z28luvr01

I know the Conties that come with base Cobalts are garbage. My car has the 16" wheels with the Michelins, and I can fling it around 90* turns at 45mph with nary a peep from the tires. When GEICO rented me a base Cobalt while mine was in the body shop, I spun it around trying to do the same maneuver. The road noise couldn't be drowned out by the radio, and traction was nonexistant in the rain. Spend the dough on better tires. You won't regret it.

Word has it he's headed for Australia with PCS' daughter , and upon settling in they're looking to buy his and hers Commodore SSs.

Leaving my Cobalt out of this, I'll say that I loved and miss my S10 Blazer. If it didn't have terminal metal cancer, I'd probably still own it. Of the cars my father had while I grew up, there are quite a few - a 1986 IROC, a 1986 Firebird (v6, but still cool to a 10 year old), a 1984 Cutlass Calais, a 1985 Cutlass Supreme, a 1981 Regal, a 1986 GP, and, what the hell, a 1965 Corvette that he said would be mine but ended up selling it to build me a bedroom. All but the Corvette he bought with the intentions of fixing and flipping. F-bodies aside, The G-bods were cool, especially the 1985 Cutty. It was black on grey with a plane jane exterior, complete with Olds rocket hubcaps. He put rally wheels and a bodyside molding on it, and it looked killer with the tinted windows it came with. It had a V6 that needed some TLC. He swapped it out in a weekend and sold it the day he put it in the paper. I wish he could have kept it.

Got Billboard? That thing's sick. Beautifl shots, DF. I should get more into photography, at least the shooting end of it. I find when I do it, it's very relaxing.

Before long they'll be pushing to outlaw antibacterial soap, antibiotics, and vaccines.

That's probably because the machine to do the evacuation/recharging is so expensive. It allows you to collect any freon that is in the system since it's illegal to let it escape into the air. You also have to be certifed to work on AC systems. Just get a couple of cans of R134a from Autozone (they might sell the dye too), charge it, and call it a day.

Almost all A/C systems are designed to be closed, so if it's blowing hot air, it is very likely that you do have a leak. Unfortunately, you need to charge the system to find out where it's leaking out. When you fill it, they have a dye that you can put in the system that will show you where the freon leaks out of. You can probably cheap out and not fully charge the system. But once you do find the leak and replace the part, evacuate the system completely and then give it a full charge.

SS wheels are 5 lug. Cory's Cobalt has 4 lug wheels. Assuming they're all in good shape, it's a great investment that will have the side benefit of getting rid of the lousy Continentals that come with Cobalts that have 15" wheels. I believe I've said this before, but also be on the lookout for 5 spoke 4 lug Ion wheels. They're basically the same thing, but the spoke design is a little more interesting.

What'd you get? AC/Delco or aftermarket?

Well they've always had the manual available on 4cyl cars. In the early 90s they had a 5 speed option on V6 J-bodies, N-bodies, and W bodies. Most if not all were gone by 95. I know you're not the only one cheesed by no manuals. I went to college with several Honda humpers who left GM simply because they didn't offer a manual on the cars they wanted.

+1. It sucked paying four times the value of your car for basic liability insurance. I didn't take driver's ed due to the fact that I knew the instructors working at my school would basically have the kids run their errands and everyone I knew that took driver's ed were horrible drivers. I went for private lessons, which came with the 5 hour defensive driving course that gave me the 10% discount. I took my road test on a '91 Dodge Spirit (same car they used for the lessons)

I see a lot of the Riviera concept in the nose and in the side sculpting. It looks very promising.

That's what I thought, but the way the artcle is worded, it sounded like they were going to begin selling cars under the Mopar nameplate, which would be stupid.

Just one question - what exactly is the purpose of the Mopar brand? DF, can you shed any light.

Even better than that, I'd have allowed the plan to redo the B-bodies in 97-98 and fit them with the LS1 to go through. This would have bought me time to gradually phase them out in favor of their replacements based off the VY platform from Holden, who would be aware of my desire to sell their platform in the US and design it to meet NA standards from the get go. I'd also use it as a basis for an F-body replacment, and maybe the Buick, Olds, and Pontiac W bodies. My plan to keep the B-bods alive means that I don't cough up the plant to add Tahoe production. I'm not sure how I'd handle the demand - I'd probably either spread it out over the various truck plants, or reopen and retool a mothballed plant. I'd have continually updated the 4.3 V6. There is absolutely no reason why this engine should have gotten not a single bump in horsepower since the early 90s. An updated 4.3 would have helped the Blazer compete with and possibly overtake the Explorer, while making the S10 the cream of the compact pickup class. It should have inherited all the tech that went into the LS engine. I'd have this engine as a base motor for the B-bodies and F-bodies also. I'd have done everything I could to get the NVH and reliability issues with the Quad 4 fixed without sacrificing power. Then, I'd have scrapped all other 4cyls in GM's lineup and replaced it with a family based off the fixed Quad 4. Same goes for the DOHC 3.4. Work out the quirks, and make it the V6 family of choice for the FWD midsize sedans. I might have continued research/development of turbocharged engines. I would have had a manual tranny avaiable on all N-body V6 models possibly excepting the Skylark. I'd have found a taker for the 50% share that GM had in Saab Seeing that it was a success but not really helping GM as a whole, I'd have sold off Saturn at the height of its popularity and probably gotten a nice penny for it. I'd have raised the price of every GM car by $500 and given it a better interior I'd have kept the Lumina name on the 1995 W-body Chevy coupe. RWD/FWD thing aside, it would have made the sales numbers for the Lumina look a little better. I'd have allowed the designers to strut their stuff instead of bowing to engineers, safety Nazis, etc. I might have productionized the Stingray III - as a Pontiac flagship. I would not have abandoned the EV1 or the Sunracer. I'd have fired everyone who didn't agree with me.

Hagar's notoriously bad with a lot of his lyrics. This is the guy that actually penned "Only time will tell if we stand the test of time" in a song. When the DJs at my local rock station grabbed a copy of "Soap on a Rope", they were literaly ripping apart the lyrics line by line, and you can hear one of the techs in the background say "C'mon! This is Sammy Hagar, not William Shakespeare!!" I have the whole album now, and it's pretty tight. They're clearly having fun and it rocks, which allows me to look over Hagar's lyrical deficiencies. I was worried that Satriani might try to dominate, but he seems content being 1/4 of a band. And he's fantastic as a rhythm guitarist, something Eddie kind of forgot how to do in recent years. Assuming Chickenfoot achieves some sort of commercial success (and I think they will), I see no reason why we couldn't get a few albums out of them. Obviously Hagar and Anthony are very tight. I think Satch would hang on if only because this'll take his career to heights he could never achieve as a soloist. Not sure about Smith, but as long as he's having fun I see no reason why he'd leave.

He drove an hour and a half to buy a Bronco II. False advertising or not, he deserved what he got.

I think Chevy is the more logical destination for Pontiac intenders. Buick cannot appeal to Pontiac customers without diluting itself. Problem is, GM spent the last several decades establishing Chevy as the "bottom rung" in its hierarchy, and it'll be a tough sell to those who don't want "bottom rung" yet can't afford a Buick or Caddy. To get this to work and force people to take a second look, GM needs to market the hell out of Chevy, something they've been pretty piss-poor at doing.

Agreed. Buick can't sell a Solstice-like vehicle at Solstice prices. However, they can set themselves up as an aspirational brand for younger people with a well done Alpha or "Zeta II" four-place convertible.

I'd pull off the plood and start from there. Hopefully he can get the radio out without having to pull the full-width plastic piece with the HVAC vents out.

My dad fixed the ones in his Olds Intrigue for a few bucks. The LEDs are avaialble at Radio Shack. But he's an extermely talented at soldering eletrical components. Unless you're good at that stuff, just eBay a new stereo.

It'd have been a much tougher decision had Pontiac not been treated like the redheaded stepchild of GMNA for the past 25 years. While the government's role in Pontiac's death is unclear, it is GM who starved it and left it outside to allow nature to take its course. Obama is on record as saying he has no interest in running GM. I don't know about you, but I don't think the leader of the free wold has that kind of time. I also read somewhere that the govt's ownership of GM is not intended to be permanent. I can't find the link but I'll post it when I do.

Yes, yes, and yes. It's why I've heard Gen Y referred to as "Gen Why". They are searching for truth and give little value to past perceptions. While not tuning this thread political, I'll also point out that our current president resonates very well with this demographic, and his attempts to emphasize the importance of the American auto industry to America will not be lost on them.

No conversation about 80s computers can be allowed to continue without mentioning the Commodore 64: