Post by XJSman89 on Feb 1, 2012 22:49:26 GMT -6
A big congrats to Bob and his 1995 classic! It's not very often you see someone put so much work into restoring an Aurora to its former glory and beyond.
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First of all let me say that it is an honor to be selected for the MFA!
I love my 'rora and I really enjoy ACNA... both the help I get here and being able to help others.
It was quite a while before I would even post pictures of my car because frankly she was in pretty rough shape. Even though she’s still not perfect (by a long shot) I’m very proud to show her off now and extremely pleased that you all can appreciate the work I’ve done to get her back into decent shape!
Thank You ACNA for helping me accomplish this!
I became an Aurora owner/lover quite by accident. I was looking for a cheap car for my ex and saw an ad for an Aurora on CL for $1000. I knew a (very) little about Auroras from when they came out (drooled over one at the car show downtown) but never thought I’d own one. Even though the FPR was bad (I later found out) and it smoked and idled rough and had scratches and busted taillights, something told me not to pass it up.
My ex drove it for a few months before one of her “friends” decided to “borrow” the car and he proceeded to overheat it and blow a head gasket. (Not to mention getting me a red light ticket in the mail later.) Finally got it back to my place and my ex just left it for me to deal with, since it was in my name anyway. The car sat for almost a year before the engine went out in my daily driver Isuzu pickup. I could either look for another used vehicle or fix the one I had. (They wanted $1200 for a short block for that truck, and I was tired of driving around in a little tin rattle-trap.)
The Aurora was too nice to scrap, so I started doing research. Found ACNA, found parts on ebay, eventually found a parts car in Tulsa, same year and color! Best $300 I ever spent!
So far the parts car has provided: three tires, hood, trunk lid, front left fender, front and rear bumper covers, crystal clear headlights, tail lights, both rear doors, driver’s seat, visor and mirror, carpet, front door inner panels (with Bose speakers), Bose stereo and subwoofer (rear deck), center console, various interior trim and lights, front hubs, one front strut (temporary but effective!), engine. Oh, and the front passenger seat is my favorite chair in my living room.
Other maintenance/repairs include a few spots of paint touch-up, new windshield, radiator, Delco plugs, wires, water pump, brakes and master cylinder, switched to synthetic oil. Oh, and the fuel rail and seat belt safety recalls as soon as I finished the first head gasket job.
As most of you know, I installed the Northstar Performance stud kit and got my original engine running for just over 10,000 miles before the engine let go again. Either a crack, warp, or just porosity in the block, but a new HG did not stop the oil contamination. That’s when I cleaned up and installed the engine from the parts car (just under 90K) which I’m happy to say has been doing great! I will be removing the studs from the bad engine and saving them in case I have a HG issue in the future.
Custom mods so far include LED interior lighting, custom paint matched corner lenses, and soon to be installed full color instrument cluster illumination and a very unique tail light mod.
Stay tuned for my upcoming video once I finish my installations!
Thanks again ACNA! Here's to many years of happy Aurora ownership!
Bob
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all let me say that it is an honor to be selected for the MFA!
I love my 'rora and I really enjoy ACNA... both the help I get here and being able to help others.
It was quite a while before I would even post pictures of my car because frankly she was in pretty rough shape. Even though she’s still not perfect (by a long shot) I’m very proud to show her off now and extremely pleased that you all can appreciate the work I’ve done to get her back into decent shape!
Thank You ACNA for helping me accomplish this!
I became an Aurora owner/lover quite by accident. I was looking for a cheap car for my ex and saw an ad for an Aurora on CL for $1000. I knew a (very) little about Auroras from when they came out (drooled over one at the car show downtown) but never thought I’d own one. Even though the FPR was bad (I later found out) and it smoked and idled rough and had scratches and busted taillights, something told me not to pass it up.
My ex drove it for a few months before one of her “friends” decided to “borrow” the car and he proceeded to overheat it and blow a head gasket. (Not to mention getting me a red light ticket in the mail later.) Finally got it back to my place and my ex just left it for me to deal with, since it was in my name anyway. The car sat for almost a year before the engine went out in my daily driver Isuzu pickup. I could either look for another used vehicle or fix the one I had. (They wanted $1200 for a short block for that truck, and I was tired of driving around in a little tin rattle-trap.)
The Aurora was too nice to scrap, so I started doing research. Found ACNA, found parts on ebay, eventually found a parts car in Tulsa, same year and color! Best $300 I ever spent!
So far the parts car has provided: three tires, hood, trunk lid, front left fender, front and rear bumper covers, crystal clear headlights, tail lights, both rear doors, driver’s seat, visor and mirror, carpet, front door inner panels (with Bose speakers), Bose stereo and subwoofer (rear deck), center console, various interior trim and lights, front hubs, one front strut (temporary but effective!), engine. Oh, and the front passenger seat is my favorite chair in my living room.
Other maintenance/repairs include a few spots of paint touch-up, new windshield, radiator, Delco plugs, wires, water pump, brakes and master cylinder, switched to synthetic oil. Oh, and the fuel rail and seat belt safety recalls as soon as I finished the first head gasket job.
As most of you know, I installed the Northstar Performance stud kit and got my original engine running for just over 10,000 miles before the engine let go again. Either a crack, warp, or just porosity in the block, but a new HG did not stop the oil contamination. That’s when I cleaned up and installed the engine from the parts car (just under 90K) which I’m happy to say has been doing great! I will be removing the studs from the bad engine and saving them in case I have a HG issue in the future.
Custom mods so far include LED interior lighting, custom paint matched corner lenses, and soon to be installed full color instrument cluster illumination and a very unique tail light mod.
Stay tuned for my upcoming video once I finish my installations!
Thanks again ACNA! Here's to many years of happy Aurora ownership!
Bob
LOL...the first pic is awesome! your dedication to these cars is a breath of fresh air. well deserved man!
If you need anything don't hesitate to ask. And again congrats!!
