Questions you think are too stupid to ask

[bricooper78]

Well, I found 1 of the threads that had it mapped out to just bypass the stock amp, so I may as well just nab that cmos-01 and do that. Time to get all that factory stuff out of it anyways I suppose, and there is one about to finish on ebay, new in package, for dirt cheap! Have to get all sneaky and try to nab it from someone else

[kzulfic]

Originally Posted by bricooper78

Well, I found 1 of the threads that had it mapped out to just bypass the stock amp, so I may as well just nab that cmos-01 and do that. Time to get all that factory stuff out of it anyways I suppose, and there is one about to finish on ebay, new in package, for dirt cheap! Have to get all sneaky and try to nab it from someone else

Haha, ninja style, or should I say ninjabread style.

[Smithkid21]

Originally Posted by TDavis

How efficient are rebuilt ones?

I put one on my 01' GAGT about a three years before I sold it, and my friend owns it now and it still works A-Okay until this day. It's more of personal preference as to what you want to go with. Rebuilt ones sometimes come with a warranty too, pending upon where you get it. It's only like 30 days or something like that, but it's better than nothing.

[bricooper78]

My starter is a new guts in old casing (refurbished/rebuilt) I got from O'reilly. It's been just finer than a frog hair!



Neeeeenjabread!

[Mad Scientist]

Thanks Brendan and Cooper!

Another question:
My power driver seat won't raise itself up. Motor spins but nothing happens. Whats wrong? Is it hard to fix? Is this problem common? Are the ones in the J.Y. likely to be bad too? If it's too big a PITA to fix, can I just reach under the seat and somehow spin something to raise it manually? I did a search and all I could find on the subject was a "...the gears are probably bad". Is this true? What are my options if it is? What else could be wrong?

As promised, a few videos of my previous track exploits:
(This first group features my 400E Benz)

(I won this first one because of a quicker reaction time. Awesomely close race!)





My 300E making an M3 really work for it!


Regards,
Eric

[Mad Scientist]

This is the original listing for my GAGT at the auction. http://theauctioncompany.auctionserv.../27/lot/12857/
Don't know how much longer this will be posted since the car is obviously already sold. It's really interesting how this car, which, again, was a state owned car, didn't have "Calif Exempt" plates. Then on top of that, when I went to register it, the state had absolutely NO RECORD of the car! This despite the fact that I was holding paperwork showing that the state had just sold the car! Weird! Must have been some kind of undercover car.

It's really cute how they showed a picture of one of the good back tires when the front two tires were stone faced bald. Don't let the "winning bid $1,100" fool you. By the time that crooked auction house added in all of their nonsense fees the tab was $1,600! Add in two brand new "V" rated tires and registration, and I'm into the car for $1,950. I'm not complaining too loudly though as I could probably get a minimum of $2,500 for the car tomorrow if I wanted to, correct? (That's another question for this thread BTW. Yeah, I was going somewhere with this post.)
Regards,
Eric

[Mad Scientist]

Another question:
I'm getting conflicting info on the LX9 cranks. Are they forged or not? If not is there still a strength improvement over our 3400 cranks?
Regards,
Eric

[sleepyalero]

why all these questions? arent you a "mad scientist"? just kidding.

only a number of the 3500 cranks are forged, some motors have them forged, others dont. i dont know how to tell other then tearing into a motor and looking at it. I'm also not sure if the 3500 crank will go with the 3400..

yeah you didnt get a terrible deal on your car either, 1100$ for it and a total of 1950 is pretty good.

[Mad Scientist]

Thanks!

Anybody else know about the forged LX9 cranks? Like what years/applications they can be found in?

That log masquerading as an exhaust manifold in the front of the engine bay is really bothering me, but headers aren't an option for me because of Cali's stringent smog inspections. The LX9's exhaust manifolds look like trick high performance racing pieces by comparison. I did a search "LX9 exhaust manifold swap" that got me nothing. Hasn't anybody done this swap yet? Is there an issue that prevents it? Edit: I just did a broader internet search but still didn't find much. Found this though: FS: 3500 LX9 Parts

Anybody have any info about the power driver seat issue that I posted about above?
Regards,
Eric

[kzulfic]

IIRC, they're a direct bolt on. The block is the same just improved upon, better heads, crank, UIM, LIM, and I believe 9.8:1 compression ratio, compared to the 9.5:1 the LA1 has. there's probably a couple more improvements I'm forgeting, but you get the point.

Best bet is to just swap the LX9 for the LA1, and be done with it.

[Mad Scientist]

I agree but an engine swap is out of the question right now. Too much on my plate already. Just trying to find some low hanging fruit to pick to improve the performance enough so that this car will be able to continue to hold it's own for a while longer in the road rage wars of So Cal. After I repair the trans in my 400E, finally find a way to permanently fix the constantly reoccurring fuel delivery problems of my 300E, Do some badly needed basic mods to my L67 powered GS Regal (which at this point is barely quicker than the GAGT), fix this power seat in the GAGT, complete our relocation to North Cali, and providing that nothing else bunk happens, THEN we can talk about a LX9 swap. (I'm definitely open to it! I'd also want to do something about that weak kneed little 4T45E too at that point!)
Regards,
Eric

[sleepyalero]

You have a regal gs? Mmmmm.

[TDavis]

Started the car up at 6:30 this morning before work and it was pretty much the same conditions that it was when it made the "errrrr" sound and it didn't make the sound this morning when starting it. If it was a bad starter or even the starter wouldn't it always do it after the car has been sitting overnight?

[Smithkid21]

Originally Posted by TDavis

Started the car up at 6:30 this morning before work and it was pretty much the same conditions that it was when it made the "errrrr" sound and it didn't make the sound this morning when starting it. If it was a bad starter or even the starter wouldn't it always do it after the car has been sitting overnight?

It's the starter solenoid IIRC. Sometimes it does it, sometimes it doesn't. It's weird.

[kzulfic]

Originally Posted by TDavis

Started the car up at 6:30 this morning before work and it was pretty much the same conditions that it was when it made the "errrrr" sound and it didn't make the sound this morning when starting it. If it was a bad starter or even the starter wouldn't it always do it after the car has been sitting overnight?

Yes, it would. It's your PS pump. Nothing is wrong with your car, it just may be time to flush, and replace your fluid.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally Posted by sleepyalero

You have a regal gs? Mmmmm.

Yes. It's the "Family's main car" but it's still gonna get modded too. It needs to better my 400E's best E/T of 14.200 if it is to be deemed a worthy replacement.

The GAGT needs to better the 300E's best E/T of 15.925 if it is to be a worthy replacement for that car. (It ought to be able to do that fairly easily.) The 2 Benzes have been great cars, but the years are catching up with them, so they are going to become weekend only cars.

I really do want to eventually do an LX9 swap to the GAGT, and even though I'm not ready to do it yet, I'd still like to be able to quickly tell forged crank LX9s from cast crank LX9s (without actually having to peek inside their oil pans), so that I'll know what LX9 to grab when the right one comes along. I rather grab one a little early and have it ready rather than be in the position of trying to find one in a hurry cause I blew up my LA1. So how does one quickly spot a forged crank LX9? What vehicles are they in?
Regards,
Eric

[sleepyalero]

you have to tear the motor down to verify i believe i dont think it has markings on the motor

intrigue has the lx9 i believe and sone others idk off hand.

[TDavis]

Originally Posted by kzulfic

Yes, it would. It's your PS pump. Nothing is wrong with your car, it just may be time to flush, and replace your fluid.

Dunno who to believe . I've looked around on the internet on other forums and they say its the starter and/or tensioner.

[Smithkid21]

Post a video. It'll help alot with identifying the exact problem.

[geldartb]

Originally Posted by TDavis

Started the car up at 6:30 this morning before work and it was pretty much the same conditions that it was when it made the "errrrr" sound and it didn't make the sound this morning when starting it. If it was a bad starter or even the starter wouldn't it always do it after the car has been sitting overnight?

i don't know about the starter. with the one on my subaru it was like russian roulette whether or not it would start or not.

the cold affected it more but it still did the multiple key turns to get the car started when it was in the 40* neighborhood..

also with my starter it would even do the i don't wanna start crap even after the car had been sitting only 4 hours..

Originally Posted by TDavis

Dunno who to believe . I've looked around on the internet on other forums and they say its the starter and/or tensioner.

the only thing my tensioner ever did was make the engine sound like i had rod knock. this is even when i started the car after sitting for months in a below freezing garage.