August 8, 2011

I’ve talked about a lot of saving money tips, and it seems to never end with how much money can be saved with cars. Especially if you can network with friends on repairs. Saving Money Tips is all about networking. I’ve split wood for my neighbor many times, so when it came time to do a partial re-build on this baby he was glad to help. This time it turned out to be a 1992 Toyota Corolla. I knew with the 1.6 litre engine that this one had good potential for good, efficient gas mileage.
It turns out that the harmonic balance pulley was loose, so I got the car for a little bit of a discount. The asking price was around $2000, but I immediately got a major discount by pointing out the fact that there was something wrong. It helps to be savvy with negotiating!
So we took everything off of the left side of the engine, where the timing belt is located. Replaced the water pump, timing belt, and harmonic balance pulley (a major component)!
I also replaced the rotor, distributor cap and spark plug wires. And the valve cover gasket. It turns out in this case that the distributor cap and wires are all built together as one piece.
Here is a picture of the engine torn apart:

It’s a hemi! All the better for good gas mileage. Hemi means the top of the cylinder is hemispherical, resulting in a more efficient burn of the fuel.

Here’s the engine all put back together:

Little did I know, or even expect, the car gets 45 miles per gallon! Talk about saving money tips – that’s one for sure. Such machines are still on the market, one just has to look, and be a little innovative. This baby runs well and hasn’t used a drop of oil!

Here is a picture of it:

This baby gets 45 miles per gallon, that’s the real blessing here!

For even more saving money tips – Look for my upcoming book “Survive with Little or No Money”. Coming soon.

‘Til next time,

Hal