The brand credited with originating the muscle car will no longer be part of GM's future, according to a source.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com senior writer Last Updated: April 24, 2009: 4:39 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision.
An official announcement is expected Monday. GM spokesman Jim Hopson declined to comment on Pontiac's fate, saying the automaker has no announcements to make at this time.
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2008 GM Vehicle Sales Chevrolet 1,801,131 GMC 376,996 Pontiac 267,348 Saturn 188,004 Cadillac 161,159 Buick 137,197 Hummer 27,485 Saab 21,368 Total 2,980,688 Source:General Motors
This Mor-Flow H-pipe is a few years old but the aluminized piping seems to resist corrosion pretty well IMO. I beat out the cats with a crowbar a while back after they started rattling. This setup is good where they do a visual inspection only. It has the bungs for the O2 sensors and an extra for a wideband, though the threads got messed up when I removed the last wideband sensor. It could be plugged or maybe retapped or replaced or an extension welded onto it.
Anyway, the price is unbeatable at free! You would have to arrange pickup - I'm in Southern NH and could probably meet halfway as I have nothing better to do now as I am not working :hick: .
This happened 2 blocks from where I grew up & my parents still live here (I'm here now.) Apparently a firetruck lost it's brakes going down Parker St. which is a very steep hill (see above.) Amazingly, there was no trolley in it's pathway and just a few cars were sideswiped. This is on Huntington Ave. which is a major thoroughfare. It crashed though a brick wall, then into a building where kids were playing on computers in a community center. Fortunately, the kids only had minor injuries.
In this picture you can see the fire engine sticking out of the building (building is on left).
Sadly, the fireman in the passenger seat of the truck was killed (decapitated.) :(
Here is an interesting recreation of how the accident happened - CLICK HERE
Well, actually it is - real nice having your soapy laundry water backing up into the basp00get carrying "paper" products with it :(
Soooo - it's winter now and there is snow on the ground - which isn't so bad. But then we had a wicked ice storm a few weeks ago and a 40' long, 1' diameter base limb from my maple tree broke off and fell guess where? - yep, directly over my septic tank cover :(
So, last Friday I spend the day cutting a path through the snow to the tank cover, then I procede to chainsaw the mess into a somewhat neat pile near the other tree that was completely crowned and split down to half it's former self (luckily my house wasn't hit). I then get a spade shovel and chip through the frost (fortunately only 3/4" thick) and uncover the septic tank cover. I tried to lift if with a pry-bar, but couldn't, so I figured I'd let the pros handle it. Cool, hard work but it was done!
I called the septic tank pumping company and they make an appointment - for 4 days later :( I figured I could deal with the issue and the weather showed fairly warm and no snow. She asked if it was "uncovered" and I said "yes". Now, these people say in their ads "consult with us - the professionals". Hmmm, so why didn't they suggest I recover the lid or insulate it until they got there :( Well, we had a little bit of frozen rain in between and when the tank dude came with the pry-bar, all he did was chip up the cover - doh! I kept asking him if I could help - boiling water maybe? "Nah, boiling water freezes faster than cold water." Umm, I knew what he meant, but this was a short-term deal and it's fairly warm at 25 degF at this time of the morning with sun beating on the cover. Oh, well. Then I suggested "I'd heat it with a torch, but there's a lot of methane in there now and I don't wanna blow the top off". The gears start working in his head and he gets his propane heater from the truck and works it for like 10 minutes. He prys a little more and I ask if "something chemical" might help. No answer. He comes to the front door and says "I give up". Great - I work at home and I got no toilet. Well, he's gone now so I better see if I can do something to this cover before calling another service (that might not be able to make it before it snows tonight!!!) I think - well, I'll first pour a small amount of this 50/50 antifreeze mix around the rim of the lid, let it seep in and then pour boiling water over it - the antifreeze will keep the water from refreezing as fast and the heat will melt the ice. The antifreeze seeped in rather quickly, so I added a little more (no more than a couple of pints mind you.) I figured I'd get the pry bar (mine is only 4' versus his 6' bar) and give it a shot. It broke loose in 1 minute.
I turned off the boiling water and called a different service. So much for "let our professional staff work for you...". The guy they sent was not too bright and even though he was a large man, he could barely breath after a few blows with the pry bar. He did suggest I "wait for spring", but then he felt bad after I told him it was backing up into my basp00get. Good help is hard to find these days :(
RESULTS 1) The three vehicles averaged 1.5% lower mileage with E10, 2.2% lower mileage with E20, 5.1% lower mileage with E30, and miles per gallon actually increased by an average of 1.7% when using E10AK made with the specially denatured ethanol. E10AK was the highest mileage fuel in two of three cars. ...
I thought this was an interesting study - go read it to see the detail of the experiment. It seems to show that there is not direct correlation between the BTU content of alcohol blended fuels and gas mileage.
(not sure who's seen this before, but it's mind-boggling!)
One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive the dragster's supercharger. With 3,000 CFM (cubic feet per minute) of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane, the flame front temperature measures 7,050 deg F. Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases. Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1,400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
In order to exceed 300 mph in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph (well before half-track), the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed reading this sentence.
Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light! Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load. The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.
Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free, and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated $1,000.00 per second.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.441 seconds for the quarter mile (10/05/03, Tony Schumacher). The top speed record is 333.00 mph. (533 km/h) as measured over the last 66' of the run (09/28/03 Doug Kalitta).
Putting all of this into perspective:
You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter "twin-turbo" powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line and past the dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment.
The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you just passed him.
Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot long race course.
I don't know why this didn't occur to me before today, but when the reporter who was discussing the auto manufacturers coming back to Washington - with real proposals this time - mentioned Mercury & Pontiac likely getting the axe, I knew that this time it isn't just an idle rumor.
So, not only have I lost most of my retirement $$, but now my childhood muscle car (GTO) and adult muscle car (Cougar) will never be produced again because the brands are to be permanently terminated.
I was at the track last Friday and my last run of the night didn't go so well. I got a hellacious launch off (been hitting the 1.5's lately) but the next thing I know I am hearing and feeling banging sounds from the drivetrain. I eventually lost all ability to put power to the ground and stopped 1/2 way down the track - suck! Well, I got towed off the track and home and pushed the car into the garage. I knew what had probably happened when I got under the car and turned the driveshaft - which turned easily without any resistance other than one tight spot. Anyway, I took the cover off and this is what I saw:
This is an Eaton E-Locker that uses pins to lock the spyder gear on the ring gear side of the differential to the case so it can't rotate. I figured the gear on the axle that had the pins in it's backside had broken, but it was actually the two side gears that let go. At least the axles were protected from the junk, but the pinion gear has a little bit of damage to one of the teeth that hit this piece of spyder gear that got wedged between the ring gear and differential case. I'm not sure what can be salvaged here and I've sent an email to Eaton to see if they have improved the side gears strength in the repair kit, so far just a generic response. Here is the gear piece wedged between ring gear and case:
I didn't beat my best time - 12.13 @ 116.6 in my only full run (only got 2 tries) and I missed the 3-4 shift - doh!
I did set a new best 60' time which was really exciting to me as I had lowered the car using the stiffer Mach1 springs and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to launch. I got Strange struts & shocks and used the recommended settings and they did exactly what I was hoping for - compensate for the stiffer springs. My previous best 60' was a 1.6, last night I got a 1.56 dead hooking on a 5900 RPM clutch dump!
I was obsessing about which strut to get for street/strip use. I kept hearing that the Strange strut was for "drag racing", but after looking at the comparision of the popular struts on the market, I can see why so many people are happy with them.
Anyway, here is the most cluttered chart on the planet: :hick:
I've been going back and forth on struts and shocks that will be best with my stiffer springs and that can also be loosened up a bit for drag racing. I have decided that the Tokico D-Spec struts and shocks will give me the most flexibility based on extensive research that will likley lead to me getting fired - lol :hick: I searched here and read until my head hurt trying to determine if there will be any compatibility issues if I use the '94-'04 D-Spec kit (front & rear struts/shocks.) Since I already have 11" '87 - '93 Fox Mustang spindles, the thinner strut will not be an issue. I still have a few questions though...
1) My car is lowered 1 - 1.5" in front due to using Mach1 springs (26.5" fender lip height using stock height tires). I assume that the SN95, like the Fox 'Stang has shorter struts, but that this will be fine since my car is lowered (I have a memory that the SN95 struts are longer than the Fox but still shorter than the OEM Fox Bird/Cougar?)
2) I noticed that Ifixyawater had an issue with the threads on the top of the Mustang strut being fewer. This prevented the strut nut from getting full thread engagement. I kinda approximately verified this using pictures JeremyB took of an Aero Fox strut next to a Mustang strut. I will NOT be using CC plates, but instead ordered the replacement strut mounts for an '87 Cougar from Rock Auto (Monroe). Will I have an issue getting the strut nut on far enough? If the mount can also use the Mustang bushings (thread here by vinnie in past week & as stated by Chuck), are the Mustang bushings shorter or something? I'm confused on this one.
3) The rear SN95 shocks should work fine with Chucks Mustang rear shock adapters - correct? In this case I am using Mach1 springs in the rear about 1" lower than stock as adjusted using CHE adjustable perch arms (~27" fender lip height).
If anybody knows of any other possible "gotchas" on my using these struts/shocks, please don't hesitate to add your 2 cents :D
OK, I'm posting this partially to vent, and partially as a warning to those trying to save a few bucks on shipping (due to the increase in fuel surcharges).
I recently opened a DHL account as their rates were much lower when compared to UPS - especially for shipping heavy items over long distances - like wheels. I opened my account, but the wheels didn't sell as soon as I expected. In the meantime, I double ordered an item & had to return one of them unopened. It was a small box of Earls fuel line fittings and was in fine shape so I relabeled it and sent it off using my new DHL account. More on this later...
Now the wheels finally sold, so I carefully sandwiched each of them in bubble wrap and completely encased them in plastic wrap. They were skinnies so they weren't that bulky - they were clean and easy to handle all wrapped in plastic. I attached the plastic shipping pockets, stuffed the paperwork inside and brought them to the "authorized" DHL shipper in my area. Well, this ain't no UPS Store - my first surprise was the charge of $1 per package dropped off. So much for the big savings with DHL :( So, I sent them off and we (my customer and me) watched as one wheel tracked to his house while the other left Rhode Island but was not to be heard from again! We were bewildered - whaaa?? how can you lose a friggin' wheel? How can you lose 1 wheel and not the other? Poor customer was stuck with one wheel. DHL never once followed up with me or my customer without us having to call them. I ended up filing a claim - we'll see how that turns out - I'm not optimistic So that was a disaster.
OK, so last night I'm looking over my bank transactions for the past month and I saw both of the charges for the fuel fittings. Then I looked for a credit for the one I returned. Hmmmm, better check into that - so I sent off an email to the fellow who gave me the RGA for the return. I ended up calling him today and he asked a few questions and he was like "yep, DHL package?", "yep", "yeah, I couldn't identify that one as it has no markings on it - it looks like it sat in a puddle for a month". What? I said "yeah, I had another issue with DHL recently", he says "yeah, they're rough (with the packages)".
OK, that's all I needed to hear. I'll never, EVER use DHL again. 0 - 2!!! What a bunch of losers. So, once again, the old axiom fits - you get what you pay for. As much as UPS irritates me, they've never lost a package and they were easy to communicate with and paid full damages when they damaged my first KB charger (and it was 99% the fault of the guy who shipped it to me).
