I'll get you the torque spec in a few minutes, the grommets are definitely reusable. Don't remove them with a power tool without cracking them loose by hand first, on higher mileage trucks the threads can pull out with the bolt.
Ok, well, I know fuck all about cars, but I am not afraid to do anything. I upgraded from only doing washer fluid and air cleaner to replacing my alternator and then water pump on my own. After that, I just really enjoyed learning and saving money. Replacing the knock sensors wasn't definitely the biggest challenge, although due to the placement of one of the bolts, changing the air conditioner compressor was the biggest pain in the ass. Anyway, since I don't know all the terms and fully how everything works, I don't think I was looking it up right. It's not called the "valve cover" but the "valve rocker arm cover," from what I can tell. (But, the replacement gaskets are listed under "valve cover.") So, I think it's 106 lb in. Only thing is, I don't have a torque wrench in in-lbs or even one with a range small enough to convert. I may have to hunt one from a friend if I can't just tighten by feel.
It's 106 inch pounds, just snug them down by hand and then go just a touch past snug, your looking for a good seal around the cover, not some massive amount of clamping force. I never torque them with a wrench, no one does, you'll be fine doing it by feel. I've never had one come back to me leaking.
FYI, you can also "guestimate" the required torque by just knowing the grade of the bolt, size, and thread count. Something like this chart: http://www.portlandbolt.com/technical/bolt-torque-chart/ can be a reasonable guide if you're in a pinch.
My car got it's picture taken with a legend today: Spoiler Fun fact: For '89 ONLY, Pontiac offered the same engine in the Firebirds as was offered in the Buick Grand Nationals. It was an extremely rare option, but it did exist. Personally, I'll stick with V8s, but there's no denying the turbo V6's power. Read more here: http://89tta.turbobuicks.net/ttahist.htm Also, if I wasn't driving an F-body, I'd probably be driving a G-body (probably a Monte Carlo aero-coupe). Cheap to run, and you can make them go real fast.
Found another seller who understood I didn't want to travel with large amounts of cash. Two owner, 51k, bone stock, insanely clean. I'm in love.
I really like the FRC, but that back end needs to come down a little to fill up that rear wheelwell a little better.
Just because you can afford it, doesn't mean you can handle it: $300K Car Crashes 10 Minutes After It's Delivered http://www.newser.com/story/224542/300k-car-crashes-10-minutes-after-its-delivered.html?intcmp=hpdm Idiot.
I did a dual-fan installation on a customer's '89 FIrebird, with awesome results. Spoiler This is the dual fan setup from out of a '00s Chevy Malibu. Next to it is the factory single fan. Note the inefficient shroudless design. This is also the same fan that GM used in 4-cylinder cars, and in my opinion it is just not up to the task of cooling a V6 car, much less a V8. Fun fact: GM even put that pathetic little fan in V8 cars! My car used to have one! Spoiler Here are the new fans on an old radiator out of an '89 'Bird. They fit on there with room to spare, so the installation should be a walk in the park, right? Spoiler Well, here's the problem: I based all of my measurements on a V8 radiator. I thought that the V6 and V8 radiators would be the same (with the exception of core-row count), but I was wrong. This caused what would have been a 3-4 hour job into a 12 hour ordeal. As you can see here, the fans are wider than the core on the V6 radiator, so this required some modifications... Spoiler I had to trim about half an inch off of the edges to get the fans to sit closer, all while maintaining a safe distance between the fan blades and the radiator. I also removed the factory mounting tabs, and had to trim off one blade-guard to make room for the MAF sensor, and had to trim some of the shroud next to the water inlet pipe so that the hose would go on. Spoiler Here are the fans with the custom mounts bolted onto the shroud. I made the mounts out of some angle-steel and flat-stock. It bolts on using the factory mounting holes from the old fan. Spoiler Another thing that had to be addressed for this car to cool properly is the front air-dam. The radiators on Camaros and Firebirds get all of their air through the bottom of the car via an "air dam" that channels air into the the radiator. As you can see here, this one is pretty busted up, and I doubt it was of any benefit at this point. Spoiler Here is the repaired air-dam. I made the repair panel out of the air-dam from a mid-'90s Camaro. I cut out a section of it, and bolted it onto the original air-dam base. I chose to repair it instead of replacing it for a couple of reasons: 1) Cheaper 2) Any used air dam you find is probably going to be pretty beaten up after 25 years, and a new one from the dealer will be expensive (I should know, I bought one years back, but that was just because mine was completely gone, with nothing left to repair.) 3) In my opinion, the factory air dam is kinda flimsy on these cars anyway. They were made out of much heavier plastic for the '93-'02 cars. I prefer to use factory fans over aftermarket pieces for a few reasons: 1) Their durability has been proven with millions of vehicles on the road. In the past, I've use fans from Ford, GM, and Toyota, and all of the cars I've put them in are still on the road and not overheating. 2) Because they are factory pieces, you can get replacement motors at any auto parts store. 3) They're cheaper. This fan setup was $50 at All Valley U-Pull It. 4) They LOOK factory. Personally, I don't want anything on my car to scream "MODIFIED!" when I open the hood (If I can help it; I can't hide my headers). And this isn't even for my car. 5) Yeah, I had to do some custom fabrication to get them to fit in there, but I'd have had to do that anyway with some aftermarket fans. The fans are wired up as follows: The high-speed fan is plugged into the factory fan terminal, which is controlled by the PCM (comes on at 226 degrees F., and/or when the air-conditioner is on). The other/secondary fan is run off of a 40 amp relay, and is triggered by the factory oil-pressure switch, so it comes on whenever the engine is running, but only if it's running: if the key is in the "ON" position, it won't run the battery down. I AM NOT a fan of wiring fans to be on all the time (get it? Not a "fan?" Alright, that was lame), but this is only temporary. When my customer gets more money, I'll install a thermostatic switch to turn the secondary fan on when the engine gets to 176 degrees. How well does it work? Just ONE of those fans is enough to keep this car cool now. Trust me, I tested each fan individually in driving conditions before I turned it over to the customer (did I mention that it's 90+ degrees down here, with 70%+ humidity?), and the car never got past 226 on the primary (PCM controlled) fan. With both fans connected, it can't even get hot enough to turn on the primary fan, and can run around all day at 160+ degrees. My customer is pleased as punch.
2004 Mercury Grand Marquis. My mom called me at 4:30 a.m. this morning, because her horn just started honking. Not on / off, like the panic alarm, but a continuous honk. She was a little freaked out. But, she couldn't get it to stop - I think all she tried was pushing the horn button on the steering wheel and pressing her key fob over and over - for about 15 minutes before she called me. Then, while we were on the phone, it just quit. I'm not exactly sure how the horn "system" works, but I'm pretty sure it's just power - fuse - relay - switch - speaker, all wired together. The speaker (horns) obviously work, it's getting power, the fuse is either on or off, so in this case on, so that leaves switch, wires, and relay. I don't really want to take the steering wheel apart or trace wiring to look for a short or tin whiskers or whatever, so I'm just going to change the $8 relay. It seems like the relay is the most likely cause. Anybody ever dealt with this or know any reason I shouldn't assume it's the relay? Eta: I already had her sprinkle holy water on it . . .
We had the same problem on my dad's '71 Chevy pickup when I was a kid. The solution was to disconnect the horn, and whenever we saw someone that we knew in town, we just yelled "honk!" out the window. Worked just fine. Oh, yeah, the relay is probably the easiest thing to start with.
I suggested leaving it disconnected and told mom to just start flipping people the bird. She declined that as a solution. Also, while I had the hood up, she looked at the dirt / pollen on the intake cover and plastic tops and asked "Why didn't they clean this off when I had my car serviced last week?" I looked at her and did the blink-blink and she said, "Can I wipe it off?" She got a couple wet paper towels and proceeded to clean the engine compartment while I was checking the relay. Alrighty. Anyway, first of all, the relay that shows up on the parts sites is not the correct one. It's the not the bigger sized relay like the blower motor uses - it's like half that size. So, it took me two tries at Advance to get the correct one. The reason the horn stopped honking (blowing? sounding?) last night is because it eventually blew the fuse. I assumed it was the relay, but pulled the fuse first. It was broken, (15A) so I changed it. As soon as the I connected the battery back, the horn started honking. So, I disconnected the battery again, replaced the relay, and HONNNNNNNNNK! I checked everything I could think to check on connectors and none of that is the problem. I think it must be the switch behind the steering wheel. With the airbag and all that, that's not really something I'm going to disassemble myself. Plus, I got other things to do . . . my mom is taking it to the shop she likes tomorrow to let them diagnose. It seems really strange to me that that's a switch that would go bad.
I'd recommend spraying a shit-ton of electrical contact cleaner through the steering column assembly to see if that helps. Sometimes that shit gets dirty/corroded and will short things out, and a simple spray along with some vigorous movement of the horn/etc can be enough to fix that.
I got to drive a 1967 Chevy Nova SS today. It had a 327 with "Camel Hump" heads, headers, and TH350. It also had a four wheel disc brake conversion. I couldn't really open it up on the wet roads, but it was awesome just the same.
They've been talking about this for years, maybe this time it will happen. GM caught testing possible mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2016...ing-possible-mid-engine-corvette/?intcmp=hpff
I'll believe it when they are sitting on a dealer lot. GM likes to start shit when it comes to Corvettes, when I went through the Proving Ground for the GM ASEP classes they swore up and down that the 2007 Vettes would have electric assist on the engine. Never happened. A mid engined Vette may very well happen and the upgrades to the Bowling Green Assembley make it more likely, GM hasn't said specifically what the upgrades are for. It doesn't matter anyway, Vettes have long been priced out the the range of working class people, Yukons and Tahoes are almost there as well.
When were Vettes priced for working people? It's easy to spend more on a Tahoe, Silverado or F250 than a Corvette. Full-size trucks and SUVs are still the profit machines for the auto industry.
Y'all have to see this, a '39 Plymouth pick up with a radial engine. The pictures and workmanship are incredible. http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/enth...lymouth-pickup-is-radically-radial/ar-AAhLuXP