[V8] Not many. Or maybe it's heresy.

[Kent McLean]

Roger M. Woodbury wrote:
> But The Black Mariah will end her daily driver days on July 1st, unless I
> decide...repent...and do the rear shocks, and spend a bunch of time that I
> don't have tweaking behind the instrument cluster so turn off the annoying
> warning lights that would keep me from being inspected.  New tires, too, of
> course.  But I keep coming back to the simple fact that the car runs so
> damned well right now that replacing it will be very, very difficult.

Roger,

You'll regret selling the Black Mariah, as any "new" car will also need work,
maybe more than you realized at first inspection.

The Black Mariah is a known quantity.  Rear shocks shouldn't be a deal breaker.
The instrument cluster, well, that is a common problem.  If you tell us which
lights are on, maybe we can help you turn them off; in my mind, it is either a
(bad) sensor, or bad circuits on the IC itself.  A call to one of the used parts
vendors (Force 5 comes to mind) might net you a good cluster, and then you'd
only have to deal with the sensors. Or we can identify which wires need to be
cut/jumped. In the grand scheme of things, it beats a blown engine (or tracking
down an oil leak. :)

Truth be told, I bought a 200 20V that needed more work than I was ready for.
I bought a 2nd that was well cared for, and with a new exhaust, I'm happy with
it for now (it does have some issues that need sorting; warning lights for brake
bads, brake lights, and emergency brake are the irritating ones; the antenna
doesn't receive stations more than 5-10 miles away; and the headliner is
sagging).  If my timing was really good, I could have saved myself lots of
aggravation and would have been very happy as the new owner of the Black Mariah.
But my timing is not perfect. Neither is the Black Mariah, nor is any car you
may replace it with.

So, keep her.  And keep looking for that non-existing perfect V8, or even the
diesel, to use for the sunny days.

-- 
Kent McLean
'91 200 TQA #1, for sale
'91 200 TQA #2, no name yet
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy", up in smoke