Long time, no update

Winter but a bit of a delay on everything. It was just too cold and snowy to be able to work on the car as we do not have a heated garage or anything.

Well, yesterday, I bought myself a 1992 Geo Metro Convertible. This car is in better shape than the 91 that we were originally going to restore. This is my car, so I am temporarily hijacking this blog to document the repair of my own car!

I saw the car when Chris and I were driving up to a BBQ, and we stopped on the way back. Surprisingly enough, the owners of the dealer were still there, and so I was able to purchase the car on the spot. Score! It is in excellent shape....apart from the rocker panels, which have the typical rot issues. Chris is going to repair them for me. The top is in excellent shape. As are the front and rear ends.

As this is mine, I will be painting it Plum Crazy Purple (Mopar). It is getting the GTi body kit we bought for the other one, as well as the GTi seats (don't I have an awesome bf...willing to give up his precious parts for me!).

Right now, the top priority is getting the car safe and cleaned up. More pics will come as progress is made!

Winter Delays

Due to winter rolling in, progress on the Metrovertible has slowed considerably. Unfortunately, we are not lucky enough to have a heated garage to work in, and New Hampshire winters can be tough. We went from an ice storm that caused a State of Emergency, to a 60*F day, to a large nor'easter that dropped 16" of snow!

Just thought I would post something, so you didn't think the blog or the project was abandoned!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone! :-)

Gathering parts

We made the ultimate find at a local pull it yourself junkyard...an 89 Suzuki Swift GTI It was completely intact when we found it. First thing, we took off the bumpers and side mouldings, as well as the seats. Then, we went back and got the mounting brackets for the side skirts, steering wheel, hood, and GTI badge. On a third trip, we got the headlights (because it turns out the Swift headlights are a slightly different shape than Metro ones). It was an amazing find, as these parts go for big money, and all we paid was junkyard prices! The only unfortunate part is that we did not grab the motor...someone else came in and took the head, leaving the motor wrecked, and it's not like those heads are easy to come by.

It's pretty amazing how much of a Metro you can fit in another Metro. This was the hatchback filled with 2 bumpers, side skirts, driver's seat, AND passenger seat...plus Chris and I.

Metros make amazing pickup trucks.

The first step....

Getting the car to run right again...

Like I said before, there were some compression issues with the motor when the car was put away. A common problem with the small Metro motors (it's only a 1L 3cyl) is that the exhaust valves burn very easily. And that was part of the issue with this car. It had two burnt exhaust valves. So after an experience trying to find a shop to fix them, and the shop screwing up, we finally got the head repaired and on the car.



Unfortunately, the car was still not running right. Chris figured out that there was a bad ground and fixed it. That made the car run better, but it still smokes like crazy. Turns out the rings are bad and need to be replaced.

Luckily, he came across a lovely little parts car I have nicknamed "Bruiser" due to it's black and blue color scheme. Bruiser needs a new head (which we have) but otherwise runs well, and is 5 years newer than the Metrovertible, so he will be swapping the motor out. That works out great because we can now detail the engine bay much easier! As you can see in the picture below, it is well needed!

The Plans

The plan for the Metrovertible is as follows (in no particular order):

• Repair rust (frame, rocker panels, other areas TBD as found)
  
• Motor swap from a 1996 Geo Metro donor car
• Suzuki Swift GTI exterior upgrade (front and rear bumpers, side skirts, hood, headlights)
• Suzuki Swift GTI seat upgrade
• Suzuki Swift GTI steering wheel
• Spring and sway bar upgrade
• Repair dents
• New carpet
• New Top
• "New" exhaust (from donor car)
• New rims
• New paint (most likely Volkswagen Beetle Silver)
  

In the beginning...

Hi, my name is Amber, and I am starting this blog to document the restoration of a Geo Metro Convertible. A guest blogger will be Chris, my boyfriend, and the skills behind this restoration.


The project is a 1991 Geo Metro Convertible that was purchased by Chris for $300 a couple years ago. At the time, the car ran excellent and was a reliable daily driver, that not only was fun to drive, but was also economical. How many other cars, much less convertibles, get 40-50mpg? In it's prior life, it was a tow behind for a motor home. Over time, the car began to rot away, and lost compression in two cylinders, so it was parked, awaiting it's fate. Would it go to the scrap heap? Or would it live on in the future?

Well, we decided to resurrect it. Why you may ask? Well, because it is a fuel efficient little two seater that you just don't see everyday. Eventually, it will go to car shows as my little showpiece.

When it was parked, it had no compression in one cylinder, and half the compression in another, and the third one was fine. The frame was rotting away to nothingness, making the car unsafe to drive. As winter was coming, we were undecided what to do. However, we found that these Metrovertibles are fairly rare, and have made the decision to do a full restoration.