My '88 Bonneville SSE

[RJolly87]

Want amber?

http://www.bonnevilleforum.com/t213266/

Hrmmm, doesnt seem to be posting right.

[clm2112]

Looking better, keep plugging at it. These are the kind of cars that are "works in progress"....you find a part and hang it...couple weeks or a month later, you find another needed part...on and on and on.

Fixing that front fender should be pretty easy. Any U-Pull-It yards in the area? I left the Pittsburgh area long before the idea of u-pull-it's came into existance. You can probably find an LE or SE fender in the yard, maybe even in silver. Easier than trying to recreate that brow line over the marker light with a hammer and dolly.

[Z-type]

Hmmm I may have to find a Blazer somewhere with those lights...There's also some aftermarket ones I found that'll fit in the original brackets but I consider all before making a decision.

Well, like you said clm2112, I'm plugging away at the car. I got the compass working and reset all reminder intervals in the DIC. Still working on getting a driver's door speaker but I'm not concerned about it too much. There are two Bonnevilles ('87 and '88) in a yard near me when I decided to get a new driver's fender. I've gotten a few small parts off both of those cars since I bought this SSE so they've already helped .

Also, the rear of the car was sagging so I intended to replace the rear springs with extra ones from my white Lesabre T-type but I couldn't get the old ones out properly. Instead, I just got spring risers and installed them. Gave the rear of the car a 2" lift to the 'proper' height. What I mean by 'proper' is that when the car is facing uphill, the front wheels are at the same height as the rear, as they should be. But when the car is on a level surface, the back is higher and it has a pretty cool rake to it, much like my Lesabre T-type's.

I also did something that some of you may not approve of .


It's Buick's "Power 6" symbol with a BUICK script underneath. I love my Pontiacs, but it's true that it's a Buick engine that lurks underneath . Mwahahaha. They're reflective black decals, which is why they do not look black in the picture - the flash of the camera lights them on. Think police car decals.

[GoldenBullet]

i always liked the older SSE's, looks good

[radomirthegreat]

I like that decal! My SLE has a K&N sticker in that area. At least your decal is a conversation starter.

[White93Z34]

I absolutely love those early SSEs.

also, you are not all that far away from where I work.

[Z-type]

Well then stop by this weekend! Where do you work?

[White93Z34]

waaaait a second..... do you also own a really nice maroon t type? with the plate "89 t type"

and do you work at presto auto?

if so I think, we've met!

but I work in that brusca business park in Bridgeville.

[Jrs3800]

I think you T Type owners and the Bonneville owner need to hook up

[Z-type]

Heeeey yeah I think I remember you. That's me with the T-type! Small world .

[89OldsRocket]

Is the strut bar stock or aftermarket?

[Z-type]

The strut bar was stock on a '92 Lesabre. I do not believe that any H-body from '91 and older came with them. It is usually a nice, cheap, easy mod though .

[wjcollier07]

Just reread this thread and didn't notice the model year dispute before.

That car's got bits and pieces from a bunch of model years, and they're all mixed as far as year identification.

It would be VERY unlikely its an 88, unless its a SUPER late model year 88. Your intake doesn't have "3800" embossed in it.

But why the question? Why not just take a gander at your 10th VIN digit?

J = 1988
K = 1989
L = 1990
M = 1991

[Alibi]

The motor was swapped out with a '90 (I think) before he got the car

The rest of the trim still says its an '88 though.

[Z-type]

Thanks wjcollier07. I obviously didn't think of something that simple lol. I'm at school now so I'll confirm it when I get home, but like Alibi said, everything else points to an '88. Especially the steering wheel. Any other trim that was confusing I have probably swapped out for an '88 correct part.

As for the engine, the previous owner did say it was out of a '90 Bonneville, and the only reason I wasn't really sure is because he was a little hard to read. Great guy, he just jumped around and off topic when I was going over the car so it was confusing at times. But the consensus seems to be an '88 car with a VERY slow '90 engine.

Also, I found an '88 correct grille in the salvage yard a few weeks back. I painted it the other day and threw it on the car. Looks pretty good.



I took the Bonneville on it's first road trip since I've owned it yesterday. An hour and a half into Ohio and the same way back. This poor car just has no power, but it's still a great cruiser. I have no idea what could be stopping up the engine from it's full potential. Very nice seats for longer trips though. My back usually hurts after a while but I was fine the entire trip. I'm impressed with this thing. Elbow grease can go a long way!

[Jrs3800]

You may want to check the Cat, as well its possible that there is a restriction in the rear collector to downpipe...

[Alibi]

Cat makes the most sense to me too. How many miles is on that puppy again?

[Z-type]

200,664 ...I actually figured it might be the car...I'm just not sure I can get away with spending that kind of money right now. I hope that frees it up some...it's a hog.

[Jrs3800]

This is how they ran with the heavy fuel economy gears( 2.84 )

Mine and Colliers( the 89 with 2.84 gears that he used to have ) both ran exactly the same..lol

Ignore the music.. It was 1am and I was listening to my smooth soul...lol

[00Beast]

200,664 ...I actually figured it might be the car...I'm just not sure I can get away with spending that kind of money right now. I hope that frees it up some...it's a hog.

Do you have emissions? If not, just weld in a pipe for the cat.