Cavalier 2.4 LD9 Boosted!

Some fun time pictures of the recent weekend adventure!

Untouched by man until recently.

Dude, the engine is to the left a little more.

Giving it the finger for good measure.

I have a few more pictures but I guess I reached my limit for the day.  Enjoy the fat!

I really need to be doing something else....PSYCHE! IT'S EPIC BLOG TIME!

I'm just kidding, there isn't anything epic about having to change intake manifold gaskets but I took a couple pictures along the way to maybe help you guys out.  This is on my '96 S10 2wd.  The engine is actually from a '99 Blazer but the procedure is identical.  I'm going to be lazy and post the pictures and just put my comments in under the pictures.  Torque everything to manufacturers specs and enjoy!

This is prior to starting any major work.  The intake tubing has been removed and  that's about it.  The fan belt needs to be removed as well as the idler pulley near the EGR which is the pulley pictured above.  I have an electric fan (trick of course) but you might have the stock mechanical clutch fan on your S10 which may be in the way so you might think about removing that too.  Also think about replacing the little crossover hose that runs into the front of the intake manifold because it's going to be a lot easier to do now instead of alongside the road in the future.  That little sucker hose is about $15 though!

This pays dividends!  Instead of removing the power steering/ ac compressor mount I simply notched the ac mount to gain access to this bolt which holds the intake manifold in place.  My professional opinion is that this notch doesn't compromise the structural integrity of the mount at all.  Word of advice is to measure twice and cut once but if tape measures confuse you than use a sharpie to outline where you want to cut. 

More after the jump

Cavalier engine removal reality

Andreé has a new project and I decided to play photographer while I wasn't wrenching. He bought a 2000 Cavalier, factory supercharged, for 500 bucks. The motor doesn't stay running. It sounds like a rod is shot or something along those lines. He's probably going to sell off the speed parts then get a salvage yard engine. In the mean time the supercharger is going to get sold to recoup the vehicle cost. Not a bad winter beater to use so that the BMW doesn't get ruined by the nasty PA winters. I took some decent pictures and videos of the engine getting pulled out. This goes to show it isn't as easy as it looks sometimes to get an engine out of a car. Hit the jump for more pictures and a video.

The 1 is hibernating for winter (Sweet pic of it in storage)

It's a sad day. The car is officially put away for winter. I have shop rags stuffed in the tail pipes and the battery is in the house. I went to PepBoys (who I tend to stay away from usually) and purchased a California Car Duster. Not a bad product. I'll probably come out once every couple weeks to dust off the paint and roll the car forward or back a couple feet to prevent flat spots. Now I just need to figure out how to open the trunk without electric power before Spring comes.

I decided to play around with my camera tonight and I got a really cool picture of it as it sits in the garage (seen above). It's nothing special, a Canon SD1300 IS but it can take some excellent pictures if you play with the settings. It was really dark in the garage. The lighting is poor to begin with plus the florescent bulb above the car is burned out. I used a shovel as a tripod :-p.

P.S. After looking at this picture I really need to find a new place for that precarious ladder.

Prepare yourselves for an EPIC blog.

Prepare yourselves for an EPIC blog from this guy right here in the next few days.  I'm about halfway through another project and I have my camera on rapid fire so keep your heads down and get to da choppa! 

2012 Best exhaust goes to...

Without a doubt the best exhaust system of 2012 goes to the Porsche 918 Spyder. Although this car is going to be a 2013 / 2014 model it can't be denied that this has to be the most perfect outlet location up to this point. Well, maybe Shelby was close but this is better. Just look at it.

Even the concept car that was debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in 2010 didn't have this treatment. How cool would it be to be driving along silently in full electric mode and then press the sport button. The 9,000 RPM V8 comes to life and belts out a scream from the exhaust system that lies just above the engine.

This does make one wonder though. What if Porsche decided to forgo the hybrid power plant of the 918 and go conventional with the same level of obsessive weight savings. Instead of a 767 horsepower, 3,700 pound car they might be releasing a 580 horsepower 2600 pound car. Which would you rather have? Me...I'd take the dino burning 2600 pound monster all day long.

Porsche 918 with KERS
Power:     767 HP
Weight:    3,700 lbs
HP / ton   415

Porsche 918 with only a bad ass high revving V8
Power:     580 HP
Weight:    2,600 lbs
HP / ton  446 = BETTER

It still has the best exhaust though.

Cars at Team Blue: Part 1

I like going to the Team Blue car wash sometimes just to see the sweet cars that show up. I went there a couple weeks ago and saw a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera and a dirty, murdered out Ferrari 458 Italia. There was also a Sakhir Orange Metallic BMW M6, and Mineral White Metallic M3 there. I didn't want to look like a total tool so I didn't get pictures of them. Maybe next time.

The coolest thing happened as I was getting in my car to leave. An employee was starting up the Ferrari to pull it in. He rolled down the window and said, "Hey, that's a nice BMW". That pretty much made my day. A dude that was sitting in a Ferrari said he likes my car. Good stuff.

Oil changes are getting more expensive

I was writing an article containing tips for storing your vehicle for winter and decided to spin this off into another post. I also want to bring attention to the fact that luxury brands need to quit being so "exclusive" with every component. An oil change is the most basic maintenance one can do to keep their car tip top. All of a sudden European manufactures decided that we need custom oil, custom filters, impossible to get to filters, bespoke wrenches, etc. WTF? I say this is not necessary.

Some people will say that you should change the oil and filter before parking the car for the winter months. I disagree with this, under certain circumstances. Here's the reason why. If you have a sweet muscle car, jacked up truck, LS powered beast, yes you should change your oil before winter. It will cost you at most 40 bucks. Just do it. You'll have fresh oil in the spring. When the first warm day comes around you can rest assured that when you put the pedal down with an oil temp of 160+ degrees that everything will be adequately lubricated.

The problem is that not all cars are that simple to perform an oil change on. Now days even Mazda has specialized oil filters. BMW requires a "BMW specification" oil. A Porsche 911 GT3 needs 9.5 quarts of oil. Very few people would attempt to perform an oil change on a Lamborghini. In fact this crazy bastard was so concerned that he flew his car to London to have one done. Most expensive oil change. In the BBC show Top Gear Series 7 Episode 4 Clarkson, Hammond, and May tried the DIY oil change on a Maserati, Ferrari, and Lamborghini. They just don't think about the do-it-yourselfer anymore. An oil change for my BMW 135i can run up to $300 due to specialized oil and filters.

Me, I think I'll be waiting until Spring. When the first months begin to show green and when I stuff the pampered, trickle charged battery back into the trunk I'll take it easy on my way to the shitty local BMW dealer so I can have my fresh petrol product replaced for the cost of a case of Scotch.

: /

Winter time, the cool cars are going away

It's only a matter of time until the salt trucks spray crap all over the road and ruin the road surface for another 4 months. The clocks are about to shift forward causing the daylight to be completely relegated to exist on Saturday and Sunday, for those of us that are stuck inside the office 8-5.

The days of coming home from work, going to the gym, and still having time to wash the car are gone. The days of rushing home from work so you can get that exhaust hooked up while there's still some light will need to wait until March 10th when this "savings time" is over.

The leaves have fallen. The first frost has frozen. The kids have their candy. Now is the time to finish preparing to hide away your prized treasure so it can remain pristine, sheltered from the elements.

Here are some tips for the fellow OCD car nuts that will be stowing away their vehicles for the winter...

S-10 Foglight mod worth 8-9HP. I'm SERIOUS!!

Check it out folks!  I just installed a set of factory foglights last week and couldn't wait to get the hole-saw valance off and the right valance on.  I'm not required to run a front plate so finding a valance without the cutouts for the plate bracket was a no-brainer....and a huge p.i.t.a. but worth the effort. I knew they existed and after numerous e-mails and hours spent searching the web I found what I was looking for. Partsgeek.com had the hookup.  Powering the fogs I used a switched relay wired off of the battery.  To bad I didn't take a picture of the foglight harness I made because it looks sooo sexy and fits juuust right.  Giggity-giggity....


Please ignore my improvised temporary foglight holes on the top valance and draw your eyes towards the center of it.  See those small rectangular holes?  How is a guy supposed to get a good night of sleep knowing that these holes exist and serve no other purpose to me except looking ugly.  Thank the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster for Partsgeek!

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