Havoc's Questions Post.

[Ringo64]

I like how Mike's question thread has turned into the "5 Guys" thread

[indymanjoe]

Guess I should read back to see what the question was lol

Sent from my ouiji board using black magic

[havoc1482]

I like how Mike's question thread has turned into the "5 Guys" thread

Thats fine by me haha. It is MY thread. It wouldn't be worthy of the title if it didn't drift off topic. I mean, notallthere and Frosty post in here most of the time. Its bound to digress haha

[Frosty]

Thats fine by me haha. It is MY thread. It wouldn't be worthy of the title if it didn't drift off topic. I mean, notallthere and Frosty post in here most of the time. Its bound to digress haha

Sarcasm, humor, and advice. its all part of the same customer service. Leave your quarter in the tin cup kid! Oh yeah....and its sport.

BTW - I hate to get on topic, did you get the missing retention clip for the glove box lock? What's up the brakes too?

[Ringo64]

Oh wasn't saying there was anything wrong with it

You lads are the reason I don't mind paying the server costs

[Frosty]

As I said in another thread Ringo, I am glad I amuse you! And everyone else at FP in the process!

[indymanjoe]

I wish the "what did you do today" thread wasn't locked...

Sent from my ouiji board using black magic

[havoc1482]

I know, it was a good thread, but some people can't keep their mouths shut.

[havoc1482]

Phoenix is going in next Tuesday. Cross your fingers.

Also, what is the difference between the LAF and the LEA I4 in the Equinox? My dad wants to know.

[Frosty]

THe LAF is a direct injected I-4 that runs a 11.4:1 compression and uses slight dished pistons for better combustion efficiency. Its rated at 182 HP and 172 lb-ft of torque. THe LAF is not E85 compatible rated.

The LEA I-4 is a tweaked LE5/LE9 motor. It is E85 compatible just like the LE9 (the LE5 is regular gas only). It runs a higher compression ratio that the LE9, at 11.2:1 vs 10.4:1 on the LE9, and the LEA is also direct injected.

[havoc1482]

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnqcWFRLiDA

[Frosty]

Whew! I was worried there for a moment. I thought we had the mystery of the missing car keys on our hands. Thanks for making my morning! LOL!

[Ringo64]

Nice!

[havoc1482]

How much would I get for a set of 14in Oldsmobile Rally rims? Has all of the chrome pieces, but the paint is chipping, they are ready to mount but could use some restoration. (These are the rims on the Phoenix)

I'm trying to save some money for a set of Pontiac Rallys (15in) with BFGoodrich Radial T/As. Which leads me to my next question, I shouldn't have a bolt pattern issue right?

Which then leads me to another question, what/where are the best places with the best prices for these things? I'm looking at Classic Industries because I have their Firebird and Nova catalogs, and because they haven't let me down when I go to them.

P215/70R15 BFGoodrich Raised White Letter radial tires.
15 x 7 Pontiac Rally II wheels.
PMD center caps.
15 x 7 Trim Rings.
Chrome valve stems.
Lug nuts-BLACK.

http://www.classicindustries.com/firebird/parts/CC2005B.html

[Frosty]

I am not a big Olds expert, but most 442 guys will probably want 15s instead. An Omega owner would still probably want the 14s. Most used rims go between $25 - 50 a rim depending on their condition. If these were Rally IIs and you could show the manufacturing stamps (on the inside lip of the rim) that they were correct for a GTO or better yet a Judge, then the value goes up. I suspect the same is true for someone restoring a 442 versus a regular Cutlass or F-85. I am just not as versed in Olds SSII rims. Still $25 a rim is not a bad price either. I suggest adding another $25-50 for the center caps, and another $25-50 for the trim rings depending on how rusty or scratched up they are. throw in the lug nuts with the rims just to get rid of them if you don't need them. Another idea might be to bundle everything for $150.

You should not have a bolt pattern issue at all. GM pretty much standardized its 5-bolt pattern decades ago. That is why you can bolt Olds rims on a Phoenix in the first place.

$1500 is a lot IMO for all of this. Granted new wheels and tires are not cheap. My suggestion is this: price shop the rims, center caps, trim rings, lug nuts and perhaps valve steps from Classic Industries, National Parts Depot, and some of the other Pontiac specialty catalogs. Then check out the prices for these same pieces at Coker Tires. Jegs, and SummitRacing. Next, check your local discount tire warehouse(s) in your area for the price of the BF Goodrichs you want.

My thought of going this route is this - if you buy the complete package from anyone, you will pay a ton in additional shipping cost for the oversize packaging and weight of the wheels, trim rings, lugs, center caps, tires, and the air in the tires. My suggestion is to pay for the shipping just for the new wheels, lugs, etc you want. Go to your local discount tire place and price out a set of tires and have them mount and balance them (they maybe able to provide the chrome valve stems too). You might also get a mileage/road hazard replacement warranty from them on the tires too.

Who knows? I could be wrong and $1500 maybe about right going either way. Still I would want to know that first and price things out either way to be sure.

Coker should also have a package deal on the Rally IIs and mounted tires, so you might check out their price for the whole deal too.

So if you can save $100-200 by breaking this up and getting a road hazard warranty on the tires too, so much the better.

Another thing to remember that any wheel manufacturer will tell you is that once you've mounted a tire to a wheel, you now own the wheel and they are not responsible for any damage to the wheel caused by the installer! So inspect the new wheels carefully for defects before you mount the tires to them. If you buy a package deal, you will be forfeiting this opportunity. So I hope you have some sort of return guarantee.

That's my 2 cents worth anyway. BTW - I run BF Goodrichs TA Radials on the Lemans. They are the original 14 inch rims that came on the car. My longer term plans calls for upgrading the wheels and tires but that is the last thing I plan to do to the car. So they will stay that way for now. Let us know what you come up with.

[JUSTA6]

With decent rubber on em...you can easily get 50.00 per rim/tire. Careful buying used. The ralleys do come in two sizes. Large bolt pattern or the small (which you have). Early ralleys did NOT have trim rings. Don't quote me, but I believe the chrome trim rings started in the 70's. When I bought the GTO, the guy wanted the slicks N skinnys that were on the car. He did have a set of Olds ralley rims and I had to run out and have new tires put on to get the car home. Was going to ask 300.00 for the set with new tires, but wanted to keep em for when I started body work/paint so I take no chances with my Cragers. LOL then I used 2 of the tires on my boat trailer. I will start digging. I bought a set of 14 ralleys for the Sunbird. Cut the centers out of those and a set of the 13 ralleys from the car. I then built my own custom centers and had a machine shop weld/balance them in. That was the only way back in the day for me to get a 14in rim/tire on the back of the Sunbird in a 4 lug pattern. I might have 2 left I could sell ya. I know I have a set of 15's but they are the large bolt pattern.

[Frosty]

That's true. I assumed that the tread was gone and the old tires were worthless. If they are good, then hell yes, sell 'em.

Rally IIs come in 3 sizes from Pontiac 15x6, 15x7, and 15x8. 15x8s were on a handful of muscle cars. You can get 15 x 10s now. The late John Sawruk suggested that I measure my wheel wells before mounting 15x8s on my Lemans to make sure I had enough clearance between the fender lip and frame side of the wheel well.

There were at least 2 different chrome trim ring styles between the 60s and 70s. Trim rings on 60s GTOS, Tempests, and Lemans were available. Only the GTO Judgte came without trim rings. A third style was introduced on the Firebirds and 73 and up A-bodies.

Forgive me for asking JUSTA6, but what bolt pattern are you refering to? The larger B-C car? Or the difference between 4-lug (old H-body and Chevette) vs the 5-bolt pattern? You lost me on this one.

[havoc1482]

The Phoenix had 15in Pontiac Rallys. The guy I bought her from took them off to put on a Ventura and just stuck the Olds rims on. They make the car sit too low for comfort. I'll start doing some price research

[havoc1482]

Got my invoice from the shop:

Brake Caliper w/ Hardware (Right/Front & Left Front)

Center Link

Brake Pads - Front, Premium - OE Organic

Description:

Checked brake shake and pulling. Replaced front brake pads and calipers. Machined rotors. Repacked wheel bearings. Bled and adjusted as needed.

Checked E-brake bracket. Made new bracket and fastened to frame as needed.

$435.78

The center link was what drove the price up. But it needed to be replaced. I almost failed my last inspection because of it.

[JUSTA6]

Frosty, only going off my 74 Ventura that had 14's with a small bolt pattern. Came with 2 rallys up front and SNOW tires on the rear, remember those! LOL. I bought a set of 15 rallys but they wouldn't fit. Had to buy 2 more 14's to complete my set. Under the impression they were for the bigger bodies, I tried them on our 70 Impala since they were 15's, but didn't fit. They ended up on a Bonneville I bought for the 455 and drove for a year or so. Mid 70's. Havoc, it would take 2 mins to measure from lug center straight across to lug center. That way when ordering or buying used you can be sure. I ASSUMED (I know) that if his car had 14's that 15's wouldn't bolt on.

[Frosty]

Going from 15s to 14s back to 15s raises another concern for me. That is the accuracy of the speedometer. Unless the guy who mounted the 14s was smart enough to keep the same outer tire diameter as the original 15" tires were, then your speedo is probably off. I suggest that once you get the rims and tires you want on the car, take it to a shop that can check and possibly calibrate the speedo. This often means strapping the car to a chassis dyno and running the dyno at calibrated speeds.

Calibration changes are made by changing a small plastic gear at the transmission, where the speedo cable attaches to the tranny. The gear is driven off a small output shaft on the side of the case. The number of teeth speeds up or slows down the spinning of the speedo cable, which affects what you see on the speedometer. This gear should be changed when going to larger or smaller tires than what the car was made or calibrated with. I had to do this on the Lemans when I switched from the 350TH to the 400TH, even though I kept the same size wheels and tires. It makes a few miles per hour difference being off by 2 teeth on this gear (and that might make the difference between getting a speeding ticket or just being slower than you think you are too).

[havoc1482]

Frosty, I know the Speedo is off. Its off by 5 MPH. So if it reads 40MPH I'm actually doing 35MPH. I know this because whenever I go by one of those stationary radar systems that tells you your speeds it is ALWAYS (I mean always) 5MPH lower than what it reads. No matter what speed I'm traveling, whether it be 40 50 or 60, its always 5 off. This tells me that A. the speedometer somehow became mis-calibrated, or B. its running smaller wheels than originally intended.

[Frosty]

Well, at least you know that you are going slower and not faster than what your speedo says. Knowing that, you can comphensate mentally for it now, and then get it checked out once you get your new rims and tires. I suspect the problem is "B". The air core speedometer rely solely on the speed of rotating cable to turn the needle of the gauge.

Do you know what size tires your car came with from the factory? I am guessing they were problably either E,F, or G78/R15 - or - E,F, or G70/R15 in those days. It should tell you what was optional in your owner's manual. Your PHS sheet should tell you exactly how it was built. I imagine the original calibration gear is still in the tranny, so if you match your tire size to the approximate size of the original tires, your speedo will be much more accurate.

Yes, JUSTA6, I do remember snow tires. I purchased two more Rally IIs from a local junk yard for my old '73 Lemans Sport Coupe to mount the winter snow tires to. I remember them being "retreads" too. Hey I was a college student at the time. I'd rather put money into my AM/FM/8-track player and beer and pizza in those days than my snow tires. I had my priorities!

[havoc1482]

Big news. Did some research on my VIN.

2Z27U8T 142270

2- Pontiac

Z- Phoenix LJ

27- Coupe 2Door - Notchback

U- V8 305-2v 145hp

8- 1978

T- Tarrytown, New York

She is not a Canuck. The mistake was probably made with the T, being misread as a 1, which would make it Oshawa. But then again, Wouldn't the starting division number be 7 if it was made in Canada?

The mystery here is: Why are my taillights different from other Phoenix's I've seen? Some have my set-up (Single strip: Red Brake, Amber Turn, White Reverse) and others have a separated setup with two individual lights on each side housing just red brake/turn and reverse white.

And, my registration is incorrect. There is a V in the VIN where there should be a U. The VIN on my registration states that I have an L4 151-2v 85hp w/o ECC, which I don't and the VIN on the dash states otherwise.

My manual doesn't give me wheel specifications unfortunately.

[Ringo64]

I'm so used to modern VINs that the first number is build location, 2 is Canada, 1 is US. Have a 2 on the Camaro and a 1 on the G6

Were the tail lights changed between year models? Are they from another GM product?