What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2023]

[Supercharged111]

Started working on the rear suspension on the Buick LaCrosse. All the old stuff is out. No broken bolts, only had to sacrifice a parking brake cable and the clip for it. I was expecting worse. You can see just how rusty the rear subframe was... paper thin in a lot of areas.
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What's the shell look like underneath with the cross member looking like it was retrieved from the Titanic?

 

[Texas82GP]

What's the shell look like underneath with the cross member looking like it was retrieved from the Titanic?

It was just stored in the Long Island Sound for a little while.

 

[Texas82GP]

The *only* shortfall of a gmt800 like mine is twofold - rust, and rear frame/factory hitch design. They're a step backwards in that department. Rust is pretty well known. The rear frame/hitch issue can be offset by a quality unit like a drawtite. The factory design ended short, and, right at a energy absorption zone so what happens is with a heavy load the bumper and hitch bend downwards towards the ground and you're done, frame swap time, IF you tow heavy with a good bit of tongue weight.

But, the 4l85e and 496 were a nice combo. The 6.0s? Not so much.

I attribute the mileage to 2 things - first, running the Michelin LTX, they always do better even just by a bit. Second, is driving style. I always consistently get better mileage out of my vehicles than say my wife, or others. Preventing downshifting, building speed on the downgrades and bleeding off 5 or 7mph on steep hills, cost to decelerate when you can, using good filters and oil. Also, if the price is within 10% I buy ethanol free. Better for the truck, better power, better mileage, and, the boost in mpg offsets the cost of the real gas over the e10, again, if it's only 10% or less in money.

Usually I see 13-15mpg depending on if I'm towing or not, and that's about 20k miles of data at this point.

The rust just isn't an issue here. My brother bought his '02 Sierra in October, 2001. It sat in the garage until August of 2006, when he bought back his 78 Z28 from our Uncle. It's been outside, parked on the concrete driveway ever since. Here, if you park them on concrete, drive them and give them any care, they don't rust.

I ran several sets of LTX before switching to Coopers on my truck. I don't do any better on tread life with the LTX (40,000k miles and they are shot) so I don't feel like they are worth the premium, for me.

I totally understand that getting milage like that takes effort and discipline. I still think it is impressive performance.

 

[Texas82GP]

My alter-ego!

 

[joesregalproject]

What's the shell look like underneath with the cross member looking like it was retrieved from the Titanic?

If you look around underneath, it's not great but it's still serviceable. Shock towers and unibody rails are fine. Floors are good. The rocker pinchwelds aren't great but you don't really need those anyways. The rear crossmember was by far the worst part on the car. I'm not sure what caused it to rust at such an accelerated rate.

The rust just isn't an issue here.

Bragger.

 

[Supercharged111]

If you look around underneath, it's not great but it's still serviceable. Shock towers and unibody rails are fine. Floors are good. The rocker pinchwelds aren't great but you don't really need those anyways. The rear crossmember was by far the worst part on the car. I'm not sure what caused it to rust at such an accelerated rate.

Bragger.

Don't let him get you down. His state only has 3 seasons: summer (they call it winter), monsoon, and Satan's taint.

 

[joesregalproject]

I attribute the mileage to 2 things - first, running the Michelin LTX, they always do better even just by a bit. Second, is driving style. I always consistently get better mileage out of my vehicles than say my wife, or others. Preventing downshifting, building speed on the downgrades and bleeding off 5 or 7mph on steep hills, cost to decelerate when you can, using good filters and oil. Also, if the price is within 10% I buy ethanol free. Better for the truck, better power, better mileage, and, the boost in mpg offsets the cost of the real gas over the e10, again, if it's only 10% or less in money.

Usually I see 13-15mpg depending on if I'm towing or not, and that's about 20k miles of data at this point.

I just took a 1200 mile trip to Tennessee and back in my F150. 2.7L EcoBoost, on highway all-seasons, 87 E10 gas. Almost all highway driving but lots of hills. I got 19.5 MPG. I don't get that much in day to day driving, more like 15ish. All things being relative, your 13-15 doesn't look too bad.

 

[Texas82GP]

If you look around underneath, it's not great but it's still serviceable. Shock towers and unibody rails are fine. Floors are good. The rocker pinchwelds aren't great but you don't really need those anyways. The rear crossmember was by far the worst part on the car. I'm not sure what caused it to rust at such an accelerated rate.

Bragger.

We're just in a different world. No rust but miserably hot for four months. 45 days above 100 this summer. We're in the best part of the year now (October to April). We celebrated my brother's birthday on Sunday 8/20. We have a nice covered patio bar that we normally hang out on. Everyone was inside that day. 107° in the shade with high humidity, for many hours.

 

[86LK]

We're just in a different world. No rust but miserably hot for four months. 45 days above 100 this summer. We're in the best part of the year now (October to April). We celebrated my brother's birthday on Sunday 8/20. We have a nice covered patio bar that we normally hang out on. Everyone was inside that day. 107° in the shade with high humidity, for many hours.

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yeah, I remember being in The Woodlands 20 yrs ago for my job in August. got out of the a/c car, and in the 30 seconds it took me to walk inside, the back of my shortsleeve open collar polo shirt got soaked with sweat with the 90% humidity and 95F. 😓

 

[joesregalproject]

We're just in a different world. No rust but miserably hot for four months. 45 days above 100 this summer. We're in the best part of the year now (October to April). We celebrated my brother's birthday on Sunday 8/20. We have a nice covered patio bar that we normally hang out on. Everyone was inside that day. 107° in the shade with high humidity, for many hours.

That's not exactly fun either. I gotta find somewhere in between and split the difference, but I would like to eventually move somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line.