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Old 04-28-2018, 09:38 AM   #131
clyde
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Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy View Post
That's not a bad idea. When I bought my Talon in '95 it was missing the Monroney sticker and I had to threaten the dealer with 15 U.S. Code § 1233 (c) to get them to order a reprint from Chrysler. Of course, this was the same dealer that reattached the instrument cluster with drywall screws after they botched a recall for the fuel tank. I posted that story here.

Did you check with Chevy to make sure they fixed the in-service date?
The in-service date issue was resolved pretty much immediately.
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Old 04-28-2018, 09:52 AM   #132
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy View Post
That's not a bad idea. When I bought my Talon in '95 it was missing the Monroney sticker and I had to threaten the dealer with 15 U.S. Code § 1233 (c) to get them to order a reprint from Chrysler. Of course, this was the same dealer that reattached the instrument cluster with drywall screws after they botched a recall for the fuel tank. I posted that story here.

Did you check with Chevy to make sure they fixed the in-service date?
That story about the Talon is a crazy one, it had a gas gauge issue and they rebuilt the entire car ... what else was wrong with it ? Also the attendant at gas station called you an asshole ? Jeez I would’ve freaked out on the guy ...

I had a 95 Talon too with the turbo engine ... I bought it with very low miles (I think 9k) and a year old and sold it after a few months ... the thing I remember most other than the torque steer which was horrible was it had tons of rattles.
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Old 04-28-2018, 11:02 PM   #133
Terri Kennedy
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That story about the Talon is a crazy one, it had a gas gauge issue and they rebuilt the entire car ... what else was wrong with it ?
A few months after I got it, it had a recall for a "Pinto problem" - a chance of going up in a fireball if rear-ended. The recall replaced the fuel tank assembly. They screwed up something with the fuel level float sensor and they "fixed" it by splicing a resistor into the wiring under the rear seat, passenger side. That caused the gauge to read empty when it wasn't. They also screwed up putting the rear suspension back together after. When I brought it back, they had it for something like 4 months, during which time they pulled the instrument cluster, glued the fuel gauge needle at "full" and put the dash back in with drywall screws. They also left it outside where it got covered in bird crap, dust, and some vandalization. I told the dealer I wasn't going to take it back like that, and they said they were just going to park it on the street and let it collect tickets if I didn't take it.

Did you read my "totaled twice in 101 miles" post in that thread (a few posts before the story we're talking about here)?

Most Eagle dealers seem to have been Ford dealers, back from the AMC days. Maybe that had something to do with why they had a problem getting parts and doing the work properly. Or maybe they were just useless...
Quote:
Also the attendant at gas station called you an asshole ? Jeez I would’ve freaked out on the guy ...
This is New Jersey, one of only two states where people are assumed to be too dumb to pump their own gas (Oregon is the other). And the natives are not exactly known for their politeness and charm.
Quote:
I had a 95 Talon too with the turbo engine ... I bought it with very low miles (I think 9k) and a year old and sold it after a few months ... the thing I remember most other than the torque steer which was horrible was it had tons of rattles.
I never had rattles, other than when they left off some rear suspension hardware and things were bouncing around.

The '95 was pretty much the only good year - prior years had so-so styling and enormous turbo lag, while post-95 ones can best be described as "something you'd get your daughter when she went off to college".
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Old 04-29-2018, 07:09 AM   #134
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy
Did you read my "totaled twice in 101 miles" post in that thread (a few posts before the story we're talking about)?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy
One kid replies "No, we don't like him - when we hang out on his steps and smoke weed, he chases us away. But he had a green light."
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Old 04-30-2018, 10:06 AM   #135
John V
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Clyde, car looked good out there on Sunday. Thoughts?
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Old 04-30-2018, 02:22 PM   #136
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Clyde, car looked good out there on Sunday. Thoughts?
Bear this in mind: No alignment and haven't done the thing that should get me close to -2.0 front camber (loosen bolts fastening strut housing to knuckle, push strut, re-tighten). Tires had about 400 street miles and one T&T event with maybe 9 dry runs before the rain in the cold spread over a couple hours. Tires never got hot there, so hard to say if they've heat cycled and RE71s seem to work better after the first cycle, so...

So, anyway...

It's kind of hard to say. It felt insanely good out of the box and was tons of fun to drive. Like, ridiculously so. Very neutral and balanced oh so nicely. Overall, it gave me giggly feelings.

With it aligned like it is, it was very predictable and stable. It just did what you asked of it. It communicates, but not like a real two way conversation, so when you tell it to do something, it eagerly does it and after it's done you find out if you told it the right thing.

Faster steering would be nice, but not a big deal.

Shocks would be nice, but not nice enough to spend for custom stuff. Body roll is noticeably present. I'm not sure it needs something different. I'm going to do the camber thing tonight (I hope), align it Wednesday and see how it goes in NJ a couple days later.

Visibility wasn't an issue for me on course. Kevin needs a little more time to adjust to the width (coned each run on the passenger side, almost all inside rear).

I can't think of any significant vices. The boost is a thing that has to be managed and more linear delivery would be nicer, but it's more a characteristic than a negative trait.

For driving in autocross, I can't think of anything new that has a similar fun/$ ratio. The worst thing is probably that I bought it two years too late to get full autocross value.
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Old 04-30-2018, 05:22 PM   #137
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It's so unexpected to hear comments like that about a Camaro. Times have definitely changed.
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:10 AM   #138
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It sounds like you made the right choice?

I'll see you this weekend, maybe we'll line up at the tree to see how bad you stomp me off the line?

I went head-to-head against a new Camaro at the Pittsburgh event last weekend and got beat pretty bad. With the temperature never breaking 45*, I had no chance on BFGs, but the guy (Neil) in his Camaro Turbo laid down some impressive times in the wet and near freezing cold conditions that were not far off the leaders in AWD cars.

It looks like there will be quite a few drivers in Camaro Turbos now in DC? I thought I was reading the results wrong, but it looks like there are at least two more.
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Old 05-01-2018, 11:13 AM   #139
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So, it's 69 days now?

No response to the email I sent referenced above. No response to the voicemail I left two days later.

60 minute response to the followup email I sent yesterday that also cc'd the dealership's general manager.

Short version is it looks like they fucked it up in completely avoidable ways. Ways that I expressed concerns about at the time and they blew off.

I'm pretty ticked.

To be continued...
So, no response to what I sent on Friday. As far as I can tell from what I think they've done, I'm going to have to get a MD used car inspection, then some kind of magic will happen somewhere somehow and I'll get a title and registration someday.

I just sent an email to the dealership GM leaving off the other staff and laid out where we are and asking him for a proposed resolution.
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Old 05-01-2018, 11:34 AM   #140
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It sounds like you made the right choice?

I'll see you this weekend, maybe we'll line up at the tree to see how bad you stomp me off the line?

I went head-to-head against a new Camaro at the Pittsburgh event last weekend and got beat pretty bad. With the temperature never breaking 45*, I had no chance on BFGs, but the guy (Neil) in his Camaro Turbo laid down some impressive times in the wet and near freezing cold conditions that were not far off the leaders in AWD cars.
Neil is a good guy and a good driver. He's the one that bought the used one in Florida the same day I bought mine in Ohio. I haven't spoken to him since he arrived at PittRace, so I'm not sure what to make of the results given the weather.

Quote:
It looks like there will be quite a few drivers in Camaro Turbos now in DC? I thought I was reading the results wrong, but it looks like there are at least two more.
The Salisburys bought one, Terry Baker and Curtis Staples are another one, plus Kevin and me in mine. That's six in the class in addition to 11 others in DS on Sunday.

The car is really, really fun to autocross. It's kind of weird in that no one ran one in 2016 (when it was in FS) and Scroggs was the only one in 2017 and he stomped everything else. That alien driver performance has led to a mini-lemming effect this year with some people like Neil and me buying the car. I mean, Scroggs performance told me that the car is worth a consideration rather than "this is the car for its class". What I didn't know until Sunday (but had a glimpse of a couple weeks ago) was that it's such a blast to drive. You think of some cars that have been dominant, but boring or unfun to drive. This is not like that at all.

It's a car that I think should be more popular based just on that, but it has a some things going against it. A Camaro that's not a V8. Hard to see out of. Limited use back seat. But it's cheap, easy on tires, super fun, and competitive in class.

But that last may only be for now. If the Focus RS moves in next year, that probably kills the Camaro for Pro Solo even if it can win at a Tour. We also still don't know what a Civic Type R can really do with a top driver. Looking forward to seeing Scroggs, Sparks (in the new WRX) and a top level driver in a Civic Type R at the same event...hopefully with a well driven RS or two in the same heat. May not happen before Lincoln in September, though.
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