bigsteviejoe

For a day or so I thought I had an answer. It was a 2004 Impala SS Indy that I test drove after the Allure that suprized me when it averaged less fuel than the Allure did. Insurance for the Impala is comparably good. Wife asks to check out rates for the not as big more efficient Malibu that doesn't take premium gas or make the same transmission destroying power. Malibu gets the same rate. Seams like Malibu is the way to go but see the links below about what people had to say about the Malibu's steering. http://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2005/steering/popping_from_steering_when_turning.shtml http://www.carcomplaints.com/Chevrolet/Malibu/2004/steering/index.shtml So now I'm back to not knowing. 04 Impala has some issues with the speedometer and gage cluster going haywire. Also I probably wouldn't use all that power in order to spare the transmission.

I checked out a 2005 off rental Allure/Lacrosse yesterday, thinking about what has been said about the LeSabre's fuel economy considering that the series III and smaller appearing car should match it or do better. I reset the avg once warmed up and drove as efficiently within reason (waiting out red lights when possible, even went on the hwy). Disappointment. I thought I had a dud but I looked at edmunds, lots of people saying the same thing about mpg. Interior is nice, ride is nice and predictable and not too floaty. Was there ever an instance where the car companies were accused of making the computer readouts on fuel economy too optimistic, cuz this one surely wasn't.

I wanted a Miata but then I saw the trunk. I think Mazda should make it a priority to figure out how to put a properly sized trunk in there. I didn't think about the 4 banger Alero. Is the 2.4 good? I will keep the Series 2 Lesabre in mind.

Thats kind've where I'm all over the place. 3 - 9K. I'd like to have the car so I can wait out for some of the newer model cars to be tested and depreciated. I'd like it to last a year per $2000. I want to see what the fuel effiecnt cars will be worth after electrics become available. I figure it may not be far off.

I am extremely sad to report that my 1989 Reatta Black on burgandy was totalled by a mack truck Nov 21 2008. Weather was not a factor, and I had snow tires on. The car had 296000kms. For the mean time I am going to hold off on buying another Reatta until I find a place with a garage, as I don't want to subject another to winter. I posted a number of pictures of the car under the subject of rims and tires. I don't believe the latest version of the site has them. If anyone has copied and downloaded pictures of it I'd like to have a copy, seriously. The pictures had the car with Chrome Ronal R25 rims that I feel were made for the Reatta and like the Reatta were unique unknown and discontinued. My wife has found a few nice pictures, I will post up from when we went camping. I am wondering what to get for a new (well not new) car. Ugliness is not a factor. I would like to stay away from black rubber looking interiors (the Accent). I'd like to get something that has the best offset between insurance cost and Fuel economy, reliability being important. It can be old if it has really depreciated because of ugliness or bad reps from other models. Looking at later model GMs is like walking through a minefield. I'm scared to own anything that has the potential of hydrolocking due to head gasket or whatver failure. Also I like the supercharged cars, but the transmission becomes a concern. I mean I could get modified tranny off ZZP if I really like the car and can trust I won't need to replace the AC, powersteering unit, window motors or control arms. It won't be easy though cuz I live in Mississauga Ontario Canada. The Volvo S40 & Honda Fit doesn't seem to get the insurance rates I expected. Most used small Toyotas are in the neighbourhood of 120000kms. Anyone know about the 2001 V6 Solara? HOw about the 2006 3.8l Allure, are they quality? How far have pre 08 Focuses gone till they died? 1995 Stealth RT Auto 200000kms good/bad? My commute is fairly short (8 miles). Any ideas?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Vincent Vega</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What year? 88's don't have a finned cooler. It's just a line that passes in front of the condenser. </div></div> Oh thats what that is. It doesn't appear to have much cooling capacity. I can't imagine one of those costing too much. I can't imagine why they didn't want to mess with it. Anyone with suggestions of an appropriate aftermarket one, maybe one off a newer Buick?

thanks The topping up worked, but the fluid kept dissappearing within a couple days. I did manage to drive the car pretty far (over 3000km up till now). The mechanic is saying the high-pressure hose is leaking as well as the cooler. For some reason I cannot find what "the cooler" is on Rockauto. High pressure hose does not appear too expensive, what do you suppose a cooler costs?

Thanks, That helped a lot. Its amazing the impression it was giving me before. I was worried about a number of things: PS Pump, belt, suspension, transmission...

A failing coilpak can cause the same thing.

Okay I checked the level. (The car has been sitting for a few hours.) Power-steering fluid is submerging "A" for ADD.

I hear groning noises when I turn the wheel. Is it the powersteering? What should be replaced? How much should it cost if I take it to a garage? I'm also hearing a winding noise that changes pitch with engine RPM, could this be coming from the same thing or is it a cold transmission?

Check out this link. http://forums.motorswap.org/viewtopic.php?t=2422

Thanks I aven't installed anything yet. I'm uncertain whether I have the right module. It has a 2 prong plug and a 4 prong connector on top. The box says power module. #16061602 Here's a pic of the part I got.

The links to the FSM on reatta.net appear to be broken for me. The fan comes on occasionally, (it started doing this in summer). So I got a new fan module, and motor with wheel. Looking at the exploded diagram from another post the procedure appears to be pretty straight forward. (Go under the hood, Take cover off blower, and there should be a motor and the ATC module is just above it?) Correct me if I'm wrong on this, it will save me time. My tools available are an adjustable wrench, a socket set, and an interchaging screw driver. Should i be able to do this?

With the amount of searches I do I can't believe I haven't seen this picture before. http Buick Performance

I for a long time was looking at 225/50/17 but was told that they are and I agree a little too skinny for rims 8 inches wide. The extra mm is better for rim guard. Plus the diameter is still smaller with a 225/50/17. If you want to go skinner than 245 if at all possible go for 7-7.5" width, it allows more room for clearence and you have more margin for error if you cant get the exact offset you want. You'll save $$ and weight going the 16" route.

Perfect Power units measure absolute manifold pressure, tps and rpm to come up with the values to translate to the ECU. Now if it can do that and retard timing whats not being thought of? (At first I thought it was just a MAF to MAF translator) I've heard of piggybacks not being able to compensate for real weather situations, (runs perfect on dyno, lousy out on the street) Large injectors, low horsepower computer = make small adjustments large, but the more powerful engine requires the fuel anyways.

Knowing that skewing the MAF signal via a large MAF sensor and a piggyback, will make the ECM select more advanced timing, and reduce the margin for error that was programmed in at a given speed or load (knock retard). The piggyback can also delay the crank signal a number of degrees programmed. But this doesn't solve for the timing issue if it pings. How about all the above plus lower compression? Would dropping to 7.5 - 8.0:1 cr be enough, or make things so close that the adjustments for timing that the piggyback would have to make be minimal? Is it possible that Buick used lower compression on their prototype and did nothing to the computer except use a large MAF, large injectors, crank delay, and skew? Any reason why going to 7.5:1 although I'm biased to 7.8-8.0, would make the car horrible on gas or not pass emissions?

Here's a website http://www.pdxtuning.com/technical_tuning_big_MAF.htm I'm not sure what website I was at before, but the this one brings up a timing problem as a result from scaling the MAF signal down.

To properly tune the computer would be better, but their is a website that openly recommends going to larger MAFs when working with high horsepower that go beyond the cars tables (newer cars with more precise computers though). 300 CFM air/400CFM MAF, = 75% signal 300 CFM air/500CFM MAF = 60% signal Would the motor be off so much that it would ping or stall out during idle? You could install an oversized pulley on the supercharger and in the end you have a Reatta with drastically enhanced (because of the lack thereof midrange - top end.

Higher octanes didn't seem to help much, if at all. I tried some 91 before expecting to see lower retard, you'd think it'd read zero all the time. No such luck. The integrator seems to bounce back and forth from 124-131. Swapped to winter tires today, had an alignment done. No real improvement. I observed the injector pulse width bounces, between 4.4-5.0 ms while idling in drive. I'll add some air to the tires and see what happens.

I'm posting this cause I'm trying to get a base line on knock retard for the Reatta, because I'm a little disappointed that despite the work and the improvements and the colder weather, my car has power, its just not reporting the mpg I'm expecting, and despite all there is some knocks and some retard here and there. I've got a pretty fresh K&N air filter in there, 2 1/4" mandrel exhuast, magnaflow cat, magnaflow muffler, delco ignition Recently replaced old with new OEM fuel pump 02 sensor AC delco injectors there are no EGR codes, engine was cleaned not long ago I find if rest my foot on the gas for a while (cruise) and then do a 70% throttle acceleration to hwy speed from city there is some knock retard, but if I let off the gas and give it 90%-full throttle, less retard. brisk 65 mph - 80 mph 0-4 but mostly 0-2, let off 70 - 80mph 2nd time I've seen 0-10 spark angle. I can be more specific. Normal driving hardly any knocks at all. Cross counts between 1-9 Coast BLM is 105-109 Steady cruise 113-118 Reg acceleration 119-125 Brisk acceleration 124-128 -131 I run the bigger tires, I may have a small alignment issue (noise only, but scrubs speed a little... its getting fixed tomorrow) but that doesn't explain the knocks. The car reports mpg better running around 50mph rather than 65mph. PM me or whatever. My theory is a perfectly running Reatta with a similar exhaust as mine should get 32-34 mpg instant at 65ish all the time, the k&N is there to broaden the powerband up for another 200 rpm where the motor starts to run out of air.

If GM would like some help they should get me as one of their executives. Seriously if GM hires me on as an advisor (they can email me at hotmail), offer me a job, I will talk about the directions GM needs to take, the reasons behind them, and I will give a presentation. And for Compensation I only want $350,000US/year for 6 years, plus ten free GM vehicles, plus all & every last detail on the Reatta's computers and I will get the rebound process underway.

I'm under the impression that a Series 2 can be made to run on the OBD Series 1 computer. If that could be done that would be better, bonneville club shows both engines have similar #'s and that the only real difference comes at the top end. Benefits of the Series 2 over the series 1 and its why my heart is set on the series 2 : 1) There is a whipplecharger kit out there that fits the series 2 2) Currently there are aftercoolers, to help lower knock causing air temps

Many have gone to 225/60/16 tires which have roughly a .3" bigger radius than the stock 215/65/15. You could also get rims with lesser offset to space the wheels outward more since the stock ones are really tucked in. Their are a few places on the internet that do custom leaf springs. I'm not sure what else is involved.