Lower and making her mad

[critter]

Off to the alignment shop tomorrow morning. The new springs seriously
lowered it. I think the back may get the same treatment over the winter,
provided I can find the cash.

http://www.arkansaspontiacs.org/bbsimages/critter/lower.jpg

And I added a sticker to the rear end. My wife hates it.

http://www.arkansaspontiacs.org/bbsimages/critter/stick.jpg

[tazzz25906112]

LOL Critter, my wife almost pissed her pants laughing when she first saw/heard the Optima footage that night in LA..... Here is Mary walking around and talking all night with the gang all lady like and then 10 minutes later she's cursing "Stick you Bitch" on the big screen ROFLMAO,,, guess you just had to be there because it was classic!!!!!!

[NOT A TA]

Looks good! Car's got "attitude" now!

[carbondaddy]

Front looks good, back can't wait for winter. Lowering blocks are cheap!

[critter]

The back does have to come down but it will be done right when I do it. Until then, heck, I live in Arkansas. They're used to seeing cars with jacked up rear ends!

[JeffT]

Looks good.

If you want to get the rear down on the inexpensive side, speedway motors offers some extruded blocks for around $10.00 ea. depending on thickness.

[critter]

Thanks for the tip.

I'd really rather get the matching rear leafs on it but the way things are going this week I might have to cheap out on blocks for a while. Getting a front end alignment exposed a problem with the starter that led to a ripped out helicoil in the block where the starter mounts. Since I have it at a shop for the alignment I'm stuck paying them to get the starter worked out so I can get it home. I'm on track for the world's first $500 front end alignment from the looks of things.
It's always something.

[JeffT]

Bummer!

Just curious but who's doing the work?

[DynoDon]

And then when you lower the rear, it will need to be realigned because the Caster and Camber will change. So there's always that to look forward to.

[critter]

LOL. Thanks, Dyno. Just wanted to make my day better, huh? :)

Jeff, Christian Brothers in Maumelle. They had a computer alignment machine. They're pricy regarding their work but I thought I could afford a simple alignment. It just went into a death spiral when I got there. The mechanics have all been great to deal with as have the front office guys. It just frustrates me that this is the kind of stuff I can do myself, if I could simply get it drivable to get it home. I should be able to this afternoon.

[critter]

They called to say the stock starter wouldn't bolt up? WTF? Too many shims they say. WTF? Must be the flywheel they say. WTF? Dude, it's a stock starter on a stock block with a stock flywheel. Something ain't right here. Did you look at the old starter VS the new starter? I brought you a stock starter to use as a core so you wouldn't give my mini starter away as a core. Did you look at them side by side? Uh, no!

OK, push it on your parking lot. I'll get a trailer and come get it tomorrow.

Oh, and they still haven't done the alignment. Game over.

[prostreet69camaro]

WOW that sucks.

[Yelcamino]

Yeah that sucks, but at least now you have the opportunity to find a better place to do the alignment for you!

[buickfunnycar.com]

sticker's gotta be worth 10hp...

[mpozzi]

sticker's gotta be worth 10hp...

And two seconds off of an autocross time ...

I do have the PG-13 rated stickers too.

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

[critter]

I like this one just fine Mary. Tammy has her car and I have mine. This is where division is good.

As for this shop, the Internet is a powerful tool. Reviews can certainly hurt or help your business.

[critter]

The blue haired bit$# is back home. The roll back driver scored a $20 for himself by managing to go up my 30 degree inclined drive and nest it right into my side of the 2 car garage.

[LeighP]

I know that good relieved feeling to have your car safe back in your garage.

[carbondaddy]

Critter... ain't it fun maintaining our old cars!! I feel your pain. I have a noisy rear end in my Camaro and have had three different guys look at it, and spent 1500.00 and it's no better, UGH! Love the T/A by the way. With the rear lowering blocks, you probably won't need to realign the front end again when you do it right, as long as you maintain the same height.

[BuzzKillian]

If you lowered the rear 2" you would have a little over 1* increase in caster. According to Kyle Tucker (DSE) up to 10* is good. You should not see any significant change in Camber.
The starter thing kinda blows. I hate it when so called mechanics can't even perform a simple parts swap.:banghead:

[critter]

Ah, I blame myself. I know better. I have a FastTrax that my brother in law loaned me but I've never used it so I decided to trust the "professionals". That's why I work on my junk myself. At least that way I know who to blame.

Since they never even got the front end alignment done I might as well look at those blocks for the short term and re-align once I get the new rear springs.

[JeffT]

Glad you got her home!

Sherwood Tire has always done a good job for me in the past on mount/balance/alignments.

[John Wright]

I learned my lesson during an alignment shop visit also....dropped my truck off for an alignment and a set of new tires, came back that evening to pick up the lil 350 S10 of mine and found it sitting outside in a pool of antifreeze with a broken B&M shifter. I asked what happened and was told they didn't know how to operate the shifter and it overheated while they tried to figure it out. I didn't buy that story and went back in to see if they would help me out on the shifter they broke, and passed by the set of tires that came off the rear of my truck that had been corded from the time I dropped it off til then. Then they tried to say that I brought it in like that...riiiiight. Now I understand how they over heated the lil truck...it was stuck in first gear and they had to drive it back to the shop with 4.11's on the highway after a parts run in my truck. They don't get any more of my business.