80LS1T

Well we test drove the Neon SXT and Cobalt LS and SS. She loved the Cobalt but it is just too far out of her price range. She likes the Neon too and its in her price range. She doesnt like the Aveo anymore because it looks too much like a Focus. Shes going to get the Neon SXT. The sales man for the Cobalt was a complete jackass too! We just wanted to test drive one but it turned into a 2.5 hour ordeal with him trying to sell a car that she just couldnt afford. She wanted to look at a Cobalt LT but they didnt have any and all they had was the base model with no power options and the Cobalt SS which was out of her price range. So he tried to get her to lease it and then we explained that she drives too much so milage would be an issue. Then he tried to sell her on the "Smart Buy Option". Which would have made her payments low at $280 but she would have a lump sum due at the end of 4 years..............YEAH FOR $9200! Yeah ok we'll sign up for that! Then he tried to sell her the SS even though the payments were $60/month out of her price range. So he told us to take the SS for lunch and come back with our "thoughts". So we did just to make him happy. We came back and said "sorry we just cant make this decision today and we'll let you know" so he tried to give us the car for the weekend. Yeah were like "ah no, its not that she doesnt want the car just that she CANT afford the car". This is when he finally gave up........after 2.5 hours! Yeah we could have left but we are both too nice and just couldnt get up and leave even though we both wanted to. Next time either one of us buys a car we are just going to go into the dealership and say "yeah Im looking for X model with these options, do you have one and how much?" " oh and Im not buying one today so dont try to sell me one" This guy we delt with pissed us both off. We werent buying TODAY but he thought that even though we werent buying today that he could get her to buy today. Sorry but salesmen are POS's if you aske me!(yeah that guy really left a bad taste in my mouth) Guy

Well 12's should be easy with a decent 60'. The 1/4 mph is kind of low though. I though most of the LS1 Z's ran up near 110-112mph in the 1/4. Guy

Well I just got off the phone with her. She looked at the Chevy Aveo tonight. So that might also be a possibilty. We are going to test drive the Neons on Saturday morning. Then she is going to test drive the Cobalt and Aveo later on Saturday afternoon. Sure would be cool if she got the SRT-4 but Im not holding my breath! As for the reliablity of the SRT-4's....We have about a half a dozen of them that get service at our dealership. None of them have any serious mods for HP. All bling bling stuff. From a stock stand point the only thing we have seen are emissions leaks. This is very common on all of the Dodges though. I personally think the PCM is just too sensitive to emissions leaks. Other than that they have been very good. Headgaskets are holding up just fine after 25,000miles(most of the SRT-4's that we have service at our dealership have over 20,000 miles on them now). Hard to say though in the long run. It wouldnt really matter for her though since I work at a dealership and we can find ways to cover things under warrenty for employees. Bastaad525, I say get the SRT-4! You'll love it and when/if it breaks you wont have to fix it! Guy

Oh trust me I would love her to get an SRT-4. I can get the Stage 3 with turbo toys for $3800! Retail on that is at about $5600 + labor to install it. We have 2 SRT-4's on the lot right now, a red one and an orange one. We are going to test drive one just for the fun of it. She's not a big go fast person though. But who knows maybe she will love it! I personally think the SRT-4 is a great little car with lots of potential. But shes not a car freak so mods would probably not be in its future. About the fixing it, it will be out of warrenty in less than 2 years because she drives 50 miles to work one way. So she puts on a ton of milage every year so she'll be out of warrenty on milage. So I will be fixing it sooner or later. Guy

Sorry Mike but there is no way she will be getting a Honda or any other car from overseas. I cant stand fixing them. Especially when you start to get into wiring. They(foreign car makers)just dont seem to know how to make a wiring diagram if you ask me. Mitsubishis are the worst if you ask me. Great mechanical but crappy wiring. Thats just my opinon and I dont want this thread to turn into a domestic vs foreign debate! As long as the engine isnt the same as the Saturns Im ok with it. All I ever see/hear about Saturns is how they like to burn oil once they get some milage on them. Im not interested in fixing that either! I want her to get the SS supercharged one but I doubt she will, she says she doesnt need a supercharger. I say who doesnt need a supercharger?! I think the coupe is nice looking too. We are going to start looking this weekend. So we will see what she finds "cute" and then test drive them. I cant wait to be treated like a moron by the salesmen. Thats the part about buying a car that I hate most! Guy

My girlfriend is looking at new cars and the Cobalt is on her list of "cute" cars. I just want to know if its a POS or a fairly reliable car. Anybody have one or work at a GM dealership that can give me some info on it? I dont want her to buy a car that is "cute" but unreliable. Especially since I will be the one fixing it once its out of warrenty! Thanks, Guy

My girlfriend thinks its cute because its so small but thats the only person who has ever refered to my car as "cute" I think you were on the right track with the "cough gay cough"....."not that theres anything wrong with that!" Guy

See I told you so! Arent you glad you put another R200 in?! Now you can have some fun with it and save up some cash for the solid rear end if your still going to go that route. Nice times too! Guy

Well Im pulling the tranny this weekend. I am going to run the engine with the flywheel bolted on and then with it off. I will know for sure if thats the issue then. I am pretty sure it is. Then Im going to have it balanced at the machine shop that I had the rest of the rotating assembly balanced at. The guy I bought it from said it was balanced but if it was balanced to the OEM specs that would explain why its not balanced for my rotating assembly, since mine is internally balanced. I wish I would have thought of this when the tranny and engine were out. Its a lot easier to install the engine and tranny together rather than pulling the tranny by itself. Oh well live and learn I guess. I know I will never do this again! LOL Then I have to figure out what to do about the knocking from the tranny and the grinding noise. But I will handle it one step at a time! Guy

Yeah Im thinking the vibration issues is deffinetly the new flywheel. The engine was internally balanced. I am going to pull the tranny this weekend rather than start on the body work. I was really excited about starting my first body work but it will have to wait now. As for the knocking, still not sure what that is. Im going to have one of the guys I work with have a look at it and see what he thinks. We'll see where I go from there. Guy

Well I was going to do some engine tuning today but I think I have some issues with my tranny(T56). When I put it in gear and release the clutch there is some grinding right as the car starts to move. There is also a knocking noise when the clutch is not pushed in. I had that same noise when I had the centerforce dual friction clutch in there. I also have a very harsh vibration when I rev the engine up. The flywheel and clutch are new. Its a Fidanze alluminum flywheel with a SPEC stage 3 clutch. The clutch and flywheel were balanced before the install. However I couldnt put the small washer on one of the bolts(it was used to make it balanced) for the flywheel to pressure plate because the bolt was too short. I ended up stripping the hole on the flywheel and having to helicoil the hole. I didnt put that washer on that bolt head because the bolt was obviously too short. Do you think that missing washer would cause a really bad vibration? I could see some but this vibration that I have is really bad. Also would it be possible that the flywheel isnt balanced for my engines rotating assembly? When I rebuilt the engine the whole rotating assembly was balanced together, including the flywheel. Is it possible that the new flywheel is throwing it out of balance? I have a really bad feeling that the tranny will be coming back out! I thought all that noise that I had previously was just clutch chatter but as it turns out that wasnt all of it I guess! I know some of it was because the flywheel had about a billion hotspots on it. This was probably due to an improper break in, aka too many burn outs. If I do pull the tranny back out it will get rebuilt. It has about 100,000 miles on it so its probably due. Right now Im think it needs some bearings internally, like an input shaft bearing. If I do rebuild though it will get all new bearings and syncrows. Damn just when I thought I had all the bugs worked out! This tranny noise is really bitting me in the ***! Any ideas what is causing the grinding noise? or vibration? or noise? LOL Anyone ever rebuild one of these? What did it cost for parts? Guy

It was a nice touch with a the break in action for a "mustang crash" LOL Some serious cars on that video thats for sure! Guy

Isnt the timimg controlled by the PCM? Are you going to install a retard box for nitrous? guy

Couldn't have said it better myself! I for one like the funny/pointless posts. Most are pretty funny. Though some might say some are a little too "racy." A warning would be good enough in my book. Guy

WOW so I guess the leaf blower is good for a few HP! Doesnt mean Im putting one on my car anytime soon though! Sure was some lame azz music though for the background! Guy

Now Im starting to understand! So would the HOK paint Im using be considered a 3 stage paint? I have the primer coat, silver/metalic coat, blue candy coat, and then the clear. I think I might end up at the paint store anyways to see what I need and then order it through work. Thanks guys! Guy

Im not sure what you mean by all these coating. I thought it was just primer? What are sealers, barrier coats , and topcoating refering too? Are they all just steps to primer? Like is the first coat called a barrier coating and the sealer is the topcoating? Yeah Im very confused! LOL And yes all the dings are very minor.

Ok here's how I have things figured out in my head, tell me if Im thinking right.... step 1... sand car down with DA sander to get the original paint dull step 2...make sure all the spots that I couldnt get with the DA are also dull step 3...primer the whole car step 4...fix all the little dings and dents with filler(I still have no idea what to use for this???.....suggestions would be appreciated! ) step 5...primer all the filler step 6...block sand the whole car Does that sound about right or am I missing something? Thanks guys! Guy

I am not going to be shooting the paint. I am going to have a pro do it. I just want to handle the steps up to the actual color. All the prep work I can do and learn as I go. I dont trust myself either with the HOK paint as I hear it takes a pretty good painter to make it look even. If it was a solid color I would attempt to paint it myself. As for the sander, Im not too concerned with how much air it will consume. I have a new 2 stage compressor that puts out 17 scfm's with an 80 gallon tank. So air supply shouldnt be an issue. Guy

Well Harbor Freight didnt have anything that caught my eye. I am going to get those paint guns from Brandsplace.com and I still dont know what I should get for a sander. Im going to talk to one of the tool guys that comes to my work and see what he's got. I never though a sander would cost so much! Ok now what about a primer? What kind should I get? I want to get it through work so that I can get it at cost. So I just need to tell them what I need and they will get it for me. I dont want to go into the paint store and say "yeah what do I need and then say ok I'll have the parts guys at work order it for me so that I dont have to pay retail" LOL Guy

Yeah I did some more searching on Google and found the set cheaper at "Brandsplace.com" for $101.95 with free shipping. I am going to Harbor Freight today to see what they have. Is there anything special about these palm sanders that I need to know. Seems like they vary from $70-$200. Whats the differnece between a $70 sander and a $200 sander? Guy

I say just get another R200 for now and the gather parts for the new rear end set up. Atleast then you could have some fun with it for a while! Where's the pics by the way! Guy

Well in 2 weeks I should be starting the body work! I need some recommendations on equipment and a primer... What kind of sander should I get, like how big of a DA sander? What types/grits of sand paper should I get for the DA and for hand sanding? And what brand/kind of primer do you guys recommend for my House of Kolor paint? I have a silver base coat so I assume I should use a gray primer? Thanks guys! Guy EDIT........... Ok I have been doing some reading on HVLP guns and sanders..... Seems like for shooting primer that a lot of guys are using the gun kit from "northern tool"...Titan 4-Pc. HVLP Triple Setup Spray Gun Kit $140. And for a sander I was thinking of this.... Its just a generic sander by Northern Tool. I really dont want to spend $200 on a sander that wont really be used much. This one is only $90.

That is a very cool screen saver, very detailed and accurate! Nice find! Guy