1979 930

<img src="graemlins/offtopic.gif" border="0" alt="[offtopic]" /> i'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but imho, AAMCO will screw you. long story short...my wife's 944 was hard to place into second gear, fourth gear, and reverse. i looked under the car and at the shift linkage, and could not find a problem. so i suggested she take it to AAMCO. i figured "$100. parts and labor, since something broke (the failure happened at one point, didn't fail over time)" AAMCO wanted $800. to remove and inspect the transmission (no repair work). i had my wife refuse, then after the shop bugged her, i called them. the tech suggested the clutch "could" be going (6 months old), and the synchros "could" be bad. synchros wear out, they don't suddenly "FAIL". talking to this guy told me that they never even looked at it. my wife picked up her car, and on the way home, the transmission completely failed. car didn't go in any gear. so, i left my job, and with nothing but an adjustable wrench, i rolled under her car just off of a busy highway. 2 minutes later, i found the problem...a bolt housing at the rear differential was loose. tightened it, and the car ran perfect. almost a year later, and the tranny is still fine. i fixed something on the side of a road with no jack, that a transmission specialty chain couldn't fix when the car was on a lift, in their garage??? i've researched AAMCO, and there seems to be A LOT of scams that this chain is pulling. hope i help someone out...

chris
<img src="graemlins/offtopic.gif" border="0" alt="[offtopic]" />

nickhance

Whats with the rice?

Al Cody

About 90% of why I do most of my own work is lack of knowledgable service and poor work ethics.
There are some excellent shop around and worth paying the extra $ to get their experties. I am very skeptical of the generic repair shops. They tend to hire novice mechanics and pay pooly so they can offer cheap repairs. You get what you pay for most of the time.
Thanks for the input about the shift linkage. I'm gonna go check those bolts right now.
<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

1979 930

[quote]nickhance Whats with the rice? <hr></blockquote>
the bike? gotta have my speed. the truck? was my toy...sold it.

oh, and i like rice with my sauerkraut...lol

User 462021

Dang, nice bike!

You have too many toys, you should send some my way!

nickhance

Nah I was only talking about the truck.. Bikes are great fun


What year is your MR2? My friend just picked one up, I can't wait to autocross with him. He's going the ricer route and doing the body kit before he does anything with the engine though.

How does the MR2 fare against the 951? My buddy was able to keep ahead of me through 1st and 2nd gears (I don't launch my car hard.. ever) but I caught him fast in 3rd.

Peckster

A buddy of mine with a n/a 80s MR2 is a driver ed instructor with the BMW club. He says 944s are about all that can keep up with him in the corners. Turn two at Mosport with him was an alarming experience.

pedro951

theres an mr2 turbo in my auto-x class here, sometimes he beats me, sometimes i beat him, guy with s2000 beats both of us

1979 930

the only kit i've ever used on a car, is a kaminari rear ground effect for the mr2. i hate those kits, but the rear of the mr2 looked like *** stock, IMHO. my mr2 was an N/A with a 75 shot of nos...just didn't have the power that a turbo anything offers. a 944turbo (late 80's) beat my friend from work. (he has a turbo sentra, 12 second car). the 944 is the only race he's lost since doing the turbo upgrade in 2000. mr2's handle well, but my z's not bad, either...and it's got the power i wanted, with some to spare. i've yet to race anything porsche, but i was dead even with a 96 supra twin turbo...so it would be interesting <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" /> LOL. no one ever called my truck, "rice". i thought that is reserved for hondas + toyotas..."ugly", "stupid", "what's the point?", but never "rice"...LOL. <img src="graemlins/a_smil17.gif" border="0" alt="[blabla]" />

Sprewell17

Long time ago (12985) my friend had a car at aamco. They told her that her transmission was probably seized and would need a rebuild. She didnt have the money and had the car towed home. I wiggled uder the car to see that one of the shift linkages didnt have a kotter pin and fell off. I put it back on with a new pin and the car worked fine for years. She thought I saved her $1200. I didnt really do anything.

Danno

Unfortunately in my earlier younger years, I was taken by AAMCO for a $1200 clutch job on my '81 Tercel...

OC Porsche

They got me too back in the early 90's with wife's old Mitsubishi Galant for 1200 clams.
I was in the Army and at that time deployed. Replacing a transmission is cheaper than bringing it to one of those chop shops.

It seems 1200 is their blanket fee?

jim968

It seems that a certain (large?) percentage of these chain / franchise auto shops think that they have a license to steal from the unwary public... Mom took her '79 Datsun into Midas for a muffler ~1985... old one was definitley rusted out. They told her she also needed front brakes. She called me, I told her to say "Thanks, but no thanks!". I checked the front pads, hardly any wear... they apparently didn't check the odometer before they tried to scam her... only 7500 miles on the car!

I stopped in at Midas the next day and had a serious word of prayer with the manager in front of a 1/2 dozen customers.... very loud conversation, degenerating after his repeated denials of wrongdoing into some serious nautical language... "cuss like a sailor" isn't just a figure of speech... I have probably told this tale to a hundred people over the years, so I know it's cost them some business... <img src="graemlins/nono.gif" border="0" alt="[nono]" />

Jim, a firm believer that payback is a muthaf*&ka...and it it ain't, it ain't really payback... <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />

Z-man

Chris,
Nice MR2: love that color: is it Steel Mist Blue?
I had a 91 n/a: Toyota Faded red. It's my brother-in-laws now. He did a J-Spec turbo swap: that thing now hauls! He's not some fine tuning to do, but man, that engine swap tranformed the car into a performer!
BTW: If you haven't yet, check out: <a href="http://www.board.mr2faq.com." target="_blank">www.board.mr2faq.com.</a> Great web board for MR2's...

By the way: MOST MR2 owners are as much against RICE as we are, and most of their body kits are very tastefully done. Plus most of the MR2 boys (in the NE at least), have some serious hp mods to back up their looks. There's a guy out in the midwest who has determined to build up an MR2 turbo engine to 500hp. I think he's close to 400 currently... Not bad for a little 2.0 4-banger.

-Z-man.

1979 930

i loved my mr2, but didn't want to do a turbo swap, for $$$ reasons. so i sold it, and got my twin turbo z...<a href="http://board.mr2faq.com" target="_blank"> the MR2 faq board</a> is a great place. i'm a member of that one, as well as <a href="http://www.twinturbo.net" target="_blank">twinturbo.net</a>. the mr2 was jade green, and i probably was up to about 200 horsies (same as stock turbo), but it wasn't what i wanted out of the car...i've always loved the porsches, and bought the 944 back in 2000. after some minor mods, i figured it was good for my wife, but i wanted a 911 (or as i settled for, a bad a$$ replica widebody 912 ). can't wait to get my baby out of re-hab (engine swap)...lol.
in another note, i was burned by midas, too. they did a "break" (brake) job on my first car, and 1/2 an hour later, i was screaming to a red light, with no brakes. someone had left my front two bleed valves opened...i ebraked thru the lite, over a bush, and into a bank drive thru. thank god, it was sunday!!!