…And One Step Back
The Case Of The ‘89 Formula. Sounds like a Holmsian mystery, doesn’t it? Something you might find Captain Picard reenacting in Holodeck 2, even. Well, it’s the title of a mystery story that I find myself writing right now, with just one problem: I don’t know the ending yet.
Yesterday evening, my dad chimed in on the whole Formula 350 debacle with some of his typically well-researched food for thought. Given that I’m a bit excitable when it comes to the Knight Project, and for obvious reasons, it makes sense that some of the information in his critique served to ground me a little bit. I still want this car. But now I have some more questions. Questions I plan to ask not just for the sake of asking them, but because I genuinely want to know. And what disturbs me is, I’m not certain that any answer I could get to one of these questions would be enough to really set my mind at ease.
Basically, there is one endearing problem with this Formula which I had somewhat glossed over previously: The transmission. Yes, I mentioned it as a source of worry. But perhaps it wasn’t yet worrying me enough. Now it is.
To be honest, I haven’t had the best of luck with automatic transmissions. Of course, I’ve only owned one car that had one, but that one tranny blew a seal at 49,000 miles. Now, 49,000 miles is practically nothing next to the 220,000 that are apparently on the transmission of this Formula. Yes, it’s been rebuilt—but unlike some tranny rebuilds, where you swap out for a newer (but still used) unit, this car still has the original transmission, undoubtedly manufactured sometime in 1989. It’s simply had its guts reworked. Meaning that there also could be some parts still in it that are bone stock with all 220,000 miles on them.
That, in itself, isn’t so worrying. What’s worrying—and I know I mentioned this before—is that since the tranny was rebuilt, only 150 miles have been put on it. The rebuild happened recently, but not last week—more like a few months back. The problem is that the current owners have not used the car for “active service” in almost two years. Thus, since the transmission rebuild, the car has served only its usual light duty of perhaps five miles a week, if that. End result? The workmanship of the transmission rebuild is largely untested. Perhaps the car has never even attained freeway speed since the work was done.
Now, all of this worry might be tempered a bit by some good documentation from the owner, detailing everything that was done to the transmission, which parts where replaced, when, and by whom. But there’s a problem. The seller states he has receipts for all work that was done EXCEPT the parts he bought for the transmission. Again, he bought the parts himself, and a local mechanic acquaintance of his actually did the work. Now, perhaps he has an invoice and other documentation for the work itself. That’s another question I need to ask. But apparently, he doesn’t have receipts for the parts. I also don’t know whether they were OEM parts, performance/racing parts, or where he got them.
I’m starting to think that I need to slow down just a little bit. Before, I was running gung-ho towards the target—but now I think I’m going to need a little bit more time. Not necessarily time to think about it, but time to examine the car. I still want to fly up to Ohio for myself. I really don’t have much doubt about that. The car is still too good of a candidate to just drop without having seen it. But while I’m there, I need to take a bit more time to do things right.
Therefore my original plan, to jet up on a Friday and get back on Sunday, needs to be revised. Instead I am thinking of making my return trip during the following week—perhaps Tuesday or even Wednesday—which would give me ample time to examine the car one day, including having it inspected by a local mechanic. Then, since I wouldn’t feel pressured by my timetable, I could be free to not make a final decision same-day. Additionally, the best time to meet the seller is during the day on Saturday or Sunday, but most auto shops aren’t open on the weekend. That’s another reason to include at least one weekday in my plan.
There are some other matters on my mind too, but the transmission situation is the biggest one. These kinds of problems are the most annoying, because there may be nothing wrong with the transmission at all—it’s simply a matter of whether I’m willing to take a bit of a chance that nothing will go wrong. And if the seller has little documentation to support the idea that it won’t fail, then that makes the risk bigger. Topping it all off, automatic transmission repair is pretty expensive. A complete 700R4 transmission costs $1300—and that’s a remanufactured unit. (They don’t make new ones anymore, obviously.) Then the labor to install it costs even more.
In the end, I would hate to walk away from this car based on an imperceptible, possibly nonexistant risk. An inspection of the car will reveal some information to support one side or the other, but not everything. In the end it still comes down to my feeling, my evaluation of all the data I have amassed. I just hope I have the guts to make the choice to decline the vehicle if it looks like the risks are too great. The questions now are, how big are those risks—and where does my line of tolerance lie?
Categorized as Cars/Knight Project