I bought a pony car missing half the bangers

[clyde]

I also need to do a write up of my first month+ experience and thoughts. I had part of a draft written a few weeks ago but didn't finish it.

Have some new stuff including a developing potential issue ("thunk"ing transmission when cold) and, while test fitting a set of race wheels & tires this evening, discovering some GM build quality (or "shit, does the car have a story?") surprises.

Driver side. Passenger side looks similar. A few nuts and bolts look like may have slipped up to 1/8 of a turn. There are also some nuts and some surfaces with paint marks but no marks on the corresponding nut/surface. Did not look methodically enough at the time to determine if suspension parts may have been replaced. Took a bunch of pics at each corner to look at later, but kind of don't want to now.

Can't believe I feel compelled to nut and bolt a brand new fucking car.

[equ]

Originally Posted by clyde

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Driver side. Passenger side looks similar. A few nuts and bolts look like may have slipped up to 1/8 of a turn. There are also some nuts and some surfaces with paint marks but no marks on the corresponding nut/surface. Did not look methodically enough at the time to determine if suspension parts may have been replaced. Took a bunch of pics at each corner to look at later, but kind of don't want to now.

Can't believe I feel compelled to nut and bolt a brand new fucking car.

Why worry about this stuff? Let it go, it's a new car. Maybe they only mark one side. It's not like you're going for 150mph+ at the salt flats.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by equ

Why worry about this stuff? Let it go, it's a new car. Maybe they only mark one side. It's not like you're going for 150mph+ at the salt flats.

He's going to travel thousands of miles from home to abuse the shit out of the car, and then drive it home. It's bad if a corner falls off, even if it's ultimately warranted.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by equ

Why worry about this stuff? Let it go, it's a new car. Maybe they only mark one side. It's not like you're going for 150mph+ at the salt flats.

Originally Posted by Nick M3

He's going to travel thousands of miles from home to abuse the shit out of the car, and then drive it home. It's bad if a corner falls off, even if it's ultimately warranted.

Even if wheels don't fall off, loose suspension components can lead to excess play, misalignment, undesirable/unpredictable behavior, premature wear on other components, etc.

[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by clyde

... while test fitting a set of race wheels & tires this evening, discovering some GM build quality (or "shit, does the car have a story?") surprises.

Driver side. Passenger side looks similar. A few nuts and bolts look like may have slipped up to 1/8 of a turn.

GM's parts quality is "just about almost good enough". No idea about the assembly line. Atoms were regularly snapping hubs and driveshafts even though they were off the Cobalt SS which was a much heavier car.

Judging by the taper on the bolts and the flutes on the nuts, the nuts are single-use parts. Tightening them will likely be worse than leaving them as-is, but keep an eye out for them loosening further.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy

GM's parts quality is "just about almost good enough". No idea about the assembly line. Atoms were regularly snapping hubs and driveshafts even though they were off the Cobalt SS which was a much heavier car.

Judging by the taper on the bolts and the flutes on the nuts, the nuts are single-use parts. Tightening them will likely be worse than leaving them as-is, but keep an eye out for them loosening further.

Almost all of the nuts and bolts are listed as single use. I was thinking of making a list of what I need and ordering new everything. In the meantime, leave as-is through the first event, check everything against where things are now and then go from there. I still need to align it and there's a thing I need to do on the front end that involves loosening, pushing, pulling, and re-tightening to get some extra camber. I can't do that until I can set front toe immediately after.

Still pissed off, though.

[John V]

Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy

Atoms were regularly snapping hubs and driveshafts even though they were off the Cobalt SS which was a much heavier car.

The stresses put on hubs and halfshafts has more to do with just the weight of the vehicle.

Given the other, uh, "interesting" engineering done on the Atom, it would not surprise me at all that parts taken from another car would have reliability problems when installed in an Atom.