LEAK! It killed the water pump. Then rusted out the freeze plugs. Wish I could slap the guy that did that. Its had struts, motor mounts and trans mounts, alt, starter, intake gasket, and still needs a $200 egr valve. Oh and got a nail by the sidewall that cost me a new tire. So ya. I hope this Elantra will give me a break so I can get everything else fixed.....

well i dunno about the newer ones but my 96 elantra is still runnin strong. ive had to replace the clutch and it needs a trans mount but it runs strong after 223k miles. still averages 26 to 28mpg and its actually fairly quick. its a pretty tough car too. its been on some rough dirt roads, snow, hail, hit 3 deer, and has done its fair share of heavy loads... ever fill a car up with newspapers? those things get heavy lol. but yea that car should hold up well when u get it done, what do u have left to do on it?

Cool. Im hopeful that mine will last that long with my wife driving it. She is a lot more easy on cars then I am. That didnt help on our Buick though. Proof that one dumb mistake can screw a car for the next owner. The guy I got it from was old and he bought from original owner that was an old lady. My brother has the same year Buick and his has around the same miles your Elantra has and its going strong. Thats why I bought ours. Hoping it would last with just 70k on it. Wrong....

All I need to do to my Elantra is put it together, change the oil, flush and re change it, and find the wobble in the front end. Hope its just tires cause the two in the front are in bad shape. They where both flat when I went to tow it and after filling them back up they are going flat again 3 weeks later. Also need to clean it up and put a radio in it.

The gaskets are supost to be here tomorrow, and I might get started then.

New total on cash spent:
Car $100.
Towed home with a chain.
Gas $20
Book $26
Title $12
Head grind $100
Gas $40
Glass fix $25
Gaskets and head bolts $111.00
New total so far is $434

Hey guys. Update on the Elantra. I had set the head on the motor when it dawned on me to leak check the valves. So glad I did too. 10 valves leaked. I only got one to lap in so I have 9 on order from rock auto. Saved over 50% ordering online. I will probably end up leaving the old valve seals alone. This may come back to bite me but ive never changed any seals and never had an issue. I may change my mind before its too late. I am working with the valve springs by hand also. Its not fun but it works. I cut a socket and I just push down and slid the keepers in place. Annoying but its cheap.

New total on cash spent:
Car $100.
Towed home with a chain.
Gas $20
Book $26
Title $12
Head grind $100
Gas $40
Glass fix $25
Gaskets and head bolts $111.00
Valves $76 Shipped
New total so far is $510

Cool thread, I love seeing things like this.

Are you from Arkansas?

Here in Texas as of a few years ago they make you pay taxes on the blue-book value on car titles. Really annoying and puts a huge damper on buying cheap project cars. Hell, you can buy a shell of a car with no engine or anything and they'll still make you pay taxes on full book value.

Really put a damper on my $200 Nissan Maxima project last year.

You should clean up those headlights up while you're at it. It's amazing how the foggy/hazy headlights really make a car look raggedy. I never bother with those "kits" that only work marginally well - I just wetsand it them incrementally with really fine grit paper (say, 800, then 1000, etc.) and then "seal" them with a plastic polish.

BTW - I loooooove RockAuto. I almost exclusively get all my parts there for all my project cars. Especially with the older ones (I have '92 and '93 Maximas as well as an '89 Civic), you can get a lot of parts on "wholesaler closeout" at literally 70-80% off.

No taxes like that here. It takes about $30 to get a car titled and tagged. When I lived in KS they made me do that. I over paid for taxes and they overturned the law after a short time and gave everyone refunds. Only they put a time limit on refunds and never told anyone. I lost my refund cause I had not time when I found out on the last day of refunds. Thats a stupid law. Im from CA but live in AR.

Anyways. While im here an update is in order. Bad news. Bought 9 new valves and they wont lap in. Parts of the seats are crumbling and pitting so it has to go to the shop or I have to scrap the entire head now. I can not find a head at rock auto. I am out of money and work now so it will have to be put on hold. I am really starting to question the project all together now and im trying to sell it. The price is set pretty high at $1500 so if it does not sell ill end up fixing it in the spring unless I get some work first.

In retrospect I should have never taken it apart and just resold it. I have no place to work on it now cause I can not afford to tow it to my aunts shop. Even if I could do that its pointless with no money to fix the head. If the shop would have done there job it would have been taken care of already cause I had the money then.