what problem are you having with the emergency brake? the ebrake cable usually rusts up from lack of use on the autos.

thanks for the help bad venge and dt. i'm going to pick up a used ecu tomorrow and see what that does.

is it at all likely that a bad alternator can be causing the overvoltage? i now see that the v6 alternator is rated for 110 amps, not 90. apparently the i4 is rated at 90amps. mine is putting out roughly 75 so i'm well below that.

i thought the regulator was internal to the alternator, but yeah, the chiltons states the ecu controls it. i hope this doesn't turn out to be an ecu issue.

this one has got me wondering. once a week or so while driving my cel has started flickering and the radio momentarily shuts off and turns back on. a few minutes later the battery light comes on. shut the car off and restart it and everything is fine and dandy. cel is for high charging voltage.

got about 13.8 volts at idle, battery is a couple months old. had it load tested today. everything looked fine except the alternator was putting out about 75 amps. stock is 90 as far as i can tell.
my best guess right now is that the voltage regulator on the alternator is dying..i just don't how something like that is going to occasionally stop working. i've already ordered a new alternator. any opinions. and anyone who's changed the alternator on the v6..easiest from the top or out the bottom?

no, the coilovers

once i make a cover i'll probably paint it polo green. just leave each lense red and cover the center red portion.
it's taken me so far to get to this point, i just haven't worked on them very often. at the rate i'm going now another set isn't likely.

i'm still very slowly working on these..
http://www.wctc.net/~eight/images/100_0056.jpg

matt's right. probably  a cylinder misfire that is being picked up. could be anything from plug wires to egr to distributor to god knows what. don't know how long the penisoil has been run through it, but it's unlikely that it is the root of the problem. you can pull the valve cover and inspect, but a decent quality oil will eventually purge out waht was build up. what does your oil pressure look like?

didn't say it was the problem. if you've got too much cable take it out there, but apparently you knew that..

there is a rough adjustment for the parking brake cable under the center console if you need more cable, but it's gonna move both sides together.

please explain.. what part of the suspension. there's a lot there between bushings, shocks, springs, arms etc..

that surprises me. 
congrats on the new ride.. you chose wisely.

ok

bad venge is talking about the hydraulic belt tensioner. basically a dealer only item. the timing belt kit the parts stores sell include new idler and tensioner pulleys, but not the hydraulic tensioner. just wanted to make you aware becuase a lot of people order those kits and expect to see the belt tensioner in there. the listings are a bit misleading.