My 96 SSEi project (lots of pics) Update 6/7, pg 3

[2000Silverbullet]

LOL maybe I should swap my swoops onto the Goose and the GXP's onto the Bullet.

.....the Torrent probably wouldn't trade for much less with the Alero 16 inchers. LOL dealer probably wouldn't even know!

[GotBonneBWitMe]

Also, swoopies look better on that generation than they do on the 2000+.

AGREED. Same exact thing that I was about to type.

Nice car by the way.

Especially for $700. Looks like you hit a very nice deal.

[nos4blood70]

LOL maybe I should swap my swoops onto the Goose and the GXP's onto the Bullet.

Do it! If at least for a photo opportunity.

[2000Silverbullet]

I might skip my irregular hour workout to do just that but am afraid once I do it I won't want to swap them back.

$700 !!! Wow that is a great deal for what you ended up with.

[zuper8]

You have given me new respect for female gear heads.

Best compliment I could get.

I have always loved the swoopies, I bought them from BillBoost when he was demodding the black car And man are they better than the non-chrome torque stars

As for exhuast tips, I am torn between quad tips or something like this, if I could find it in 2.5" http://www.autobarn.net/magnaflow-tip-double-wall.html

[nos4blood70]

I vote quads!

[labonnevillastrangiato]

I don't chime in on this fine forum as much as I used to, but I gotta on this one: Car looks fantastic, Rachel! What a transformation. Dang! You could sell it for five times what you paid for it!

Adam

[zuper8]

Thanks Adam!! Really liking it so far. I still miss Pickles badly though :( But Sonic grows on me the more I work on it. Just gotta make it mine now with a little customizing... gonna take care of the LIM gaskets and some other maintenance items and then I will lightly mod it

[BillBoost37]

Did you swap over the lit up butt mod?

[RJolly87]

Did you swap over the lit up butt mod?

Is that the installation of faulty seat heaters, or the lit pontiac emblem on the trunk?

If it's the latter, it's in the pics

[zuper8]

Took care of some things on Sonic recently. I did the LIM gaskets and some other maintenance items while I was in there. I also painted the supercharger and valve covers, and cleaned up the engine bay a bit afterward (boy that was needed). I also cleared the corners. Kinda messed up one a little bit, the lens cracked at the edge because I didn't heat it up enough. But it's not noticeable. One sad thing- when I was carrying the supercharger over to put it back on the intake manifold, well... it was pretty heavy, and my fingers slipped on the new paint and the supercharged fell on the passenger side fender!! gahhhh that was such a bummer. You can see the little dent in made on the passenger fender in the pics below. I should have asked for help.

I'm enjoying the car a lot, put 4,000 miles on it since I bought it. I am now sitting at $1,574 total invested, which includes the cost of the car. So I'm really happy with Sonic so far!

Obligatory original LIM gasket shots aside from sludge due to the car having original DexCool in it for 18 years, the gaskets were definitely not the worst I've seen. which is I'm sure thanks to the low mileage.





So-so. Pennzoil platinum will clean it right up.



bleh! poor car.




I scrubbed and scrubbed with a toothbrush but couldn't get it perfect. I walked into the house for water and Mark goes, "Did you take my toothbrush??" oops... I thought it was his old one. hee hee.



Here's how the engine bay looks now. I used VHT black metallic engine paint. I love the wrinkle finish, but Pickles had the wrinkle paint so I wanted to do something different. Looks nice and sparkly in person.







Clear corner pics. I used Silverstar 194s. I known it's outrageous what they charge for them, but the light blue color really looks good. SBM is so bland, any extra highlights I can get help bring out the depth of the color.









Soon, I'll do the SC coupler and trans lines, and then exhaust tips.

[crash93ssei]

This car has come such a long way, I look forward to even more updates! I am testing out some black pearl paint myself right now the clear corners really make it pop and gives it a nice clean look.

[95naSTA]

Lol @ the toothbrush.

Looking great!

[tytotheler92]

Haha! I just did the intake manifold gaskets on my Oldsmobile and used a toothbrush also...

Car looks great!

That dent should pop out fairly easily.

[DJC906]

I applaud all your hard work to get the car where it is, it looks great.

[1oldman]

Are you taking out the RF fender dent yourself or letting a PDR person do it? The car does look fantastic. BTW, did you buy Mark a new toothbrush or let him do it himself? lol. - BC

[98SSE]

Looks good! My interior was pretty hit as well, although mine didn't come out nearly as nice as yours. How much time do you have in it?

[zuper8]

Thank you all!

Looks good! My interior was pretty hit as well, although mine didn't come out nearly as nice as yours. How much time do you have in it?

now that is a good question... several weekends for sure. but that's what makes it fun! Well, and possible, quite frankly. I can't even imagine how much it would have run me if I dragged that car to a shop and told them to fix everything that was wrong with it, not to mention maintenance catch-up. Still not done yet! That driver's side non-matching fender drives me nuts.

I was not sure how the car would turn out when I bought it, sometimes I was even a little worried. but it actually turned a head yesterday!! I was driving down the road and it catches the eye of a guy walking, he says "nice!" as I drive by, and looking in my rearview mirror he still had his head craned around as I drove away! I just laughed out loud. I never imagined this car would turn heads. glad there are people out there who think a gray Bonneville can look good.

come to think of it, I forgot to get Mark a new tooth brush. he must have figured something out lol. Poor Mark... but hey, the guy gets a free in-house Bonneville mechanic to work on his 92 SE! he has to deal with the little heartaches that come with it!

[98SSE]

The interior shows you spent some time on it, looks great for the age. The engine bay looks good along with that paint too. Keep up the good work.

[1oldman]

come to think of it, I forgot to get Mark a new tooth brush. he must have figured something out lol. Poor Mark... but hey, the guy gets a free in-house Bonneville mechanic to work on his 92 SE! he has to deal with the little heartaches that come with it!

Lucky Mark! I doubt anyone here would complain about having a good Bonneville mechanic. - BC