Anyone going to the Route 66 Fun Run in Kingman, AZ this weekend?
Just wondering if I'll see anybody.

George

 

Hi George -- yeah, I'll be there in spirit tossing Hawaiian pineapples out the window on my way to Oatman! Just kidding....

BTW, I pulled apart the 10-bolt rear in my '92 and discovered the grinding was the front pinion bearing race all galled-up. Happened at Kermits when they changed the pinion seal and just air-hammered the pinion nut back on. The Camaro made it another 700 miles into California before the bearing blew.

I musta had a severe case of the stupids to let someone change a minor thing like a seal during a road trip. Sure learned my lesson the hard way. We have a replacement rear going in the car in a few days [check the pacific forum if you want the horrible, gory details].

Keep those TransAms clean, some day I'll rumble up to your doorstep, you'll see!

Cheers,
Ed

 

Uh, I'll be there someplace.

 

i`ll be there with bells on.

 

Hi Ed!
Sorry to hear about the problems you have had with your car!
Did you contact them at all about it?
I have heard some good things about them, and now I'm not sure I want to use them for my other car!
The other day I went to go to Las Vegas to check on a car for a friend, and after looking at it, and was ready to go back home, I noticed my car leaking from the water pump! Urr!
Nothing like being away from home, with no tools, and don't even know where a car parts place is!
i lucked out, as the guy who owned the car I was looking at, took me to get a new water pump, pulled his car out of the garage, and mine in, and together we got it in and working like new!
He wouldn't take any money, or let me take him out to lunch!
The world needs more people like him!
Hope to meet you in person someday!

Have a good one,

George

 

Naw, isn't worth the long-distance trouble.

See the thing is, Kermit is a very cool guy and gave me super customer service. If I lived in the area, I'd still have work done at his shop again, 'cause I know he'd stand behind his warranty and make it right. Also, he didn't actually do the work on my car, it was one of the guys on his staff.

If I had known that the pinion preload has to be reset when the pinion nut is taken off, I never would have touched that $2 seal and would have felt very comfortable checking the lubricant level every 1,000 miles.

My original reason for going to Kermit's was to find/fix a driveline vibration at/around 85 mph. When I called around Kingman to various places, Kermit was the only person that gave me straight-up accurate info about what it might be and how to check it myself. So that shows you he has a heart and it's in the right place... This is all after I wasted an afternoon, $60 and a 1/4 tank of gas at the Kingman GM dealer having them troubleshoot the vibration and to have them sum up their joyriding my Z-28 with, "the torque arm bushing needs replacing, but we don't have it in stock and can't assure replacement of this item will eliminate the problem." Boy o boy ... If it ain't new and needs more than a lube and wheel balance, steer clear of those guys!

Anyway, Kermit checked the Camaro, said it the vibe ain't the damper, u-joints, trans or converter ... and then explained why.

So now, after going through a comedy of misfortune in trying to fix the rear in Hawaii, I have learned that taking off the pinion nut leaves two choices: 1. install new crush sleeve and new nut, retorque to factory specs. or 2. retighten the old nut, hope the retorquing is close to whatever it was before. Obviously #2 was done in Kingman. The outer pinion bearing race galled like a s.o.b. and the rollers themselves looked OK. I'm guessing, but I think the pinion wasn't tightened enough. Maybe trucks are different, but GM differentials can't be treated this way...

I bought a parts car and am swapping another 10-bolt disk rear into the Z28 so I can get the PBR's hooked up again. Of course, the ratio is whatevers and so is whether or not it is posi. Next hurdle will be deciding which bulletproof upgrade rear to replace the temporary one with and right now it looks like a Moser 9-inch, if I can verify that the pinion offset isn't severe enough to cause bad driveline vibes at highway speeds. Yikes, isn't that what started this thing in the first place!

Oh, one more thing Kermit's got a very nice 70's Mopar with an Indy motor, heh. Think I left drool marks on the fender of that sweetheart... I'd like to get back there to watch it run someday, and maybe ask him why I didn't at least get a warning about changing the pinion seal the "quick and easy way."

BTW, have one of those great 3-egg Greek omlettes at the Silver Spoon, simply outrageous...

Cheers,
Ed

 

How did the fun run go for you guys? Anyone show up?

 

Only 2 Trans Ams (including mine)that I saw, and only one second gen and one fourth gen that I saw!
Was pretty good car wise, almost 700 cars!
Ran into Tom (Tom84ss), but no one else.
The local newspaper had a picture on the cover page, showing the front 1/3 of my car (a shot of a bunch of cars lined up), so that was pretty cool.
I didn't do the long driving run, just hung out at the car show, and then at Whataburger for two nights.
I did meet some nice car people, which is the best part of any show.

George

 

Sounds like fun to me. I know Tom84ss...Hows he doing these days? I sold him all my HSR stuff a while back. He's a nice guy. Cool that you got part of your car in the paper too.

 

I guess he's doing O.K.!
I mean, he hasn't blown up any turbos at work lately.
Still playing with cars, just not much with the thirdgens.
I guess he like those Monte Carlo SSs.

George

 

Not entirely true george. I did get another 5 speed and disc brake rearend for my Fireturd. Been off line lately so could not reply earlier. And with as many hair dryers as we have at work. I'm bound to blow another one of these days.