The countdown has begun
 

I just got off the phone with Lonny, my trans guy. He is 45 minutes away with my car. I am so excited ! Other than the fact that it is raining right now. I really wanted to take her out and drive a little bit.

Good good news. Hope all is well this time for you.

The baby finally back home ,CONGRATS .

Congrats Ms Grumpy

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

My baby is back. It was raining pretty good when Lonny got here around 8:30pm but I that was not going to stop me from getting behind the wheel and taking her for a test drive.

Before I took her for a ride.
Lonny told me that once he got back to the shop that he took her for about a 3-5 mile ride and before the initial mile, he knew something was drastically wrong. He then changed out the trans fluid and stopped the trans cable from sticking to see if the cable was the problem. But no, it started again once he did about 5 miles.
That is when he pulled the torque converter and noticed very minimal shaving and decided to send her to be rebuilt. He got the converter back and put it back onto the car, changed the trans fluid again and off for another test drive. Same problem. That is when he decided to build a brand new transmission, with the set up for being a car over 4,000lbs.

With the modifications that I had asked for he built a new transmission. Put the new transmission in and waited 3 days for it to stop raining in Cincinnatti, so he could put a few miles on it and take it for a test drive. He was very happy with it and so he made arrangements to bring her back.

So here we are Friday night, about 9pm, it's cold, it's raining pretty good and we get her off the trailer. I told him I was going for a test drive. I put her in drive and give it a little gas and she takes off like a bat outta hell. No hesitation in shifting gears, it is so smooth compared to before. I can still feel a little bit of the shift from 1st to 2nd, and when she wants to shift into third gear you can feel it, just how I wanted it. OK, here is where the woman in me comes in. I just wanted to cry. It was EXACTLY how I wanted my car to shift. Now I will know more come Saturday morning when I drive her on dry pavement. But if you guys had been in her before, this is night and day with the transmission.

Lonny was telling me that while he had my car at his shop, which is located right in the back of a NAPA, owned by his uncle. Everyday, weather permitting, he needed to take my car out of his little shop so he parked my car out in the front, on the grass during the day (he has a small shop and needed the room, but didn't want to park it in the parking lot, besides it was easy to keep an eye on). He said everyday, that at least 15 people asked questions about my car, "is it for sale?", "how much would you take for it?", "what's under the hood?", "can I just check it out?", then one guy actually argued with him over the fact that my car is not a Malibu. This guy was there for over an hour, arguing about all the things that made it a regular Chevelle.

Anyway, after about 2 weeks of this, Lonny decided that he couldn't take the questions anymore and put my car in his shop, up on a lift, and left it there for the remainder of time that he had it. Funny thing is, he still had people coming and asking him questions.

We stood out in the rain and talked for another 1/2 hour about my car. He said that he had to put gas in it, because he had driven more than expected. Which was fine with me, I wanted him to drive it and work on it until he had it right. He certainly did put gas in it, it has a full tank of gas. I only sent her down there with a little over a quarter tank. So I asked him what I owed him for the gas, he said nothing. Really ? Lonny was adamant about how he wanted to make this transmission right. We had purchased the transmission from him almost 2 years ago, yeah it sat for the 1st 6 months, but we had problems from day one driving the car, and he knew it. I wish there were more people like Lonny out there and I would highly recommend him, even with the issues that I had. He never once dismissed my problem, he was always willing to help and in the end he made sure I had what I wanted.

I will let you know how the car drives on Saturday. The Chevelle Club of Michigan is having their picnic on Saturday and I was considering driving her, now that she is home. But I have 30lbs of pulled pork that I smoked today, and I am not sure that I want her smelling like pulled pork. lol I will let you know how it goes.

One last thing. Thank you guys. Your support, and input over the course of this problem has been priceless. I am so lucky to have such a knowledgeable group of friends here.

Glad you have it back and are happy with it. I hope it performs flawlessly on Sat. I likes me some pulled pork!

That's good news. Sounds like Lonny is a good guy to do business with.

Now go out and have some fun. Not to many burn out until you get a few more miles on it. Glad to hear all worked out.

I suddenly feel hungry and am craving pork?, were exactly do you live Ms Grumpy?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

That's great news! There's not many businesses that will go the extra mile like that anymore. I try to do the same thing with my shop. It puts a horrible financial strain on the bottom line, but in the end, you're only worth what your reputation is. I'm so glad you got what you were looking for and Lonny got a great repeat customer, I'm sure.



.....the local craft fair is today. I'm thinking about stopping by the BBQ pork trailer for lunch for some reason. :D

It is funny you ask. I was talking with the guys from the Chevelle club at the meeting last night. We were talking about what my neighbors think about the fact that I am outside at 6am starting up the smokers, yes smokers. I know if I am going to smoke something that takes 10-12 hours, that I am going to make enough to freeze and share with family.

I brought my 18qt roaster filled with pulled pork to the picnic, let's just say I didn't bring home a lot. But my kids were very happy, they all had pulled pork sandwiches for lunch and dinner.

Now onto my test drive on Saturday.

I had a lot to do in the morning and I was not able to get my car out until about 1:30pm. I asked my son Jacob, who happened to be my cruising partner all summer, if he wanted to go for a ride and he jumped at it. When I got outside my daughter Leah, 11, asked if she could go too. So I said yes.

As I pulled my car out of the garage I realized how dirty the car was. Had it been any other day I probably would have immediately washed her, but I didn't have the time. In some ways I felt embarrassed on how dirty she was, but I was gonna drive my car and not even it being this dirty was not going to stop me.

I pulled out onto the street and asked my son to pay attention to the shifts with me and tell me what he thought. He turned and looked at me and asked "did it shift yet mom?", but this time I was in 3rd gear. I slowed to a stop and held my fingers up to show him what gear the trans was shifting in, 1, 2, 3. He said he couldn't feel it shifting.

So I decided to bring the car to a full stop and then give it at least 1/2 pedal. When I took off, she hooked up and I swear my front tires were damned close to lifting them off the ground. Every shift was firm and when the trans shifted into 3rd it squawked the tires. At this point I figured I better at least get her out of the subdivision and onto the main road.

I pulled out onto the road and accelerated slowly and the shifting was smooth, hardly felt them at all. The next stop light I decided to get on her. Hooked up good again and had the firm shift into 2nd and 3rd.

I drove for about 30-45 minutes and am extremely happy. I had to get ready to go to the picnic. I was planning on getting up early this morning, cleaning the car, and going to a show. But not feeling well today. Hoping to get my car out onto the e-way and have some fun.

I did ask Lonny when he was here about a "break-in" period. He said the car is good to go, so we want to try to hit the local drag strip to see what she can do before the end of the season.

Glad to hear all went well. Now go have some more fun.

It was pretty cool today but nice and sunny. Hope you got to go for a spin.

It was so hot this summer I hardly drove the Chevelle. I've driven it more the last few weeks than I did all summer.

Hank, I was able to take her out for a nice drive today. First I had to stop at the car wash and at least wash her off before I got on the road. Then we were on our way to our friends house who lives in Leonard, which is about a 70-80 mile round trip from our house. Got her out on the freeway and cruised at 70mph @ 2400rpm. I was very happy.

I got to drive down some winding roads and definitely pushed her to the limit. Nice cool day, car running good and I had a blast !