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Anti-archive bump. Cooling fans still don't work after replacing both relays and both motors. Transmission is still a manual Powerglide. Without 4th gear or torque converter lock, the car is getting 17 mpg, which is objectively poo poo. Just biding my time until that sweet sweet tax refund drops. Then the fun will start. I'm considering changing the starter. It is currently running the stock (replacement) starter from the old 3.1, which has that old school sound, but requires more power to turn than the "high-torque" starter the 3.5 is equipped with. I think I'm going to switch to a high-torque unit. The mounting and wiring are the same, and I found one on fleabay for like $33, which is about half the price of the cheapest one on Rock Auto, and WAY cheaper than Vatozone. The reason I didn't change the starter to the new one is because I don't really care for the sound the new units make. Sounds... foreign. UnAmerican. But if it uses less battery power, so be it.
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Feb 4, 2018 03:52
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| # ? May 17, 2024 16:23 |
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Still running the possibly bad PCM?
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Feb 4, 2018 12:21
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Still running the possibly bad PCM?
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Feb 5, 2018 00:21
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A lot of bullshit occurred over the last week with my fleet of hundred-year-old men. Tuesday morning, popped #3 spark plug out of the wagon when accelerating to get on the highway going in to work. That's a paddlin'. Then my backup car (yellow sedan) needed "new" ignition coils/module and a mass air flow sensor in order to run in any meaningful way. That was a frustrating $50 at the yard considering I replaced the ignition components last summer with new parts. I think the MAF has been a persistent issue since I bought the car 2.5 years ago though. It's running better than it ever has. Also had the wheels rebalanced to eliminate the highway shakes. It's great now.  Since I don't feel like trying to helicoil a firewall-side spark plug hole on a transverse V6, I got quoted ~$260 at a shop, which I consider to be fairly reasonable. That'll occur when there's more than two nickels to rub together in the budget. And just to break up the monotony of me posting walls of text, here's the yellow sedan with the Eurosport VR wheels on it. 
Left Ventricle fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Feb 13, 2018 |
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Feb 13, 2018 04:49
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Poor George.  Did you change the plugs when you got the engine, or just toss it in as-is? I didn't know GM had been taking lessons from Ford's 4.6/5.4 engines.
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Feb 13, 2018 07:55
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I did change the plugs before installing the engine, but probably shouldn't have. The ones that came out were fine. The #3 that blew out was cross-threaded, I'm almost certain. The threads in the head are gone.
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Feb 13, 2018 19:31
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Left Ventricle posted:I did change the plugs before installing the engine, but probably shouldn't have. The ones that came out were fine. The #3 that blew out was cross-threaded, I'm almost certain. The threads in the head are gone. Well, that’s a pisser. Eh, just JB Weld it back in, eh?
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Feb 13, 2018 20:14
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You can helicoil a head, I'm sure.
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Feb 13, 2018 20:24
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Seat Safety Switch posted:You can helicoil a head, I'm sure. Absolutely, but his is on the firewall side head on a transverse V6, and I imagine he’s not done it before. Ain’t no one got time for that!
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Feb 14, 2018 00:07
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Darchangel posted:Absolutely, but his is on the firewall side head on a transverse V6, and I imagine he’s not done it before. Ain’t no one got time for that! pull the dogbone mount(torque strut) and either ratchet strap the engine forward or use the parking pawl to your advantage to lever the engine forward.
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Feb 14, 2018 21:08
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cursedshitbox posted:pull the dogbone mount(torque strut) and either ratchet strap the engine forward or use the parking pawl to your advantage to lever the engine forward. I'm up for it, but it ain't my car. Reminds me I need to take a look at the wife's Kia, though. It's got axle hop wit some thumping if you get too aggressive with acceleration sometimes. I've just done the struts and control arms, so I'm thinking it's the big lower engine mount rubber done gone.
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Feb 14, 2018 22:29
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Holy poo poo you guys, I had a revelation today. So I was with my brother at the junkyard, where I'm sure most of us have their best ideas pop into existence. We were talking cars, as you do. We walked past the carcass of an A-body (G-body) LeMans wagon, like this one:  And it came to me, like a flash. Just put the gold wagon on a G-body wagon frame! Then I could use off-the-shelf G-body parts for my rear drive conversion. There's only like a 3 inch difference in wheelbase between the two! (108.1" G-body vs. 104.9" A-body) Chop that frame! Or maybe extend the fenders! Terrible idea, or best idea? How hard could it be? Alternatively, I could just start with a G-body wagon as the base instead of this fool's errand, but what would the fun be in that?
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Mar 25, 2018 07:22
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That wagon is cool! Do something with it. Don't feel bad about your 17mpg economy, I'm only getting 19mpg in my 2.5L i6 with 5spd auto bmw e34 for some reason, and that's only making sure I get a couple of freeway runs in per week to raise it from the city cycle 15mpg. It's a loving heavy 1500kg and pitiful torque so stop start driving kills economy
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Mar 25, 2018 11:23
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As having had a Buick Eurosport Wagon and Buick Type T in the family - let'er rip!
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Mar 26, 2018 01:12
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I saw a guy this week that had an early 90s Century with a late 80s 6000 front clip on it. I've always been amused at how Lego-like GMs of that era were...and yet weren't.
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Mar 26, 2018 01:21
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Left Ventricle posted:Holy poo poo you guys, I had a revelation today. That wagon in the picture is basically a GTO so do it.
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Mar 26, 2018 02:57
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extreme_accordion posted:As having had a Buick Eurosport Wagon and Buick Type T in the family - let'er rip! Hell yeah. I used to roll around in a B-Body '84 Olds wagon and it was hilariously fun.
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Mar 26, 2018 05:47
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I'm a fan of Ben Meissner's Pumpkinator:   http://www.chevyhardcore.com/features/car-features/battle-wagon-ben-meissners-1979-olds-cutlass-cruiser/ Build thread: http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/80582-Pumkinator-A-G-Body-G-Machine-grocery-getter His son's "Coppertop" is cool, too.  Unfortunately, it had a run-in with an inattentive driver. 
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Mar 26, 2018 23:00
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I spent 47 minutes on the phone with Mike Miller, and went ahead and ordered another PCM from him. I've done everything I can to resolve all the issues on this car, but nothing is working. The most pressing is the lack of a functioning cooling fan. Summer arrives soon in Vegas, and while it's fine right now to blast the heater to keep the engine cool in traffic, that's not something I want to have to do again in summer. He said he would get right on it and try to have it two-day shipped out tomorrow or Friday. So I should have it by Monday at the latest. We also went over steps I could take to coax some more performance out of the engine, since he agrees with most people I talk to that a 17 second quarter mile ET is not really where the car should be. The biggest bottleneck is, of course, exhaust. I am running the full stock exhaust for the 3.1 that I yanked. The downpipe is the choke point, in his opinion. Something like that should get it breathing better and drop some time, and maybe even return a little better fuel economy. Next would be a 59 mm throttle body and a ported upper intake. Then a 3.33 transmission. All things I plan to do, but I want my car to work right again first. 
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Mar 28, 2018 22:14
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Left Ventricle posted:I spent 47 minutes on the phone with Mike Miller, and went ahead and ordered another PCM from him. I've done everything I can to resolve all the issues on this car, but nothing is working. The most pressing is the lack of a functioning cooling fan. Summer arrives soon in Vegas, and while it's fine right now to blast the heater to keep the engine cool in traffic, that's not something I want to have to do again in summer. He said he would get right on it and try to have it two-day shipped out tomorrow or Friday. So I should have it by Monday at the latest. You're going to pick up a ton with that exhaust. Also I'd splice in a manual switch and a relay for the fan.
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Mar 29, 2018 02:56
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Why does that wagon not have curb feelers on it? It needs them. It's just one of those things that era of wagon had to have.
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Mar 29, 2018 16:29
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drat. Kurten shows up in an AI thread.
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Mar 29, 2018 16:47
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Same Kimbo av, a classic.
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Mar 29, 2018 17:00
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 Looks like the forums saved the old title images. Christ, they lose nothing, do they? Hi and how ya been?  Edit: AI creeping on what? 16 years old or something like that now? Yikes. Kurten fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Mar 29, 2018 |
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Mar 29, 2018 17:09
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Hi internet. I have an old car and I fix things on it. Today's adventure involves suspension components! Isn't that exciting? First up, something that I have alluded to but not implemented in the way I'm doing it: installing van struts on a car! Instead of messing around with changing springs and whatnot, I just went ahead and bought quick struts for a van and slapped them on. They fit just like stock without modification. Part number 171820, available from a couple different manufacturers under that number. (Car struts are 171771) Applications: U-body, 1990-1996. Old and busted vs. new hotness.  I had a helper: my oldest daughter. She did really well for not ever having touched a wrench before.  Work in progress. Doing a quick strut change on this car is dead simple. Three bolts up top on the tower, two on the knuckle. Don't mind the collapsed CV boot, it worked itself back out.  Then we moved on to the rear. FACE DOWN rear end UP THAT IS HOW WE  Again, old and busted vs. new hotness. I am installing variable rate springs in the rear, Moog CC632. Application: A-body and X-body, all years, apparently.  Before I tore everything apart. Stone-simple torsion beam suspension. Nothing fancy.  Passenger side out. This involved unbolting the shock and lowering the axle. I suppose you could undo the control arm as well, but I didn't think of that until well after I was done.  "Installation is the reverse of removal." Installation proved to be a bit more difficult. Here's me bouncing on the axle while my daughter jams the spring back in.  Driver's side installed.  I kicked myself for not taking pictures of it so you all can laugh nervously at me, but I did something that you probably shouldn't when stuffing the driver's spring in. I couldn't get the axle to come down far enough just by applying my own body weight to it, so I got the screw jack out of the back of the car and used that to press down on it by raising it against the body while sitting on the top of the axle. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I probably could have got it to drop if I unbolted the track bar. But, you know, if it's stupid but it works... All done.  IMPRESSIONS First off, even through an image, ride height has been altered noticeably. It was weird the first couple times I reached to open the door and missed the handle because it was higher up than I expected. You sort of get used to stuff like that after five years of owning the same car. Second, ride quality is greatly improved. The seasickness is all but gone. Third, handling is greatly improved. Body roll is diminished. Fourth, diving under braking is reduced. Overall, I would recommend this upgrade. Once I wear out my current set, I will probably put on some van size tires as well. Left Ventricle fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Apr 11, 2018 |
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Apr 11, 2018 22:35
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Get that poor girl some sunscreen holy poo poo that makes my skin hurt
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Apr 11, 2018 23:05
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iwentdoodie posted:Get that poor girl some sunscreen holy poo poo that makes my skin hurt She was wearing some, she just burns that easily.
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Apr 11, 2018 23:20
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Wrong thread. 
meatpimp fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Apr 11, 2018 |
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Apr 11, 2018 23:31
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Seminal Flu posted:gently caress the steaming pile of cancer that is YouTube targeted to kids. Gotta be wrong thread
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Apr 11, 2018 23:34
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iwentdoodie posted:Gotta be wrong thread Totally wrong loving thread. Sorry, Left Ventricle, keep doing cool stuff with Centuries. 
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Apr 11, 2018 23:37
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Double I suck. 
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Apr 11, 2018 23:37
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Seminal Flu posted:Totally wrong loving thread. Sorry, Left Ventricle, keep doing cool stuff with Centuries. We're only human. To be human is to make mistakes. Glad to know you were in my thread though. Thanks for stopping by, bud.
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Apr 12, 2018 00:00
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Left Ventricle posted:We're only human. To be human is to make mistakes. Glad to know you were in my thread though. Thanks for stopping by, bud. Heh, I've read this thread from ground floor. It's part of what makes AI AI.
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Apr 12, 2018 13:20
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You legit need to bring one of those out to zip tie drags one of these years.
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Apr 13, 2018 05:10
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IOwnCalculus posted:You legit need to bring one of those out to zip tie drags one of these years. Neither car was fit this year, for a variety of reasons. Hopefully the wagon will be ready in time for next year's. Slowest car on the track! Guaranteed or your money back! 
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Apr 13, 2018 05:32
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Left Ventricle posted:Neither car was fit this year, for a variety of reasons. Hopefully the wagon will be ready in time for next year's. Slowest car on the track! Guaranteed or your money back! We had a guy run a rascal scooter once. It started getting slower the further he went, and they had to restart the clock a few times because it locks up at 59 seconds. IIRC it was like 2:30 @ 10 mph.
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Apr 14, 2018 03:31
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Howdy guys. The last couple of weeks have been fun. First and most important, The wagon rolled to 200k miles! I also did some long-put-off repairs. One of the bolts holding the EGR to the intake backed out, probably almost immediately after being installed way back when, so I've had an EGR leak for forever. Doing a helicoil on it probably would have involved pulling the upper intake, so I just decided to swap it with another one I had lying around. Old one on the right, "new" one on the left. Because I still give a poo poo about my sleeper appearance, I ground off the "3400 SFI" on the replacement manifold. The LG8 and LA1 uppers are physically identical aside from the branding.  Disassembled.  Action shot of me torquing the manifold back down.  Then it was time for the PCM. I ordered a new one from Milzy. On my car, it's behind the glove box. Pulling the passenger seat makes accessing it a bit easier, so I went ahead and pulled both seats and my wife volunteered to clean up for me.  The symptoms I was hoping to fix with the PCM swap were the cooling fans not turning on on their own and the transmission not shifting at all. Unfortunately for me and my wallet, the new PCM did not alter the behavior. It ended up being a popped fuse for the quad driver module that was the culprit the entire time.  With that replaced the fans turned on and the transmission had all its gears again.Now for the bad news. The converter won't lock up (which is what the SES light in the 200k image is for, P0740) and the trans sometimes does not like to 1->2 shift. It's in bad shape. So I'm going to have to swap it again. My fault, of course, so I only have myself to be angry at. I will contact Mike Miller on Monday to see it he'd be willing to work with me about at least a partial refund on the PCM, but if not, again, oh well. Git gud at diagnostics scrub. ALSO, I don't only pay attention to the wagon. The sedan got some love too. I attended the Malaize Daze car show in El Segundo on Saturday, and took the sedan to it. The show was run by the Malaise Motors Facebook group, and was for cars from the malaise era. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's defined as the period between when emissions and fuel economy regulations were instituted and the introduction of OBD2, so 1972-1995. The sedan is a 1992, so it was eligible. It needed to be tarted up a bit, of course. Here's where I started.  My wife and mother washed the exterior and did a decent job. I would be, again, pulling the seats and cleaning the interior and swapping the Celebrity wheels for stock steels and covers. Steels reinstalled.  Covers on.  Seats out. My mom liked to keep a putter in the car as a becoo stick.     Vacuumed and looking civilized again.     Then I tackled the decades of nasty rear end human skin goop crusted on the armrests. They're easily removable on these cars, which eliminates the need to sit out in the hot sun rubbing at them. Here's me with a sink full of hot soap scrubbing the everloving life out of them.  Boxer supervising to make sure I did it correctly.  Then it was time to hit the road. At 2:30 am. The drive was uneventful, which is always nice. The car returned 31 miles per gallon, an impressive showing. Highway gears (2.73) with a .70 overdrive and peak torque at 2000 rpm will do that. There was quite the variety of vehicles at the show. There were a few repeats, but everything else was unique. Here is a list of the cars, in no particular order (the order that I photographed them):
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Apr 30, 2018 03:59
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Part of me wonders if the Corsica I borrowed a few times would have not been a hateful piece of poo poo if it hadn't been utterly abused before I ever got my hands on it... but I think the answer to that question is "no, still poo poo".
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Apr 30, 2018 04:03
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IOwnCalculus posted:Part of me wonders if the Corsica I borrowed a few times would have not been a hateful piece of poo poo if it hadn't been utterly abused before I ever got my hands on it... but I think the answer to that question is "no, still poo poo". That particular Corsica was "historically significant". It was one of the preproduction units that got sent out to rental and press fleets. Build date of Feb '87.
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Apr 30, 2018 04:13
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Left Ventricle posted:The car returned 31 miles per gallon 
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Apr 30, 2018 04:32
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