The SS has always been a sport truck moniker. It competed more against the no longer existing Dodge Ram RT/10 with the viper engine and the old ford Lightning. If they made an offroad version of the Silverado with this engine I would expect a different name.

Japanese full size wagons. I’m talking the Camry and the Accord wagons. Give me an Accord with that 2.0T and a 6speed with a wagon rear.

I had a ‘93 Si hatch.  In teal with the sunroof and that sweet D16 mated to a 5 speed manual.  Easily the best car I’ve owned.

Oddly enough, the first sentence is what is in my first aid kit.

so.... LS swap a Mirai?

I’m a big fan of FoMoCo’s keypad on the door.  They’ve had it since maybe the 80's?  Press a 4 digit code, unlocks door.  Press the last two buttons on keypad, locks door.

That is wild, I’ve never seen a lift tailgate like that in a van.  Those struts must be crazy strong.

Subaru Tribeca, one of the worst selling cars in 2011-2012 and just a crap car in general. It was ugly, got bad gas mileage, and was not competitive.

Sometimes helps to put a little motor oil or anti seize on the threads when tightening. I have aluminum rims on my 4runner which I had to be careful about the torque (no more than 80ft-lbs. I do 75) Over-torquing certain metals causes them to not seat properly and can warp the rims.  I also do a star pattern in…

Are you using a torque limiting stick on the impact wrench?  If you’re not going to use a torque wrench for final torquing you should at least using something to limit the torque output of the impact wrench to prevent snapping lugs.

2TZ-FZE no shit

Could it be a balancing issue?  Driveshafts need to be balance and often have weights to insure they don’t cause excessive vibration as they spin pretty fast.  Shortening it may have changed where the weights need to be.

Parts aren’t that expensive for these.  Its the time to do all the repairs that cost money.  And yes I would definitely just put new control arms on rather than press out old bushings.

Well certainly won’t need a slide hammer for that. Looks real clean under there. Also looks like an aftermarket diff cover to help with cooling.  Nice of them to put a drain plug on the side for the diff fluid.  I’m guessing there is a fill port at the top?

Dealers do this all the time.  Usually its in an attempt to sell you a new key, which can be in the range of $300+ dollars depending on the car.  I’ve had this happen twice at two different dealers that both conveniently found the key at the last minute when we threatened to not buy the car.

Even cars with the most reliable engine/trans combos have suspension issues around this mileage. Probably will need balljoints, control arm bushings, inner and outer tie rods, shocks, sway bar end links, etc. at some point in the near future.

I guess the backing plate is needed to stiffen it up as you put a pretty large whole in something that is structural.  1/4" steel is no joke!  The backing plate the author used looks like maybe 14 ga.  My idea was more that a rivnut would mean that you wouldn’t have to have a nut on the underside as the bolt would…

Apparently those are the factory rims that were chromed for the anniversary edition.  I do agree they look terrible though.

I’m curious if a rivnut meets the requirements for this. I know that through-bolting is way stronger (as the author did) but I think a rivnut would give a cleaner look.

You could buy a 16ga sheet of aluminum and make your own (or less 18ga would probably be ok). That’d be some cool content. In the past I made a custom ignition cover/gauge holder for a 92-95 civic because they are notoriously easy to steal just by remove the plastic cover behind the steering wheel to access the…