SAmadei

Yep... on the console just next to the shifter, IIRC.

Oh... you are just talking about just the gauges... I thought the whole cluster was swapped. That explains why I didn't recognize it as a F-body cluster. Yeah, those should be real common. If I was planning a trip to the Pick-a-Part, I'd keep an eye open... they had a couple 3rd gen F-bods in there.

Likely you need to stay out of the '90s... the '91 and '92 have a different cluster... four big circles... speedo and tach... then the four other gauges... gas, volt, oil, temp split the other two circles... this likely happened during the late '90 refresh.

If the head isn't worn out, back it out, dip the threads in roofing tar or rubbery caulk and put it back in... it'll outlast the tire. Nails are leaky problems... the screw threads tend to hold themselves in place. Go to your local junkyard... they'll have a set of used tires... or eBay/Craigs List. Keep in mind that used tires aren't the bargain they once were... especially if they need to be mounted or balanced... I payed $50 for a pair of nearly new Goodyears... but since they where going on my small trailer, I mounted them myself.

I searched the planet for a blue GXP manual... preferably without a sunroof. I would have settled for a black one. I went to three dealers trying to find one... they were not interested in finding/selling me one... the only one on a lot was a gray used GT (I hate gray). I don't have time to be jerked around by dealers. However, by the time GM got it's ass in gear and got the GXP on dealer lots, I was out of work. _IF_ Pontiac was to have continued as a niche brand, I would have purchased one once back at work. The G8 is/was the only thing in the recent GM stable that drug me into the dealership. I don't need a new car. I wanted a new G8 GXP. GM could have made plenty more offerings wantable by selling them cheaper... otherwise used will _always_ be a better deal.

Big Lots is like Value City was. Unfortunately, Value City recently went out of business. As DF mentioned, hit or miss... some great stuff... some real junk. But that what liquidators are about. We have never had a Big Lots stick around locally... but when we did have one, it was always neater than Value City... Value Citys would turn into mad houses with stuff thrown all over since much of the clientele they attract don't know how to act responsible in public. Nothing wrong with KMart... some stores are dismal and look like the '70s incarnate... but the merchandise isn't bad. Its a good place to get stuff like spatulas... who the hell needs a Neiman Marcus $70 mother of pearl Spatula when a Kmart one will do. Also, in some east coast big cities, KMart is the place to go since Walmart didn't get a foot in town... for example... there isn't a Walmart for miles near NYC, but there are a dozen KMarts.

Could be. A bad u-joint could definitely cause quite a bit of vibration at speed... and I imagine the CTS is isolated from sounds so much that it would be very hard to hear. My Bonneville is like that... so sound suppressed that I miss a lot of the sounds that something is thinking of failing. I'm getting a chirp from my serp belt I need to check out... I would have never heard it from inside the car... only because I started it and got out did I hear it. Since the car usually has the AC on and the windows up, I would never hear a failing bearing until it was REALLY bad.

And some of us are having deja vu. While I like Pontiacs, I also deeply liked Oldsmobiles. The news of Olds was bad, but it was another straw. Pontiac is the final straw. Buicks and Chevys are OK... but they just don't generally get me in the mood to drop $15K worth of new car depreciation at a dealer. According to people here: Buy a Malibu. In fact, buy whatever Malibu is on the lot, even if you hate the color. Don't care if it doesn't fit your needs... GM needs your money more than you do. Its the greatest car of all time. According to me: Find a car that appeals to me and fits my needs. Currently that list includes a used GTO or G8. When those are exhausted, other powerful, larger coupes with manuals will become desirable. M6 or AMG? Even the G37 is growing on me. I am an GM loyalist that would have NEVER looked beyond the GM world... but GM has forced me out. If they don't fit my needs (or my body), they can be built in my backyard and I don't care. GM has destroyed its product porfolio (CTS, Camaro excepted) to go after Toyota's most boring offerings... which GM has lost every battle so far. It ain't going to matter where the cars are built at, as most cars built in America are built out of foreign parts. And I'm not sure that 'Built in USA' is a asset on a car... when the UAW is skimming off the top. You have to build cars EVERYBODY wants to buy and at an affordable rate. This includes performance nuts, poor people with big families, rich people needing a ego extender. GM has lost the ability to keep an eye on more than one niche at a time... and overprices the niche they are working on when they need to undercut the imports to win back the public.

Granted, they were forgettable... but keep in mind these are still RWD and Fox based... like the '80s Mustangs. There are a lot of people making Fairmonts and Zephyrs into 10 second sleepers for cheap. OTOH, most of the FWD appliances GM has made will REALLY be forgotten... except a few of the supercharged 3.8 cars.

I grew up on Skippy, and its pretty much the best... I flip back and forth between crunchy and smooth... but I really like the honey nut roasted one. Reeses is also good for a change up... but its very sweet, like candy. Jif is OK... but just don't thrill me. Peter Pan I had once in my life and got caught up in the E. Coli food poisoning deal and was sick for three days... and its wasn't that great. Best thing to do with peanut butter... PB and Honey sandwiches. Or eaten right from the jar.

Hmm... you know, I thought all fish sticks used the same fish... and now I wonder. Reading all the boxes at the supermarket last night, and they are all "minced Pollock"... which tells me they are made from scraps. Wikipedia seems to indicate that fish sticks where originally Cod. Since I generally don't care for Cod as a fillet, I would not have thought that was used in fish sticks. So it looks like I have to find some fish sticks made with solid Cod or Haddock. Minced Pollock explains why they are always mush.

Hey, that's why I've voting with my wallet. Elsewhere.

Meh. 25 years will just fly by in a blink. I remember folks waiting for mid-70s Ford Falcons to age 25 years so they could have Mad Max cars. GM burned me already for the final time. I can live a full, rich life without ever owning an EpII.

That should turn some people off small cars in a hurry. Actually, the way I drive (like the Stig) and the stuff I haul (I have about 1500 lbs of stuff in the car right now), I would likely get worse MPG in the Focus than the Explorer.

Put a little grease or something tacky on the socket to keep the nut stuck to it... you DONT want them dropping into the door.

Am I the only person here who has liked the cars I bought? I suppose my expectations have been quite low, as I've owned not one... not two... but THREE cars purchased for $200 or less (I could have bought better cars... but why?). If I owned, say, a K-car or a Chevette... yeah, I would've hated it... but why would one buy a car one wasn't going to like?

I didn't realize Billy Mays had handled so much of our money.

Digging out trusty '99 H-bod FSM... First, however, you CAN replace the mirror glass, if nothing else broke. That said, I haven't seen an instance where a smacked sideview mirror didn't have at least one broken plastic piece. If you could replace the glass, it saves you from taking the door panels off. So, to replace the whole thing... Not being an ass, but copying and parapharasing whats in the FSM, which is somewhat banal and recursive. 1. Disconnect negative battery cable. 2. Remove Trim panel a. Remove arm rest bezel switch plate b. Use a small, flat-bladed tool c. Release the retaining tab on the courtesy lamp d. Remove courtesy lamp e. Disconnect the electrical connector f. Remove the retaining fastener from the rear of the trim panel g. Remove the door lock switch bezel h. Release the trim panel retainers. Insert the J38778 (Uh, your BF flathead screwdriver, trim removal level or your fingers) between the outer edges of the door trim panel and the door i. Lift upward the trim panel j. Disconnect wiring harness k. Disconnect speaker connector as necessary. 3. Remove water deflector (Actually, just peel the upper portion out of the way) 4. Disconnect wire connector 5. Remove two nut fasteners 6. Remove mirror 7. Install Mirror 8. Torque fasteners to 54 in-lb 9. Connect wire connector 10. Install water deflector 11. Install trim panel (reverse of a-k) 12. Reconnect negative battery cable Finally, before doing this, check the door to be sure that the mirror mounting isn't bent up... it'll be easier to fix while having the door apart... the H-bodies seem to have the mirror mounted in a way that I'd be afraid would damage the door sheetmetal if hit hard enough. Good luck. BTW, if you need diagrams or further details, I can scan the pertinent pages. I'd have to move the pile of crap off my scanner, however.

Knowing how gas tanks get topped off by attendants here in NJ, overfills would be quite common and shouldn't harm anything. IIRC, you have an older Cobalt... 2005, maybe? Anyway, disconnecting the battery could help, but I can't think of a reason why the PCM/DIC would be involved... they don't calibrate the reading from the gas tank or anything. I would fear that the sending unit it being screwy, as it is usually just a submersed rheostat. Maybe you had gotten some bad gas or it sat for a bit and corrosion built up on the sending unit... perhaps causing it to stick at 3/4. Anyway, I would likely fill the tank... and drive over a bumpy road. Failing that, I'd get under the car and give the tank some percussive maintenance with a full tank. Hopefully the vibration will dislodge the hang up, cleaning up any corrosion that might be be holding it up. Otherwise, it might be require some tank work. Hopefully this will work out for you... I hate having a sticky fuel gauge.

Mmmmm... yeah, so convenient to park the van by. Lately, I've been working long and hard in the yard... I'm so filthy and sweaty, I rigged up a shower in the backyard (its a big yard)... wow, that's refreshing... so much better than a shower in a hot, stuffy house.

Perhaps a weight has fallen off the driveshaft and the resulting vibration, even slight, did in the diff bearing/seal.

So I was cooking some dinner, and reminiscing about fish sticks. I haven't had them in a while, because I love fish sticks... but they are always a disaster. For those who remember the '70s, am I crazy or has modern processes destroyed the fish stick. In the '70s, fish sticks were crispy and easy to cook... my mother made fantastic fish sticks and we had them in abundance, so they must have been cheap. In fact, I think my mother cooked them in the microwave and they still came out great. I never seem to find decent fish sticks... they never get crispy... they go from soggy to charcoal. They stick to the pan or rack and the breading falls off. The fish inside is always mush. Even freshly purchased frozen ones taste like the freezer... and you pay a fortune for a big box... that has a measly 11 fish sticks. Trying to microwave them turns them into hot mush or fish jerky in a hot mush breading. Its like canned tuna fish. Once upon a time, there was tuna fish... you didn't have to buy "albacore" to get a solid piece of tuna... you bought chunk light... chunk lite tuna today is so watery and mushy that once I squeezed almost an entire can of fish out when I tried to drain it with the lid. Ugh. So, anyway... anyone know where the decent fish sticks are hiding? Oh, BTW, I've had my mother try her hand and she is unable to save modern fish sticks, as well... so it wasn't technique.

Uh... I hate FWD... I would expect a V8 Torrent to start with an AWD version! Granted, its still FWD biased, but it seems that GM thinks this is the hot ticket for the new SRX.

Yeah, just like the rest of the '05 era interiors. GM needing to improve interiors across the board is a given. Its not delusional. Its engineering. Ist gen SRX has a V8... its an inch wider. Same with the Impala LS4. Saturn Vue has a 4 cylinder... its not a V-4 shorty. Granted, I have not pulled a theta apart and poked around with a tape measure. There are people putting V8s in Fieros and Solstices in their barn, I think ten highly paid engineers at GM could figure out how to put a V8 in a theta. I'll bet at some point in the future, somebody will. Hmmm... *checks eBay for Torrent with blown engine*. Yeah... at 80% of the price. You still get what you pay for... but average folks like some spice, as well.

Tick Tock... its the official beginning of the end of the New GM. First task on day one... W-bodies across the board. Camaro, CTS-V, Tahoe... all W-body based!