My car has been giving me trouble for a while now, and the most frustrating part about it is I don't have the time to work on it. I have to have it running EVERY DAY to get to work and back and rarely get 2 days off in a row. My choke seems that it isn't going all the way off when I warm my car up, and it shifts hard and from time to time knocks hard when in reverse. The summer years have always been a bad time for my car. It hates hot weather and runs worse the hotter it is. My dad and I have adjusted my mixture/idle multiple times, and we get it running smooth and good where it sounds great and accelerates reasonably, but after a few trips to work and back it always seems to go back down. My timing was adjusted all the way up and against the block, so we pulled the dist out and moved it back a tooth so there was room for adjustments. Its been running very high and it'll do about 40 on its own without acceleration, but i figured since it was running i didn't want to mess with it. It also seems that my acceleration is limited. I can give my car about 1/4 pedal and it runs smooth, but if i try to pedal down any more it just bogs down and doesn't accelerate. I recently replaced all my drums and they worked great...for about 3 months. Now every day I drive my car my brakes get worse and worse, back to the exact same tire (Front passenger). It acts as if it is out of round, and that was my reason for replacing them in the first place. My shocks are also leaking, or at least the driver side, and they need to be replaced. Not sure where to go with shocks...I wanted to get shocks to pick my rear end up off the ground a little more to give it a meaner stance, however I don't think that would look good on stock tires. I dont know where to start on tires either because I would like to do a brake swap and get disc brakes. I can't afford to do everything at once. I'm sure there are more issues, but I cant think right now. With all the issues going on and work that needs to be done, I need more time to work on it. With that being said, I'm looking for a new daily driver so I can pull parts for longer than 6 hours at a time. Looking for a ford, probably an f-150 or f-250. wanting a mid-late 90s or an early 2000's. Any engine better for me (i drive about 13 miles a day round trip to work, and other than that i dont do much driving.) What are your thoughts on what i should look at/for? Any thoughts on a new rig and thoughts on my problems would be greatly appreciated.
Buy yourself a Ford Focus, a 40 year old car is not a good daily driver, unless you are employed as a full time automotive mechanic. I'm sure the usual people will chime in and tell you how good their cars are, and how long they have been driving them, but it's not without a lot of work, and a lot of money that could have been spent on a newer much more enjoyable drive to work everyday. F150's burn gas...unless you have a good paying job, those $100 fill ups are always fun. We have to get over this using a Maverick or Comet as a daily driver. They are old cars..... Anyone that uses one as everyday transportation has nothing to be proud of.
Agreed, I've always wanted a new car, just never had the money so i've been stuck trying to keep mine on the road to get to and from work. The reason I was going for a f150 is because i'm a hunter and would be nice to have a truck of my own when i go up, not having to rely on borrowing a truck. I dont drive enough for an f150 to kill me on gas prices, My dad gets approx. 21 mpg in his, which is right about what i push with the maverick.
Find a decent Ranger, then you'll still have the bed for everything you bag. Anything 1999 & up is pretty decent these days. I have my eye on a few 1999 Focuses for my daughter, they can be had pretty cheap from the back lots of the Ford dealers, and are pretty reliable. I get 26 mpg on my F150, but then it's a 2010....
