Grand Am off topic thread

Good for you, my Daughter turns 16 in a couple of days, in PA she has to wait at ;east 6 months and log so maby supervised driving miles before taking the test.

I still have to find her a car! She is not driving mine.

Ruh Roh, ride and grandam are getting devious :smokin: . Hell, to be so young to be able to play like that again, sigh, :biggrin:

Anyhoo, best to both of you dudes in your educational and modifying endeavors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

Attack Pig

You guys think it's tough with the "P's" believe me iy doesn't get any easier with the wife, I can'i even hide any mods...She sees the check book.LOL.

All I can say is go it while you can...because, unless you marry a car person the days of hyped -up rides could be over. I'm sure it's not like this foe every guy that gets married buy I've seen it an awful not with the guys I know.

I know I'll get a chance to play after the kido's have left the nest, I'll wait the way technology is going things will be better and less expensive. Then I can claim "lost childhood insanity" and just go nuts!!!!

Dan

LoL :) Thanks tam and dan. Yeh myself and grandam are still in the prime of our "covert modding" years. We're havin fun while we still can! :evillol: :jump3:

haha, thanks. What can u do that is totaly unseen when some one was to pop the hood and look in it?...u see, if u have been to the post about the 1994 grand prix 3.1 Vs. 1995 grand am 3.1L, im going to race him in august and i know for sure that mine is a bit faster but i want to totaly smoke him, and just so ya know im a person that has to go big, or not at all (when it comes to the stuff that im aloud to do).


Well it's hard to find a place to begin, but I'll see what I can think of right now. There's just so much miniscule crap.

If you can't modify intake, buy a K&N drop in filter.
Remove MAF screen
Remove intake resonator
Different plugs and wires (if you can find black wires they'll still look stock)
Billeted Underdrive pulley - will look different, but he'd have to be way down beside the engine looking in order to notice
Tire pressure - commonly neglected - more pressure, especially in the rear tires, will make it easier to get up to speed. Run a couple PSI in the rear tires above reccomended.
Always turn off ETS
Run premium
Depending on your 02 sensor location, you may be able to remove your cat.
and then the biggest of them all.... WEIGHT REDUCTION!! :biggrin: - I successfully dropped about 100-125 pounds back in the day weight-reducing my grand am, and it's all stuff that won't even be seen.

ITEM ----------------- TOTAL SAVED WEIGHT, pds

steel plates in doors ------ 4
intake resonator -----------2
childseat anchor plates --- 15
sound deadening --------- 20
tar mats / blankets ------- 20
Spare tire (doughnut) ---- 30
Spare tire jack ----------- 15
Rear floor mats (not used) -- 4

That's a grand total of 110 pounds! And if you were to sort through and eliminate all the other shit you don't need laying around in your trunk, glove box, console, ect., that would probably be another 15 pounds, which would bring you up to 125 pounds total savings. So let's do the math:

stock curb weight: roughly 3100 pounds
stock horsepower: 155 HP
power to weight ratio: 0.05

new curb weight: roughly 2990 pounds
difference = 110 pounds X 0.05 = 5.5 HP

So roughly, if you didn't do any mods, and merely removed all that weight (and mine was conservative), it would feel like you had added roughly 5 HP. - and that's just with weight reduction. Now let's look at some of the mods I talked about earlier.

MOD --------- % INCREASE OF HP (out of 100) -------TOTAL CUMALITVE HP

STOCK ---------------------------------------------- 155

K&N drop in filter --------------- 0.03 -----------------159
Remove MAF screen ------------ 0.02 ---------------- 162
Remove intake resonator ------- 0.01 ----------------- 163
Different plugs and wires ------- 0.01 ----------------- 164
Billeted Underdrive pulley ------- 0.05 ----------------- 170
Always turn off ETS ---- preventing loss of roughly --- 2 hp on launches
Run premium ---------- preventing loss of roughly --- 2 hp under knocking
Cleaning grounds / terminals --- preventing loss of roughly -- 1 hp electric
Removing Cat / simulated 02 sensor --- 0.04 ------------175

So with those mods / actions, under the right conditions, you would essentially be running 175 hp at the crank with a stock curb weight. Now with the weight reduction that I talked about earlier, it would feel more like 180 HP.

Hope that gives you some ideas. So through mods, and increasing you power to weight ratio, you could add about 25 HP. - none of which would be seen. It might be a little liberal, but I'd still say you could sack an additional 20 hp at the crank. Ask if you want more in depth info about any of those mods, or any others you're considering. Happy modding! :)

sry about this but whst is a MAF screen, the Billeted Underdrive pulley, and Cat / simulated 02 sensor?...sry, i only know so much right now. thats why i ask so i can know more. thanks

DAYUM, Ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, that was cool.

Sheesh, ya completely forgot that some enamel black over a billet pulley will better camo it, sheesh :p . U devious dudes!!!!!!! :lol2:

Attack Pig

grandam, a billeted pulley is generally a lightweight and sometimes drilled pulley that is much lighter weight than the factory one. As result, it saves weight and adds to performance.

Dan, all I can say is sympathy on your insurance bill, sigh.

Attack Pig

Grandam, do NOT hesitate to ask, what we here for, only dumb ? is the one not asked, my opinion.

Tam

Grand Am, I'm with kinfe on this one Please DO NOT be afraid to ask any question, that's what the forum is all about. Besides, we would rather a young guy like yourself ask the questions instead of just jumping in on something and getting things fouled up to the point that you end up with a tow to the Pontiac garage to get it fixed( big time repair bill) most of us regular guy's have been through enough with our GA's that we can at the very least work together to resolve the issue. The only way to learn about this stuff is to ask or experience, and we've experienced so all you have to do is ask!!!

Hey Ride, I'll give you a day or so to recover after the long post...lot's of great info. You go..boy!!

Knife: thanks for the sympathy... I'm about to register as a non-profit organization. At least I'd be able to get government subsities...lol.

"Hail to the Attack Pig!!!"

Oh Yea,

Knife, very profound statement:

The only dumb question is the one not asked.

Keep up the good work.

Another sleepless night here, 4:00am Thank god for the Forum, Cartoon Network sucks at this time on a Sunday morning.

Grandam, the MAF body is in the air hose running from air cleaner to throttle body, there is a screen sometimes at the MAF to further filter air intaking into engine. That's what ride is saying.

The simulated 02 sensor is a dummy sensor [aftermarket] that replaces the cat. convert. sensor when the cat. is removed, so the ECM still "thinks" the cat. is there.

hm...ic now, yea, i got some answers to thoughs by my dad yesterday and he was wondering y i was asking them questions. thought the best thing to do then was to shut up so he dosnt know. well, i cant get a K&N fillter anywhere in town so i will have to see where to get one (cant get one off the net cause it would be dilivered to my house and the rents will find out). i so cant wait to get my cd player and speakers. I will have quite a bit of money to spend cause i get confermed today and i have a couple of bucks right now the way it is. i lost $20 check yesterday in the wash so there goes part of it. thanks alot guys.

o yea, the part about me either going to college or tech school, i think im going to pick tech cause i want to work on cars or electrical stuff. Electrica...dont need to ask any quest on stereo stuff cause thats my specialty...haha.

Well guys, The wife left me the GAGT today because the SES light came on and of course out of gas. I took the GT to AutoZone to get the code read...showed po141 O2 sensor before the cat. I picked up a bosch sensor for $20.00 and climbed under the car. I had to cut one my 7/8" wrench in half to beable to get to the nut on the sensor. but all in all not too bad of a repair. The only thing about it is that the car doesn't run any different, but the lights out. Sometimes I think the tollerances are way too low for the SES light, now I find out from a post that GTPDad did that the newer models are throwing code for a burnt out bulb. I wonder how much idiot proof ther are going to make these things. What ever happened to checking out your car every once in a while for thing like bad bulbs? I check mine when I give it a bath which is pretty often ( I hate a dirty ride). Any way I just wanted to throw that stuff out there.

Hang in there everyone,
Dan

sounds like you had a job. yea, but now you can cruise around it your GA.

I feel every computer has a different tolerance for trouble codes... I got the SES the other day, all i was told a hose was disconnected, I figure a vacuum hose, but hears the kicker i was told by my mechanic, that according to the comp, i was doing 84 mph?!! I have not hit those speeds in awhile. I think the comp in my car has a delayed reaction to things...
Supposively there is a light to tell you a light is out, it doesn't seem to matter people since there are a lot of rides with lights out, especially the taillights on the G/a's.( i know i have one out myself right now) I've never gotten a svs light for a light...

random thought on the SES light, how come lets say the change oil light comes on you get an annoying chime in the car, but if the SES light comes on Nothing? one would think that it would chime when that light comes on... Then again this could be my car not doing what it's susposed to.

Hey Ride, I'll give you a day or so to recover after the long post...lot's of great info. You go..boy!!!

LOL :) Hey thanks Dan and Tam for glorifying my 5-minute post so much :) LoL. I didn't think much of it writing it, but I guess it turned out a whole hell of a lot bigger then I thought it was. And I took Dan up on his "day or 2 off" - I hadn't really been on here for like 3 or 4, due to the fact that I was extremely busy. See, last saturday was our Senior prom, and I had an awesome night, and since then, I've been rediculously busy / successful with a few amazing women, plus added to my huge amount of school related gar-bahge, plus me and 2 of my buds have been doing PT about every single night, so I've been one busy-busy bee. Though, despite all that yoo-ha, I've still found plenty of time to work on my beloved GA! :smokin: LoL - It's great to be back in the groove around here, you guys did a hell of a great job helpin out everyone while I was gone - keep up the good work :thumbsup:

sry about this but whst is a MAF screen, the Billeted Underdrive pulley, and Cat / simulated 02 sensor?...sry, i only know so much right now. thats why i ask so i can know more. thanks

I'll give a go at grandamdriver. I know you guys already answered his question, so I might repeat some, but I just wanted to elaborate.

The MAF runs across the MAF unit - which you can see if you open your airbox and look toward the engine - that screen is actually in the MAF. The screen is a honeycomb-like material, and it actually wasn't meant for filtering (though I suppose if you completely removed your air filter, it might stop... say... a log... from getting in :) ) - It's there to alledgedly help straighten out the airflow going into your engine to help with idling. It actually leads to a blockage of 18% of the flow, however. With some people, there have been reports of causing rough idle; however I never have ever experienced any problems from it, and I would highly reccomend it. I noticed instant gains the next morning driving it. To remove it, you will need to take apart your intake, remove the MAF, and then pound an awl or a screwdriver into the screen, and then RIIIIIIppppppp outward. Be very careful not to damage the MAF electronics. If you are still going to be sticking with a stock intake, this would also be a great time to clean your whole intake, as well as install the K&N filter. And if you can't find one like you said, any local auto place that doesn't have it, should be able to order it for you. You may even have to drive a ways to find a place - but there should be someone within a 1/2 hour at most. I had to drive secretly once about 35 minutes one-way just to pick up a set of NGK plugs. LoL.

And as far as the billeted underdrive pulley, Knifeblade was right. It's a replacement for the harmonic balancer (drives all the accessories), which weighs a shitload = lots of rotational mass. By saving just a few pounds on that pulley, it frees a lot of horsepower. Like he said, they're usually alluminum, but I've never seen them drilled (for weight.) They're drilled for the mounting bolts for using a J-tool to remove the pulley. They're usually smaller too, (thus the term underdrive - due to the fact that they underdrive your accesories). So if you have a big amp, or system, the UD pulley actually wouldn't be a good mod, because your alternator won't be putting out as much juice with it. If you want to check out a couple, here's some links. Some people give shit about it "messing up the balance" of the engine - the harmonic balancer on our engines plays a very little role, however. It is equipped with rotating rubber rings, to help dampen vibrations travelling down the crankshaft. The billeted pulleys do not have these rings. On an externally balanced engine, this would be a problem. Ours, however, are internally balanced, so no significant vibrations are handled by the pulley. Noone that I've heard of has ever had any damage occur as a result of a UD pulley.

http://www.fastfwdperformance.com/ud.htm
http://www.rsmracing.com/ - under Grand Am section

From all the talk that I've heard, the FFWD performance is actually the better of the two.

Ok, I'm done. :) Goodnight everyone.

So, does that mean someone got very lucky? :evillol: Glad ya enjoyed the "ordeal" :smokin:

The GA's rarely send signals out re burnt bulbs, as Dan states, it best to visually inspect for operation. :smooch: Hint~~~ since it usually a big pain in A** to check out rear lighting [brakes, turns, etc] without someone else around, back the ride up to a glass window somewhere, I usually find some storefront window that will reflect the rear end of the ride. Do your pedal and lever stuff while watching through the rear. Saves time.
Can also be done against a concrete wall, but the lights don't visualise as well. :biggrin:

Knife, good hint about the window, just make sure you don't get too close,LOL. I strongly belive that one should go over the car once in a while and not depend on the computer so much, after it is a machine and things go wrong with them and sometimes you can catch them before they get costly. My thought on it....

Ride...If I would have known you where going to be so successful I'd have given you a week to recover. I do however want a clearification, you said a couple of amazing women right? was it at the same time? Wait...don't answer too fast let this old man develop a visual. Just jokin' havin some fun. any way glad you had a good weekend. also glad to have you back in the swing on the AF.

grfnkl: I agree with you, although the 96 GT of mine does not have the change oil indicator I do think that there should be an audio warning with the SES, I recently foun out that the SES light on the GT had been on for a while but the wife had the car, it gets better fuel economy than my Suzuki XL-7 and she dirves to work every day. It was only the upper O2 sensor [quick fix], but if she would have heard a warning then it would have been taken care of the other day. I also think the computer can be tempermental at times, just like the home unit.

Have a good day everyone, talk to you later, have to take my daughter to the Doctor this morning.

yea...my mom is getting sick of me and talking about my GA to my dad and she is threatining to sell it. that means i cant do anything to it. but im saving money right now for my own ride. still a GA but a GT. Not sure if it wil happen but if all goes bad for me with my mother and i have the cash, screw her, i will get my own car and then i can do anything to it i want.

So, does that mean someone got very lucky? :evillol: Glad ya enjoyed the "ordeal" :smokin:

Ride...If I would have known you where going to be so successful I'd have given you a week to recover. I do however want a clearification, you said a couple of amazing women right? was it at the same time? Wait...don't answer too fast let this old man develop a visual.

LMAO! :lol: :) OMG - wow that cracks me up lol. You guys were instantly extremely interested in if Ridenour scored or not :evillol: Well to give you the low-down, I didn't quite as lucky as I would have liked, but me and my date went back to my house after prom, and got a movie, and we spent about 2 1/2 hours not watching the movie :smokin: LoL it was awesome. And sadly, Dan, the amazing women were not at the same time. LoL I got freak-danced hardcore by 2 really hot ones at the same time though, if that counts :icon16: - when I was on the dance floor, I got more ass then a toilet seat. When I was at my house, I got... uh... er... well I had a great time. LoL but yes the night was very satisfying non-the-less, I had some incredibly awesome moments, and essentially was a sex-god for about 12 hours - Gol I wish every night could be like that! ... and it wouldn't been great to have my way with more then one of those chicks at the same time - LoL from the way you sounded Dan, it sounds like you're really missing your youth-years :wink:

Wow grandamdriver, that realy sucks. Is your mom ticked because she doesn't want you modifying it, or what? That'd be great if you could actually afford a newer GA GT - I have always loved mine to death. And yeh make sure the insurance / title is in your name too, that way you'll have full ownership of the car. Keep us filled in man.

Grandam,
All I can tell you is to be carefull when choosing which bridges you burn after you have crossed!!

It's mom's perogative to give you a hard time about the GA, that is what mome do. Don't forget she's never been a young guy who's into cars. Just keep saving the $$$ and get your own but make sure you can do it All on your own, if you have to end up at mom's purse strings you will never live it down. I've been there and it is not pleasant.

Just some well intentioned advise for you to take as you wish.

Hope all goes well,
Dan

Oh hey, forgot to mention - Ridenour successfully completed yet another significant intake mod tonight. I finally thought I was out of little tweaking I could do to my intake, but I decided to re-try something I had attempted a long time ago. The ribbed rubber section between the MAF and the TB, I was going to replace with a metal tube for smoother air flow, and cut the holes for the IAT sensor & PCV intake. But I never got it to fit right, so I gave up - but tonight I found some straight rubber coupling that I had from an intake I bought a lonnngg time ago, so I cut that up and made it fit. So I'll see how she runs tommorow. Shouldn't be a huge difference, just helps smooth out the air flow a little and keeps the turbulence down and the velocity up.

Ride, I do miss my youth, but I can honestly say that I am really into the married life, I've got a great wife and two great kids, plus extras...Two cats, both are a pain in the ass, but they're cool. And I can't go on with out mentioning the GAGT.

However, I think I'm loosing the GAGT, since the wifes been driving it to work every day (fuel economy), she is starting to realize how much fun the car can really be. At least I know where it is and what is going on with it.

Now as for your wild night...I'm proud of you, Any one that can get ass on a dance floor deserves a Hats Off!! As for two women Only a few men can be so fortunate, I've never achieved that feat (not to my recolection) but I did spend quite a bit of time with the brew. For as much beer that I drank back then I have done a complete 180, and havent had a drink in about 15 years. To tell ya the turth I don't miss it. Even though I never got hangovers, I just woke up one morning and just gave it up. Now all I have to do is quit the smokes and I'll be in good shape.

What ever you do at your age ENJOY YOURSELF, BUT USE CAUTION.

Hey I got to run...I'll check ya out tomarrow,
Have a good evening.

Dan

Grandam: definetly pick your battles wisely with the car.... otherwise you'll end up like me. My 88 G/a My mom doesn't even know i own it, since she hated the car so much.... I bought it back in spite.. not a good thing, cuz too many people get involved!

Ride: Lucky b*stard! I remember my prom and it was nothing like what you described.... you're making me jealous! argh!

However, I think I'm loosing the GAGT, since the wifes been driving it to work every day (fuel economy), she is starting to realize how much fun the car can really be. At least I know where it is and what is going on with it.

Now as for your wild night...I'm proud of you, Any one that can get ass on a dance floor deserves a Hats Off!! As for two women Only a few men can be so fortunate, I've never achieved that feat (not to my recolection) but I did spend quite a bit of time with the brew. For as much beer that I drank back then I have done a complete 180, and havent had a drink in about 15 years. To tell ya the turth I don't miss it. Even though I never got hangovers, I just woke up one morning and just gave it up. Now all I have to do is quit the smokes and I'll be in good shape.

What ever you do at your age ENJOY YOURSELF, BUT USE CAUTION.

LoL that sucks Dan. You might need to get one of those "black boxes" to make sure the wife isn't beatin the poor ole' grand am. I'm glad I'm not married - never have to worry about a woman driving my car without my supervision :)

LoL yeh I was lucky to get freak-danced on by 2 girls at once, it kicked ass :icon16:. That's good you gave up drinking - my dad was a hardcore alcholic, but after my oldest sister was born, he finally gave it up, and hasn't touched a drop since. It takes a lot to do that - we're proud of you man :). So far, I haven't had a drinking problem. I've had a few drinks, but never gotten plastered or anything, and I intend to keep it that way, especially since alcoholism runs in my family. Oh and don't worry, I haven't done anything too extreme yet. I'm going to be in college in about 2 months, so things might get a little different, but I'm pretty sure I can hold out without doing anything I'll regret too much. Whenever I'm in, shall we say.. "tempting" situations, I'm a pretty level-headed guy. I'm lucky - I know so many kids in my grade that have already themselves over the rest of there lives just for stupid shit that they did for kicks one night. Hey good luck quitting smoking too - talk to you later.

Ride: Lucky b*stard! I remember my prom and it was nothing like what you described.... you're making me jealous! argh!

LOL :grinyes: I know it - I'm one lucky dog. Actually, if it makes you feel any better, my junior year prom sucked. But now that I think about it, it was actually decent, but it sucked compared to this years, cause this years kicked so much unbelievable ass! :grinno: LoL

I just can't understand why Ride has Help Me on his sig. screen :confused: :p

Hey, Dan~~~~~~~~~~~ :biggrin: "Tween us both, we beat Ride.

Tam you are sooooooo! right, I would really hate to be a kid trying to meet someone now a days. Sometimes history carries baggage. But our boy Ride seems to have his stuff together, pretty smart kid, I hope my boy turns out like him instead of the little a**hole that I was.

Ride: Thanks for the kind word, it's pretty cool to be able to go out once in a while and watch everyone get toasted knowing that they will eventually do something stupid and not remember the night before. I'm not the kind of person that is against anything people do I figure it's their choice as to how they conduct themselves as long as they don't try to pull me in. Take my brothers for example, they are both drinkers [not alcoholics] but they like to go out and have a good time, I've gone out with them a few times and they still don't think I not a drinker because I have as much fun as they do...but I remember it. They end up calling me the next day and ask what they did. Kind nuts if you ask me.

I'm proud of you, you really have your s*it together and at your age thats cool.

Now as for the GAGT, the wife is cool about driving it she will not beat on it because she is afraid that she'll cause a break down and I'll have to fix it or it will cost too much to get it repaired. So it's Cool.

Have a good day all.
Dan

got my new cd player and speakers. it was an awsome buy for $270 bucks. it is finally better than my friends and now he wants to get the same stuff i have.

Grandam...And The Race Is On!!!!

Go get him.

Good luck,
Dan

Hmmmmmmmm, crank up some YES, or some REO, or some Fleetwood Mac, or some Nazareth,and ya'll beat the doors off their hinges.

i have some good cds. i saw this cd (really stupid sorta) because it was not music, no one was like singing to it or anything. all it was was like bass notes that maker ur system sounds really good but all it was was beats. it was like a cheap techno cd. it sounds awsome though. one of my best buys i have ever bought. also, i work at a grocery store and i found out that they sell Lucas, STP, and other products for you car. i was going to get some octange booster and fuel injection leaner for my car and i got fuel injector cleaner from lucas and they only had octane booster from STP and my dad took it from me when i took it from the shelf to look at and and put it back. he told me to never buy anthing other than lucas. they sell it at john deere and thats where he works and he said thats all they will sell now because all of the other stuff isnt near as good. so now i have to look for octane booster from lucas. weird thing is that he will let me use that stuff and i wont get in trouble. so its safe for me to buy the stuff anytimne i want. i think im goin to buy Lucas racing oil too...mabey, but will it help me in the agaust race?....thanks guys.

Boy Knife are you reaching back, A little " Hair of the Dog " is good for what ails ya. You might as well throw in some Kansas, some Nugent "Stranglehold" [ live of course], can't forget the ZZTop either. A little Foghat and BTO for good measure. Man I could keep going, but I think we will start to loose some of these young pups.

Keep Rockin,
Dan

REO, I haven't heard their stuff in a long time, you have got the flashbacks started.

yea...I feel like im missing out on something because i dont listen to them. Sry to say but i got pulled into R&B, Hip Hop, and Rap a couple of years ago and cant let go. But i am getting into like the beatles and stuff like that now but i like new music alot. The rap type of music sounds the best on the speakers i think. oh, if any of you recall on what i said about my parents getting mad and threating to sell my car?, well...i think i just raised the bar higher. But im trying to hold them back cause im putting all of my pay checks in the savings and stuff and when it comes to me to drive, i will try to be nice to them till i have the money and say good-bye with it. i really like that car a whole lot and i think im one of the craziest people to be giving it up but at this point i wish i could do whatever i want to a car. Im going to college to do the same and work on them. but i want something to call my own. i do have alot that i can say but its not even close to a car. i would just like to say "yea, i bought the car, am paying for insurance, and can take care of myself." But they wont let me do that. im just gonna have to see what happenes later and hope for the best. i still think im crazy. what i would love to do is if i can find exactly like it, and if i have the money, buy it, and say, hey, i got car and show my rents what i got. i would love to see their reaction would be to me. I know i sound bad but im not. i just cant handle them having full control over my car. i want to work on it becuase thats what i love to do. but they are holding me back from doing that. Sorry if this ws sorta wrong, also i got off topic again. Just needed to get somethin of my chest before i explode!

GrandAm, just relax I'm sure your P's have their reasons for holding you back from doing mods to the car. All I can say is do the college thing and get out and get a job so you can do what you want when you want. I'm sure it seems like a long way off, but time does fly, and soon enough you will have the car you want along with the car payment, insurance, rent, food and all of the bills that go along with life as an adult. I hope things work out the way you plan.

Hang in there,

Off topic??

Someone buy my Grand Am please. $8,600

Stay away from STP, it nada for the money, my opinion. I've seen lucas around, seems to have decent rep. so does Wynn's and Gumout.

Oh, Dan I can go SO far back!!!!!!!!!!! Styx, Journey, Foreinger, Spooky Tooth, Wishbone Ash, Exile, and yes even Kiss, LOL.

Grandam, it like Dan says, it will come in time, us older guys been there, seen it, done it, let time be your friend, dude.

Sheez I haven't posted on here in a while - i've missed a lot. Grandamdriver, I have some great words of wisdom for you....: "(everything that Dan said.)" LoL and dan, thanks for the stuff you said about me after my last post - i appreciated it.

Mr. Lous, you might get a hell of alot better luck posting that add in the FS section ( seeing as how anyone on the grand am forum most likely already has a grand am :) ).

Now onto my new topic - Yesterday, I recieved the most baddest things of all badass things - a FREE (....zip, zero, nada...) SC/T Hood for my GA! :) BYAGGHHH!!!!!!
Ok, I'm sure you're all wondering how I got it - here's the deal. My dad works at the LGR plant (where all the caddy's are made) and at LCA (where all the Grand Ams were made) - anyways, he's headed up tons of projects and whatnot around the lansing area, so he knows tons of people throughout GM. Well when they originally launched the S/CT package on the grand am, they made some prototype hoods for a while - which were just like the current ones, except the driver-side scoop was open w/ mesh, instead of closed, (which works perfectly w/ short ram intakes like that of my own :) ). Anyways, they used one of these first hoods to make fixtures and gages / machines for making the hood in actual production. So they had a "galaxy silver" hood (which happens to be the same exact color of my car) that they had marked on with black marker, and had been minorly scratched. When they were done, they put it in storage, and when they were completely done with the launch, and cleaning out the tool room, they were going to throw the beautiful hood away. However, a great man (god bless his soul) saved the innocent hood from the wrath of the general motors janitorial staff, and had since given it safe haven in the attic above his garage. My dad knew a guy that knew him, however, and he ended up communicating with the guy directly. He asked him if we would be interested in selling the glorious hood of glory from which all grand am gloriness flows, and the employee (god bless his soul again) said "well, I didn't have to pay anything for it... I don't see why you should have to..." and simply gave it to my dad, whom brought it to our house to find a new, happy home on the front of my grand am (whos current hood had a dent in the front anyways) - and all I owe the spawner-of-the-sc/t-hoods is Lunch! :) - I can deffinately do that! So there you have it, that's how I recieved the hood. The hood was filthy, and marked up, however after about an hour of cleaning, washing, and TLC, I had it spick and spam, just with some minor scratches remaining (I'll take some rubbing compound to those sometime). After another 1/2 hour, I had my old hood off, and my new hood on, (it looked very happy sitting there) and ever since, I have been very happy! :) The thing felt about 15 to 20 pounds less then the stock hood, and I swear I can actually feel a slight difference in handling at low speeds - it makes sense - lowering weight up on the front of FWD cars is critical in handling capabilities. It improved my weight distribution as well, due to the fact that after all my weight-reducing, I essentially had no weight in the rear of my car, it was almost all up front - this helped to balance it somewhat. Anyways, the whole being that the hood is badass, I was incredibly fortunate to have it fall into my hands, and that I shall love and cherish it forever. I am totally exuberant over these recent happenings, and have been telling every soul I know about my good fortune. Everyone should have something like this happen to them. I literally got a 600 to 700 $ hood for free - I am a very lucky man. I wish the same luck upon all my fellow grand-am-owners :). Below is a picture of my car back in the winter, and below it is a pick now with the new hood.

BEFORE THE COMING OF THE RISEN HOOD OF RADIANT GRAND-AM-GLORY

http://img100.echo.cx/img100/9274/hpim04750vi.jpg

AFTER THE COMING OF THE RISEN HOOD OF RADIANT GRAND-AM-GLORY

http://img99.echo.cx/img99/3379/new6nz.jpg

Damn Ride, I love the hood but you need to edit that second pic. LOL

Black Sabbath, Hendrix, Stones, Joplin, Canned Heat, the Dead [overrated, my opinion, Garcia was nada], Allman Bro.'s, Skynyrd, Zeppelin [now that was a band], Who, all the one-hit wonders of the day. Anyone recall Tommy Roe or even >shudder< Bobby Davis?

I can edit that pic for you if you would like Ride.

Shit oops sorry Jon. I posted that second comment before I saw your post, and then deleted it when I saw you posted at the same time - If you understand what I mean. I wasn't trying to be sassy or anything. I got it sized down myself to a more reasonable scale. Thanks though - is that better?

Works for me and I can see deleted posts. Thats why I asked. It didn't bother me either way. Also , on a side note sorry I haven't been around much lately. Been busy with work and working on the Formula. If any of you guys need anything or have a thread you think I should take a closer look at, please PM me. I check those a couple times a day and glad this thread is getting plenty of use.

John

Jon, dude, just a thanks for an OT thread start, which as ya can see is social, but also is informative [hopefully] to new folks to the forum.

Sometimes, it cool to just chat a bit with fellow members, away from the [re-edited by me 5/13/05] car problems some folks are dealing with and that we all try to help with.

Jon, I agree with Knife, This thread was just what we Grand Amers needed. It has become the place to go to see how the others are doing, it has also given us a place to get to know each other a little better, aside from the car talk. I can honestly say since I came across the Forum and joined back in Jan. I now have something to look forward to when I am having one of my "Bad Foot Nights" and when sleep doesn't come easy. The Forum itself have also given me an oppertunity to learn more about my GAGT than I ever could have. But I think the best thing to come out of this has been the chance to meet some guys that I can call friends. I have a great deal of respect for Knifeblade and Ridenour these two are a great asset to the Grand Am forum. Their knowledge has helped me and so many others save alot of $$$ when it came to making repairs. If we had a place for "Forum Member of the Month" I would have to nominate both of these guys.

Ride...The GAGT looks GREAT...And with the lucky streak you got going I would greatly appreciate the lottery numbers for the next large Powerball Jackpot. The streak you have working is once in a life-time...Hot Girls, Fast cars and Freebies what else coulld you ask for?

Knife...you are reaching back for the tunes...you have really pulled some good names, bringing back some memories. I also wanted to say thanks for your back-up on the posts, no one in specific, but
"Thanks".

Sorry to ramble on there, just some things that needed to be said.

You guys have a good night, catch ya in the AM.
Dan

Glad to hear you guys concur with the OT thread :thumbsup:

And the member of the month thing, is actually a pretty good idea. I think I may bring that up in the mod corner. Like maybe a member who gets voted in gets special stars and a sub tittle that says Member of the month. Huh, let me mull this over. Great suggestion :iceslolan

Jon,
I'm glad you like the idea...I think it would be pretty cool now that I think of it as incentive for the members to take pride in the Forum. Where else can someone go to get high quality information about their GA's for FREE.
When I first threw it out there is was meant to be a compliment to Knife and Ride, I would love to see it as a regular monthly item. And who knows maybe one of the Forum sponsors would like to participate by offering a gift certificate or something. You may even be able to get an advertiser to sponsor the whole thing.(IE: Company "X" Presents this months Grand Am Member of the Month).

Just some more ideas for you.
Thanks,
Dan

AAAWWWWWWWWW, GGGGGGEEEEEEEEE, but seriously, I think so many folks lend good advice and information that this forum is one of the most team-efforted pages around to help other's with their ride's problems.

Dan, you should have included yourself in any mix, your help is invaluable [and actually very easy for me, in that you and ride and others lay out the prob. and all I usually do is just make a few clicks for a minute or so to give a link that further backs up what all you folks are trying to help with.]

Kudos to the GA'ers.

Tam, I agree with you in regard to the team effort approach we take around here, I would be very supprised if there is another forum that runs like the GA Forum. Some of the other Forum sites I have visited and even posted in do not even come close to measuring up to what we have here.

It is so easy to throw in your two cents worth when guys like you and Ride have already set the ground work for the response.

Hey...I didn't go back but did you mention Steve Miller, Bob Seager, Triumph, how about The Allman Brothers, the Doobie Bros. Man this could go on forever. I pitty the kids today, they have no clue as to what they're missing. My son is getting into some of my stuff and introducing it to his buddies, It's something to see these kids asking each other if the had ever heard a song that I listened to way back when. Right now he and his buds are getting into AC/DC, they asked me if I had any of their stuff on CD/cassette, They could not grasp the idea of vinyl records. It gets funny at times.

Well, I gotta run, catch ya later.
Dan

Well, how about J. Geils Band, Herman's hermits, Dave Clark Five, Monkees [yeah, I know, but they did have some catchy tunes], all the bubblegum era, [Ohio express, Nancy sinatra and her "boots", Neil Diamond, Sly and the Family Stone, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Wild Cherry, Hot Chocolate, Jackson Five,] Bobby sherman, Fifth dimension, Bette Midler, Streisand, the Archies, LMAO, Rod Stewart, Genesis, Mamas and Papas, Doors, Babe Ruth, Bad Company, Def Leppard, Pink Floyd, Montrose, Humble Pie, Boston, Yardbirds, Thin Lizzy, Uriah Heep, Dire Straights, Rondstadt, Carpenters, Cat Stevens, Cream, Iron Butterfly, 3 Dog night, Gladys Knight and the PIPS, Jethro tull, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Spirit, Elf,

All off my vinyl collection!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LMAO

Man you laid out a bunch of them that I was going to throw at you in my next post. Hey there is nothing wrong with the Monkeys they did have some good songs. Don't forget about Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Edgar Winter, Rush, Deep Purple, Black Sabeth, How about Nielson Schmilson, ELO and so many more. I think we're starting to show some age now.

Subject Change: I took the daughter to PennDOT to apply for her learners permit, In PA you have to answer a series of questions to get the permit, then you have to log so many hours of driving with a liscenced adult, wait 6 months and then you can take your drivers exam. Well the poor kid failed the questions yesterday ao I'm going take her today I hope she passes. Although I'm not looking forward teaching her how to operate a vehicle...she doesn't want to drive the GAGT because of the manual tranny so I have to teach her in the XL-7. She wants to find a GA for her own car, I hope I can find a good one in the price range. I should be able to being that there are so many out there.

Got to run again...I'll try to post again tonight...too much going on.

See ya later,
Dan

Wishing daughter well on the test, I think????????

w00t!!!

New job. But training sucks. Back to modding my 'other' car. :icon16:
The last month or so sucked. I lost my 'secure' job April 1st, and haven't really worked since then. Money got REAL tight. I have some serious, serious mods for my T/A, and I almost had to start selling them. Glad that is over. Now I need to catch back up, so I can finish it up.

Hey, also....anyone ever try Seafoam in their GA's?

Jon, I agree with Knife, This thread was just what we Grand Amers needed. It has become the place to go to see how the others are doing, it has also given us a place to get to know each other a little better, aside from the car talk. I can honestly say since I came across the Forum and joined back in Jan. I now have something to look forward to when I am having one of my "Bad Foot Nights" and when sleep doesn't come easy. The Forum itself have also given me an oppertunity to learn more about my GAGT than I ever could have. But I think the best thing to come out of this has been the chance to meet some guys that I can call friends. I have a great deal of respect for Knifeblade and Ridenour these two are a great asset to the Grand Am forum. Their knowledge has helped me and so many others save alot of $$$ when it came to making repairs. If we had a place for "Forum Member of the Month" I would have to nominate both of these guys.

Ride...The GAGT looks GREAT...And with the lucky streak you got going I would greatly appreciate the lottery numbers for the next large Powerball Jackpot. The streak you have working is once in a life-time...Hot Girls, Fast cars and Freebies what else coulld you ask for?

Knife...you are reaching back for the tunes...you have really pulled some good names, bringing back some memories. I also wanted to say thanks for your back-up on the posts, no one in specific, but
"Thanks".

Sorry to ramble on there, just some things that needed to be said.

You guys have a good night, catch ya in the AM.
Dan

Awww.... jeeeez.... :grinyes: :) - Dan, and Tam, you guys flatter the shit out of me! :) However, you both happened to forget yourselves - Dan and Tam, you two are priceless assets to the Grand Am community here at AF! :biggrin: You have helped countless hundreds. - And like Tam said, it's a huge teamwork effort. There's so many people here that help to build the grand am network - thanks to all the people who give so much. Hmm.... this kind of reminds me of our "warm and fuzzy" thread we had a few months back... - so much love! :) LoL.

Dan, I'd like to add another good-luck point to your daughter on her test.

Mr Lous, good luck with your recent financial quests, and especially with your latest greatest Trans am mods. And yes, I have ran several cans of seafoam through my GA within the last few months. I've ran a can in my tank, one in my oil, and about 3/4 in my tank again - the other 1/4 I attempted to feed into the intake manifold via the PCV valve, however I only succeeded in stalling it out on every attempt before I got the feeling of the flow. The car will raise the idle enough to keep it running if you pour slow enough, however I couldn't get the pouring technique down right. I'm sure I'll be able to pull it off on my next can, however. I just need to try it again.

Oh, and to update you all on my latest greatest car stuff besides my new hood, I have also switched to synth-blend, and finally installed straight-coupling on my intake where it's ribbed rubber stock. And I also had my front fascia arrive off ebay (I will be replacing my front and back fascia). My front fascia (though you cannot see it in either pic) is chipped / pitted substantially and has several cracks in it. My rear fascia has a gaping 4 inch hole in it from when I hit a reflector back during the winter, and is severely cracked around the area. So after I get my new rear one off of ebay, I can get them both painted at a local body shop which I trust extremely (as they did a perfect job paint-matching on my car back in the day), and then I will also need to install new molding strips on them, and a new pontiac emblem. While I'm doing that body work, I will also attempt to fix the minor scratches on my new hood using some rubbing compound. After all that, my car will be free of any cosmetic defects :) :smokin: :grinyes: - wish me luck :). LoL talk to you guys later.

That hood looks buissnass (idk, cool word to use in this time of you glory).

sry about that, sorta late on that post. i didnt know i was on #7 instead of 8. Yes, that is a great idea about the award thing. and all of you guys have been great help to me. Im a new car dude and i guys are getting me more and more into it and i love knowing these things because i will need them in the future. Thanks guys.

LoL no prob driver. Thanks for the compliment :) - I'm totally lovin this hood so far. It's a dream come true. - and I'm glad you've enjoyed your time here on AF so far.

yes, i love using AF because i know more and KNOWLAGE IS POWER!...haha, but i like to hear about other peoples grand am's, how to fix them, and the exeriances they have had with them. im glad i joined it.