2002 Sebring Certification
While I was 16, My mother purchased a 2022 Sebring off of our neighbour. The car was the neighbours mother who had passed away. The car suffered from rusted out rocker panels, bad front and rear breaks, reuqired new tires and had an exhaust leak. I come from a single mother household and the shop quoted my mother over $2,000 CAD to fix and certify. I then took it upon myself to learn how to do the rocker panels and breaks. The only things left were to weld the exhaust pip and get new tires. This cost about $500 which was now much more affordable. The car was then certified and on the road in no time.
1985 Mazda Rx-7
When I was 17 years old, I purchased my first car, the 1985 mazda rx7. I still have this car today. My first week of owning it, my starter died on me. I then learned how to install a new starter and got it running again. I have had many good times with this car, however due to university, it stays in my garage at home.
1998 Skidoo Summit
During my leap year of highschool, I decided, since I had the money to and I don't have a rich family, to purchase a toy for the northern weather. This was my first skidoo I purchased. It was one of the best and I regret selling it.
2000 Honda Accord
In-between third and fourth year of university, I worked at an internship with general motors. Here I could finally buy a car for university/daily driver. This car was beautiful and I really miss it. As I was driving to my mother's one night, I hit a deer that came out of nowhere. I then drove it home, without coolant as the front radiator was compromised. The car was undrivable and I had to scrap it with insurance.
1997 Kawasaki Ninja 500R
During my summer before and during my final year of university, I decided to obtain my m1 and m2 respectively to which I then purchased a 1997 kawasaki ninja 500R. I installed some LED turn signals and drove it from London Ontario to Elliot Lake ontario. I had a lot of fun doing the oil chanegs, and chain cleaning/lubing. Once I decided to go for my masters, I sold the bike.
2006 Honda Civic
After hitting the deer with my Accord, with the low amount of insurance money for a "replacement" I found a steal of a honda civic for $1,000. All it needeed for cerification was a sun visor LOL. After 2 years, I replaced the drivers side ball joint myself. A few months after that, My transmission needed to be replaced. I went to kenny-U-pull in london ontario, disassembeled the front end and pulled out the engine and transmission of a similar honda civic, took the manual transmission from the car, and installed it a week later. Then the following May of 2024, my engine started to knock. I caught the cold early and diagnosed the problem as a connector rod bearing. After opening up the oil pan, inspection of the connector rod bearings showed the driver side bearings were wearing down and hat a lot of heat damage which has eaten away at the bearning. The middle two were starting to show groove wear and the passenger side bearing was mint especially for 500k km. I replaced them all and it is happy again :)
1997 Skidoo Grand Touring
During the second wave of covid-19, I went back home to study remotely and ended up buying a 1997 skidoo GT. With this, my friend bought a yamaha phazor. His needed work, so we worked on his. Then, one day,on my way to his shop, my track blew. I then ordered a new track and we installed it. We were only on them twice before I was T-boned by an illegally stunt driving and most likely impaired driver of a side-by-side. If it weren't for my quick reflexes to dodge him, I would have been killed.
