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After buying the car and taking the released Pink Slip and driving the car from Fresno to Los Angeles on a crisp Sunday morning with expired tags, she passed smog check yesterday and I got the title transferred.
Back in their day, I only had 5.0 Mustangs but I always loved the IROC look and sound.
For some reason, I've always wanted one. Sometime ago, I dropped wanting a T-Top for a full on convertible.
After looking for years and watching prices climb, I found an ad for a "98" IROC that was the red I wanted, with nice paint, interior and top. Even with the Carfax, I wasn't sure how many miles the car had. It could've been 252,000, 179,000, or something else. Turns out it has only 115,200 miles. Recently a smog shop misread the odo and included the tenths as 1's. Making 7,900 into 79,000.
The car had not been recently well taken care of mechanically and I felt like I was driving in a Mad Max movie all the way home. Broken top bracket, all front body bolts were loose or missing, thermostat was stuck open, brakes kinda worked, suspension wonky, steering sloppy. Rattles everywhere.
But fundamentally it ran strong and steady. Shifted well.
Anyway, got it back home and put in Mobil 1, factory coolant and thermostat, iridium plugs, wires, cap and rotor, new air filter, troubleshot the EGR and bam, it passed smog two weeks later to my relief. Yesterday I took title to the car and got it registered. Very happy to be here.
Next up is 3.42 gears (from 2.73), top bracket fix, rattle mitigation, motor mounts, struts/shocks, calipers and pads, htach pull down and then some body cleanup. I will probably restore the factory wheels, add the silver stripe, and put non-smoke lenses. But that's a little later.
I am no stranger to forums and have been an active member of boards for my past/other cars (Volvo 85 Turbo, Mercedes E55, Mazda CX-9). It's nice to be back to domestics- parts are inexpensive and there's lots of forum wisdom and knowledge to be shared.
Looking forward to being here...
-Steven
P.S. That's not my tassle hanging from the mirror. Some of these are the previous owner's ad pics.
Last edited by Tootie Pang; 03-10-2017 at 11:47 AM.
Welcome my friend that's a nice car! IROC verts are awesome and rare as well. Not to mention very fun to drive in beautiful So.Cal. Where are you located in LA if you don't mind me asking? It would be cool if we could get some of the local guys on TGO to meet up or do a mini cruise??
03-10-2017, 11:40 AM
