What did you do with your Trans Am today?

[Whamhammer]

I replaced my gears about 10 years ago, and haven't had one second of trouble out of them. I think I used brass from Rodney Dickman which came with a "t" brace, epoxy, and even a popsicle stick to mix it with! I think the headlight motors are still original. My car is back on the road. Had the Midwest Chassis rearend rebuilt. The backlash that is normally .007 was about .375. Pitted bearings, worn out ring and pinion gear, leaky seals. Now good as new with a new set of 4.11's, ball bearings instead of angled roller bearings, and new seals. Put new drilled and slotted rotors on with new pads. Also put in a new 2 row all aluminum radiator, and after much massaging, got it in. Ahhh, now for some much needed rest while nothing else breaks....ssshhhh, don't say it too loud....

I’ve replaced my second headlight motor on my passenger side, I have some vibration on that side, even replaced the bushing, bolt, and nuts for the mounting peice to the to headlight frame. Might have a shop look at it.

I still have all of my original motor sets, never gotten to doing the rebuild, a bad excuse being that I only have had 11 years since the first ones came off.

[Whamhammer]

I keep her tuned up with new plugs, synthetic oil, Z Max additive, K & N air filter, 40 psi in all 4 tires, and drive like a grandmaw. But that is only on the highway. Around town, I get 22-23mpg. Mine is also the 348 cubic inch with stock fuel injectors. I also add octane booster on road trips. Going through Nebraska last year, with 80mph speed limits, I got 27mpg. Have you seen the video of the guy who got his car tuned to get near 40mpg at 60mph in 6th gear? The guy tuned it to lean out at a certain speed in 6th gear. He did it on his Corvette and actually showed his dash posting 38mpg. I haven't had all that done, but my car has always gotten that mileage on the road. Yeah, heavy feet make the gas gauge move like the tachometer!!!

I used to get 26 mpg when my car was under 100k and stock tune; I would drive from my wifes place in Harford County, to Silver Spring and visa versa when we were dating, and traffic did around 40-45 mph.

Now that I drive through Bulletmores tunnels, and their even efficient traffic patterns, 205k, and a more enriched tune, I get around 22 mpg.

Eventually, I want to build a LS2/LS3 build that is leaner on light load and hope to pick up much more overall power but improve fuel mileage.

[Whamhammer]

Trials and tribulations of a 205k, 18 year old daily driver hot rod.

This month, rust finally poked through the inner quarter wheelhouses, hammered rust off and POR-15’ed the bejeezus out of them, then filled the gaps in with aluminum foil backing and JB Weld’s strongest formula, and then covered with rubberized undercoating. I’m going to hold off a year or two to save cash for a proper fix.

Took off the air filter housing assembly to clean up some rust, and POR-15’ed, the touch up painted.

By the way, if anyone is curious, 205k builds up a lot of crap on the front of the radiator; used a mixture of water and Spray Nine to get the muck off of it and clean out, followed by a pure water spritzing to rinse.

[pajeff02]

^^ A much overlooked maintenance item, flushing out the radiator fins.

[Whamhammer]

^^ A much overlooked maintenance item, flushing out the radiator fins.

Agreed! I should’ve know better, myself; I am amazed that the car hasnt had an issue keeping cool, in the summer with stop&go traffic and the AC on!

My Cutlass and my ‘89 T/A couldn't keep a radiator for 75k miles, and green coolant was flushed yearly, so never really had an issue.

[herculesrider1]

When I had my tranny out getting it rebuilt, I did an intense clean from front to back, and I too found rust all up under the car. POR 15 is my best friend!! Painted the trans cross member that had rusted from dragging over speed bumps, turned out looking like new. I also POR 15'd the bottom of the radiator mount when I replaced my plastic radiator with an all aluminum one. I also had rust up in the wheel well near the gas tank entrance. I took the plastic cover off from inside the driver rear wheel well and found a lot of rust way up in the top. POR 15 to the rescue again. I also found rust on a lot of the mounting brackets near the rear end of the car. But, what do you expect when buying a car from Maine!?? Road salt is a cars worst enemy. Yeah, I have fount all kinds of trash wedged up in the top edge of the radiator. I thought about putting window screen under the front lip of the car where the radiator draws it's air right in front of the diverter spoiler underneath the car, but haven't come up with a tactful design yet. That would keep everything but air from going through it. I've pulled plastic, leaves, and grass shavings out. That cannot be good for cooling!

[pajeff02]

Better to simply clean out in front of the radiator every now and then. Anything that obstructs airflow is going to adversely affect cooling.

[herculesrider1]

True on air obstructions, but doesn't air flow freely through a window screen? My thought was to make that part of the car maintenance free, and not have to crawl up underneath it...guess if I had a lift, it would be less of an issue, but how many times have you been out on the road, and see a plastic bag rolling across the highway or side street?....and wonder...I saw that piece of plastic go under my car...where did it go...cuz I didn't see it in my rear view mirror after I passed it....so.....is it up in my radiator?? Then I start watching the temp gauge to see if it in fact DID get sucked up and covering my radiator.... Seems like it would be less to be concerned about if there was a screen of some kind covering the half moon opening at the base of the radiator....

[pajeff02]

Maybe chicken wire -- but go grab a screen out of a window at your house and try to wave it around. You will feel a ton of resistance.

[SMWS6TA]

Had a plastic bag or two get sucked up between the radiator a time or to.


Looking to do a plug change today.



Also Don, on the wheel hub, holy shift, when they got so damn expensive. I was thinking $60ish but $120.....

[herculesrider1]

Hey Scott, RockAuto sells the TIMKEN 513090 for $51.79. Check it. Do you lift the car and access the plugs from underneath? When I had the car on 14" blocks under the tires, it looked like the plugs would be easier to access than from above. I haven't done it, but just saying...

Yeah, Jeff, I need to do something, just for the peace of mind. Chicken wire would keep the large items out. Thanks man!

[SMWS6TA]

Thanks, I'll check it.

Normally I'd go under for #8 (which I loath) but I have headers and can remove my coil packs easy that I can access it from the top. Just takes a 1/2 hour to an hour to get it that one alone. had the other 7 done in 25 mins.

[SMWS6TA]

Hey Scott, RockAuto sells the TIMKEN 513090 for $51.79. Check it. Do you lift the car and access the plugs from underneath? When I had the car on 14" blocks under the tires, it looked like the plugs would be easier to access than from above. I haven't done it, but just saying...

Yeah, Jeff, I need to do something, just for the peace of mind. Chicken wire would keep the large items out. Thanks man!

Ordered it, thanks again.

[clovenhooves]

Nothing except a little driving today, but over the past month I've needed to take my car several times to the same shop for urgent, surprise problems. The last time there I told the employee that some of those issues should've been detected before they got so bad (like the non-emergency low tire pressure that I noticed from ~10 feet away), but the response deflected. When I picked my car up, I noticed that an item inside that a technician would be unable to avoid and already was falling apart had almost been completely broken. I'm suspicious.

[herculesrider1]

Hey Clovenhooves, that is the very reason I try to do all my own work, unless it's rebuilding a transmission or rearend, both of which come with a warranty. Everything else is DIY.

[Whamhammer]

Thanks, I'll check it.

Normally I'd go under for #8 (which I loath) but I have headers and can remove my coil packs easy that I can access it from the top. Just takes a 1/2 hour to an hour to get it that one alone. had the other 7 done in 25 mins.

I have to change my plugs out soon but its either raining or too cold.

At 205k, I wonder if the coils are still shooting strong?

[SMWS6TA]

did my daughter's vert front wheel hub. easy, 20 min job. well 30 because I had to guide her over the process. All I did was break free to bolts, she did the rest.

[herculesrider1]

Females are just as capable, as long as they don't mind breaking a fingernail!!!!

[DarrenWS6]

I have to change my plugs out soon but its either raining or too cold.

At 205k, I wonder if the coils are still shooting strong?

I have wondered this too. I've always gone with the once it starts to not function its time to replace. But I have thought of that myself.

[herculesrider1]

The computers on our cars will let us know with an error code in the PO300 range of a faulty ignition coil. I wouldn't replace them until I got a fault code indicating a misfire or failure. If it's not broke, don't fix it!!!