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I am ticked!!!!!!!

V

vtechkiller

New member
Ok so I just bought myself a 97 gtp for my project car. The moment I bring it to my mechanic to get the swap done, he tells me he cant here the whine that knock is the charger going bad(when i bought i confirmed it was a rattle from the water pump or timing chain). I thought this was off cause it pulled crazy hard, ran perfectly, and shifted like a dream. I have all these doubts with this mechanic(my project car is there and I don't have time to do the swap so I gave it to him, and i was referred to him by my normal mechanic who cant do the job, cause he doesn't have the tools). So what I did was After work take a look at everything he said was wrong with the car and nothing that he said was true, at all! So then i went to take a look at my project car, which has the 3.4l dohc engine with a slipped timing, and nothing on it was touched at all!

so what does this mean? Well the guy told me, a 19 year old guy, that my engine is destroyed and needed a new one, after not touching. then that the new one is shot because there is:

-metal in the oil

-no supercharger whine(bare in mind that the airbox has silencers to prevent that whine, and I told him this he said I didn't know what i was talking about)

-that the rattle is the bearings in the S/C and that it is trashed, along with the engine

my findings are:

-an untouched, and most likely fine 3.4l DOHC engine

-no metal at all in my oil

-w/o the airbox a S/C that howls like a boss

-the rattle being behind or under the water pump

what I think is that this mechanic is looking for a quick buck off a teenager who doesn't have time. It appears that he is frankly too lazy to attempt the swap. Also that he doesn't know anything related to gm engines at all.....my main reason being is that he said the 3800 sucks and breaks down all the time and the 3.4l is a God of engines. Now I'm done my ranting thank you for listening....er....reading.
 




LOL oh all i seen was Ok so I just bought myself a 97 gtp for my project car.....So then i went to take a look at my project car, which has the 3.4l dohc engine with a slipped timing, and nothing on it was touched at all!.............. you see where im going with this i don't see 2 cars i just see one car :th_scratchhead:
 
I see a 97 GTP donor for another project car. C'mon guys.. turn the translators on. Guy is pissed.

A bad motor can be diagnosed without being touched. i've done it many times. A motor can also be misdiagnosed w/o touching it. I've seen that a bunch of times.

Here's something we should all consider when we go to a mechanic. Typically, he is working on every type of car out there. His knowledge is broad, not honed and specific. Someone like me, I mostly work on 3800's only. The only time I work on something else it's a favor or I'm working with mechanic buddy on a project/motor swap. This guy might be used to muscle cars where the blower must whine or it's not running. On the rattle, even my buddy who worked at Pontiac/Cadillac for over 10 straight years at the height of our cars doesnt' realize that a SC rattle is commonly a coupler. He calls and asks me on this stuff. Always try and fine your local person that has focused on that particular car if you want someone that knows things cold.

Hell.. last night I'm putting a swap together and the owner looks at me and says, "you grabbed a torque wrench, set it...and never looked up the spec. You know the specs off the top of your head?" Why yes, I do actually. I know almost all the specs because I've used them so many times. That guy you mention above, he doesn't use the spec, doesn't need it. He'll go by feel and experience and it'll work perfectly 99% of the time.

I never have and never will torque a crank bolt, axle nut, brake caliper bolt etc. Certain things go tight and it's a feeling you develop.
 


00grandprixgtp said:
ur 97 gtp has a 3.4Ldohc in it ??? and it is supercharged?? I gotta see a pic of that
Click to expand...

blackspike2710 said:
Are you sure you didn't buy a Grand Am?
Click to expand...

scottydoggs said:
im not sure he knows 1/2 as much as the guy looking at his cars....:th_scratchhead:
Click to expand...

Pure2sin said:
I read it 3 times and still don't get it.
Click to expand...

You guys are the newbs... lol keep reading the forum and you'll notice
http://www.grandprixforums.net/kid-some-knowledge-2-cars-67365.html
 
+1 for bill lol.

Srry guys I was pissed. Timing to translate angermisse. The Project car is a 97 monte carlo 3.4l dohc which barely slipped its timing, like it will run for a second or too then it dies. The mechanic told me it was dead without touching it, but I don't believe him because there was no bang when it stopped running.

Anyways, I picked up the GTP for 800. The tranny is mint, engine has no rust its just that little rattle issue. I brought it to the mechanic, he took 2 mins. said it was Junk. Now I thought this was a little odd, for it didn't drive like a junker and didn't rev like a junker. So I tried to explain to him that the reasons he thought it was bad was not true, but he cut me off and wrote me off almost immediately. Then he took the dip stick out said there was metal in the oil. that that knock is the supercharger and that it is dead. After this, you could only imagine the heart ache for a 19 year old who dropped 800 on a junk car. I wanted to double check on his findings, so I did a little digging in the car to find not one thing he said is true. Make more sense now?

OH and bill thank you for opening our eyes from the views of mechanics, I had yet to even think of his situation. Still however, he does constantly write me off, and not just with this car. I will be switching to another mechanic to do the swap.
 
Does the monte make weird noises when running? Have you tried to keep it running with starting fluid? How do you know the timing is off? Have you tried taking the belts off the gtp and running it to see what the noise is like then?
 
3.4 dohc can break the timing belt and not hit anything just needs a belt does it all the time...they also have a timing chain LOL kinda gay i know but we never see problems with the chain just the belt... you will need special tools to hold down the cams and im not sure if they fixed the book but it use to be wrong and we would see alot come in at the shop running like **** you have to loose then back cam gear bolts and turn the motor over then tighten back up or it will run like dog sh*t :) hope that helps a little
 
On the view of the mechanic.. it can be tough to diagnose things. He's in the middle of car A thinking A thoughts. You come in and his business depends on customers, while thinking A, he's looking at B and trying to figure out..what's up and likely thinking about C calling him about their car.

The supercharger being bad, can't put metal in the oil. It has it's own isolated oil supply. Sounds like he's thinking turbo, which could contaminate the oil.
 


I was more confused why the 3.4 was a project car at all. You should skip that 3.4 and concentrate more on the GTP (I hate the 3.4 motor). At least you already have a good base with the GTP.

As for that mechanic... I would not take my car to him anymore. Especially if he cut you off and assumes you don't know what you're talking about. You have to have a mutual respect.

You should post up the area in RI you live and maybe someone on here could help you or has a recommendation for a good shop that would look at your car(s).
 
Not sure if this was mentioned once the full story came out, stopped reading lol.

By the way it sounds, like Bill said, I think its a busted coupler, 9/10 times its a coupler if it makeing a rattle.
INTENSE-Racing.com: INTENSE Supercharger Coupler Change Kit
^ Coupler kit and fluid and there is a thread you can read on how to change it yourself in just a couple hours on the weekend.

I don't care how well recommended the kid is but I would take both vehicles somewhere else to someone with a little more knowledge on these vehicles specifically.
 
I think You guys miss-understood what I meant. The GTP is interior and exterior, TRASHED!! I bought it for the engine and drive train which I'm putting into the monte carlo(project car)....I just like the body a bit better......and that was my first car :D. Anyways I loved the 3.4l DOHC but the darn thing just broke down to much, and the l67 just always caught my eye, so I bought it.

Now I like the gtps body too but the car i bought is just is such a rough shape that if i were to restore it I would be better off buying another car. So I think ill give everything out of the monte to a mechanic and he could make a cool little lq1 97 gtp and turn it for a nice profit...or I would do that.

Now as how I knew the lq1 slipped timing, I didn't know for sure. I took it apart, and saw about 1 1/2-2" slack on the belt and the belt tensioner broken, so i made my best guess.
 
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