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thats fantastic... very very impressive...creative and imaginative...
but thats only how i see the industry going to not have to stock a warehouse the size of 5 monster 747 planes side by side
as those 3d printers get faster and faster if an order comes in it gets processed and with automation growing rapidly it might just get the order and go into a queue...when a 3d printer becomes available if a mfg has a dozen or more of them it might just start printing the part right from the inbound order software and print the part and print a label of who iits for and where to be shipped and someone grabs it once done checks it for imperfections and wraps it boxes it slaps the label on it and a conveyor takes it to the loading dock to get shipped and out it goes so from order to finished completed printing of it and oiut the door in a few to 24 hours and delivered in a few days instead of having to poay for warehouse the size of a stadium filled with bazillions of parts for tons of different cars and models and years....
your "inventory" is a server of files able to be printed so no need to have 8 or 10 of aomething waiting for someone to buy it...no inventory at all or just things that are super popular that sell 100 a day but example was the door panels...if they make a dozen door panels and stock them and it takes 4 years to sell all 12...they p ay for warehousing thrm for all that time vs. No inventory and just print on demand when an order comes in and badda bing out your part goes with a warehouse 1/20th the size so less overhead more profit quicker turn around time and no parts degrading over time sitting on shelves getting crushed with other parts stacked on top and so on and on...
thats how i think modern manufacturing of some parts types will be in our future...
now pressed stamped steel body panels and things of that nature...... i guess will continue as thry are but on the 4th gen fbodies only the shell is metal...front bumper covers are that poly styrene or neoprene mix like synthetic plastic rubber stuff....fendera are plastic...door skins are plastic the hoop over the drivers head and behind the t tops is fiberglass i think and back bumper cover is same poly material as the front ...side mirrors are plastic or fiberglass the hoods are fiberglass if you have a WS-6 or SS and are metal for standard birds/camaros
my front license plate cover was plastic for my black trans am and fiberglass for my white WS-6
not sure why....never seen a fiberglass one before but ........
thats what i see for the future of a lot of parts and pieces and a big home printing segment will evolve as 3d printing technology gets faster...more efficient and less expensive for printers that can print things upwards of 3 to 4 feet your just about unlimited what you can print for yourself like any technology as time goes on it becomes faster and less expensive.
hell you can get a 75 inch 4k smart tv these days for 750 bucks...5 years ago that would have run you about 7500 to 12 grand...
just natural evolution of technology in the market place.
98-2002 door panels keep cracking, they all crack! save yourself!!!
The sounds from the 99-02 Torsen differentials never has a solution. Plan on buying a 9" rear end when you have the money, they still sell them in the future and with more options too!
98-2002 4703/4701 headlights still suck, no one will come up with anything better in the future.
Protect your dash and interior panels from the sun. Folks who did this still have nice interiors!
The good
Your LS engine is still a sweet motor. GM will make another V8 that's even better but for most of us it's not worth it.
Your 4th gen's starter does not catch on fire, yay!
Future 6 speed manual shift levers are not directly connected to the transmission, instead there is linkage, nothing to brag about when compared to your directly connected level in your 4th gen
Just about all cars in the future have terrible rear window visibility compared to your 4th gen, consider yourself ready for the future!
Music CD's are dead and instead these new phones today that you see geeks and nerds using like the iPhone and Android, by 2016 you will too will have a "smart phone", not only that but they will be built into the cars stereo too! Don't worry, by 2020 they will have affordable 2 DIN big screen units that will fit in your 4th gen that you can add a backup camera to, and some don't even require you to cut the inside lower dash!
Lastly, the Chicago Cubs win the world series in 2016. Bet accordingly, the proceeds should pay for a new rear diff and spare door panels.
^^^ Another thing to add to your list.
If you like the 'stock', 16" tires, choices are really slim with only 1 Made in USA. BFG is it. Even Coopers are made in China now.
The original 245/50-16 tire size slim pickings does suck. Better recommendation may be get some aftermarket rims and keep your originals for when it is time to take it back to stock.
Music CD's are dead and instead these new phones today that you see geeks and nerds using like the iPhone and Android, by 2016 you will too will have a "smart phone", not only that but they will be built into the cars stereo too! Don't worry, by 2020 they will have affordable 2 DIN big screen units that will fit in your 4th gen that you can add a backup camera to, and some don't even require you to cut the inside lower dash!
Except me. 10 years later, I still have a dumb (flip) phone, still listen to CDs in my 4th gen, and would be more likely to gouge out my own eyes with a rusty screwdriver than to put some double DIN touchscreen/camera monstrosity in my 4th gen.
FWIW, CDs are not dead; they can still be purchased new with relative ease online. On the other hand, usable cassettes (and especially 8-track) are in fact getting pretty hard to come by.
Headlights
There are better 4703/4701 headlights. Get the LMC Truck housings and install upgraded bulbs or LED (there are threads on this). One company also started selling a fully LED version of the 4701 Low beam (there is a thread on this), but I haven't seen a comparison between it and other options (most of these LED housings aren't that great or are wrong size, but this one company had something that looked promising).
I've retrofitted HID Projectors on my Formula.
Tires
I just checked TireRack and they have General G-Max RS in the 16" size. I have the 17" version on my Formula. General is owned by Continental and the tires are generally made in Europe.
RPM WS6 I was just being funny about the CD's and such please do not take offence.
VIP1, You are right we are getting closer to a better headlight, again was just trying to be funny talking to the future.
As for tires, there are Kuhmo tires also in our size not sure where they are made but that is a south Korea brand not a North Korea/China brand. Growing up near Akron I don't think they have made tires there since the 90's, at least all the smells and smog are gone. I remember driving through and sometimes you swear the fog was touching your skin and the smell was nearly unbearable. As much as I like things made in America tires may be best made elsewhere. Akron is a plastics town now.
I am also wrong on tires made in Akron, Goodyear and Firestone still produce racing tires. Firestone makes them for indycar, Goodyear is making tires for nascar.
Oh wow I just nerded out reading about tires, apparently many companies make tires in the USA in most southern states now and some here in Ohio and other Midwest states. Most are from Cooper and Goodyear, but was surprised to see Michelin, Continental, and Yokohama have factories here. BFGoodrich is a Michelin brand. You can get the DOT code from your tire to see what factory it was made in: https://allamericanreviews.com/best-tires/
RPM WS6 I was just being funny about the CD's and such please do not take offence.
No offense taken at all, I was just having fun too! I know that a lot of folks like to modernize their 4th gens with newer tech, there is certainly a market for that, I'm just not one of them. I look at older cars as an escape from the overwhelming gadgetry of the latest transportation appliances, so to retrofit that into an older car would create, for me, the worst of both worlds. But this hobby is, as always, about personal preference - so to each his own.
I don't know what the hang up is. We won't be needing tires very longer.
BTW - I will also be continuing to use my fully-owned and fully-licensed CD's in the future. You all will have to rip them out of my cold dead hands...
No offense taken at all, I was just having fun too! I know that a lot of folks like to modernize their 4th gens with newer tech, there is certainly a market for that, I'm just not one of them. I look at older cars as an escape from the overwhelming gadgetry of the latest transportation appliances, so to retrofit that into an older car would create, for me, the worst of both worlds. But this hobby is, as always, about personal preference - so to each his own.
I like to preserve the original look, but add new tech where possible. I have a factory cassette with CD changer. The changer died years ago. I picked up a battery powered bluetooth receiver in a cassette format that lets me pop that cassette into the deck and then play anything on my phone via bluetooth.
I'm thinking about getting an iPod or Bluetooth adapter for the CD Changer interface so I can use that instead. I really don't want to change the look of the dash by going with a double-DIN setup.
I kept the original radio. The previous owner luckily kept the original radio and must have pulled it out in 2002 when he put an amp and subwoofer in the car as the radio is in mint condition. He had a Pioneer CD player in there with the labels on the buttons rubbing off, it was getting annoying to deal with. I got this Sony 2dn 7" Android Auto / Apple Car Play receiver and added a backup camera. The guts are in the upper half which meant I did not have to cut anything out from the bottom of the dash. I didn't cut up any factory wiring either, luckily the previous owner didn't also except for 1 splice he made for triggering his subwoofer relay. I also have the steering wheel controls working too, you can wire into it from the metra pigtail, you just need a 2nd pigtail to get an extra pin for it.
11-27-2020, 04:55 PM
I know that a lot of folks like to modernize their 4th gens with newer tech, there is certainly a market for that, I'm just not one of them. I look at older cars as an escape from the overwhelming gadgetry of the latest transportation appliances, so to retrofit that into an older car would create, for me, the worst of both worlds. But this hobby is, as always, about personal preference - so to each his own. 
