IMVHO, I strongly recommend the 95-97 Chevy Camaro z28 series. very peppy, very good gas mileage,(if you don't punch the pedal all the time) and quite affordable to keep up. they keep their value through the years. and they are affordable to buy. the 94 is a bit of a lemon, so avoid it unless you want to spend a bit of cash upgrading it with sports parts. under 200K should be just at the point of needing transmission work. suspention wears out at this point also. you may want to factor this in when purchase price comes up. but 150K Z28's should easily be found in the 4K price range. another bonus with these vehicles is most repair shops enjoy working on them. and parts houses always stock just about any performance upgrades you could want. the 98-2002 models have the newer LS series small block, and I think they are a bit too expensive for what you get. I also don't like the EURO look headlights on the 99 and up camaro. but it's your money. John

Nice forking tire shop. Went back to look at the two cars again. There is something wrong. Sure enough. The 96 has 205/60/r15. the 95 has 205/65/r15. Well the 96 is supposed to have 215/65/r15 at 33 lbs. and the 95 is supposed to have 215/70/r15 at 35 lbs. I thought the deck hight was low on both cars. It gets better. I checked the tire pressure on the 96. Right front 18,left front 30,right rear 27,left rear31. That explains the left pull on the 96. what the hell is this industry coming to ? They replaced what was on the vehical and didn't even check to see if the car had the wrong tires. Do you take a safe off the same way as it went on ? NOT. If i pulled that stunt off in my early years i'd be out of a job faster than you could wipe out .2 on a tail light bulb change in a flat rate shop. I just tore a new pie hole in the tech of the front end shop yesterday and sending the car back. Now i have to appologize to this poor men. ( car is going back anyway ). Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the garage. Oh Yah. I finished the 30 day inspection on the old ladys 94 sunday and the right rear wheel cylinder is leaking. It wasn't leaking 30 days ago. When does it stop ? We've had 3 weeks of -30 with -42 wind chill. Maybe that has something to do with it. Yes the tires do freeze and form a flat spot over night. It goes away in about 1/2 mile and your down to about 6 miles to the gal. Normal winter up here. At $4.82 cents a gallon it gets a little pricey. You guys complain about $2.50 a gallon and it's Canadian gas! I feel so sorry for you it makes my laugh. Sorry guys. Not having a good day. I have 4 new tires that i can do nothing with. Oh well, i'll just put them in stock you never know.Have a good weekend.

I ran a 1992 Jeep Cherokee, 6 cy HO to 193,000 miles using the original fuel pump. Still running when I turned it in. I now have a 1998 Jeep with 103,000 miles and original fuel pump - no problem with that. Did loose one circuit in the front lighting. Problem ahd been isolated to the wirng harness between the lamp housing and a splice. I have a 1998 Dodge Stratus with 105,000 miles - original fuel pump. Wife has a 1997 Saturn, 135,000 miles - original fuel pump. I had a 1978 Olds Cutlass - fuel pump went out at 67,000 miles. My son had a 2004 Dodge Stratus. Fuel pump quit at 60,000 miles. Much of the time, the fuel pumps in my family's stable do last a long time, and then we get an occassional early failure. I'd agree that your mechanic's statement is on the mark.

oops, first I feel I must apologize to msm859 following my rant about "90-counters". I meant no disrespect to your advice. To be honest, I only very briefly skimmed through your post and didn't even catch the part where you mentioned 90s, so I wasn't trying to be rude on that point. You recommended going with larger pipe anyways and my personal gripe is with those who still use 2" pipe and then boast about avoiding 90s. Respek! Note to others: Somebody could just as easily be thinking I'm a hack for using big pipe and not worrying about 90s. We all draw the line somewhere. Jennifer: The 1.5" returns are typically branched off a 2" main return line. They go to 1.5" where they penetrate through the wall because the eyeballs (trim pieces) are that size. I'm guessing that is what your builder is intending, but I could be wrong. In a perfect world, or if you were a Kennedy or DuPont, then that main return line would be the same size as the suction, so 3" is my armchair recommendation. If it was built with 3" suction and 2.5" return, I would not really frown on that either, but I wouldn't do it myself. Well actually, that's not true because I am doing exactly that on a current project, but that's because of some other fuzzy logic and it's not that my return is downsized, but rather my suction is upsized. If your pool was built with 2.5" suction and 2.5 or 2" return, then that would probably be better than average, but you'd be amazed at how much more you'll love your pool with bigger pipes. I mentioned to somebody here before that one of the first pools I built on my own, I used a 1/2 HP filter pump on 2" pipes and I was a little disappointed that the pump did not seem to be any quieter than any of the hundreds of 3/4 HP pumps I've seen in service. So last year, I did a project of several small fountains like you might see at a ritzy shopping center (these things are more painful than any pool I've ever built), each on its own filtration system. I used 2.5" suctions and returns, reducing down as appropriate for the returns and fountain nozzles. The pipe runs were all well over 100' in each direction, two of them approaching 160', and those pumps were so quiet I was stunned and amazed. If you do go with the Intelliflo, then the Intellitouch will certainly be a nice complement to that, but you might also consider the EasyTouch. In a nutshell, the EasyTouch is a value-engineered, toned-down version of the Intellitouch. I'm not familiar enough with it to know for sure that it controls the Intelliflo in the same manner, but it's definitely worth looking into. If your builder doesn't know either, he can contact his local Pentair rep. who will be happy to lend a hand. Something else I just noticed is that they've spec'd a 1 or 2 HP Whisperflo for the two laminar jets. This equation is way out of balance because those laminars only need 10 gpm each. Even with a 1/2 HP Whisperflow, you will wind up sending the majority of its output through the bypass line, directly back into the pool. The 1/2 HP will give you 2 or 3 times the flow you need for the laminars. Laminars are delicate and fussy, it's imperative not to give them too much flow or they can be damaged. At the least, they won't work correctly with too much flow, so there is zero advantage to oversizing the pump which runs them. Additionally, they should receive filtered water, so I would put a small cartridge filter on that pump (Clean & Clear 100 or 150 is fine for the task and not much $$). You also want to have the flow to each laminar adjustable with gate valves or globe valves because they are much more suited to very fine adjustment. Most builders would use a 3-way valve or two ball valves, which can be difficult to adjust in the fine increments needed for laminars. The laminars are proposed to be lit, but I do not see a fiberoptic illuminator listed in the specs. They are available with or without color, so you'll want to be sure and clarify that with your builder. hmmmm...a couple other things off the top of my head; you might consider going with two pool lights, along the long wall on the house side so they aren't shining into the house. This is a basic thing that many others here can vouch for. Regarding the auto-fill, I may be splitting hairs at this point but I don't really like the Pentair/Letro autofill. They have a tendency to cause hammer knocking in your house plumbing because of the way they're designed. I much prefer the new autofill from Pour-A-Lid or my former favorite, MP Industries' Auto-Lev. The prices are roughly the same and these two are much easier to install, service, and live with than the Pentair/Letro version. Well this was fun. If I can help you spend any more of your hard-earned money, don't hesitate to ask. hahaha