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Pontiac of the Month

FBIRD69's 1969 Firebird

2024 March
of the Month

Stewy

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Everything posted by Stewy

  1. LOL! . Love it! Yes, mom 😁 😉 (kidding - I feel I can since we have, albeit a small as of now, rapport IRL 🙂) Lets see, as of this morning - more detailing (I'm feeling like a broken record 🙃). However, there was an "incident" and I now need to rebuild the seat on my mechanic creeper / seat. Rebuild the cheap seat into something much more improved...
  2. Thanks! 😀. I love your seat (as strange as that my sound). Friend of mine has a similar bike and, again without sounding too weird, I really like how comfortable my butt is in it. Guy I know who works on bikes out of his garage one day showed me a GS750 (next step up from my bike) that was a six cylinder - made me laugh how far on each side of the frame the engine hung over. If you banked too far on that bike, you were likely to scrape the crank cover, forget scraping the frame / exhaust! 😄. It's therapeutic, especially in the evenings (at least for me), to get out and just ride. Going no where in particular - just out burning gas 😊
  3. She's pretty! 😍 I'll dig up some pictures of my 550 and get them up soon (actually, just this morning, I started the fall detail on the bike getting it prepped for winter storage). The 550 has been an awesome bike - love riding it around town and even take it for relatively short (< 1 hr.) trips on the expressway (passing semis is fine... so long as I'm prepared for it 😉). I was planning on, beginning this past spring, starting to look for a second bike but... well, this whole year has been, for met at least, (nearly) complete "reactive" mode so getting a second bike has taken a far back burner for the time being. I've been riding the 550 for the past eight or so years so I'm ready for an upgrade (not replacing the 550, just adding to the fleet). I would like to get certain amenities - like a windshield, cruise, bags, back rest for driver & passenger, an engine that's water cooled, around double the engine displacement and a few other miscellaneous things (make the ride, for my wife and I, much for inviting when taking the bike on a weekend trip). I'm actually really looking forward to when my daughter is old enough to start riding - she's only two but has already expressed a huge interest in riding it #ProudDad 😁 Ok, got to the pictures a little quicker than I thought (don't mind how the front wheel looks like a polygon, the sun / heat was messing w/ the camera) -
  4. Finished the fall detail on B.T. 🙂. Snapped a couple pictures - the camera actually caught a decent amount of the gloss (turning on all the overhead lights helped).
  5. Just curious but was wondering if someone could help me understand (a "quick-and-dirty" explanation would be totally fine) the differences between the "American Hot Road Association" (AHRA) and the "National Hod Road Association" (NHRA). Generally speaking, my understanding is that the NHRA sets the rules and guidelines (e.g. 5 pt. harness, flame-resistant driver suit, etc.) that everyone on / at the strip must adhere to while the AHRA somehow represents the individuals who use the track - like a union almost... ? Again, my understanding of, especially, the AHRA is pretty weak (although Wikipedia says the AHRA disbanded and the, fairly recently, has resurfaced) - just looking for some insight. Thanks!
  6. I LOL'd at this because it's true (for me)... it really is... keep a stash of them in the console of every vehicle (and even under the seat in the motorcycle!). They also work great for checking vehicle fluids when on the road.
  7. I'm, apparently, easily entertained at this hour of the morning as this image made me chuckle - as if it's peeking around the corner 😄
  8. When I started at the former GLTC building, post bankruptcy, there was still signage sitting against the wall on the floor from when GM occupied the building including the above (not the Pontiac one but a Chevrolet one) along with the "GM" square. Would have LOVED to take one (or both) home!
  9. 🤦‍♂️Calm down, geeze. I was never calling you out - only relating my experience. My conversations with those who have installed them. My visual inspections of installations. My readings of technical documents relating to them. Guess I can't do that? I do not think less of you for installing one. As I noted previously, I'm happy you have one and that it's working out for you and wish you nothing but continued success. Also as noted, I have no idea what brand you have, how it's specifically installed and so on. For all I know you know the secrete to picking a reputable unit and installing it such that it's issue-free. Only to an extent such that I just (~ a month ago) replaced two OEM trans coolant line fittings because they were weeping. Even the factory connections / lines / etc. will weep (or worse) over time. I see... so first hand inspections of units with issues doesn't count... ?
  10. Trust me when I say, I have done more research into the topic than you may, or may not, realize. To each their own. Your car. My car. We each have our desired setup. What works for you may, or may not, work for me and vice versa.
  11. That's pretty interesting 🙂 (well, not necessarily the lackadaisical portion but otherwise interesting!). The lab I send engine, trans and differential fluids to for analysis - Blackstone Labs out of Fort Wayne - it would be a blast to be a fly-on-the-wall to visit their facility and watch as they do their various tests (especially the flash-point tests *pulls box of matches from pocket* 😁). For close to 19 years (since my 6th generation GP) I have occasionally been thinking about putting an external trans cooler in. I know there are many brands of external coolers - Desert Fox is one that jumps immediately to mind - however I continually come back to the many "pain-in-the-butt" (or the occasional horror) stories of the aftermarket external coolers (regarding leaking and, if left unchecked long enough, trans fluid starvation). Now I have zero idea what make / model of external cooler you run and it very well may be the Rolls Royce of coolers and has / will serve you very well - I'm speaking from my experience only. That said, I am in full agreement that when they are working they provide additional (potentially considerable) air volume movement as well as more efficient cooling of the fluid. On a side note, I would love to get cooling differential covers for both of my truck axles... but for the amount I drive the truck, coupled with how hard I drive it, I would have a very hard time justifying a $400+ investment cost to my wife (who is not a big car / truck person) 😉. Oh yeah, I'm well versed with Intense and not only their offering of the three shift-kit stages but also other aftermarket companies offering the different stages. For a while I was very much considering putting in a stage 2 or 3 in my 6th generation but, and I don't recall why now, decided against it. While I have also considered installing it in my 7th generation, I really don't know how firm the shifts would be with a shift kit AND reprogramming the PCM's BIN file (even if a stage 1 or 2 were to be installed versus a 3). Installation of the kits isn't bad - taking your time, maybe 30 mins (including lifting the front up) providing no issues were encountered. For sure. Heat, total double edge sword. Keeps you comfy in the winter but wreaks havoc on your powertrain. Makes me cringe when I see and auto manufacturers (especially GM, it seems, but I know Ford does it also - maybe not so much FCA... ?) dumping four cylinders in most of their vehicles and then making up for the loss of displacement by tossing on a turbo. Very compact engine space. Very hot turbo. IMO, poor engine bay cooling WITH the turbo. Hrmm... what could go wrong? 🤔
  12. Good stuff. Totally agree on keeping ALL the internals of the trans clean! Transmissions in general (and especially automatic FWD transmissions) really do have a very demanding and all around tough job! It seems that the auto manufacturers want to put a transmission in their various vehicles that "just meets" the requirements of the vehicle. Personally, I would love to have a truck transmission in a car - if it can handle moving a 4000+ lb truck that's loaded down and / or hauling, then it'll have a nice, easy life moving a 2500 lb car! For all my vehicles, I'm, quite frankly, anal retentive on keeping great maintenance on, among other vehicle-related components, the transmission fluid and filter (and, from what I read, I know you are as well!). That being said, on my wife's and my previous daily driver ('05 Grand Prix GT2 / 3800 Series 3 with the 4T65-E trans), I had the trans fluid, filter and pan gasket (GM says the gaskets are "lifetime" - I personally don't buy it from first-hand experience) changed very 18k-20k miles (which was annual based on our driving) with whatever the current version of Dexron is out (currently I think it's Dex-VI). As a side note, I have the dealership do the trans fluid service because, in one service iteration, the "trans machine" is hooked up to the trans, the trans' pump pushes the old fluid out and brings the new fluid in all the while flushing the torque converter (which, for me, is high on the importance scale). Coupled with that, we (especially me) baby our vehicles - no WOT runs / hard accelerations, hard braking (as much as can be avoided), picky about driving over road bumps, etc.. Several years of taking car of the car like this (granted, the car was bought used with, IIRC, around 25k miles), the 4T65-E 1st-2nd clutch pack started slipping. That's a good point you make about the softness (and duration) of each up / down shift. I drove a, at the time, new 2001 Mercury Sable for a few days and that car REALLY stood out to me on soft (and long) shifts! Wowzers! One of multiple steps I've taken for Ren, specifically, to help with the longevity of the trans is to programmatically change the shift parameters - shift points (RPMs) based on my driving style, shift duration and line pressure (shift firmness). Transmissions - yay 🙃
  13. Saw this in my email this morning so I had to come back and add it to this post - it seems fitting - Not that it makes a difference but the Malibu is the 2.4 I-4 Eco (again, not that it makes a difference). In the past, I've been a big fan of Moog however I've been hearing & reading accounts as of late that their quality may be going down - fitment issues, parts that say are for a given application don't match up, parts that are geometrically different enough to where they don't work and so on. Again, I've been a big Moog fan in the past and have considered them a good aftermarket option however my trust in them has been shaken. That said, I understand others may been having great success with them - just speaking for myself. I hear ya. The links, for the time being, seem to be working out well however the last auto part (before the links) I got off of Amazon was a replacement multi-function switch for my '96 Blazer. Long story short, I went through two Amazon switches before getting a good / working switch from Rock Auto (then, something like two months later, another driver runs a red, hits me and totals the truck - I was thrilled I went through the literal back-breaking work to replace the switch 😐😪). BUT, moral of the story - yeah, you have some good parts and some not-so-good parts on Amazon (and eBay, for that matter).
  14. 😍 Ryan - what was the root-cause for the crank-no start? Just curious. The Bonnie's are what stole my heart back in the day to make me a Pontiac guy (had an '89 LE, myself). The 3800's, albeit they have had their issues over the generations, are on a pedestal as being GM's greatest (passenger car) engine.
  15. I don't know whether to invoke the "LOL" or "face palm" face... So yesterday both of T.C.'s front sway bar links were replaced with parts I got off of Amazon (AC Delco's). I was hesitant about getting the parts from Amazon but I couldn't beat the price. I called multiple locations and the stupid things are nearly $100 a PIECE! 🤯 whereas on Amazon I got two for less than half the cost of one. I was concerned that they wouldn't be the correct part (even though Amazon said the part fit a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu LS) however they went on without issue. Time will tell how long they last. Even at Rock Auto, the two AC Delco links with shipping were going to be nearly $80 (which, in hindsight, appears to be a comparatively decent price). This weekend I'm planning on replacing the front passenger door speaker in B.T.. I looked for a replacement speaker (OEM) from Rock Auto but not only did they not have any OEM speakers listed, they didn't have ANY speakers listed for a 2014 F-250 (which kind of surprised me). Wasn't too bad, though, as an OEM speaker from the Ford dealership was less than $32 new.
  16. Yeah... the 4T65-E/4T65-EHD's have a "history"... 😐. The 65's were improved over the 60's (and even the 65's had improvements over their production run) but still... Unfortunately, in both my '99 and one of my '05's, I too was subject to such a "history". On the bright side (maybe), the 65 in the one '05 didn't puke nearly as hard as the 65 did in my '99 (I was actually impressed I made it home when the 65 in the '99 decided to part ways with me - something about doing 20mph in 4th gear...). So, needless to say, I've taken extra precautions in my show '05 to give the transmission a gentler life.
  17. At first glance, I was all "that's an Oldsmobile Silhouette, not a Pontiac..." however I stand corrected! 😃 I did some digging and, in the end, I'm just shaking my head at GM and how they, in the United States for example, call a vehicle by a certain name. Take the same exact vehicle, put it in another country and it's now a totally different name. GM, GM, GM.... I'm not surprised and this is something the automakers, not just GM, have been doing for long before I started walking the planet. So the gist of what I found out was, in the picture above, in the States that IS an Oldsmobile Silhouette however the exact same vehicle, in another market, is, in fact, a Pontiac Trans Sport. The one that REALLY got me was the "Chevrolet Trans Sport" for the European market. I love the distinctly Pontiac hood with the Chevrolet bow-tie - it's like GM isn't even trying! 🤦‍♂️. Another thing, regarding the below image, I found interesting was that the hood is from a 2003ish-2005ish Montana (can tell based on the grill, specifically) however the name on the passenger front door is "Trans Sport". In the States, the "Trans Sport" name was dropped with the (slight) redesign in / around 2003 (when the grill was slightly redesigned). The old(er) name with the new(er) body style. One day, while waiting for the bus to leave the Mexico City airport, I saw the below drive by. I have to admit, I had a "WTH?" moment. A Silverado front-end with the body of a Suburban / Tahoe... ? Anyway, I could cite more and more examples however I digress 🙃
  18. Shout out to the GP-er's in FP land! 😁. The 6th & 7th gens will forever hold a special place in my heart (past was a red '99 sedan L32, current is a '05 burgundy L26).
  19. Love Rock Auto's magnets. Have a bunch of them on my tool chest. My most recent (~ a month ago), to a little bit of my pleasant surprise, was a 6th generation Grand Prix.
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