Grand Am Off Topic Thread

Back to the grindstone tomorrow:lol: The ol' GA has received a breather for the last 10 days. Replaced the front left lower ball joint about 6 weeks ago plus spark plugs and sp wires. Just turned 247k over the weekend so hopefully will continue to roll for a while.

The civic just rolled over 127K recently... still rolling amazingly... not sure how somedays. I keep loosing some antifreeze but there are no leaks... it's almost as if it's creating too much pressure and leaks out of the cap on the radiator because I keep finding dried antifreeze all over the radiator and engine bay after i clean it... then one day it will be back! I just can't seem to catch it leaking. My alarm system has been crapping out for the past few months. some days it stops working other days it shorts out while driving locking the doors and bascially trying to arm the car. I have my dash half ripped apart so i can hit the brain of the alarm and move some wires to get it to work again when it stops. Oh and the best was the nose dive the car did on i-95 the other day the car shook like hell then you hear the trans grind while the car tried ot figure out what gear it wanted to be in... oh and the car alarm was trying to arm itself. I do have to say it was perfect timing though.. i did have some jackass that was driving on the shoulder trying to play a game of chicken with me to see if i would move if he would swerve at me (theres more to the story that lead up to this point). Needless to say i did call the cops on him,... but thanks to my car it slowed itself down to prevent from getting hit. If it was me I would have let him hit me because I would love to hear him try to explain why he hit me on my passenger side when he was on the shoulder... OH and my wife was following behind me... so a witness as well. :lol: :rofl:

well good to hear everyones cars are holding up out there! The SE just turned over 265k miles i dont drive it as much as i used to. Since lowering i seem to do a lot of road grading! =(

Been doin a lot of road trips and work is busy as usual cant complain to much it pays the bills.

Have a great Christmas everyone , if Im not back here before then.

Washed and waxed the GA today. Been replacing some burned out lights the last couple of weekends to get it ready for inspection next month (driver's side headlight, passenger side marker lamp and turn signal lamp). Giving it one final breather before returning to the grindstone on Dec. 27. Everyone have a great Christmas, and keep the GA's rolling!

Old faithful just turned 250k Saturday morning. Most of the mileage that I have put on the GA has been highway miles. Changed oil and inspected last week so good to go again for a little while :lol:.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and new year! The civic has just over 128k on it and still running! The tranny is starting to go though. Some days is wont go past 3rd gear others it will slip when shifting or not know what gear to shift into. So I'm preparing for a new car sometime thus year. I honestly still have a week spot for grand ams! Every time I see a 1999+ gt in silver it reminds me of mine. I saw 4 of them today and at one point I said to myself Damn that's a good looking car. Hope everyone is doing well!

Grfnkl, know what you mean. I still have mine but if the right situation come along, I wouldnt mind getting another one. Of course with less mileage, :lol:

240k on my SE...

:D hai guys


I see you got the MMS PCM XI? Does it run smooth? I wonder how the MMS would compare to my DHP PCM v1 - It feels like mine chugs if it needs too, I've been running royal purple 10w30 for a while now, Once the motor warms up it purrs, I have redline water wetter in the coolant. Coolant gradually warms up over time, I treat my GA like it's an old man lol. I've noticed I have a tiny 1-2 slip in the trans so slow starts are usually were im at till its 2nd and I'm off lol, still have the royal purple max atf for trans, no hiccups at all. When i actually shift under throttle its similar to a F1 feel, just a blip and next gear lol.

Just got new rim, 2 new rear tires... gotta get 2 for the front soon. Drives smooth, suspension is saggy. Its a BOAT! but still fun. Brakes have been 'ok' Nothing major. I was considering doing upgrades like lines and pads/performance rotors but I'd rather just sell it lol

rear pass window clip broke argg... so instead of it only rolling up the clip is just destroyed and Im to lazy and poor to go pay more money lol... now its being held up with a 2" C Clamp, and good ole duct tape inside and out on the window... no leaks! http://e.deviantart.com/emoticons/s/shakefist.gif

Still gets me to work and home lol, I dont really drive it anywhere else. Using 93oct seems to make the difference with the PCM on gas savings as well as performance. If I'm feather footed going to work I can make half a tank last a while

Hola compadres!

I have my Grand AM working again... it was dead for a couple months because the battery was dead... got a new battery and it still wasn't working. Found out the problem was the connection to the battery was loose because the bolt holding the positive wire to the battery wasn't going in all the way... and now it lives!

Now it's my spare car, and I drive my Mazdaspeed 6 and my Legacy half-and-half, depending on whether or not my wife works. When she's working I drive the Mazda, when she's not I drive the Legacy. But every once in a while... I fire my old beast up for a joy ride. I'll have my beloved Grand AM for as long as it still can run :)

Plus it has my audio system, and every once in a while I need a good back massage LOL :D

LIVE ON FELLOW GRAND AMMERS! Wonder how many days it will take until someone replies lol :D

I ran some lucas cleaner the other day.. It perked it up a bit lol. I usually get 93oct.

Yoo vipey!

Heya Gir!

I've been modding my Mazdaspeed 6... it's freaking fast and sounds like a jet! I'm considerign permanently retiring my Grand AM to my parent's place because it's still having a lot of problems :( Time will tell!

ToDo List... Possibly new Brakes/Rotors/Lines :iceslolan



If I were to sell on craigslist I would strip everything out and call it a 'work' vehicle. Great MPG!

Hey guys! Glad to hear everyone's ga is still running for the most part. Civic is still going approaching 133k. I need tires, probably brakes soon and who knows what else. I finally got my oil leak fixed at least so now the car isn't burning or leaking out the rest! Nice not to see the oil light every time I start the car! We will be getting a new/ used car later this year. We will probably keep the civic as our awesome gas mileage car despite the issues it has. I will eithe get the new car keep driving the civic or possibly get the wife's rsx. I'm not keen on having her car though it it would be better then the civic. We are not sure what we will get yet though.... Some ideas are ford escape or Acura rdx.... But we haven't started looking yet so we don't know. Keep em rolling!

The other day.. Part of me thought.... hrm. I still enjoy my 3.4L <3

I wonder how much performance parts and upgrades would cost me lol

Then I thought, crap... if I only had enough to swap it into a newish sunfire/cavi I'D BET SET!

GA still rolling! Had to service the brakes in late January, replacing the front pads as well as both calipers (was anticiapating the driver side). The starter went to sleep in March so replaced that. Got all the regularly scheduled maintenance caught up for the time being. Getting about 32-33 MPG on the highway, so as long as I'm able to maintain that I'll be ok. Keep 'em rolling!

Happy memorial day everyone! It's official the wife and I are car shopping. We decided we might as well get something now before something happens to he cars we do have. The civic is now starting to burn oil under heavy acceleration.... It also sounds really bad at start up like a really bad lifter noise actually it sounds like it has no oil with a metallic chatter... It usually goes away but it's not good. So car shopping we go! I'll keep everyone posted on what we get. Stay safe everyone!

Bought a new car! I got a 2009 Acura rdx AWD turbo with only 25k miles on it! It's very very fun to drive! I will be keeping the civic until its dead... Which could be next week or 6 years from now! Lol. I'll post some pics when I take them!

Hope all is well in GA land and that everyone had a great and safe 4th. Ol' faithful is still being faithful, closing in on 269k. Since replacing the starter in March, all has been good. Budgeting for tires later this year, so i hope i don't have to do too much more beyond that other than regular oil changes. Keep the GA's rolling!

Just brought Grand AM in for some more repairs... alternator was dead, coolant light is incessantly on and needs replaced along with cap, front right wheel speed sensor is dead so I need new one and harness (any tips on how to install myself so I dont have to pay $590 at a stealership?), and rear view mirror fell off... AGAIN.

I drive my Mazdaspeed 6 now most of the time but I hit a raccoon last week and it tore the front bumper off of it so it's dragging on the ground and I needed to wait a week until I got it fixed so I needed a spare car in the mean time, and the wife's car is needed for when she goes to work... so I got the Grand AM fixed so I can drive it for a week. Granted it works now but I have no ABS... I just need to get that stupid speed sensor fixed WITHOUT paying the stealership outrageous money.

209k miles and counting!

Here's my Mazda before I got windows tinted... new pics will come when I find where I put them.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/177700_10101574739581188_1159470516_o.jpg

I hope everyone is doing well and so is your grand an and other toys! I can say I'm enjoying the new car when I drive it. I'm trying to use the civic but it's so hard somedays! My civic was infested with ants for a week so it gave me a reason to drive the new car! Soon I have to get tires for it as well so it'll pass inspection. Bald tires generally don't go over well at inspection! Lol. Here are some pics of the new car!

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/grfnkl/89c7273f.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/grfnkl/ef116351.jpg
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s265/grfnkl/aca3636b.jpg

Just brought Grand AM in for some more repairs... alternator was dead, coolant light is incessantly on and needs replaced along with cap, front right wheel speed sensor is dead so I need new one and harness (any tips on how to install myself so I dont have to pay $590 at a stealership?), and rear view mirror fell off... AGAIN.

I drive my Mazdaspeed 6 now most of the time but I hit a raccoon last week and it tore the front bumper off of it so it's dragging on the ground and I needed to wait a week until I got it fixed so I needed a spare car in the mean time, and the wife's car is needed for when she goes to work... so I got the Grand AM fixed so I can drive it for a week. Granted it works now but I have no ABS... I just need to get that stupid speed sensor fixed WITHOUT paying the stealership outrageous money.

209k miles and counting!

I think their is a R&R in the tips & maintenance section for that wheel speed sensor. The hardest part is getting the axle nut lose and then torquing to what ever depending on which nut you use/get as the replacement.
Autozone sell the Timken ones for around $105-110 each. If your wire harness is damaged you can repair it by soldering the wires and using high quality heat shrink tubing. ;) Done a lot of these over the years!!



My SE/SS is running great, like new really. :iceslolan
It is practically a new car since i re-did the all the body work, and i ran all new brake lines and installed braided lines to the wheels. It really improved braking a lot!! I drove it to North Dakota a couple months ago for a short vacation. It was a lot cooler up there then it was down here....the heat this summer was horrible! Keeping the shop cool was a real B* too!

On a sad note, that green GT i sold got totalled back n june. The guy was rear ended at a stop and the guy kept ramming him and trying to push him off the road and then fled. I dont know if the cops ever caught the guys even.
But the car is n my shop sitting while he decides what to do with it. But to fix or swap out the vitals... its not to bad realy. Just needs a rear bumper, trunk lid and maybe a body alignment and some paint. GA's are tougher then what most think. :lol:
Though his insurance totaled it because they said it cost more to repair then their "book" value. Either way he'll get reamed! insurance companies suck, they are only looking after themselves! :evillol:

Hope everyone has enjoyed their hot ass summer! Lets hope the farmers almanac isnt right about the winter weather, they are saying lots of cold and precipitation(snow).

My summers been so busy Ive not had much time for internet or anything funnin. :runaround:
Hope to get some time and take a short vacation before winter rolls in!

Mazda having issues already... remote entry and RFID start isn't working properly and my window master control module is broken. Probably going to be $500ish to replace these things... so lame.

But going on vacation, leaving tomorrow morning for a week! WOOHOO!!! Maybe I'll catch the tail-end of the Hurricane on my way to Florida :)

GA still rolling! Just recently replaced the tires on it and it has made a couple of extended trips since the last time I posted on here. One to Ocean City, MD in Aug, the other to Carolina Beach in late Sept. Approaching 280k so I'll try to continue to take good care of it. Everyone have a great and safe holidays that are coming up.

Happy trails, Grand AM...

After more than 11 years with my Grand AM (owned it since two weeks after September 11th), I am finally going to part ways.

Too many problems and I already have a car that's faster, more fun, more luxurious, and much more reliable. With no easy place to store it and problems mounting faster than our national debt (hardly), it's time to get what I can from it and say goodbye.

This was my first car and I have a billion pictures so it will always live on in memory :(

I'll still "frequent" these forums like everyone "frequents" them (hardly at all anymore), but alas, the Grand AM will be no more.

That sucks vipey... But I understand with parting with the grand am. When I parted with my 88 2 years ago it was a tough decision but like you problems were mounting faster then you could fix them or even pay for them. I have tons of pics of my 88 and my 02 gt and my 06 g6 gtp. Picture will keep the memory alive. I guarantee you will always do a double take on any grand am that looks close to yours. I do miss all three of my pontiacs in way or another and despise my Honda cIvic. Love the rdx though just not the gas mileage even tough the wifey drives it more then I do. I frequent here regularly but as the posts have dwindled I don't feel like talking to myself... Lol. Stay in touch!

On to my cars... All on the road fine. The civic was hit parked a few weeks ago by my former manager. Nothing major just scrapes on the front bumper and headlight. The bumper is misaligned or the headlight can't tell which but the gap is bigger between them. The civic also has a broken transmission mount and still losing coolant with no visible leaks but an antifreeze smell. Hope everyone is doing well!

Hope everyones doing fine out there!!

So Vipey, you already sell you Grand AM ??

Hell I have put much more than 1000 miles on mine in the last year! Last good weather we had i took it out one night, and about eat a deerss! Guess they heard me coming as they all quit running toward the road. Good thing because i was going to fast to stop! :lol:

Since Im divorced now, I can buy what i want and keep them forever!! Well until Dec 21 when the world ends.

OH nope... Im still here.


How was your guy's end of the world day :jerking: lol


Im surprised I haven't posted any car news here... I want to still be on this forum, I just forget to check on a daily basis lol

Grand am still runs like a champ, im at just about 240k mi ...

Basically since I have added redline to the coolant after I flushed it out... it takes a few extra mins to get up to operating temps. After its up its basically locked there unless it's cold outside. My GA NEVER gets above 220-235F(dead stop traffic idle... in tx summer :rolleyes:) Mostly sits at idle temp.

Gas consumption is decent, its all about throttle and habits lol (lead foot habits :smokin:)

No idea if spark plugs should be changed, I got the iridium ones we have listed in parts... All cycl still fire just fine :dunno:

I run 10w30 Royal Purple all year now... 50/50 coolant mix, 93oct (dhp pcm), royal purple max atf in the trans... Never even bothered to hookup my transmission temp sensor :iceslolan

Both rear windows are currently falling down, one is being held by futuristic magical duct tape (im surprised its still holding!) and the other has a 2" C-clamp pinching the bottom window bracket and a piece of the door together... the door interior on that one is in the stripped out trunk lol


Other than suspension issues this car has been a great 1st car daily driver... Ive had it since Sept 2005. Mostly went through power steering pumps and fuel pumps, everything else worked perfectly. My bolt-on upgrades only gave more life to the motor.

All in all it was my ultimate highway cruiser, More throttle ment 4-2 or 3-1 shift change and WOT !!

Most noticeable upgrade I did for the car was a new stock ignition control module, MSD coilpacks, 8mm taylor spiro pro wires, and the iridium plugs... INSTANT difference in the vehicles behavior, start-up, idle and smooooth rev.

But enough memories! Its sitting kinda fugly with the taped windows and high miles...

I now have a 04 Mazdaspeed Miata !

http://image.automotive.com/f/features/9883755+pheader/0409_sccp_01_z+mazda_speed_mx5_great_rides+miata_s ide_view.jpg
http://www.michaelclee.com/pics/nb_mazdaspeed_04/images/IMG_6523.jpg

Neither of those pics are mine but you get the idea.

My car came with an aftermarket turbo setup from BEGI

MSM S3 Turbo Upgrade (http://www.bellengineering.net/product_info.php?cPath=4_59&products_id=313)
http://www.bellengineering.net/images/products/313/mid_size/1-P1260626.JPG

Its not exactly THAT setup but its very similar... same turbo.. I have a greddy knock off BOV that vents to air not recirculated. Front mount intercooler


So faarrrrrr.... :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: NOTHING BUT H E A D A C H E S !!!

I drove from Austin area to Dallas (3.5hr drive) to pickup the vehicle, the sale online didn't have an engine pic but he told me over the phone it had an aftermarket setup and didn't want to advertise it (scare away?)

OK, nitty gritty.... I inspected it all up and down while I was there... I WANTED the car badly. I see oil leaks... bad seals.... The guy mentioned the head was warped (didnt say by who, but assumption ment previous owner)
The in-house mechanic apparently sent the head off to be resurfaced and they put it back together. I thought.... OK... its not bad, he just drove it like a bat out of hell trying to impress me :banghead: ass... Oil level is good, all is fine. Soo I bought the vehicle, and drove back with no problems other than its running super rich.

Had the vehicle 3 weeks without check the fluids, car was running like a dream even rich.. still making boost. I finally got around to it and found out the vehicle was SUPER LOW on oil, filled it back up with royal purple I have saved over the years. Still drove it... did some research and found out there is a specialized auto shop that is recommended by BEGI to install their turbo kits..

After a look over they called for the motor to be pulled and completely re-sealed.. new water pump, new timing belt... :banghead: 2500.00

Whatever its GOOD NOW RIGHT? no........ :disappoin

Oil is still leaking.... I still see puffs of smoke in the morning, and its getting worse

Also fixed the shifter housing... top was loose like someone removed it and didnt secure it back... gear shifts are more precise now.

I Did some rough test drives under boost at night with cars behind me... I see tons of vapor at cold idle and under boost.... Oh ITS THE TURBO!!!! :banghead::banghead:

Just got this fixed at another place they specialty shop recommended... 1330.00 :angryfire

I was guessing 6-800 tops for everything... so I asked if I could have a fancy turbo blanket and heat wrap done while everything was apart and he was waiting for the turbo to get back.

450 for turbo rebuild (seals and w/e misc parts).... 570.00 LABOR?!?? ALL HE DID WAS REMOVE THE TURBO AND SHIP IT OUT TO ANOTHER COMPANY TO FIX :angryfire:angryfire:angryfire He said about 80-90 dollars was for the wrap and a smaller amount for the blanket... since he just slips it one and locks it in

Having a very poor xmas this year lol, I hope I ONLY get 20.00 xmas cards... its all going to debt and payments lol :icon16:


Even after the frustration, its still the car Ive been waiting for... its retarded fun driving a little boosted car lol I dont listen to the radio and I still smile whenever I drive it :screwy::grinyes:

I know for sure I didn't buy a lemon... just someone's abused toy :nono:

Since getting the major mechanical stuff done... now I gotta tackle the codes I have...

P0102 - Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit Low Input
P0246 - Turbocharger Wastegate Solenoid A High
P0335 - Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Malfunction
P2178 - Fuel Rich Off-Idle (fuel system is to rich off of idle)

From my personal experience with the Crank Position Sensor on my grand am.... If mine on the miata is acting the same way or giving me a fubar reading Im sure this is a cause for my motor running filthy rich.... ALSO, with indication of my MAF sensor... I've read if this is dirty I can also run rich in this way too....

The P0246 could be from my turbo kit that is installed.... theres wire splices after a few sensors that have vac plugs in them... It could be using it for the piggy back computer that is plugged in.

you kids and your turbos ! :lol: :D

Hope everyone survived the end of the world Christmas ! Mine was turkey tits!

Gir sounds like it could just be a dirty MAF, or faulty crank sensor.
Ive driven a 2-3 of these, with stock turbos, and they were problematic IMO!
I'd double check all your connections and drink some beer!

Im going to play in all this snow we keep getting! It was a crazy month, warmed up then arctic cold. Then we get a small blizzard, which pounded the east coast! Im not bitchin though, I lost out on snow removal last yr, hope to make up for it this season.

Every one have a safe New Year !! :cheers:

Still here... Survived the 21st, Christmas and new years... Now just waiting on the baby to arrive. I love my little turbo suv! It's better then driving the Gokart civic. My wife has been using it though leaving me to the civic. It's been on and off cold here. No snow though! Not sure if we will see any this year or not... Kind of want some so I can test out the AWD on the rdx. Not that I haven't tested it on dry pavement with some wheel squeal! Good luck with the Miata gir.... Sounds like a little bit of a money pit but hopefully it'll get better after you fix everything!

Hey grfnkl, you get any of that blizzard that rolled up the east coast ??

Stuff looked horrible upper north east! Though they are accustomed to a lot of snow, i think this one set some new records!

Its warm here one day, and zero the next. :banghead:
Waiting on a front to move in thursday evening/night, hope we get a little more snow. :p

just upgraded to win 7 ultimate 64 bit on my home pc, WOW! Its a great boost !! :D

So who's ready for summer ???

I guess win 7 ultimate is so great you had to post it 7 times! Lol. We didn't that blizzard here. Just missed us. We did get a flurry though. For the locals that's a blizzard! Lol. :rofl:

I guess win 7 ultimate is so great you had to post it 7 times! Lol. We didn't that blizzard here. Just missed us. We did get a flurry though. For the locals that's a blizzard! Lol. :rofl:

:lol: it was giving me a hard time an not wanting to post, guess its a good thing i didnt click it 1000X.! :biggrin:

thats good you missed all that snow the upper new england got this year.

I cant believe this time last year it was in the 80s here. maybe it wont be so hot this summer.... :banghead:

sleepy forums!

sorry i was napping. :D

yea its been a little slow on here. i try and make it over to see whats going or not on here.
Ive been super busy non-stop it seems for over a year. Summer breaks coming up so some of my brats will be home from college.

Hows things going with everyone else ??

My GA is doing great, only drive it thru the summer months now. Bought a couple older GAs to play around and do some MODS.

Saw PFYC has some new LED dash light bulbs to change the colors. just need to know exactly which size and how many...Im not certain myself. lol

i forgot to tell you guys, i almost bought a 2010 Nissan GTR a few months back.
Someone in Tennessee had one for sale for $65,000, low miles and looked great. It was a dark brown/bronze color, if it would have been black or even white, I'd prob have bought it.

I did take it for a short drive and i fell in love with the power and control it has. though they do ride a little stiff in the sport settings. :D

the owner was rather paranoid, he called to verify my insurance and license was good before he allowed me to drive it. and of coarse he went along, but he said drive it like it was mine. hehehe :p

I'm around....been very busy as well with the little one. She's 5 months old now man time flies! No changes in cars here. We had to change daycares so the civic went from being used maybe once a month to more often depending on our schedules. The bad part is the brakes are shot in that car and I have had no time to get to work on them, the front brakes were done 50k miles ago and rear well hasn't been done since we bought the car more then 70k miles ago... I've stomped on he brakes before and the car slows but keeps going... I can't even lock them up. All the brakes grab at differently causing this weird jerking diving motion all over. It's fun! Lol. The wifeys car is fine just replaced the o2 sensor on that... And my rdx had to get a new ac condenser, due to a rock smashing a hole in it! Thankfully the warranty covered it, and it happened at least while we were in jersey visiting so we could get to a Acura dealer easily. If not its a two hour drive to the closest Acura dealer from our house in nc! Otherwise we are doing well. I've been on the search for a cheap good newer car for my aunt. Her 01 deville finally bit the big one. Over 200k miles on the engine and trans, finally blew the original head gasket. The sad part is my aunt can't even afford to buy any car so I've been on the hunt for her... Hopefully something will come up. Till next time everyone!

i forgot to tell you guys, i almost bought a 2010 Nissan GTR a few months back.
Someone in Tennessee had one for sale for $65,000, low miles and looked great. It was a dark brown/bronze color, if it would have been black or even white, I'd prob have bought it.

I did take it for a short drive and i fell in love with the power and control it has. though they do ride a little stiff in the sport settings. :D

the owner was rather paranoid, he called to verify my insurance and license was good before he allowed me to drive it. and of coarse he went along, but he said drive it like it was mine. hehehe :p

I want a GTR :(

Win 7, I hope to make that leap soon lol. I will go all out on that PC build :D


nothing new really, making payments on the msm miata

I had the motor resealed, the turbo resealed

still have an oil leak, my instinct points me to the valves or other head related issue,

Still able to drive to work everyday, but it sucks I haven't touched boost since when I first bought the car...

to help the slow of oil loss I've been allowing the motor to warm up in the morning and before I drive home. A shop owner I spoke with also mentioned it may be the pistons letting oil through :( :( Hopefully that is not the case. At this point it looks like I might as well as start planning for a full rebuild / performance upgrade

oh and, grand am still drives just fine... da beast has been sitting a lot lately. Soon Im going to arrange it to be picked up on the cheap, nobody is going to want my 237k miles on craigslist lol ;)

How's life everyone? It's been a while!

My wife and I are about to close on a condo and finally have a place that is larger than 700 sq ft. Looking forward to being able to move around instead of being smashed in with all our stuff. Our cats will probably be happier too.

Sounds like youre moving on up Vipey! lol so you still living in Chicago?
You get any storms up their Sunday Nov `17 ?

We had a few tornados roll thru here! think thier was 23 of them in Indiana. Luckily no deaths just property damage.

We had a tornado close to Rensselaer, i had 72 MPH winds for a little bit. Ripped a few shingles off my house and laid my wind generator pole at a 45 deg angle. Glad it and my panels survived it all! Moved a small shed i have about a foot.
Shit was crazy for a few! My kids and some friends were over when it all went down, we took cover just to be safe.

Crazy November weather. Why didnt you warn us Vipey ?? lmao

Oooooops :tongue:

Yeah it was nasty around here. I used to live near Washington, IL. Actually the tornadoes that went through went only a couple miles from where I used to live... terrifying. I know people that lost their homes and everything. I'll be down there next week on Friday and might be helping with cleanup efforts since the company I work for practically owns the entire area (largest employer in Peoria) and I want to help.

Tornadoes came near here but didn't get here. It was our first day moved in to the condo when the storms came... we have an underground garage now so we would have just went down there and we would have been fine... piles of steel and concrete around you is pretty safe.

Glad to hear you guys are alright... I heard on the news there was a tornado going near Rensselaer and I was thinking "oh shit hope XI is okay." :uhoh:

Keep on drivin'! :D

Hell has froze over ! :banghead:
cold snow cold then more snow! :jerking: :iceslolan

well everyone enjoying the deep freeze ? oh and the snow? :rolleyes:

Im not ! tired of being out in the crap all day and half the night! :frown:

Had the Grand AM out last week. I noticed my oil light came on a couple times when i was gettin on it hard. Didnt think much about it at the time. But the next day i hooked it up and got some vitals.... my f"n oil pump is going out! :banghead: :angryfire :crying:


So Ive broke down and started looking for some performance parts to rebuild a new motor.
Hell Ive got 4-5 3.4s laying out back that i could prob throw in it and be fine. But i want to do it right and one time only.

Hope to get it done by summer! I was looking at taking it out Route 66 for a long road trip this summer but idk know....
I'll get some pics and a parts list with costs soon as i get this ball rolling. Just got a lot going on right now and this wasnt in the plan. :lol:

I noticed my oil light came on a couple times when i was gettin on it hard. Didnt think much about it at the time. But the next day i hooked it up and got some vitals.... my f"n oil pump is going out!


Exactly, what did the "vitals" tell you? If it was just a code for the oil pressure switch, I would be putting a pressure gauge on this first......could just be the sensor/sender....

well all the sensors are newer and no faults there.
The #1 indicator is the oil light coming on at 3000 rpms and the pressure dropping to 18-20 psi. it should increase with engine rpm not drop pressure.
Second was all the lifter and valve chatter, even after the engine had been running for a couple hours. And it also was making a weird noise coming from the drivers side oil pan like someone sanding inside the motor. not a good sign!
Also, this block and low end has over 300k miles... And they've been some Hard miles. :lol:

"all the lifter and valve chatter, even after the engine had been running for a couple hours. And it also was making a weird noise coming from the drivers side oil pan like someone sanding inside the motor. not a good sign!
Also, this block and low end has over 300k miles..."

"......and now we know the rest of the story. Goody day."

This cold/snow needs to END...

It's been brutal up here by Chicago. -40 wind chills and piles of snow. My tires are bad for snow too so it's been rough... been driving my wife's Subaru when I can.

But spring is around the corner! Hopefully after this week it wont be so friggin cold!

I'll just leave this here: XI :jerking: vipey :jerking: grfnkl :jerking:

:feedback:

:headshake :greddy2:

:spit: :yikes: :dogpile:
http://i61.tinypic.com/t0j2c3.jpg

http://i61.tinypic.com/308za55.jpg

http://i57.tinypic.com/2qtlljq.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/ngey61.jpg



And in hindsight, modifying the grand am would of been much cheaper!! :runaround::rofl::rofl:

Rx7!!!!

Rx7!!!!

Heh, I wish!


Its a 2004 mazdaspeed miata, 84,000 miles or so now :smokin:

It's a Bell Engineering kit, iron cast manifold, gt2860rs turbo on wastegate @ 6psi. The rings have a bad seal, motor sips oil for breakfast lunch & dinner but hopefully that will be fixed in the near future.

nice little ride Gir ! I bet it scoots you down the road pretty quick! :smokin:

not much you can do about the rings, other than pulling the motor apart and replacing them. Not a cheap fix !

Is it still under warranty? prob not being 10 yrs old....


Ive had a long painful road to recovery for my Grand Am!! I actually dropped a used engine and trans w/75k miles on it. Swapped out my lowering springs with new factory struts and springs and sold that MF! :crying:

Ive had several different ones this year, but none worth keeping. Rebuilding an engine now so when i find a newer replacement i can just drop in the new engine and my beefed trans. Then start throwing on all my mods. Hopefully i'll have something ready for next summer.

so damn tired of this crazy weather this year! I should have bought a boat with all the rain we've had!! :screwy:

Here is one Im looking at right now, a 2003 but they're asking way to much. The ones with the SC/T hood and wing are hard to come by. Ive only seen 3-4 for sale in the last year but 1000s of regular GTs.

happy monday :runaround:

man dont look like my attachments are loading right!?
Can you guys view them??

yea I see them, This site has grown so much yet is still soooo slooooow at loading.

NEW News...

my rings might be bad, but the turbo is leaking -_- grrr

$1600 soon for a garret GTX2860. Fingers crossed.

Yes Gir thems the drawbacks of running with boost. Since everything is always under higher pressure it just makes since. Ive replaced a lot of stuff on those pesky neons w/turbos. i hate them with a passion! mostly just so tight working on anything.

Ya the sites grown but still trouble loading pages and the usual posting can be a pita!


Im goin to post a thread on some grand am stuff amazon has, mostly mods. :thumbsup:

Even though Im in a completely different vehicle these days, I still have love for grand ams. whenever I see 2 door black GTs I cant contain myself lol. Always wished I had the semi smoked GT lights on my blue SE.

With my 3.4L knowledge + what I've learned in recent years with automotive performance. I wouldn't bat an eye with a v6 swap into a cav or sunfire :D

ya i've got so much $$ wrapped up in Grand Am mods i'll have one around until the parts crap out. lol my next one will be much nicer and low miles.

Im soooo tired of this crappy weather! You get some snow down there Gir ? lol
I think every state got some of the subzero and snow this season. hate to see next years!

on another note, this crazy B lives in my town. you'd never thought she was a killer :D
http://wlfi.com/2015/03/02/arrest-made-in-rensselaer-murder-case/

Hey everyone! Long time no post from me. I'm still around finally enjoying some warmer weather here in NC. Considering we had snow here just last week and it's supposed to be almost 80 degrees today... Go figure!

No changes here in the automotive line up at my house. Still got the RDX, RSX and civic. The civic has been taking a beating and showing its age but it still keeps going. Last November I hit a deer with it, took out the headlight, cracked the paint in the bumper, and dented and kinked the front fender. Honestly I walked away on that one lucky. I bought two new headlights off eBay pulled the fender out front under the hood and reattached the bumper to the fender and was all done. You can barely tell anything happened. Repair wise though I've been fixing more and more things with more things breaking. I had to put a new starter in it because every few months it would act like it had a weak battery very slow crank. It only did it occasionally but when it did happen it was a bitch to get it running..then. It wouldn't do it again. Go figure. I had a brake cylinder go bad so I was leaking brake fluid thankfully it was one of the rear drums. Electrical issues with the alarm system a bad ground that I can never get tight. My wiring harness broke in the door jam on the drive side causing my locks to go crazy on the car. What do I find out with that... They don't make that harness because it was so common they broke instead I would have to rewire the whole door into the car... Thanks but now... Nothing a little splicing couldn't fix. Other then cosmetic appearance like oxidizing pAint, a missing molding due to rust and clear coat peeling off the "newer" repainted areaa... The car still runs ok. 153,000 and still going! I swear the transmission has been going out on the car since 120,000 miles! Lol when it's cold it shifts hard and won't shift into 4th or overdrive until it warms up enough. Overall it's not that bad though it does need new brakes, cv boots, sway bar end links, wheel bearings, valve cover gasket, and fix the current transmission leak. That's the mechanical repairs needed. I think everything else has been replaced for the front wheels already so nothing else should be left! Lol. For my gas saver daily driver it gets me from point a to b 85% of the time .

Hope everyone else has been doing well