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414K views 3K replies 272 participants last post by  greencadillacmatt 
#1 ·
I thought it would be cool to have a thread where we show our cars as they sit right now...without being cleaned and prepped at all.

Here's mine as of this morning. It snowed last Friday night, and I hadn't washed it yet....so it's caked in salt. But I washed it this afternoon, so it's clean now.

 
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#329 ·
Here's a pretty decent sunset picture I took last week, after a wash.

 
#330 · (Edited)
Today was car repair day at my house. Cruella finally got new front brakes, which were grinding back in February when I bought Sabrina. I've driven her very little since then, not wanting to do any further damage. Not that it mattered; the front rotors were so scored they couldn't be turned. So I replaced both the pads and the rotors. Grinding is gone.





This is the driver's side front brake pad. Ouch:



I can't complain; I got ~40,000 miles out of those pads and rotors.







Betty also got some much-needed attention. New valve cover gaskets and a new vacuum modulator valve for the transmission. She had been clunking back into low when pulling up to a stop sign. Not only is the clunk gone, but you can't even feel it when the Powerglide shifts gears unless you're really paying attention. I've only put up with this for two years. :doh:

My brother-in-law Dave did 99% of the work. He brought his air compressor, which I used to take the wheels off and to remove the nuts for the front brake calipers. If you do any kind of car repairs at home, an air wrench is the way to go.







The cork valve cover gaskets were soaked with oil. They've been on the car for nearly nine years and over 50,000 miles since the engine rebuild, so I can't complain.



I was very pleased to see how clean the valve heads are after nearly nine years and 50,000+ miles.







The biggest, and most time-consuming job turned out to be the starter and solenoid. I've had trouble in the past where if the car sits for 10-15 minutes on a hot day, the starter solenoid soaks up the heat from the exhaust manifold, and when I turn the key, I get buptkis. With a jump, she'll usually start right up.

I had bought a heat shield for both the starter and the solenoid, but after I had to get a jump twice on my road trip to Washington last weekend, I decided to change out the solenoid, too.

Well, once we got the starter out, we found that the solenoid I had bought at NAPA didn't mate up correctly. I went back to NAPA (which I had already been to earlier to get an Allen socket for Cruella's brakes and brake rotors), and they didn't have any other solenoid in stock. So I went to another auto parts store, and they didn't have anything either, but they did have a starter and solenoid, so I just bought the whole damn thing. It was only ~$35, so I figured it was worthwhile.



The heat shield I bought for the solenoid was fine, but the one for the starter wasn't. I already knew that was a problem by this time, so I bought a different one at the same store where I bought the starter. And Dave -- God love him, never complained and got everything done, even though it was in the 90s here today.

The good news is Betty now starts right up. When taking out the starter, Dave found a couple of the connections were loose, which may have had something to do with why I'd usually have to crank her two or three times before she'd start. I also don't see her leaking any oil -- when I pulled her out of the garage this morning and backed her back in, there was a trail of oil drips along my driveway. So the new valve cover gaskets must have done the trick. And I'm very pleased to have a transmission that shifts as smoothly as the Powerglide was known for.
 
#331 ·
Gary, you waited WAAAY to long to do those brakes. Its been a long time since I seen some that bad.

The best brakes I have seen yet are the ones we put on my Mom's Blazer. The factory pads went at like 30k miles (she doesn't drive hard, they were just crappy) and we replaced them with some ceramic ones from Napa. There is now 75k on the truck and the pads still look brand new. We are going to have to replace the rotors before the pads.
 
#335 ·
Thank you. The GS's had that grille as standard, but the LS had it as optional. The only hint at the car's power is the subtle "SUPERCHARGED" badge on the trunklid.
 
#337 ·
Black/Grey is the most frequently seen GS color combo, atleast around here.
 
#340 ·
Holy god! :eek:
 
#344 ·
Yesterday, I went out to the spot where I took my best pictures with the Mercedes and shot some (85 :lol: ) of the Regal. Here are the three best.



 
#347 ·
Chad, I have found that pictures come out looking much better if you back away as far as you can and zoom in as much as possible. Getting at the same level as the car (usually kneeling down or using a tripod) makes it really pop as well. That's what I did to get the picture of my Mark that is in my signature, I was about 200 feet back from the car. That church, for example, is a great backdrop but because the camera is above the car it looks a little awkward. Just my two cents.
 
#349 ·
Its 6x optical zoom. It's just enough to back away to get a good picture.
 
#350 ·
I agree - further back, lower and if using something as a backdrop, don't cut part of it out.

The distance + zoom is a handy trick, adds "space" in the picture. Important tho, don't zoom so far that you max out optical zoom and run into digital zoom if your camera has it. Actually do yourself a favor and turn digital zoom off.
 
#352 ·
Important tho, don't zoom so far that you max out optical zoom and run into digital zoom if your camera has it. Actually do yourself a favor and turn digital zoom off.
Yeah, because digital zoom = just cropping and enlarging the image.

Its 6x optical zoom. It's just enough to back away to get a good picture.
Really? That looks pretty close for 200ft on an optical zoom, I'll have to try that out though. Great pictures though.


Also, I was wondering if you guys could give me some feedback on the image of my truck.
 
#351 ·
Thanks for the tips. You guys, along with Gary88 have the best pics.
 
#353 ·
V-Eight, the ones of your truck look great. The second one is really cool because its just so random. It seems like it give the truck some personality, like it is stuck in the garage but longs to be roaming through that field.


V-Eight said:
Really? That looks pretty close for 200ft on an optical zoom, I'll have to try that out though. Great pictures though.
When I cropped it the car seemed to look bigger. Here is the original.

 
#354 ·
It just seems bigger that like what my camera would display at 6x, but I'll never know until I try it out. That really is a great picture of the car though, it looks amazing! Yeah, we were loading up the truck and I saw it facing into the field as the sun was beginning to set, so I though it would be a great shot to get. Man I love being at the cabin :D
 
#355 ·
Trying out some new parking. I gotta get a weed eater.



Tried to get a picture of the sunset - overexposed tho, I'll have to try again, with the tripod next time.



Several days ago I decided to wash the engine down, today I couldn't help but drive thru muddy clay/water, now it is back to where it started. Ah the clean/dirty cycle is so much fun!

 
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