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Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra (RIP)
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 3:59 pm
by Jfridge92
Here are a few pics of the car. The thing is immaculate. So far the only things I've noticed on it are the drivers side mirror is trashed, and the engine bay is covered with sand and salt, so it will definitely need a good cleaning. Other than that, it runs and drives great, with plenty of power. For his birthday, I'm getting him a FWI kit, I'll have to probably run it a little differently than the Bonne's, but hopefully it should be pretty straight forward. I want to hear that supercharger whine more!!
Anyways, here are some pictures. Excuse the quality, they were taken on an Iphone 3g, which has a horrible camera. Enjoy!!
Here's the trashed mirror, it looks like it has oil stuck under the glass or something. He'll be getting a replacement soon.
I also tried to convince him to leave the engine cover off, but he likes the "elegant style it adds" so he's insistent on leaving it on.
All the white stuff you see in the engine bay is salt and sand. It definitely needs cleaning, but hopefully that will happen when I get that BS crap they call Dex out of there and do his lower intake gaskets. The car only has 62,000 miles on it, so I think I can save it at an early age.
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 7:46 pm
by 00Beast
If he wants to keep it, get a Bonneville cover, they're black and the stripes are red. However, I MUCH prefer no engine cover due to heat-soak right where you don't want it, the top of the S/C.
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 8:05 pm
by wake

all day long buddy!
nice find!
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 8:19 pm
by 1oldman
nice car! - BC
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:07 pm
by Jfridge92
00Beast wrote:If he wants to keep it, get a Bonneville cover, they're black and the stripes are red. However, I MUCH prefer no engine cover due to heat-soak right where you don't want it, the top of the S/C.
Which is exactly why I don't want him to keep it on. But then again, I also want him to get a scangauge and a 3.4 pully

but he's not into modding, he just wants it for a nice DD to work and back.
I'm glad he got something good though. Maybe i can convince him to join Pontiac Bonneville Club

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:12 pm
by wake
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:18 pm
by Jfridge92
Haha I'm going to try! He's not big into the internet, so I'm not sure if the idea will bite with him or not, but it never hurts to ask, aka bug until he does :p
And I'm already trying to get him to trade with me hahaha, I love the PAU!
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:21 pm
by wake
oh im sure your searching for any and every way to drive that PAU
i know i would if that thing was in my driveway!:twisted:
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:23 pm
by Jfridge92
Oh yes! I'm trying to get him to let me drive it from my house in Gainesville back to Athens tomorrow morning for work and then I'll bring it back that afternoon. My reasoning was "to see what type of city mileage I can get" since he'll be mainly driving on the highway. Maybe he'll say yes to that at least, and the fact that I'll bring it back with a full tank of gas
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 3:18 am
by wake
something tells me that after a while of driving the PAU your car will seem slower..and youll get addicted to the blower whine
next thing you know youll be asking how do you put a supercharger on your lesabre

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:04 am
by 00Beast
Psh, you can't hear blower whine with the stock airbox. Get an FWI and a pulley, then we'll talk about blower whine. That *shoot*'s addicting!
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:49 am
by RJolly87
Silly Ed, you can hear some blower whine stock, but you are right, it is addicting, and it leaves you wanting more

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:51 am
by wdean
Nice car, and I agree that the blower whine is addicting
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 1:55 pm
by wake
ED that was the point i was getting at...blower whine (any at all) is addicting

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 1:56 pm
by Jfridge92
Oh yeah, you can't hear it at all on the PAU with all the dampening it has. It's kind of depressing actually.
And Wake, I'm actually already contemplating a full drivetrain swap to an L67/4t65e-hd for the lesabre...if funds will allow. I figure if I can find a cheap enough junkyard or used setup, I can swap it in and sell my L36 and tranny for a decent price to make back some of the cost, but these are still dreams.
And Ed, he's getting a FWI for his birthday from me

As far as the pulley goes, he doesn't want to mod the car intensively, as he doesn't know how to do any tuning and what not to prevent KR, nor does he have the money to pay to get it sent out to intense or tuned at a shop. So unfortunately that will have to wait...until I get my hands on it

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 1:59 pm
by wake
a FWI and a larger downpipe/HF cat will help the motor flow a lil better and sound a lil better..without breaking the bank or causing any serious problems

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:26 pm
by GonneVille
The FWI is actually easier on the PAU than on the Bonneville, although you DO have to make one mod to it. There's a nice big hole right below the airbox, big enough to run the tube through without having to contort it. You'll need the Intense PCM tray, though.
The mod that I mentioned is the upper aluminum coupler has to be replaced with a curved piece. With the straight coupler, the hose will be mashed against the washer bottle, and will be pushed off the TB. You need to replace it with an aluminum elbow, or piece of stainless mandrel-bend with a tight curve to clear the bottle.
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:39 pm
by 99BonnevilleSE
Very nice PAU! Does it have the rear vanity mirrors like the older models?
Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 11:07 pm
by Jfridge92
Yeah, it does have the vanity mirrors iirc, i haven't had a chance to really explore the car more, as it's in Gainesville and about 50 miles away in Athens.
And thanks for the info on the FWI Gonneville, that'll sure come in handy!

Re: Dad's new 2003 Park Avenue Ultra
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 9:25 pm
by Jfridge92
It's been a long time since I've posted here, as I moved on from my LeSabre into the Infiniti world. My dad has still been rocking the '03 Park Avenue Ultra for the last 9 years, and has given it a lot of love. It's pretty much had every piece of suspension replaced for maintenance, a new transmission put in about 3 months ago, new supercharger coupler, new AC compressor, lines, and dryer/receiver, as well as a lot of other maintenance. He put new tires on it about 2 weeks ago, but sadly they aren't going to have the chance to be used on the car.
All good things must come to an end, and the PAU is done.
Dad was driving home from work and was literally in their subdivision. Thankfully he is okay with no injuries, and the other party was found 100% at fault. A truck in front of him saw a friend walking, stopped (dad stopped about a car length behind) and the truck started backing up and never stopped. The driver's rear wheel of the truck ended up on top of the hood on the Park Avenue. The hood, grill, headlights, and radiator are all smashed in and pushed down, and enough of the weight of the truck was on it that it broke the subframe from the mounts. We're waiting to hear what that guys' insurance will offer, but the Park Avenue is 100% totaled. Thankfully dad has all the receipts from the work that was done over the past 3 months, so that will likely be taken into account when they offer a lowball number. Hopefully he can get into something that he loves as much as he did the PAU.