Beretta.net

call all major news outlets we have a major event here. a rare siting of the Beretta SS on the ground and driving around. lol

How did your lip brace install go?

Didn't do it yet. I gotta drill some rivets out to install and that's not my top priority right now. I will take a few pics when I do it though.

I was less than impressed with the ebrake boot and shift boot I got from my upholstery guy in Michigan, so I'm working on my own solution. I had an ebrake boot kicking around from a Saturn or something I found in a junkyard forever ago. Used some of the ABS from work and made a bracket to situate it. It's looking pretty good, have a little tweaking to do on it lengthwise but it's pretty good. Then I can recarpet the lower half of the console and that will be done. For the shift boot I'm talking with a place on ebay who does a better job with the stitching, and maybe even getting the console armrest done in leather too. They always warp and look like crap...and Tiff's Cruze has a leather lid that is way more comfortable.

Nice! Love the last pic of the interior with the leather...mmmmmm.

Here's the lip brace installed. I actually bent it a little and notched the bumper and installed it over the steel rather than under to keep the bumper cover flat and give it some more structure. I also replaced the Napa horn ring with a Beretta one. The Napa one didnt work right and would only cancel the signal switch one way.

All of this has been killing time until Tuesday when my trans should be back. It still didnt sound right so I sent it to Midwest Trans in MN. They found a crack in 5th gear, which would make sense since it moved when the snap ring broke. FedEx also broke the bellhousing on the way out, but they replaced it with a spare they had for free. They said everything else looked good and they even put in the synchros that came with my rebuild kit. So I'm quite happy with them. I'll have to re-stud the bellhousing, but that's not the end of the world.

Hopefully they don't break it on the way back to you... Next time pallet the bitch...

I packed it really well with 2" styrofoam and double boxed it. They said it looked like it fell off a truck and typically one out of every 2-300 gets broken. Just seems to be my luck with this trans.

The ebay place seems to be MIA on my last couple messages...getting irritating. I wish I knew someone local who could sew an OEM-looking stitch.

Trans is back in one piece. Should have it going by the weekend. I want to re-stud the bell and do the block filler and then I can throw it in. Gonna have to cure a couple days first though.

Trans is in and the nasty noise is gone...so it was the cracked 5th gear making the racket. Seems odd that it would be it since 5th gear never had any load on it, but it's cured now.

Eric how much was the rebuild if you dont mind me asking? Just curious since i want to get mine done when i pull it soon

$400 if you buy the rebuild kit from them as well. I'm not overly impressed so far. They used RTV instead of anaerobic sealer for the case halves which is a no-no...and now it is hard to get in to first gear with their new synchros installed. After my rebuild keeping the original synchros it was still smooth as silk getting in to first. Now it's not so good. Hoping it will get a little better with some miles but I'm not counting on it.

Need to track down a creak in the front end. It was not there when I parked it...but it did sit almost two years. Most of this time did have the suspension loaded on wheel dollies though. It only spent about 3 months on jack stands.

I hear it when turning through a corner, but not when turning the wheel stationary. Couldn't reproduce it in the garage. I've checked axles, jack shaft, strut mounts, rack and all look good with no visible issues. Looking for some more ideas...

Adjusted the cables a little bit and now first gear is butter again. Creak is getting better with some miles. I've never had a car sit this long, maybe it just needs some exercise.

How are the brakes with the new master cylinder?