Everyone likes a good fixer/build thread!

Plan on updating this for as long as I'm working on the car (which should hopefully be for years)

The event that started this was the fact that the engine pours oil down the rear side of the I/M.. also because I just bought it and I go through all the fluids as typical new-car owner fare.

Let me first just say... even the 30V Audi V6 in the A6 was not such a PITA to break down the I/M On.

How GM managed to shove so many bolts into such a small space is beyond me.

That said, it's always satisfying to get it done, and I've found 1-2 reasons why I'm glad I did so far. Someone had ghetto'd a vac line with heater hose and someone installed a 160T-stat on an otherwise stock car (to my knowledge) I know that a lower t-stat is typically a good mod for these engines, but iirc it does nothing without some timing advance?


Also.. I'm a cleaner, it's a disease unfortunately, and If I were to post all the before/afters of the parts I'll be taking a nail brush to, we'd be here all night, if you pay close attention though, you'll notice that everything, even down to the bolts (via soaking in some seafoam) will be cleaned once removed.

Right now It's break time, so I'm posting progress up to right now.

Anyway.. Pictures!

Of the car as it stands;




It begins!







Progress..



25 years of gunk presumably.



Half-way there..

 

 

Looks like the car is in good shape. Will it be all stock when you are done or do you have mods planned? How many miles on it?

 

I'm on board this thread. I love watching a project from start to finish

 

I love project car threads. I'll be keepin tabs on this one

 

82K miles

Well, I'm taking the suggestion of other members since I plan on acutally competing in my local Auto-X groups with this car.

Going to refresh the suspension and engine/ get it running good at a stock level, then see how I like that, and eventually start to modify it .


Or I might just go all-out and mod right away, I'm not sure yet.

In either event, all stock pieces will be retained and it'll be driven in a mostly stock fashion for a few months as I collect parts.

here's a half-time update.

P.S. Have I mentioned yet that GM engineer's should all be fired?



Hard to see, but the intake valves do have a fair amount of carbon on them.. likely indicative of poor gas and a lazy previous owner. That will change with some frequent heavy pedal modulation in and seafoam in the tank.



Mani-off, judging by the pools of oil front and rear at the china walls, it does seem that this was the source of my leak.



partz-n-suff



At this point I gave up and had to disconnect the front acessories... really GM? REALLY?



no sludge... I've also decided the considerable pain involved so far that I'm going to make a water pump purchase tomorrow.. it's right there(well.. not in frame) mocking me.

 

P.S. Have I mentioned yet that GM engineer's should all be fired?

Man thats not the first time I've heard that and know just what you mean.
I keep telling myself that they would most likely do things differently if they didn't have to fight the pencil pushers that don't know cars and make the decisions.

 

I'm on board with this thread!

 

Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

Be careful! It's easy to get carried away. I started pretty much where you are now. I'm the original owner of my '86 convertible. Decided it was time for some engine bay cleanup. Here is where I ended up:

I'm starting to get things back together after painting the firewall and frame rails and polishing the suspension/adding Del-A-Lum bushings.

I also ended up putting the original engine on a stand and bagged it up for future generations and built a 383 to drop in its place.


So as I said, be careful. You could easily end up on a runaway train.

 

it looks to be coming along well! how long have you owned the car? one small project always leads to bigger projects so as Ray said, be cautious..its addicting. from the pics it appears that the rest of the car looks nice. any interior or body flaws that you plan on addressing?

 

less than a week

Absolutely, new carpet, new weatherstripping, I might spruce up the plastic panels, new wheel, corbeau A4's , and likely new door panels.

Picked up a standard WP and new hoses (looks like I had the HD pump on there, but from what I've read, the HD option isn't really necessary at all, so I thought it would be OK)



Updates! Sorry.. Mostly cleaning pictures, I couldn't help myself.

 

Wow I must say when you clean a engine bay you leave nothing undone. If I cleaned mine like that I'd have a box full of parts leftover and know idea where they go. Wish I could get you to clean on my vette

 

All that cleaning and you didn't respray the valve covers???

 

I know!

I half debated it, but I didn't have the OE bronze color, and they really need to be sand blasted, the paint that's on there is distorted if you notice.

I think I may pull the whole block to go through it at some point and I'll get to it then. or maybe I'll do it when I get bored.

O wait.. you were joking right?

here's where I left off last night.




still need to change the plugs, put the Fuel filter back in, hookup some plugs, make sure the timing is right, refill the radiator, fix a few vac lines and if I have time I want to flush the trans, but I doubt I'll have time for it, I want to drive it tomorrow.

4 hours is enough for that... right?

 

The factory finish is a satin silver-gray color. With age, oil, and heat, the factory paint stains and turns the bronze color you mention. Zip, Mid-America, and others sell the factory color paint, but if you're not going for 100% NCRS perfect, a couple light coats of Krylon satin silver over a gray base coat works just fine.

Good looking car

 

From a fellow 89 owner you car looks amazing. Keep up the great work. I'll be watching.

 

yep, it's really easy to second guess and pick apart a 20+ year old design.

 

update;

She's running!

Sorry no pictures, was too busy as we ran through until 10:30 @ night to make it happen, but everything works, there was only a moment of anxiety when I watched the coolant temp rise to 230F from an airpocketm, but it quickly settled back to 192-200 once I opened up the radiator cap. I'm surprised it didn't suck through the coolant res, I may need to see if the line is pluged from crud-- which seems that it was comming from the spring inside the upper radiator hose (it was rusted) and *not* from a broken trans cooler or from the block.

Set the timing to 10Degrees (will correct back to 6 tonight) and drove it to work, she runs noticeably better, and best of all, no oil stains on the driveway overnight, so the leak's appear to be cured!

 

I know I'm late to the party but..nice car! Having said that, if I had torn down to the point you did I would have suggested going a bit farther & doing the head gaskets. My #7 let go at 60k miles, I think they all let go at some point. Who knows, by 80k yours may have already been done. I also cleaned and painted my plenum, runners, lower intake, valve covers, and polished up the fuel rails. It really looks nice now.