Tripleskate

I'm also an Insurance Adjuster, right away, I see the following things: - Hood, Fender, Bumper, and Grille need replaced - Hit in the front corner, you can clearly see the Left Rail in the damage area, it may require a unibody pull to straighten/put on the frame rack for measurements - Does Cadillac have specific guidelines for repairs to the vehicle when put on the rack? For example, with many BMW, and MB vehicles, you have to drop the suspension and put the car on jigs to measure the chassis for movement. - With the fender that far back, 100% chance that the apron assembly was damaged. When I lived in Ohio, I had the 135i fixed at Achbach, but I cannot recall, what are his labor rates, for body, paint, frame, and mechanical? If Dan's rates are high dollar, and he wants high repair times, that alone could easily total it.

Hey Bill, if you work in California, you need Cal-plates. It doesn't matter if you have an Ohio residence. It's a bummer, that means you have to cover your ass about Smog/Emissions testing too. Just renewed my plates for the Bimmer out here and I about shit a brick. $300. :/

Enjoy it. Picked up my '90 about two months back for DD, and it's been great.

That's how most Europeans drive, nothing to see here, move along.

I want it so badly that it hurts my soul.

Specs on it? Is it the 2.4L NA 4-banger, or 2.0T?

Interesting. How'd you decide on a Solstice?

I know many of you are familiar with Hocking Hills, or Tail of the Dragon. In Southern California, we are generally spoiled with the amount of "fun" driving roads that we have. Here's a quick video from last weekend when a few friends and myself visited one of the good ones: ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>

You must be new here. This is ColumbusRacing, shoot them.

Looked like a Caddy Catera at a glance.

The car looks okay (in the dark), it's a solid 10-footer. But, the engine and gearbox are still eager and willing, even after a quarter of a century, and after some tough negotiating on the price, I couldn't say no. Also, in terms of size, I've always been pretty comfortable driving friends' various Miatas over the years. IMO, this thing has more room than an S2K.

P.O. did not know much about the car (older couple), had to test the diff.

Bumping this up. The Owner of the Saturn, and I just couldn't get things squared away in the end. So, I did pretty much a complete 180 in terms of vehicle choices, and bought this last night: It's beat up, dirt cheap, and hilariously fun.

Guessing supercharger, based on boost curve.

Man, that's one weird looking serpentine belt. Nice intake, I guess. Meh.

Because successful marketing/stupid consumers.

It doesn't necessarily need more power, it just needs a more fun engine. Heck, even a stock F20C would wake that thing up.

I know this is quite generic, but how many miles is too many? The car has 190,000....on the original clutch too.

Have you actually tried the OC t-stat bypass? Was curious if it's actually worthwhile. Also, I agree with the Dinan reflashes, or the BMW PPK reflash, pass on them and go with something that actually has dyno numbers to back it up.

Why? Is one of them substantially worse than the other? I know the DOHC motors have like a 15% power bump. Anything else I should be aware of?

Hi Matt, can you take a picture of the damage? On my old Mazda, I waited a bit too long to roll the fenders after trying to fit an aggressive wheel/tire combo and ended up rubbing so bad that the inner-fender lip paint cracked. Since it was on the inside only, and otherwise not visible when looking at the car, I took some 2000 grit sandpaper, smoothed it out, and touched it up with some black metallic paint I had lying around. Just a thought.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. If you'd like, I can PM you my number, and I can answer a lot for questions for your friend. However, in short, FOR A STREET ONLY CAR: Suspension/Handling: - Upgrade the front sway bar (M3 OEM bar fits perfectly) - Upgrade shocks (Koni, Bilstein, etc.) - Upgrade the tires, these cars beg for traction, even on stock boost Powertrain: - Won't need a bigger/supplemental OC for the street, no matter how hard he runs it. Long story short, just trust me on that one. The stock OC is fine for street use. - LSD are super expensive for 2009.5+ cars because of the factory diff being welded together, try tires first, and then report back. Our cars have an E-Diff, that isn't terrible even with the most aggressive street use. My car has left two smokey, dark black lines of rubber on many a backroad. - Evolution Racewerks makes GREAT parts for our cars, pricey, but if you have the means... - As far as tuning, and for street use, you just cannot beat the $$$:Fun ratio afforded by BMS. 2011+ cars have the N55, so take a look at the JB4, and make sure to buy the N55-specific tune, as it is different than the N54-specific one. - Unlike the N54, the N55 has an MAF sensor, so try to stick with more reputable brands, as the intake has to be designed accordingly. I'll plug BMS again, it's a solid unit. Useful sites: http://www.Burgertuning.com/ http://www.N54tech.com/ http://www.1addicts.com/forums/ Also, shameless plug, I try to catalog everything I have done with my car here: http://jakestumphracing.tumblr.com/

Will be picking up a new beater for commuting. Have done a deal on this one: http://images.craigslist.org/00x0x_xmzGtnUfzB_600x450.jpg Excuse the photo, it was taken with a potato by the previous owner. 2002 Saturn SL 5MT. Looking around on line, other than burning some oil between changes (it is an older car), there seem to be a TON of these cars out there with 200,000+ miles. The car has had a few more recent (within the past year) services done, including battery, starter, and water pump. Anything I should really be on the look out for?

Isn't the Fiesta, or Focus the same size? What about a loaded Fiesta ST?

Be careful with Forgestar, a couple of people have gotten seriously burned by them on the BMW forums. As previously noted, not a good bet for heavier cars... I pick the third ones.