PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

left around 11am today and the traffic was horrid. Between road work, periodic rain, and just plain stupid drivers, we didnt make it to Lakewood NJ until 6pm.

The upside is that in spite of all those road negatives, Bonnie the Ghosthawk still knocked down 29.2mpg on her first full tank of fuel. With plenty of stop-n-go for road work back-ups and then 70-75mph cruise speeds (when traffic was moving) in hot/humid conditions, I think thats amazing performance.

The exhaust at full throttle pulling away from toll plazas has a nice growl with the new downpipe, but the desire for abit more grunt really has me wanting those 1:8 roller rockers Even if they cut into the fuel mileage a touch I dont think I would complain.

Not bad mileage for that trip.

Look into ZZP ER rockers instead of 1.8's for that L36. The ER's are considered about the best rockers for an L36 made.

Sure sounds like a good trip! I would also be very happy with that kind of mileage under those type of driving conditions.

How many miles are on your car? Sure seems like your always posting about trips your taking. Have you done your LIM yet?

Also, I got my DP and cat installed last week and have been loving it ever since, just got 29.8 MPG on the last tank with mixed driving! :D

Bonnie is closing in fast on the 100k mark, and I do like writing about trips. Last year on our trip to Yellowstone I did a daily travel log on the Sebring board since we drove the convertible.

I'm still collecting all the parts I'll need to do the LIM gaskets, since I plan to do a bit of dressing up the engine bay in the process. My goal is to have it all done by summer's end.

The day by day travel log is on my blog page...

http://tobthebat.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/westward-ho/

The page is actually a link to her blog where the daily logs are listed and there are links to her photos from the trip.

I am very pleased with the downpipe so far and the performance Bonnie is delivering. I'm still pretty confident now since this trip that I will go with some turbo mufflers out back for just a touch more sound. The car sounds great under hard throttle but at cruising speed is virtually silent. I'd still like just that hint of an exhaust note at 2k rpm at speed. If turbos dont make it happen then I'll quit there and live with it...no way am I going back to buzzing and drone.

Do you still have your stock Resonator? I have been thinking about a Downpipe and a resonator change... Maybe a magnaflow... Thats all I want out of my SLE... Just some burble and grumble without being annoying on the highway...

Kinda funny you say your car is approaching 100K as mine is about to turn 97,000 within the next week.

I had a little free-time earlier this summer and ripped into replacing the LIM. At this time, the car had right around 90,000 miles on it, and wasn't expecting to find much. However, once I removed the LIM, I was shocked to see the shape of the ports and the amount of sludge. Although my car wasn't showing any symptoms of leaking coolant, it obviously was. I would suggest getting on it sooner rather than later, almost felt like I was on borrowed time.

But she's now sporting the new Aluminum gaskets and running better than ever as she's approaching her first milestone. I truly love this car and expecting to achive many milestones!! :D haha

I do still have the stock resonator in place, and after my "drone" debacle with my GP I dont think any amount of money could make me take it off. I'm very happy with the results of the down pipe but if I still want a bit more sound (and I do) then I would leave the resonator in place and swap out the muffs out back. The Summit Fully Welded muffs I put on the GP are real talkers without being offensive but I think I'm going to try a set of Thrush Turbos on Bonnie for a slightly more muted tone.

Keep us posted on what you try and good luck!

@yonkerse...thank for the info. The thought of how things are in there does eat away at the back of my brain, but I really want to make this a single pull down project if at all possible. I'm keeping a close eye on things but I still plan to get all this done by summer's end.

Hey Yonkerse, I have an '05 also, how are those tie rod ends holding up?

Hey redbaron,

As far as I know there just fine. I just turned over 97000 miles in it and there's no knocks, clunk, rattles or anything from the front end. The car tracks just fine and the tires are wearing evenly. Of course I rotate the tires every 8000 miles so this could help. My car was up on the lift two weeks ago and I was walking under it and everything looks good as well...when I grabbed the tires and wiggled them they were nice and solid.

How many miles on your car? What symptoms are you getting for worn tie rod ends??

Skip the rockers if you can afford to save for an S1x cam. There's a WORLD of difference...