2000 CHEVY TRACKER AKA "STUBBY"
If there's one thing that people can say about us, that is the idea we love our cars. It doesn't matter what year or brand/model, we always enjoy cars and especially enjoy cars that have a uniqueness about them to make them stand out above others. Such is the case with what I've nicknamed "Stubby". Why that nickname? Well because this vehicle is a two door version of the Chevy Tracker we've been rolling for the last couple years. That Tracker is a four door variant, more common and obviously plain, as there's plenty of four door mini SUV's out there on the streets. For a while I've wanted to grab one of the two door variants of one of these mini SUV's, whether a Tracker or older model Toyota RAV4, or any other Japanese mini SUV. After some searching on FB Marketplace, which yielded plenty of the square bodied Geo Trackers, which aren't half bad in themselves, I finally located some of the last generation Chevy Trackers, when Geo was absorbed into Chevy, while still keeping the Japanese hardware that was used in their Japanese named counterparts (Suzuki). Ironically, these 2 dr SUV's are rather pricey, with their prices being 2x that of the 4dr versions, regardless of miles. Now, even though I did find a couple specimens that would need work done, I would definitely like being able to get my hands on a specimen that was able to drive, while not going broke. Most of the turn key SUV's were anywhere from $4500 and up. I found one that would've needed a radiator replaced and the driver's window fixed, but it had the convertible tops still on. They wanted $2k OBO, but when I contacted the owners, they stated the vehicle was in the shop to get the repairs made and the price would go up accordingly. Now, granted the OBO part would still apply, I shot the offer for $2k to them, after repairs, which would've coincided with the offer of $1500 if they didn't make repairs. They stopped responding. Luckily, I was able to source another one for $3k that was pretty much ready to drive. This one was located in Central TN, a couple hours east of Memphis. This vehicle was picked up by an auto shop from the previous owner who couldn't pay the repair bills. In their possession, they took time to also repair a couple gaskets and the timing chain hardware, among a couple other things.
A few things to note about this SUV. One, it has the two removable tops, one is over the cab, like a sunroof, and the other is like a camper shell on a pickup. It even has the upward lifting hatch like a camper shell. The rear door swings out to the right like the 4dr Tracker and has the spare tire mounted in place. The third brake like is mounted on a pedestal poking up from the top of the side swinging hatch/tailgate. The interior is in excellent condition and didn't even smell bad. The radio still works, albeit the tuning knob is flaky, as is the case with most of these old factory radios. There is cruise control as well. The AC system works just fine as do the outside lights. The SUV has an aftermarket hitch bar installed, but it just needs a hitch ball. I will also have to install the trailer wiring harness, which isn't a big deal. The grille has only a small damage spot but is otherwise solid. I was able to remove the grille and replace some of the retaining pegs to fully secure the piece in place. There is one dent in the right fender, which I may attempt to remove in order to tap out at a future date, but it's not critical. Test driving shown there was really nothing wrong with the vehicle other than it was located well out of the way. Luckily for us, we have no problem making road trips to retrieve cool cars, as I was able to knock the guy down to $2700, which was icing on the cake, as I was ready to pay the full $3k.
Rear seats are in very good condition just as well, but will more than likely remain lowered in order to grant me the storage space in the rear. Unlike the 4dr Tracker, I will limit myself to carrying only "clean" items so as to preserve the interior. Anything that's "dirty" will more than likely be carried by a smaller 4x8 trailer I plan on getting for use behind this vehicle as well as the Scion TC which also has a hitch. The only time I might use the rear seats is if we decide to do any kind of summer drive with others where the top is removed for the day.
I did find something that was bad as well as good in the end. During a drive I noticed the taillights were acting erratic, going off a couple times and even the dash lights flickered some. After some investigation, which included removing the driver's side taillight housing, I found that the previous owner had wired in a trailer light wiring harness. After tracing the wiring down, I found a length of wiring that was connected to a length of aftermarket trailer light wiring, which terminated at a frayed bundle of wires. This wiring was tucked in the shell that covers the fuel tank, so the wiring was probably brushing against the metal or even shorting against each other, causing the issues with the taillights that were witnessed. This ended up being a good thing since I could actually wire in a new trailer light wiring harness for towing, instead of buying a dedicated trailer light harness for this vehicle. I had a spare wiring harness in stock, so this was perfect. I cut back the wiring to the splice point where the trailer light harness was wired into the truck's wiring. I also trimmed back the trailer light harness wires to shorten them down some. After splicing everything together, I can now write off this little bit of work to be done on Stubby, so I can move on to the locks, which are currently on order.
Wiring is wrapped around the hitch bar in order to keep the wiring protected. Theory is, the old wiring, being too long, probably dragged on the ground and destroyed the old plug, the owners then tucked the wires under the truck and never addressed the damaged wires, until I got a hold of the vehicle.
The next thing to do on Stubby is replace the locks, all of them. The only key we had was for the ignition so nothing else was able to be locked. After receiving the three locks for the side doors and rear door along with the camper shell hatch I got to work. At the same time the last working speaker also died, so while I was in the door I would see if I could replace the door speakers, which never worked anyway. On the camper shell hatch the lock knobs were made differently compared to the old units so I had to use different bolts to attach the new lock knobs in place. Also since the lock knobs were identical instead of being made to turn in opposite directions to coincide with the left and right operation, I had to install the latch pieces in opposite positions from one another. After the camper shell hatch, I pulled the panel off the rear door and quickly replaced that lock, then moved on to the driver's door. After removing a clip for the window crank and a couple screws holding the opener lever and armrest I had the inside of the door opened up. Luckily, I had the old speakers from the old Tracker we had scrapped a few years back, so I was able to replace the driver's side speaker along with the lock, which was also super easy. The passenger side lock was done, but unfortunately the speaker's wires broke during assembly, so that ended that. The extra speakers I did have that were similar in size weren't quite the right size to fit in the mounts on the doors, so the passenger side has no speaker. I'll have to source a matching or close to matching speaker to replace the missing speaker in the door. I still need to pull the back panels to see if those speakers are the same size, and whether they are or not, source more speakers to replace those as well. In the meantime, Stubby is able to be locked down. Even the glove box has a locking latch now.
I had to drill out the mounting holes on the new lock knobs since the bolts went in from the outside instead of the inside like the old locks. I used long carriage bolts that I had to grind notches in so they would fit nicely against the knob body. Washers and nuts hold the lock knob in place, using the plastic bushing from the old lock.
Because both lock knobs were identical versus being opposite of one another for left and right, the latch had to be positioned where it would point down in the open position, versus up in the open position like the driver's side. Luckily the rubber weatherstripping at the bottom of the camper shell doesn't interfere with the operation of the latch. At least both lock knobs are horizontal in the locked position.