These were pulled from a 1975 Cosworth Vega that was headed for a V8 Swap
(not by me).  They are for sale on 2 separate e-bay motors auctions.  If
this is something you could use, the starting bids are cheap.

Engine
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1501254…

Tranny
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1501254…

On other auctions I have a Pontiac intake, ’61 GMC 4000, etc.  Clearing out
the shop.

Thanks
CCC

When the United States needed new territory in the 19th Century, it
conquered the Native American Aborigines (the Indians).  They were death
marched to reservations in the deserts or to other wasteland to make room
for whites.  Just look at Arizona.  The whites took Flagstaff and "gave"
the luckless Indians Tuba City.  Visit both places so you will see the
truth for yourselves.

Carrying over the same logic, we need oil, so we’ll take what we want and
throw the natives out.  Knocking over Saudi Arabia is the easiest.  They
have no army to speak about, power is concentrated in a few and their
population is small.  We confiscate their oil fields and the gas crisis is
over.  As for the Saudis, deport them to Iraq where they’ll be finished off
in short order.

Feeling guilty?  Why?  We’ve done it before and can and will do it again.
It’s nothing more than survival of the fittest.

Autoweb http://doiop.com/n1i0p1 21 May 2007

ANNA, Ohio, U.S.A.– Associates at the largest Honda auto engine plant
in the world celebrated the 15 millionth engine produced since Honda of
America Mfg., Inc. opened the Anna Engine Plant in 1985.

As the milestone engine was finished, a $75 million expansion project
at the plant continued toward completion later this year. The project
will transfer connecting rod and camshaft production from Japan to
Ohio…

The 15 millionth engine…is a 6-cylinder motor designed for a Honda
Accord Coupe to be assembled 45 miles to the east at the Marysville
Auto Plant…
==========
The Emperor is pleased.

My ’98 Olds LSS (Eighty Eight, 3.8L, N/A) has a constant check engine
light. The previous owner’s (halfassed) mechanic said it had to do
with the fuel/purge canister system. A new gas cap was tried, no help.
So, having not yet gotten my hands on a code reader, I checked the
vent system. All of the lines from the tank to the throttle body are
free and clear, and both solenoids work when +12v is applied (the one
on the canister closes, the one near the TB opens).

However, with the gas cap off I can not blow any air through the vent
line from under the car. I would’ve thought that I’d be able to pump
air right through it. Is there a check valve or another solenoid ontop
of the tank that I should know about? The entire fuel sending unit was
replaced by said mechanic a while back, I’m wondering if he buggered
something up, up there. It has been known to hiss when the gas cap is
removed, so hopefully it’s something obvious up there. Comments?
Suggestions?

I have a 1984 pickup 350.  I have a rattle coming from where my flex
plate/ring gear assembly is.  Almost sounds like a ring gear rubbing
against my inspection cover.  I took my Inspection cover off, that
wasn’t it, but I could get my ear a little closer to where the rattle
is.  I’m hoping it’s not the rear crankshaft bearing.  What kind of
sound would that make, and how far is my crankshaft bearing from my ring
gear?…..thanx

GM, UAW cut deal on jobs bank
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/AUTO01/705…

About 400 General Motors Corp. skilled trades workers in Flint and
Lansing assigned to the automaker’s controversial jobs bank may be
forced to learn a different job or go to work at a distant factory if
they don’t take a new buyout offer extended by the company.

GM’s move to clear out the jobs bank — factory workers who collect most
of their pay and benefits despite being laid off — was made possible by
a first-of-its-kind agreement with the United Auto Workers.

Under the terms, which apply only to skilled trades workers in Flint and
Lansing, GM can compel those who don’t take the buyout to retrain for
another skilled trade, move them to an unskilled production job and even
relocate them to a plant in another city or state.

"Remaining in the current jobs bank is not an option," GM spokesman Dan
Flores said. "This is about GM and the UAW continually looking for ways
to improve competitiveness."

Though limited in scope, the agreement shows some movement by the UAW on
the jobs bank, which has come to symbolize the inefficiency baked into
labor contracts between the union and Detroit’s automakers.

It also suggests the UAW is more flexible than some might have thought
as it prepares for crucial contract negotiations this summer.

"This is small in terms of numbers, but large in terms of attitude and
impact," said Harley Shaiken, a labor expert at the University of
California, Berkeley. "This is an example of the fact that both sides
would like to see GM succeed. The union is willing to be flexible when
it makes sense, even though this is important to them."

The jobs bank programs were created by Detroit’s automakers in the 1980s
to win UAW support for efforts to boost productivity through increased
automation and more flexible manufacturing. At the time, it gave workers
much-needed job security.

Under the current rules, workers in the jobs bank are only required to
take a job that’s in their line of work and within 50 miles of their old
job. Otherwise, they are assigned to the jobs bank and continue to
receive nearly full pay.

GM won’t say how many workers remain it its jobs bank, but the automaker
cut the number by about 75 percent through last year’s buyout program,
which ushered out more than 24,300 U.S. union workers.

It is clear, however, that at some plants hundreds of workers who lost
their jobs and have been unwilling to relocate are in the bank.

Placing skilled trades workers, which include electricians, machinists
and others with special training, has proven particularly difficult
because their narrow job description limits the positions they can take.
Plus, some are trained in jobs that are now obsolete.

Even with the latest offers, the jobs bank will remain a concern for GM
because it may have to assign more workers to the bank as it continues
to downsize.

Under the new offer, workers would get a $35,000 lump-sum payment to
retire. Workers with a minimum of 10 years service can get $140,000 in
cash, as well as accrued pension benefits, but would forgo all other
benefits, including health care. Those with less than 10 years can take
a $70,000 buyout.

More than 300 workers in Lansing and 100 in Flint received the offer
earlier this month and have 45 days to decide whether to take it. Most
of them are in the jobs bank, but some active workers may be eligible if
their departure would clear the way for moving somebody out of the jobs
bank.

If the workers decline, GM could take one of several actions:

# Find a job opening in the worker’s trade at another plant, which could
be hundreds of miles away. Any move would come with up to $67,000 in
relocation costs.

# Retrain them for another skilled trades job in a nearby plant. It is
unlikely that any skilled trades jobs would be available near Flint or
Lansing because, if they were, workers would already have been moved there.

# Find an assembly line job nearby or at a distant plant that requires
no special training. The worker would still get the higher skilled trade
wages.

Workers who take a line job or train for another position will get
$3,000 toward the purchase of a GM vehicle. Skilled trades workers who
go to the line also will have priority to go back to a skilled trades
job if one opens.

If workers refuse all those options, they would be placed on official
leave from GM, without any pay or benefits.

Nearly half of the 100 skilled trade workers at Flint’s UAW Local 599
have been in the jobs bank for nearly a decade, according to Terry
Everman, who is on the skilled trades committee for Local 599. They once
worked at the Buick City Assembly Complex that closed in 1999, and some
were laid off before the plant was idled.

When the plant closed, so, too, did the specific job classification for
many skilled trades workers, Everman said. He does not think the latest
offer will attract many takers.

"If they wanted to retire," Everman said, "they would have taken the
earlier offer."

Still, he believes GM and the union are trying to do the right thing. "I
trust the UAW is looking out for the best interests of our members."

If workers say ‘no’
If skilled trades workers at GM plants in Lansing and Flint turn down
the latest buyout offer, the automaker could:
# Find a job opening in the worker’s trade at another plant, which could
be hundreds of miles away. Any move would come with up to $67,000 in
relocation costs.
# Retrain them for another skilled trades job in a nearby or distant plant.
# Find an assembly line job nearby or at a distant plant that requires
no special training. Higher skilled trade wages would still apply.

Ex-UAW officials to be sentenced for extortion; appeals planned
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/METRO/7052…

Two retired United Auto Workers officials are to be sentenced in federal
court today for extortion during a decade-old strike at the General
Motors Corp. truck plant in Pontiac.

A jury convicted Donny G. Douglas and Jay D. Campbell last June of
demanding that two unqualified men — Campbell’s son and the son of
another UAW official — be hired in high-paying skilled trades positions
if the financially crippling strike, which lasted 87 days, was to end.

The two face likely prison terms when they are sentenced by U.S.
District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds.

But today’s sentencing will not end the long-running case, since lawyers
for Douglas and Campbell are expected to appeal their convictions to the
6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case already has been to the 6th Circuit once. Douglas, who was a
UAW international service representative, and Campbell, who was a
longtime shop committee chairman at the plant, were indicted in
September 2002 after a four-year federal investigation.

The charges were dismissed in 2003, when Edmunds found they did not
amount to a violation of federal law. But the federal appeals court
reversed Edmunds in 2004, and the charges were reinstated.

Lawyers for Douglas, 65, of Holly, and Campbell, 65, of Davisburg argue
GM suffered no monetary loss because the hired employees received
positive evaluations and were kept on after their probationary periods.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney James Wouczyna argued in a sentencing
memorandum the union officials "were expressly tried and convicted of
extortion by threatening the property of General Motors by continuing an
ongoing strike costing millions of dollars per day."

Forecaster: Sales will bounce back; Detroit 3 might not
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070523/REG/70523…

TOKYO — The U.S. auto market will pick up next year, but not for the
Detroit 3, according to a forecast from Global Insight.

Light-vehicle sales will rebound next year after dipping to 16.2 million
in 2007, said George Magliano. He is director of North America for the
London market research firm.

Speaking at a conference here, he said sales would rise gradually. They
won’t regain the 17 million level last seen in 2001 until 2010. By 2012,
sales will climb to 17.7 million.

A rising tide won’t lift all ships, though. The Detroit 3 will struggle
despite rising industry volume, he predicts.

Consider the following parts of his forecast for the industry in 2012:

     * The Detroit 3 will lose seven points of market share between now
and 2012.

     * Imports alone will rise from 3.7 million this year to 4.4 million
vehicles in 2012. "This is where Ford, GM and Chrysler are losing out
and where the production base suffers," he said.

     * Oil prices will stay above $60 a barrel. "That doesn’t get
better," he said. "The market gets better. The economy gets better. But
oil prices don’t change. It affects mix."

The Detroit 3′s share of North American light-vehicle production —
that’s Mexico, Canada and the United States — will slide to 60 percent
in 2012 from just under 80 percent as recently as 1999. It could fall
even further. Global Insight’s forecast includes all announced capacity
additions by non-Detroit 3 automakers in North America. Even so,
Magliano predicted that, "by 2011 or 2012, all the transplants will be
at full capacity."

"Today, the market is tough. It will get better," he said. "But the
competitive pressures never go away."

Beyond 2012, the threat of car imports from China looms. The Detroit 3′s
future therefore depends on their ability to appeal to younger buyers.
General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler "have lost the baby boomers,"
Magliano said. "They cannot afford to lose Generation Y."

Hi,
I have an airflow problem (in my heat/ac) in my 96 Chevrolet Lumina.
I think I’ve narrowed it down to either being the rotary switch that
selects airflow, or the blender(s) it controls.  Is there a good way
to test one or the other without having to dissassemble the whole dash
area?  Also, would I access the blender underneath the glove
compartment (as I’ve seen a diagram in Chilton’s saying that that’s
where the blower is)?

Thanks for any help you can provide,
Louis

I have a chance to purchase either a 2006 Chevy Cobalt or 2006 Hyundai
Accent for the same amout of money. Both cars are used but are both in
excellent, like new condition. I will primarily use the car as a
commuter vehicle. Overall cost of ownership including gas mileage,
repair, durability, etc. are important to me.

The Chevy is bigger and feels relatively more substantial. The Hyundai
gets better gas mileage.

Which one is likely to have a lower cost of ownership in the long term
(ten years)? My apology for cross posting.