Hello everyone. My name is Alex and this is my 96 galant es.
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I bought it in mid-September of last year as a daily driver because my old ’89 prelude blew its headgasket. I really wanted to get the damn thing running again, but I figured it would be wiser to get a newer car and wait till I graduate to restore the prelude because it needed much more than just a headgasket replacement. As I was hunting for a cheap car to get me around to school and work, I did not have a galant in mind. When I called someone who posted a Saturn on craigslist, he said he didn’t have it any more but he had a 96 galant that was “similar”. I asked how many miles it had at the time and he said 142000, so I divided its age to get an average of roughly 9k miles per year. I was surprised since in Miami the average is much higher than the industry standard of 15k miles. I decided to take a look at it and maybe consider it since he was asking about 1600 for it. My first impression of it was “damn this thing is ugly”- the paint was faded and it had from collision damage on the front left fender and both rear quarter panels. I decided to keep looking into it, so I opened up the engine bay to find a very clean engine for its age. Even though I noticed that the engine bay was degreased and cleaned, I looked around for oil leaks and what not. It was very minimal for its age and quite negligible, so I proceeded to ask the seller to start the engine. it sound decent for its age and it idled very well, so I continued to check the car and found that the interior was in a great condition except for some broken vents and a slightly warped dash. Other than that, then interior was pretty much mint. I then decided to give it a test drive. I was surprised and quickly thought of buying it, but instead I went home to do some research on this car since I knew nothing about it, but I told the guy I would buy it. I took it home the next day for 1300. Idk if that was too much, but for a decent car of its age with ice cold ac in Miami weather, I was satisfied.
But of course, when one buys a used car from someone who knows how to sell cars, little things start to show up after driving it for a while that were probably “bandaged” up, if you know what I mean. The sun roof became leaky, then it stopped working, the trunk became leaky, the brakes when bad, the tires were wearing out erratically, the car shook bad at 65+ mph, and a strange noise came from the right front side when I steered. Even though I guessed it to be a ball joint, I was an idiot and decided to neglect it. Then one day as I was parking the car, the car fell to the ground. I lifted it and noticed the right front wheel was so loose I could turn it to the right well past its normal range. Then I saw that the ball joint indeed popped off and therefore caused the cv joint to break too.
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I had my friend’s dad quickly fix it up for me for a great price, but unfortunately dragging it onto a tow truck messed up the fender. I was really pissed at this car, but it continued to serve me well.
Then two days before thanksgiving on the way to an interview for one of my current jobs, I ran into the hitch of a pick-up during the morning rush hour traffic, and coolant was spewing everywhere.
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I was so pissed! I towed it home after waiting for a the cop and tow truck to arrive. Not knowing what the exact damage was, I thought the car was not fixable within my budget so I called a few junkyards to ask for a price and was disappointed to hear that they would only buy it for 200 bucks.
The hood latch and grille were really bent, but I manage to rip off the messed up grille and unbolt the hood latch and found this:
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The funny thing was that both the condenser and radiator had no leaks! Only the lower radiator hose burst open and spewed all the coolant out. The headlights were also broken and one of the fans broke into pieces. I pulled that stuff out and saw that everything else was in pretty much ok condition. I ordered a radiator and lower hose at a nearby auto parts store and received it the next day. I installed the two parts on thanksgiving day, hooked up the other fan that was 90% intact, poured coolant in the radiator, and started her up. I gave her a test drive, and found no leaks and no overheating. I no longer had AC, but it worked just fine! I took the hood off and roughly bent it back into shape with a small sledge hammer (LOL) and tied up the hood to the bumper after removing the hood latch. I stood back laughed at how ghetto it looked, but at least it still worked.
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Then I thought….hey this would be a great opportunity to replace all the front body parts to vr4! I remembered seeing some nice 7g’s after I had signed up on TGC when I bought the car. I found out about TGC through my friend Paul (whokilledhoughes). I really enjoyed seeing his 8g transform from a dull family sedan to a menacing vr4 replica over the years, so I figured this forum would be well worth the shot.
Since then, with the luck of a successful rescheduled interview after the accident, I have been able to slowly fix and maintain the car, as well as gather some parts. Before the turn of the year, I got a radiator fan to replace the broken one, then in January I acquired a condenser from the junkyard and threw in a new accumulator. A few weeks ago I had the ac system vacuumed and recharged back to normal. The only problem since then has been the suspension- it sags really bad. All the tires wore out quickly and the rear shocks are really messed up. I was waiting to save money to get the suspension fixed before buying new tires. I’ve also replaced the hood latch, and no longer have that ghetto cable holding down the hood.
Now for the good stuff…I have this all piled up in my living room waiting to be installed:
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jdm vr4 8g strut bar, megan coilovers, two rear and one front left lower control arms, and a left cv joint. Woot.
So pretty much after this stuff gets installed next weekend, I’ll buy new tires and get them aligned. I really, really hope this will solve the shaking issues over 60ish mph along with the sagging of the stock suspension as well as making this thing ride super smooth.
The things I plan to do next are to replace the headlights, Grille, and front bumper with the VR4 counterparts, after replacing the hood, and front fenders with cheap junkyard parts. I also plan to get the transmission looked at since it is beginning to show signs of old age. Due to the fact that it might cost much, I think I might leave the expensive jdm parts for after the transmission as this is currently my only transportation. In other words, I wanna get this car running right before adding the goodies to it. After buying the jdm body parts (including side skirts, spoiler, and anything else) I will get the dents in the rear + the sunroof fixed, then paint the car. This is probably not going to happen till late next year, but I assure you all it will happen! After that….well who knows, maybe a 4g63 with 5spd swap? Ha…we’ll see. In a nutshell, my stylistic goal for this car is kinda like OEM+. That’s it for now. Thank you so much for looking and allowing me to share my car with you all.
