Tulip Time

[Alycone]

Actually I cant go on the 3rd, gotta go to a kid's bday party - the girl-I-used-to-baby-sit-for's son is turning 3. Eeek.

I do wanna see those flowers.

[FUDDMAN]

Tulip Time is now rescheduled for May 10. This will give a better break between events. More later about Where and time.

[FUDDMAN]

Start from Quil Ceda Mc Donalds in Quil Ceda Village by Seattle Premium Outlet Mall. Exit 200 or 202. 202 is closer.
Driver's meeting at 1000.
Depart at 1030.
Lunch stop enroute. Need head count.
Several photo op and rest stops.

[mysvxrocks]

Ooooooohhhhhhh I dont know if my car will be driveable by then...

My valve covers are in bad need of a reseal, and I cant do it myself...

[WestCoastSVX]

Originally Posted by mysvxrocks

Ooooooohhhhhhh I dont know if my car will be driveable by then...

My valve covers are in bad need of a reseal, and I cant do it myself...

Hey ditto! Well mine have been leaking progressively worse for over a year. Along with the front seals.

More pressing issues are I need to replace rotors/pads all the way around.

And the middle heat shield is hitting the driveshaft.

I can afford all the parts now, but can't afford shop labor rates.

[mysvxrocks]

Hey about the heatshield... How do you know if its doing that? Because when I am idling or going in first, something is giving a loud buzz like sound under there somewhere. Its kinda hard to describe the sound, but I would like to figure it out. Its making my car sound like a clunker when sitting at stop lights or whatever...

[WestCoastSVX]

The heatshields (there are a few) in general can be a nuisance. Sometimes they get rocks up in them and at certain RPMs they will vibrate and the rocks will bounce around and emit all kinds of interesting sound effects. Might be a possibility for yours. They run the whole length of the car but the ones most likely to get rocks trapped in them are up in front under the dual cats (if I remember right). You can drive up on ramps and get under there and unscrew them and a shower of gravel will come out (at least it did on mine a couple years back).

If you sound is more of a "BUZZ" it is more likely the center resonator is going bad - the insides start to fall apart and then you get a buzz at certain RPM's. Embarrassing sound especially in a nice looking car. A ton of people over the years have had this problem and the usual fix was to just have an exhaust shop cut the resonator out and weld in straight pipe. Pretty cheap and some like the sound better. Of course like anything it's controversial and some will say it robs power that the resonator helps with by doing such and such technical thing.

In my case, I only hear the rattling while DRIVING, not at all during idle. And it also goes away at higher speeds. There's a recent thread I can't find at the moment where this was addressed and a few people found their heatsheild was hitting the driveshaft bearing. Most were able to fix it by just bending the shield out of the way.

I finally got under my car yesterday and found a spot up near the front where they are rubbing. Pretty sure this is my problem, the heat shield is wedged between the driveshaft and the exhaust and I couldn't even get my fingers between them. At some point a couple months ago the shield must have got bent up into this position. I tried for an hour to bend it down, but like I said it is so tight there is really no where for it to go now. Just made an appointment to have it removed tomorrow morning as the technician said it should be quick and cheap and it won't hurt the car to have it off.

So I'll have my most annoying problem solved, hopefully. I'll post results tomorrow.