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SAmadei

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Everything posted by SAmadei

  1. SAmadei
    Before winter? For the 4x4? Nah... I live in South Jersey... we either get nothing or 3 feet of snow... and 3 feet brings on a state of emergency where its illegal to be on the road anyway. Actually, even with the snow last year, I only actually used the 4x4 for about 10 feet... just to see if it worked. Then I learned that the G80 LSD in the trucks behaves differently than a traditional LSD, which I'm less than thrilled about... so I'm just as likely to get a 2WD truck as anything. At least with a 2WD truck, I can lower it and make it a big station wagon... with 4WD, I feel obligated to maintain the ground clearance... and the annoyance of climbing up into a vehicle. Chances are slim I add a redundant truck, though.
  2. SAmadei
    Knowing what you've replaced, I would say bearings or tie rod ends. I would also move the front tires to the back a bit to see if the problem moves. Sure, they may be new and balanced, but I always seems like tire/wheel issues... especially if they use cheap weights that fly off when you hit a bump. I would then eyeball the control arm bushings and CVs... maybe engine/tranny mounts, as well. Look at subframe bushings. Another reason I dislike FWD... sometimes hard to tell drivetrain vibrations from front suspension ones.
  3. SAmadei
    Funny, you ask... as I recently broke the transmission into two smaller useless transmissions. Any vehicle I own with a trailer hitch seemed cursed. ;-) I had gotten most of the minor issues fixed and it was racking up the miles. Then I tempted fate on the Parkway and hit a speed I suppose I shouldn't have. I just picked up a replacement and have to do the swap soon. I suppose it will finally give me the opportunity to swap out the O2 sensor, as I couldn't seem to get to the wire connector. Just backed up on projects, and I was getting used to having the utility. Since I like having redundant vehicles, I'm tempted to add another truck to the mix if one turns up cheap. Test my trailer hitch curse to the max.
  4. SAmadei
    As you see, GM is replacing it... EU outlawed it in 2011, with complete phase out in 2017. Problem with HFO-1234yf is that it is extremely flammable. There are a few others that are being used... including R409a, but I forget the others. R134a is supposed to break in 13 years, but studies are finding it in fairly large quantities in the atmosphere... and that is giving the climate change folks fits. I think the future of refrigerants is CO2... as it sequesters the infamous scary greenhouse gas. Only problem is the extremely high pressures required.
  5. SAmadei
    I'd spring for the extra few thousand and get a Hellcat Challenger before the ATS 6cyl coupe. Less likely to depreciate, more power, more room, better styling for the buck. Only downfall is that it remains to be seen how hard it will be to get one at MSRP.
  6. SAmadei
    I recall a product called Freeze12 that was supposed to be drop-in... but I've heard its discontinued. R409A is supposed to be a drop-in, but since its a blend (all 400 and 500 refrigerants are blends), and has R22 in it, I'm fairly sure you need a license to install it. I really haven't heard much as far as people using it in cars. Whats nice is that it can be mixed with R12. In the end, the time is ticking on R134a, so the automotive refrigerant world will get upset again. Ironic, considering canned air has R134a in it as a propellant.
  7. SAmadei
    Then either someone opened the system before you got the '81, they put leak stop in the system and it stopped the leak or they missed the leak. Empty or low refrigerant means a leak... even if its a very small one. You probably got off easy, and that's probably not going to happen too often, especially considering that all R12 cars are over 20 years old now. Also, IIRC, R12 is a bigger molecule than R134a, so a small leak would leak even less with R12 than R134a. $100 sounds like 2.5 lbs of R12 at $30/lb plus some labor... which tells me your system was nearly empty if not completely empty.
  8. SAmadei
    http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4668346818.html
  9. SAmadei
    Attempted Edit 2: Not sure if you were looking exclusively for stepsides or fleetsides... but with a cheap enough truck, you can fix that yourself... these two also appear to be long beds. http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4650054605.html http://easternshore.craigslist.org/cto/4582809220.html
  10. SAmadei
    There was one in Brick, NJ on CNJ CL for $500, IIRC. I think it was a running '82, but the photos where terrible, I would have bought it, but I can't tow it right now and I was afraid to trust driving it down to south Jersey. Worse think in the photos was a huge dent in the passenger side of the bed... which is available via LMC Truck... ah, found it. http://jerseyshore.craigslist.org/cto/4604282815.html Edit: its actually a 1984. Its probably gone, though.
  11. SAmadei
    Relatively cheap. $35 ~ $60 a can, I've heard. I was estimated that R12 would be almost impossible to get by now, as the stockpiles would be gone... but they aren't... in fact, we have a lot of R12 around. That said, you can't legally buy R12 or recharge R12 anymore in most places. And ANY system that needs a charge needs a leak test first and likely needs a compressor (seems like these are always where the leaks are)... this will all be pretty expensive once its done... but I agree, the AC will work best. Or you can do the conversion yourself and get 80% of the cold at 25% the price. The '91 Firebird was converted and actually worked VERY well until the orifice valve clogged due to The Black Death (R12 oil contamination in a R134a conversion). Just be sure to properly flush the system and run a vacuum on it for a while.
  12. SAmadei
    Actually, from my understanding, the long beds are more common... perhaps the short beds are more common in the earlier trucks. In any case, you can convert a long bed to a short one pretty easily. I can find long bed pickups all day for as low as $1500... I think the cheapest short bed was something like $7K... but the short beds get restored... perhaps the reason you see them on CL more often. I was looking for a pickup... but I don't think I posted here about it... and I would take either bed. Instead I got the Tahoe.
  13. SAmadei
    Problem is that everyone actually wants the 6" short bed.
  14. SAmadei
    Cool that you stuck with the manual and tamed it. First, I want to comment that your fear of breaking the vehicle is pretty unfounded. Sure, stalling the car and revving up the engine will be very awkward, but won't break the car unless is was on the verge of breaking, anyway. Worst thing a learner does is use a little extra clutch material. If you burn out the clutch, you either needed a clutch or the teacher was as clueless as the student. Second, tachs are not needed for shifting, and IMHO should not be used for shifting, as it takes your eyes from the road. Best case is that a tach provides some slightly interesting info about the engine... but you shouldn't look at it any more than the gas gauge. The car I learned stick on and drove as a novice for a year did not come equipped with a tach. The only "clue" to when to shift were some little marks on the speedo. I didn't even tell the couple folks I taught stick to about the tach, but to just listen to the engine. Lastly, I find it easier to teach stick in a 25 year old 305 V8 than a new 4 cylinder with a light flywheel... torque and inertia really help out the novice shifter pick up the technique. I suspect the TDI was a big help, and that the previous cars you tried to learn on where just too finicky. Its not impossible to learn on finicky, but it steepens the learning curve. The car I learned on had no power, a worn clutch and screwed up tranny that loved to pop out of 2nd and 3rd. The second car I drove came with no instructions, diagram or specs... so I drove the "three" speed for a day before I "discovered" a second 1st and 2nd waaaayyyy over by where my leg likes to be and figured out it was a five speed I had been starting out in third gear... It was much quicker as a five speed. LOL!
  15. SAmadei
    Best part about the CTS's LEDs are that the lower half doubles as the turn signal... so there is no turning off of the entire LED array on one side of the car to blink some old incandescent bulb, such as on some Chryslers. My love for the CTS ends there. Too little car for the money... I don't care if it has an in-dash microwave... physical SPACE is the greatest luxury.
  16. SAmadei
    I would prefer it if the Tahoe could be optioned with a Silverado-like front end.
  17. SAmadei
    Don't drive your aluminum Ford behind a truck spilling mercury thermometers... I think its especially ironic that mercury would doom an aluminum Ford now that Ford killed off Mercury. Aluminum corrosion is awful. Rust sucks, but at least some metal remains. You can't salvage aluminum when its turning into something akin to alka-selzer.
  18. SAmadei
    Problem with hybrid truck bodies is that you get galvanic corrosion where dissimilar metals touch. Its one thing on a engine where gaskets separate metals, metals are thick or alloys prevent the problem to certain degrees. I imagine you need spacers where ever AL and FE touch. Body movement would likely wear off paint or even these spacers. I just don't see the weight savings worth the effort. I think this effort will go the way of GM's 1980 AL hoods and '90s plastic fenders and fiberglass door skins.
  19. SAmadei
    I miss Linden... with the bifurcated truck on the outside. Used to enjoy watching the comings and goings from the Checker's parking lot across the street. Tried to broker the purchase of the company I cofounded and left by the company I had just joined while watching the car haulers come and go. Most people eating at that Checkers watch the planes taking off and landing at the airport on the other side... but not me. ;-)
  20. SAmadei
    Personally, I think the L versions are not sold here as they would look bad in side impact or roof crush tests.
  21. SAmadei
    LOL. Victor's Par 3 golf course... a few miles from where I grew up. Drove past it just a few days ago, actually. Don't recall this particular truck, though. Quite a few interesting vehicles down that stretch of US40.
  22. SAmadei
    While '99 Rivs are certainly uncommon, there are more than 50 around. Otherwise, I've seen 10% of them on local CL in the last couple years. Cars 15 years old just don't have an attrition level of 95%. Wikipedia mentions... "1999 was the last model year for the Riviera, a very short one, with production of 1,956 cars ceasing on November 25, 1998. The final 200 cars had special silver paint and trim, and were denoted "Silver Arrow"[24] models, a designation which hearkened back to several Silver Arrow show cars that had been built off Riviera bodies by Bill Mitchell." I can believe that only 50 of these 200 Silver Arrow cars whereabouts are known. That said, your Riv is a gorgeous car, and I still feel the '95-'99 Rivs are one of the best 5 cars GM has built in the last 20 years.
  23. SAmadei
    Oh, just what the Camaro needed... less headroom and a smaller trunk.
  24. SAmadei
    IMHO, the biggest hurdle is that this is not a car. Its a motorcycle, and getting a motorcycle license can be a hassle... not an overwhelming hassle, but enough.
  25. SAmadei
    This is why we have child safety caps. Soon it will be a Fed requirement that ignition keys require three hands to remove the key.
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