Another update. I brought the T/A to my buddies garage last night and put it up on the lift to find a noise that I thought was an serpentine belt idler bearing, going. We think it is just the belt squeeling when it hits a rusty spot on the water pump pulley and slips at 2500 rpm. A result of the car sitting in the pine barons of New Jersey for too long without getting driven.
While it was up on the lift I decided to change the fuel filter since I had an NOS GM filter laying around. We swapped out the filter and applied a little air to the old filter's outlet to see what if anything was inside. A whole bunch of blackish dirt and residue came out with the fuel. Upon closer examination it looked like it was the original, assembly line fuel filter which, you guessed it...the dealer had "replaced" on four separate occasions in the 13 years she had the car.
Too bad the dealer is out of business, otherwise "60 Minutes" would have had a field day with them.
We also used some wide mouth vise grips to unbend the lower front fender mounting tabs where the bottom of the plastic front fenders are bolted to the rocker panel flange. The dealer had used that spot to place the jack lift pads, instead of the frame rails, four inches further in. It had bent both mounting tabs 90 degrees over and flush with the bottom of the rockers. Luckily the mounting areas on the plastic fenders bent and didn't crack. Here is the after photo once we got it back in to position. We used a heat gun to warm up the plastic fender's flange so it wouldn't shatter when it was bent back to its original position.
I must say that I am liking these 4th Gen cars more and more. (Other than the plastic interiors). They ride and handle wonderfully. They have some great lines with the WS6 Ram Air hood. And the LS1 is no slouch on the road. (Could use some more horsepower...but then don't we all say that about every car?)
