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Luke's GTP

Only took a few photos when working yesterday:

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Drove the car!

It’s a big milestone. But wasn’t much fun, let me tell ya. Scary as hell. White knuckle driving the entire way. Drove about 3 miles so I could park the car inside the garage at my mom’s condo place. The car drove, it braked, but man was the steering erratic. The car was pulling this way and and that way, and and this way, back the other way… FUKKK. I was afraid of getting pulled over for being drunk. Now that would be bad news cuz the car has no insurance and the plates are 1 year expired. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I’m driving the car to the welder on Oct. 20th. He’s 30 miles away. Last night I made the decision to get an alignment before driving out there. Even though I will need another alignment after the surgery since the struts and what not will need to be removed. So 2 alignments, no big deal I think. There’s no way I’m driving out there with the car pulling and swerving. F that.

Also, the front brakes were squealing LOUD, like a scared pig. Not so much when driving, but when braking the squeal was intolerable. Need to fix that ASAP. I’m not liking how squishy the pedal is either. Car brakes just fine, but the pedal sinks too far down in my opinion.

Other then that, no new/big leaks. Car didn’t catch fire. Exhaust smelled good. Engine smelled good. Coolant temp was perfect. No engine codes. Shifted gears just fine. HVAC was blowing air. Etc..

Getting ready to roll out:
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In the garage:
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CHI2000GTP said:
Drove the car!

It’s a big milestone. But wasn’t much fun, let me tell ya. Scary as hell. White knuckle driving the entire way. Drove about 3 miles so I could park the car inside the garage at my mom’s condo place. The car drove, it braked, but man was the steering erratic. The car was pulling this way and and that way, and and this way, back the other way… FUKKK. I was afraid of getting pulled over for being drunk. Now that would be bad news cuz the car has no insurance and the plates are 1 year expired. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I’m driving the car to the welder on Oct. 20th. He’s 30 miles away. Last night I made the decision to get an alignment before driving out there. Even though I will need another alignment after the surgery since the struts and what not will need to be removed. So 2 alignments, no big deal I think. There’s no way I’m driving out there with the car pulling and swerving. F that.

Also, the front brakes were squealing LOUD, like a scared pig. Not so much when driving, but when braking the squeal was intolerable. Need to fix that ASAP. I’m not liking how squishy the pedal is either. Car brakes just fine, but the pedal sinks too far down in my opinion.

Other then that, no new/big leaks. Car didn’t catch fire. Exhaust smelled good. Engine smelled good. Coolant temp was perfect. No engine codes. Shifted gears just fine. HVAC was blowing air. Etc..

Getting ready to roll out:
20171011_220602.jpg


In the garage:
20171011_224054.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice to see it with wheels on! What's with the steering? I don't think it's an alignment issue (tho you need one for sure). That much slop would to me be something broken or not hooked up right or at all.

What kind of pads did you install? I'm to lazy to go back and see if you said lol

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wowitsfast said:
Nice to see it with wheels on! What's with the steering? I don't think it's an alignment issue (tho you need one for sure). That much slop would to me be something broken or not hooked up right or at all. What kind of pads did you install? I'm to lazy to go back and see if you said lol
Click to expand...

She's on all fours! It's a good feeling. Lol. But yeah, steering was messed up man... I was thinking something wasn't hooked up right as well but what? Tie rods are connected cuz the wheels turn. Everything else is connected. I don't know.

Talked to an alignment shop earlier today. Driving the car there tonight so they can work on it tmrw. We'll see what they say when they see my handy work. hahahaha. First off, their gonna be confused why someones even rescuing this rusty heap.

Pads and rotors are straight from the junkyard, and pretty ****ty. Only temporary tho.
 
Haha. It sucked. Just now I drove it to this place called DuPage Tire & Auto. Wrote a note on an envelope and slipped that and the key into the "Night Owl" slot. They can do the alignment and figure out what else might be wrong. Maybe even have them use a Tech II on the brakes. Hell, might even have them replace the leaking trans to radiator lines that I don't wanna do. I'll get a quote first. Lol. We'll see what the guys tells me tmrw morning.
 
Trans lines are easy and cheap.

Pep boys near me does a good job with alignments and I bought the 3 year warranty so any suspension work I do, I go in and get it re-aligned for no charge lol

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I asked that they do the alignment and that's it. $100. I wanna believe that they tweaked some other things while they were at it. Who knows. I'll have them bleed the brakes pro style after I get the slotted R1's I want, with pads. The car is done and sitting in their parking lot. I have yet to pick it up so not sure how it drives. I can only assume, and hope, that it's much better.
 


It should be. I hope they provided you with a before and after print out of the the alignment. I always ask for that cause so many shops in my neck of the woods claim you only need a front wheel alignment which is total bullsh!t. All w-bodies among many other chassis' need 4 wheel alignments

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Ok. They did all 4 wheels. Car drives much better. I misplaced the print out so I will post a pic of it later. Car doesn't pull and swerve like before. Guy asked me about the struts when we were talking on the phone, before the alignment. He asked me if the struts were adjusted for camber, or just dropped in. I said they were likely dropped in, and had only maybe 4000 miles on them. He said they need to be adjusted, but I will get that done later.

The steering still has me a little worried. The steering wheel doesn't feel as tight as it could be. Feels a little sloppy.... Also, you can turn to the right no problem, with one finger. Need a lot more force to turn left. Not a ton of force, but significantly more. Rack was just installed by me, remanufactured AcDelco. Pump is new with like 1,000 miles on it. Hope I didn't get a bad rack. Shyttt mannn. What else could it be? Bad strut mount? Over tightened ball joint or outer tie rod?
 
Left turn deal is prolly rack action.. could have air in the system to it can be a bishh to clear out

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IDK if I ever mentioned ISS replacement or not but that may be worth looking into. Get the sealed GM one, not the Dorman brand. I've heard tons of horror stories.

Not all strut replacements need "cam adjustments". They use a cam bolt to adjust it to the correct setting.

I didn't need one and knew I wouldnt either when I did mine.

I did however have a tech tell me I needed a cam bolt once and I had the stock struts on at the time. I told him he didn't know what he was doing and went else where.

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wowitsfast said:
Left turn deal is prolly rack action.. could have air in the system to it can be a bishh to clear out
Click to expand...

Maybe the air will just come out on its own after some driving... I was thinking that loosening the return line on the rack while someone turns the wheels might help get trapped air out.

HighOctaneRacing said:
IDK if I ever mentioned ISS replacement or not but that may be worth looking into. Get the sealed GM one, not the Dorman brand. I've heard tons of horror stories.
Click to expand...

Don't think I know about that. What is "ISS"?
 


CHI2000GTP said:
Maybe the air will just come out on its own after some driving... I was thinking that loosening the return line on the rack while someone turns the wheels might help get trapped air out.



Don't think I know about that. What is "ISS"?
Click to expand...

Don’t loosen the return line. Just take the cap off and turn the wheels back and forth. That’s the highest point in the system. In theory all air should end up there eventually.
 
Don't need to loosen anything. Put the front on jackstands (you know all about that) turn the wheel clock to clock engine off check fluid as you go to make sure you don't introduce more air. May take 20 to 40 clock to clock turns also a Google search will net you the bleeding and flushing procedures for our cars

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Not gonna loosen anything then. LOL. I did the cap off, wheels in the air, lock-to-lock exercise, but maybe I didn't do it long enough. Definitely didn't do it 40 times. I'll have the front of the car in the air tomorrow night. Will be replacing the junkyard brake pads with cheap fresh ones, and will bleed the power steering then.
 
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