Some New 2000 Pics!

[SSEiMan01]

That Dex looks nastay!
Nice work!

[Bvill_GXP]

Looking good!! I really like the SSEI bonnevilles!! again, im thinking about getting a 2nd Bonneville!!!

[00Beast]

Looks good bud.

Yes, pour a quart or 2 of oil down the valley, and drain the oil ASAP.

LIM looks a little worse than mine did, nice work on cleaning it up.

[Z-type]

Thanks guys...the DEX even has a different consistency...it's weird stuff. Mine looks darker than it should be. Obviously it was old.

And yeah I was surprised my LIM was that funky. Even the casting from my '95 L67 in my Lesabre isn't that bad. Thanks though! I haven't really driven the car far enough to see if cleaning the throttle body/supercharger inlet/LIM porting helped but throttle response is definitely snappier!


Everything is running fine and the bubbles are mostly out of the coolant system, but I didn't escape without problems. I have a vacuum leak at the EGR port on the LIM. Any ideas on fixes? Maybe I'm not searching right but a search on the site didn't turn much up.

Thanks everyone. A few more pics for fun, later on this evening.

EDIT: Found a post from Willwren. He suggested in that particular post to use red RTV. Since the tube on my EGR isn't cracked is it safe to assume I can use the red type of RTV to help plug the EGR port?

[00Beast]

I'd use it around the collar of the EGR tube where it goes into the LIM, to seal it there. Have you checked for cracks? You want the Ultra Copper RTV, as it has the highest heat rating, IIRC.

[Z-type]

Ah the copper stuff...makes sense. And yes, no cracks in the tube. That's all good there.

[Z-type]

OK, an update finally on the car situation. I ended up having some of the red RTV already unopened, so I used it and so far so good! Now my boost/vac gauge is nice and steady. More pics real quick:

New AC Delco aluminum gaskets. If you've never handled these before, they're heavy lol. It's weird.




New shiny-ish and clean LIM back on, new gasket and O-rings of course.


Shined up the thermostat housing just because I could .


Flushed the system (more on this in a minute...) and now we have a nice green color in the coolant overflow.


Everything buttoned up...sweet.



Anyway, what ended up happening with the coolant was a little irriating to me. I did the reverse flush as per Bill Buttermore's writeup, but apparently there was quite a bit of DEX hiding somewhere in the system. About 20 miles after the new coolant was put in, the coolant overflow was orange-ish again. I don't know where I went wrong, but i did a second flush today and all seems well now. I changed the oil a second time as well and everything looked nice a clear when the other oil came out. No traces of old DEX.

Other than that, cleaning the throttle body and supercharger inlet made a HUGE difference in throttle response. Takes zero effort to get going. Not that it was bad before, but now it's like gold . As far as the LIM/head porting goes, there's a noticeable (but not large) difference in the mid range power...around 3,000 RPM seems noticeable stronger. I'm very please with that. Again, not a significant improvement, but definitely worth it!

[Liability]

Thats a great looking bonneville!! i want an all black SSEI so bad.... that motor looks clean :D

if thats your dex-cool after 6000 miles (i think you said) i would hate to see mine at 100k,

[Z-type]

Thanks! And the engine isn't as clean as I'd like, but it's also still Winter. Once Spring is here and here to stay, I'll make it even nicer. And keep in mind the plastic gaskets had the 6,000 miles on them - I have NO idea how old the Dex was. Probably mostly original crap.

I'm just glad it's gone. One more oil change on Saturday for peace of mind and Ill be satisfied!

[Z-type]

Alright guys...

My paranoia got the best of me and so I'm dropping the oil pan tomorrow to do a bottom end inspection and see what's left inside the oil pan as far as coolant (if any) .

I know I have to support the engine from above because of the oil pan/engine mount, but are there any other hints I should know? I have the car up on ramps so I have space to work.

Thanks everyone!

[myfirstbonnie]

I would not worry about dropping the pan. After a 100 miles or so, just change the oil and filter again. I am also curious why you did not change the coolant elbows. Those are another known leak point.

[Z-type]

Yeah I went with you on that one. I just let the oil drain for about an hour (overkill), plugged it, put some el cheapo 5w-30 in there that I had lying around, drained it for an hour again, and filled 'her back up with a new filter.

As for the coolant elbow, I was in the middle of the job when I noticed the recall on the Dorman elbows. I couldn't find any metal ones so I took the risk and let my old elbow stay :( .

[RogueSSEi]

Looks good! I'm a sucker for black Bonny's!

[Z-type]

Haha thanks Rogue. I keep going back to look at your pics every once in a while . The '92-'95's are my favorite, but yours is close enough .

SPRING CLEANING. This is what the order of the day was (well, this morning anyway) . The outside of the car was already nice and shiny (except the tires, which I fixed later), but the inside needed done badly. Of course, dirty for me is usually sparkling clean for normal people, but I digress.

I love my cleared tail lights...


Time for the car to get intimate with the ShopVac.


Before I started anything though, I got rid of these (finally)...


And this...


Everything got vacuumed, I spot-shampoo'd the carpet, and put the more desirable floor mats down. Might not look like it, but the dash and center console still aren't 'clean', to me.


I got to use one of my Christmas presents for the first time. I heard it does wonders, I can't wait to see what it'll do for my old T-type seats!


Finished product! Hopefully it stays this nice for a while.


Rotated the tires, put some Armorall Ultra Shine on them and went hmmm. As you all know, when there's a photo op, we take it. Bad lighting, still nice pics IMO.










Since it's time to get the toys out for the Spring, I spent a little while changing the oil in these 4 cars.


Then I realized I didn't have filters for the '73 GS or the Regal T-type so I just did these two, since I drive them the most.


After all that noise, I spent the rest of the day in the 'working' garage, fixing up some L67 stuff on my Lesabre, then fixing the glove box latch in the Reatta.



Ok so I got off topic from my original post, but I don't think you guys mind .

[bonniegirl]

Love all the pics! My first car was an 85 Buick Regal T-Type

How did you change the color on your Pontiac emblem?

[WhiteArrow3800]

She looks great!!! Nice work! I can vouch for the Lexol/Vinylex products too!

[wake]

Car Porn FTW!

i wish i had a garage with those kind of toys in it

[SSEiMan01]

LOVE THEM ALL!!!

I say we need to get my 01 and your 00 in a photoshoot some day.

[Z-type]

Thanks everyone! You guys are the best .

Bonnegirl - My emblem was coming un-stuck somehow anyway, so I pulled it all the way off and re-taped it. I masked off the chrome and shot it with satin black paint .

Booze - Jrs3800 said it would take a few applications to really soften up the leather to a noticeable difference, how often would you say I should apply this stuff? I don't want to do it too often and ruin the seats.

Lucas - If you ever make it out my way you can drive annnnnnnny of them that you want! As long as I'm in the passenger seat .

Will - I'd like to get in a photoshoot with ANY other Bonneville. As I mentioned before in another post, it would be a haul, but totally worth it! Ours would look cool together - simply black and white!

[SSEiMan01]

It'd be like Piano keys! Black and Ivory!

You make it out here, you can take The Demon for a spin.

Can I come with Lucas to your place? We usually trek together anyway...lol I'd love to see that garage and those cars...Love me a LeSabre.