I bought a project 96 Saturn SC2 car.

[where2]

Originally Posted by pinballlooking

We will be thrifty buying parts but even with that I will have more in it that I paid for it. Since it was not running I could not test the AC but he said the compressor worked but needed recharged for whatever that is worth.
It had new front brakes a couple months ago.
New water pump, thermostat new belts new valve cover and gasket.
I will go over the tie rods and brakes very well and get all these system working top notch. Those parts are cheap for this car.

I wish I had it as a kid on top of that I had money that I saved up and worked for. This made it even more special it showed how to work on a car with a tight budget. There was a junk yard guy that would quiz me to see what I really knew and if I got the right answers he would give me better prices I really liked him.

Oh yeah, there were certain junkyard guys who definitely offered better prices than others. The GTI engine was haggled through the "better pricing" guy. I specifically asked him: How much for the engine and everything I need to swap this into my car, like the brains, wiring harnesses, the alternator, the fuel injection system, and basically everything to the left of the transmission bell housing? (My recipient car had a completely mechanical fuel system, so I definitely needed the brains, and the upgrade to a 90A alternator hadn't been in my previous plans but if it was included, why not?) He said $150, and I went to town getting the engine out after going home, reading up that night, and learning how to hot wire the car to make sure it ran without excessive smoke. After I had the engine home found the reason the GTI was scrapped was the oil cooler was trading fluids with the coolant system via the (oil to water) oil cooler. . I had the head rebuilt, put new bearings in the bottom end, new gaskets everywhere, and drove it for 80k on top of the 85k it had on it when I pulled it! 10.5:1 CR with factory knock sensing ignition, and fuel economy actually improved slightly.

The internet was just in it's infancy when I did my swap (1992), but I definitely got pointers from friends I made all over the globe through usenet forums. Having to be "thrifty" builds a some useful adulting characteristics, like "wants vs. needs". I could want a new car stereo all week long, but
needing a replacement downpipe for the one I was continually breaking welds on took precedence. I always wanted to put an oil cooler back on that engine, but it didn't need it to run. At $70, I decided I could watch my VDO console gauge for oil temps, if I wasn't running Autobahn speeds.