The $2,500 GXP, running again!

[nos4blood70]

I love the faygo bottle chillin in there. Mmmm, faygo....

Used to have that stuff at school. It wasn't half bad to be honest.

Anywho. Nice job Ryan. Can't wait to see that thing running again.

[Bvill_GXP]

wow your the sand/polish king!!! Can't wait to see it pics of it running again!!

[Bing]

Were going to have to start calling you Mr. Miyagi (wax on, wax off).

We need to at least get you a concrete pad (roughly car size) to work on.

[crash93ssei]

Engine is back in and bolted up just have to get all the rest of it back together.

Torque converter bolts
Exhaust
Steering linkage
Wiring
A/C compressor
Alternator
Re-assemble the front end

Seems like a lot of work, but not nearly as bad as the hard part of actually pulling and installing the engine itself

[crash93ssei]

Finally back up and running! Had to pull the engine back out yesterday to swap the rear manifold that was bent, but now it is back together and running!

Letting it idle right now and gonna let it sit a while doing so, the engine hasn't ran in four years so giving it some time to get everything used to running and temperature changes before driving it. No leaks, a little noise in the first couple minutes and a miss that went away, now it is running very smooth and quiet

Now just have to put the radiator top support, header panel, bumper and cover on then bleed the brakes and good to go!

[yonkerss]

Awesome! Congrats!!!

How many hours do you think you have into the swap?

[crash93ssei]

I have no idea how many hours, I would figure maybe 25.

Got it about ready to go now, just have to slap the front bumper cover on and the headlights then finish bleeding the brakes.

Oh yea... about those brakes... The bleeder screws broke off BOTH front calipers. Tried drilling them out, no luck. Called everywhere and nobody had them in stock, minimum two day to get here and they are $60 - $70 each with a $60 core charge.

SO, I have the calipers, good pads, good rotors, brackets, and brake flex lines off my 2000 SE parts car that I swapped onto the GXP for now until I can get the GXP calipers. Yes, they look TINY behind the GXP wheels

Hopefully will have a set of GXP calipers here by the weekend to slap on it.

[sethjamesrimrodt]

Good work! Hopefully it all works well for you,

[yonkerse]

Congrats on the swap Ryan! I need to take a drive out sometime and check it out! I never have been thrown back in a GXP Bonneville!!

[crash93ssei]

Just got back from a test drive, and everything looks really good! I drove it into town and back and the temp never rose above 220, and when it did get that high (after acceleration) it would drop back to around 210.

The SE brakes work perfectly fine, still can't wait to get the GXP brakes back on though

Gonna call this one done!

[WhiteArrow3800]

Glad to hear the major job was completed though! At least you had the SE equipment to fallback on, haha!

[repinS]

yay!

Northstar normal operating range is pretty hot, my fan turn-on is around 221, in city driving it hovers around 210-221, on the open road it's 200-210. All the reading I've done suggests that this is perfectly normal.

[Bing]

Glad to hear you got the car back up and running.
I know the feeling about those first few minutes when you first fire it up, can be a little nerve racking.
Good job!

[PaulyGXP]

yay!

Northstar normal operating range is pretty hot, my fan turn-on is around 221, in city driving it hovers around 210-221, on the open road it's 200-210. All the reading I've done suggests that this is perfectly normal.

I've never seen mine that hot... Always runs right around 200-210... Fans don't usually run unless I'm sitting in traffic, but it still doesn't get any warmer. I have been a bit worried it might get hot since its been over 95 degrees almost every day here in Sioux Falls, SD for the past month and a half. Glad to say it stays right in the happy middle near 200. They can run at 220 no problem though!

Great job on the GXP bud, hope it turns out to be a great car for you!

[crash93ssei]

yay!

Northstar normal operating range is pretty hot, my fan turn-on is around 221, in city driving it hovers around 210-221, on the open road it's 200-210. All the reading I've done suggests that this is perfectly normal.

That's about exactly where this one runs. Odd though as it almost always shows about 200 on the dash gauge but my scangauge II can say from 200 up to about 215 before the needle moves at all on the dash

All I know though is that the SSEi better sell this weekend or the GXP goes up for sale

[sethjamesrimrodt]

yay!

Northstar normal operating range is pretty hot, my fan turn-on is around 221, in city driving it hovers around 210-221, on the open road it's 200-210. All the reading I've done suggests that this is perfectly normal.

Mine runs between 199 and 210 on the scan gauge pretty much no matter what the ambient temperature is.

[RJolly87]

That's about exactly where this one runs. Odd though as it almost always shows about 200 on the dash gauge but my scangauge II can say from 200 up to about 215 before the needle moves at all on the dash

I think that was by design actually, I think the range was 195-215, and it would just pin the gauge in the middle.

[00Beast]

The range is 180* - 221* that it sticks at 200* indicated.