The Beast is Back...Again

Lately I’ve been driving the Formula again, now that I’ve been able to replace the rear tires.  And I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the power and torque which have returned after a long absence.  How appropriate that a Firebird, its image and logo that of the mythical phoenix, should rise again from its ashes (thankfully not literally, but I have had nightmares about the car going up in flames).

 In March 2009 I got the car back from the body shop in Stafford, where it had been since January 2008 being returned from the dead – USAA had considered the car totalled.  Having failed emissions in 2007 and told that it needed new injectors – only getting new tags due to a waiver – I took it to a speed shop in April 2009 shortly after getting the car back from the body shop.  The speed shop pronounced my injectors healthy, but said the engine was “gone” and the car would never pass emissions with it under the hood.  In July 2009 two Chevrolet dealers told me the same thing.

 Fortunately, for a car like this, the options for engine replacement were substantial.   A simple remanufactured  replacement engine would cost about $2000, the next step up being a ZZ4 crate engine from GM Performance Parts ($4,000), or a Dart 400 short block ($3,000) + AFR aluminum cylinder heads ($1,500) (=$4,500), even some LS variants ($5000+ for the engine itself, not counting myriad mods required to make an LS engine work in a third-gen Firebird), with $2000 installation, assuming no unforeseen problems – which always seem to erupt anyway.  This was serious cash I don’t have.  So the car sat idle for the remainder of 2009 and most of 2010.   The few times I did drive it, it drove poorly, had a rough idle when cold, almost as if it was going to stall.  The power was way down, and the fuel economy was horrendous – something like 6 mpg, with black smoke belching from the tailpipes.  Moreover, it had a voltage drain on the battery, meaning I’d have to hook it up to a battery charger overnight if I wanted to drive the car the next day.  It was a sick, old car, a car you’d sell for whatever anyone would pay for it, if you didn’t care so much about it.  I was certainly discouraged, but I didn’t give up.

 In late 2010, I brought it to a shop at Fairfax Circle, Bubba’s, with the idea of producing a laundry list of “tasks” for various prices which needed to be done, topped off with the engine replacement.  Bubba, however, was not convinced it needed a new engine, and suspected that the real problem was simply an underperforming fuel system.  Long story short, Bubba fixed the car, and it passed emissions – without a new engine.  It wasn’t cheap, but it was well under the cost of a new engine.  And the voltage drain seems to have disappeared.  The fuel economy has improved dramatically, though not back up to its original peak.   It still needs a few things fixed (headlights stuck on high beams, A/C kaput) but the bottom line is that the car is now FUN TO DRIVE, which it wasn’t before.  Hallelujah!

 I still drive the Neon, especially since gas prices have shot up dramatically, and premium (93 octane) has bumped over $4 a gallon around here.  The Neon will continue to beat the Formula on gas.  The Formula’s bucket seat is deep and low, making it difficult to get in and out of the car; once you’re IN, you’re IN.  The Neon is very much a generic CAR.  Imagine a futuristic utopian society where everything is generic with no name brands: soap, water, coffee, beer, soda, houses, cars, etc.  The Neon could be that cheap plastic thing you drive around because the State has decreed that there will be only one type of anything.  But I can plug my iPod into the stereo!  So it’s not completely un-fun.