What Gro Harlem has been up to
Posted: August 1st, 2008, 4:38 pm
Have had people PM'ing / IMing me whats up since I basically disappeared off the face of the planet a couple years back. In a nutshell: i graduated school right around the time of my disappearance...got a boring 9-5 job w/the DoD as gov't & have been working nonstop since then. Have had SOME time but not much for cars & I'm almost to the point of being driven insane b/c of it (i love tinkering with anything mechanical...dont' know why).
Anyways ,heres my car history summed up (kinda):
Had the 93' GS since summer 03'. i finally sold it to SuperK last October, 07'. I hadn't really driven it regularly since June of 05' so it sprung up some issues between then & when he bought it. I feel kinda bad b/c he had to address some stupid issues that should've never happened but I still feel it was a steal at 2800$ & I am glad to sell it to someone on here who will actually drive/enjoy & care for it.
In June of 05' I bought a 96' Protege DX 5-speed that basically replaced the MX-3 as my main driver. It was $500 on ebay & I won w/the minimum bid. I put LX seats in it, tach cluster, leather wheel from a 626, nicer shiftboot, nicer center cnosole from a ES, clock, remote trunk release cable & other crap essentially converting it to a LX model w/out power windows/locks.
In September of 05' I bought a Mazdaspeed Protege w/42k miles on impulse & only drove it 2 months before the temp registration expired. It was in a front-end wrck & had the wrong front bumper put on by whoever repaired it. I only paid $6100 for it but had to get new brakes/tires/windshield & a wing (since it was removed for some reason). I sold it the next year for 8200, but in the end I only made 300 bux off it. I think some of you thought I had this car & still drive it but nope, sorry, it had issues that dissatisfied me so I got rid of it.
In May of 07' I bought a 2000 Toyota Celica GT, silver & automatic (gasp) b/c of my job working in downtown DC (falls church actually) and the retarded traffic that I had to endure. The car has its share of dings & scratches on the paint but is otherwise in great mechanical condition & I got it for a decent price. I haven't done much to it, a S2000 antenna (stock one is a long ugly metal rod), converted the faded plastic sunroof panel to the 2003+ glass one, put my awesome stereo system in it from my MX3, and got a leather steering wheel from a 2003 Matrix. Also a ebay CAI that did nothing for power & indexed sparkplugs. I still drive this car regularly & it has served me well.
In Nov of 07' I sold the Protege since I never drove it after getting the celica. I made a ton off selling it, it sold for 2300.
As of recently I've had it with the Celica. The cheap interior & lack of balls from the frugal-minded transmission. So I went on an adventure of buying cars I'll never register!
First I got a 04' Scion xB in May for $6000 which was an incredible price. Got lucky on ebay basically. It was in great condition had 56k miles and was a 5-speed. I drove it 2 weeks & couldn't stand having 5-speed. The main reason was the car was SLOW....1.5 liter echo engine. Plus it wasn't much fun to drive. It handled incredibly well & only weighs 2400 lbs but after getting a few comments from co-workers on how 'ugly" and "gay" the car was..I decided not to keep it. I sold it almost instantly on craigslist for $8800...i almost crapped myself when I realized I made 2800 in 2 weeks for virtually no effort. Turns out these are one of the hottest-selling used cars on the market now b/c of the surging gas prices. The car got me 38mpg my first tank & 33 the 2nd.
Then I bought a 02' WRX wagon 5-speed in June. The car had a rod-knocking engine & was abused badly. I got it for a reasonable price & sold it for a slight profit but it was a pain in the a$$ finding a buyer for it. Simply put, buying it was a mistake.
So a couple weekends ago, my brother in law cashed in on the retarded panic going on by society. Everyone trying to trade in their trucks & suv's for fuel efficient small cars. So he bought a 06' F150 for 8 grand that is MINT & fully loaded, extended cab, 5.7 liter, its awesome. He sold me his WRX For 2 grand...TWO GRAND!!! I couldn't resist.
Here's the story of the car. He bought it new in 01', never really abused it, put some mods on it when he first bought it but never modded it after 03'. Car has 105k miles which is kinda high but meh. The car got rear-ended this past March by some douche in Ocean City, MD. He got a settlement check for about $6 grand that he spent on a wide-screen TV, PS3 & home sound system rather than repairing the car. the car is still totally driveable & only the trunklid doesn't close. Alignment is still straight & nothing in the suspenion is bent...but the bumper/rear quarter are f'ked. Yes there is frame damage but I got an estimate of $800 to have it pulled w/out any bodywork. I got a black rear bumper from somoene on nasioc for $200 shipped that will replace the torn one on it now. THe car shouldn't look bad aftewards. The body is in good shape otherwise, has a couple dings & it was keyed on the drivers-side & hood all the way down.
Mods installed:
-STI hoodscoop (painted)
-PIAA foglights
-HKS Turbo timer
-APexi rev limiter thing
-Pioneer head unit, not sure what model
-2 12" kicker comp subs w/kicker amp, not sureho w powerful but pretty loud
-window tint
-5-Zigen 17" bronze wheels with sumitomo tires, nearly mint condition (he only used them 2 summers)
-Greddy catback exhaust, sounds really sweet
-completely stock engine bay which is a very big PLUS for these cars
-Aftermarket rubber subaru floormats to preserve the stock ones from wear.
The rims alone are probably worth 500-600 if I were to sell them & the turbotimer & apexi thing, another 200 or so. Subs/amp another 300. So I'm pretty happy he let me buy it.
Future plans:
-reflash ECU with the "stage 2" maps
-lower it a bit with some springs (not sure which brand) + KYB special struts
-possibly get a td34 turbo upgrade but not sure yet if i will
-put my stereo in it
-maybe put STI interior tidbits inside if i can get them for a good price (i want the blue carpet especially!)
-possibly get the body work repaired & the car repainted a dark gray color or some other form of silver/grey.
So ya, thats what crazy stuff I've been up to for the past couple years.
Anyways ,heres my car history summed up (kinda):
Had the 93' GS since summer 03'. i finally sold it to SuperK last October, 07'. I hadn't really driven it regularly since June of 05' so it sprung up some issues between then & when he bought it. I feel kinda bad b/c he had to address some stupid issues that should've never happened but I still feel it was a steal at 2800$ & I am glad to sell it to someone on here who will actually drive/enjoy & care for it.
In June of 05' I bought a 96' Protege DX 5-speed that basically replaced the MX-3 as my main driver. It was $500 on ebay & I won w/the minimum bid. I put LX seats in it, tach cluster, leather wheel from a 626, nicer shiftboot, nicer center cnosole from a ES, clock, remote trunk release cable & other crap essentially converting it to a LX model w/out power windows/locks.
In September of 05' I bought a Mazdaspeed Protege w/42k miles on impulse & only drove it 2 months before the temp registration expired. It was in a front-end wrck & had the wrong front bumper put on by whoever repaired it. I only paid $6100 for it but had to get new brakes/tires/windshield & a wing (since it was removed for some reason). I sold it the next year for 8200, but in the end I only made 300 bux off it. I think some of you thought I had this car & still drive it but nope, sorry, it had issues that dissatisfied me so I got rid of it.
In May of 07' I bought a 2000 Toyota Celica GT, silver & automatic (gasp) b/c of my job working in downtown DC (falls church actually) and the retarded traffic that I had to endure. The car has its share of dings & scratches on the paint but is otherwise in great mechanical condition & I got it for a decent price. I haven't done much to it, a S2000 antenna (stock one is a long ugly metal rod), converted the faded plastic sunroof panel to the 2003+ glass one, put my awesome stereo system in it from my MX3, and got a leather steering wheel from a 2003 Matrix. Also a ebay CAI that did nothing for power & indexed sparkplugs. I still drive this car regularly & it has served me well.
In Nov of 07' I sold the Protege since I never drove it after getting the celica. I made a ton off selling it, it sold for 2300.
As of recently I've had it with the Celica. The cheap interior & lack of balls from the frugal-minded transmission. So I went on an adventure of buying cars I'll never register!
First I got a 04' Scion xB in May for $6000 which was an incredible price. Got lucky on ebay basically. It was in great condition had 56k miles and was a 5-speed. I drove it 2 weeks & couldn't stand having 5-speed. The main reason was the car was SLOW....1.5 liter echo engine. Plus it wasn't much fun to drive. It handled incredibly well & only weighs 2400 lbs but after getting a few comments from co-workers on how 'ugly" and "gay" the car was..I decided not to keep it. I sold it almost instantly on craigslist for $8800...i almost crapped myself when I realized I made 2800 in 2 weeks for virtually no effort. Turns out these are one of the hottest-selling used cars on the market now b/c of the surging gas prices. The car got me 38mpg my first tank & 33 the 2nd.
Then I bought a 02' WRX wagon 5-speed in June. The car had a rod-knocking engine & was abused badly. I got it for a reasonable price & sold it for a slight profit but it was a pain in the a$$ finding a buyer for it. Simply put, buying it was a mistake.
So a couple weekends ago, my brother in law cashed in on the retarded panic going on by society. Everyone trying to trade in their trucks & suv's for fuel efficient small cars. So he bought a 06' F150 for 8 grand that is MINT & fully loaded, extended cab, 5.7 liter, its awesome. He sold me his WRX For 2 grand...TWO GRAND!!! I couldn't resist.
Here's the story of the car. He bought it new in 01', never really abused it, put some mods on it when he first bought it but never modded it after 03'. Car has 105k miles which is kinda high but meh. The car got rear-ended this past March by some douche in Ocean City, MD. He got a settlement check for about $6 grand that he spent on a wide-screen TV, PS3 & home sound system rather than repairing the car. the car is still totally driveable & only the trunklid doesn't close. Alignment is still straight & nothing in the suspenion is bent...but the bumper/rear quarter are f'ked. Yes there is frame damage but I got an estimate of $800 to have it pulled w/out any bodywork. I got a black rear bumper from somoene on nasioc for $200 shipped that will replace the torn one on it now. THe car shouldn't look bad aftewards. The body is in good shape otherwise, has a couple dings & it was keyed on the drivers-side & hood all the way down.
Mods installed:
-STI hoodscoop (painted)
-PIAA foglights
-HKS Turbo timer
-APexi rev limiter thing
-Pioneer head unit, not sure what model
-2 12" kicker comp subs w/kicker amp, not sureho w powerful but pretty loud
-window tint
-5-Zigen 17" bronze wheels with sumitomo tires, nearly mint condition (he only used them 2 summers)
-Greddy catback exhaust, sounds really sweet
-completely stock engine bay which is a very big PLUS for these cars
-Aftermarket rubber subaru floormats to preserve the stock ones from wear.
The rims alone are probably worth 500-600 if I were to sell them & the turbotimer & apexi thing, another 200 or so. Subs/amp another 300. So I'm pretty happy he let me buy it.
Future plans:
-reflash ECU with the "stage 2" maps
-lower it a bit with some springs (not sure which brand) + KYB special struts
-possibly get a td34 turbo upgrade but not sure yet if i will
-put my stereo in it
-maybe put STI interior tidbits inside if i can get them for a good price (i want the blue carpet especially!)
-possibly get the body work repaired & the car repainted a dark gray color or some other form of silver/grey.
So ya, thats what crazy stuff I've been up to for the past couple years.
