PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Last night I:

- Started the Camaro for the first time in over a month. Running great aside from the exhaust leak. Need new gaskets at the header to y-pipe connections. Also put in the new embroidered "CAMARO" floor mats. They look great and were a long time coming.

- Cleaned out the last of the stuff I wanted to keep from the Jetta. Took apart the dash, removed the broken Pioneer head unit, put the dash back together. Disassembled the entire unit thinking that a CD had been stuck in there when it died. Surprise! It was empty. Lol. And into the trash it goes. Also put a new Chinese-made shift knob/boot on the car and kept the incorrect one I had spent the majority of my driving time using. Keeping it as a memento. Car will be towed to the scrap yard shortly although I should probably part it out instead. No time though.

- Put a new Gates supercharger belt on the Bonneville as the last one had slipped a little and run half-off the pulleys for at least a full day. I'll keep it as an emergency spare, but I wanted a fresh one on there. Also my reset button SUDDENLY works now. Must have been a temperature thing. I ordered a new button cluster from Haro and everything, but oh well. Now I have a spare one of those too. I wanted to change the fog light bulbs, but it was pouring rain and I didn't feel like getting soaked in my driveway. Hopefully I can swap those soon for the whiter bulbs I bought from RockAuto.

- Started the Camaro for the first time in over a month. Running great aside from the exhaust leak. Need new gaskets at the header to y-pipe connections.

Deja Vu...Lol. I really need to start firing it up every two weeks at the most. I let it run for a while though and the idle sounded good by the time I turned it off.

- No more Jetta. Got towed away to a parts yard for a few dollar in my pocket. Didn't have the time and energy to deal with anything more than that in the middle of a frigid winter.

- Put the GXP strut tower brace on my SSEi Bonneville today. A little trial and error, and it seems to be clearing the Alternator well now. Honestly if it weren't for the Alternator issue, it would have been a 20 minute install. So easy!

put air in tire - rim leak and glued washer tube pieces together with dollar store contact cement - it stays pliable.

Hosed it down at the car wash. Can't wait to clean it up properly when the weather improves.

I admired it

Did some maintenance on the G over the weekend. Oil change (sent a sample out to blackstone since this was the 2nd change since owning it), 3x drain and refill on the transmission fluid, replaced a broken exhaust hanger (rubber was broken by previous owner hitting something), and then proceeded to watch nature piss pollen all over it. there's no point washing it yet because pollen season is so bad here right now. Can't wait to have a useable garage again in a few weeks!

Pollen > salt :(

nos4blood70 wrote:Pollen > salt :(

This is very, very true!

Yesterday I had to change the alternator on the '89 Buick in the parking lot at work. In the rain. Bearing on it was smoked, and something caused it to stop putting out power and get hot enough to melt the coating on the windings. At least it's only 3 bolts and a battery negative that have to come off to do the job. Shout-out to Ryan for helping out (couldn't exactly drive my car to the parts store). At least I had this huge umbrella that kept us dry.

I discovered that one of the wheels on the winter beater is flopping around. Seems like the rear wheel bearing disintegrated. Will have to check it out this weekend. I might be changing back to the Camaro sooner than I'd planned...

What a laundry list...

On the SSEi over the past few days I have:
-Replaced the starter. It would freeze and jam and free spin in anything below freezing and would take several attempts to catch. That was about $100 for a new reman starter.
-Replaced the belt tensioner and did a coolant flush. It was leaking on the lower elbow because it cracked. After replacing that, only to find the water pump was also part of the leak as the bearing was shot and you could see the pulley wobbling. So I had the worst time of my life doing the water pump. New belt tensioner ran $140 and a new water pump was $65.
-Also replaced the alternator, as the bearing was squeaking on the original. Alternator ran me $140 for a reman.
-Replaced the PCV valve, $8.

On the beater SE:
- Had to replace the left rear wheel hub. I had a broken stud and a stripped stud. It was easier to just replace the whole hub and installed new brake shoes while I was in there. Got a used hub for $55 and new shoes were $40.
-Tried to figure out why the dome lights won't turn off. Tried everything from playing with the headlight switch to looking at the door handle actuators and the fuses. So I said screw it and just unplugged all the bulbs lol.


All in all that was a total of roughly $600 in new and used parts and jugs of coolant between both cars. But that was only $40 more than what my previous monthly car payment and insurance costs used to be....

Next week will be the oil pan gasket on the SSEi, a front wheel hub and an input shaft seal.

Had to borrow the battery from the '89 beater to get the Camaro de-winter-ized. Camaro fired right up like it had never been sitting. Winter isn't 100% over I'm sure, but the salt is off the roads and it's going to be too warm for the winter tires on the Buick for the next few days. And, as rattly as it is, I miss it.

The other day I had to put my summer wheels on the Passat because a pothole caused a nice lump in one of the snow tires.

Another wash and vacuum for Penny.

The S2000 got a wax job and a full tank of gas!

Had to replace the blower motor and resistor on the '89 last night. The second highest setting resistor had gotten so hot it had uncoiled and started to smell worse than burnt DC electronics; it smoked the entire interior with that rank, dear God that's a smell that takes days to go away. The old blower motor bearings were on the way out, a little hard to turn, and the cage was broken causing it to vibrate.

Then I attempted to fix the clunk in the new rear suspension. Turns out the 21mm rear sway bar was too much for the end link bracket, it broke the bracket in two on the left side. I'll have to use the welder and make some re-inforcement bracing on it to prevent it from happening again, and that's not happening until it warms up again.

Did an oil change and replaced the PCV valve on the Bonneville over the weekend. I had limited time so I opted not to do the spark plugs and motor mount yet. It's developed a very pronounced shake at 110-120km/hr. I'm hoping it's just a wheel or tire balance issue that will no longer be a problem come the spring time.

Prepping for my trip at the end of the month to Texas from MN. Don't need anything breaking on me because I neglected it on a trip like that. Need to get the front end aligned, it's pulling left, and I want to get the new tires mounted on my full set of swoopies for the trip too, if possible.

F-Body Brakes...painted ready to install, when the rest of the parts come in.

I went and got the GTO out today. Had a flat tire and one of the hids was out. Going to get the tire fixed tomorrow and also ordering some LED headlight bulbs to try. I’ve had too many hid failures to keep replacing things.

found that I still have a pesky vacuum leak but fuel trims are going down