Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

pensfan83

corvette said:

I'm fortunate, compared to many... Started college in 2000. Full scholarship to a nearby state school--I could have had a free dorm room if I wanted, but commuted from my parents' house. Got checks for about $2,000 per year from my state due to high school GPA and ACT score. Started my own IT business.

I also consider myself fortunate. I attended a public university with an academic scholarship covering a significant portion and loans covering the rest. When I graduated I refinanced and consolidated all of the loans through AES at 2.25% for 20 years and paid them off in about 14. For a time the interest was deductible and the rate extremely reasonable so I wasn't in a hurry. Both boys have 529 accounts and my parents have also been setting aside money for all 4 grandkids.

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

Not a CCBA punch, but a punch to the financial gut for a good cause. My son’s 1st semester tuition bill is due this coming Friday. He received a very nice academic scholarship from the school. My parents had some money in a 529. We got a little in the way of secured a d unsecured federal student loans. The bulk of the rest of the tuition is up to my wife & I. I started shopping for loans and couldn’t believe the interest rates nor could I believe how many companies rejected me. I have excellent credit and have literally never been turned down for a mortgage, car loan, lease, or credit card in my life. A big reason is that they the student apply for the loan (who has no credit) and ask for 1 co-signer. Usually I apply for big loans with my wife as a co-signer. They ask for SS#, how much your gross salary is, and what your mortgage payment is if you own a home. I ended up with a 9.5% fixed loan that I will start paying back as soon as it is dispersed.

Forgive me for being clueless as I never had student loans but aren’t they all distributed through the federal government now? Is Uncle Sam putting the screws to you like this? 9.5% seems usury.

BTW, I got my undergraduate at a fairly expensive (for the time) private college and my masters at a state school. Annual tuition for both was $3,000/year.

oldfarmer50

laurasdada said:

9.5% was the mortgage rate on the first home I ever bought, back in 1991. And it was a good rate!

Were they still that high in 1991? I remember a coworker getting a mortgage at that rate in 1974 and he was quite happy about it. I guess he would be because by the late 70’s when we were considering one, the banks wouldn’t even take applications.

nyccarguy

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

Not a CCBA punch, but a punch to the financial gut for a good cause. My son’s 1st semester tuition bill is due this coming Friday. He received a very nice academic scholarship from the school. My parents had some money in a 529. We got a little in the way of secured a d unsecured federal student loans. The bulk of the rest of the tuition is up to my wife & I. I started shopping for loans and couldn’t believe the interest rates nor could I believe how many companies rejected me. I have excellent credit and have literally never been turned down for a mortgage, car loan, lease, or credit card in my life. A big reason is that they the student apply for the loan (who has no credit) and ask for 1 co-signer. Usually I apply for big loans with my wife as a co-signer. They ask for SS#, how much your gross salary is, and what your mortgage payment is if you own a home. I ended up with a 9.5% fixed loan that I will start paying back as soon as it is dispersed.

Forgive me for being clueless as I never had student loans but aren’t they all distributed through the federal government now? Is Uncle Sam putting the screws to you like this? 9.5% seems usury.

BTW, I got my undergraduate at a fairly expensive (for the time) private college and my masters at a state school. Annual tuition for both was $3,000/year.

I didn't have student loans either. I remember my Dad put a year's worth of payments on a 10 month payment plan every year for 4 years. There are some student loans that are backed by the federal government (secured & unsecured), but to my knowledge they are income based. I think I was able to qualify for a $1,000 and a $1,750 government backed loan.

laurasdada

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

9.5% was the mortgage rate on the first home I ever bought, back in 1991. And it was a good rate!

Were they still that high in 1991? I remember a coworker getting a mortgage at that rate in 1974 and he was quite happy about it. I guess he would be because by the late 70’s when we were considering one, the banks wouldn’t even take applications.

If I'm recalling correctly, yes. We were getting congrats on a sub-10% rate. May have been '92...
3/2.5 "Modern Colonial", no garage. Nice small yard and lots of woods around, end of a cul-de-sac in a great family town. With the highest property taxes in the region (very little commercial base), but great schools.

pensfan83

Impressions of the Silverado

- It's big and likely would be "mine" 90% of the time instead of something like the 65/35 it is now with the Tacoma.
- Being the size of a small duffel bag, the engine is hilariously small for the engine compartment.
- There's some initial lag/hesitation but once you're up to speed it moves quite well and there's more than enough power for passing, maintaining speed, and towing. It doesn't sound like a truck though. It handled and rode decently, on par or better than my experience in my Dad's F-150.
- This was the LT trim so it came with the 13" screen, wireless AA/CarPlay, usual assortment of power equipment, auto climate, heated seats/steering wheel (40/20/40 split front bench), etc. No parking sensors, just a camera. Fixed rear window as well, which is disappointing because I frequently open the Tacoma's or use it as a pass-thru. The backseat is cavernous as expected and that seat also folds up.

It didn't wow us, but I don't need it to. I want to be able to chuck muddy baseball equipment, lacrosse equipment and other odds and ends for the house or rentals in the bed, haul the family (not in the bed), and tow things. It will do all of that without any fuss. Alas, dealers being dealers they were, as the SM put it, "astounded" where I came up with my offer and the mere mention of a one pay caused wrinkled brows and sighs that could be heard across the land. The sales rep, who was either new or untrained, had no idea about the Costco incentive. Though they came down a little bit, a deal was not struck but I told them to contact me if they change their minds or we will if we decide to shift to a Colorado.

nyccarguy

pensfan83 said:

Impressions of the Silverado

- It's big and likely would be "mine" 90% of the time instead of something like the 65/35 it is now with the Tacoma.
- Being the size of a small duffel bag, the engine is hilariously small for the engine compartment.
- There's some initial lag/hesitation but once you're up to speed it moves quite well and there's more than enough power for passing, maintaining speed, and towing. It doesn't sound like a truck though. It handled and rode decently, on par or better than my experience in my Dad's F-150.
- This was the LT trim so it came with the 13" screen, wireless AA/CarPlay, usual assortment of power equipment, auto climate, heated seats/steering wheel (40/20/40 split front bench), etc. No parking sensors, just a camera. Fixed rear window as well, which is disappointing because I frequently open the Tacoma's or use it as a pass-thru. The backseat is cavernous as expected and that seat also folds up.

It didn't wow us, but I don't need it to. I want to be able to chuck muddy baseball equipment, lacrosse equipment and other odds and ends for the house or rentals in the bed, haul the family (not in the bed), and tow things. It will do all of that without any fuss. Alas, dealers being dealers they were, as the SM put it, "astounded" where I came up with my offer and the mere mention of a one pay caused wrinkled brows and sighs that could be heard across the land. The sales rep, who was either new or untrained, had no idea about the Costco incentive. Though they came down a little bit, a deal was not struck but I told them to contact me if they change their minds or we will if we decide to shift to a Colorado.

65/35 it is now with the Tacoma.

Impressive. My wife won't drive the Tacoma at all. I guess she would if there were some dire emergency, but for anything "regular?" No. 0.0 percent chance.

nyccarguy

laurasdada said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

9.5% was the mortgage rate on the first home I ever bought, back in 1991. And it was a good rate!

Were they still that high in 1991? I remember a coworker getting a mortgage at that rate in 1974 and he was quite happy about it. I guess he would be because by the late 70’s when we were considering one, the banks wouldn’t even take applications.

If I'm recalling correctly, yes. We were getting congrats on a sub-10% rate. May have been '92...
3/2.5 "Modern Colonial", no garage. Nice small yard and lots of woods around, end of a cul-de-sac in a great family town. With the highest property taxes in the region (very little commercial base), but great schools.

This 9.5% rate is by far the highest rate I've ever had on any loan in my entire life. When we bought our house in 2010, our rate was 5.135%. We refinanced 5 years later (and reset the clock) at 4.135%. We then refinanced again 2 or 3 years ago for 20 years at 2.99%.

au1994

Good write up on the Silverado. I would have loved to have taken advantage of that great lease program. I like your assessment of it being the size of a small duffel bag!

Colorado is a heck of a nice package if that's your fall back.

kyfdx

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

9.5% was the mortgage rate on the first home I ever bought, back in 1991. And it was a good rate!

Were they still that high in 1991? I remember a coworker getting a mortgage at that rate in 1974 and he was quite happy about it. I guess he would be because by the late 70’s when we were considering one, the banks wouldn’t even take applications.

I bought a house in 1989 with a 10% APR, 3 yr adjustable.

ab348

I seem to recall hearing that buying a Colorado/Canyon often costs the same or more than a comparably equipped Silverado because the mega-sized trucks usually have generous incentives whereas the slightly smaller ones do not.

Sarah-N-Tuned did a review of the 2.7 Silverado a little while ago and quite liked it IIRC. You should be able to get a good deal on one so wait for their call.

explorerx4

Our first mortgage was in 1984. 14% fixed 15 years(rate was cheaper the a 30 year).
Refinanced in 1985 to 11.25%, 1986 to 9.625% and in 1987 to 7%, if I remember correctly, all 15 year mortages.
We currently have a 30 year 3.25% mortgage and currently are not in a hurry to pay it off.
Our car loans are at 0.9% and 1.9%.

andres3

stickguy said:

My son test drove a 340 X3 last year when he was shopping. He did like it a lot but the power actually scared him a little. And he was driving an S4 at the time!

That's funny... my S4 is tuned APR Stage 1 (former dual clutch & Supercharger variant) so I'm used to the power. I'd reckon the newer S4's don't get driven as hard as the power hides behind some lag and in the upper RPM's. I actually look at the X3 m40 as the S4 (former B8/B8.5 generation) in SUV/SAV form. Taller, Higher, Center of Gravity most definitely higher, and yes, unfortunately heavier still. Despite that, in a straight line, it'll be a very close race I think.

For certain, the larger vehicle and higher seating position tend to hide your speed; easy to get up to 100 in this thing before you know it. Definitely an Autobahn cruiser.

I have more confidence in the twisties in the S4, part of that might be the trick rear sport diff in the S4 coupled with being lighter and lower. Also, need to accustom myself to the BMW to gain trust in the turns, but no matter what, it is an SAV/SUV. Doing some slalom exercises on one of my favorite local roads where no one is ever watching there was a good amount of tire slippage, but it was still very much in control. The M-sport limited diff is a "add-on" option I think few people checked when buying these. If you want that you get the X3M probably.

pensfan83

ab348 said:

I seem to recall hearing that buying a Colorado/Canyon often costs the same or more than a comparably equipped Silverado because the mega-sized trucks usually have generous incentives whereas the slightly smaller ones do not.

Sarah-N-Tuned did a review of the 2.7 Silverado a little while ago and quite liked it IIRC. You should be able to get a good deal on one so wait for their call.

With incentives and discount applied you're correct, the price delta narrows considerably. The Turbomax is perfectly fine for the overwhelming majority of people buying full-size pickups and I would have no problem driving one for 3 years.

andres3

28firefighter said:

Congrats, @andres3 ! So tell us, what was the magic price they acquiesced to?

$32,500. Not really that magical in my opinion, but the BMW fanboys do keep M40i's and M's at high resale value and they usually sell pretty fast. This one was sitting awhile being in Lemon Grove (one of the less ritzy suburbs of San Diego). I wouldn't have been surprised if they had stuck with turning me down and sold it to someone else for more. Glad they were motivated though.

The used car dealers are not that motivated on Macan Turbo's, and from what I was seeing, it's because some Uncle Money bags comes along quickly and is happy with a little $500 off on a $69,999 asking price.

stickguy

Im mot a cylinder snob (a 4banger mustang is fine by me) but I still can’t get my head around a 4 cylinder full sized barge truck.

andres3

Sandman6472 said:

Surprised the 2019 VW Tiguan needs rear brakes already. How many miles are on the car now? I'll be hitting 77K this week and I've yet to have any of the brakes replaced yet. I've asked my mechanic a few times to please check both fronts and rears and he comes back with no need to change them yet. I do have the brake fluid changed out when the manual says to as since I plan to keep it for awhile longer, don't mind doing the necessary maintenance. Luckily, I don't drive that much anymore so find it's cheap insurance to having to buy something new.

Still debating about if I should re-tint the windows or not. Stopped by a local shop just to see what their tints look like as I don't want as dark as we had last time. They were on the high side though guessing they were slow as he pushed a bit for me to come back that afternoon. But I'm still on the fence here so decided to just wait a bit longer.

It's about 44K miles and my wife drives it like it's an S4 or SQ5 (mild road rager, LOL) . Not surprised the brake pads wore out. They did say 3 mm I think so it's borderline right now.

andres3

laurasdada said:

Congrats, Andres. Almost the twin to my wife's. But you got the correct engine!

For certain it's the correct engine.

Eco Pro Mode = What's that?
Comfort = Quiet luxury cruiser
Sport = Now I know why you have an m40i badge
Sport Plus Dynamic = Lewis Hamilton mode on.

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

laurasdada said:

oldfarmer50 said:

laurasdada said:

9.5% was the mortgage rate on the first home I ever bought, back in 1991. And it was a good rate!

Were they still that high in 1991? I remember a coworker getting a mortgage at that rate in 1974 and he was quite happy about it. I guess he would be because by the late 70’s when we were considering one, the banks wouldn’t even take applications.

If I'm recalling correctly, yes. We were getting congrats on a sub-10% rate. May have been '92...
3/2.5 "Modern Colonial", no garage. Nice small yard and lots of woods around, end of a cul-de-sac in a great family town. With the highest property taxes in the region (very little commercial base), but great schools.

This 9.5% rate is by far the highest rate I've ever had on any loan in my entire life. When we bought our house in 2010, our rate was 5.135%. We refinanced 5 years later (and reset the clock) at 4.135%. We then refinanced again 2 or 3 years ago for 20 years at 2.99%.

9.25% was the rate my credit union wanted on any used vehicle older than 2016. I’d rather build my own than pay that much so I paid cash.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Im mot a cylinder snob (a 4banger mustang is fine by me) but I still can’t get my head around a 4 cylinder full sized barge truck.

Not a direct comparison but having driven Mustang 4 cyl I prefer the NA V6 in my truck (which was also the Mustang engine at the time) even though they have similar power outputs.

That Chevy 2.7L is in a class by itself, putting out as much torque as a 5.0L Coyote. I know they have done wonderful things with turbos but that engine must be horribly stressed. Will it last? Only time will tell.

laurasdada

That 9.5% fixed 30yr is the highest rate I've had. And we did refinance a couple of times before moving to bigger in same (wicked high tax) town (Yeah, I'm a financial wizard...). In a rates falling period, so down the re-fi's went.

Currently townhouse at 2.825% fixed 30; Audi is 0% and new furniture is also 0%. Seinfeld may love the Drake, but I love the 0% (just like Mr. Blutarsky).

cdnpinhead

explorerx4 said:

Our first mortgage was in 1984. 14% fixed 15 years(rate was cheaper the a 30 year).
Refinanced in 1985 to 11.25%, 1986 to 9.625% and in 1987 to 7%, if I remember correctly, all 15 year mortages.
We currently have a 30 year 3.25% mortgage and currently are not in a hurry to pay it off.
Our car loans are at 0.9% and 1.9%.

Yeah, those were the days. We signed up to buy a new place in July of '80, and the rate was ~9%, but was not locked until the house was finished, about four months later, when it was 13%. What that did to our "lifestyle" for the next several years is hard to think back on. As I ground up the ladder in a big aerospace outfit in Phoenix and the rates finally topped out then (gradually) came down, we refinanced twice and eventually were able to live at a fairly decent level.

The house we moved up to in '93 is paid off, and the cabin in the high country carries a lower mortgage balance than many car loans these days. Time heals most wounds.

ab348

I started working my first job in early 1980 and recall that about 6 months later my boss signed a deal for an IBM computer system that was a lot of money for that company then, about $100K. We took delivery in phases, with about $40K worth of additional stuff coming in the spring of ‘81. I got the thing running, and one day got the call from IBM that the remainder of the stuff had arrived and was ready for installation. My boss called the commercial finance outfit he had used for the purchase, and was told that the rate on that extra stuff would be 20%! I think we got 12% on the initial shipment. That caused great consternation and a good amount of scrambling.

stickguy

It’s kind of weird being mortgage free. But a nice weird. Won’t really notice for a while the way the big projects are stacking up!

Michaell

stickguy said:

It’s kind of weird being mortgage free. But a nice weird. Won’t really notice for a while the way the big projects are stacking up!

If we can figure out where to move (and when), we could be mortgage free if we find someplace where the cost of living isn't that high.

explorerx4

In Lorain County Ohio property taxes are high but compared to CT, just about everything else is more reasonable.

mjfloyd1

I’m predicting that the Q7 will be gone on Saturday and the search for a replacement will commence

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

In Lorain County Ohio property taxes are high but compared to CT, just about everything else is more reasonable.

Our property taxes doubled when we moved into our most recent house; I then learned about "metro districts" in Colorado and how they are like HOA's on steroids.

nyccarguy

@explorerx4 said:
In Lorain County Ohio property taxes are high but compared to CT, just about everything else is more reasonable.

Your Ohio Taxes are comparable to your CT taxes?

explorerx4

@nyccarguy,
Yes they are very high. In CT was mostly based on square footage but here the County bases new builds on selling price.
We will see what happens when they revalue in another year or two.
In CT, property tax on our house for 2022 was 10.7K. For 2023 it went up to 13.3K(new high school), so not complaining too much.

nyccarguy

This 2009 Outback looks interesting:

https://www.nybestmotors.com/vdp/20584983/?utm_source=cargurus.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cargurus_listings

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

@nyccarguy,
Yes they are very high. In CT was mostly based on square footage but here the County bases new builds on selling price.
We will see what happens when they revalue in another year or two.
In CT, property tax on our house for 2022 was 10.7K. For 2023 it went up to 13.3K(new high school), so not complaining too much.

I feel like our taxes over in Ashtabula county are par for the course (I think we pay around $1,200 a year) - prorated, about in line with what we pay in Alaska.

xwesx

nyccarguy said:

This 2009 Outback looks interesting:

https://www.nybestmotors.com/vdp/20584983/?utm_source=cargurus.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cargurus_listings

Seems kinda rich for a fifteen-year-old northeastern car with 130K on the ticker. Honestly, I might be more willing to give it the benefit of the doubt if it wasn't on a BHPH lot.

xwesx

Speaking of Q7s, I am in the middle of working on mine again.

I received a note from the UOA company last year that they detected trace amounts of coolant in the oil again. So, I put it into hibernation for the winter (it maybe has 2,000 miles on it since the last oil change, all of which were last summer when I had it on loan to a guy). I had a suspicion that the issue originated with the EGR cooler (which is deactivated, but still physically present on the engine).

With that in mind, I dug into it starting Saturday night and... sure enough... there is *definitely* an internal failure in the EGR cooler! The entire bypass pipe to the intake was filled with coolant, and it appears that a small amount was slowly being drawn into the cylinders with the air. Not good, for sure!

Thankfully, I have a delete kit, so I have now removed it from the equation. I hope to have the vehicle buttoned up tonight and back in action.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

Speaking of Q7s, I am in the middle of working on mine again.

I received a note from the UOA company last year that they detected trace amounts of coolant in the oil again. So, I put it into hibernation for the winter (it maybe has 2,000 miles on it since the last oil change, all of which were last summer when I had it on loan to a guy). I had a suspicion that the issue originated with the EGR cooler (which is deactivated, but still physically present on the engine).

With that in mind, I dug into it starting Saturday night and... sure enough... there is *definitely* an internal failure in the EGR cooler! The entire bypass pipe to the intake was filled with coolant, and it appears that a small amount was slowly being drawn into the cylinders with the air. Not good, for sure!

Thankfully, I have a delete kit, so I have now removed it from the equation. I hope to have the vehicle buttoned up tonight and back in action.

————————————————
What is “a delete kit”?

jmonroe

cdnpinhead

Blockoff plate, plug(s), gaskets I'd guess -- maybe even some instructions,

explorerx4

Don't let the EPA find out about it.

tjc78

@xwesx said:
Speaking of Q7s, I am in the middle of working on mine again.

I received a note from the UOA company last year that they detected trace amounts of coolant in the oil again. So, I put it into hibernation for the winter (it maybe has 2,000 miles on it since the last oil change, all of which were last summer when I had it on loan to a guy). I had a suspicion that the issue originated with the EGR cooler (which is deactivated, but still physically present on the engine).

With that in mind, I dug into it starting Saturday night and... sure enough... there is definitely an internal failure in the EGR cooler! The entire bypass pipe to the intake was filled with coolant, and it appears that a small amount was slowly being drawn into the cylinders with the air. Not good, for sure!

Thankfully, I have a delete kit, so I have now removed it from the equation. I hope to have the vehicle buttoned up tonight and back in action.

I guess a tune is required after the delete to clear the check engine light?

oldfarmer50

nyccarguy said:

This 2009 Outback looks interesting:

https://www.nybestmotors.com/vdp/20584983/?utm_source=cargurus.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cargurus_listings

This is for the college bound kid, right? Might be a good campus run around vehicle if it checks out. With a manual transmission it wouldn’t be stolen.

It wasn’t too long ago that a car which made it to 100k was something unique but these days anything under 200k seems acceptable. I don’t ever think I’ll ever get used to that. My trouble is that it takes longer and longer to find the low mileage gems that I crave.

explorerx4

@qbrozen,
Your Charger just showed up a couple of times on my MSN home page.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

Don't let the EPA find out about it.

Well, if they want to pay to replace all the unreliable parts over and over again, then they can have a say in what I do with my own car. As it is, I gave the world one of the cleanest-running ICE vehicles for 130,000 miles, and even now it still runs pretty darn clean when compared anything from last century.

Yes, delete kit just blocks off air routes between exhaust and intake and bypasses the coolant routing so that it continues to service the engine areas that need it. Previously, the EGR cooler was apparently corroded internally (I will pull it apart to inspect after I get the car running), so it was a very poor coolant pipe, and, when it was working, the only thing it did very well was quickly cake up the intake system on the vehicle to heavily constrict airflow.

xwesx

tjc78 said:

guess a tune is required after the delete to clear the check engine light?

All of the adjustments needed to how the vehicle runs were completed a while ago. This is just physical removal of the part because it failed internally.

jmonroe1

xwesx said:

explorerx4 said:

Don't let the EPA find out about it.

Well, if they want to pay to replace all the unreliable parts over and over again, then they can have a say in what I do with my own car. As it is, I gave the world one of the cleanest-running ICE vehicles for 130,000 miles, and even now it still runs pretty darn clean when compared anything from last century.

Yes, delete kit just blocks off air routes between exhaust and intake and bypasses the coolant routing so that it continues to service the engine areas that need it. Previously, the EGR cooler was apparently corroded internally (I will pull it apart to inspect after I get the car running), so it was a very poor coolant pipe, and, when it was working, the only thing it did very well was quickly cake up the intake system on the vehicle to heavily constrict airflow.

————————————————
The first car I owned that had a catylitic converter was my ‘75 Grand Prix bought used in ‘77. It had the 400 CID V8 and was pretty quick but I thought it still felt a little constipated. Fortunately, GM built that catalytic converter with a drain plug on the bottom. When I removed that plug almost a gallon of multi-colored beads (brown, tan and almost black IIRC) fell out. Once drained, the car ran so much better.

Fast forward to when I bought my ‘80 Park Ave. used in ‘83. That car had the 350 CID V8 but it still had a catalytic converter. However, by then GM wised up to folks draining their first generation converters so they didn’t use a screwed in drain plug like on the Grand Prix. That cat had a heavy duty sheet metal plug that was pressed into the bottom of the cat housing. To get that beast out would have required chiseling/prying it out. I didn’t want to do that for fear of ruining the cat shell. So, I bought a catalytic converter “test pipe” from J. C. Whitney and lo and behold the test pipe proved that cat was also a terrible constipator to exhaust flow so I just drove it forever testing it.

Also, it was even easier to defeat the EGR valve. All that had to be done on GM V8’s was to remove the vacuum line to it and insert a machine screw or golf tee into the vacuum line. Wala, that problem was now solved too.

Sure was a lot easier to get a car running better back in those days.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

Don't let the EPA find out about it.

————————————————
Oh, for sure I wouldn’t want to be caught by the EPA for cheating with emission systems. Kinda like I fear the IRS when I do my taxes.

jmonroe

xwesx

Well, it was not to be tonight. I pretty much got it back together, but I feel like I have a vacuum connection that is lacking a hose to mate up to it. I have no recollection of it, and I have no hose (that I have found) that mates up, so I decided to pause and review prior photos/video to determine what I'm missing.

There's always something!

qbrozen

@explorerx4 said:
@qbrozen,
Your Charger just showed up a couple of times on my MSN home page.

You must need to buy it.

I have had zero interest so far. Kind of surprising. I’m debating when I should make the first price adjustment.

oldfarmer50

jmonroe1 said:

xwesx said:

explorerx4 said:

Don't let the EPA find out about it.

Well, if they want to pay to replace all the unreliable parts over and over again, then they can have a say in what I do with my own car. As it is, I gave the world one of the cleanest-running ICE vehicles for 130,000 miles, and even now it still runs pretty darn clean when compared anything from last century.

Yes, delete kit just blocks off air routes between exhaust and intake and bypasses the coolant routing so that it continues to service the engine areas that need it. Previously, the EGR cooler was apparently corroded internally (I will pull it apart to inspect after I get the car running), so it was a very poor coolant pipe, and, when it was working, the only thing it did very well was quickly cake up the intake system on the vehicle to heavily constrict airflow.

————————————————
The first car I owned that had a catylitic converter was my ‘75 Grand Prix bought used in ‘77. It had the 400 CID V8 and was pretty quick but I thought it still felt a little constipated. Fortunately, GM built that catalytic converter with a drain plug on the bottom. When I removed that plug almost a gallon of multi-colored beads (brown, tan and almost black IIRC) fell out. Once drained, the car ran so much better.

Fast forward to when I bought my ‘80 Park Ave. used in ‘83. That car had the 350 CID V8 but it still had a catalytic converter. However, by then GM wised up to folks draining their first generation converters so they didn’t use a screwed in drain plug like on the Grand Prix. That cat had a heavy duty sheet metal plug that was pressed into the bottom of the cat housing. To get that beast out would have required chiseling/prying it out. I didn’t want to do that for fear of ruining the cat shell. So, I bought a catalytic converter “test pipe” from J. C. Whitney and lo and behold the test pipe proved that cat was also a terrible constipator to exhaust flow so I just drove it forever testing it.

Also, it was even easier to defeat the EGR valve. All that had to be done on GM V8’s was to remove the vacuum line to it and insert a machine screw or golf tee into the vacuum line. Wala, that problem was now solved too.

Sure was a lot easier to get a car running better back in those days.

jmonroe

On my 1980 Omni, my mechanic rammed a steel bar through one end of the CAT to break up the plugged up ceramic matrix and the car ran fine afterwards. He told me to say I had had it repaired at someplace out of state if ever asked.

qbrozen

My father hollowed out a converter and put it on my CJ7. Passed the visual inspection (of course) and passed the sniffer test with flying colors. So what was the point of those cats in the early days?

andres3

oldfarmer50 said:

nyccarguy said:

This 2009 Outback looks interesting:

https://www.nybestmotors.com/vdp/20584983/?utm_source=cargurus.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=cargurus_listings

This is for the college bound kid, right? Might be a good campus run around vehicle if it checks out. With a manual transmission it wouldn’t be stolen.

It wasn’t too long ago that a car which made it to 100k was something unique but these days anything under 200k seems acceptable. I don’t ever think I’ll ever get used to that. My trouble is that it takes longer and longer to find the low mileage gems that I crave.

They are out there for sure, but you are not the only one that craves them. I don't value low mileage much anymore, so I'm easily outbid in that market. You have competition in the ultra low mileage arena.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

xwesx said:

explorerx4 said:

Don't let the EPA find out about it.

Well, if they want to pay to replace all the unreliable parts over and over again, then they can have a say in what I do with my own car. As it is, I gave the world one of the cleanest-running ICE vehicles for 130,000 miles, and even now it still runs pretty darn clean when compared anything from last century.

Yes, delete kit just blocks off air routes between exhaust and intake and bypasses the coolant routing so that it continues to service the engine areas that need it. Previously, the EGR cooler was apparently corroded internally (I will pull it apart to inspect after I get the car running), so it was a very poor coolant pipe, and, when it was working, the only thing it did very well was quickly cake up the intake system on the vehicle to heavily constrict airflow.

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The first car I owned that had a catylitic converter was my ‘75 Grand Prix bought used in ‘77. It had the 400 CID V8 and was pretty quick but I thought it still felt a little constipated. Fortunately, GM built that catalytic converter with a drain plug on the bottom. When I removed that plug almost a gallon of multi-colored beads (brown, tan and almost black IIRC) fell out. Once drained, the car ran so much better.

Fast forward to when I bought my ‘80 Park Ave. used in ‘83. That car had the 350 CID V8 but it still had a catalytic converter. However, by then GM wised up to folks draining their first generation converters so they didn’t use a screwed in drain plug like on the Grand Prix. That cat had a heavy duty sheet metal plug that was pressed into the bottom of the cat housing. To get that beast out would have required chiseling/prying it out. I didn’t want to do that for fear of ruining the cat shell. So, I bought a catalytic converter “test pipe” from J. C. Whitney and lo and behold the test pipe proved that cat was also a terrible constipator to exhaust flow so I just drove it forever testing it.

Also, it was even easier to defeat the EGR valve. All that had to be done on GM V8’s was to remove the vacuum line to it and insert a machine screw or golf tee into the vacuum line. Wala, that problem was now solved too.

Sure was a lot easier to get a car running better back in those days.

jmonroe

On my 1980 Omni, my mechanic rammed a steel bar through one end of the CAT to break up the plugged up ceramic matrix and the car ran fine afterwards. He told me to say I had had it repaired at someplace out of state if ever asked.

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You otta be glad the EPA didn’t find out you destroyed, on purpose, an emmisions device. I was careful not to destroy mine. I just modified one and removed the other.

You better hope the EPA doesn’t monitor this site. There is no statute of limitations for doing what you had done. And good luck trying to blame someone else for doing it. The guy holding the bag is always the responsible party.

jmonroe