Wife's new car: 2005 Sunfire

[Z-type]

Hello,

I'm sure a lot of you noticed from the last couple month's my wife's '93 Bonneville was T-boned back in October and totalled. Needing another car, she used my dad's 'spare' '04 Cavalier until we found her a new car. She liked the size and layout of the Cavalier so we aimed for a car of that sort when we could afford a new car for her. We came across a 2005 Sunfire Sport/GT about 3/4 mile away from our house. 103,500 miles when we bought it, and almost completely pristine. Garage kept, always highly maintained with records, and we STOLE it as far as price goes. Very happy with the car, even though it's just a Cavalier with power options lol. The only thing it does not have that I can see is cruise control. The best thing about it is it has the updated-for-2005 2.2 Ecotec. This engine is noticeably more powerful than my dad's Cavalier. Very fun little car, I don't mind driving it from time to time when we go out.





I don't think I've ever seen one with the side graphics, which I actually like a lot.






I didn't notice this for the first month she had it. It certainly explains the noises coming from the front end. I only noticed it when I took the wheels off to get Blizzaks put on.


Fixed!


As stated, she bought a set of brand new Blizzak WS80's for the car, since I liked my WS70's so much on my Riviera. The tires it came with are good, just not in the snow, so she's going to get a set of new summer wheels sometime this Spring!


It's been very reliable and good on gas, and the only thing I've had to do was change the oil and the thermostat.

Thanks for looking!

-Andrew Z

[1oldman]

Nice, and very unusual OEM wheels. - BC

[nos4blood70]

Looks like a clean Sunfire, minus the decals. Haha They are great little DDs. Should serve you well.

[repinS]

WS70/WS80s are beeeeeeeeeast.

[Z-type]

Thanks guys! I know they're not everyone's cup 'o tea but she loves it and that's what counts haha.

And yes those tires are incredible. Gets both her car and my Riviera up the hill to our big garage even on the ice.

The only thing that bugs me about the wheels is that they're aluminum wheels and those are chrome covers. What gives? You think it would be less effort to just make them solid aluminum lol.

[Saturn Simon]

Nice Sunfire! The chrome rims look in pretty good condition too.

[94SilverSSEi]

Nice car! Definitely digging the wheels! Much better than than the factory steels most came with.

[Z-type]

Thanks guys!

The car had it's first real problem today. The temperature gauge pegged so far to the right that it got jammed up against the tachometer needle, and wouldn't move lol. I was able to reset it to '0' again but it went right back to where it was after the next drive. Did some reading, and it's likely the stepper motor behind the gauge.

I double checked the signal going to the PCM and it's reading correctly, so the sensor is fine. Thermostat is new, stepper motors it is. Evidently it's ridiculously common for the original motors to fail this way. New, updated motors are on the way.

[Z-type]

Got the gauge fixed with the new stepper motor like I thought. They guy I got the motors from sent 6, not 4, and a bunch of extra bulbs should one burn out. Unfortunately, the bulbs behind the digital odometer display burned out, but I can't access it unless I de-solder 20 pins and disconnect the odometer display. You can read the odometer with a flashlight or something similar so guess what - the bulb is staying burned out for a while lol.

[Z-type]

Got the gauge fixed with the new stepper motor like I thought. They guy I got the motors from sent 6, not 4, and a bunch of extra bulbs should one burn out. Unfortunately, the bulbs behind the digital odometer display burned out, but I can't access it unless I de-solder 20 pins and disconnect the odometer display. You can read the odometer with a flashlight or something similar so guess what - the bulb is staying burned out for a while lol.

[Z-type]

Spring cleaning day! We got the car washed and clay-bar'd. Cleaned up the engine and interior, and waxed everything in sight.

Her car and my '97 Riviera GS before they were cleaned.


Wifey working hard.


Nice clean Ecotech.


We also added a decent exhaust tip to her muffler. This is Advance Auto brand, but I've had a few of this style on my Riviera for a while and they hold up great.

[nos4blood70]

Nice! That Riv looks great too. You should whore it out for us.

[Z-type]

Haha thanks Carl. I have so many pictures and projects from the Riviera that I could be sitting here for 2 days making up a thread for it.

[Z-type]

Hey everyone! Just popping in for a little update on Alyssa's Sunfire. It's been an awesome car since the day we got it and continues to please and get her/us around in whatever we're doing. We've blacked out the grille's and the arrowhead emblem. Here's a few updated pictures:







So, it's the end of June and her Blizzaks were still on the car (for one reason or another). She had planned on getting a set of wheels (whatever they might be) to put her original/summer tires on but couldn't afford to for several other reasons. I was able to save money here and there and get her a new set of wheels to surprise her with! I pretended I was going to put her summer tires on her chrome wheels and picked her up from work with the brand new wheels! They're MSW Type 25 16"x7". She had actually picked out this sort of style back in January so I found the closest thing I could to what she picked that I had the money for. The matte gray worked out perfect as it matches the side decals nearly perfectly! She loves them and the car rides and handles so much better. No more of this dismount/re-mount tire nonesense.

[Saturn Simon]

Looks great on the new rims, even though I was partial to the originals.

[PRD2BDF]

Thkse wheels look fantastic. The wheel god aka me approves!

[xxdabroxx]

Those wheels are a billion times better. (Not a fan of chrome wheels, particularly with lots of chrome)

[Z-type]

Thanks guys! I've really taken a liking to the look they give the car now. She's always thanking me for them even weeks later lol.

It is a little odd NOT putting on chrome wheels for the summer lol. Usually it's the opposite.