OFFICIAL: What did you do to your Alero today? - Page 93

dbral · 12-08-2024, 07:28 PM

Got as far as i could with it. Hopefully finish it tomorrow night and try it out. Ended up just shortening the current axle only as the stock N-body is a different dia. and i was having issues getting it to true-up with the other axle end. Got the ignition switch and K/N filter recharge done today. Have a fuel filter and a set of plugs still to do as well. Was hoping to get everything done today...

dbral · 12-09-2024, 07:45 PM

Still have more to do. Going to use some DOM tubing to sleeve the O.D. Hopefully done by tomorrow....

dbral · 12-11-2024, 11:46 PM

Done. Need to install and try it out. Noticed also that the inboard cv boot on the passenger side rubbed thru the engine side plastic splash shielding. All mounts seem tight/unbroken. Shielding looks properly retained. Dunno. Going to hold off on having a proper shaft professionally made until i can verify powertrain alignment. The trans outputs are about 2-3" forward of the wheel hub centerline but that might be fine or as good as it can be with this trans swap.

[ion] C2 · 12-12-2024, 12:05 AM

definitely want to balance that after confirming it works

dbral · 12-13-2024, 09:52 PM

Quote:

definitely want to balance that after confirming it works

For sure, have a few more things to try out first. Works fine and has fixed the major accel vibration. Guessing that the LH wheel hub only had about 1/2" of spline engagement at best

The driveline angles are way different from our stock 5 speed car and there is not a whole lot that can be done. Raising the ride height would help with one of the angles but i do not want to change the springs as the car handles very well as is. Pivoting the powertrain towards the back to help re-align the wheel hub/trans. outputs looks like it would take that other angle even further from stock.

The axle's operating angles look severe but that just goes along with having a lowered/modified fwd.

dbral · 12-18-2024, 09:11 PM

Got about 400 miles on the experimental axle so far and am still feeling the driveline vibration. It varies in intensity from almost none to moderate with no rhyme or reason that i can tell. Ordered new LH/RH G6 axles to swap joints with. OEM axles are discontinued and i fear that i will receive the cheap chineseium axles with the small dia. inner joints but they should be fine for testing anyway. Looks like the center bearing for the intermediate shaft is discontinued too but should be able to get a # from it and move forward with that if needed. Checked all the obvious things i can think of with no findings. Assuming that the root cause of the vibration is that there is a lot of wear on the current axle joints due to the operating angles. If the new joints eliminate the vibration, thinking that i can maybe combine the G6 stub/flange and larger OEM n-body inner tri -pots and housings for better durability.

Been trying different things to reduce the f40 clatter and stumbled upon something the other night when checking the drivetrain. With the car in gear, i was able to rotate both front tires forward and backwards over 1/4 of a turn. Lol, lots of driveline slop, or so i thought. After some more investigating, i happened to look thru a window in the trans housing below the slave cyl connection and i could see that the clutch pressure plate is rotating and stopping when the drivetrain does. Assuming that is the dual mass flywheel is allowing for that and most likely it has seen better days and it also suspiciously makes the same loud clank noise that will show up at idle speeds and when letting on/off the throttle. The DMF is still available from GM surprisingly. There are also custom single mass flywheels available. Might do an experiment on that as well before i pull the trigger on parts as the dmf is kinda expensive.

dbral · 01-01-2025, 07:55 PM

Both front axles came in a few days ago. Replaced the RH axle today and the vibration on accel is pretty much gone so that was a great start to the new year. Attempted to swap over the new inner joint pieces to the current LH axle as well, however the tripot side splines/dia. are different but in a good way as the new parts are beefier. Should be able to incorporate those new pieces into the next axle. Hope y'all had a good Christmas and have a happy New Year

dbral · 01-18-2025, 06:59 PM

Installed experimental LH axle version 2.0 today. Made the interlock on this one using a mill/lathe and it has 2 brand new joints like the RH axle now does but the vibration on accel. is def. still there. Nowhere near as intense as it was a few months ago though so i'm hopeful that i'm on the right track.

Going to try what the Fiero people do next. Prelim. measurements show that a powertrain shift to the passenger side of approx .75" would allow me to run off the shelf G6 axles. Need to get some data points from our 5 speed car to figure out how much powertrain setback is needed to correct the current axle to wheel hub centerline misalignment. The measuring tape/square method shows roughly 1 1/2 inches of misalignment that would require moving the powertrain towards the rear of the car to correct it. The vertical axle misalignment over stock is dependent on the ride height. Not sure what moving the engine/trans will do as far a handling is concerned but thinking that it would be more safe to move them backwards than forwards and it may actually improve handling a bit having the CG closer to the vehicle's actual center. Going to create some servicing headaches and going to be a pita to do as well but worth a try i think.

One photo shows the frt/back hub centerline to trans output misalignment. That, along with the uphill angle of the axles when the car is on the ground is asking a lot from those axles having to cancel out all of those angles at once. The other photo is the two "custom" lh axles lol

dbral · 02-27-2025, 09:00 PM

New dual mass flywheel came today. Hoping this will fix the loud clank/clunk noises at idle/neutral with clutch engaged. Also have a theory that the dmf may fix the rest of the accel vibration. If so, found a place that will make a custom LH axle center shaft and EDM the correct splines/dia to accept the common Rock Auto APVI joints. Saving powertrain shifting as a last resort.

The car has been reliable and fun for us so far. Been using it to commute to work on sunny days (100 mile round trip) Consistent 29 mpg combined.

We had a few sub 20 degree F mornings here this winter with no more cold start/warm-up issues so i'm confident that issue has been addressed. Almost 208k on the clock as of today and still going strong. Got this years first coat of wax on it about 3 wks ago. Car really shines. Need to get some good pics of it. Coworkers are planning a Tail of the Dragon trip for next month. Hope to get pics there.

homegrown · 03-04-2025, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbral

New dual mass flywheel came today. Hoping this will fix the loud clank/clunk noises at idle/neutral with clutch engaged. Also have a theory that the dmf may fix the rest of the accel vibration. If so, found a place that will make a custom LH axle center shaft and EDM the correct splines/dia to accept the common Rock Auto APVI joints. Saving powertrain shifting as a last resort.

The car has been reliable and fun for us so far. Been using it to commute to work on sunny days (100 mile round trip) Consistent 29 mpg combined.

We had a few sub 20 degree F mornings here this winter with no more cold start/warm-up issues so i'm confident that issue has been addressed. Almost 208k on the clock as of today and still going strong. Got this years first coat of wax on it about 3 wks ago. Car really shines. Need to get some good pics of it. Coworkers are planning a Tail of the Dragon trip for next month. Hope to get pics there.

Good stuff - I thought that the DMF was pretty much unobtainable at this point. It is a heavy piece, and I did think about moving to a SMF when V8Archie was still making them for the Fiero crowd, but I wanted to keep OEM stuff wherever possible.
Glad you're enjoying the vehicle.

dbral · 03-04-2025, 07:13 PM

Surprisingly Rock Auto (where this dmf came from) is showing stock along with others on Ebay and the like. This one is definitely NOS going by the GM labels on its box. It was stocked in Indiana at a Pontiac dealer in 2006 at one time in its life, lol.

I sent an email to V8 Archie a few months ago to see what options they have but they have yet to contact me back.

Spec currently has a SMF listed for basically the same price as the OEM one. I emailed their sales dept. and verified fitment with them and it seems legit. It offers a ~10 lb. weight reduction over stock. Evidently there are pros and cons to the SMF conversion thing. I have never driven a vehicle with a lightened flywheel so I was hesitant to go that route. The Subaru/VW/Fiero people have mixed things to say. I'm mostly worried about noise and drivability and those were the things that the above people had complaints about. The biggest pro to me is the longevity of the smf but we drive our cars gently so i am hoping that the new OEM one will last a while.

Yep, car is still doing great bud! Took it to work today actually. The car is rock-solid on the highway even when semi trucks are close by. That is where it really shines. Stock vehicles now feel like they wallow all over the place to me lol. That suspension set-up is on point.

dbral · 04-08-2025, 09:44 PM

Finished installing the new dual mass flywheel yesterday. Got to put some miles on it today and am happy with it. The vibration on accel is gone. The noise at idle is still there, just not nearly as intense. The car had a Sachs clutch plate and disc already and from what i can gather this is the OEM style set-up, so this is about as quiet as an f40 can be when bolted to an engine with a somewhat lumpy/rough idling camshaft.

dbral · 05-04-2025, 09:04 PM

Oil change/maintenance/wash/wax today. Wanted to drive up the mountain on the local "mini tail of the dragon" but the road is still closed from last year's hurricane damage.

homegrown · 05-05-2025, 04:00 PM

Nice. Looks good for being a quarter-century old.
Glad to see it's still alive and kicking.

dbral · 05-08-2025, 08:07 PM

Still alive and well Matt. Almost 211,000 on the clock now. Its a great looking car for sure and really love driving it. Been one heck of a fun, reliable and efficient commuter for us too.

Ordered tires yesterday along with 12mm billet spacers and extended studs for the rear wheels to see how that looks/clearance for a different tire/rim size possibly. Sticking with the 225/45's for now. There was a gagt with the 18's from a GXP Bonneville some years ago that looked good to me. Really think that Volks or Enkei's would look good too. Very difficult to find 5x115 rims in that style though.

Got parts for another f40 noise experiment/theory a few weeks ago lol. Prob. not going to help the noise but will be fun to try and have a project to look forward to as well.

dbral · 05-18-2025, 08:21 PM

Installed tires on the Alero today using a duckbill conversion kit for the 1st time. Works pretty good. No rim damage. Been wanting to try one of these for a while. Much better than going to the tire shop.

[ion] C2 · 05-19-2025, 12:00 AM

Today I continued to wait for my paint job and interior to be finished. And for my RPS triple disc carbon clutch to be made (paid deposit June 2024 and said it would be a 3-4 month project when I was considering AWD, but should be much quicker since I'm remaining FWD).

dbral · 05-19-2025, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Today I continued to wait for my paint job and interior to be finished. And for my RPS triple disc carbon clutch to be made (paid deposit June 2024 and said it would be a 3-4 month project when I was considering AWD, but should be much quicker since I'm remaining FWD).

Terrible news. Any chance you might get your car back and together this year?

[ion] C2 · 05-20-2025, 02:16 AM

I can still drive the current chassis at least. Just would like to get it to its endgame sooner where the car is comfortable, air conditioned, and easy to drive. As of right now it's a stressful experience to operate in public, but since I know the clutch is being replaced, I'm a little more slippy with it so it's not so bad to drive...

dbral · 05-26-2025, 10:02 PM

Quote:

I can still drive the current chassis at least. Just would like to get it to its endgame sooner where the car is comfortable, air conditioned, and easy to drive. As of right now it's a stressful experience to operate in public, but since I know the clutch is being replaced, I'm a little more slippy with it so it's not so bad to drive...

Good deal. Haven't heard any updates from your Alero project in a while. Was thinking that you might have given up on the Alero in favor of the Toyota possibly.