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PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 2018 9:46 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
In this episode of a never-ending car project, I try to start the car to move it to fix aforementioned stuff and...
...
...
...
...
...
Yeah, it wouldn't start. Chased the rabbit down the hole and found this:
Image

Cam magnet is gone. Explains a lot about the random hard starting issues...

So I grabbed a used one I had on hand, cut the flange off it so I could install it from the front, plastic welded a metal clip to the back using the plastic from the flange:
Image

And just when you thought I was being a bit less redneck, nah, not really:
Image

JB welded that sucker in just like everyone else would have done. You'll notice in photo #2 above that I cut a ridge in it to give the JB weld something to grab on to, the clip is to make sure it stays seated while it sets up as well as just extra insurance that it's going to stay in place. I nearly filled the hole in the cam sprocket with the stuff to make sure it would have to squeeze out to get the magnet back in, wanted to make sure I give it a fair shot at having a strong physical/mechanical grip on the magnet as opposed to relying on it sticking to it.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:34 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
The JB weld fix worked, in that it cleared up the code.

But suddenly now I don't have any fuel pressure. Sending unit is new, pump is new, pump turns on as if it were working properly, and gas gauge reads half a tank.

Haven't dug into this yet, but either the fuel pump is junk or the sending unit is junk or something else happened to the gauge that was working just fine before I changed out the rusty sending unit.

The conundrum then is do I put 5 gallons of gas into a tank that potentially is already going to be too heavy to drop?...

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:57 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Pulled the rubber hose from the fuel filler and put my boroscope in the tank yesterday.

So it looks like the sending unit or gauge is bad. For now I'm going to throw some gas in it and move along. I'll measure the resistance of the sensor before and after so I know if the sensor is working or not and go from there.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 11:15 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Basically all set here finally!

I'll put a used alternator on it until I fix the issue with the one I powdercoated, ignore the failed fuel gauge issue for now, sort out the alignment and plates/insurance, and start driving it in the next few days to hopefully flush out any remaining issues.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:40 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Ok... Well, I had some fun with this car. Spoiler alert: Something in the bottom end went after driving it a grand total of 30 minutes.

So after I fixed the issue with the cam magnet, I was still having hard starting. As in, it just wouldn't even start. Cue the boroscope, compression tester, fuel injector tests, etc. Nothing. Check the coils, all good and making hot spark. Checked the new wires for arcing or anything, nada. Checked over the ICM harness, went back and re-traced every wire in the C101 firewall pass-through (hey, I missed the power wire for the trans, so maybe it was something else). Nothing wrong there either. New computer, nope. Pulled the spark plugs, they were wet, confirming that I have fuel but no spark. Cleaned them, reinstalled, nope nope nope... Went over MAS, MAP, TPS, ECT, every sensor on the scanner - everything is working like it should be. Pulled the balancer, put a new crank and cam sensor on it, put it all back again..... yeah, nope.

Took a short break from it (taking classes for my masters, so that eats up some of my time and focus). Came back, and decided to throw a new set of good 'ol cheap AC Delco copper plugs on it. Fires right up! So I'm left scratching my head at trying to figure out why this set of plugs (iridium plugs I'd had in the SSEi that were working fine that I saved when I went turbo) decided to be junk. But whatever, it runs now, so I can finally do something with it!

First day, I let it get up to temp and drive it around, chase some of the suspension creaking, change the front wheels, etc. After it's warmed up the oil pressure drops a bit low, and suddenly it's stalling at idle... Let it cool off, and pressure is back up to 65psi and idles fine. Warmed up, it dropped to 20 and dies at idle. Pull the dipstick to find that the brand new oil is now overfilled by about 1 quart, and it smells like gas. I figured at this point the motor was done for, but I changed the oil anyway. Initial testing revealed solid oil pressure again, running smooth, no issues.

So now that it's running, the oil pressure is good, and it sounds like it's happy, I decided to take it out for a cruise and do some running around, see how it's driving. Found that the trans seems to be working, which is good. It makes great power considering it's just a stock pulley, and I tell you what, the suspension and brakes are better than I'd expected! I was acutally thinking it was good to go after all this time!

About 30 minutes into the drive the oil pressure started dropping again, and of course it started struggling to idle. So I pulled off the road, shut it off, and checked the oil. Between the gas-filled oil change and this one, something gave out inside. The oil had some really really big flakes in it compared to the last time I had a bearing go; and the brand new oil was black already.

So the car got towed home, and I parked it. Until last night anyway.

I started pulling the motor, discovered that the coolant was brown and smelled a lot like either rotten old oil or something else similar. There's a lot of heavy particulates in the cooling system, the bottoms of all the hoses and everything have a thick layer of brown goo. So much for saving the new coolant... I've got all the fluids draining now, going to finish that up tonight and get the motor out. Plan is to hit up the local u-pull for a new bottom end from a series 3 car (NA or SC, doesn't matter anymore) and toss the shortblock in. This was supposed to be my winter car this year, thankfully we've not really had any winter weather yet..

I'll be saving the motor for the moment. I want to see what the failure was. I'm guessing it was a main bearing. I have another L67 block with a good bottom end that had a cam bearing failure. Perhaps between the two I can end up with one solid bottom end?

But hopefully this time it's a simple R&R, and go. Oh, and the interior needs some deep cleaning. The only other thing I want to do is adjust the shift kit, and check to make sure there are no surprises in the pan. If there are, well, at least I have a built up backup unit to toss in. But for some reason, the *shoot* never ends with this car.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:46 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
And the engine is out! I think I might go ahead and powdercoat a few more things while I have it all apart. Should be the ideal time, the cold means there's like 0% humidity, so aside from been freezing cold out it might actually work?

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 2:00 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Got the old motor stripped down, figured out it lost a rod bearing, oddly there were no knocking noises at all. So yeah, awesome!

Decided to finish powdercoating engine parts:
Image

And we're just about ready again again again!
Image

I should have everything wrapped up tonight, I think, except the flywheel. The NA Camaro flywheel (which is what this new motor is from) is different than the FWD NA flywheel.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 1:13 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
And it's alive again!!!!!

After our recent cold snap, and my intent on using this as the winter vehicle in the future, I ended up putting in a Kat's 11610 block heater in the front core plug location:
Image

Fancy, L36 flexplate vs. L67 flexplate, (shoutout to Andrew for getting me the flexplate I needed!)
Image

Everything finally buttoned up and ready to go back in:
Image

So far, I've taken up and down the road a bit to work out some final little issues. I found that one of the coolant elbows might have a nicked O-ring, so I'll have to replace it. Then I have an issue with the trans and delayed shifting that might be due to a bad TPS. But other than that, it runs, it doesn't overheat, it holds good oil pressure! Once I get those little details fixed, I'll have to do a deep cleaning and get some driving videos. More to come!

That moment when you realize you took a slow, comfortable, floating couch of a vehicle and completely ruined what made it good \:D/
Image

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 5:02 pm 
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Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 6:17 pm
Posts: 5766
Location: DeKalb, IL
Year and Trim: .
92 SSE
92 Lumina Z34
99 Tahoe
03 PAU
:hit it: Looks awesome! Can't wait to hear the exhaust. =D> =D>

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88 Cutlass Ciera Brougham International | 120k mi | White w/ Dk Claret Int. | Roller to be S2 L67/4T65E-HD | 1 of ~5100 3.8 FE3 Int'l series
91 Riviera | S2 L67 Swap/4T60E | 127K mi | Antelope Met. w/ Tan Int. | Saved From Death By Crusher
92 Bonneville SSE | L67/4T60E | 77K mi | Med Slate Grey w/ Two-Tone Grey Int. | Low Miles Time Capsule
92 Lumina Z34 | LQ1/4T60E | 177k mi | Torch Red w/Grey Int. | Rusty In Odd Spots
99 Tahoe LT | L31/4L65E | 276k mi | Spiral Grey Metallic w/Grey Int. | Truck for Truck Things and Portable Concert Hall
03 Park Avenue Ultra | 212K mi | White Diamond Met. w/ Shale Int. | Southern Time Capsule
05 Acura RL | 155K mi | Carbon Grey Pearl w/Ebony Int. | The Super-Hooptie Daily


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 11:24 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
I've decided that this car project is never going to end!

Because the interior had to be mostly stripped down to clean up the mold, which led to me finding where the water was coming from, I made up my mind that I'm only doing this job (removing the interior) once...

Found me a parts car with a fully loaded tan leather interior, and have the car mostly stripped down already. Funny story about this one... they were selling it because the subframe let go. The reason they stopped driving the car was because the subframe let go... It had a massive fuel leak, only the right rear brake worked, and the rear end was one pothole away from the car folding in half. It took me a while to process the fact that they had been daily driving this car without front brakes.

Image

Anyhow, aside from a few clips breaking and some funky smell from the trunk, the interior just needs to be cleaned up a bit. The only things I'll need to get from a salvage yard are the armrest lid and the right rear seatbelt.

One little gripe I have is that the HVAC module comes out through the engine bay - and I want that fancy dual climate control! So that means that I have an excuse to pull the trans again and switch it out for my built-up one.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 12:30 pm 
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Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:38 pm
Posts: 1700
Location: Cambridge, OH
Year and Trim: 95 LeSabre Custom
01 Bonneville SSEi
09 G8 GT
I am so glad my LeSabre is nowhere near that bad. At least that is just a parts car.

Kind of intrigued on seeing the dual climate control install, as that's something I've been interested in doing to mine.

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1995 LeSabre Custom: 312K Miles | Custom K&N CAI | Edelbrock SDT Muffler | Camaro Tips | 180 T-stat | LED Interior
& Exterior | 20% Tint | PA Grill & Portholes | Limited Trim | GTP Rims | Ported LIM | Plus Many More Mods | Restoration Thread
2001 Bonneville SSEi: 225K Miles | Instense FWI | Intense MPS (3.4") | 180 T-stat | ZZP Plog | Ported Rear Manifold |
ZZP 3" Downpipe | Magnaflow Cat | Retrofitted HIDs | GenV M90 | GXP Brake Upgrade | 35% Tint | Plus Many More Mods |
2005 Bonneville GXP: 101K Miles | Custom FWI
2009 G8 GT: 89K Miles | 35% Tint | Roto-Fab CAI | SOLO Mach Exhaust | BMR Tunnel Brace | BMR Sub Frames | BMR STB |
Kooks Headers | QTP Electric Cutouts | BMR Sway Bars | Elite Engineering Catch Can | Innovative Dual Wideband Kit
1984 Caprice Classic Wagon: 86K Miles | Restoration Project


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:20 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Looks like the dual climate deal is a full on body harness swap. I've had to strip the interior down, remove everything under the dash, etc. It's a bigger job than I realized, especially considering how fragile all the silly plastic covers are on the outside of the HVAC unit. Having spent a lot of time around automotive assembly lines, I'm surprised at how difficult some of this is.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:42 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
I managed to get the interior and the engine/trans completely stripped out this weekend. Pulled the old wire harness - just, wow, I am never buying a car with an aftermarket remote start/keyless entry system again. The way they wired everything up was such that if you used the factory key fob to unlock the car it would also pop the trunk...

Getting into some of the little details here, I figured that I'll have to do more cut and weld than I'd intended to fix a hole I found in the wheel well. I have to cut good metal out just to get to it. Of course, the goal is going to be to stop the rust, then rivet and/or weld patch panels in and seal them. I really should just re-do all the rockers. I was holding off on that level of surgery because I wasn't sure just how much I wanted to put into this car. But then I found a bunch of strips of stainless at the local recycler, and combined with my brother's new DIY metal brake I can make the bends all the same, clean, etc. But that would mean I'll have to rivet it together. I guess at this point, a few rivets along the bottom are going to still look better than gaping rust holes.

I'll also need to do just a little work on the new interior, mostly cleaning it but some plastic repairs and improvements like wrapping the pillars and redoing the headliner in faux suede... There were some small squeak and rattles that I want to silence while it's all in pieces.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:30 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Y'all hold your lunch in for these, they ain't purdy...

Found some rot:
Image

I find this one annoying. The drivers side is pristine.
Image

Image

Image

Such is life in the salt belt I guess. This was mostly what looked like surface rust. When I pulled the interior it was water logged at the rockers so I figured that it was pinholed. Nope, it was straight up hit it with a hammer and watch it disappear!!!! Again, I'm not doing this job ever again, and I don't want to ruin the new interior, so it's got to be fixed.

Used a flap sanding disc on my angle grinder to rip out the nasty:
Image

Everything then gets painted. The only metal left was solid after the angle grinder, it's my new favorite way to cut that *shoot* out. To fix the joint between the floor pan and inner rocker I used some stainless sheet and rivets:
Image

I used sealant in there to make sure it's water tight, but this is only the first half of the fix. The actual structural stamping for the rocker is hidden between the inner and outer rocker. I have to do this same thing to the structural rocker plate thingy (I haven't come up with a cool name for it yet). That's the one that has to be shingled to shed water away from the interior fix I just made:
Image

Here's the view from the outside. It's hard to see, but the structural rocker piece is the silver one between the new stainless and the rotted outer rocker:
Image

I haven't decided if I'm going to do anything about the outer rocker yet, it has to be welded and body filled to really hide the repair, and I'm kinda thinking of leaving it plainly obvious just to add to the troll factor.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 10:07 am 
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Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 6:04 pm
Posts: 25871
Location: Browerville, MN
Year and Trim: 2004 GXP - plus a handful of other Bonnevilles
Ok, I know you have a budget and I know you don't mind work...but if I tore into a car like this it would be an immediate decision to scrap it. There has to be better donor shells out there that are cheap. If you got t-boned on that b-pillar area, your passenger wouldn't be feeling well.

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2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 55k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 95k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 260k | Official Bonneville Hauler


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:38 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 14, 2014 11:32 am
Posts: 79
Year and Trim: Several years, various trims
Matt, what sort of sealant did you use? Would you mind taking some more up close pics of the repair, around the seams, etc.

Greg and I are working on a similar project.

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1980 Chevy Chevette, 1.6L (for now....)
1994 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:21 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
I'm in this for a winter beater, once I started poking around this car I realized that's all it's going to be good for. Something I can plop $40 into some metal, rivets, and welding materials, and not be out a few grand (or really care about it) if it gets wrecked, and still have a pile of good parts for the next one, and hopefully last me more than just 3 winters like the last one did. Certainly no way I could justify trying to 'fix' it like this and flip it.

The rails that the seat frame bolt to, and the structure inside the seat frame, are the primary side impact countermeasure for first row. The doors have more to do with passenger compartment intrusion and side impact performance than the rocker does. I'm not saying it's not a factor, but I'd rather rip out something that is questionable and put new metal as opposed to leave it as is, coat it with POR-15 and pretend it's fine. 98% of my driving is either alone in my daily, or with the wife/kid in the STS. The only time I would have a passenger in my daily is for the one-off weekend junkyard excursion.

Could I find a donor shell that's better? I've been down this road. Either it's not cheap, or it's not coming from the salt belt, within 50 miles of a coastline, east of the Appalachians, etc, they are all rotted out. It turns into a weekend excursion with a truck and trailer and $500 in gas. If I'm going to that trouble I'm not getting a winter beater anymore.

Tim - Loctite PL-S30. Its a polyurethane adhesive sealant, ozone and UV resistant, paintable, permanently flexible etc.

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The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 10:59 am 
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Because Tim asked, here's a kind of step-by-step. At first glance, it looks like it only rotted through in the one hole.
Image

But I know better. Used the angle grinder flap sander to rip it all out to see just how far it spread into the seams:
Image

That rust dust gets everywhere... I let some evaporust soak into the exposed seams overnight, rinsed it off and sealed the metal that was thick enough to survive the flap sander with POR-15. The point is to simply stop the progression.
Image

Next comes the fun part; new metal! After cutting it to the general shape I want, I used vice-grips to hold it in place and work it to shape:
Image

Ran an initial bead of sealant around the back side, and rivet in place, forming the metal to the wheel well as I progress the rivets:
Image

Image

Then I went back over all the joints, wiping the sealant that oozed and adding more where needed. I will probably go back over it all again just to be sure everything is sealed.
Image

I've got one more spot in the joint between the wheel well and the seat pan area to fix, then this will all get sanded, degreased, and painted and undercoated. I still find it odd that this wheel well had an issue, but the others don't. I'm guessing something chipped through the factory undercoating at a seam and it just soaked in the water/salt over the years.

_________________
Boost addict
Image

The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2019 11:04 am 
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Certified Bonneville Nut
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
That's this side all buttoned up:
Image

Image

After that was done I went over to the other side, where just looking at it from the outside you couldn't tell there was a rust problem in the wheel well.
Image

I wanted to figure out where the entry points were for water and salt to cause the seat pan to start rotting, and coincidentally this is the top of the dogleg for the rear frame. So it's a closed cross-section - which means how the heck is water even getting in there? After poking around I think I've figured it out. There are three holes in the frame stampings, one of them is at the corner of the dogleg:
Image

This is just high enough to hold water, and in direct line of spray from the tire. That's this mystery solved... Anyhow, time to break out the angle grinder and see what we can find!
Image

Image

Image

We've got some rust starting at the top where the undercoating was failing, it's just starting so stopping it now means the upper wheel well area won't need patch panels. But the pinch weld between the seat pan and the well panel also saw undercoating failure, and of course those weld flanges hold moisture and it wicks in there pretty deep. That combined with the spray inside the dogleg makes the seat pan look pretty bad. It's soaking in evaporust right now, including inside the frame rail. I'm probably going to send the boroscope in there just to see if I can find anything else interesting, but it's otherwise ready to get a coating of POR15.

_________________
Boost addict
Image

The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


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 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:04 am 
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Certified Bonneville Nut
Certified Bonneville Nut
User avatar

Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:32 pm
Posts: 4759
Location: SE Michigan
Year and Trim: '99 Montana
'04 Dirtymax
'97 Camaro
'92 Trofeo
Didn't get a chance to work much on this over the weekend like I wanted, but I did get everything inside sealed up and ready to go back together again:
Image

Image

Image

And on to the wire harness. This is another one of those great mysteries of automotive assembly line magic. The entire body harness, from headlights to taillights in the trunk lid, is one piece. It weighs over 50lbs. It probably took 3 people just to load it into the cowl. There are 6 pass-throughs in the front, two takeouts for the dash to align and secure, and the wire harness crosses over again under the seat. Harness socks only get you so far...
Image

Image

Anyhow, that took about 30 minutes to get it back into the cowl..

_________________
Boost addict
Image

The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67


Top
 Profile  
 
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