Avenger newbie

[avenga]

Head deck is easy to replace. I did it on my 1980 (see my members gallery thread). It uses a standard size radio so just take the old one out and replace it with any modern head deck but KEEP the old head deck because it is very rare to still have the original AM radio and the next owner might want to put it back in for originality.

By the sounds of it he is talking about the chrome trim that runs above the doors. This is plastic with a chrome coating on it. My '75 has a tiny end bit snapped off and you can see the plastic underneath. My '80 the chrome has completely worn off so it is all this yuck discoloured plastic, I have since repainted it body colour.

So I would say it is just some discolouration because that bit of trim is plastic there for it can't be rust. But check the drip rail behind the plastic trim because that can be a common area for rust. Just look from above and you can see behind the plastic there is a channel for the water to run down and if that gets blocked up it can rust.

If you do go out and view it take some pictures of that area or anything you have questions about and I can help you out.

[avengertiger]

avenga it sounds from the description that it might be the insert on the front and rear windscreen rubbers i have seen these discolour before with what look like rust patches behined the plastic trim,if it is its really nothing to worry about and not rust per say inserts can be replaced cheaply no bodywork needed.
just a thought they would have been chrome coloured originally

[avenga]

I was thinking that but then I went down to have a look at mine and I couldn't see any chrome bits on the front or back windows on my '75 but I do know the bits you are talking about and I have seen them in chrome on other Avengers. I am guessing mine have just completely faded away.

I agree with avengertiger that if it is the inserts and they are discoloured then they are nothing to worry about. You should have a close look at my window rubbers and inserts, they are fulled up with so much silicon and mastic window sealant it's not funny.

As long as it doesn't leak then it is fine and probably better than most I have seen/owned.

As I said best step is to go have a look and take photos of any problem spots you see and send them to us and we can see if you need to worry about it. Make sure you check the sills and behind the front and rear wheel archs for rust. Thats where I have found mine have problems, get on your back and check along the bottom edge of the car on both sides. Under the doors, around the arches and bumpers. if that is all good then you know you have a pretty solid car.

I need to do some minor rust repair on my '75 soon behind the drivers side front wheel arch and the drivers side rear wheel arch.

[Scout]

Oh ok, thanks! I've just rung the seller and made a time to go have a look tomorrow. I'll take my camera and definitely put the photos on here if I see anything that could be a possible problem. =)

Also, the seller just posted this;

"Seller Comment: 1) It has a Fuel Star fitted in the petrol line. When lead was taken out of the petrol there was a bad shipment of petrol and the Avenger would not run properly. The Fuel Star fixed this. It made a big difference. It runs well now though without it, but it counteracts the lack of lead in the petrol, so I have left it on. 2) The turn signal indicator needs centering. 3) To use regular grade petrol the spark may need to be retarded just a little"


Do you know what this means? I have no idea
I bet you can't wait til Friday when the auction finishes and I stop asking all these questions haha!

[avenga]

Haha no after friday will be when the real questions start 

The Fuel Star is a product which sits in the fuel line and is supposed to alter the fuel so it is more like the old unleaded gas they used to run on. It is debatable if it works or not. There was a bad shipment of petrol when they first ditched unleaded, It killed my sisters Hunter. but since then it hasn't been much of a problem. The main problem you get with unleaded gas is Valve Seat Recession. I have put hardened valve seats in all my cars so I don't need to worry about it. You can can also use Valvemaster which is a petrol additive you put in each time you full up on gas but again I don't need it because of the hardened valve. Some others might want to comment on the effectiveness of Fuel Star and other "Fuel Catalyst" products.

Turn signal indicator centering could mean the "Auto cancelling indicators" need adjusting, this is the thing that turns off your indicators after you straighten the wheel after a corner. My auto cancelling doesn't even work so I just manually turn off the indicators. That or he might mean the position of the indicator stalk isn't centered either way it would be a minor inconvenience.

The retarding the spark for regular is just talking about the timing of the sparkplugs. To retard the spark means to cause the spark plug to fire and ignite the gas a tiny bit earlier, this is done to prevent self detonation of the lower octane 91 fuel or pinking as it is also known. I have alway run my Avengers on 95 or higher so I don't have this problem. With the compression of Avengers being higher than some modern cars it is suited for higher octane gas and I don't think you should retard it just to run on 91, just run 95+ and you will be sweet. The fact that it will pink on 91 is a good sign because it means it still has really good compression. He listed the compression of all the cylinders and they are all really good which is a really good thing.

I have been watching the auction and everything he mentions is just small things so if he is being that detailed and honest then you know the car is good. most cars I look at have rust holes everywhere and the list of faults are longer than both my arms so for a classic this one is in amazing shape.

[hunted]

i know a guy who swears by fuelstars, and he would know. he knows his shit

[Scout]

Soo pretty much just use 95 and I shouldn't have a problem with the fuel stuff? I went and saw it today! AHH I must have it, I love it so much! It's in such good condition. The pink discolouration on the boot has been painted over and is barely noticable, and he pointed out the dents in the doors, but they were so tiny I could barely see them haha. The owner is such a nice old guy. I brought my Mum with me and it turns out she and my Dad used to work with him back in the day! Small world. They (parents) are much more on board with the idea now because of that, since now they know he's a genuine guy that wouldn't be trying to cover up any faults with it. He even said he hopes I win the auction! but he probably said that to everyone haha. Auction closes tomorrow night! Exciting! Fingers crosses I don't get into a massive bid war lol.

[avenga]

Awesome stuff!! I am glad it looks as good in real life as it does in pictures.

Yeah just stick to 95 and you will be sweet.

I really hope you get the car. I will be watching the Auction tomorrow night to see how it goes. Good luck and I hope you win the auction.

[avengertiger]

what happened here? avenga the winning bidder?

[hunted]

cricky dick, that went for heaps!!

[avenga]

HAHA damn you Dave, you weren't supposed to spot that I won the auction. Yes well there is a long story behind all of this but long story short Scout owns the Avenger. WOOHOO!!!

[hunted]

do explain...haha

[avengertiger]

should have kept my  hey congrats scout welcome to avenger ownership,i was just looking at the bidding and couldnt figure it out so scout out with it whats the plans for pick up you will have to do a road trip thread for the collection?

[avenga]

Okay so long story time.

It all started back on friday before the auction. I emailed Scout to see how the car viewing went and what sort of budget she was able to bid up to. She said the viewing went really well, she loved the car and by coincidence the previous owner used to work with Scouts parents. She told me her budget was $1500-1600, $1700 max.

So I was watching the auction and half an hour to go the auction shot past her budget, I felt really bad for her so I kept watching the auction and I could see she kept bidding way over her budget so I could tell that she really wanted the car. with 20 minutes left before the auction closed she stopped bidding at $2470. I figured she had exhausted all the funds she could muster but I had this really strong feeling that she was so close to beating the other guys auto-bid.

I emailed Scout telling her I will put some bids on and if I win then I will pay for the car and she can pay me back. I felt the other guys auto-bid was about $2500 so I put on a $2501 bid which was beaten by the auto-bid so I figured I would put a $2600 auto-bid on and if that didn't win it then at least I could say I tried, I didn't want to bid higher without hearing from Scout.

It turned out the other guys auto-bid was $2570. only $100 more than Scouts last bid so I was pretty stoked about that because I know how much this car means to Scout and I would have hated to see her miss out on it by $100.

I didn't hear from Scout until 8 minutes after the auction closed, I know she was finishing work when the auction closed so I figured so had resigned to the fact that she had lost her dream car. I bet she was in shock when she found out I brought the car for her.

So I emailed the seller saying I was buying on behalf of a friend, he asked if that friend was Scout and how he used to work with her parents. I transferred the money to his account and then emailed Scout to arrange her repaying the money. In the morning I got an email from the seller saying that he had recieved the money in his account and Scout could come pick up the car.

This is when the second random act of kindness happens. About an hour later I get an email from the seller saying he felt bad about how much the car sold for and that he would refund me $1000 on the car, which is was really amazingly kind of him to do. It is not often you see people wanting to take less money for something they are selling so this was a real awesome super kind thing for the seller to do. This brought the amount Scout needed to pay me back for the Avenger down to $1570 which was perfectly within the budget she had saved for.

Since the auction I have emailed Scout and she has picked up the Avenger, which she totally loves and she told me that the seller and her parents are planning a lunch to catch up on old times.

I think this is a really cool story about how "Paying it forward" and random acts of kindness really do work. In the end of the day it didn't really cost me anything because I got all the money I loaned back but there has been heaps of positives out of it.

As I told Scout I believe it is a Win-win-win-win-win scenario, I win because feel good because I helped Scout out and scored some sweet kharma points, Scout wins because she got the Avenger at the price she wanted to pay, The seller wins because he is happy his car went to a good home plus kharma points, Scouts parents win because they have reconnected with an old friend and the Avenger community wins because they have a new member of the Avenger family.

I was sort of hoping nobody noticed that I won the auction because I like doing random acts of kindness but I don't really like getting public credit for them so I was hoping I could just do this and nobody except Scout would be the wiser but after Dave catching me out and talking to Scout I decided that I may as well tell all you guys about it because it is a really cool story about how kindness has a way of amplifying itself, so my one act of kindness was followed by an even greater act of kindness by the seller generously refunding some of the money to help Scout out and it has ended out with a lot of happy people.

I hope to see some new pictures of Scout and her new Avenger soon.

[hunted]

top work richard, good on ya! did you tell scout that the only condition is she has to bring it to hastings in march! haha