Frustration at lack of available parts..

[blackflag]

I've recently purchased an 04 GXP Bonneville and while I love the car, I am absolutely going crazy being unable to source certain things, even from the dealer. For example, right now I'm trying to track down the hood insulator, which has been discontinued by GM.. The part number is 25765684. Only one available place has it and it's just an online resource of part numbers called OEMCats that for some reason has an online vendor system that doesn't seem to work. And no, before you ask, I didn't punch in my payment info; a few Google searches showed frustration from people who tried to and that was enough for me.

Can any of you fine folks help me out here? I mean I get that since its a Northstar v8 there isn't much modification possible, but come on, I should at least be able to find parts. I won't even ask about the Shop manual/factory service manual; the best I could find is a used set of 3 books for about $500. To be honest I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I loved the look of the car, it was in relatively good condition, so I bought it. It handles and drives great, but it's just... everything else.

[J Wikoff]

Try Bonnevilles Unlimited. He's great for stock parts.

[JEFFSSSEI]

Oh I hear you when it comes to the GXP's they were an extremely limited run vs the other models and while they look a lot like an SSEI on steroids, they are more like a cadillac with a pontiac facelift because so little of the parts that fit an 00-05 se - ssei fit on a GXP. they are Beautiful cars, but that is part of the reason I steared away from them...that and I really liked my old ssei (addicted to blower whine).

[blackflag]

Try Bonnevilles Unlimited. He's great for stock parts.

Thank you, I will definitely look into that tomorrow. What I've found out is that the hood insulator was discontinued, besides the obvious reasons such as a basically obsolete and limited run car, is that the hood insulator is difficult to ship. You can't fold it, and to ship it would cost way more than its worth. Hopefully he can hook me up though. I looked into other possible ways to fix the situation, such as maybe a high heat tolerant material+glue, but so far the best option would be is an actual hood insulator because it acts as a fire blanket in case the engine catches fire. Knock on wood, but still.

[blackflag]

Oh I hear you when it comes to the GXP's they were an extremely limited run vs the other models and while they look a lot like an SSEI on steroids, they are more like a cadillac with a pontiac facelift because so little of the parts that fit an 00-05 se - ssei fit on a GXP. they are Beautiful cars, but that is part of the reason I steared away from them...that and I really liked my old ssei (addicted to blower whine).

To be honest I didn't even know about the Bonneville until I saw one for sale. I liked Pontiacs and always wanted the GTO specifically The Judge, but what I was actually looking for was the supercharged Grand Prix or a earlier model Trans-Am. Once I saw the Bonneville up for sale in reasonably good condition, saw it was the v8 AND a Pontiac, I just bought it. It had 154k miles on it but the guy who owned it was more than knowledgeable about it and even replaced the head gaskets not too long ago and some other stuff. But considering what I know now about it, I'm not saying I wouldn't have bought it but maybe I would've at least haggled a bit.

[harofreak00]

because it acts as a fire blanket in case the engine catches fire

No, not really. It's just for keeping the sound in and "looks". A lot of people remove them completely and rock the "golf ball" look of the underside of the hood.

[blackflag]

because it acts as a fire blanket in case the engine catches fire

No, not really. It's just for keeping the sound in and "looks". A lot of people remove them completely and rock the "golf ball" look of the underside of the hood.

Really? Well I don't know *what* to believe anymore. I've had numerous people even pertaining to my old Japanese car that the pins holding the insulation in place have a low melting point so in case of a fire, they disintegrate and allow the insulation to drop down on the engine and to smother the potential fire. I mean one person said so I could've brushed it off, but after hearing it over and over again I was inclined to believe it. The golf ball look is actually pretty cool, I'm not gonna lie, especially if you take some high heat enamel and maybe outline it some.. But with regards to sound dampening, how much engine noise becomes audible after the removal, do you know? Is it possible to have a conversation inside with the car in motion?

[blackflag]

Actually thanks for the great idea, HaroFreak00 (is that a reference to BMX by any chance?) It got me thinking. What I'm gonna do is scrap the original hood liner + fiberglass crap and get my hands on a SecondSkin hood liner kit. It's both sound dampening and insulation! I have no idea why this "fire blanket" thing is such common misinformation. I might even do my firewall with it because it lets through a significant amount of heat.

The problem with the lack of aftermarket parts and discontinued dealership parts is that it basically forces you to use your head. I was so used to swapping out parts that I didn't even realize you can just do whatever you want.