Originally posted 7/7/04
I have a like(?) for obscure motor cars, by obscure I mean stuff everyone else dislikes 😉 so the chance to pick up a ’91 Hyundai Sonata GLS with a V6 and Auto trans, plus Air con, Power Steering, blah blah all the good stuff for five hundred bucks was too good an offer to pass up. I tell you what, those that pass these cars up even at recommended retail are mad – talk about a comfortable and quick sedan. Anyhoo on to the nuts and bolts of it (literally). It was thought to have a blown water pump (that’s why it was so cheap), ehh no problemo NOT! I’ve got a mobile mechanic that does all my work and the grief he had to go through just to get the water pump off. Remove the Power Steering pump, an engine mount plus numerous other piddling little bits that were just to much in the way GRRRRRR – cut a long short, he sorted the water pump out, did a pressure test and we find a blown head gasket AARRGGHHHHH!!! It turns out because it had boiled (read cooked) at one stage because the previous owner was a twonk and drove it with a dicky water pump it blew not one head gasket but both so they are now sitting in a machine shop getting faced and crack tested. The odd thing is, it looks like by checking the bore that the bottom end had not long had a rebuild??? Bizarre to say the least but one hell of a bonus. It all goes back together in a few days thankfully. Now electric windows especially on earlier cars are pretty much guaranteed to play up and this was no exception. The right rear motor was gone, an easy fix and the master switch block on the drivers door was also being a pest so I ordered one from a wreckers as I’m not overly keen on spending four hundred bucks for a new one shudder. This is where it all became fun. Apparently the car I’ve got is in the middle of model change over which meant the first switch to arrive was the wrong one – then we find out the there is a different one for the 4 cylinder variant and a different one again if the indicator lenses are orange instead of clear (this is sounding well bizarre aye :-)). The wrecker finally found one in downtown Melbourne 800 miles away but at least that’s now fixed also. It\’s going to be a damn good car when it’s finished, I might post a few pics – don’t ask why, I’m just an ego-maniac 😉
Cheers Carl