[mik]

Hi guys , good to see many of the same dudes on here ;) .
i dont get on here much anymore , but amazed to see this thread still going .
I still have my liquid silver xr6 , not much has changed since my last post this thread.
But the poor old girl is looking somewhat tired now , and never seeing the inside of a garage has taken its toll on the paint work , body and body rubbers ,
and due to ill health the motorvation to get out and start spannering eludes me these days unfortunately .
a couple of years ago i decided i was going to spend nothing on the XR other than engine oil changes , and i have pretty much stuck to that plan even though it hurts to see my beloved au getting closer to its retirement .
the funny thing is , about 3 months ago the rego was nearly due and i was going to retire her ,
the front tyres where getting a bit down and some other general maintenance items could use some dough spending on , disc rotors/pads /etc drivers side electric window mechanism is getting tired , gained a water leak in the cabin during a down pour , the windscreen and seal are buggered , mostly all tedious items , but never the less all these things add up on an old car.
and i thought well this is as good a time as ever to mt the driveway for something that is not worn out and will require very little maintenance for some years .
The day came before rego was to run out and i could not do it , the dam car still runs like a top as far as driving goes , starts perfectly , still drives like a 3 year old car , steering is still magnificent .....every day i come back from a drive , i say to myself what a good car , still same ball joints all around , 99% same bushes except for the upper shocker mounts , and two steering tie rod ends a couple of year ago ish which where still usable , but had lost nearly all friction .
same head gasket , same timing chain , same auto , same diff,
dont get me wrong all are showing sign of wear , the diff is a bit clunky (but surprisingly is otherwise fairly quiet ) , the auto still changes ok , but you can tell the gear changes are not as snappy as they used to be 17 years ago .
I`ve thought it over soo many times , what if i was to refurbish the old girl , maybe put a v8 in or an xr6 turbo motor from a newer wreck , but again the old age and pain defeats still feeling like your a 20 year old in the head , not to mention spending quite a bit of dough on an old car thats had a hard life and probably still wont be worth anything after it ..
The au has been the rock of the family (tears may flow ), i will be sorry to her go when the time comes .
most reliable a trouble free and best driving experience of any car i have owned .
sorry for the long post , and all the best .