Hum, Maybe there is something wrong with F-bodies and nice weather?

On the way to Cops~n~Rodders car show while merging onto Rt#1 I heard a sound I thought only 97TAs made. A funny little hissing, kinda pop-pop-pop sound? From under the hood, on the driver's side. The more I rev'd the engine, the faster the pop-pop-pop sound? Don't understand it? I drive a Camaro! Felpro gaskets only leak on TransAms right?

Oh well I was still having a good day. Show was great lots of nice ars, got to put a few faces with names from the NJ F-body club.

But then when I was leaving it became clearly obvious that there are a few "things" not right with my car? There was a guy in a Honda with a big wing that was following me down Rt#1 just 2" off my rear bumper and swerving back and fourth behind me??
Also he would fall back a bit and accelerate quickly towards me (Maybe he was having car problems too??), but I didn't get a chance to ask him if he might have noticed what happened? Oh well, maybe you'll have some suggestions?

1) When we looped around Rt18 back onto Rt1 we both accelerated to merge properly into traffic ( again the little Honda swerved into the far left lane ( I think that where he was??).

Upon depressing my gas pedal, the radio seems to stop working? I know it's not my hearing, I can still hear the exhaust, but I noticed ( another 97TA trait ) loud "screeching" noise from the back of the car? Muffler bearing bad?

2) The car also continues to make this noise and also slide back~n~fourth as I change gears 1-2, 2-3,3-4? Hubcap gaskets bad or loose?

3) I can no longer see the little Honda with the big wing behind me? I know he was on my back bumper just a few seconds ago? When I look back all I see is a big haze behind me. Am I leaking horn fluid onto my headers?

4) When I lift off the gas things clear up, and after a few seconds the little Honda goes by. He must like my car, he's giving me the thumbs up sign ( but he's using the wrong finger, must be a NJ thing! ) Wonder if my throttle body need cleaning?

Ron, didn't you have this problem once ( ONCE) ?

Thanks for any suggestions, JB

 

Wish I hadda stayed a little longer to see that John.

Poor little import owner

 

John,

I have an extra header gasket, Percy's part number 760-66031, but it's only for the passenger side. Not sure but maybe you can flip it and use it on the driver's side?

I have similiar problems with imports. Don't you watch NASCAR? The guy was having traction problems. See, with him being that close to your car... it took the wind off his front end, thus the necessary downforce he needed for his front wheel drive car. Plus with those heavy bigger-than-the-car rear spoilers, it exacerbates the front wheel traction problem.

Our cars also have a vacuum like effect dead center in the rear. Every notice there seems to be so much dust on the rear "bumper" after you been driving awhile? As the f-body moves through the air the vacuum actually pulls small objects, dust particles and imports back onto itself. The poor import guy had his hands full trying to get out of the vortex... just when he swerved to a side, he gets air-buffed back into the vacuum, which in turn sucks him closer to your rear. Aexca sudden acceleration on your part may be his only prayer of regaining control of his import. I have also found, and do this only in emergencies, that utilizing the fine water jetting propulsion system locating on the front window area, sometimes help the small import to "break out " of the damning vacuum vortex. Apparently the small water droplets collecting on the imports hood and window is just enough to give the import so much needed front end weight for traction.

As to the "screeching noise" coming from the rear tires, I have tracked this down to be a problem with certain manufactured tires. The tire companies that I have spoken with have ackwonledge this to be a "defect" in certain street tires where doing the manufacturing process to expedite production to meet high demand, not all of the oils used in harden the rubber were removed. Meaing that the tires are slightly oily and slip under heavy torque. The tire manufactures that I spoke with suggested doing periodic "burnouts" until a good size smoking cloud obscures all of your rear and side mirror views. They believe that in turn should cure any of those annoying "screeching noises" between shifts.

Oh yeah, as to the radio "problem", there is a road noise sensor underneath the car... on the 97TA it's located just after the CAT on the exhaust system. Unlike the SUVs and passenger cars where the radio "quiets down" when the vehicle slows down to a stop, ours cuts the radio off during heavy acceleration. This way in case something like a header gasket pops, you'll be able to hear it. If you want to bypass that effect, stop by my house sometime and I'll install the AC/DC mod, no problem. It worked on the 97TA flawlessly.

btw, shouldn't this "hijack" thread crap be moved to the tech area? I wouldn't want Injuneer Fred to miss this....