Last Indian

I figured our paths hadn't crossed, but you never know. I always worked with the platform guys or else the drivetrain guys. Thanks though!

No, it's not a grand prix. They never used that type of fabric, never used those kind of overhead exit pulls and the moon roof looks nothing like any of the Pontiac moon roofs used on any of the models Pontiac built between 97-09. It does look like it might be a GM car though. If not I would look at Toyotas.

Frosty, if I can, what did you do at the tech center? I doubt that our paths crossed, but you never know. I was at the tech center many many times over the last 25 years for the different projects I was involved with for my company. The last time was the end of “15” just before I retired. Love the Bird too!

Well it's been a long long time since I had the steering column of my GTO apart and since it's been gone for more than 40 years my brain may be foggy. That said I believe the balls are from a collar bearing just below the turn signal switch assy. It is retained by a snap ring if I recall correctly. So if any of this is accurate, and that may be a big if, it sounds like something has come apart. I think you’ll have to dig a little deeper into the column.

I usually use lacquer thinner. You could also use acetone/fingernail polish remover.

Most likely it's the idle air control valve. This valve does nothing more than to create a vacuum leak at idle and cold startups to act as a choke. For various reasons this valve will carbon up from time to time creating a vacuum leak at low rpm idle causing the problem you described. To fix the problem, disconnect the electrical plug, take out the two screws that bolt it in place and remove the valve. Then clean both the valve and the port that the plunger seals against with a solvent. Then reassemble.

Ok, first cars that use computers (pcm, bcm, etc.) only last about 28 days on a fully charged battery. So no, summer or winter makes no difference other than depending on where you have it in the winter could result in less time. Also if you try to start a pcm car that is charged below 11.7 volts you run the risk of damaging the pcm or bcm. The security system malfunction won’t affect the battery as far as being fried. What you described leads me to believe the internal regulator is bad. If you haven’t checked the alternator on a machine that makes all those measurement you can’t know the alternators true condition. The fact that you tell me it's noisy is often an indicator of a defective regulator. Whether it's under or over charging, both have their problems. Likewise battery charges/tenders can create problems.

First off if the battery is toast! As in fried and won’t hold a charge than that can only happen one of two ways. The most likely is over charging, you say you checked it? With what and how? The other is a short and that’s not to likely without blowing fuses somewhere. Secondly if it's fried it's not drained! A drained battery that is depleted of power will charge up. A depleted battery that’s been cooked won’t because the plates have been destroyed or there isn't enough water left. This can also occur with a junk battery like Professur said.

One bit of advice that may or may not help minimally with mpg, but well definitely help wth performance and continued maintenance of the fuel/induction system is to use a fuel additive that has PEA (polyether amine)in it such as Regain by Gumout. PEA is the highest end fuel additive there is and will cleanup many deposits and varnish that other additives won’t. All fuel injected engines suffer from the same issue which is that no fuel flows past certain components. Port injection is a problem, but DIC is the worst as it gets no fuel to the back of the intake valves. Either way deposits and varnish buildup is a problem in fuel injection systems. I can tell you factually that PEA works as I spent three years developing systems to deliver it for OEM use for warranty issues as well as a advisory role in the development of the chemistry.

While I believe the consensus is the Sunfire doesn’t get great fuel economy there is a reason, and it's not that car specifically! The problem is an EPA illusion created by saying that fuel mileage today is better, not true! As a general statement not a specific one! Fuel economy for the auto industry today versus say 40 years ago, when compared to engine/transmission configuration and outputs, versus body configuration I.E. weight, tire configuration etc… Has not changed much at all! Your Sunfire when compared to a Vega 3 door as an example is close to the same configuration. Likewise so is the fuel economy. In 1967 I owned a 67 Impala, a 283 with a powerglide tranny. It got 18-21 mpg. Today I own a Buick LaCrosse with 3.6 with a 6 speed tranny, it gets 18-21 mpg both cars are relatively comparable in weight and wheelbase. Other specs like tire size etc. aren’t. Without getting real complicated the total power band configuration of the V8 and powergluide match that of a V6 and a 6 speed trans when compared to body configurations. Some, not many, but some newer technologies like DIC have helped improved fuel economy. The end result is for the Sunfire to get noticeably better fuel economy you would need to reduce weight or actually increase cubic inch displacement, not hp, but displacement.

It's not that simple to answer without being there. Many things and multiple things can be involved. That said, with it being a 02 I’ll assume the antifreeze has been changed seldom. If it's never been flushed and if most or all of its life there's been Dex Cool in the system you most likely have major blockage. If that's the case it will require a complete redo of the coolant system. Water pump, lines, heater core and radiator. What you described makes me lean towards that. So you will need to verify that condition before you start down that road.

Shark, I hope for you it's a fuse, but I doubt it! Most likely it's the ignition harness. The door widows and sunroof aren't on the same fuse. The ignition harness is a typical problem in all of GM's late 90's on till they changed to the can-bus wiring system. The GPs ignition harness uses 5 main 12v hot wires. 1 in 4 out. The switch that the harness is molded to is the problem. It has finger contacts , like distributer points, these fingers burn like points do. When they burn bad enough they won't flow 12v any longer. In most cases the only carry millivolts. Most likely you will find more things than just the windows malfunction. Each one of the 4 12v leads feeds a different group of components. The harness cost about $100.

Well after the wreck the 69 was about 85% or so handmade. The the front subframe was destroyed, but the firewall was untouched. So I found a subframe and took 2x3 channel and built the back half of the frame & welded them together. Similar to the 74 frame you see in the pics, but in the case of the 69 the 3” is vertical not horizontal all the way, this changes the vertical flex, which in cornering helps substantially with down force flex in cornering. The entire floor from firewall cutoff to the rear valance was 20ga. 304 stainless. Original Z/28 3 leaf, leaf springs & Monroe Max Air shocks. The front sported big block springs and sway bar. Because of this work the car dropped 300lbs and weight was redistributed, which in turn lowered the center of gravity 5” & lowered the roll center 13”. It also balanced the car to a 50/50 weight distribution, but best of all was it would pull over 1.3 Gs on a 300 ft skid pad test @ 50 mph. It also reduced Yaw by 1 full second@ 50 mph. Every part and bolt, clip, nut, washer et. That could be made or bought of 304 stainless was. The engine, well what can I say, it was a stock DZ 302, but what else do you need? People will argue about this motor and its power, but the fact is that the 302 was tested by many reputable people, Smokey Yunick as one and none were ever tested under 600 hp. The with one caveat with mine was the 202 valve heads were replaced with 188 fueler heads. Without getting into a long oration, smaller valve heads actually run better for the street and slalom racing with the 302. Most engine pieces were handmade except for the obvious. It might interest you that if you look closely at the side shot of the engine you can see the power steering & water pump pulleys. They are billet pieces I designed and made. Likewise the front engine pic shows a billet ribbed master cylinder cover I designed & made. I once made the mistake of going to a car show in this area and Mr Gasket, which at that time was out of Cleveland’s west side was there stole the designs. Just another reason I don’t do car shows. The interior was all custom, see pic. Wheels were American Racing billet bean slots that I machined to look like Hildebrandt wheels & the lugs 304 SS machined to a bastard size for security. Rear fenders were custom flared. In 1974 I converted the Z from the Muncie stick to a special built 350 turbo automatic, as my wife, no matter how I tried, couldn’t handle the 2500 lb. clutch. So with that there was so much power and hookup with the automatic it would wind the rear axle up 40 degrees and really S shape the leaf springs. As a result I built what I called ladde- tracs, as they were a cross between ladder bars and traction bars. Traction bars wouldn’t work as the power was to great and would just S shape the springs wrap the axle anyway, had to stop the axle from over rotating. The rear end cover was a custom made piece, see pic. The “74” was my wife so I made it a much more docile machine, detuned, automatic obviously, but it would corner very very well.

"Blacky", the"69", of all the machines I've ever built & or driven this was the most incredible. I bought the car new in 69, raced, it drove it daily, married & had a family. On Christmas Day evening 1977 the car was totaled in one of the worst snow storms in decades in Cleveland. I could not part with car, so I did what any red blooded hot rodder would do, I made it better than new. In those days I didn't live where I do now so I didn't have a garage or even a concrete drive, as you may notice in some of the pictures. The really old picture of the car not wrecked was from the summer of "77" before the accident.

Ringo, please excuse the pictures, all were way before digital cameras. Two cars here, the first is my wife’s “74” the second was my “69”, both are gone now😞! The KiD/Z moniker came from my racing days and just kind of stuck. "74" this project was done in 1989

Thank you Steve Jim, the exhaust is not plated gold. There are amber leds affixed to the impact bumper reflecting down making it appear that way. I see you like Camaros. When I get a chance I'll post up a build I did on my wife's 74 Z/28 27 years ago.

P1170190.bmpP1170190.bmpP1170190.bmpP1170190.bmpFinal details of the Indian. It might not be apparent, but there isn’t much of the Indian that hasn’t been modified, improved or upgraded. This includes converting most all body bolts (not suspension) to American standard threads and using 316 stainless steel bolts or screws. Custom sill plates & pedals, front splitter, HID lighting, brake pedal ratios as increased. Door panels were isolated via felt inlays to reduce noise. So for what it's worth here are some additional pics of that detail work.

Well since I can't see where the leak is coming from it:'s a guess. If you can't see the actual place and you just have water coming in it might be the windshield not the top. The butyl rubber ribbon that seals the glass to the body can break its bond for many reasons. More often than not in the top half area of the glass. The ribbon not the sealant around the ribbon is what seals the glass. If that happens to be the case it can be a real pain to find. The only why to fix it properly is to pull the glass, clean it all up and reinstall. Unless you know for certain that its the top to frame seal leaking don't ignor the windshield leak possibility as that can cause major rusting problems over time.

I’ve seen more than one post on the care of car finishes and such & I know everyone has their own ideas about how to take care of a cars looks, paint, rubber, vinyl, etc, etc. So please take this in the spirit that it’s given in, information to digest. While I may be new here, I have been involved in the world of motion, not Disneyland’s Land of Motion, in one venue or another on a professional, personal or enthusiast level since I was 11 years old, I know that sounds like bunk, but none the less I’ve experienced & done much. So when I tell you that the care of auto finishes since about 1980, depending on the make of car, but specifically since 1990 on for GM looks nothing like it did, you may or may not believe me. Yet this is fact and the same holds true for rubber, vinyls and plastic. Most to nearly all are now synthetic based and as such no longer oxidize in the same manner as their counterparts did. While not the same at all with relationship to reason and purpose; synthetic oil, as a example has advantage over conventional. Yet the number one reason to change oil is ignored. Why do you grease components and why are sealed for life components bad in general!? So like that, the reason to care for paint, rubber, vinyl and plastic is to restore something! Anyway, old paints like lacquer & synthol enamel oxidize by decay of the top micro surface layer and by abrading away that layer you can restore the finish until the paint gets to thin. New paint, in particular urethanes, oxidizes differently. They lose certain selective chemistries. This causes dulling and opacity issues. Restore that chemistry and the brilliance returns. So while carnauba waxes make a paint finish shine initially, go back two days later and put some in a small circle in the middle of the hood and you’ll see its darker and more vibrant. Of course you can only see this on dark colors. This is because you didn’t feed the paint its nutrients. Rubber, vinyls and plastics respond the same way. Lastly, when these haven’t been fed the proper nutrition it will take multiple applications to restore it. The paint, rubber, vinyl and plastic will actually drink it up and you can actually see it occur if bad enough. Of course if any are to far gone they won’t come back. Unfortunately there are not a lot of products that do this adding of chemistry. Most only mask the problem in the way I previously mentioned.

Asto-ventilation, plastic gets hot!

Rims, Rubber & Brakes & the rest! Wheels increased from 16”X6.5” to 18”X8” & tires went from 225/60r16 to 245/45r18. Brakes were modified & the brake fluid was changed to Valvoline Syn Power DOT5 fluid. Plus all the custom made hardware & gingerbread which is to much to name.

First, I needed to look at current perimeters, (SSF) static stability factor (1.4), weight distribution(65/35), CG(20”), RC(67”), wheel base(110.5), track width ft.(61.7) rr.(61.1) & suspension geometry. These numbers are not very good for a car that you want to handle, they're pretty normal for FWD though. After modifications, (SSF)(1.68), weight distribution (54/46), CG(16”), RC(51”), wheelbase(same), track width ft.(64.5”), rr.(64.5”) & suspension geometry completely modified. So without getting to technical & lengthy, it goes like this. To effectively increase handling you must lower the CG the RC & the weight distribution if that applies, and it did here. So the first thing you would always prefer is to lighten the car where needed, but when you can’t you move the weight around and where necessary you add some, thus was the case here. Than you look to increase the track widths & last modify the suspension components to take advantage of those changes. 300lbs. was added to the Indian and all but 15lbs. of it was below wheel centerline. The equivalent of 80lbs was removed from the front nose area and relocated to the rear of the car, again below wheel centerline. 30 lbs was added to the rear impact bar. Part of the weight redistribution was the relocation of the battery to the trunk spare tire well. Additionally the entire frame structure and dead spaces (lower firewall & rear cavity structure, control arm area) were filled with structural urethane foam, contributing 22 lbs of the 300. The rear suspension carrier was reenforced to reduce flex in hard cornering, extra large lateral bars & trailing arms were installed. Redesigned upper rear strut mounts. Redesigned front lower A-arms to reduce torque steer and increase power transfer to the ground. Front struts components redesigned for increased corner stability & power transfer through better spring function. Heavy duty police package springs front & rear were installed. Upper strut bearings replaced with industrial grade pieces, better responsiveness and smoother wheel control & stability. Both front and rear sway bars and their end links were replaced. The front bar was replaced with a solid 34mm bar with larger diameter, shorter and stiffer end links. While the rear bar was replaced with a 22mm diameter bar and a redesigned set of end links as well. Both sets of end links make a significant improvement over the OEM units as they make the bars do what they were designed to do, prevent body roll and keep the wheels planted on the ground. above is stock upper strut bearing vs industrial grade bearing that was adapted as seen below. above & below are fabricated replacment pieces for the OEM abortion of a transverse bearing they used on the front Aarm.

2000 Grand Prix F.1 GTX

The Last American Indian A little back history to explain The Last Indian’s progression. I’m not that guy that does car shows. So I just do cars for me! To please me! For the pleasure of seeing an idea live! But in 1984 a Swedish magazine, (Start & Speed) was here in Cleveland and was told of my custom 1969 Z/28 by a friend of a friend. They approached me for a cover piece so I allowed it. Most of the car was custom designed and handmade, including the full frame with an OEM type suspension front and rear, not coil overs in the back like you often see with full frame conversions, but it was so much more than that! For a myriad of reasons I sold it and a “74” Z/28 that was custom as well in 2004 after 35 and 30 years of ownership! I had bought a brand new 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix as a daily driver, so after selling the Camaros I decided to take the GP for a summer only car and for a FWD it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good mind you, but I loved the updated Coke bottle shape and styling. So I thought I was done modifying & customizing cars I was just going to drive it. I had done a lot with cars at multiply levels, maybe it was time to refocus on something new, not sure what, maybe bird watching? Well the boredom lasted a year! So I embarked on a new path, a path that I didn’t know would became that of The Last American Indian! With the Grand Prix being the last American designed & built Pontiac and the end of Pontiac as a car company occurring just a few short years later! I had always owned RWD cars until the GP, but I found myself realizing all I had ever seen anyone do with a FWD, was either cosmetic things or on the engineering side, power or drifting. Yet no true performance handling, no true blend of drivetrain performance, handling and style! Especially not in an American car and not in the vein of the old muscle car era ground pounders and most assuredly not performance handling. I remember when the first gen Camaro was called the poor man’s Porsche and that was what inspired me to make mine better than a Porsche. Why not a similar mind set with FWD I thought? Drifting isn’t powering thru a corner and it certainly isn’t handling, so l thought, try something different! So here we go, The 3800 is normally aspirated, but there have been upgrades on the motor and its peripheries,(heads have been shaved .020, intake ports opened up, exhaust valves opened up, 1.9 Yella Terra roller rockers). Throttle body machined out to 72mm with a Ultem insulator plate. The stock exhaust on the left bank is not adequate for it’s duties so a ZZP Power Log replaced it on the left bank, but the crossover and right exhaust manifold are large enough to handle their respective duties. The down pipe was replaced by a Random Technology 3” high flow cat, this cat doubles the CFM output of the stock cat. The cat back system was kept, as believe it or not will work better than any of the aftermarket ones. The OEM cat was really the only restriction issue. Next Suspension! PA050376.bmp

Ringo, if I may? Yes, I do all of my own work including design. I appreciate the nice comments thanks to all. I'm not familiar with how this goes so I'm not sure to continue this here or not? I will say this about the Indian, the suspension bares little resemblance to the stock one & yet it does appear somewhat stock. The same goes for the engine &a brakes as I indicated before. Embelems are custom as well!