SAmadei

Put me down as extremely interested. I have the resources and ability to be a productive member of a team, but of course, it would be the scheduling and other details that might later turn out to be problematic, but I would obviously work to get out on a real racetrack.

You have to give GM credit for making the current Impala rear look a lot like the Holden Caprice, or vice versa... almost as if it would be a natural transition... I would like to see a return to the three lamps per side.

Found another SC'd Riv... $550: http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/cto/1423184555.html

That does look like a good one. It'd be nice to find one supercharged, of course. Sucks, as I saw a beat but running supercharged Riv on CL a while back for a mere $500. Looking at the cars that finished the recent race, and nobody had a 4th gen F-body, which tells me they are hard to squeeze under the $500 limit. Desiring light weight, RWD and the possibility of a stick, I wonder if an S10 is a possible candidate? They are cheap and with a 3800 or V8 engine swap are quick. Plus the suspension is G-body based. 66, yeah a manual would be better, of course this is an endurance race... all that shifting in the MR2 video looked like it got old after 3~4 hours. Guaranteed that Buick driver staying ahead of him for a while was not nearly breaking a sweat.

I lied... not CT... seems they have changed the website recently to include 2010 dates... http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/events/

Varies. There are 10 or so different races over the course of the year, most in the west. There is one in CT coming up.

$500 + value of unnecessary parts removed and sold on eBay.

Sounds like it could be a potential race car after a little work with the BF Hammer and some parts. Tie rods are easy to fix.

I would, but probably could only do races east of the Mississippi. I haven't been over their complete rules and history, but my first thoughts on an interesting beater were to procure a J or N body and put a 3.8 liter supercharged drivetrain into the rear.... essentially a Fiero with better suspension. Be nice to make it a manual. Of course, I'm not married to the idea... but I'm sure most ideas here are going to have FWD vs RWD or small vs big controversy. It seems that getting accepted it somewhat hard, and they recommend a "theme". Though a C&G theme is a good start, I would think a bit more of a gimmick might be needed. While not the fittest person here, I can be very good endure-wise. Spent enough years driving around in overheated cars and trucks with the heater on during the worst part of the summer. Might be a good motivation to lose some weight. What do mean by "if the car is seized"? I realize that the LeMons people reserve the right to destroy any car, so it seems to me that any resources put into the car are a write-off once a race is started. Of course, then there are the other costs... a certified helmet and racesuit... I'm sure nobody really wants to share that stuff... even if we could... I've not gone out and purchased a helmet because its such a PITA to find one big enough for the large lump on my shoulders. I'm thinking costs will more likely be closer to $2000 per participant considering travel, lodging, eating, racewear and safety equipment for the car, as quite a bit of car upgrades are in the name of safety.

Cooler Europe means a cooler ice cap, which pulls fresh water out of the ocean to build up the ice. This is the system in action... of course, it takes time to work. Of course, we also had a cool North America this year... but I didn't hear of tremendous heat problems at the equator... if the gulfstream didn't remove the heat from the equator to the two large northern land masses, where did it go? Did the Earth get less sun this year? You must know where all the secret ice caps in Hawaii and New Jersey are, then. The ice core samples can give data on the poles, and give us a pretty good idea of global CO2 content, but they don't give us much info outside the poles. Climate change can occur in ways that don't effect the poles much, when convection like the gulfstream is interrupted. As best it is a vague indicator. I'm not discounting the ice core sample data... it is valuable, but some folks think it can tell us precisely the temperature in Florida on Oct 15, 25000 BC. Just not the case.

Likely condensation. Let it run for a bit... in the cold, it can take a while to cook off. Assuming you have coolant in the radiator, your exhaust would smell sweet if you were burning coolant. Also, there may have been condensation on the outside of the muffler... and the exhaust vibrations are jostling the drops off. Obviously worth a closer look. I would doubt it. There is only a small amount of lubrication in the AC system... the R134a (or R12) would escape into the air, generally leaving the oil pooled in the bottom of the system... of course, if your AC compressor is the bottom of the system... Of course, when my AC clutch went bad, it was accompanied by the loss of a seal. I've never taken the AC clutch off, so I'm not certain how they are interconnected. That said, with the system fully pressurized, the coolant and oil that sprayed out left a bit of a mess. Of course, I'm sure more clutches and seals don't happen to go bad as one is topping off the system (I didn't overfill it, I know that for certain). The pulley will spin intermittently as pressure is needed. If the pressure exceeds a certain threshold, it will cut out. Also, if the pressure stays low too long, it will cut out to protect the compressor from burning out. I would run the car and watch it while someone else turns on the AC. Failing that, I would check for voltage on the clutch wiring connector. I thought you were mostly concerned about a noise? Does (or has) your AC work at all? Obviously, it wouldn't if the pulley is not spinning at all. Keep in mind that a system with low refrigerant actually runs COLDER than a system that is properly filled... which helps give the impression that the system died suddenly when the refrigerant is slowly leaking. Its just that the refrigerant finally hit a point where not enough is left to run the compressor. This is what happened right before my AC compressor and clutch went seriously bad. Anyway, as for not being super mechanically inclined and not having the money for repairs, one tends to feed into the other. Necessity being the mother of invention, or in the case, mechanically-inclined-ness. IMHO, a big part of being mechanically inclined involves having a "can do" attitude, and one mechanic victory feeds into another. By removing the professional mechanic from the equation, in many cases you have three times the buying power to buy more parts for other repair projects. And you have a nice little support group here. Good luck.

Thats why you need to buy stock in landfill mining, surely to be a monster in a decade or two. I'm not convinced there is much to climate change... as others have commented, we don't have enough weather history to make such dire predictions, and I have more faith in the climate system. In the past, much more greenhouse gases have been released, and the earth coped. Sea levels rise and fall, species rise and fall... if we can't cut it we're yesterday's news. Now, I'm not advocating eco sabotage, as there are definite benefits to conserving, recycling and low pollution... but I don't think any law that gets passed will actually change the climate much (example... clunker programs in Cali which allow the factories to buy up credits and pollute more.). With our luck, we'll run everything clean and then the Yellowstone supervolcano will doom the climate anyway.

A little bit of plumbing work under the sink, and you could install a faucet you can attach your hose to and run it out the window. This is what I did when I needed to fill my kiddie pool in the college apartment complex. I'm skeptical about the waterless car wash...

My Bonne does this when the light sensor on the dash switches the DRLs to full brightness. The car thinks it is getting dark, and you don't need the full brightness... which is likely wired to the dimmer on the headlight switch (or whatever the Imp has instead). This isn't a big problem for me, as I keep my dash at full brightness, but I could see it as a problem if you kept things pretty dimmed down. If its not the dash dimmer, it is likely something in that circuit, disconnected or shorted.

I'm not convinced GM will do the right thing here. They'll probably instatue some BS, like the lease-only EV1, so that the police can't sell them to the public, since GM hates us. ;-) As for the Impala... I'm convinced the next Imp will be a stretched Eps2 and FWD, as it is what "new GM (same as the old GM)" seems to think everyone wants. When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Hmmm... I wonder what colors will be available? I suppose white/gray/silver/black will be obvious. Wouldn't it be great if you could get it in ANY Holden color? Atomic Metallic or Morpheus?

You know, hindsight is always 20/20. I drove an LS in 2001, and was less than thrilled. I didn't care for the styling, it was very, IMHO, un-Lincoln-like. It was kinda cramped and I felt the V8 lacked power and torque, barely more than a 3.8 V6. Since RWD platforms have since become like unicorns (Outside the G8 and large Mopars), and cars continue to cramp, the LS and older Mark series have gotten better with age.

As with Camino, I had the compressor in my Caprice catch fire last year. My clutch had went bad, then it blew refrigerant out... since I have a single belt, I just left it be... but I didn't realize that the AC came on when turning on the defog, so I left the defog on too long and the AC burned up. I was able to continue to drive it, but the bearings got so bad it screamed and wobbled noticeably. The serp belt, IIRC, could not simply bypass the AC with a shorter belt... so I looked into getting a AC delete pulley... but that was 1/3 the price of the compressor... so I bought a compressor and left it disconnected so the clutch would not engage. I would have charged it, but then the Caprice got put in the garage and disassembled as part of my broken bolt odyessey that has been repeated put on the back burner. (I want my garage BACK!!!) ;-) If your short on money and can life without AC, I would suggest buying a used unit from a pick-a-part... likely cheaper than a AC delete pulley and less hassle then guessing the length of a shorter belt. Oh, as for robbing power, it only robs power if the clutch is engaged. Just pull the electric connector and that's not an issue.

Actually, I think a Groan is the best description of that kind of noise.

Its a shame, as Alltel had used similar technology to Verizon for a long time, without the BS... Verizon phones usually have brain damaged, overwrought software. Back when the RAZR was the top phone, You could hack your Verizon phone to run Alltel's HeloMoto firmware. This was similar with many phones, as at the time Verizon and Alltel were the biggest CDMA network users.

I'm with GM4Life on this one... the big features here are the V8 and ROOM. Of course, what features would a police issue car lack, really? The 9C1s were pretty feature laden. Of course, there is the lack of leather seats, fancy stereo and alloy wheels... but those are quickly rectified by the aftermarket... or even a local upholstery shop for the seats. Police issue cars are going to have the standard dash... the cruise... HVAC... power windows/locks... G80 LSD. Not sure if police cars tend to have key fob remotes nowadays. The only feature I'd be unhappy about would be the lack of a 6-speed.

I'm thinking that a ball joint/tie rod end joint has seized somewhat and the whole joint is turning in the tapered bore... this quickly ruins the taper, and the whole knuckle needs to be replaced. I don't understand why the manufacturer's don't have a keyway to prevent this. Of course, I also hate that the joints don't have a notch or allen hex to prevent the ball from spinning while tightening it... it seems I have to replace even fairly new components as I can't properly torque them without spinning the joint.

Iowa is not too far from Jersey. ;-) Brought two cars up from the tip of Florida over the years. Since this car is squeaking around the rules, I wonder if GM would bring over wagons if requested by the police... 1A2 wagons were popular in NY State, apparently. I wonder if the wagon based on the SWB or the LWB? Another thought is that I wonder if they push the front seat mounts back further on the LWB vs SWB... one of my biggest problems with the G8 was that I couldn't fit in the front passenger seat, as it has less rearward travel than the driver's seat.

GM4Life, I don't recall what part of the country are you and this dealer is in, could you refresh me? I could be very interested in this... 2011 would be a good window for a new car for me... also, I wouldn't technically be buying it from GM (My boycott on new GM purchases due to the Pontiac decision). I actually like the Statesmen rear better than the G8... I would be tempted to get a G8 nose and make myself a Bonneville out of it. Of course, if it is recognized as a Police-only car by the average cop, it could be a good car for avoiding being pulled over... professional courtesy and all that.

Your a zombie, huh? Actually, I'd like to know what the screens are detecting, as its not just straight pressure... tried to use a stylus with the G1 and Storm... no go. Been too busy to Google it.