TommyTwinCams
Track Warrior
Welcome. You've clicked on this thread so you obviously have nothing better to do.
My name is obvious so let's move on. I'm a Domestic Car enthusiast from Connecticut. I come from a family of drag racers and adrenaline junkies, and I'm no different. I have 2 cars at the moment. I am gay, cynical, sarcastic, Atheist, and impossible to argue with. You've been warned. I am FAR from an effeminate gay.
The first is my first car, a 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34. 3.4L DOHC 24 valve "Twin Dual Cam" V6 (Yes... THAT engine), with a 4T60e 4 speed overdrive Auto-tragic. I should start from the beginning. My mother bought this car as a daily driver after her Ford Escort wagon was totaled by my brother and his (at the time) wife. I was 9 at the time. The car had just 12,000 miles on it and had been special ordered by an enthusiast in 1994, complete with 1990's style brick car-phone, and white body on white painted factory aluminum rims. The car was her daily driver for years so by 2005, it had 56,000 lovingly cared for miles on it. Come 2006, My older brother (the same one who totaled the Escort) blew the headgasket in his 89 Nissan 240SX and borrowed the car for 6 months since my mother had stopped driving due to worsening eyesight. During those 6 months, he put on 40,000+ miles with NO MAINTENANCE. Not even an oil change. We got the car back and immediately went back to babying it. Come 2008, my mother passed and gave the car to me, seeing as how unreliable my siblings were with cars. I was 18 at the time and had never had a car. I continued to pamper this beast but the age began to show. In December 2009, at 107,000 miles, the timing belt snapped, luckily in a convenient place - My Aunt's Driveway. And I wasn't to blame, as my father was driving. He had it repaired, no bent valves luckily, and it continued. Fast forward to late September, 2011. I'm in school for automotive technology having FINALLY started to recover from my mother's death. 128,000 miles. On the way to pick up friends to go to a fair for a weekend of fun, the car broke down. cranked but didn't start. Turned out 2 things had broken. The timing belt tensioner and one of the 2 crankshaft position sensors. Bent valves.
Considered an emergency, my father let me store the car in our garage and paid for me to get a newer, "more reliable" car. His only stipulations were it be newer than the Monte, No Fords, and Domestic. My own stipulations were Domestic, OHC engine, aftermarket support,, an actual color (no black, white, gray, or silver) a manual transmission, and preferably smaller then the Monte. After searching around for 2 weeks (driving my father's 2011 Chevrolet Silverado WT/LS in the mean time) finally decided on a 70,000 mile 2004 Saturn Ion Quad Coupe. 140 HP 2.2L DOHC 16 valve Ecotec, aftermarket support, Getrag F23 5 speed manual, Victory Red, 2691 lbs curb weight. Started playing with it almost right away, immediately removing the HUGE intake silencer, and painting the radio bezel myself. Newer seats with more support. 16" GM Performance Parts rims as a birthday present from my Dad (My B-day is December 21). Recently, I lost 5th gear as something inside broke on the track and is preventing me from going into 5th gear. So Transmission replacement it is (cheaper than rebuild, and with a 6 month warranty), and while it's out, I'm putting in a SPEC stage 1 clutch kit. The swap will happen next week or the week after.
I have also started gathering parts to rebuild the Monte Carlo's engine. As you can tell, it's too sentimental for me to get rid of. I bought new heads for it from a 1991 Lumina Z34 off a W-body.com forum member in Canada. When the heads arrived, I discovered they weren't normal 3.4 DOHC heads, but heads from a manual transmission car.... meaning a slightly higher compression ratio. Cleaning those up now, and getting gasket and timing kits after the Saturn tranny swap.
Anyone want pics? Too many for one post as a warning.
My name is obvious so let's move on. I'm a Domestic Car enthusiast from Connecticut. I come from a family of drag racers and adrenaline junkies, and I'm no different. I have 2 cars at the moment. I am gay, cynical, sarcastic, Atheist, and impossible to argue with. You've been warned. I am FAR from an effeminate gay.
The first is my first car, a 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34. 3.4L DOHC 24 valve "Twin Dual Cam" V6 (Yes... THAT engine), with a 4T60e 4 speed overdrive Auto-tragic. I should start from the beginning. My mother bought this car as a daily driver after her Ford Escort wagon was totaled by my brother and his (at the time) wife. I was 9 at the time. The car had just 12,000 miles on it and had been special ordered by an enthusiast in 1994, complete with 1990's style brick car-phone, and white body on white painted factory aluminum rims. The car was her daily driver for years so by 2005, it had 56,000 lovingly cared for miles on it. Come 2006, My older brother (the same one who totaled the Escort) blew the headgasket in his 89 Nissan 240SX and borrowed the car for 6 months since my mother had stopped driving due to worsening eyesight. During those 6 months, he put on 40,000+ miles with NO MAINTENANCE. Not even an oil change. We got the car back and immediately went back to babying it. Come 2008, my mother passed and gave the car to me, seeing as how unreliable my siblings were with cars. I was 18 at the time and had never had a car. I continued to pamper this beast but the age began to show. In December 2009, at 107,000 miles, the timing belt snapped, luckily in a convenient place - My Aunt's Driveway. And I wasn't to blame, as my father was driving. He had it repaired, no bent valves luckily, and it continued. Fast forward to late September, 2011. I'm in school for automotive technology having FINALLY started to recover from my mother's death. 128,000 miles. On the way to pick up friends to go to a fair for a weekend of fun, the car broke down. cranked but didn't start. Turned out 2 things had broken. The timing belt tensioner and one of the 2 crankshaft position sensors. Bent valves.
Considered an emergency, my father let me store the car in our garage and paid for me to get a newer, "more reliable" car. His only stipulations were it be newer than the Monte, No Fords, and Domestic. My own stipulations were Domestic, OHC engine, aftermarket support,, an actual color (no black, white, gray, or silver) a manual transmission, and preferably smaller then the Monte. After searching around for 2 weeks (driving my father's 2011 Chevrolet Silverado WT/LS in the mean time) finally decided on a 70,000 mile 2004 Saturn Ion Quad Coupe. 140 HP 2.2L DOHC 16 valve Ecotec, aftermarket support, Getrag F23 5 speed manual, Victory Red, 2691 lbs curb weight. Started playing with it almost right away, immediately removing the HUGE intake silencer, and painting the radio bezel myself. Newer seats with more support. 16" GM Performance Parts rims as a birthday present from my Dad (My B-day is December 21). Recently, I lost 5th gear as something inside broke on the track and is preventing me from going into 5th gear. So Transmission replacement it is (cheaper than rebuild, and with a 6 month warranty), and while it's out, I'm putting in a SPEC stage 1 clutch kit. The swap will happen next week or the week after.
I have also started gathering parts to rebuild the Monte Carlo's engine. As you can tell, it's too sentimental for me to get rid of. I bought new heads for it from a 1991 Lumina Z34 off a W-body.com forum member in Canada. When the heads arrived, I discovered they weren't normal 3.4 DOHC heads, but heads from a manual transmission car.... meaning a slightly higher compression ratio. Cleaning those up now, and getting gasket and timing kits after the Saturn tranny swap.
Anyone want pics? Too many for one post as a warning.
