Sounds like you too have been on a ...er, um...shopping spree, Hahaa!!
Good stuff you got there and 230 bucks for wheels , tires complete working drive train plus countless extras is one helluva bargain indeed!!
Plus you get that great satisfaction of saving J-Body stuff from oblivion and giving them a second chance!!
Keep on scoring!
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Nice share of info.However you said 87 and yellow or technically yellow gold was ONLY offered in 1985 soley! I see the trunk lid open and even the underside is yellow.Generally on repaints most do not do door jambs and under the trunk lids.Recheck the year as this is rather odd to see a 87 sedan in yellow seriously.Just had my interest and being well the only 1st gen factory yellow gold on any forums online this got my attention.I have fact checked this and even the guy at napa's paint shop said this was a 1 year only color for the 1st gen cavalier period.1985 yellow gold the only year available unless someone went crazy and painted or maybe wanted it done all the way right.Btw the sunbird to my knowledge never came in yellow 1st gen style but I could be wrong.That car shows the ohio rust bucket affect save what you can as I think it maybe more work on the underside than you care for.
Title vin matches the vin on the dash but also says color unknown. The jambs and everything is yellow like its suppose to be.. Guess someone wanted yellow lol. I pretty much bought the car for small trim pieces and the wheels. Everything else is broken or rusted.
Ok I just raise a eye brown when you said 87 yellow.At least you can strip it for all it is worth and save various pieces and or body items and the def the eng/trans those are not cheap at a junkyard over what you paid!!!!! Good deal.Tired and back pain that is kicking me hard from a old injury.Nothing that some meds what make dealable.Or just old age pains which suck at times.
Good score. I'm always on the look out for parts cars. You never know what will pop up. Unfortunately some people think they have gold when selling 30 year old rust.
That front license plate holder on your parts sedan is kinda rare being intact. Back in the day there weren't many if any rollbacks and the conventional "wrecker" would invariably rip the holder off when it winched up the front end to pull.
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Here's the progress on the z24 hood I have.
You are ahead of me on your Z -hood - Hahaa!! I was planning on doing the same thing this winter but have been doing everything else.
What grit are you using on it? I had used 100 grit on a 1/4 sheet sander on my hood scoop on the Ranger with good results. There is a lot of orange peel on the factory finish - on my hood, was that the case with yours too?
Looking Good - looking forward to seeing the final result there!!
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Nice start on the hood work.
Looking good there!
http://www.autorentalandsales.com/images/2004Cavalier005.JPG
Oh Orlen I've been using 80 grit and yeah it was pretty terrible. The hood sat lining against a fence for 15 years and I was surprised to find it in the shape it was. I really haven't done all that much work to it for it being 28 years old.
Like the noise I hear! I cranked up sunny about wks ago and let idle for 20 minutes in the garage and nice and smooth.I need my safety inspection done,however with the weather last week and NOW I am waiting till the roads are dry and salt free.I not kidding put the charger on the battery for sunny today and I less than 15 minutes fully charged.I leave it unhooked while not running and or sitting so it does not draw any current.Lesson I learned with a ride sitting very little fuel in tank and run soley 93 with some seafoam or star tron as this prevents fuel issues period.I could ramble more but,I am running out of go after working outside playing catch up in the shop and yard.
Well a month ago I did a carfax report and found out my car really have 251,000 miles on it.. explains why the tranny went like it did. Anyways I was driving the car the other day (3rd gear slips) and went to pass some slow idiot and while I was passing him he gets the bright idea to floor and of course being who I am and what I'm driving I slapped it to the floor to get around him. I regret the hell outta that.... Let's just say I have a ventalated block.... The car didn't shift out of 2nd and by the time I went to let off the gas to make it shift I heard a nice ping clunk and a knock and you basically get the point. Engine toast after that. So my latest project is have the transmission rebuilt and do a 3400 swap. Dad knows how to rebuild trannys so that save a bunch. But that's my latest. I'm pretty upset about the car but hell the transmission was going and the engine had over 250K miles. There was no way I was gonna reuse that engine after I had the transmission rebuilt lol.
Well on a good note at least your starting with a clean slate.I could ramble more but a afternoon of yardwork has whooped me.And that is two yards or 2 acres of fun and the heat wearing me thin.I will be good in the AM after some rest.
Alright today I scored a 1991 pontiac grand prix SE with the 3.1 in it for 265 bucks. Only thing the car needs is a fuel pump and my original thoughts was to swap the engine and transmission into my 87 cavalier. Well advance had a special for 40% off and I bought a fuel pump,fuel filter and a strainer for under 50 dollars and the car really don't look that bad. So I think for now I might drive this car around and see how well I like the engine and do the swap. My biggest concern is will the transmission also swap or will I have ecm problems because it does have overdrive vs my 3 speed in my cavalier now. Oh and I also picked up a 96 red cavalier the other day for 50 bucks for the hell of it lol. You can see in the picture where I only washed one side of the car.
By the way love this little dolly!
Ha dual exhaust might put the some flow masters as what I have on the cavalier. lol.
Nice job Matthew!!
I have noticed that since the price of fuel has stabilized , the price of scrap has dropped off a cliff and the prices of old cars has went with it. However the local Buy Here Pay Here's still selling something you might get home in for $4k - and the lots aren't moving much these days.
It is certainly nice to see someone be able to pick up something to fix up or part out for $50 again. Thats the way I did it for many many years.
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Hi, I am new to this website. I have a nice 1984 Cavalier convertible which is missing the dash ash tray. Any suggestions on where to find one is appreciated. I would also like to know where to get replacement under hood decals for a 2.0 engine. Thanks, John
Matthew,
Wish I had the room to store more than two parts cars at one time. That Grans Am looks pretty good for $265.
John Finch,
Best place for the ash tray is ebay or local salvage yards unless someone one this site has a spare hanging around. As far as I know no one is reproducing engine stickers for these cars.
Well, Hahaa, Mathew you can't win them all - but 2 outta 3 sure ain't bad luck!
My 2 cents worth..... You DID say you bought the truck because you had a fondness for it, well enjoy yourself and fix it up. Please do crawl under and do a thorough inspect all around as these models tend to suffer from a lot of rust underneath. The frames at the rear springs are particularly vulnerable as I have 2 coworkers that have had to have major welding back there to keep theirs on the road.
I can say I have gotten way way more use and enjoyment out of my old '86 then I ever thought I would. Had it since 2005. The 1st gen Rangers were like a tank and had that twin I Beam front end Ford was so infamous for. The Super Cabs are great for tossing extra stuff in the back and allow you to really kick the seat back for comfort you just don't get with the regular cabs too.
Anyways the little old trucks are very handy and great on gas! You can always use it as a gopher for the local yards for J-Body parts...
"Ya never F#@& up when you get a pickup"
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Mathew,
Sorry I missed your message. I can still get those pics for you if you need them.
I still have mine and plan on driving it while the engine swap is being done on my other car.
Since I moved to a small neighborhood I'll need to quiet the exhaust down. Ha ha.
Too many home improvements going on right now for me to do anything to mine. Keep it up on yours. I'm really jealous of every ones cars here because their a whole lot nicer. Eventually I'll get there too.
I went out and bought a 1996 red cavalier for 50 dollars and so far stripped the car out and made a lil over 300 dollars off of it. The weekend after I bought the cavalier I bought a 1991 Pontiac grand Prix and fixed it up to drive and 4 days of owning the car I had my neighbor buy the car off of me for 800 dollars. Last weekend I bought a 95 Ford Ranger for way to much money because I liked it had cruise control and was a 5 sp. 
The truck sat for 3 years and from the story I got the timing belt had jumped and the fuel pump was bad. Okay I spent the entire weekend fooling with a timing belt and a fuel pump only to find out the engine is wore the hell out. ALOT of oil blow by and it skips horribly bad due to low compression and the head gasket is shot. 
I also found the the odometer is stuck on 177,000 miles and doesn't move when you drive the truck or well inch the truck down the road. POS! I ran a carfax report and the truck last reported mileage was 161,000 for a emission inspection which it FAILED in 2006. Omg what the hell did I buy lol. Anyways I don't know If I want to spend 500 dollars for a used engine or say screw it and bite the loss. If all I had to do was buy an used engine and drop it in there it wont be so bad but while I have the engine out I might as well start replacing hard to get to parts such as the clutch and gaskets. Yall give me your ideas of what I should do really. I found a engine for 500 and I know ill throw another 500 in parts while I have it out. Its a 95 Ford Ranger XLT 2.3l 5 Sp, power mirrors, premium radio, full gauge cluster, and the 15in wheels. The body is in pretty good shape for a 20 year old truck. By the way I only washed one side of the truck after I got it to my house. 
