Grand Am Off Topic Thread

Yea its election day, GO VOTE !!
I waited about 30 minutes..

I cant believe how people openly discuss who they are voting for while in line. :disappoin

I already voted earlier today went right before the polls opened.

Everyone can also vote in the AF poll here. :D

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=928167

I voted but didnt post in the thread.

One thing to remember in Chicago, vote early and vote often.

Any bigger city would suck!

Hows gas prices around everyone these days ?

I filled up this evening with 93 oct. for $2.05 a gallon. I hope it keeps dropping !! :grinyes:

Around me it is $2.17 and in Dyer, IN it is $2.29.

i would say gas is around the 2.50 mark +/- down here. I'm too lazy to do the exact conversion right now since gas is dispensed in litre form.;.. so it's like 0.60 per litre

WOW!!! I just got gas at $1.86 here in the tri state!

$1.88 yesterday!

Yay my car is mostly fixed! Finally got the battery properly connected! Now just need to figure out where I'm leaking coolant and why my Service ENgine Soon light randomly comes on, and I'm pretty good!

I got it for 1.86, and saw it for 1.80 on down the road (Ozark, MO) makes me feel good, lol

$1.88 yesterday!



yeah Vipey I saw it today in Lafayette(IN) for $1.78 for reg. premium was around $2. :grinyes:



ps- best buy has LG dvd burners for $38!!!



http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c242/xeroinfinity/confidence.jpg

Was quoted $2500-$2700 for a complete transmission rebuilt including stronger clutch plates and a limited slip differential :boink: Should be cool! Now I just need to get into graduate school and find the money :uhoh:

That really blows.
I am trying to go back to school for network admin. The job market sucks nobody is hiring.
I remember when gas was .35 cents a gallon.

The job market sucks big time. I've been out of work for a year now! :mad: :eek7: I don't even have the money to go back to school, and i doubt with the financial crap going on that i could get a loan. But Good luck to you!

.35 cents a gallon! DAMN! The lowest I remember was .89 cents a gallon when i first started driving.

Damn grfnkl I didnt think it had been that long. I guess you could try and find 4-5 part time jobs. :dunno:

Work hasnt slowed much for me, same old same old. I personaly have been working more at teh shop to get those extra vehicles done every week for some extra cash. Thank god my house is almost paid off!

Have a great weekend everyone !


ps- vipey thats not a bad deal with a warranty. ;)

Damn grfnkl I didnt think it had been that long. I guess you could try and find 4-5 part time jobs. :dunno:

Work hasnt slowed much for me, same old same old. I personaly have been working more at teh shop to get those extra vehicles done every week for some extra cash. Thank god my house is almost paid off!

Have a great weekend everyone !


ps- vipey thats not a bad deal with a warranty. ;)

dont you have a truck or something you tow people out of the snow with when they slide? Didnt you do that for some side cash? :naughty:

That gas price was back in 1974. Way back when. I guess I ma showing my age.

I've tried for even part time with no luck. As of right now I have several possibilities but everything seems to be in limbo or something. There maybe a few possibilities come january.

1974! Ok that was 7 years before i was born and that the year my brother was born. :lol: At this point I wouldn't mind though going back to that time for the gas prices. We just became below .60 per litre! :grinyes:

Damn grfnkl I didnt think it had been that long. I guess you could try and find 4-5 part time jobs. :dunno:

Work hasnt slowed much for me, same old same old. I personaly have been working more at teh shop to get those extra vehicles done every week for some extra cash. Thank god my house is almost paid off!

Have a great weekend everyone !


ps- vipey thats not a bad deal with a warranty. ;)

If it's not a bad deal, I'll get it done ;)

dont you have a truck or something you tow people out of the snow with when they slide? Didnt you do that for some side cash? :naughty:

I have several side jobs that keep me busy 24/7.
Yeah I used to use my Dakota but traded that in for my GMC Sonoma, which was a big mistake for a work truck.
Its good on gas but doesnt make a good plow or tow vehicle.
I now have my plow set up for my wrecker, it doesnt get stuck. :grinno:


That gas price was back in 1974. Way back when. I guess I ma showing my age.

Not realy I remember in 76-77 it was realy cheap, I was 7-8. Thats right after the Gov. made auto manufactorers increase/improve the MPG and emissions.

Wow ! Premium gas for $1.88 a gallon and thats no fishin tale ! :D

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/Majes/bigfish8rw0.gif

I need a big 300-400 gallon tank. :lol:

$1.88! :eek7: Damn its finally going down to a reasonable price! Come to think of it we need gas in the car. It's sort of nice to see it takes less then 20 bucks to fill up our tank! Gotta love little 4 bangers for their impressive fuel economy. :grinyes: I also somewhat determined what was causing our rattling vibration noise we were getting. I come to find out the car was a little low on oil so I'm guessing what i was hearing was a lifter or a valve ( hopefully not the timing chain), I'm sure nothing good though. The noise only comes about at 2500 rpm. I added some oil and it quieted it down a bunch. When the engine cools down more I'm gonna check to see if we need any more oil and see if that does the trick. It's due for an oil change anyways.

http://s338.photobucket.com/albums/n430/spicecomments/funny/00487.gif

:lol:

well I encountered a first yesterday. I had the car all day yesterday everything is good it's running fine. I get to the wifes job to pick her up and bring her home. I pull out of the parking lot make a left turn and started to hear this horrible metal scrapping noise. It would stop at higher speeds. I looked under the car couldn't see anything. We ran a few errands the noise was there but nothing to be overly concerned until I hit a pothole on the way back to the apt. Well wouldn't you know it the noise doubled in sound and became a constant at any speed. So the now angry wife ( since she thought i broke something) goes inside. I go in and get some tools. Come out jack the car up pull the wheel off. I look around everything looks fine, Tire fine, strut fine, cv boot fine, brake lines fine, brake pads fine, brake rotor fine... OH WAIT what's this i see. A ROCK! Some how a rock got lodged on the back of the rotor between the brakepad, rotor and the rotor shield! After much prying i got the rock out. From what i could see it looks like this rock has been there a while with all the rust that was on it. It must have come loose from a bump and got sucked into the rotor. Thank god for an easy fix!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sounds like you gots lucky. Thank god it was only a silly rock. You might have been in the doghouse if you broke it. :lol:

Yayayayayay I got accepted into graduate school today :D

Good Job Vipey ! Sounds like you'll be busy for a while, probly worth it though.

Times are tough, and if you dont have some sort of "trade" you can get left out in the cold.
I've heard from several old friends all over the state and the job scene is bad!!! Plants closing or laying off by the hundreds, a real pisser before the holidays. :disappoin

I'm just happy gas prices went down and peoples cars are getting wear and tear because they are actualy driving them. :lol:

Happy Turkey Day! :cheers: :bloated:

I'm stuffed ! :D

Btw email notifications have not been working for some time now. Maybe it'll be up and working sometime soon.

Enjoy your weekend everyone (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=931182)!

Happy holiday yo !

I think your holiday is over yo! lol

ya I was laid off from my dealership job.. now I work at the kwik kar lube and tune place where my friend works... he's my boss now lol. Ive learned alot in just 2 weeks about cars that I didnt know...

I also got to take out my friend's 180sx silvia conversion out for a spin.. and spin I do mean SPIN :D

he has some big thick flat tires on the back for 'drifting' :)

he has a imported rb20det with stock turbo setup, upgraded greddy fmic .. and a completely stripped out interior to die for lol

Here's an old pic before new tires....

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7748/l97f2b31ee014c0965bd0ebnv6.jpg

The government will have to bail out the auto industry. If that doesn't happen the depression of the 30's will look like a cake walk. Compared to will happen today if they are not helped out. I hope that day will not come. Hopefully O'bama will be smart about the bail out. Had a dealership around me buy one car at full price and get a second car for one dollar.

he has a imported rb20det with stock turbo setup, upgraded greddy fmic .. and a completely stripped out interior to die for lol

Those are rotory engines, kinda cool with the turbo setup.
Is it right hand drivers seat ??

The government will have to bail out the auto industry. If that doesn't happen the depression of the 30's will look like a cake walk. Compared to will happen today if they are not helped out. I hope that day will not come. Hopefully O'bama will be smart about the bail out. Had a dealership around me buy one car at full price and get a second car for one dollar.

Yeah lets hope someone bails them out!
And I heard about that stealership doing that, buy one get another for a dollar, on CNN. I wished I was looking for a new car. :frown:

I am wondering if anyone else is having problems with the site. Some of the avatars are not being displayed. On some of the online indicator's will not show green as being on line. On the avatar's Xero will not display. There are others but there are also other's that do display properly. I am getting a page loaded with errors message.

I just updated direct x, but I don't see how that would be the problem. After doing the update, the web site is coming up properly now. No missing avatars or the online/offline indicator.

I hope the US Auto makers do get a bail out. If GM can't sustain itself anymore one by one all the different brands will be axed! They already stated that the only 2 they would keep is Chevy and Caddy ( if it comes down to it). I don't know what i would do. I don't care for chevy's that much and caddys are too damn expensive. I'd hate to see Pontiac go. I think I'd convert to imports if the GM line up gets knocked down to 2 brands.

Yes the site has been experiancing some issues and I think they vary by browser. :dunno:

On the GM(auto) situation, I just wont ever buy a new car, never!
I was pretty PO'd when they dropped Olds. :angryfire

I would trade all my cars for an AWD Skyline GTR. Well all my GM's. :grinyes:

Well that answer the site issues. GM is not thinking clearly on the what product line that they need to axe. They need to look at many factors, one being how profitable the divison was before the economy tanked. Should look at parameters before 9-11 and then after.

The news from GM supposedly is that they will focus on their premier brands: Chevy, Buick, Caddy, and GMC. They are considering on selling Saab and Hummer. Pontiac is going to be reduced to a "niche" market. and Saturns fate is still in the air it could get axed it could get sold. I don't understand why they are holding on to buick. I rarely ever seen a brand new buick on the road. You see more of the old models with an elderly person driving it. At the moment I wouldn't buy a new car myself either. When we finally move back to the states our honda is going to me for me to use as a down payment towards a car I'd like. If Pontiac is still around and have certain models I'll be looking into thier used cars. If Pontiac no longer exsists I will not buy a used Pontiac. :disappoin I agree that they should have kept olds.

Yeah I thought I heard today they might also sell the Pontiac line.
IMO they just need to slow down production and make better quality cars and not quantity. Wait to make them more custom like they used to do. Now when you goto the dealers lots they have just about every color/make/model right thier rotting away in the hot sun.

Every year tens of thousands of cars never get sold here in the US, so they ship them to other countries or movies buy them as props to blow up.

Now all the auto makers are pursuing this "green" movement when thier no better then the POS they sell now. Like the Chevy Volt (http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/), 40 mile range on batteries ?! :wtf:
I could build a better car then that! :rolleyes:

Thier is no reason why with tecnologies to get 50-60 MPG on gas, and an electric that only needs a charge once every week or two, 400-500 miles. :banghead:

On a lighter note got a dusting of snow the other day/night. Supposed to get some freezing rain and snow tonight/tomorrow, great! :lol:

Now i see what you guys were talking about with forum issues. I see that they are doing some updating.

Well I agree that GM should go more towards quality and not quantity. I also agree that they should go back to the custom era. Pick and choose what you want and how you want it. Saturn was the last of the GM line up to have such a thing and now it's just like every other GM car.... mass produced. I think what gets me more as well is you buy other GM cars over seas and they are 100 times better then what they sell in the US. Well according to the recent november sales based on GM sales only, Pontiac rated I believe 3rd or 4th in car sales #'s with over 12K units sold. Not bad compared to hummers 1,000 and Saab;s raging 800 cars. I just hope they hold onto pontiac and start cutting down on all the gas hungry soccer mom SUVS.

Gas hungry SUVs how about all thier gas guzzlers. lol
I heard the G5, G6 and G8s get horrible gas mileage even with the older folks driving slow.
They usualy advertise these newr rides with "E"MPG, E= Estimated. :banghead:

It realy doesnt matter to me either way if they close up shop. I know I will still be here fixing all of thier automobiles long after the sun goes down.

Don't worry guys, this will get you in the Christmas spirit! :gay::rofl:

http://www.juniorscienceclub.com/loganarchive/unreleased/theicecreamman.mp3

I get my ice cream from Oberwise dairy or Cold stone or maybe even at Dairy Queen.

its a little to cold for ice cream :lol:

It is never too cold for ice cream.

It's too cold for ice cream, it's so cold outside here you could make it easily . About 12 deg high today. :rolleyes:

It is never too cold for ice cream.

I agree. . . . No matter the temperature, ice cream is always in the cards. . . :naughty:

Woohoo! We gots snow ! :D

At&t is laying off 12,000, and Adobe is laying off 8% of its work force. Any one see that the City Of Chicago is going to be selling their parking meters to a private company for 1 billion. My question is when the meter runs out, how can the City issue a parking ticket. I believe that the city can't do this due to they no longer have the rights to the meters which they have sold.

12k isnt much when you think how big a Corp ATT has become. Yes its going to hurt a lot of employees but I bet most will have some Tech background and will pick up a job easier then most nonedgimicated peoples.

I've heard of other large cities selling thier meters to an outside sorce. The cops will still write tickets, thats how the company will make thier return. They'll make more on meter fines then the actual meters payout for parking.

You get some snow up your way doctorhrdware ?? :lol:

Edit

Looks like we'll be getting another round here shortly.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/centgrtlakes_loop.php

PS anyone have any GT rims for sale ??
I broke another one lastnight hitting a chuckhole. :crying:

I am not the far from you and yes we did get some snow, and when I was out earlier today it was starting to snow. Rumor has it that the meter fees in Chicago will triple.

Chicago Tribune announced that they are getting ready to file for bankruptcy. They also announced that there will be large lay offs.

PS anyone have any GT rims for sale ??
I broke another one lastnight hitting a chuckhole. :crying:

Offroading your GA's again? :lol2::uhoh:

I absolutely cannot figure out where my coolant is leaking from! I've had my upper/lower intake manifold gaskets replaced less than a year ago, my front timing cover gasket replaced about 7 months ago, and my water pump and hoses replaced. The only fathomable idea is my head gasket (god forbid, god forbid) or its burning through coolant. ACK!

Just remember everyone: If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you!

I just heard about the Chicago Tribune today, that was kinda out of no where. They also own the Chicago baseball team, along with a couple tv stations here in indiana. They probly want some of that bailout money. :rolleyes:


No Vipey I wasnt "off roading" just got a double wammy from some pot holes. Hit one on the pass side then about 10 ft up was another on the drivers side. Totally blew out the tire and wasted the rim.... my insurance is loving me. :grinno:
I'll get a pic of it up in a little bit, its good for some laughs. :D

The Cubs are up for sale and have been for quite some time now. I hit some thing in the a long time ago, I had a friend bend it back. He had to use a sledge hammer on it to bend the edge of the rim back.

I wished it was that simple.
This pic is kind of deceptive you cant see how its bent flat... its not fixable. :(

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c242/xeroinfinity/DSC00196.jpg

The blow out is what realy bites, getting the insur. to pay 100% is tough!
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c242/xeroinfinity/DSC00195.jpg

Should have a rim tomorrow as long as we dont get freezing rain. :bloated:

Good BYE GOV BLOGO:loser: , indicted for trying to sell obama senate seat. Good riddance to bad rubbish.:rofl: This indictment investigations have been going on for a long time.

Appearently the guys not to bright ... :uhoh:
Obama probley was in on it, you know the 60/40 $plit. :lol: