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[Lunentucker]

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[Y-Guy]

I had a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird. Basically same car. I also had to reinforce the firewall. The clutch was a killer. In NJ back then, they got in the car to test the brakes. The guy gets out of my Sunbird saying that he drove tanks in Korea that had better clutches! The firewall flexed when you pressed on the clutch.

That's funny, my mom had a 79 Sunbird - was the first car she bought all her own after my parents split. She had the same firewall issue too.

 

[Rusty PW]

Yep, I wanted to buy one of those. The mechanic warned me said that 8th spark plug cost more than the other 7, combined, to replace. I had the 4 banger, the firewalls on those collapsed around 15,000 miles. He had custom plates for them when they did. I drifted into his lot in 2nd gear after mine failed, never came to a full stop till I got there.

The Chevy Chevette had a flexy firewall too. When it found it's most flexed out spot. It stayed there. Causing the the brake pressure not to release from the master cylinder. Which worn out the front brake rather quickly. The fix was to use 1/8" alignment shims between the master cylinder and firewall.

The Chevettes had another problem. The bolt that held the dampener on the crank would break. Allowing the dampener to come off of the end of the crank. A spinning dampener at 3,500 rpm will do some damage under the hood, including the hood.

The V8's in the early 80's GM trucks had a clutch fan that would go bad. Sometimes when they went bad. They would seize up and shear the shaft. They would either go into the radiator or lunch up through the hood. Had a 4x4 Suburban with a 454 in it come in on the hook. 2 of the fan blades were sticking up through the hood in a prefect V.

 

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[NC_Overland]

Even Robin liked that

 

[Rusty PW]

 

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[Rusty PW]

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