Yes I am still at it with the van...

The Ported Lower intake, Kissed intake ports on the heads to kill off the step from the intake to the head ports... To the 1.8 Rockers.. With the lower fuel prices I am thinking of going back to a 3.33 Ratio...

But lets talk suspension..

On the front I used the Monroe Matic Plus struts, and Moog Sway Bar center bushings and Energy suspension Sway Bar to control are bushings... That gave it better handling right away...

But something was missing.. On the A Body forum the guys were looking at the U body Rear sway bars made by Addco... I went and bought the rear sway bar as I felt the van could seriously use what ever help it could get( it already handled good for a van to begin with )...

This is what came out of the Fedex box...lol... The bar is a 1".... he he he...




To install it I had to drill the holes in the frame




Installed the End Link Brackets



Installed the rear sway bar bracketry/U Bolt and related parts finger tight..



Installed the End links and snugged them down




Final Install pic... All buttoned up and ready for a test drive...



It was worth it.... Addco for the win...


Its a van.... Someone stop me

Ummm....err....ummm....

When are you calling these folks to fab up a roll cage for it?

http://www.kirkracing.com/

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

LMAO....

As soon as you offer up that L67 to tuck under the hood of the van...

That jack still works?

That's one hell of an addition to that van.

Wish I had been there to umm...help you test that out.

_________________
John
Now: '15 Toyota Prius III | 134 hp 2ZR-FXE | Silver | 36k
Now: '03 Honda CR-V AWD | Slow 4-Cylinder | Dirt | 180k
Then: '07 Ford Fusion SEL | 221hp Gen I VVT Duratec 3.0 V6 | Tungsten Silver | 150k
Then: '99 Toyota Avalon XL | 200hp 1MZ-FE 3.0 V6 | Diamond White | 189k | Sold: July 2015
Then: '11 Ford Fusion SEL | 240hp Gen II VVT Duratec 3.0 V6 | Ingot Silver | 84k | Totaled: Oct 23 '14 (Rear-Ended)
Then: '96 Buick Park Avenue Ultra | 240hp Series II L67 | Medium Dark Lichen | Bought: JAN 11 @ 135k | Accident: FEB 3 '12 | Crushed: MAR 1 '13 @ 153K
Then: '98 Pontiac Bonneville SSE | 205hp Series II 3800 L36 | Topaz Firemist | Bought: NOV '09 @ 74k | Accident: MAY 28 '10 | Crushed: MAR 15 '11 @ 84k
Then: '93 Pontiac Bonneville SE | 170hp Series I 3800 L27 | Dark Yellow Green | Bought: JULY '07 @ 92k | Sold: JULY '12 @ 118k
Then: '89 Pontiac Bonneville LE | 165hp 3800 LN3 | Medium Garnet Red | Bought: JAN '05 @ 117k | Sold: SEP 30 '07 @ 152k

It was fun John... I left here and hung a left and then hung another left...( You know what I'm talking about )


Yeah the Jack still works... It creaked for a couple of days after the truck... I think it was crying...

Nice work, but...isn't that a van!?

Wish I could have helped test it as well.

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'93 SSE "Guinevere" RIP 1993 - 2019
'01 SSEi "Chloe" Mods: Intense FWI | GenV | WBS Intercooled | 3.2 MPS | 1.9 YT Rockers | SSAC Headers | N* TB | TEP Trans | 3.29 FDR | Torsen LSD
DTM Tuned | Dual AeroForce | Solid Mounts | 255 Walbro Pump | Fuel Logs | GXP STB & Sway Bars | CSS Lowering Springs | GXP Brakes | Disabled DRL
Magnaflow Mufflers | Magnaflow Cat | GXP Seats & Trim | 35 % Tint | Cleared & Tinted Tails | repinS Retrofited Morimoto Mini H1 | 19" GT500 Wheels
'09 G8 GT "Abigail" Mods: Rotofab | LS3 Heads, Intake & Cam | Kooks LT | Solo Exhaust | Tien Springs w/ GXP Struts | Whiteline Swaybars | BMR Subframe Connectors
Achievements: Guinevere - 264k mi | 16.27 @ 84.10mph | March '11 COTM :: Chloe - 223k mi | 13.85 @ 102mph | January '09 COTM :: Abigail - 192k mi | 12.85 @ 112mph

It was a fun test... Its funny being able to push the limits of the tires on a van...LOL

But Its a van... still a bit top heavy even for being built on a basic A body platform like the Buick Century, pontiac 6000, cutlass ciera.... It does handle quite good and i am impressed that a van can handle the way it does with the addition of the bar... Makes the van feel much more car like...

Its still a work in progress...

you're my hero turbo it!

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- Rachael

That's just wrong It's a van... what's next chopthe roof and lower the floor? Maybe cut the length. throw a L67 in it and nitrous? Maybe a hud? Stage 3 CNC Heads?

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LMAO.... Yeah it is wrong... But who'd expect a van to be able to handle... He he he...

I was also researching today... Thinking of how easy it would be to run the 3.33 gears... Bad part is that the series I would run out of breath too quick with the 3.33.... as I was searching I found that with the right diff and drive and driven I could do a 3.18 if I wanted.... maybe a 3800 II down the road with OBD2...

You must not be stopped! At least your van can be upgraded. What's a 3.0 Vulcan to do? You need more handling mods. Series III?

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94 SSEi - Project car
99 SLE - Tuned with different parts and such
85 Porsche 944 - Daily driver
68 Chevy C-10 - Free truck! Needs parts.

Don and I are researching a possible S2/S3 swap. The only concern that needs further researching is the front motor mount...all the other mounts will work, regardless on if the current 4T60E or a swapped-in 4T65E is used.

For those not in the know, 1996 was the last year of this body style. 1996 was also the ONLY year you could get this body style WITH OBD2, *but*, it was also the only year in this bodystyle, with OBD2, and a 3400 V6...the Series 2 was never offered, EVER, in these or future vans. Don wants OBD2, for reasons that are painfully obvious , so I am going to have to wire up a custom harness for this project. As far as wiring goes, one of two ways will happen, depending on parts availability...

1)PCM goes inside the cabin, like it is from the factory, along with the 1996 harness that goes to the firewall, and the 3400 harness from the firewall to the engine gets modified to fit on the 3800. The more professional of the two routes, but also the most work intensive and depends heavily on parts availability, since only one model year van can be used.

2) PCM goes in the engine bay, like the Bonneville. Battery gets relocated to the back, PCM goes where battery used to reside. Modify an S2 harness to interface with the current firewall connection. The cheaper, quicker, and easier of the two routes, since parts and harnesses can be harvested from a wider range of vehicles.

Engine cost will be minimal, since Don has enough parts lying around thanks to his 95 SE. Most of the research done on my own OBD2 swap can be used, and once the PCM location is decided on, I can whip up a harness in no time.

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2005 GXP - White Gold Pearl, no mods...yet.
2000 SSEi - Resurrection in progress. Built L67 w/L32 fuel rail, ported heads, and cam. Camaro front brake system, GXP cluster, and much more in planning.

And finding another 1996 would be difficult... Not sure what approach to take yet... But I agree that the standard Bonneville set up would be easier to manage...

Almost forgot... Look at it this way... Your Bonneville weighs what the van does

One other thought...why limit repower choices to just 3800 motors? (I was joking at SEBF about putting a RWD driveline in it, but a Northstar or LS FWD motor would work as well.)

_________________
Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Curt I sure would shoe horn an LS4 in there if brad would let me borrow it

I think another 3800 will be in my future..

On the mounts, take a good look at it's mounts. The old LN3 mount in the Bvilles was used when the 4T80 was stuffed in. That post should show us that almost all the S1 mount locations would usually be possible on the S2 block. Heck..Curt probably has a few blocks laying around to check any theories of hole/locations/existance on.

As for harnesses etc. There are probably too many wires to keep the pcm inside the cabin w/o making your own hole in the firewall and using an internal/external harness from something like a Riv. Putting it into the engine bay is always easier and you can get interior connector from your engine bay harness donor and an engine bay side connector from another van to make yourself a patch through connector w/o cutting any wires in your harness or on the van.

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97 Ei
97 GS
98 GS

Option 1 addresses this issue. It would utilize the existing bulkhead access, and mount the PCM where the factory did...right behind the glovebox. I failed to mention though, that computer is identical in size and dimension, and pinouts, as our 96/97 PCMs. Only caveat to this option is actually finding a 1996 bulkhead harness, and engine harness to modify to work with the 3800. Option 2 assumes a much larger parts availability, and would probably be the route we would take. In that instance, only a few wires would need to be routed through the firewall...I think 10 or so...for various things like brake switch, hvac control, gauges, etc.

As for that mount, I know that the mounts for the HR6 on the series 1s are different than on the S2s due to bolt hole locations. In other words, S1 and S2 bolt hole locations in the AC area are different. (Remember that the S2 has a shorter deck than the S1, and that the V5 compressor is smaller than the HR6...compressor size and the shorter deck made the change necessary). Don wants to go the V5 route since that is what the OBD2 harness is set up for...so now the question is where can we source a V5, Series 2 mount that doubles as an engine mount?

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2005 GXP - White Gold Pearl, no mods...yet.
2000 SSEi - Resurrection in progress. Built L67 w/L32 fuel rail, ported heads, and cam. Camaro front brake system, GXP cluster, and much more in planning.

Who said anything about asking Brad? He'll just wake up one morning, go to start his shiny new toy, and it will not sound right due to the rusty 2.5L Iron Duke we slipped under the hood in the dead of night

_________________
Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Why modifiy a harness to wrok on S2 when you can use an S2 harness and build a patch cable type setup? Look at the Riv, has an internal pcm and all wires go inside like the van. Use that, get a spare interior side for the riv and a spare engine side for the van then simply map the wires. This way you don't need to cut any of the wiring which makes it backwards compatible.

On the mount, I'd search around..there's probably one that will work.

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97 Ei
97 GS
98 GS