Abandoned for 3 years- 10 days to get it ready for a 1200 mile roadtrip
Recently picked up my 3rd IS300! My buddies fiancé was In need of a car after the transmission went out in her car, and he was wanting to get her an IS300. Just so happened I knew a guy that wanted to get rid of his and I also had a parts car for anything we needed. Here’s the fun part- it’s been parked for 3 years and my buddy and his fiancé (to be wife tomorrow) are going from NC to Florida on their honeymoon on October 12th. So, I had a little over a week to clean up this abandoned car and get it mechanically ready for this roadtrip. Here’s the story
1-5. This is the night I picked up the car. It’s a 2001 automatic with 205k miles. It was rough. But, it started right up and I took it on a brief test drive and it was surprisingly solid. I paid the guy $1500 and drove it home about 30 miles. It made it no problem. That same night I did some small stuff. Gave it a real quick vacuum, ozone treatment, and swapped the hood insulation and prop rod from my parts car. Also gave it a good pressure wash.
I pulled out the seats, console, and carpet for a deep cleaning as the interior was moldy and very wet. Found a nice puddle on the floorboard after pulling out the carpet. Both of the right side sunroof drains were clogged and were leaking right into the interior. I thoroughly cleaned the seats, pressure washed the carpet, cleaned the console and added in an armrest from my 02 parts car.
Started raining outside so I pulled my blue 02 5 speed out of the garage so I could continue working on the new rig.
8-10. Got the interior all cleaned up and back together
11-12. This car needed lots of mechanical work. Starting off with the suspension, it needed a left side lower control arm and both front radius arms. Also needed front and rear brakes. Took care of that and brought it in to the local community college and got it aligned. I also swapped the tires and rims from my parts car. Additionally, the throttle body was faulty (which is why it was parked) and it had a major oil leak from the VVTI gear and cam/crank seals. Replaced all those seals along with the valve cover gaskets, water pump, timing belt, tensioner, radiator, battery, and some other small parts. Ignore the rigged PCV valve (couldn’t get one in time) Finally got it started earlier today and it ran great!
13-14. Pictures I took earlier today. Still needs buffed but I didn’t have enough time. I did the hood just because my buddy asked me to. Also gave the headlights a quick buff but they still need to be clear coated. I’m delivering it to him tomorrow morning at his wedding, and then Monday morning it’s off to Florida. Got paid for it yesterday, didn’t make a huge profit but as long as he’s happy with it then I’m happy. REALLY hope it makes it cause I don’t want it to ruin his honeymoon if it breaks down. Anyway, thanks if you made it this far! Lots of reading I know, but I thought maybe someone would enjoy the story of this car.