Time and Miles

"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
10/24/2017 at 13:38 • Filed to: Pontiac GTO, Mileage

That was June 2nd 2016. It is october 24th 2017 and I now have 55,280 miles on my car.... I bought the car February 15th 2015 with 9,702 miles on the clock. I like driving.

DISCUSSION (34)

Nothing > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 13:51

So, that’s more miles in 16 months than I’ve put on the Taco in 2.5 yrs, or more than on my wife’s Jeep in 4 years. Kudos to you, sir.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nothing
10/24/2017 at 13:55

Thank you.

I like driving and especially long road trips. Plus for a year I was commuting 80 miles a day (that was not fun). That is how in 17 months i went from almost 10k miles to 30k miles.

I don’t really mind putting miles on my car. Sure it sucks for “resale”, but if a high milage car is properly maintained then it should be worth a lot more than a low mileage car that doesn’t get driven and is rotting away.

diplodicus > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 14:03

So the original owner did like less than 1000miles a year? That is insane. Do you have the 5.7 or 6.0?

Nothing > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 14:05

That’s a decent commute. Our miles definitely stay down since my wife and I both work from home, and we’re within walking distance of my son’s school. Since we plan on keeping both a while, we aren’t worried about resale there.

I do need a car (or bike) I enjoy driving. Hopefully the Cougar can be the fun ride.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Nothing
10/24/2017 at 14:08

Yeah, thankfully my commute is about a mile now. I could walk, but I don’t. I wish I could work from home and make a decent living.

It sould very well be when you are done with it. You need a 427 Cobra motor

CaptDale - is secretly British > diplodicus
10/24/2017 at 14:09

It is an 06 so the 6.0 with a cam and tune. Makes 385hp and the wheels. Not too bad, but needs more.

foxbody > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 15:20

BRO

Kinja'd!!!

CaptDale - is secretly British > foxbody
10/24/2017 at 16:09

Is that 20K?

foxbody > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 16:42

Yep. Snapped that a while ago now. Bought it with 16k in about 2012, kept 2-3 years, got to about 30k and sold. Still wonder how she’s doing sometimes.

Kinja'd!!!

CaptDale - is secretly British > foxbody
10/24/2017 at 17:13

Beautiful car you had there. I really need to get the 18s or preferably the HSV 19s.

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 17:26

Sounds like me. Bought my Juke at 47,500kms in a June 2016, just rolled over 96,000kms. 48,500kms (30,312 miles) in almost 1.5 years. I’ll be over 105,000kms by Christmas.

CaptDale - is secretly British > The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
10/24/2017 at 17:32

Nice job!

foxbody > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 17:36

Thanks. Monaro front was worth it, no question. The HSV wheels are a great upgrade, but aren’t they like crazy spendy? Hard to find good options if you don’t like the stockers.

CaptDale - is secretly British > foxbody
10/24/2017 at 17:38

Yeah, the Monaro front is nice and way better the HSV front. Yeah i think they are quite expensive. I have a good line on some 18s. Which I’ll need to fit big brakes and lose those 17's.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 19:58

2500 in 10 days on the Camaro. I think I might enjoy driving it.

CaptDale - is secretly British > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
10/24/2017 at 20:09

Nice! I did 2400 in 3 days. It was a lot of fun!

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 20:13

Being slightly pedantic, technically it was 1700 miles in two days plus some ancillary stuff.

CaptDale - is secretly British > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
10/24/2017 at 20:25

But I’ll give you 2500 in 10 days.

I just happened to drive to Colorado and back in a weekend.

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/24/2017 at 22:25

Kinja'd!!!

Get on my level...ish. Bought her with 33k miles.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/25/2017 at 11:06

Well you’ve had yours a lot longer than I have mine

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/25/2017 at 13:32

Hence the “...ish.” You’ve been doing your part to catch up, though! I turned 139k in 2015, didn’t break 140k until this year. I need to not let that happen again.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/25/2017 at 13:50

Yeah, weren’t we talking about you getting your car on the road more like 6 months ago?

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/25/2017 at 16:02

That sounds familiar, and I’ve been making good on that. The driveshaft center carrier bearing has been replaced, as well as the front and read guibos, there is a new Lovells diff mount insert installed, and the midpipes were replaced with JBA pieces (with high-flow cats). It was unnerving to see how much the driveshaft could move around with a trashed bushing on that bearing.

She didn’t put up any fuss, coming back on the road. It’s been fun.

That said... the driver’s side power window motor is about to quit for good, and I think one of the balljoints is starting to make noise. The RE-11s that I have on there are getting old, and the weather is getting cold, so I don’t maintain traction in first anymore. Which is admittedly kind of cool. Winter tires will be going on this week, is my plan.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/25/2017 at 16:10

I think I want to go back to a two piece driveshaft. I like the one piece, but the ultimate goal for the car is speed not drag racing, so being stuck at 160 mph will suck. And I am getting some vibration from it. I have been told to rotate it, but still.

Yeah my passenger window broke again. The guide has fallen off the glass for a second time. I glued it once already, now I need to do it again. YAY...

Yeah it has been 100+ the last three days here in CA, so traction is never an issue.

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/25/2017 at 18:35

Hey, at least the cool air gives me more horsepower!

That’s one reason I haven’t wanted to go to a one piece, even though friends of mine keep suggesting it. A 6500rpm rev limiter on stock size tires will only yield you about 170mph. I’ve always wanted to re-gear 5th and 6th to make this a little more impressive, even if I would never see it on an actual track.

5th and 6th from the “normal” T-56 gearing (0.74 and 0.50), paired with a 3.73 rear sounds like the most economical way to get improved gearing from almost every angle, to me at least. Higher top speed in 5th, and very similar highway cruising rpm, and more torque to the wheels in 1st-4th.

My window motor stopped rolling up one day a few weeks ago. After a rest, and some coaxing, I got it back up. But after seeing that not even RockAuto has replacements (they will rebuild the driver’s side if you send it in and nothing I saw listed for the passenger’s side), it’s made me keep my windows up which I am not a fan of.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/25/2017 at 18:44

Cool air?

Yeah they make preformance 2 pieces, but I have to wait for the money and get rid of my 1 piece.

I like the gearing ok for now. Double overdrive netted me 19.5 mpg from SLO to Denver doing well over the speed limit

I prefer the windows up and A/C on! Yeah that is because from the factory the window motor and regulator are one piece. Unfortunately discontinued from GM. Passenger side pn is 92178259. No dealers in the US stock it either unfortunately. Same with the driver side. Fucking GM. It is sad looking up parts for my car and finding them discontinued.

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/26/2017 at 09:49

Kinja'd!!!

Let’s see if kinja doesn’t eat it this time. This is what I meant by “cool air.”

That’s why I like my gearing idea. Same rpm on the highway should net the same economy, while improving performance in just about every other gear! Actually, looking at the math now, I think you could do a 3.91 rear with the 0.50 6th gear, and still be at a slightly lower rpm than stock.

I’ve done over 27mpg on a highway trip, and one year I actually averaged over 21. Had to actually put forth some effort for that, though.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/26/2017 at 11:17

Fuck you man, the last three days we were in the triple digits on the coast... it sucked so much!

Hmm, Would you change the rear end entirely? I know our are notoriously hard to work on and there is only one guy in the US that rebuilds them properly.

The one odd upgrade I really want to do is the quick steer, but they are super hard to come by now that they are no longer made. So I guess its wheels, brakes, and engine for now. (funds permitting lol)

That is some good mpgs. I averaged 19.5 MPG on my drive to Denver with CC set allegedly above 105. Empty roads and Nevada and Utah in the middle of the night mean great cruising.

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/26/2017 at 11:42

lol! Maybe you missed the part where it’s supposed to snow tomorrow? It’s super early in the year for snow here, so I’m sure it won’t last, but they’re calling for 1-3". If that’s really what you want, in place of 100*+ temps... I don’t know what to tell ya.

If I had the means, I would also go for a WaveTrac in the rear end at the same time. There’s a great Corvette shop not too far from me, and I would take the gamble and trust them with the work. I know how notorious the GTO everything is, as far as being insanely picky about being just right. But, I’m a GM guy and continuing a relationship with a good Corvette shop also seems to be in my interests. I don’t personally have any interests in a full swap, say, to a Ford 9" or especially not any swaps to ditch the IRS. The cost:benefit ratio there is incredibly small for me.

I’ve got a quickrack in my car. Hope you’re not too jealous. I kind of lucked out, as I didn’t have the scratch or knowledge to pick one up during their production run. A friend of mine was demodding after a clutch issue left his trust in the car shaken. (He does a handful of HPDE every year.) I also have an HSV steering wheel that I bought off eBay Australia. I highly recommend that, too. The stock wheel really leaves a lot to be desired. It wasn’t cheap.

That’s an impressive number for the cc to have allegedly been running. I don’t know if I would still pull those numbers at that alleged speed.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/26/2017 at 12:13

I would love snow right now! That would be awesome!!

Yeah the WaveTrac would be a really good upgrade. Though something like 4500+ options. As a GM guy (specifically Pontiac) I approve of your Corvette shop relationship. Yeah there is one shop here in town I would trust upgrading my car if I could afford to do so. They build and race the world’s fastest Ford GT west of the Mississippi and the fastest road legal GT in the world. At least that is what their certificates from racing say, so that’s cool.

Yeah I know you have one. And of course I am jealous!! Oh I bet that HSV wheel is great. I would love a nice flat bottom wheel. And yes the factory one is so very sad. I drove my mother’s new Jeep Grand Cherokee for 2 weeks and that steering wheel was so nice and thick in the right spots and I got back in my car and it felt like holding spaghetti noodles. I find leather driving gloves help, but I gave those to some friends driving down through South America.

Trust me, the CC will hold speeds higher than that. And yeah just a mild cam and a tune to run and pass CA smog. So nothing too crazy, unfortunately. It is 385 whp and somewhere around 370 lb-ft, but I can’t find the dyno sheet anywhere anymore.

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/26/2017 at 13:22

Here ya go. It’s a decent start. Sadly, I don’t think any VY/VZ wheels were flat bottomed. (More like fat bottomed, to match the rest of the car.)

I believe you that the cc will do it, just I’ve never had the time/place to allegedly do that myself. I know it works as low as somewhere around 30mph. I’ve used that to change into fancy pants once. My sotp estimate dyno is ~340rwhp. I think the JBA shorty headers are CARB legal? They do make a little improvement on the top end, and that’s better than nothing.

The local shop I like has been posting pictures on their instagram of the 1963 Split Window race car they’re building. Some of his cars were even in the big magazines back in the C5 days. Doug Rippie Motorsports, if you’re curious. Oh, he was even one of the people outside of GM that worked on the development of the C4 ZR-1. My projects are small fries compared to what they can do.

If I could send the snow your way, I would! That would give me a tiny bit more time to get my winter rubber ready!

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/26/2017 at 13:41

I wonder if I could get a SS wheel to work....

I may or may not have Kooks long tubes... and factory exhaust that I run for smog days.....

Yeah I wish I had speed shop kind of money lol. That sounds like quite a place. I will have to check out their instagram.

I need a better job. We could just swap during winter if you want ;)

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > CaptDale - is secretly British
10/27/2017 at 20:51

From what I seem to remember, there were people who looked into the G8 wheel back in the day. The spline was different, though. But I might be confusing that with the Corvette while, which someone was actually working on making some modifications to the hub, and then ran into the issue of the offset being completely different, so the wheel stuck away from the dash and control stalks.

Plus, I would bet the SS wheel is more expensive, and then you have to deal with the buttons that don’t match.

We got our first snow today! I still don’t have my winter tire setup on, but that will change before next weekend.

CaptDale - is secretly British > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
10/28/2017 at 11:14

The SS wheel whole (minus airbag) with my GM employee discount was cheap enough I ordered one. Plus AfromanGTO is putting a Holden airbag on his SS, so I may be able to get a cheap SS bag.

Yeah wiring in the GTO buttons to work with the SS buttons may be difficult, but should not be too hard (knock on wood). And if it doesn’t fit then maybe I go for installing a whole column.

I love my goat, but she is starting to feel aged to me and instead of selling her and buying something new (I would buy an SS though if I could) I would rather update her and make things more modern.