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Reading through the conversation of you both, I can say I feel for you & unfortunately there really is no upside to be found. I know everyone responds differently to things, but in the case of hearing loss I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t follow the same basic path. When I say an old fart I mean old fart. 73 & counting & while many don’t think I’m that old, I am. I started with tinnitus when I was 9. Lots of ear infections & to many antibiotics. The hearing continued to decline till I finally had to get hearing aids at 62. The aids I buy are high end & still have never been like having my own hearing. Yes I can hear things better as far as hearing the sound, but the sounds lack realness, hard to explain. But an example would be, that music often sounds sour or if I come in on a song after it starts the hearing is; like slow & I can’t catch up to it to recognize it. Again hard to explain. The other downside is this. From my hearing test @ 62 to now my hearing test have hardly changed, yet my ability to hear without an aid has skyrocketed! Hearing aids make your brain dumb! Literally! Even the audiologist admits that. So my recommendation to you gnat, is put off hearing aids as long as possible. The comment about analog vs digital is true whether you can hear it or not. Analog is a continuous signal, a curve if you will. Digital signals are a stair step wave. In such when you compare the two over top of each other you can see the space between the stair step signal & the continuous curve. That space actually represents a lost signal or lost music. Which actually degrades the sound quality. And before you say it, no! I can no longer hear the differentiation, but it’s still there.

What does the PRNDL display on the dash show when the vehicle is in Park?

9-years between the start and complete deafness. I didn't see a Dr for the tinnitus alone as it wasn't that bad. About 8yrs later, my ear started feeling stuffed quite frequently, but I could still hear okay. Around year 9, one night I woke up with a vertigo attack so bad, couldn't hardly walk and the slightest bit of head movement made me nauseous. I realized at that time, the vertigo took my hearing with it, replacing it with much louder tinnitus that sounds like cicadas in August. Vertigo attacks were on and off for a week before I went to see the Dr. Was told it was Meniere's. Then the vertigo passed, but my hearing stayed gone.

Uhh...yeah,that would be a good idea, with the exception of the most advanced hearing aids they all top out at 10khz, that's the highest range the onboard programming can provide. When one has a test done the procedure only goes to 8khz, seems that's the maximum that the medical society feels is necessary. But the aids DO help with the tinnitus, I'll bet that your loss of hearing in your bad ear took place approx or shortly after the tinnitus set in. The upper frequency follicles in the cochlea begin to die off, the brain no longer receives a *signal* from them, the brain compensates by creating a *phantom* sound in the auditory cortex, a sound that doesn't exist outside the body. That sound is the *ringing* you perceive. It also can fluctuate in volume as well. It drove me stir crazy when it 1st showed itself........

Ah, I just checked with a Youtube 20Hz to 20kHz sweep. I can hear up to 13kHz in my good ear now, though it gets much quieter the higher I go. I have occasional faint tinnitus in one ear, but my deaf ear has pretty significant tinnitus at times. I've gotten used to it and can tune it out, though I probably should see an audiologist. Maybe a hearing aid can restore some hearing in my bad ear so I can hear stereo and surround sound.

Join the club......15Khz?,,,,,,,you're concerned about frequencies ABOVE that? Normal frequency hearing range due to a non traumatic loss for the average male above 50 is approx a 10khz ceiling, a loss of all above that is considered normal, if you can still hear a 15khz sine wave you're doing good, only adolescent kids can hear as high as 16khz. I too have tinnitus in both ears, 1st the left ear 12 years ago, then the right ear developed the issue 5 years ago. The hearing aids reduce the *ringing* in the ears, & they returned my ability to hear frequencies up to 10khz. My audiogram show my hearing drops off starting at 4khz in both ears & the loss severely plummets at 6khz. If you haven't done so get your hearing tested & if need be get hearing aids, they WILL help with the tinnitus.

I'm an old fart too. Can't say I agree with your views on analog vs digital, but to be honest, sound quality is a moot point for me. Unfortunately, I've developed severe tinnitus in middle age and now suffer from profound deafness in one ear. The other still works, but seems I've got the common old age issue of having lost everything above 15kHz last I checked. Maybe worse by now. I can't even hear in stereo any more. Now when it comes to audio equipment, eye candy is more important to me. I do miss caring about sound quality and being able to hear stereo and surround sound, but nature can be cruel.

While my opinion may not matter, I’m an old fart. It’s a car! Driving for me is a pleasure! Concentrating on driving & it’s enjoyment when it’s for pleasure enhanced by a quality HU + an amp & speakers that are quality! That’s all lost in the digital world! A cassette tape, especially one recorded from vinyl trumps a CD! A CD is the next best. After that it’s just all 1&0! They can not replicate harmonic sound. They can be played loud. You can pump up the thump! But there is no separation, no nuance definition. Just blah ramblings. I have one particular song that has some very crisp detail that progressively becomes more & more muted & almost completely lost as you move up the line of supposed improvement! All transferred from the same original source, vinyl! Newer not always better! My two cents!

Thanks, I need to get one of those, especially now that I have 2 cars with coil-on-plug that an inductive timing light won't work.

A timing light can tell you that there "is" a spark, and would give a false-negative if the spark plug is fouled. WAY more effective to use a spark-tester calibrated for HEI which also tells you that the spark is strong enough while removing the vehicle spark plugs from the test protocol. There's multiple vendors, and various styles. My preferred style is like this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WZXAWK/?coliid=I3S98D7T1J0RLJ&colid=2VLYZKC3HBBDO

That's all you need is a Bluetooth receiver. I don't drive my GTP much so the AUX plug in the factory radio is fine There are plenty of AUX Bluetooth adapters available if I wanted to do that. I do like the appearance of the factory radio. All my steering wheel controls still work which is nice.

You know, the ps2 is actually more useful then you’d think, I put one in the GTP and it’s actually quite fun to mess around with while I’m waiting for someone or whatever. i agree with Chris. Leave it how it is, this car has such a huge legacy around here, hell if I had the money and you were selling it I’d so buy it, of course, IF

I can't really say. I've done it both ways from a fully functioning factory CD deck to a early 00's era 1.5 din Pioneer and period correct components. I see it both ways, sure pure stock is great and all but I kinda like when cars are a product of the time they were built in as well or even a homage to that time. I mean how many custom cars of that era still have original PS2s integrated into the dashboard As for your specific car, likely a member here would want to buy it and would probably want to continue or at least keep the vision you had for it. I say clean it up, and take some new pictures of it out and about, it was one of my favorite cars when I joined here back in 2004. Still is.

Can’t argue with that I guess

Nothing definite, but storage is expensive and I want new toys.

You’re gonna let the w-body go? I remember when I first found the site a few years back this car was the first one I saw, under one of your posts. That’d be a sad car to see go…

I`d keep it stock with a bluetooth receiver hidden away. Nothing aftermarket Ive come across matches that green retro display the factory units have.

Just the overall appearance. I’ve had aftermarket decks in the past, and while they often sound better, I prefer the factory appearance and integration you get with a factory deck. I guess because I’ve primarily had 1st gen Regals….Ive yet to come across an aftermarket setup that I think looks good in them. The Lumina and Cutlass can at least pull it off a bit better having a more normal radio setup in them.

If it consistently behaves that way and isn't intermittent, I'd recommend clipping a multimeter or test light across ground and the starter solenoid input terminal. Do the initial crank that doesn't start it, see if the light or meter shows voltage. If no or low voltage, I'd attempt to adjust the neutral safety switch. If it shows at least 12V, then it could need a new starter. I've had a starter go intermittent like that before. Probably was the solenoid, but that's not typically serviced separately (you can, but most people don't).

What makes you say that? (I have one, so Im excited to hear what makes it good!)

Factory cassette deck is my choice for any 1st gen!

I'd add and this may be controversial, but own a 88-92 car as starting 93' they started doing heaps of cost cutting measures that just got worse over time. a 90' GP has noticeably thicker sheet metal then a 96' 91-93 LQ1 cars had factory oil coolers this was later removed Earlier cars also tended to get transmission auxiliary coolers far more often as a matter of course and is basically a bolt on modification Thicker radiators on earlier cars TGP main cooling fan can be sourced from a 94-96ish 4 cyl Grand Am and has a quieter SPAL or however you say it blade. 34mm front sway bar / slightly bigger rear sway bar off LQ1 cars Cutlass strut tower brace 96' front knuckles for slightly larger discs Better brake boosters starting in about 94' they made it different and seems to be more reliable - unfortunately not compatible with manual transmission cars. 94+ rear brakes from a "it just works" point of view later fuel injectors as a whole are more reliable the gear reduction mini starters most 3100/3400 cars got later on TGP Steering racks are the thighest ratio ones offered on a gen1 w car 2.25 turns lock to lock if I recall correctly.

If going with a larger radiator then you need to pay attention to the fans going back on. I swapped to a larger one in my 3100 CS and one of the fans sat too close allowing the hub bolt to work a hole in the radiator. A few washers to space the fan back a touch work perfectly. Would a 3400 LA1 swap be considered OEM+ as well?

I'll have to dig through my old phone to see if I took pictures, but the bar itself mounts where it needs to, It's just too wide. There are large collars circling the bar where it would meet up with the stock rear bushings on the knuckle for the Monte, if you grind those down or cut a notch in the bushing you can make it work. My car has been using it for years but I don't know if it made a difference. Next time I have the rear wheels off I'll show a picture, but it isn't pretty lol. Edit: The 1.5 bar really is the exact same shape as the first gen one, you just need the monte carlo bushings. If it was a slight amount narrower it would be a perfect fit.

I've also read the Monte rear sway bar doesn't fit the leaf spring cars. Some have been able to mod it somehow, but it's not a direct bolt-on.