new member-ish

Hello all. About a year ago I had the opportunity to buy a 98 riv from a dear friend of mine. It belonged to his brother whom I was also friends with. Ever since I saw this car 8 or 9 years ago I've had a love affair with it. When Mike passed away it sat in a garage for close to a year untouched. I managed to convince Larry to sell to me and he gave me a great price ,$2000. Ever since then its been a glorious journey of triumph and defeat. The body has the factory defective paint with all the tiny micro scratches under the clear coat but the color hides it except under close inspection. 
          I've been mostly taking care of regular maintenance items since the car was fairly neglected in that regard. Mike didn't drive it much except errands about town so it wasn't driven roughly. I've replaced both belts with gatorbacks. Had a transmission service and stopped a power steering leak in its tracks. Replaced an inner and outer tie rod and the massive coolant leak from the water pump and two elbow connectors. ( she would just sit there and bleed to near death every night) I'm concerned about the LIM and am monitoring my oil for signs of coolant but so far so good.( knock on wood)
         About a month ago I was side swiped by some dumb lady who didn't understand that even though your turning right on red, you haven to yield to cross traffic. She cought me on my right side just in front of my rear tire. A one foot dent and some minor paint scuffs for me and an obliterated front headlight and smasher bumper for her. (Seriously I f#@ked her up) well after all was said and done her insurance gave me $2k for the repair, well since the dent has about 70% or so worked its self out and the entire car needs to be redone I'll just put that money to a better use. Went on a shopping spree, got 2 new front hubs from Moog ,2 new Monroe quick study ( yes I'm aware of the threads regarding these on here but I want to see them on the car if it doest work out I'll put the OEM springs on or have the shop modify Monroe's springs) 6 NGK laser irridium plugs (hoses and boots looked good and I don't think they are factory) 2 jbl 5.25's for my from doors and a new remanufactured OEM radio (tape deck is busted in mine and I want to play music from my phone)  
         Yet each small victory leads to soul crushing heartache at the hands of Radom events. At work one day I discovered that some spineless eunuch had keyed me. From front fender all the way through the drivers side door. Hurts every time I see it. Then months later in a freak accident the back wind screen was shattered. Lucky that repair I got lucky and only paid $500 for. This last Monday my drivers side power window failed. I managed to coax the last ounce out of it to get it up. The next day I dropped it at the shop that did my coolant leak for a diagnosis. They did a very good job on the leak so why not? Well the cocky SOB who owns the shop wanted $500 for a switch. I said now way! I'll do it myself. I come by to pick it up and my window is down. I asked them to put it back up and the owner says "they tried but it just fell back down" I told him to take the door panel off and run 12v through the motor to get it back up. He wanted $135 for that. All while just sitting there smileing. So I walked out and did it myself when I got home. What a con man! Nasty reviews on his shop inbound! Switch should be in tonight or tomorrow got it for $70 on ebay (switch doctor just sold out for a week or so they say) also while I was in the door I discovered what could only amount to a complete moron had not so gently removed the panel before. 3 mounting pegs on the inside had been broken off and 2 bolts from the window frame were missing. Luckily most of the pieces I found inside the door itself. Frame is now secure and trim mounts repaired. 
           Have a host of questions how to troubleshoot and fix things on her that haven't been discussed that I'll post when I'm getting around to fix them. Thanks for reading.

these cars are a labour of love but well worth it.

sloshua wrote:

these cars are a labour of love but well worth it.