Yea...I don't expect this thing to rocket down the street and beat and of my friends cars.

I got home from school today and made a few phone calls to a few autoshops around my area...Most of them told me the change would roughly be 2000-3000...which I guess seems reasonable...my dad said he would help me out to pay for it. Plus I got a nice nice summer job...

I think I won't do anything to the car....until I figure out this transmission issue...If I keep my current one...its only a few hundred to fix the seals, your right jplacson. But stick is fun!

As for the coolant system...and the brakes...they seem fine...can you tell me how I would go about checking the systems? I'd prefer to actually start geting under the hood and familiarizing myself with my car...instead of having to pay a mechanic to look at it. I know we just changed the waterpump on the car...like 1 week ago...the seals were bad...guy charged me $280...and I saw online that the pump was only like 40 bucks...DAMN...but oh wellz not like I really would have figured out how to change it myself....As for the bushings...I think we had those changed about 10,000 miles ago...the steering was a bit wobbly and shakin....and my dad took it in...and they replaced some type of bushing...not very sure....

Wish me luck...I think I have a feel for what I want to do with this car...and I know how much its going to cost...Hopefully I don't have to sell it and end up carless...

P.s. Tranny...how do I check that ?