Brendan's 99 Grand Am GT update

[geldartb]

well got my 60 bucks back from autozone. at first it didnt seem like he was gonna do the return.

he pulls it out of the box and im like thats how it came out of the throttle body. so i go into the whole story on the car started to idle like shit so i pop this off and this is what i find.

while im standing there and he's looking over the iac, he starts to screw the thing back on and im like yeah i can do that too but that shits not going back on my car.

needless to say im done with these 3rd world autozone parts unless its a ac delco or the same brand i take off the car.

[geldartb]

well got some stuff done with the car today, after i replaced the 8ft florescent bulbs that are like 10ft up.

still need to fix the tips better but i put tips on the exhaust so it doesn look retarded with the crappy pipe.

got the rear lowering springs on. the front will go on next week.

im gonna throw another coat of black on the rims since its all coming off and it looks like patchwork/crap. they were fine and held up great for like 3+yrs but this year they went to hell. this is only really a hold off till i get some real rims.

kinda looking at Pontiac Torrent 17x7 wheels. they look very similar to GTO wheels and i actually like the way they look.

[stewartfn18]

will the torrent wheels fit?

[geldartb]

someone on the powertuner board has them on a grand prix and they look pretty good.

also finally got the front spring in. it looks pretty decent lowered but will look even better with some rims to fill the hole.

ill post the pis up later. snapped a few pics with the phone.

im gonna get some good pics with a real camera sometime. i just stopped on the side of the road and snapped a few pics off.

[stewartfn18]

what springs ya got?

[geldartb]

H&R springs with the monroe struts i put in a few years ago that have maybe 10k on them, the springs i dont know the miles on them. ill put different struts in when these die, dont see the sense of spending money while i got something that will work for awhile.

bought them off someone on GAOC.com in rhode island.

ill get some better pics this weekend. it was like 1pm so the sun was right over head and kinda screwed the pics up.

[geldartb]

had some extra time today so i grabbed a few pics.

[asylummotorsports]

Brendan what GREAT pics!! Beautiful scenery!! WOW!



But tell that guy to move his car!

Be well Buddy!

[IsaacHayes]

Hah nice tips. Looks like my tips only singles.

I have C6 Corvette style tips, but they are offset. So it looks like a large version of the GMC Acadia tips.

They look REAL good on the Beretta.

[geldartb]

yeah the tips are only temp till i get some more 90* bends and use the magnaflow tips i originally bought way back when i first put the flowmaster on. couldnt mount it the way i wanted so the tips didnt get used.

just looked up the GMC acadia and the tips look good.

heres the only other shot where you can see the tips.


there almost centered it the opening but the left ones kinda cock-eyed a little. that was as much as i wanted to screw with them since they were not gonna stay on forever. when i had them on before and they were centered good they didnt look bad but i just didnt like the overall look so i think thats when i went to rocking the plain pipe.

plain pipe look


grand prix tips which i had on first then went to the round chrome ones and then back to these



i got these tips i payed like 70 bucks a piece awhile back and the way i originally had the pipe put on the muffler wouldnt let me use them

[geldartb]

oh i dont feel like editing the last post and adding more to it.

but on another note the car runs the way it should have when i was at Lebanon valley before.
starts up and idles mint. pulls from a dead stop without a skip and when i nail the gas from 40-50 it pulls and keeps pulling strong.

[geldartb]

last videos for this year. one is just a startup and idle. the other one is a short driving video.

i ended up with the idle at 925. it seems to be the sweet spot right now. i tried 850 and it stalled twice when i tryed to leave. 900 wasnt bad either. in the spring ill play with the idle some more. the 925 is alot better than the 1000-1100 i was at.

i know the tips are crooked and uneven. doesnt matter either in the spring or after i get a sticker next year its getting changed out for something different that will use the nice magnaflow tips i got many years back, they are dual tips on each side.

the squeak and rattle or whatever the hell you wanna call it is something on the front of the car i couldnt nail down today. might be the tensioner or something with the ac delete bracket.

with the idle low like this it made the ac compressor vibrate off the oil pan. sounded like my bottom end was knocking. so for the time being until i get a shorter belt i threw the ac delete bracket thing back on. greased it up so it shouldnt sound like shit like it did at albany this year.

the ground was wet and the traction sucked so no crazy shenanigans with the car today.

startup and idle


short driving one


and this is how it sits

[IsaacHayes]

How do those laptop mounts attach to the car??

[geldartb]

in cars like yours you would normally use the front bolt where the seat bolts to car.
but on cars like the great pontiac where the seats only bolt down in the back, i end up drilling a hole through the car to mount it.

i suck at describing stuff like this but look at the pic in the front. they use this hook type crap and have bolts in the rear.

[IsaacHayes]

I see. Thanks. I spy 3500 UIM.