What I would look for If I bought another "D"

[Steve Peck <stevepeck1@xxxx>]

LOOK IN THE BRAKE RESERVOIR FOR CLARITY ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Take a flash light. If they have not maintained it, you might not get home. It happened to me...

Look for red dots on the ball joints, sway bar brackets and inside the engine compartment centered on the firewall. These are some of the recalls.

Look at the fuse box for signs of melting or a crappy job replacing a melted fuse box.

Look for a quality jumper on the right most relay, or a functional Fan Fail Relay. Beefy, soldered wires might indicate that it wasn't home-made.

Look for ALL the dash lights to light when you first switch on. 

Switch on the AC (car on but not started) and Stick your head under the car to find two fans spinning freely. Have the owner switch off and look for the fans to stop at roughly the same time in several seconds.

Feel the front brake rotors for a groove on the outside that might indicate that the miles are not right.

Look at the trailing arm bolts for bending.

Rock the steering wheel up and down. If it moves more than 1/2" and movement is heard or seen at the firewall, Order a bushing from Darryl T. and plan for a day spent upside down.

Bring a 10MM socket and open the air filter box. Look for a clean filter to indicate that the owner took care of it. I know it's got less than 500 miles on the clock. You may have the original filter, and it shouldn't be plugged with stuff. Good Lord mine was clogged when I bought, but my car was NOT maintained.

You probably have flat-spotted tires from sitting, unless the car was elevated and stored properly.

Look for good boots on the steeringrack. These not only keep out dust, but keep IN about 3 oz. of gear oil.

I would be very concerned about the fuel system, and wouldn't drive it home at the risk of FUBAR'ing your fuel distributor. I'd trailer it home and get into the tank with a boot, cover, tube and hoses in hand.

Operate the windows a dozen times each. The price for new window regualtors shocked me.

Operate EVERYTHING. 

Most of this is 'do it before you drive it' type stuff, and ALL of it was crapped out in my car to one degree or another. I got very lucky driving to Charleston, SC from Greensboro, NC in my car and had only one severe problem that was resolved with flails from a tire iron. (A story for another time) Even the owner's wife said, "You're gonna drive it home ! ?" That wasn't very comforting.

You may want to come armed with DMC Houston's downloadable parts list. As much as I hate it, there is the $20K rule with these cars. The cost to buy it plus the cost to fix it to par with others is usually about $20K. I (bragging) was able to beat down $5k on my price, and swiftly spent a tidy chunk of that savings with Rob Grady, et.al.

Good luck, and welcome to our certain public love/hate support group...

-Steve Peck
#3302 STAINLS SC


-Steve Peck


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