The LeSabre & Bonneville Project -- New SSEi Progress: Pg 8

[devin1986]

What are the benefits of the hockey puck mount? I'm thinking about doing it in my car.

[gweg_b]

The factory mount is filled with fluid, and over time, the fluid leaks out, causing the mount to be useless, and introducing a lot of engine movement (which results in other things such as loss of power to the wheels).

I had almost 2 inches of engine movement, and every time I put it in gear, the engine would move, making the car feel like it was hit from behind.

A solid front mount solved all that - I have quicker acceleration, more get-up-and-go, and going from Park to Reverse/Drive is smooth. Probably one of the best mods I've done so far.

[00Beast]

Instead of taking power and time to move the engine back against the front mount, all the twist goes to the tires. Better, more consistent launches, no worries about busting mounts, and a better feel. As far as I'm concerned, there is no reason not to. I get no vibrations from mine.

[gweg_b]

Yeah, I have minor vibrations around 1400-1700rpm, but I've gotten used to it now. I don't even notice it anymore.

[00Beast]

It's funny, I have literally no perceivable vibrations....

[Zeik75]

Quite the undertaking here. Makes my list of work look tiny in comparison, no offense though. Hope you keep those cars going, they look pretty decent overall. Good Luck!

[devin1986]

Sorry to hijack a bit, but my car bogs a little bit while launching at the track. Could that be caused by a bad motor mount?

[gweg_b]

Zeik:

Yeah, I made that list because I can't always remember what I still have to do, and what better place to post and update that progress than here on the Bonneville Club Forums. But yeah, a huge list, I do dread looking at it sometimes. I do look forward to the day that it's all complete though (which will be a long time from now).


Devin:

I'm not really sure, but I know that when I used to open up the throttle, I could see my RPM's shoot up and my engine scream, but would notice that my car was not moving much after a second or so after. Your issue could be with the mount, some of the others around here might know more. All I can say is that after putting the solid mount on, the car no longer has that delay - I push the pedal down and the car instantly pushes forward.

[MattStrike]

Devin: If it's bogging down, I'd expect a mixture issue (tune, false kr, MAF, EGR not closing, slight misfire or something like that). The loose mount would feel more like a delayed jerk then go (if the mount can have a metal-on-metal contact, it could cause false KR). What is your launch technique?


gweg: I think my list for my SSEi is still pretty long too.

[gweg_b]

Here's what I'm in the middle of right now. Last week, after the long weekend, I got in the Bonneville to head to work. Wouldn't start. When I got home, I thought I'd check the battery, cables, and the such, to make sure everything is as it should. On removing the back seat, I noticed something:



It was a little moist by the battery. I lifted the padding, and saw some more moisture:



I expected this. I know I have some leaks, but this was more than I thought. I continued forward, and lifted the rear carpet, and was greeted with this:





I discovered a new Great Lake in my backseat. When I discovered this pool, it was over 1/3 of an inch deep. This is on the passenger side, the driver side isn't as bad. My guess would be the sunroof drains are either broken or blocked. I've probably have corrosion in some of that wiring as well.

This is it -- I've had it with these leaks, so the entire interior is coming out: dash, carpet, doors, headliner, and trunk. The headliner needs replaced; the sunroof assembly also needs replaced; the carpet needs cleaned and de-molded (mostly likely the source of the strange smells in the car); and I really need to reseal those doors. This is my new project for the next 4-5 weeks (I only get about 2 hours 3-4 days a week to tear into it, and this is my first Bonneville - I could have my Buick gutted in around 2 hours).

This is my progress as of a few nights ago:



(Yes, I have neglected that carpet for awhile.)

[devin1986]

That should look real nice when you're done. Looking at your pics, I still can't believe how everything mechanical/electrical is just like my car. It's like an watching the twilight zone.

Devin: If it's bogging down, I'd expect a mixture issue (tune, false kr, MAF, EGR not closing, slight misfire or something like that). The loose mount would feel more like a delayed jerk then go (if the mount can have a metal-on-metal contact, it could cause false KR). What is your launch technique?

I brake it, hold it around 1500rpm and flash it on the last yellow. It's less of a bog and more of just a "delay in input". I guess there's only one way to find out.

[gweg_b]

Well, I believe I have found the main source of water build up. Last night I finished getting everything out of my trunk and I found the end of the sunroof drain plugs. Well, curiosity struck me, and I thought I'd pull them out and look. I started on the passenger side, and once out, water came pouring out from the tube. I went to the driver side and found the same thing.

Here's a pic of the driver side:


Here's where I believe it's clogged (on both sides):


My guess is somewhere on the insides of those grommets there is a ton of crap, and since the water couldn't drain, the tubes filled up, overflowing into the back seat of the car, and it also probably overflowed into the trunk as well (reason for the water in my spare well, as shown on page 1). So this weekend, before it rains, I'm gonna take those out and clean them of garbage so they drain properly. Now I need to find and get to the front drains and check them.

Tonight: I'm getting the console out (finally figured it out) and removing at least the rear carpet so I can start letting it dry.

[MattStrike]

I'd take the carpet to a manual carwash. High pressure soap can take 15 years off them.

[gweg_b]

I think I'll do that then, have one just down the road from me.

[gweg_b]

Update of current progress (9/26/12):

The passenger side sunroof drains have cleared, along with the passenger front drain 2 halves (rubber/plastic) being reattached. It rained last night, and the interior appears dry - so I think I'm making progress.

The is what my headliner looked like when I removed it:


I'm getting it recovered. I don't have the time or patience to do it myself. Should be ready by this Friday.

On Matt's advice, I took my carpets to the manual wash, and this is the result:



My carpets look almost brand new, and that really excites me. Will probably use the same procedure on the carpets in my Buick.

Had the passenger doors torn apart this past weekend:


I cleaned them up and resealed the doors - no more leaks.

After I did some testing, I realized that a lot of the water I was getting inside the car is because the sunroof is not closing properly, leaving a decent sized gap along the rear seal (not to mention the seal is wearing out). I have a replacement assembly on the way.

Tonight I'm going to test the battery, to make sure that the power drain is the battery or not. I'll be happier if it is the battery, as that will mean that I won't have to track down what would be causing the power draw. I would still be a little upset as that is an AC Delco 7 year battery, and it's only 3 years old.

Finally, I'm going to have to get the car turned around to work on the driver's side. The speed limit on the street is 25mph, but the average speed of most drivers is 50mph, because of how straight and long it is. I fear for my life working on that side of the car, so this or next weekend I'll have to reattach the shifter and use an old bucket as a seat and try and park it the other way. I would put it in the yard, but that's being torn up right now to have a new water line put in.

I'll probably update again in a few days to a week. It sucks that I only get about an 1 hour after work to fix the problems (losing light fast), and my weekends have been busier recently. I'm getting there, but it will probably be a few more weeks until it's all back together.

[nos4blood70]

You have made some serious progress already though! Keep it up. The carpets came out amazing.

[sandrock]

Spray some fabric softener on the carpet while it's out. It would also be a good idea to grab a few cans of scotchgard while its out too.

With the console out, repaint the center plates. Also, move your bass gain module to the center pocket, and add a small led strip on the top of the pocket to highlite it at night

Buy some magic erasers and go to town on the a,b,and c pillar plastics. You will be amazed at how much dirt those things actually pick up!

[00Beast]

Bass Gain Module? He's just got the stock HU....

[sandrock]

He might have the stock head unit, but that's a bass knob for an aftermarket amp

FTR, my interior looked WAY worse than that when I got mine. Powerwashing the carpet had to be the singlemost item that really got me stoked into the interior redo.

[gweg_b]

Yeah, I have a Rockford Fosgate amp wired into my old Infinity Basslink box (explanation why and pics found on page 1 of this thread).

Once the wet grounds from the rains we just had dry up, this Sunday (Saturday is reserved for Comic Con) I'm going to go over the carpets with some Scotchgard, and look over the options for installing the bass volume knob and an LED in under the armrest, which I think would look really cool.

With the console out, repaint the center plates.

If possible, could you give me some explanation, as I'm not sure what exactly the center plates are? (It could just be flying over my head.)