Grand Prix "Take a Break" Thread

This is our Off-Topic thread Part II. The old one has been locked from further posting since it has over 1000 replies which could affect AF's performance. For reference purposes the old Off-Topic thread is at the link below:

Click here (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=501978)

As instructed in the old thread feel free to discuss anything you want that is non-technical or off-topic from discussions about our Grand Prixs. Also, have fun but be nice. No flaming, etc. :wink:

How's everyone weather? We finally got out of the record setting deep freeze down here. Got lucky. The only significant property damage was my in-ground swimming pool DE filter ruptured and the backwash control valve cracked. Even had a cover over it but that did not help since we went to lows of 0 degrees F. Still out around $500 though. :banghead:

Weather is crappy here, I'm SOOOOOOO done with winter. It's been cold, cold and more cold. My 8 year old Husky mix has spent more nights in the house this winter than any 3 or 4 previous winters combined.

Only 997 more posts until Off Topic III, can't WAIT!!!!

MN winter sucked this year too. For a while there 0 degrees F would have been a heatwave. It snows every other day an inch or so, so just enough to mess up the roads so they put more salt down. Plus there is this really bright yellow looking thing in the sky. It only shows once every few weeks. Seems i remember something like this in the sky back in fall. I just cant remember its name. Today its trying to peek around the clouds but we'll see.

996

How 'bout the Super Bowl? Everyones thoughts? I thought for sure the Pack was going to throw the game away after the way they came back to play in the 2nd half. Glad to see Rodgers will be getting a ring though. IMO that guy deserves it after all the sh!t he's been through.

oh, and the commercials...there were a few good ones!

Being from Michigan, I liked the Chrysler ad with Eminem that ended, "Imported from Detroit"! Other notables were the Bridgestone Beaver, mini-Darth Vader, and the Snickers ad with Roseanne Barr getting hit with a giant log.

As far as the game, I'm a Steelers fan, but Green Bay played good enough and made fewer big mistakes. You're chances of winning the Super Bowl when you're -3 in takeaways is slim. I hope the NFL looks into how they can improve the officiating. I hate it when bad calls (even if they help my team like the [non]facemask call late that helped Pittsburgh) effect a game. And when it's a game as big as this, it makes the NFL look bad.

I hope the NFL looks into how they can improve the officiating. I hate it when bad calls (even if they help my team like the [non]facemask call late that helped Pittsburgh) effect a game. And when it's a game as big as this, it makes the NFL look bad.

Me too! One that sticks out in my mind is the possession rule and Calvin Johnsons game winning catch against Da Bears. Pissed me off to no extent. And yes, I'm a Lions fan. Been all my life!!

I think that one call took the wind out of the Lions sails for the entire 1st half of the season. Instead of getting a couple of monkeys off their backs (a road win, starting 1-0, showing they can come from behind, etc...) it ended up another loss that shouldn't have been. That ball never came out during the "process" of making a catch. It came out during the "process" of Calvin Johnson being totally elated at making a game winning catch on opening day and wanting to get up as quick as possible to celebrate a huge win with his team!

As I am typing a reply to this thread, it is -8 degrees. That is actual temp, with wind chills of -30 below zero. I saw that the old thread was closed and could not find where the new one was/is. So I had to look at page 102 and see if there was a mention of what happen and where to find the new one. It is hell when you get old. :screwy: This cold is hell on my joints and especially my back.

We're warming back up. 70s next week. :grinyes:

Doc I'm older than you and my back and joints are fine. Move to where it is warmer or a better climate. Ever heard of "snowbirds"? :lol:

As far as the game, I'm a Steelers fan

I hate to say this Rich but the Steelers are an over rated team both in the regular and post playoff season. Good to see them lose. :loser:

The Steelers never led in any quarter and the Packers had a better offense and obviously defense therefore the loss. Even the Steelers' Coach admitted that. However, good game and people got their money's worth. The only part I missed was the half time show and that moron witch (C.A.) that sung the national anthem should be exiled. :lol:

BTW - El Paso has alot of Steelers fans. Most of them have never been to Pittsburgh let alone Pennsylvania so hard to understand that. :dunno:......:twak:

The National Anthem performance was horrid. The halftime show was worse, and the entire way everything was handled at the stadium by Jerry Jones' hoodlums was borderline criminal. I enjoyed the game itself, and actually didn't mind that the Packers won. Now if it were Dallas (or Philly and Michael Prick...oops, I mean Vick) that beat the Steelers...it mighta got ugly! :lol:

That whole thing was too much pomp and circumstance. :rolleyes: I guess Jones was just attending to his monetary interest in his ownership of the new stadium. Now if his Boys would just play ball maybe the fans will come back to them.

I don't like the black eyed peas nor that type of music, but I must say that I really liked the half time show the people in white costumes with all the lights were great.

I'm a Steelers fan, but I really must say they made lots of mistakes and Green Bay did a better job, hence their victory!

Fergie!!!!!!!!!! :boink:...........................:lol:

Fergie!!!!!!!!!! :boink:...........................:lol:


Bad Bob, down boy...:lol:

Bad Bob, down boy...:lol:

Phew!!!!! Rich, I though the religious police would send me a PM nasty gram for putting up an AF provided emoticon. I'll copy you on a PM I received. :lol:

We're warming back up. 70s next week. :grinyes:

Doc I'm older than you and my back and joints are fine. Move to where it is warmer or a better climate. Ever heard of "snowbirds"? :lol:

Well on Wednesday and Thursday the temps are going to be in the low to mid 50s. So a 20 degree difference I will not complain. So I think we are well on our way to spring.

On another note we have found almost 100 acres down in Kentucky that we are going to buy.

Fergie!!!!!!!!!! :boink:...........................:lol:

LOL! I totally agree, I hadn't really looked at her until the last superbowl and I was like :eek: "cool" :biggrin:.

I have a few quick questions guys, what do you think about electric impact wrenches?

How good are they compared to air type?

Are they good or just not worth the money?

Best regards,

Oscar.

I have an electric impact, it has 125 ft pounds of torque. It does ok, but the air impact is better. I am waiting until I move to get an air impact and the compressor that will run the air impact wrench. When I replaced the rear trailing arms and the arm used to adjust the wheel alignment. I had to use a acetylene torch to get the nut and bolts apart using the electric impact wrench.

I had to use a acetylene torch to get the nut and bolts apart using the electric impact wrench.

Wow! I'm thankful I don't live in a salty area like you guys, when I replaced mine the nuts and bolts came out easily, I only used some WD40, but I'm pretty sure it was a waste and I could have easily loosened the nuts without it.

Then an electric impact should work out pretty good then. Yes the salt is a real killer. In IL they use salt on the roads like it is going out of style. They put down 3 to 4 inches of salt down. Before and after the snow has stopped.

Phew!!!!! Rich, I though the religious police would send me a PM nasty gram for putting up an AF provided emoticon. I'll copy you on a PM I received. :lol:

HaHa, maybe fergie is a member at the forum.....

I too was wondering about electric impacts. I heard snap-on has a good one. The 18v one i think. Never used ut though.

I had one I used in a pinch. Worked well for running lug nuts back on (not to final torque, just snugging them), tight spots for reassembly, etc..., although to get to the rated 125 ft/lbs, you'd need to let it hammer for 5 or 6 seconds. As far as removing rusted/stuck bolts, the old breaker bar worked better imho.

I use the old trusty acetylene torch on the rusted on bolts and nuts. I never have had good results using like PB Buster on the rusted nuts and bolts. I would heat up the rusted parts then use the electric impact wrench to get the nuts and bolts off. I have broken several breaker bars in my time.

Thanks for your opinions guys, I was very tempted to spend the money and get one but now I'm thinking it might be an unnecessary expense as we don't get any elements that cause the components to rust and whenever I've needed to apply more force the breaker bar has proven to be helpful.

I guess I'll just stick with the old and more reliable stuff.

Well, this is my 10,000 post here on AF...Go me!!!! :lol:

Congrats Rich for what its worth......:lol:

:cheers:

Congratulations Rich, that's a huge effort you must be very proud!

Oscar.

I heard snap-on has a good one. The 18v one i think.

Dewalt. But have an extra battery pack available.

Congrats Rich!!!! 10,000 and going strong!

The cordless impacts are a little spendy for my blood in this recession.....

in this recession.....

Recession? What recession? :lol:

On a side note, its been a scary week to be living here in the State of WI! Holy cow, Scott Walker is not liked by many. The National Guard has been called to Madison. Its like a war zone in many cities around the state.

Wait 'til the Tea Party shows up tomorrow. :uhoh:......:lol:

IMO the Governor is just doing his job and about time we knock the Unions down along with their collective bargaining agreements. :screwy: Small minority (statistically around 10% of the work force in the U.S.) screwing up the country and one of the the reasons for state budget issues/crisis and the recession affecting many states up North.

In the past, the unions had their place. Now, they have become an entity of their own, and representing workers rights is no longer their primary concern. Get rid of them, NAFTA and change this countries import/tarriff policies to match the "global competition" to get good middle class manufacturing jobs back to the good ol' US of A and everything will fix itself.

Wow!!!! :grinyes:

Well said Rich. I'm proud of you. :thumbsup:

In the old Off-Topic thread we discussed my Akitas. Here is very sad story about one Akita from our Sammy's original breeder that occurred April 2010. See link at YouTube below. Shot dead by a neighbor and he got away with it. :shakehead I guess the criminal justice system is broken in rural TN/VA. She was the UKC Top 10 of 2009 #1 Champion for Akitas in show. One year anniversary coming up and may she continue to rest in peace. :crying:


Note: Graphic Material

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LiK6OMh5fE

That is just WRONG. How can someone just get away with shooting an animal for no reason? BTW Bob, your Akita's are absolutely beautiful animals.

IMO the Governor is just doing his job and about time we knock the Unions down along with their collective bargaining agreements. :screwy: Small minority (statistically around 10% of the work force in the U.S.) screwing up the country and one of the the reasons for state budget issues/crisis and the recession affecting many states up North.
In the past, the unions had their place. Now, they have become an entity of their own, and representing workers rights is no longer their primary concern. Get rid of them, NAFTA and change this countries import/tarriff policies to match the "global competition" to get good middle class manufacturing jobs back to the good ol' US of A and everything will fix itself.
Very well said. We are having major issues in NY with the State Budget and the new Governor is making cuts across the board in order to try and get it balanced. As a result, school districts will lose funding and are looking for ways to make their own cuts to keep the school taxes down. One way is to ask the teachers to take a pay freeze for the next year. So far, out of the 4 districts that has presented that option to the union, only one has accepted the offer. (It is actually the district we live in and the story made national headlines from the NY Times to CNN.) The unions seem too quick to say "No." but they don't realize the ramifications of their actions. Now in those districts where the teachers' unions have declined the pay freeze, more employees will be laid off and more programs will be cut. The same thing happened the previous year with our county budget. The County Executive asked the union to take a pay freeze in order to save jobs, but they said no as well. More county employees ended up losing their jobs due to that response. I would rather take a pay freeze and keep my job rather than decline and possibly lose it.

I would rather take a pay freeze and keep my job rather than decline and possibly lose it.

Well said, I was about to write the same, it seems most people have lost their mind and they only care for money on a short term and just don't realize that they will be losing more than just a few dollars.


Bob, those akita's remind me when I was a child, we wanted a puppy and every time we went to the store to see which dogs they had, an akita would always scare the hell out of me LOL; in the end we got an Alaska Malamute. Man, I really loved that dog but we had to sell it after some time because we didn't have enough space to keep it :(.

It is a very sad story in that video you posted.

That is just WRONG. How can someone just get away with shooting an animal for no reason? BTW Bob, your Akita's are absolutely beautiful animals.

I agree Rich. Bad part is this guy got away with it due to insufficient evidence. I guess you have to expect that in rural B.F. America. :shakehead

In El Paso he would have been arrested and charged regardless for discharging his weapon and then our strict animal abuse laws would have gotten him. :twak:

Thanks.


Very well said. .

Man, where have you been Tom. How are you?

Yeah Tom, where have you been? We even had a "Where's '97ventureowner" thread at mod corner, we were worried about you buddy! WELCOME BACK!

Bob, in Flint, MI, if that was my dog (or if this happened to one of my dogs), he'd have gotten dragged over in my yard and then gut stomped because he "came over and threatened me"!

Bob, in Flint, MI, if that was my dog (or if this happened to one of my dogs), he'd have gotten dragged over in my yard and then gut stomped because he "came over and threatened me"!

:werd:

I would have been so mad I would have shot the guy. Temporary insanity. :biggrin:

Bob, those akita's remind me when I was a child, we wanted a puppet and every time we went to the store to see which dogs they had, an akita would always scare the hell out of me LOL; in the end we got an Alaska Malamute.

Oscar,

Check this out from the U.S. CDC. The Akita just made the top 10 most dangerous dogs on their list but look whats above that breed. But on other lists published Akitas are not on them. The dog breed that scared me the most is the little Chihuahua. One bit me when I was kid and it hurt. :lol:

1) Pit bulls
2) Rottweilers
3) German Shepherds
4) Huskies
5) Alaskan Malamutes
6) Doberman Pinschers
7) Chow Chows
8) Great Danes
9) St. Bernards
10) Akitas

Oscar,

Check this out from the U.S. CDC. The Akita just made the top 10 most dangerous dogs on their list but look whats above that breed. But on other lists published Akitas are not on them. The dog breed that scared me the most is the little Chihuahua. One bit me when I was kid and it hurt. :lol:

1) Pit bulls
2) Rottweilers
3) German Shepherds
4) Huskies
5) Alaskan Malamutes
6) Doberman Pinschers
7) Chow Chows
8) Great Danes
9) St. Bernards
10) Akitas
LOL, I own 2 of those breeds and they are some of the most gentlest dogs I've owned. A lot of the dog's disposition is in how's it's raised and trained. Too many people do not take the time to train or train their dogs the wrong way so the whole breed gets the bad reputation.

Oscar,

Check this out from the U.S. CDC. The Akita just made the top 10 most dangerous dogs on their list but look whats above that breed. But on other lists published Akitas are not on them. The dog breed that scared me the most is the little Chihuahua. One bit me when I was kid and it hurt. :lol:

1) Pit bulls
2) Rottweilers
3) German Shepherds
4) Huskies
5) Alaskan Malamutes
6) Doberman Pinschers
7) Chow Chows
8) Great Danes
9) St. Bernards
10) Akitas

Damn!

I wouldn't ever thought that, my dog was so calm; even when I bought mine the akita and the malamute were side by side and the akita looked so mean and kept barking all the time and would always make me go crazy! :runaround:

In the end I agree with 97ventureowner, it's all about how you train your dogs and how much you care for them, where I live I can hear dogs barking all the time and will go crazy with the smallest noise, and all because their owners won't walk them which is very sad, those dogs seem to be confined to a backyard. :frown: it actually pisses me off.

On the other hand I don't like Chihuahua's, those are ugly nervous dogs LOL. Just my point of view.

I wanted to ask you guys what do you do to remove carbon build up, I've read lots about seafoam and auto-rx. But those products cannot be found here, searching the internet further I found some people uses water in the same way as seafoam some even add some kerosene. What do you guys think about it? Do you think it's a good idea? Has anyone ever tried it?.

PS. Just for the record I never meant to say "puppet" the last time, what I really meant to say was PUPPY :tongue:.

I wanted to ask you guys what do you do to remove carbon build up, I've read lots about seafoam and auto-rx. But those products cannot be found here, .

Do you have Walmarts or Autozones? Not sure about in Mexico but Seafoam top-end engine cleaner should be stocked. Thats where I get mine. Also, GM makes a good top-end cleaner and you may be able to get it at a GM dealership.

I'd be careful using homemade mixes on the engine.

Do you have Walmarts or Autozones? Not sure about in Mexico but Seafoam top-end engine cleaner should be stocked. Thats where I get mine. Also, GM makes a good top-end cleaner and you may be able to get it at a GM dealership.

I'd be careful using homemade mixes on the engine.

Yeah I know they are more likely to hydrolock any engine than any other product, that's why I wanted to ask first if someone has ever done it, last night I saw lots of posts in other pages saying they successfully used distilled water and I was like WTF!.

Yes there are both stores, I asked a guy at Autozone and he just kept staring at me, it was actually funny to see his face. Most of the times they think they know it all just because they work there. I'll go and check at Walmart, the last time I was there I only saw octane boosters, oil and injector cleaner maybe I didn't look enough.

I'm scared to even ask at the stealership, here things are 3 times the price over there, the last time they wanted about 800 dlls just in parts for the rear struts and mounts. Go figure...

Thanks Bob!

You're welcome Oscar. Nothing is cheap in Mexico anymore. :lol:

Heres the new stuff that replaced the old. GM part number is on the bottle.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y186/lizzywiz/GM_topcleaner.jpg

I'll go and ask the dealer next week. In the meantime I went to Walmart and Autozone, and I took some pictures of the best things I could find at Autozone, Walmart didn't have anything similar :(.

Have any of you guys ever used any of these or at least hear about them? I remember my dad used one can of "Gunk Motor Flush" a long time ago but I can't remember if it made any difference or not!


http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5204/img00003201102261524.th.jpg (http://img232.imageshack.us/i/img00003201102261524.jpg/)http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/558/img00002201102261524.th.jpg (http://img204.imageshack.us/i/img00002201102261524.jpg/)http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4167/img00001201102261522.th.jpg (http://img823.imageshack.us/i/img00001201102261522.jpg/)

Maybe I missed it Oscar, but how did you want to use it? Were you going to suck it into a vacuum line and clean your motor that way? Or just fuel tank? Right now seafoam is on sale around here so I stocked up. 6.99 a can and that includes both the gasoline additive and the trans additive. It usually runs around 12.00 a can, so a steal of a deal.

That's a great deal Tim.

Actually I need it for the Town Car but if you take a look over there you'll see that is nearly like a ghost town; I did a compression test a few months ago and the readings from some of the cylinders showed what seems to be stuck rings, a guy in that forum told me about seafoam and auto-RX, and that's why I've been looking for those or any other product that might help.

Other than possibly bad valve stem seals (due to a design problem) I would like to stay away from having to take apart the engine if I can.

Just like Bob said FORD = Found On Road Dead, and I'm almost convinced about it mostly with the windstar, the lincoln has been very reliable so far...

Anyway, in short terms it doesn't really matters if it has to be sucked via a vacuum line or added to the oil/fuel system; after all this time I guess I'll just end up ordering auto-rx from their webpage, those guys will ship internationally.

Anybody has any comments on it?

Thanks in advance.

Never used it so I can't say for sure. When you pulled the plugs on the TC, what did they look like? Carbon fouled? What were your compression results?

Actually they weren't that bad, but the car had been sitting for a long time and I couldn't find out when was the last time my brother did a tuneup (and there's no way I could have asked him anyway...) so I decided to replace all of the usual stuff (plugs,wires,filters,oil, pcv valve); in fact the problems started after the tune up, after about a month I started noticing a blue puff when I started the engine every morning and that's why I decided to do the dry compression test and the results were:

Cylinder Stroke 1 Stroke 2 Stroke 3 Stroke 4
1 60 90 120 130
2 60 90 120 125
3 60 90 110 110
4 90 110 120 130
5 60 70 80 80
6 60 70 80 80
7 60 90 110 120
8 60 70 80 80

As you can see numbers 5,6 and 8 are low compared to the rest, I know there is some tolerance for lowest and highest values but I don't know how much percentage that should be.

Usually about 10% variance is acceptable. 80psi is on the low side. I would run the test again if I were you Oscar. Try and find a way to block the throttle open, and connect a battery charger. When doing a compression test, I usually don't stop at just 3-4 compression cycles. I usually do 6 strokes at minimum, and up to 8 strokes on V8's. Look for first stoke about half the final reading and all cylinders within 10% variance.

Thanks Tim, I guess I'll give it a try after all there's nothing to lose and the car is not driveable at the moment, I managed to bend the steering pump pulley (don't ask LOL) last wednesday :loser: Had to learn the bad way...

Anyway, in short terms it doesn't really matters if it has to be sucked via a vacuum line or added to the oil/fuel system; after all this time I guess I'll just end up ordering auto-rx from their webpage, those guys will ship internationally.

Anybody has any comments on it?


Nope. Never used that brand before. Note for the top engine cleaner to be effective it has to be drawn into the intake system normally through a vacuum line or other fitting. Just make sure you have plenty of ventilation because it will be blowing lots of smoke out the exhaust while running the stuff through. When added to the gas tank it will clean the fuel injectors or TBI, whichever it has. But the best way to clean the intake system is manually after removing the components.

Hey guys just so you know this thread has been renamed to the "Take a Break" thread. We don't want it moved out of the Pontiac Grand Prix forum to some B.S. area of AF where many of us either do not venture to or hate to venture to.


"Birds of a Feather Flock Together" ...........:lol:

If anyone has a better suggestion what to name the thread please let me know.