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Re: A Newer Project!
A little Spring time update. The seat bolster panel I plastic welded held up for about 6 months until a real cold day a month ago when I sat in the seat and heard the panel crack at the repair joint.
But the good news is that after a year of hunting I was finally able to find a drive's side plastic seat bolster panel. It turns out that the panel for the optional seats with the lumbar support is a very rare piece. I found one on ebay last week that was from a 99 Trans Am. And it was only $19. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] The only down side was that it was grey, not black. I was able to dye it black using the SEM Landau Black vinyl dye. Great stuff and matched perfectly! Got it installed and now that is one less part to hunt for. I spent today with the boy, outside working on the T/A. We put the car on jackstands and flushed the brake system. The old brake fluid was green - very weird. I mean green like the old Kendell Motor Oil green! We used an entire gallon of fresh DOT3 brake fluid to flush the system until it came out clear. Afterwards I went back and reviewed the inch-thick, volume of original dealer work orders on the car from the original owner. It looks like she had the Pontiac dealer do that BG Brake Flush at least three times in 61,000 miles, the last one at 55,000 miles. I don't know what was in that flush stuff but I have never seen green brake fluid before. By the amount of fluid discoloration, it looks like they never actually flushed the existing fluid out - just added some snake oil to it. The dealer sold her a bill of goods every two months for 13 years. It's unbelievable how much she was over-charged for over-maintenance - over $10,000 in maintenance invoices during that time - in addition to the three extended warranties she had purchased for the car - good til 2016! Every 1,500 miles or 60 days she had the $39 oil and filter change, the $189 fuel injection system flush done, the $69 power steering flush done, the $169 6,000 mile service done (which is just an overpriced inspection with no replacement of parts), the $39 tire balance and rotation, (after she paid for free lifetime balancing and rotation in 2001), and the $99 brake flush plus $39 for the BG snake oil liquid. Whenever she had a legitimate warranty complaint - like the driver's door speaker not working, they would note that they could not "duplicate the problem"...and then would go and do the maintenance-palooza on the car and she would get hit with a $300 bill on what should have been a zero deductible warranty visit. I found seven invoices over 13 years requesting the speaker to be replaced under warranty, before the speaker was actually replaced. It just gets me so angry that the dealer did this to her (even though the car was the beneficiary of the over attention). OK, I am done venting for the moment. I did order a new set of ACDelco spark plugs and original equipment 748CC Delco plug wires for the car. So that will be our next project. (You'd have thought that the dealer would have done a tune up on the car with all those visits but I guess since changing spark plugs on an LS1 equipped F-body actually takes a bunch of time, labor, and busted knuckles, that they took the low road and just did fluids). Stay tuned! |
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I wonder if the investigative reporter at the local paper would be interested in hearing about that dishonesty by the dealer? That is really sad to hear someone being taken advantage of like that. Sheesh.
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Thankfully that dealership is out of business now. Gee, I wonder why? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img]
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Ah, gotcha. Well, I never wish anyone lose their livelihood, but those were some egregious offenses so I guess what goes around, comes around.
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Another update. I brought the T/A to my buddies garage last night and put it up on the lift to find a noise that I thought was an serpentine belt idler bearing, going. We think it is just the belt squeeling when it hits a rusty spot on the water pump pulley and slips at 2500 rpm. A result of the car sitting in the pine barons of New Jersey for too long without getting driven.
While it was up on the lift I decided to change the fuel filter since I had an NOS GM filter laying around. We swapped out the filter and applied a little air to the old filter's outlet to see what if anything was inside. A whole bunch of blackish dirt and residue came out with the fuel. Upon closer examination it looked like it was the original, assembly line fuel filter which, you guess it...the dealer had "replaced" on four separate occasions in the 13 years she had the car. Too bad the dealer is out of business, otherwise "60 Minutes" would have had a field day with them. We also used some wide mouth vise grips to unbend the lower front fender mounting tabs where the bottom of the plastic front fenders are bolted to the rocker panel flange. The dealer had used that spot to place the jack lift pads, instead of the frame rails, four inches further in. It had bent both mounting tabs 90 degrees over and flush with the bottom of the rockers. Luckily the mounting areas on the plastic fenders bent and didn't crack. Here is the after photo once we got it back in to position. We used a heat gun to warm up the plastic fender's flange so it wouldn't shatter when it was bent back to its original position. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...2-img_0970.jpg I must say that I am liking these 4th Gen cars more and more. (Other than the plastic interiors). They ride and handle wonderfully. They have some great lines with the WS6 Ram Air hood. And the LS1 is no slouch on the road. (Could use some more horsepower...but then don't we all say that about every car?) https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...3-img_0967.jpg |
Re: A Newer Project!
The boy and I decided to tackle the cracked driver's side door panel that has been annoying me since we got the car. Last year we removed the panel, glued the cracks, removed and reinstalled the window felt, and reinstalled the panel but it was still an eyesore, especially since I had to look at the damn thing every time I was driving the car. (The passenger side panel was perfect - but I did remove it and reinforce the crack-prone areas with flexible body repair material and removed and reinstalled the window felts in a "looser" position).
So we decided to replace the panel. We all know how hard an uncracked 2001-2002 ebony panel goes for, so I went for the alternative. The early cars - up to early 1997 used a different plastic material for the panel which doesn't crack when exposed to heat/cold cycles like the later panels do. The only problem is that they are grey and not ebony. So we found a really nice 1996 grey panel with a cloth insert and started the experiment. Since the panels used multiple parts that were plastic welded in place at the factory we used a heat gun to soften the melt points. The cardboard backed cloth panel then pulled right off the tabs. I actually trusted my son to wield the heat gun...lets just say he needs work on his aim...and I need to wear asbestos gloves. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070001.jpg Here is one of the tabs before heating. After each one was softened with the heat gun, I just pulled the panel off one tab at a time. After the entire cardboard panel was removed I reheated each tab and squeezed it with a wide flat toothed pliers to remake the tab into something that would easily engage into the ebony cardboard panel's slots. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070004.jpg And here is the plastic panel after the cardboard-backed upholstery panel was removed. I will tell you that the arm rest mounting points are much harder to heat as they seem to be of a harder white plastic material and not polypropylene. (this photo is actually a couple steps ahead and shows the ebony arm rest and map pocket set in place. Note the color difference). http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070006.jpg I went ahead and removed the arm rest and the map pocket as I wanted to install as much of the original stuff from my 2001 ebony panels as possible. Most people could stop at this point and then dye the panel as is to get ready to install the ebony leather interior upholstery panels. |
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Here is the grey donor panel after everything has been removed.
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070007.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070009.jpg And after I scrubbed, cleaned and redyed the panel with SEM Laundau Black interior dye. This stuff is wonderful and I have used it for all sorts of black interiors over the years. Its a great match for the ebony panel color. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070011.jpg |
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Here is the ebony upholstery panel from my cracked door panel:
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070014.jpg With the ebony arm rest and map pocket in place, now came time to plastic weld the map pocket in to place. The arm rest has to wait until the cardboard upholstery panel is in place as its mounting tabs are melted over the panel. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070015.jpg I used a plastic welder with a flat tip (basically just an overpriced soldering iron), to melt the tabs back into the panel and bond them together. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070017.jpg |
Re: A Newer Project!
Once the map pocket was welded into place I reset the ebony upholstery panel onto the mounting tabs and heated each tab in order to retain the panel in its original position. Once again, the large, white plastic plastic tabs for the arm rest are the hardest to heat and manipulate due to whatever plastic they are made of.
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070019.jpg And then the insulation is reapplied. It was rather easy to use the heat gun in order to reactivate the existing sloppy application of glue all over the back of the panel (all the circular squiggly lines are glue). The insulation then stuck right into place. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070020.jpg I also reinstalled the original window felt using the wire from large paperclips. I cut them to a horseshoe shape and then bent them to form the new replacement staples. This allows the weatherstrip to flex a little and not bind the panel on hot/cold days. And here is the finished job: http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070023.jpg |
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nd here is how it looks in the car, when compared to the original ebony passenger side panel:
All in all the grey 1996 panel cost me $75 plus shipping and the can of SEM Laundau Black interior dye was $12. Sure beats $300 for a used ebony panel that is already brittle and ready to crack. http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070030.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070031.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070034.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P1070037.jpg |
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Well done Steve. The most impressive thing to me is your wife lets you do this in the house. Is that Cards Against Humanity in the background? Good game.
Jason |
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LOL. Yes it's my daughter's game.
The wife texted photos of the process to my daughter at college showing her what we were doing in the dining room. (that's her version of a support group). The text went something like this: <span style="font-style: italic">"It's such a shame your father doesnt have a workshop to do this...oh wait he does...and a basement, too...and a garage...."</span> [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] |
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I like the clip section you were using for the pocket.
Always a interesting read on your projects. |
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I used whatever clips were in the wife's kitchen at the time. Did I mention how understanding she is? [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]
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I stopped by the bodyshop today to get an estimate for replacing the "targa panel" that has the factory defects from the adhesive bleed-through. I left the replacement panel with him so he could start prepping and painting it. Here is a shot from when I spent several days last summer removing it from the sawed-off roof section of a donor car. The bodyman indicated that it will be much easier for him to remove the existing panel from the car since it does not need to be salvaged and he can use heat from the painted side to loosen the adhesive.
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...-p1030397a.jpg |
Re: A Newer Project!
I tackled the spark plug and wire set challenge yesterday. Boy is that an insane job. Plugs 1,3,5, and 7 can be done with a minimum of effort, while lying across the front end of the car with your arms pretzeled along the side of the engine. Plugs 2, 4 and 6 require the smog tube to be disconnected from the manifold to give you some room to get your hand in. Luckily the bolts came out without breaking due to the low mileage.
Number 8 has to be done from under the car, sticking your arm straight up alongside the block. The hardest thing is using two fingers (because that's all the room you have) to pull the plug wire off the plug and coil. I could have used some of Bruce Lee's <span style="font-style: italic">"One Inch Death Punch"</span> training to get the finger strength to work in that tiny work area. And of course, GM had to sharpen all the edges of every pointy piece of metal and shielding in the general area of the plugs and wires. At the moment, my right arm looks like it lost a fight with a rabid honey badger. The original Denso PTJ16R15 12563707 plugs were still in the engine. They look like they were burning nicely but the gaps had worn to over .060 over 14 years of running. I replaced them with some regular copper ACDelcos. She idles much more smoothly now. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...6-img_0979.jpg |
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Did the dealer receipts show any spark plug replacements?
Jason |
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Surprisingly, no. Probably because that would have taken some actual knuckle-busting labor instead of allegedly hooking up some flush-o-matic 5000 machine.
It took me around 2-1/2 hours to change the plugs. (including the 15 minutes of trying to find the spark plug and socket that fell down and wedged itself on top of the starter. Luckily I disconnected the battery before starting the job. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] |
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Nice to see your work of detail.
In my 2001 LS1 that I bought 10 years ago to put in my '69 Camaro I still have the original Denso spark plugs. They look fine and it runs fine, so I haven't had any reason to change them. |
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I think the problem they had with these initial platinum plugs was that the tiny little "puck" of platinum on the tip of the electrode ground would fall off through wear or with via someone checking the gap with a feeler gauge and dislodging it. If you look carefully you can see most are missing their pucks, hence the wide gap.
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The WS6 is currently at the body shop getting the replacement roof panel prepped for installation. He was able to remove the old panel in one piece with heat and wire.
The underside of the new panel all prepped: http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...28151121b1.jpg The steel support panel getting cleaned up: http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...28151122c1.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...5281511231.jpg |
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The trunk lid edges also needed some paint attention and the paint flaking on the tips of the spoilers as well.
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...28151122a1.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...28151122b1.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...28151121d1.jpg |
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Look's good.
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And here she is all finished and back on the road today. The paint and bodywork came out wonderfully.
http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/IMG_1033.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/IMG_1030.jpg http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/IMG_1031.jpg |
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Looking sharp.
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Very nice.
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A little update.
We have only put on 900 miles since buying the car in 2014. Lately, I have been trying to identify an annoying engine-related noise that occurred only under constant throttle - not coasting or heavy throttle. It was hard to pinpoint exactly because of how loud this car is under acceleration with the aftermarket muffler on it. (Time is of the essense too, as the third extended warranty is getting ready to expire after 15 years in December 2016). [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img] After pulling the serpentine belt and spinning everything by hand, that spins, I was able to isolate it to the alternator bearing and several of the idler pulleys. So I brought it to the local Chevy dealer and they did a nice job working on the car. They had just been through two days of dealing with the extended GM warranty with my daughter's Impala SS - replacing a leaky steering rack, the power steering hoses, the trans cooler lines, the oil pan gasket, and an engine mount. I found all of these items while underneath the car changing the oil last week. The GM extended warranties are wonderful to deal with compared with an aftermarket one. They even gave us a free 2016 Impala with 300 miles on it as a courtesy car! Total bill: $107. ($100 deductible plan) The aftermarket extended warranty that the original owner bought is another story. The service writers were able to deal with the crazy people at the warranty company who, as usual, put you on hold for 20 minutes at a time and try to make it hard enough that you give up. For example, they agreed that it needed a new alternator. So instead of allowing the Chevy dealer to simply install the AC/Delco alternator that was in stock on their shelf, at the Chevy dealer price, they had the exact same part number AC/Delco alternator overnight Fedexed to the dealership. While they might have gotten the alternator $30 cheaper than the dealer price, they just spent $100 overnighting it!!! The same thing with the main idler pulley. The dealer only asked for the pulley - a $40 item. The warranty company balked at that but then sends them the entire AC/Delco idler assembly (a $200+ part) overnight. They also refused to pay the dealer hourly rate - undercutting it by $10 an hour...but then end up paying the extra hour for the idler assembly replacement instead of the pulley. (BTW, I think they actually get their parts from Rockauto based on the packaging). So in the end, I paid $112 consisting of the $50 deductible plus another $45 in the unreimbursed labor charges, plus tax, for a bill that cost the warranty company around $1,000 ($500 in parts and $400 in labor and $100 in shipping). And I got to keep the original alternator and all the pulleys, idler, etc. And the annoying mystery noise is gone! BTW, When I brought it in to the dealer, they know how particular I am about my car so they had a space inside all ready for it - and it stayed inside for the three days it was there. The funny thing was when I brought the car in, the twenty-something male service writer didn't know how to drive a manual transmission so he handed the keys to a twenty-something young lady with full sleeve tattoos who gave me the all knowing nod (turns out she has a Mustang Cobra and an old pickup truck - both with stickshifts). Cool lady. If my son was older I would have played matchmaker. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] |
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Wow...you wonder how places like that warranty company stay in business?
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Most don't. They go belly up after taking your up-front money. That was a common scam a few years back. That's why I want to get as much repaired as I can while the aftermarket warranty is still in place and the company is still in business. I have six more months to locate any new noises. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img]
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I spent the morning replacing the brakes in my daughter's 2009 Impala SS. I took out the Trans Am to bring the rotors down to my buddy's garage. We tried cutting them but they were way too warped so I bought a new set at NAPA. I had already bought the new AC/Delco pads from rockauto last week.
Of course, the daughter slept through all of the work and woke up just as I finished the job four hours later. While on the test drive, bedding in the new brakes, I noticed that one of the door lock solenoids wasn't working. I ask her about it when I get back and she says: "Yeah it's been like that a while". Sigh.... Of course I could have gotten it fixed when it was at the dealer last week under the initial $100 deductible. Now I have to wait until something more major needs replacing under her GM extended warranty to make it worthwhile. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] |
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I was thinking about updating the brakes on the WS6 so I decided to peruse the giant pile of dealer receipts from the original owner to see when they were last done. I wish I took a Mylanta before I did. It just got me all riled up again over how she was completely hosed by that dealer over and over again.
The rear brakes were replaced at 33,000 miles - new rear rotors at $44 each, emergency brake shoes at $89, pads at $59, and $120 in labor. That's not all that unreasonable. But at 45,000 miles they did the front brakes...and get this: they charged her $145 in labor just to cut her original rotors! That did not include the $120 actual labor to do the brake job. (Keep in mind that new GM rotors at the time would have been around $80 for the pair). Unbelievable! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/mad.gif[/img] There was also two invoices for replacing both her serpentine belts: first one at 52,000 miles was $102 labor and the two belts were $27 and $47. Then 5,000 miles later they replaced them again at 57,000 miles. Charging her $110 labor and $29 and $52 for the belts. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/no.gif[/img] The stack just repeated this abuse over and over again. Too bad the statute of limitations is in effect, and the place went out of business in 2009 when GM pulled their franchise. Anyway, I have been hunting down a front suspension jounce squeek that occurs only when the car has had a good heat soak after running. While I was under the car I noticed the lower control arm bushings were failing on both sides, so I made another appointment with my local dealer for the $50 deductible warranty coverage. I took photos of the bushings and even made a video clip of the squeeking and sent it to the service writer. We shall see what happens. |
Re: A Newer Project!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xplantdad</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wow...you wonder how places like that warranty company stay in business? </div></div>
I used to work for a warranty company - I couldn't stand it. you gotta read all the fine print!! whats "excluded" usually is what fails - nothing in exhaust or nuts bolts fasteners is covered on what used to handle. Some policy's aren't bad but some are pure junk and thrown in to sell a high mileage piece of crap I feel sorry that some people don't know what to look for in a used car and when to run away! |
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Yeah, they declined the control arm bushing replacement as a "wear item". The account rep was nice enough to call me and explain why, which was unexpected. He said that since all four bushings had the same degradation it is considered normal wear and tear that is excluded in the fine print, versus if one bushing actually failed which would have been covered.
Compare that to my old Chrysler Corp extended warranty on our 2006 300 which covered the worn out lower control arm bushings and replaced the control arms at 99,980 miles on a 100,000 mile extended warranty. Same experience with our Impala SS with the GM extended warranty. They cover everything even if it is wear and tear. (Other than brakes). So me and the boy will be doing the bushings ourselves. Already ordered them from Rockauto, along with new brake pads. |
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We replaced the front and rear brake pads and pulled the rotors to clean them and soak them in evaporust to remove the surface rust on the hat portion. They look much nicer now. I had to replace one of the caliper brackets after breaking the head off the slider bolt. It was completely seized in the bore and even heat and gently trying to turn it in a vice didn't do anything. Luckily the local Autozone had one in stock (Cardone remanufactured original bracket for $25).
Of course that means the dealer totally ignored that problem when they charged her all that money for the front brake job and an extra $145 to cut the front rotors, a few thousand miles ago. It was an obvious problem since that front inner pad was worn twice as much as the outer one since the caliper couldn't slide. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] |
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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yeah, they declined the control arm bushing replacement as a "wear item". The account rep was nice enough to call me and explain why, which was unexpected. He said that since all four bushings had the same degradation it is considered normal wear and tear that is excluded in the fine print, versus if one bushing actually failed which would have been covered.
</div></div> Well that sounds like a steaming pile of you know what, and did you know you can dispute the denial? it would be brought back up to a supervisor and reviewed again and IMO bushings are not a wear item like brakes or shocks are. there alot of different warranties out there so you should read up on the company check the BBB and see if they are handling people correctly. IMO there are contracts thrown in on cars that have way too many miles but people think that theyre covered and when something like an engine fails and its found to be sludged up that its denied by PO lack of maintenence so the claim is denied leaving the new owner a useless unwarranted car. It's buyer beware for sure! personally I trust my knowledge of cars and inspecting them personally befor buying and deciding to take the risk of failure and saving the money I would spend on a contract(they aint cheap!) to pay for any repairs may come. |
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