Nitromater
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What was your biggest gremlin and how did you solve it?
- Thread starter Rat
- Start date
FC138fan
Nitro Member
I had to replace the lower plenum gasket on my mother in laws 2000 Malibu. Had to take nearly the entire top of the engine off to get to it. Two days, some extremely sore knees and legs, two sets of injector o rings, retro-fitting a gas gasket, much pain and suffering and I finally did it and it hasn't leaked since! Saved an estimated $1,000 doing it myself.
Not what you had in mind with this question bit I was pretty proud.
Not what you had in mind with this question bit I was pretty proud.
Dave
Nitro Member
My shop only charges about $700 with parts AND labor for that job. They must be ripping people off in MN.
I don't understand the point of this thread, or why it's in the NHRA section?
FC138fan
Nitro Member
Discounted base parts were $400 if I recall. I thought someone said it would be a $1400 job when quoting - maybe a dealer quote which have known to be crazy prices.. although I did to the brakes, spark plugs and spark plug wires that weekend too.
Also, I am off the spirit of the original thread, It's probably supposed to do with racing gremlins.
How much beer was involved?
All I can think of is wayne's world!
FC138fan
Nitro Member
Good lord, the drinking would have come afterward with how sore my knees were after bending over the fenders to reach everything for two days straight. As I was getting close to the end I remember constantly thinking of the Black Eyed Peas song "Tonight's going to be a good night" because I wouldn't have to deal with that garbage again. There were so many "if this thing breaks I am absolutely screwed" moments with all the little vacuum lines and plastic clips etc.
Makes you appreciate how they completely tear down and rebuild some of those engines on those drag cars between rounds.
Tony
Nitro Member
I lost my virginity to a girl that drove a Gremlin. No, we weren't in the car at the time.
Tony
Nitro Member
That was an AMC Pacer in Wayne's World.
rckymtn3
Nitro Member
'89 Vette....quit running, couldn't start it. Wasn't the first time I had to shade tree so much electronics, but the MAP kept giving a signal that it was faulty, then something else would fault-out, then the MAP again, then the injectors, and so-on etc etc....wasn't a daily driver, so I let it stew a bit....would swap out parts as I could afford them, and chased this around for almost two months.
Old guy walks in, says "pull the cat off" we did, it fired right up....
Who needs onboard diags when you got an old guy.
Old guys rock
Old guy walks in, says "pull the cat off" we did, it fired right up....
Who needs onboard diags when you got an old guy.
Old guys rock
Mr. Fix It
Nitro Member
Good friend of mine had an issue at about the 1,000 mark with his Camaro. Car would nose over like it was running out of fuel. We tried more jet and less jet. Moved the timing all around, checked ground wires, fuel pressure even looked into the fuel cell thinking something was blocking the fuel.
I sat and thought, we've checked the fuel system up and down, looked at the ignition system thoroughly and all that was left in the equation was air. Looked at the hood scoop and saw we could just unbolt the top part of it from the hood of the car. What the hell, it was worth a try. The car flew! No more problems. The scoop was too close to the top of the carb.
He has a huge pro-stock style scoop on it now. Air will not be an issue. Now to keep the rods inside the oil pan......
I sat and thought, we've checked the fuel system up and down, looked at the ignition system thoroughly and all that was left in the equation was air. Looked at the hood scoop and saw we could just unbolt the top part of it from the hood of the car. What the hell, it was worth a try. The car flew! No more problems. The scoop was too close to the top of the carb.
He has a huge pro-stock style scoop on it now. Air will not be an issue. Now to keep the rods inside the oil pan......
If you are talking about race track Gremlins ... hmm that seems to be part of the sport.
I switched from offroad motorcyles to drag racing ... wow... 9 years ago. I had problems that I solved driving home, problems that took years to solve, and problems that renowned experts would help me with only when I thoroughly understood the problem.
When we went from running in the seven.teens into the 6's we learned that every tenth was a mountain. I spent two years with my goal being trying to get in the 6.4x's .... and next year we are going to skip the 30's entirely and set it in the 6.2x's (thanks mainly to a new chassis with ton's of carbon fiber and an third stage of nitrous).
I also paid $100 to join a website sponsored by Ynot racing called Drag Race Tech Support |. I was pointed that one by one of my buddies and immediately said "no way anybody is going to give it away for $100" and I was right, but it was worth $100 to prove it to myself.
Drag racers are all helpful ... to a point. They will tell you enough to keep you in the game, but they aren't going to tell you all of the secrets they know. I'll never forget the sportsman motorcycle racer who came over and told me what was happening when we couldn't cut a light to save our life .... nor the comp racer/engine builder who totally tried to steer me the wrong way when we had problems after switching from one carb to two.
So while it is another of your self proclaimed "interesting questions" you are not going to get the satisfaction we'd all love to see.
I always thought ... well if they don't have drag racing in heaven, maybe we can all sit around and talk about all of the lessons we've learned. That would truly take an eternity.
I switched from offroad motorcyles to drag racing ... wow... 9 years ago. I had problems that I solved driving home, problems that took years to solve, and problems that renowned experts would help me with only when I thoroughly understood the problem.
When we went from running in the seven.teens into the 6's we learned that every tenth was a mountain. I spent two years with my goal being trying to get in the 6.4x's .... and next year we are going to skip the 30's entirely and set it in the 6.2x's (thanks mainly to a new chassis with ton's of carbon fiber and an third stage of nitrous).
I also paid $100 to join a website sponsored by Ynot racing called Drag Race Tech Support |. I was pointed that one by one of my buddies and immediately said "no way anybody is going to give it away for $100" and I was right, but it was worth $100 to prove it to myself.
Drag racers are all helpful ... to a point. They will tell you enough to keep you in the game, but they aren't going to tell you all of the secrets they know. I'll never forget the sportsman motorcycle racer who came over and told me what was happening when we couldn't cut a light to save our life .... nor the comp racer/engine builder who totally tried to steer me the wrong way when we had problems after switching from one carb to two.
So while it is another of your self proclaimed "interesting questions" you are not going to get the satisfaction we'd all love to see.
I always thought ... well if they don't have drag racing in heaven, maybe we can all sit around and talk about all of the lessons we've learned. That would truly take an eternity.
