PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

So, last month I was CL surfing when I found this black 98 Bonneville SE for 600$. Now grant it does have just shy of 250k on it but, hey, ITS A 98! the few pics the guy had posted made it look like a really sweet car. and since the wife and I already own an 03 Grand Prix I know how good of cars they can be
Any whoseles....went and checked it out that weekend. It had major sun damage to the hood and roof with a good portion of the trunk in the same condition. Took it out for a test drive and ended up bringing it home the next night. Had to give the poor thing a royal cleaning inside and out as it had been siting for about two moths.
Ran it to work the next day and I noticed that the breaks needed a lil work. The guy hadn't told me he redid the break system before he parked it so I just ended up bleeding it out and tune it up! gave it a fresh oil and tranny fluid change that night. Old boy ran even better after that! had no problems with it until last week when a few gaskets decided to go out on me Since I had to wait for pay day to get him fixed up I started sanding the hood down to be painted ( I have the pictures from all this minus the UIM and LIM replacement). Got that sanded and premiered just in time to get the UIM and LIM kits and replace those.
Once my new ported parts came in dad and I got to work tearing the car apart and getting dirty! it seemed like it took FOREVER to get this job done but, once it was I was glad it was! I went ahead and replaced the old T-stat with a new 180 right before I did ANOTHER oil change Got the old boy up and running again just to have the battery give out on me that night on the way into town shopping.(picking a new one up tomorrow) Since the weather was bad for the rest of the week I went ahead and reattached the drivers side door panel and put on a new set of 16 in tires I had bought.
Going to get and alignment done on it tomorrow once I get the battery in the car. For some reason I hadn't used the radio yet so I figured id turn it on while I smoked a cigar( swicher sweets) and drank a beer( Lineie's all the way!) just to find out that the front right speakers were blown :( Lucky for me a local junk yard had a few Pontiacs siting around so I just went and stole three from a few of them( plan on adding on to each door in back here soon) Ganna put on the chrome lug nuts I got either tomorrow or Saturday, whenever I get done panting the hood.
And as far as I can remember that's all for now folks! Will be downloading and adding the pictures here either later tonight or first thing tomorrow morning! Hope y'all enjoyed my lil story bout my first Bonny and hope you guys like the pics too! and questions comments or concerns are greatly welcome!

:-) ... - BC

And as promised here are the pictures from the day i brought him home!






I added the Navy stick on the left when i gased up and theres the wife....in her jammies lol



All in all not a bad car. just needs plenty of TLC and a few new parts inside and out before the weather turns cold.
Hope y'all like what i got up so far. will add more from the hood paint job later tonight after dinner.

looks like from here it's just the clear coat failed. - BC

Cosmetically she's not pretty, however for the price you can't expect much. Glad she's running right!

For the most part yup. there are a few spot along the hood and roof next to the windsheild that were/are almost bare meatal or rusted through. Typical rust along the tire areas and bottom of the doors. rusted thorugh by the gas cap too :(

Just got done with the Primier and leting it dry for the night


Here he is with the first two coats of rattle can paint on him.

will post more after i the last layer of paint on an the laquor too. probly bout same time i get the custom headlights too!

Well, I ended up having to replace the water heater this weekend now too. got all six spark plugs changed out to with their new wiring. Weather was wet and chilly this weekend when I wasn't pulling an extra shift ( yeah for overtime!) so I went ahead and put the new front speakers in and got measurements for the ones I'm going to put in the back doors. Will be getting a new radio in about two weeks too I hope that the weather stays nice today so I can get the last of the pain on and get a few more pictures sup Wednesday of the hood finished. Going to get a new set of fog lights put into thanks to MARGR4V3Z!!

Stoked to get this all done in the next week or two (while changing struts on the GP) and then move onto redoing the roof

Hey that hood looks better than with the clear coat peeling! I fixed up some damage on my bumper and sprayed it with a rattle can. It's not perfect but I'm so happy I did. much more tolerable! Have fun with your Bonneville, they are great cheap cars

thanks Zuper8! Got all four coats (bout eight cans) on him finally and just waiting on my dad to fix his air gun so we can get the clear coat on an polish/wax it up and snap a few pics

GGGRRRR! holding off on the final steps with the hood for now....head gasket is now leaking....UGH!! I really hate this car some days. may be able to fix it this week may have to wait till I get paid again next week. Either way car is parked and restoration on it is halted until I get that head gasket taken care of.....

These cars' head gaskets almost never blow... What are the symptoms?

besides the leaking antifreeze out of the head gasket and over heating slightly not sure. Dad and I found the leak last night after I came home from work and we traced it back to the gasket just to make sure. Dad brought an extra jug of antifreeze with on the trip to my uncles garage today and he said he went through almost all of it. My uncle got it up on the lift and got everything cleaned off the underside and engine compartment in general. Brought it back down and took the power steering pump, alternator, coolant reservoir and battery out of the way along with a few other things and confirmed that its leaking out of the head gasket....

ShaneC wrote:besides the leaking antifreeze out of the head gasket and over heating slightly not sure. Dad and I found the leak last night after I came home from work and we traced it back to the gasket just to make sure. Dad brought an extra jug of antifreeze with on the trip to my uncles garage today and he said he went through almost all of it. My uncle got it up on the lift and got everything cleaned off the underside and engine compartment in general. Brought it back down and took the power steering pump, alternator, coolant reservoir and battery out of the way along with a few other things and confirmed that its leaking out of the head gasket....

Has the engine ever been run without coolant for any length of time? These engines almost never blow a head gasket. Sure it's not a LIM gasket? - BC

Not since I have had it it hasn't, and I don't think the PO ran it dry either. just put new LIM and UIM on it less then three weeks ago. had the system pressure tested last night at one of the local shop we go to a lot and they confirmed the same thing. So we brought the car back home and parked it in the grass till pay day next week when I'm going to take it back to the shop and have them fix it as it is beyond mine and my dads capabilities/tools. Gives me time to finish up the inside as much as I can right now though lol.

Well looks like the cars ganna be sitting a little longer then a week. cheapest place near by is 1100 bucks to get the head gasket fixed soooo.....just ganna park the Bonny and do a few more fixes on the GP and share that car again for a few more weeks. Will keep everyone updated though!

Are you sure its the headgaskets and not: intake gaskets, plenum, cracked coolant elbow, leaking seal on the heater hose/tensioner into timing cover? As mentioned before it is very rare for a headgasket to go on a 3800 unless it has been severely overheated.

Yuppers! we just fixed/replaced all of that within the last three weeks. had an auto shop close by pressure test it and the confirmed it was the head gasket.

Wow, hard to believe its been a month since I posted on here!! in that month though a lot has happened to the cars lol. had to replace all four struts on the GP along with the front tie rod ends and sway bar bushings. Took the GP to get realigned after all that to the closet shop (65 miles one way on the highway) they refused to do it do to : Castle nut being loss, control arm bushing being bad ( three other shops said it was just fine) and the sway bar bushings on the front end were no good ( the ones we just replaced)
So on the way back home with the car severally out of alignment the front sway bar broke...managed to get it home and parked until we were able to get it to a dealer ship that was WAY closer to home. we bought the replacement part they put it on and fixed up the GP so she's all pretty again and running great.
Now as for M.M..... got the head gasket fixed and a few other minor things taken care of under the hood. bought a new drivers side mirror as the original one was broken. Got my speakers replaced and hooked up so that's all better now got the little plastic screws and got my drives door sealed up on the inside again too. decided to go the rattle can route again for the sealant on the hood. Was putting the fifth and final layer one the hood when it started to bubble up! even my cousin who works on detailing for a living couldn't figure out why it happened. So, sanding it down smooth and letting it set for the winter do to the weather not being conducive to finish the job for the rest of the year.
Last week the wife and I were out on the town to celebrate our 3 1/2 year anniversary after we swung by the part store to get some of the typical liquids for both cars. After having a nice dinner at our favorite coffee shop/dinner (owned by a friends family) I noticed something weird with the car.... someone had hit the drivers side of my car! dented the door up pretty nicely and also destroyed the brand new mirror we had just put on! Well we ended the night with sipping free coffee and talking with the insurance agent..... To Be Continued

We managed to get home that night with no further problems. On the way into work Monday morning (5am) the radiator decide it was going to go out on me five miles from work. Not a happy camper at this point lol. got a new one from the parts store yesterday and will be putting it in tonight. Hope that this will be the last we have to do for any major car work on either car till next spring lol. Will keep everyone posted and will post a few more pics if anyone wants to see them.