Hey Everyone, I am coming to you all for a but of guidance, suggestions, and discussion. I own a 1998 Honda Accord LX, with a 2.3L 4 cylinder VTEC engine and around 168K miles on it. I got this car at a steal of deal in 2013 for only $2.5K. What I've had to replace over the years so far is the air filter, radiator, map sensor, IACV, a few spark plugs, and some of the wiring harness's to name a few things, overall I've never had any major repairs needed and aside from your standard care and maintenance. I have been super happy with this car and it has been really reliable for me through 2 moves and 2 different states with VERY extreme weather differences (Tucson AZ , always hot- Omaha, NE, -30`F with wind chill). But now I'm needing to replace my front drivers side CV joint as well as a few of the stabilizer bar brackets, the windshield wiper switch is malfunctioning and only operates when using wiper fluid, replace belts and although I've known for a few years that the previous owner had installed some aftermarket engine mounts, they apparently used some incorrect parts or did it wrong and my steering wheel and driving shaft have basically always had very excessive vibrations/shaking around 1.5-2.5K rpms since I purchased it. there are a few other minor repairs that would also add in to time and cost. Almost every shop I've been to recently has given me a quote for $2K+ just for the CV joint to be replaced let alone everything else. I'm not the most gifted mechanic, nor the most confident in my mechanical abilities, though I am willing to learn even if its trial by error. Normally, I wouldn't struggle with this kind of decision and scrap the car, but I am finding myself very emotionally attached to it and unwilling to get rid of it. Should I use this as an opportunity to get a new cheap daily driver and turn this one into the sleeper I've always secretly wanted it to be? could I keep it as a daily driver and make it a sleeper? Should I just scrap it and get a new car and continue to dream of driving a sleeper? Honestly though the biggest reason I haven't pursued a sleeper build before is because I'm really low on free time to work on things like this, as I work 40+ (with work sometimes requiring me to leave for 3+ months on trips), attend college part time, am a husband to a wonderfully gifted Dance teacher and father of two very active and busy little humans. Below are some pics of it, it's a pretty clean car if I do say so myself, minor paint defects, no dents, a very small amount of rust, the engine bay is a lot dirtier then I would like it to be as well as the undercarriage, but like I stated before time has not been on my side much. What do you guys/gals think?

 

Wow, over 2K for replacing the CV??
Makes me wonder what is involved??
When I replaced the CV axles on my Elantra, it wasn't hard.
It did take a little time but nothing to stop me.
Had the right tools to take off the tires and axle nut

If you do decide to do it yourself then look at youtube to learn what is involved
Then, have the right tools to do the job
Good luck

 

welcome to the forum. the cheapest car to have is the one you own, if you don't want to put a 2,500-5,000.00 dollars down for a new car, the repairs to the older one is still cheaper plus the insurance and registration each year. if you would like to learn to work on your car, get a service repair manual from ebay or good book club. read how to do the work, get yourself some tools needed to do a job, know a friendly mechanic who can help you out if needed or do the actual job. the way i learned how to do a job was to go to the salvage yard and find a similar car if not exact and take it apart. this way you now have the experience needed to fix yours. sleeper. can be any type of car. with being a father, husband, student you won't have the time to play with a sleeper unless your better half is into it also. parenting takes up a lot of time besides being a good husband. wait until they become teens, they'll be asking for compacts with 4 wheels on them.