So I finally got rid of my Opel Kadett. After that boondoggle, I figured that ANY other car would be better than what I had before. I was almost correct.
At the time, I really wanted to own American cars. While my Opel was sold as a Buick, it was technically made in Germany. Nonetheless, it sounded American, so I decided to keep the American thing going. I bought myself a Chevy. More specifically, a 1974 Chevy Vega.
Now, understand that the Vega is not your ordinary Chevy. You see, in the early 70’s Chevy had this bright idea that if they manufacture the engine block with a lightweight material, the car will get better gas mileage. Perhaps so, especially in light of the oil crisis that the economy was suffering through during those times. Herein lies the rub: ALUMINUM MELTS WITH HEAT.
Aluminum has a melting point of about 1200° Fahrenheit. Internal engine temperatures can run as high as 3600° Fahrenheit. HELLO? CHEVY ENGINEERS? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
That car didn’t last long. I sold it to a friend who ultimately experienced it’s demise shortly after he bought it because it developed a slight coolant leak eventually overheating, causing the aluminum heads to melt. I thought I lost a friend, but as it turned out, I only lost another American car. It was now time for a change…
Unlike a tiny sedan with power nothing, I was in the mood for a sportier car. I was working at a department store, in Paramus, New Jersey, that hasn’t been in business since the 1980s. One of my coworkers just happened to be selling his car, a 1970 Pontiac Firebird. I asked him what he was asking for the car, and he told me $1,200. I looked at the car, I looked at the engine compartment, he let me take it for a ride, and everything looked good as far as I could tell.
The owner told me that the price was not negotiable, since the new owner would be getting a nice car which, I have to admit, was very sporty looking. The body was painted a metallic silver color and it had a vinyl top. The interior was black and the transmission was a Powerglide, which is a two-speed automatic transmission that, back in the day (in the 1950s), was used in race cars. The car had a 350 cubic-inch engine with a two-barrel carburetor. The base model was the 2-door coupe, which came standard with a 250 CID six-cylinder engine that produced 155 horsepower. When a buyer upgraded to the next Firebird model, the Esprit (the model I had purchased from my co-worker), a 350 CID V8 that produced 255 horsepower was standard equipment.
So now I finally had the sports car that I wanted. It wasn’t a Trans Am; it wasn’t a Pontiac 400; but it was an Esprit, and it was MINE. I decided to add a few amenities to my new car: air shocks in the back, rally wheels (which I believe had been standard but were not included with this car), and fog lights. Of those upgrades, the only one that I regret were the air shocks, since they gave the car a very hard ride. Nonetheless, the car looked really “neat.”
Mechanically speaking, compared to the Opel the car didn’t give me much trouble. The only thing that I needed to replace was the starter motor, but then my luck ran out. As it turns out, the previous owner was a bit of a racer with the car. I bought the car on July 1, 1976, and by February 1977 I was beginning to experience what I thought might be transmission problems. I brought my car to AAMCO, the leading authority in transmission repairs. I’ll never forget the advertising jingle:
“ Double A… MCO.” It was because of that jingle that I brought my car to the company for transmission diagnosis. After spending an hour looking at my transmission, the technician came out to give me the bad news: It was going to cost them more than what I paid for the car to rebuild the transmission. That’s right– over $1,500!
Okay, I figured my investment so far for the cost of the car, the starter motor and the transmission rebuild: a total of about $3,000. Then the real trouble began.
Unfortunately for me, I was living next to a neighbor who had severe emotional problems. She was actually kicked out of her last apartment complex because the neighbors created and signed a petition to have her removed, or else they were going to move. Invariably, she created major problems for whomever she lived next to. In my case, I suppose she was jealous of my car. I went out to my car one day and I found a really gooey substance splattered all over it. It turned out to be naval jelly, which is a substance that is normally used to remove rust from metal. In my case, it removed paint from metal. I needed a complete paint job. I looked high and low for a place that would paint my car for a cheap price. I finally found one: Earl Sheib. Earl Sheib was a company that would paint cars for very little money. In my case, I recall spending only $500. My total expenditure was now up to about $3,500.
While working at that department store in Paramus, I ran into a customer who rebuilt engines. The reason why this interested me was that the Firebird had over 100,000 miles on it, and I figured its compression was getting low. So I asked this customer what he would charge for a valve job. Now, you must realize that I was not sending out the heads to have them reconditioned at a machine shop. This was someone who was going to manually replace the valves himself, as he proceeded to do, in his garage, over a several-month period. I remember visiting him on many occasions in his garage, wishing and praying to get my car back. Of course, I wasn’t going to say anything to him–wouldn’t want him to “mistakenly” install the rocker arms in the heads in the wrong direction.
I got a quote from him in the amount of $500. When all was said and done, the job ended up costing $750. I supposed that this money would be a good investment if it would restore some compression to the engine. Little did I know that I was in for more trouble.
You see, unless you completely rebuild a tired engine you can always run the risk of worsening another problem after you have fixed one. In this case, that’s exactly what happened. Yes, I did restore compression to the heads, but so much so that I started to experience what is known as “blow-by.” Blow-by is a condition in which gas leaks past the piston rings under pressure. In my case, this pressure was the increase in compression caused by the rebuilt heads. The piston’s rings could no longer contain this pressure. The symptom that the car was displayed was extreme oil leakage in and around the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve.
Now I knew that I simply could not afford to have the rings replaced, as this would probably have been the most expensive single repair that I would have performed on the car. So, sadly, I decided to sell my “sports car.” The best I could manage was $500 since the engine was so old. By now, the car had about 120,000 miles on it. Time for my next car…
That is a pretty sad tale. I was not around getting transmissions fixed in the ’70s, but $1500 sounds like at least twice and maybe three times as much as it should have cost to rebuild the powerglide. I paid less than that to get the C6 in my ’65 Galaxie completely rebuilt and that was last year.
Surprised that you didn’t mention the door hinges—every one of these that I was ever around had saggy door hinges.
I don’t know what year your story took place, As an aside though GM announced that the Powerglide was going to be discontinued at the end of the “71 model year. I knew a parts man at McCandless Motors Indio. He told me the wanted to get rid of their power glide inventory. They were selling for 75 dollars in the crate.A few years went by and someone in NHRA figured out how to make them bullet proof. People who bought those 75 buck glides were able to sell them at a nice markup;)
Now that you mention it, the doors did seem really heavy for that car. I didn’t experience sagging but I could see why one would. I didn’t own the car long enough to experience it I guess. Thanks for your story.
One of the best looking American cars of all time. Hope there was some solace in that.
Agreed. I wish I still had that car.
AAMCO was busted in a very public way in the mid-70s by a major paper in Chicago for making needless transmission rebuilds on customers cars. My Dad had learned that the hard way, but a rebuild on our 66 Mercury Montclair was around $300 in the early 70s.
Earl Scheib: “I’ll paint any car for $19.95”. [ sanding and masking extra it would seem ].
Nice article – I had an Espirit too – a 72 – cream (yellow) with a black vinyl top. Same 350 2 bbl but I’m pretty sure mine had a 3 spd Turbo Hydramatic. Never gave me any engine or transmission problems – only time it ever stranded me was due to a stuck carb float.
“Herein lies the rub: ALUMINUM MELTS WITH HEAT.
Aluminum has a melting point of about 1200° Fahrenheit. Internal engine temperatures can run as high as 3600° Fahrenheit. HELLO? CHEVY ENGINEERS? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”
the Vega’s engine didn’t “melt,”. A large majority of modern engines have both aluminum engine blocks and heads. Even medium- and heavy-duty diesels have aluminum heads these days.
“The reason why this interested me was that the Firebird had over 100,000 miles on it, and I figured its compression was getting low.”
You “figured it’s compression was getting low” based on what?
“Of course, I wasn’t going to say anything to him–wouldn’t want him to “mistakenly” install the rocker arms in the heads in the wrong direction.”
you can’t do that.
“Now I knew that I simply could not afford to have the rings replaced, as this would probably have been the most expensive single repair that I would have performed on the car.”
which would have been a waste of money, since blow-by is usually caused by cylinder taper, not worn rings. the piston rings are made of much harder material than the gray iron used for the engine block.
Exactly. The problem with the Vega engine wasn’t that it was made of aluminum, but that the block was made of aluminum and the head was made of iron. You need to compensate for the differences in expansion when these two get hot. GM failed that one.
If you ever see a vega engine with the head off you’ll see what’s called an open deck block. There was no bridges to keep the cylinders from moving around (from the heat) & blowing head gaskets.
The remark about aluminum got me thinking. Iron’s melting point is 2800ºF, over twice that of aluminum but still less than the 3600º mentioned, so why don’t cast-iron blocks or heads melt too?
My answer: Circulating coolant or air prevents it, just as a foam cup won’t burn in a fire if it’s filled with water.
The Vega engine didn’t melt. Originally the block was made without cast iron cylinder liners, like a Porsche 928. The aluminum cylinder walls were “plated” with I believe was called a “nickasill” process. Imagine chrome plating the bores (which is done in some engines). The engineers figured that this would save weight, increase heat transfer, and last long enough to make it out of warranty. As you know they were wrong. GM initially built the next series of engines with the cast iron liners and extended the powertrain warranty to 70,000 miles. I bought one of these and experienced no problems. Later on this engine went to a cast iron block and was re-named the “Iron Duke”. Resleeved blocks were available for remanufactured engines and were common when their were plenty of these cars were still around.Resleeving iron blocks is commonly done to preserve valuable original engines during restorations,
I hate it when people act as though any old car is a lemon just because they buy it when it is worn out. In those days 100,000 miles was pretty much it for the life of the engine. If you don’t know anything about mechanics either learn, or buy the newest and best car that you can. Valve jobs were commonly done anywhere from 50-60 thousand miles. At about 100k the entire motor would be rebuilt. In those days it would have been easy to buy a remanufactured head and swap it out over the weekend. A rebuilt starter cost about 30.00 and an hour getting greasy under the car. That quoted transmission rebuild was way out of line even for the times, places like AAMCO charge you several times over what the rebuild costs to cover the lifetime warranty. You have to shop around. That Firebird. was just an old car back then, but just think how much it is worth now, A ratty piece of junk is worth several thousand and a nice one would be around 15-20 grand. I just spent last Saturday pulling my springs to install new spring perches and tie rods. Yesterday I pulled the front sway bar to install polyurethane bushings. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year under the car, under the dash, and all over my old Mustang. Yeah, I knew that the car needed a lot of work, but I knew what it needed,I knew what I could do, and what I was willing to pay someone else to do, (not very often), There’s no way I could afford to buy a real nice one right now, maybe never again. But I got this one. Sorry for the mini rant.
The Vega engine never got cast iron sleeves from the factory; that was strictly an aftermarket thing. The “Dura-Built” 1976-1977 version had many changes to improve its cooling and durability, but it never got cylinder sleeves. Actually, the Nikasil cylinders were not very high on the Vega’s list of engine deficiencies. Once the cooling and valve seals were improved, the engines did hold together better. Most of the oil burning was from the valve seals, not the bores.
“The Vega engine didn’t melt. Originally the block was made without cast iron cylinder liners, like a Porsche 928. The aluminum cylinder walls were “plated” with I believe was called a “nickasill” process.”
“Nikasil” was a bit different from what GM did with the Vega engine. Nikasil was/is used by some European manufacturers.
“Imagine chrome plating the bores (which is done in some engines). ”
mostly two-strokes, where the cylinders are lined with hard chrome plating (which is different from decorative “bright” chrome.)
“The engineers figured that this would save weight, increase heat transfer, and last long enough to make it out of warranty. As you know they were wrong. GM initially built the next series of engines with the cast iron liners and extended the powertrain warranty to 70,000 miles. I bought one of these and experienced no problems. Later on this engine went to a cast iron block and was re-named the “Iron Duke”.”
the Iron Duke was a Pontiac engine, and had nothing to do with the Vega engine.
I didn’t know it then of course, but engines didn’t last over 100k miles like they do today. No, I didn’t do a cylinder compression test but the power was sluggish, after a full tune-up.
Interesting point about the piston rings. I have performed a couple of ring jobs. I am not an engineer but they didn’t seem like a harder metail to me than the cylinder walls.
Thanks for your comments.
you can’t evaluate the hardness of a metal with your fingernail. you need hardness testing machines.
Not sure I agree with your comment regarding piston rings being a harder material than a cylinder wall. If that were the case, cylinder wall inserts would be required rather than ring replacements. The idea being to replace what has worn first. I did hone each cylinder wall prior to piston reassembly,but no inserts were required.Where did you get your information from? I found the following article helpful:
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/2007/02/pistons-rings-details-every-engine-builder-should-know/
That’s ridiculous, Ed – for time-tested American engine designs, 200K miles wasn’t hard to achieve. It was everything bolted to the engine that failed.
My wife’s 1975 Nova with the 250-6 went to 250K miles before the head gasket started leaking. It then ran a demo derby (taking second place) and was still operational, with the owner planning on pulling the motor and using it in another car.
We put over 200K miles on our 1971 Ford 400 engine as well.
This was your experience. My experience has been valve jobs right around 100k. Valve and valve seat compositions have improved. Also checkout::
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/automobiles/as-cars-are-kept-longer-200000-is-new-100000.html?_r=0
My experience coincides with Ed. Those engines would lose power or compression and/or use oil at 100k miles.
They would still be running and you may be able to get 200k miles out of them….but they would not be running well. In a pinch, you could drive them but it would not be a fun experience.
Another Vega engine issue was how the starter would rip itself off of the block taking a chunk of block with it. Cool!! Vegas a great source for bucket seats and steering wheels back in the day. They also made great salvage yard stepping stools!
Sounds pretty awful. Indeed there was and still are entire industries that exist to prey upon the uninformed. Think transmissions, home renovations, mortgages….
And look where that got us.
I think Jim Rockford might like these early 1970s Firebird Esprit. 😉
Except he wouldn’t order a 350 with a 2-speed.
I like the scene of the blue Vega. It was in the Rockford Files, Season 1 1974… I think it was the pilot episode. Not certain.
Ha I saw that episode too. He was getting chased through the desert by a cab over semi. Love that show.
Yep, that’s the one. I love watching the Rockford Files, just because of the cool car chases he gets into.
James Garner was a true car guy, along with a race car driver. Law enforcement uses his patented move, in all their driving training courses… The Rockford 180 reverse Turnaround. 🙂
$1500 to rebuild a “powerglide’? I can get a TH 350 rebuilt now. In Australia, with our higher than the USA labour costs, for around $1200 AUD.
Granted, I do the removal &; refit , its not like it takes that long. Or costs that much if I pay someone to do the R &R
I got the Borg Warner auto box in my Sunbeam Rapier rebuilt for £400 in 1982 and thought it was a bit steep seeing as I wrestled it out(lots of broken nails,skinned knuckles and enough swearing to make a drill Sergeant blush).The power of my rebuilt engine fried my auto box big style.
I loved these Firebirds and they’re still on my wish list today,the F bodies,and Mopar A and E bodies were the only new American cars to interest me in the grim 70s.Sorry you had a bad experience with this car but I suppose most had a brutal life of thrashing and crashing and well cared for examples must be thin on the ground
The author needed a good mechanic he could trust.
The th350 was an easy swap in place of a powerglide or jetaway tranny. You could even reuse the driveshaft.
The Esprit had quietly fallen off my radar list until now. With this article, you have me wanting a nice early Esprit like the one pictured. Thank you….
Mr. Bill
Hamlet, NC
Wasn’t this the same model Firebird that James Garner drove on The Rockford Files?
Just curious, was the NJ department store you worked at that closed in the 1980s Two Guys?
It was Alexanders Department Store in Paramus. There is an IKEA there now in its place. There was an E.J. Korvettes close by which I also worked at briefly. I do remember Two Guys, though. Quite a few large retailers went out of business. Remember Woolworths, Sterns, and Gimbels?
Guys ,. Guys ~ not all Auto Enthusiasts know the nuts & bolts of how their beloved cars actually work .
Being dishonest is so easy in The Auto Trade , it shames me how many blatantly dishonest shops , mechanics and dealers I have known over the decades .
Ed here was just trying to share his experience , not nice to bag on him .
FWIW , I liked Vegas , if only GM hadn’t cheaped out on the awful engine and lack of rust proofing , the crappy trouble prone electrical system and so on , they’d have had a hit .
O.K. , Vegas were trash but I still think they looked cute . .
I’ll have to start adding the stories of all the used vehicles I’ve bought and overhauled or rebuilt end to end in stead of buying a more expensive example up font and saving the $ .
-Nate
I agree with Nate. I’m all for asking someone to clarify what they mean or even to correct a misnomer. However, this should be done in a manner that is respectful, professional, and not insulting to someone who took time to share a part of their life.
Well said, jerseyfred and Nate…
This guy is sharing his story from his past… So, why are some of you, naysayers, telling him what you would have done or what he should have done.
Pretty useless, giving him that advice, NOW. It happened in his past. What’s he going to do, jump in his time machine and change it?
No need for anybody to one up this guy… Save that debate in person, at car shows… You’ll find plenty of blowhards there.
Also, don’t act like none of you, who’ve bagged on Ed haven’t gotten ripped off before… I know I did. I
had to pay an outrageous amount to Firestone for brakes on my Fox body 5.0 Mustang. Won’t be going there for any more work.
On the flip side, if you are going to rip into a manufacturer like that you had better have your facts straight or a thick skin because that attitude is going to rub people the wrong way.
Um ;
I didn’t see anyone ripping the Manufacturer Phil .
AAMCO , OTOH , has decades of lawsuits against them because they’ll give a franchise to any one regardless of ability , not a good thing no matter what .
FWIW , if you don’t have thick skin , the trolls and malcontents here will eat you alive .
-Nate
“Herein lies the rub: ALUMINUM MELTS WITH HEAT.
Aluminum has a melting point of about 1200° Fahrenheit. Internal engine temperatures can run as high as 3600° Fahrenheit. HELLO? CHEVY ENGINEERS? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”
That statment, which is obviously and wrongly derogatory towards Chevy, is the main thing people are taking issue with.
A little bit of trivia that I learned a few years ago. AAMCO was founded by a guy named Anthony A Martino, and was thus named AAMCO. Several years later he sold his interest in AAMCO, and in 1972 he rearranged the letters and founded MAACO. He owned MAACO until his death in 2008. I suppose that’s when I learned about the connection…
AAMCO where I live stands for “All Automatics Must Come Out”. I avoid them like the plague, but I’ve known people over the years who took their cars in with good intentions because of the TV advertising and got burned. I felt bad for them, but finding a good honest transmission shop is surprisingly hard. They’re out there but it takes some serious looking to find one and then hope they stay in business a long time.
> finding a good honest transmission shop is surprisingly hard.
I am currently in the process of learning this personally. 🙁
Good one.
“Metal shavings in the pan!!!” AAMCO’s guys would cry, and people would panic and spend their hard earned $$$ to rebuild perfectly good transmissions. Only problem is… ALL transmissions will have metal in the pan after a bit of use, and it’s perfectly normal. That’s why every manufacturer that I’m aware of puts a small magnet in the transmission pan.
I have ridden in two powerglide equipped cars…..both back in the 1970’s……First was a friend of the family’s 65 Impala wagon with a 283 and PG…..One thing I clearly remember is the powerglide ‘whine’……My Dad owned a 65 Impala 4 door hardtop with the 283 and 3 speed manual during that same timeframe and that transmission seemed better suited to the car than the 2 speed PG.
The 2nd powerglide equipped car that I rode in was a 1968 or 69 Chevy Nova that my Uncle owned….Dark green 4 door with the 250 6 cylinder and PG….
That car definitely needed a third gear.
I have driven a few automatic transmission cars where by placing the gear selector into ‘2’…it locks out 1st gear and starts in 2nd….I guess to avoid wheelspin on snowy roads…..
A powerglide felt like you were starting out in 2nd gear all the time…..1st on a PG had to have a high enough gear ratio to be useful as a passing gear so it lugged a bit off the line.
First gear in a powerglide is around 1.8 to 1, with the torque converter also giving about 2:1 or perhaps 2.5:1. Once your moving the torque converter quickly goes into coupled mode with very little torque amplification.
My six speed transmissions in the ATS and now the CTS can be put into snow mode, where the transmission starts off in second gear (instead of the 4:1 low gear). My SRX could be shifted manually into 2nd for starting. With AWD on all of these, I have not found starting in second to be needed. All three of these could spin the wheels at 30 MPH on snow packed roads (well I don’t think I have tried this with the CTS yet).
The Firebirds didn’t have the Chevrolet Powerglide; it was called by PMD “Pontiac Automatic” and that 2-speed unit was a low-cost, Buick Division developed and built “Super Turbine” . . . . the low-suds Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs used them; usually with the sixes or base V-8’s (“A” bodies, mostly except for base “B” body LeSabres in ’65 and ’66) . . . . . so being a 350 2-bbl, it is likely your highlight car had the ‘base automatic’ the Pontiac Automatic. From there, you worked your way up to a three-speed THM 350 or 400 (depending on engine).
I replaced the timing chain and valves and seats on my 70 Chevy 307 at about 100k miles, and it was still running well at 160k miles on the original short block. I was lucky the cam did not go flat, that seemed to be a problem on small block Chevy’s of the time. It was starting to smoke a little on the overrun when I sold it. It always used a quart every 4-500 miles from the day I got it at 6 years old and 60k miles. But I know a few people that had the same problem as you had after only doing valves, not an uncommon problem. Sorry to hear what Aamco did to you. Nice write up on your cars, too bad your Firebird had so many problems, previous owner must have been hard on it.
Beating the tranny . . . . . probably previous owner thought he’d impress people by doing a series of power brakes . . .
I’ve always liked the early 70’s Firebird’s a lot and always feel they get overlooked in favor of the 1967-69 Firebird’s or the 1977-up Firebird’s.
I think the 67-69s are equally if not more overlooked than these. Both are eclipsed by Camaros in terms of popularity and value despite looking way more attractive.
I do see more 1967-69 Firebird’s than I do with the 1970-76 Firebird’s, I definitely agree both are eclipsed by the Camaro’s although I see a lot of 1977-81 Firebird’s (mainly the Trans Am’s).
Yeah I wasn’t really disagreeing that they’re more scarce, I just wish I saw more of both. When I was a kid I thought the best looking of all the original ponycars was the 67/68 Firebird – the Camaro had great lines but a dull faceless expression and the Firebird made that basic body look complete and perfect. I simply never see them now though, even at car shows, and am baffled as to why. The 70-73s are my favorite these days, especially in Formula form, I never liked the 74-81 vrsions without the spoilers/farings, but the early oneslook very good without, I even like the vinyl top.
I haven’t seen any Firebirds in a long time. My favorite versions in terms of looks (not necessarily performance) would be an 81 Firebird with T tops and screaming chicken on the hood and a black or white 82-92
About a valve job on a worn engine being followed by major blowby issues…i’ve been there. Took the heads off a small-block with something like 90,000 miles on it and had them rebuilt. It had looked like the rings were okay, the low compression did not come up by much when we squirted oil into them. But shortly after we got the heads back and everything all back together, the engine, which was running strong, began blowing clouds of blue smoke. Out it came…
Was the 2 speed auto really a Powerglide or a Pontiac specific unit similar to the 2 speed auto Olds also had around this time?
It was an Super Turbine-300, AKA Jetaway. While superficially resembling a PG, it’s a little beefier, with extra clutch packs and so forth. Biggest difference is the BOP bolt pattern. Buick called theirs Super Turbine, Olds called it Jetaway, AFIK Pontiac never gave thier version a special name.
I might have sounded a little harsh in my post. It’s just that when you are dealing with old cars, you are usually dealing with worn out cars. Some cars have been poorly designed or executed, some were pretty good. After messing with old cars when I was single,I started buying new ones after I was married or they were just a couple of years old. It’s been in the last 25 years or so that I started up with the old stuff again. If I have to pay a lot to have an old car fixed I would rather spend the money on something newer. I have learned a lot about auto mechanics over the years and it has made my old car hobby possible. Concerning the Vega motor, I had read all the buzz in the auto mags at the time and was under the impression that GM had put sleeves in the motor. So if I was wrong on that thanks for setting the record straight. GM has had lots of innovative ideas that were not that well executed the HT 4100 for example.
You got seriously reamed on the transmission. My ’77 Power Wagon trans rebuild was only $425, including a shift kit install in ’79, and my 1979 T/A’s TH350 rebuild, with a shift kit and heavy duty clutch parts was only the same $425 in 1984. I would have laughed in the guy’s face when he told me $1200 for a Powerglide!
Yeah, I think I paid $350 for a rebuild of the Torqueflite in my 71 Scamp after I broke a reverse band trying to rock it out of a snowbank. This was about 1981 or 82. The shop did a really nice job on it, too.
I had my first car’s transmission (’61 Pontiac with a Roto Hydra-Matic 3-speed) rebuilt by Carlos’ Transmission on Irwin Street in San Rafael for the then princely sum of $350.00 (1976). I had an almost (at the time) 200K ’78 Buick Skylark V-6 whose THM 200 (!) finally started slipping bad (technician was amazed that a THM 200 could last that long!). This was in July,1995 in Wahiawa, Hawaii and that rebuild was only $600.00.
Espirit was the luxury model Firebird.
Found out as a teenager the Rockford 180 is BS! Never could get the car to swing all the way around, only about 2/3rd of the way. Found out many years later, the Hollywood stunt drivers seriously overinflate their tires; makes them slide easier. Me and my friends joke that it’s good we didn’t know that; otherwise we’d have fishtailed around every corner every day. LOL.
Also, my folks bought a used ’72 Vega notchback with 35,000 miles in 1976, for commuting. Paid $700. Probably the most bare bones Vega there was, except for the AM radio. Top speed was 75mph before the front end started to sail. Ran it up to 100,000 miles by 1978. Don’t know what happened to it, but it was never a problem in those 2 years. My folks loved it. Replaced by a 1968 Rebel sedan, 232 I-6 with 3 on the tree, and no radio, and only 35,000 original miles. Paid $400. They loved that car even more.
I was able to do it back in the day, maybe not all the way to 180, but more than 2/3. Anyway, by the 2/3 point you should be slamming it back into drive.
These stories involving worn out old cars seldom end well.
The gold car shown in the artwork is the twin of my old neighbor’s car, right down to the poverty caps and trim rings. That was the car I ran my Schwinn Pea Picker into.
The details on how the cylinders were made is very interesting , in 1986 we hired an Engineer who detailed to me the process GM used , he claimed the bores were made in such a manner that they didn’t require boring (?) saving serious manufacturing time/cost .
I don’t understand this .
Paul said ” Most of the oil burning was from the valve seals, not the bores.” I doubt this Paul as they smoked terribly under acceleration , not so much on trailing throttle and valve stem leaks occur on trailing throttle , cylinder oil leaks under load….
The one Vega I owned was cheap and ran nice for the three weeks I had it ~ I sold it as fast as I could because I was worried it’d begin smoking .
-Nate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_2300_engine
THANX ! .
I still don’t fully ‘ get ‘ it .
“The hone-pressure problem was solved before engines actually went out the door, affecting pre-production engines only.” ~ _wrong_ .
-Nate
In high school my 71 Cutlass S started blowing steam from one exhaust pipe–I figured why not do a valve job while the heads were off–you guessed it–now it leaked oil past the rings. Luckily the auto teacher, who later became my father-in-law, took pity and used the car to teach us kids how to do a very basic engine rebuild. I still miss that car.
I think my favorite version of this era ponycar would have to be…
1974 Pontiac Firebird Esprit
I will take mine plain…no spoilers, air dams, or wings, and with a stick shift.
I really hate vinyl roofs and sunroofs.