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KozmoNaut
Apr 23, 2008

Happiness is a warm
Turbo Plasma Rifle


Raluek posted:

Does that mean that a supercharged late 3800 just plugs right in? :q:

My username is KozmoNaut, and I approve this message.

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Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
As posted on the last page, the harmonic balancer gave up the ghost on my yellow sedan, so I pressed the white wagon back into service. I lost my job a couple months ago, so money has been tight, with my wife being the only income, and hers isn't much. Well, the white wagon has its own problems, namely non-functional AC, and it's nearly out of fuel, so I'm putting this gold wagon on the road, since it has an indicated half tank. Toward that end, I took it on a slightly more extended drive to get a feel for what kind of shape it's in, mechanically.

I let it idle in the driveway for a couple minutes before I set off, and at a glance, the stop leak I poured into the transmission doesn't seem to have helped any. It's still just gushing out of the bellhousing, just like before. There was enough in the trans to make it drivable though, so off I went, with a short mix of city and highway to see how it behaves. It shifted through all four gears and the converter locked, which was a good sign, but as it warmed up, it became more and more reticent about shifting up from 1 to 2. This tells me that my initial diagnosis of the transmission was correct: to use a technical term, it's pooched. So I will need to get a "new" one, probably donated by the yellow sedan.

I also want to swap the driver's door from the yellow car to the gold wagon, but further inspection led me to two conclusions that tell me that might not help as much as I want it to. First, upon inspection by my brother, who is a welder, he said he was confident he could repair the torn hinge, as long as I could get the car to the shop he works for. Second, it looks like there are a couple of cut wires in the door harness inside the rubber covering where it comes out of the body and goes into the door. Not being particularly well-versed in wiring, I don't know what they're for, and they are quite difficult to get a clear picture of with the camera on my phone.

:siren: tl;dr warning! Engine nerding ahead! :siren:

Raluek posted:

Does that mean that a supercharged late 3800 just plugs right in? :q:

KozmoNaut posted:

My username is KozmoNaut, and I approve this message.

To that end, I've been doing some reading about the various permutations of the Buick V6, and I think I have found a suitable candidate for an engine swap. I have other performance-enhancing mods in mind as well, so I'm going to bounce some ideas off you all. Any input from our resident Buick engine experts would be greatly appreciated.

First things first: The stock transmission has a 3.06 differential with an overdrive chain, giving an overall 2.73 final drive. In a word, LAZY. That has to go. I will get another transmission built with, likely, a 3.33 diff and direct drive chain, since that seems to be a good match for the Buick engine's power profile and my driving style. I do mostly city driving, so having good punch off the line is vital, and a 3.33 provides MUCH better acceleration than a 2.73, and the engine will spin right at peak torque at 65 mph (a hair under 2000 rpm with stock size tires), which should provide very good highway economy. Also, the stock converter has a 1420 stall. I will replace it with an 1895 stall converter, to better match the gearing.

After that comes power. To that end, I would like to install a more potent power plant with a minimum of fuss. It seems to me that the L27 3.8L "3800 TPI" Buick V6 is probably the easiest swap candidate. Getting an additional 10 hp and 40 ft-lbs is a great improvement, in my opinion. So far, my research has indicated that it should drop back in to the Century with stock A-body mounts and run on the stock wiring and computer with only a few changes. The following will have to be retained from the LG7:
  • All accessories (I want to retain air conditioning, so the stock compressor will be unbolted and shoved aside)
  • Reluctor rings on the back of the balancer, ignition control module, and crankshaft position sensor (L27 has 3x/18x reluctor, most LG7 have 3x, although it looks like the '93 has the same 3x/18x)
  • Intake manifold and everything attached to it (most L27s have EGR, LG7 does not, for example)
  • Fuel rail and injectors
  • Exhaust components (cars with the L27 have a different downpipe location on the rear manifold than the A-body)
Nevada has rather draconian emissions laws, so I would need this to be a sleeper swap. In addition to the intake manifold from the LG7, I would need to swap the heads as well, most likely. Everything I'm reading says the L27 head, while being nearly identical to the LG7, has a 3/4" hole cast into one side of it which is used either for cooling or PCV. The sources I found aren't really clear, since no one gives a poo poo about modifying any Buick V6 except the L36 and L67. Comparison:

To make up for the likely power reduction, I will probably have the intake and heads ported and install the 1.8 rockers I linked earlier, along with slightly higher flow injectors. The injector design is shared with a few other GM engines, including the Cadillac HT V8 and turbo 3.1 used in the early W-body Grand Prix. ACCEL even sells them for the TGP in 24 and 30 pound flow rates!

Left Ventricle fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Sep 7, 2015

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
Man I forgot about the turbo grand prixs. A friend had one in high school that his dad had always kept mint. When the other kids got GTP's with a supercharged 3800 he was hounding them for races. And that little turbo kept up well with the GTP. Basically what I'm saying is you should find a turbo 3100 since I'm sure that will drop in just as easily. A bodys were like Hondas and had Many variation with little to no modification to the engine bay or motor mounts. But finding a turbo grand prix that isn't grenade thanks to cheap GM intake gaskets is impossible.

KennyLoggins
Dec 3, 2004
Welcome to the Danger Zone
Why go with the L27 when the L67 exists. Isn't there a guy with the Ciera coupe with a turbo 3800? I seem to remember reading it one of the GM car forums and that it has like 400+ hp.

Would a 3900/3500 clear the strut towers in a A Body? A LS4 would be sweet but it is probably to wide.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta

KennyLoggins posted:

Why go with the L27 when the L67 exists. Isn't there a guy with the Ciera coupe with a turbo 3800? I seem to remember reading it one of the GM car forums and that it has like 400+ hp.

Would a 3900/3500 clear the strut towers in a A Body? A LS4 would be sweet but it is probably to wide.

His username on a-body is skalor. You are correct. He dynoed 413 hp to the wheels through a 4T65 HD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NMPUP8798

As I said up above, I need the swap to be sneaky so I don't incur the wrath of the DMV when I go to have it smog tested. In Nevada, ALL cars from MY1995 all the way back to MY1968 have to be sniffed, and MY1996 and newer have to be OBD tested. The only way around that is to get "classic" registration, which gives you an emissions exemption, but the car has to be at least 25 years old and you are only permitted to drive 5000 miles or less per year. I drive 5000 miles in two months, sometimes. Nevada looks very unkindly on engine swaps of any kind, unless it's like-for-like, or you hide it.

Also, I'm not looking to make this a race car. Just something that will surprise people when they assume I'm driving grandpa's Buick, and still get decent fuel economy. That, and I want to be different. The L67 is the equivalent of an LS swap, basically.

The 3500/3900 is a Chevy design, and is physically the same size as the 3100/3400. I have pipe dream plans of doing a 3500 swap on my '96 white wagon with a 3100 upper to throw off emissions testers. The LS4 was designed for a transverse layout, and many Fiero owners have done that swap, so I don't see why it wouldn't work, but again, it wouldn't fly with the DMV, even if it is less polluting than the stock engine.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
Yep, definitely need a harmonic balancer. Click for bigger.

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
Well at least its an easy fix and not a motor knocking on heavens door. People around Chicago find these cars to be worth 1200 no matter the condition. Which means I see prestine ones that are perfect for 1200 and then ones that are 75% rust for the same price.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
Hey, here's some actual content!

A minor life crisis came up, so I don't have the money to buy the balancer right now. But that just leaves me with time to do free stuff. So I decided to put my fancy seats to use. Some of you may recall that I acquired some stuff from a 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport VR, namely the front and rear seats. I did a test fit of the front seats in my white wagon a few months back, but it's all been taking up space and collecting dust in my garage. I installed them in the yellow sedan. Click all for bigger.




So let's get started!


The front seats in these cars are held in by 13 mm nuts at each corner.





Then unhook the wires going to the power controls. This car only has power recline, but the 10-way seats are a drop-in upgrade and use the same harness.


Driver's seat out.


A little messy, but not bad.


Driver's seat back in.


Minor difference, one corner on the stock seats has two mounting points, while these buckets only use one. No worries though.


Passenger seat on its way out too.





Out.


Center console in.



Passenger bucket in.


Again, one unused mount stud.


The lower cushion in the rear is slightly tricky, but uses no fasteners. Pull up on the back, then slide the frame out of the slots.


Upper cushion has two 10 mm bolts with fender washers.



Then lift up so the frame slides out of its slots.


Both out. Still in amazing shape considering the age of the car.


Installation is the reverse of removal.




Fancy.



The gold wagon has a terrible driver's seat, so I figured I would replace both with the recently liberated seats from the yellow sedan. Passenger seat out.


What the gently caress is that?!




Close-up of the labels on the back.


I dumped the yellow seats back in and buttoned up. Nice solid two hours of work on an unseasonably cool morning (something like 72 degrees!)

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
I'm fairly sure that's an old amp for a phone. Maybe I'm wrong but I remember those being under the seat in my dads work truck that had a Motorola installed in it. I really love this thread and what you are doing to these old beautys.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Hahaha yeah that is an old 900MHz AMPS cellular phone. Funny story, we found one of those under the passenger seat of my GF's Roadmaster last week when we installed the junkyard seats I got for it. Apparently analog cellphones were somewhat of A Thing in older Buicks.

Voltage
Sep 4, 2004

MALT LIQUOR!
I would you completely crazy for fixing up these shitboxes, but I've had 4 Chevy/geo Prizms....

Good thread, Keep it up, no one else gives these things any love.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Voltage posted:

I would you completely crazy for fixing up these shitboxes, but I've had 4 Chevy/geo Prizms....

To be fair, the Prizm was a rebadged Toyota Corolla... the only things significantly different were the radio and a/c compressor.

iwentdoodie
Apr 29, 2005

🤗YOU'RE WELCOME🤗

Voltage posted:

I would you completely crazy for fixing up these shitboxes, but I've had 4 Chevy/geo Prizms....

Good thread, Keep it up, no one else gives these things any love.

Look out, guys, he likes corollas.

:v:

cursedshitbox
May 20, 2012

Your rear-end wont survive my hammering.



Fun Shoe
Hey on the L27 head, wouldn't that be EGR?

also tint your windows asap. The vegas heat is gonna kill those awesome seats in about a summer maybe two.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta

cursedshitbox posted:

Hey on the L27 head, wouldn't that be EGR?
It might be. Which is why I will use the LG7 head, since the LG7 doesn't have EGR.

cursedshitbox posted:

also tint your windows asap. The vegas heat is gonna kill those awesome seats in about a summer maybe two.
Car came to me with tinted windows. No worries there. I will probably keep it in the garage after this, once I replace the balancer.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
I went to the junkyard today and got some small things for the white wagon! Click all images to enlargen.

In their infinite wisdom, GM decided that the Century would use a strut to hold the hood up. These invariably fail after a decade, and you end up having to use a pole or ax handle or whatever to hold the hood up. The Cutlass Ciera, however, still used a proper hood prop.


And it bolts right on to the Century header panel with no fuss, no muss. The Century hood doesn't have a dedicated hole specifically for a hood prop, but there's one that works well enough in the same general area.


I also snagged this vacuum line.


It goes from the back of the intake manifold to some tiny little line that ends up controlling the HVAC blend doors. The stock one was in terrible shape, and leaked like crazy. If I accelerated briskly, or had to climb a hill, the air would stop coming out of the front of the dash and instead blow out of the defrost vents.

Original:


New one installed. It's just to the right of the alternator and the power steering hard lines.


Also, at some point, the ABS wiring on the front passenger side ripped itself apart.


So I got a new wire.


And put it on.


Definitely worth the trip.

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
I was wondering what happened to these 90s gems. Glad to see your keeping them around. I really keep trying to find a nice wagon. But the rust took them from the Midwest

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
There is an upgrade path for these cars, believe it or not. Setting aside the obvious LX9 3.5L engine swap, suspension, steering and brake parts from the U platform vans bolt on without modification. I've already done one of what I like to call the Big Three, which is the van front sway bar, on the white wagon, but I picked up another bar yesterday at the yard, and will be installing it on the yellow sedan. I will document the swap here. It's not difficult at all. I am also going to do the van brakes, which requires a laundry list of new parts, and van struts.

Other plans for this car include the aforementioned LX9 swap with some WOT-Tech goodies, like their MPG/torque cam and ported top end, a 3.33 final drive transmission from Triple Edge Performance to replace the stock 2.97, and a tuneable 1997 computer from Milzy Motorsports.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
Holy poo poo this thread is amazing, and you are amazing for collecting these cars. And SouthsideSaint is right: any one of these that moves under its own power, in any condition for any length of time, seems to go for around $1200 on craigslist around the country.

I had a 1988 Delta 88 with the Pre-series-1 3800 LN3. From what I remember, it should be a neat drop-in, engine mounts and all. Then you can put the L67 supercharger and ECM on it, and benefit from both the supercharger, and not having to deal with the two-piece intake that suffered from the infamous mid-intake gasket failures.

Whatever you do, though, replace all of the goddamn freeze plugs. Twice have I lost an engine to freeze plugs rusting out, and I lived in an area with practically no rust (drier winters, no road salt or sand, only gravel).

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
Replaced the balancer on the yellow '92 sedan, with a little assistance from a mobile mechanic. So the car runs again. But the belt is squeaking a bit. I will probably just replace it soon. I also tried to narrow down which hub needs to be swapped for a new one, but couldn't really figure it out. So I'm just gonna go with the original plan of replacing both front hubs just to be safe.

Then I spent the better part of three hours fighting a van sway bar which just would not bolt in. Every time I would get one of the brackets bolted to the control arm, the other side would be way off, like at least 1/2", and no amount of raising one arm and lowering the other would make up the difference. So I just slapped the stock bar back in.

I don't know if that is because the car is a '92 and I got the bar from a '96 van? Would that actually make a difference? Because it was not even an issue when I put a '95 van bar in the white '96 wagon. Everything lined up exactly.

Mr-Spain
Aug 27, 2003

Bullshit... you can be mine.

Left Ventricle posted:

Replaced the balancer on the yellow '92 sedan, with a little assistance from a mobile mechanic. So the car runs again. But the belt is squeaking a bit. I will probably just replace it soon. I also tried to narrow down which hub needs to be swapped for a new one, but couldn't really figure it out. So I'm just gonna go with the original plan of replacing both front hubs just to be safe.

Then I spent the better part of three hours fighting a van sway bar which just would not bolt in. Every time I would get one of the brackets bolted to the control arm, the other side would be way off, like at least 1/2", and no amount of raising one arm and lowering the other would make up the difference. So I just slapped the stock bar back in.

I don't know if that is because the car is a '92 and I got the bar from a '96 van? Would that actually make a difference? Because it was not even an issue when I put a '95 van bar in the white '96 wagon. Everything lined up exactly.

Bar could be bent.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Could be bent from a junkyard forklift, yeah. Any significant marks in the paint?

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
Can't tell, it's covered in greasy dirt. I didn't even think about it being bent. I may have to go to another yard and get another one then.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Then you'll see... that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

(are you sure the car hasn't been in an accident prior to your ownership?)

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta

kastein posted:

Then you'll see... that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.

(are you sure the car hasn't been in an accident prior to your ownership?)
I don't know. Anyone wanna run a carfax for me? :haw:

Here's a comparison picture of the stock bar from my white wagon (top) and the van bar I just bought (bottom).

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
Double postin' like a boss.

Me and the yellow sedan over the last few days:


A couple months back, the AC compressor pulley somehow came in contact with the lower radiator hose. I replaced the hose, but coolant made its way into the internals of the compressor, unbeknownst to me. After replacing the balancer, I still had some noise. I ended up tracing it fairly unequivocally to the compressor when I tested the AC and a) the clutch didn't move and b) smoke immediately began pouring off of it. $43 later a bypass pulley is in its place, which I guess is actually unnecessary on the 3.3, since the belt routing diagram sticker actually shows a non-AC routing, so I probably could have spent less on a shorter belt. Luckily it is now winter in Las Vegas, so I don't have to worry about the complete lack of air conditioning for a few months. I got a couple quotes to rebuild the whole system in the $1500-2000 range, with Firestone at the high end. They say the main reason it's so much is that it is "company policy" not to convert R12 systems to R134a, so about 20% of the bill is recharging with Freon.

Everything quieted down for a bit, then the belt started making noise again. So I yanked the belt off the gold wagon, since it's not driving right now anyway, and threw it on. The belt was quiet for about three minutes, then started shrieking again. I dealt with it for a day, then went and bought some belt dressing. Spraying that on the belt only made it angrier, and I seriously nearly sustained some hearing damage because of how loud it got. So I decided to put the old one back on. In the process of removing it, the belt got hung up on something near the balancer. Closer inspection revealed the passenger side engine mount disintegrating, causing the engine to sag enough that the belt was rubbing on the mount bracket. The old belt was quiet again though.

I drove around on a few errands for a few hours, then went to the store for dinner. As I was pulling out of the parking space to leave, there was a thump, and the battery light came on, and I suddenly no longer had power steering.



Rather than risk blowing everything up by driving it without water circulation or battery charging, I called my mother-in-law, who was at my house, and asked her to bring me the other belt so I could at least get this pig home. She showed up about an hour later with the belt, but I didn't have any tools to put it on! I ended up walking the two miles back home, getting the white wagon, and returning with the 18 mm wrench.

Upon closer inspection, it appears that the harmonic balancer I just put on has to come back off to access the top bolts for the engine mount...

Is the balancer bolt torque-to-yield? Does it have to be replaced when it comes out?

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Can't help you on the belt situation or bolt, but the AC shop is bending you the gently caress over. R12 is actually getting cheaper these days because most of the old shitboxes that need R12 are off the road so demand is back down, I don't believe it'd cost that much, period. I found a guy selling 48oz of R12 new-in-can on ebay for $115, in fact, which is a far cry from $400. Pretty sure that's more than your car needs...

The other option is to DIY it, you can buy the compressor, gauge set, cap tap, all the new AC parts, R12 (or R152a, or air duster) and other stuff for far less than 1500 and then just follow the instructions in Motronic's AC thread and come out way ahead, then fix the AC on all your other cars... and friends cars... and family's cars... for super cheap. I've got all my AC tools now, and I've fixed 3 or 4 of the family vehicles and am far far ahead of even paying the $150 recharge cost per vehicle at the local quicklube.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
I don't normally post about silly poo poo like this, but it's driving me batty. I used to have a Bluetooth FM transmitter in my white wagon, which I used for making phone calls and listening to music. It was taken by the thieves who stole my car, so I bought a cassette adapter since I can't afford anything Bluetooth at the moment. Most of the time it's fine, but more and more frequently the tape deck starts switching between forward and reverse while the adapter is in, as if it's reaching the end of a regular tape. I can't really figure out how to make it stop. Is there something I can do to either the adapter or the deck to make it behave? Or do I just have to deal with it?

Fender Anarchist
May 20, 2009

Fender Anarchist

Isn't the reverse mechanism usually tripped by load (ie tape running out and getting pulled tight, stopping the motor, which draws more current while stopped) to account for varying tape lengths? Might just need to clean out the dummy reels in the adapter so they spin freely.

Seat Safety Switch
May 27, 2008

MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.

Pillbug
Yeah sounds like the reels in the adapter are gummed up. Any increase in friction basically triggers the auto-reverse functionality.

This guy has a potential fix:
https://fallenposters.wordpress.com/2006/06/28/the-perils-of-autoreverse/

Pictures, with further dodgy hacks in the comments:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-cure-car-cassette-adapter-quotauto-revers/?ALLSTEPS

Some of the mondo cheap dollar store ones have such terrible reels that happens right out of the box. Took me awhile of buying different kinds before I found one that would work in my car.

Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Nov 14, 2015

Cached Money
Apr 11, 2010

I must've found a good one then, because I've had the same chinesium $3 one forever and it works in all cars I've tried using it in.

Has anyone tried these by the way:?

Cached Money fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Nov 14, 2015

Lightbulb Out
Apr 28, 2006

slack jawed yokel

Left Ventricle posted:

I don't normally post about silly poo poo like this, but it's driving me batty. I used to have a Bluetooth FM transmitter in my white wagon, which I used for making phone calls and listening to music. It was taken by the thieves who stole my car, so I bought a cassette adapter since I can't afford anything Bluetooth at the moment. Most of the time it's fine, but more and more frequently the tape deck starts switching between forward and reverse while the adapter is in, as if it's reaching the end of a regular tape. I can't really figure out how to make it stop. Is there something I can do to either the adapter or the deck to make it behave? Or do I just have to deal with it?

On E30s this happens because the rubber band that runs the cassette player internals breaks.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta

Cached Money posted:

Has anyone tried these by the way:?

:aaa: That's hot poo poo right there!

Seat Safety Switch posted:

This guy has a potential fix:
https://fallenposters.wordpress.com/2006/06/28/the-perils-of-autoreverse/

Pictures, with further dodgy hacks in the comments:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-cure-car-cassette-adapter-quotauto-revers/?ALLSTEPS

Some of the mondo cheap dollar store ones have such terrible reels that happens right out of the box. Took me awhile of buying different kinds before I found one that would work in my car.

I will see about this. Thanks!

KennyLoggins
Dec 3, 2004
Welcome to the Danger Zone
Those VR seats are pretty :krad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfKyFkPC8Qs

I like the Celebrity VR coupe but it needs a more potent power plant.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta

KennyLoggins posted:

Those VR seats are pretty :krad:
:hfive:

KennyLoggins posted:

I like the Celebrity VR coupe but it needs a more potent power plant.
The concept GM showed in '86 had an all-aluminum 3.3L V6 with 160 hp and a five speed manual, but apparently, when combined with the custom interior and body kit and body-color wheels, would have cost way too much. Matter of fact, the custom interior cost so much as an option, it violated Chevrolet's policy about how much an individual option could cost. I think the policy was no more than 10% of MSRP, and the VR option was like $3500 on a $16K car or something.

Some parts for the yellow sedan are on the way! I had them overnighted from Japan California probably China :( . Should be here when I get home from work tomorrow.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta

Left Ventricle posted:

Some parts for the yellow sedan are on the way! I had them overnighted from Japan California probably China :( . Should be here when I get home from work tomorrow.

Yeah, the hubs are Chinese...

Good news: the yellow sedan is road-worthy again!

Bad news: it still has all the other problems it had before. :(

In summary: I spent several hours on the car, first trying to figure out how the belt got ruined. I found out that the engine mount bracket on the passenger side, which bolts to the block behind the balancer, has a lip on it, presumably for added structural integrity. This lip appears to be just slightly longer than it actually needs to be, and the belt was coming in contact with it, which caused the destruction. I had my brother come over with a grinder and ground down the area of that lip that was contacting the belt, put on a new Gatorback belt, and all is right again!

I then moved on to the issue of the hub. I had my wife ride with me in the car a while back, trying to determine which side the horrible hub bearing noise is coming from, since it's tough to tell when you're sitting in the driver's seat. She narrowed it down to the passenger side, so I tackled that hub. I was a bit worried, since I didn't have any of the specialty tools the repair manual recommended, but they ended up being completely unnecessary. Everything came apart and went back together pretty easily. A test drive on the highway, and all is quiet. The driver's side hub does not need to be changed at this time.

I also replaced the lug nuts, since they're cheap, and for the first time on any car I've owned, I torqued them on with my new 1/2" torque wrench. I put them to 105 ft-lbs on the rear wheels, and the right front with the new hub. I did not replace the left fronts, since I broke a stud a while back, and will probably end up breaking more later. I picked up some more lug studs, and will probably slap some on tomorrow.

Left Ventricle
Feb 24, 2006

Right aorta
Triple posting (like a boss).

I replaced the vacuum line going from the charcoal canister to the throttle body on the yellow car, and it idles a hell of a lot better now. It still is hard to start, even after a new fuel pump and pressure regulator. I'm gonna have to do some troubleshooting on that. A quick search of a-body.net says it could be a bad throttle position sensor, a dirty mass air flow sensor, or an injector on its way out. Good places to start. Any other input is appreciated, even though I know it's difficult to diagnose driveability issues over the internet.

The white wagon took a dump on me though. I was out an about last Tuesday, and the transmission suddenly started slipping. I wasn't far from home, so I turned around to return there. Within a half mile, the transmission had leaked out enough fluid to not go into gear anymore. I pushed it home with the yellow car and help from my wife, and have been so disgusted I haven't even thought about digging into it to find out what the gently caress. A very cursory glance underhood revealed trans fluid coating the driver's inner CV boot and plenty on the transmission end cover. I've never heard of one of these 4T60E transmissions having an explosive loss of fluid before.

As for the gold wagon, which was the original subject of this thread, the mother-in-law has decided that it should not be resurrected, and instead picked clean of any parts I can find useful for the other two cars, then junked. The tires alone are worth at least the $200 she paid for the car, so anything else, including whatever Pic-A-Part will give us for the carcass, is just icing. Alternator, injectors, fuel tank, instrument cluster, radio, wheels and tires, suspension, tailgate glass, seats, door handles, etc. are just what I can think of off the top of my head to put to immediate or near-future use.

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
Your 4t60e is probably leaking from the axle seal. And as for the white car having issues with starting I would definitely check the fuel filter if not already done. And I love every time you update this thread. So many good memory's had in the back of a cutlass or century a body. Also my first accident was in a 88 of the same vintage.

Raluek
Nov 3, 2006

WUT.

SouthsideSaint posted:

Your 4t60e is probably leaking from the axle seal. And as for the white car having issues with starting I would definitely check the fuel filter if not already done. And I love every time you update this thread. So many good memory's had in the back of a cutlass or century a body. Also my first accident was in a 88 of the same vintage.

Was your first accident also a good memory in the back seat?

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kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Accidents in the back seat cause babies, babies in the back seat cause accidents.

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