Head gasket is about a 6 hour job, max, if you have all the tools and parts ready. If the battery isn't sulfated, then a slow charge is in order and makes it not such a bad price. I agree it's not worth it though if you're taking it to a shop. Hence why I say it's best for the mechanically inclined
Unless I'm purchasing an antique/classic vehicle, I think about $500 is my limit for vehicles that don't run.
That is in my backyard. It's almost tempting, just for the transmission. It's certainly less work than that Insight that popped up last week in Dallas. However, my '96 is 2 years older and has 13,000 more miles on it, but is in better shape.
Doooo iiiiiiit! You know you wanna! Seriously though, with the taller gearing I'd bet your numbers would reach higher into the stratosphere than they already are.
Two things about that: First, the higher gearing will really only help on the highway. Lower gear P&G wins over higher gear steady state at lower speeds. Second, lean burn makes tracking mileage difficult at best unless you have a built in gauge -- the ScanGauge is worthless for measuring fuel usage with variable A/F ratio. He'd have to wire in an MPGuino to get accurate info. But hey, I don't doubt Andrew could do incredible things with an HX.
Both true. With the speeds on my routes, I'm often using 4th gear instead of 5th. It would help on the highway, but my car is almost entirely a commuter. My car ain't broke (well, mostly not ), so I don't need to fix it.
Also, I wonder if it's really an HX. The only clue we might have from these pictures is the wheels, and they're wrong. It should have the ultra-lightweight alloys (like below), but instead it has steel and hubcaps.
