Looks like I may be done brewing for a while

You ever feel like things are FINALLY going in the right direction in your life, for once, and then have everything go south, really quickly?

Long story short, I bought a Grand Prix GTP a little over 2 years ago. It would have been paid off already except for an accident where I had to buy the car back from the INS company and fix it myself. So the loan was AGAIN almost paid off, was gonna use my tax return to pay it off next month. So, I was out Friday night and as I was coming home, I got to the stop sign a mere block from my house. I stopped and the car shut off. Odd. I tried to start it, nothing, tried for the next 2 days to get it running. Nothing. Took it to a shop and they inform me that my bottom end (Crank/rods/pistons/block) has let loose on me somehow. Either the block cracked (Why the oil and coolant had a party in the oilpan and made a milkshake looking liquid) or the crank cracked/broke or a rod broke and punctured the block.

So, now after going from the dreams of being nearly debt free in a month I will go $2600 more into debt than I was before.

I was so close. Looks like I might start doing A.G. IF I can even brew at all. Its cheaper...

Brewing and owning pontiacs don't mix. Hell, owning a Pontiac and having money in your pocket are pretty much mutually exclusive. At least with the cheapo car companies like Kia and Hyundai, you get a ridiculous b2b warranty.

It might be time to give up on the Pontillac instead of continuing to polish that turd. Just sayin. Get a little fuel-efficient Kia or something with a 100k+ b2b warranty.

Take the bus. Double win, you can drink all the homebrew you want without a DUI.

Fuel efficient is that cars middle name! 33mpg highway, over 300hp (honest to god), runs 13 second 1/4 mile times at the track.

I have never owned anything but GM, I'm too much of a 'murican car type of person.

Stinky people ride the bus. Plus I don't know of any busses that go between cities 25 miles apart. :hmm:

RedIrocZ-28 said:

Fuel efficient is that cars middle name! 33mpg highway, over 300hp (honest to god), runs 13 second 1/4 mile times at the track.

I have never owned anything but GM, I'm too much of a 'murican car type of person.

Stinky people ride the bus. Plus I don't know of any busses that go between cities 25 miles apart. :hmm:

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doesn't matter how fast it goes if it doesn't run!


my wife had a sunfire and i had a grand am back in the day. never had any real problems with either car, would never buy either one again though! Most GM's dont do much for me. i will stick with my 4cyl ranger for now, never breaks, will haul anything i need it to and gets 30mpg.

RedIrocZ-28 said:

Fuel efficient is that cars middle name! 33mpg highway, over 300hp (honest to god), runs 13 second 1/4 mile times at the track.

I have never owned anything but GM, I'm too much of a 'murican car type of person.

Stinky people ride the bus. Plus I don't know of any busses that go between cities 25 miles apart. :hmm:

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Well, look, if having 300 horses and an American-made car is important to ya, then I guess you'll have to deal with it. Don't know of too many high-HP affordable American cars that are terribly reliable.

Its not "important" to me per se, but its what I have. My net worth, not including debt is $108 on paper right now, and tomorrow is payday. My net worth including debt is about -$3900.

I don't exactly have a choice here in going out and buying another car. This one isn't paid off yet. And even if it was, I could afford AT MOST $200 a month car payment. ($100 more than what I am paying right now).

Many people don't understand how I live as freely as I do on the amount of money that I have. To be honest, I don't either. Just because I look like I have money doesn't mean I do.

My parents and one of their friends both had Pontiac Sunbirds, and both of the blocks cracked at 75k miles. That's some real quality there.

All my GM's have/had over 200k miles on them, all run good.

Speaking of which, I gotta fix a hose on my Lumina, got a little loose and leaky.

As for my fords and Dodges, all are probably processed into pots and pans by now, lol.

My Car Club may come to my rescue. All the guys are offering up workspace, tools, etc etc. I'd really rather not pay the $1500 in labor cost if I don't have to but I am not able to do this myself with my work schedule the way it is. I love those guys. I hope we can get it figured out.

If you can afford it at all, now is a great time to buy a new car. They are practically giving them away. And I have to agree with Evan, there are some pretty good cars really inexpensive.

The last American car I owned was an S10 pickup it was great but I have not been impressed with a lot of the stuff Detroit has turned out in the recent past. I can't afford to be loyal to American cars. Someday I may buy another, but they are going to have to step up to the plate.

By the way, I am sorry to hear about your car. I got caught up in the american/foreign car issue. I hope whatever you decide to do works out well.

My 86 corvette still runs reliably. The only stuff that tends to break is worn out 23 year old car stuff.

Sucks about the Pontiac, but **** happens. At least you'll have a car that you enjoy driving at the end of this.

I pay $88 a month for this car and I can barely afford that right now haha! Let alone a new car. No way. I just can't see buying a new(er) car when I still owe on this one. God I am friggin' flustered today. I still have no idea how I am getting to work tomorrow. heh...

You have an offer of help and a place to work. Buy a used engine from a salvage yard and change engines. Piece of cake. And you can pay with homebrew. You will also learn a bit in the process. Everybody wins.

I know how you feel man, I owned a 85 blazer until it pretty much did the same thing as your car i bit the bullet and bought a new 2004 Chev Impala because me and the misses had a baby that was due in a couple of months and i needed a reliable ride i figured if they make good cop cars and cabs it should last. If my Impala breaks down i won't be able to afford to fix it plus pay rent, bills etc...so buying new isn't always the fail safe to not having to fork out money to fix it ( NOT EVERYTHING IS COVERED IN WARRANTY you really have to read the fine print ) Luckily i can do most of the work if anything goes wrong ( Knocks on wood ) Good luck.
And yeah the bus...Thumbs down ( unless its the weekend and i want to get drunk and go to the football game then the bus rocks )