The winter project - 2006-2007
It all started back in September. The season was pretty much over with and I was tired of seeing a growing pond of oil under my car. Like any other car person I had plans that I really didn't think would materialize this winter. I knew I wanted to do a couple of what I would consider small modifications to my Grand National as well as (again what I thought would be quick and easy) track down those nasty oil leaks. I really had no clue what I had just got myself into but with the help of Tom Shea everything I wanted to do and more was accomplished.
So let me start with what I planned to do. Along with tracking down oil leaks I also planned on installing a front mount intercooler that club member Dan W was selling. There was also the elusive Terry Houston downpipe that I managed to find brand new (its actually a Houston) along with an Innovate LC-1 wideband controller to compliment the MAFTPro I got around to installing last summer. That was it, I figured I would spend maybe $2,000 after all was said and done. This, in my mind, was a two, maybe three day job. I would buy the couple of parts and dump some money on Tom for his help, tools, and shop, I also can not forget the great dinners his wife made and how nice she was with putting up with all the noise at any given time of the night, as long as it was after midnight.
After talking Tom in to agreeing to replace what I thought was a bad rear main seal and securing his shop space I went on to purchase the parts mentioned above. I would like to make this more than a story and give as many resources as well as part numbers as I can so bear with me if this gets a bit long.The downpipe came from JaysGN he has 3" Terry Houston SS downpipes with dump tubes for about the same price as the new downpipe manufacturers are selling theirs for. If you really want a Houston pipe (or an entire Terry Houston exhaust from the turbo back) go to Jays, he has it all at a very good price. I didn't need the exhaust as again Dan W came through with a nice set of used pipes that cleaned up nicely and mounted without a problem. As stated before, I got the front mount intercooler from Dan. This is an eBay intercooler that he purchased with no pipes. He then ordered the pipes, measured everything up (for his car), welded the pipes (he will tell you he is a mechanic, not a welder) and installed it all on his car for one season. Its in great shape but we had to do some modifying to it to get it into my car, more on that later. I ended up buying the LC-1 from Summit Racing (part# INN-3769) since I had a couple of gift cards for them. If your hunting for the best deal then use the Full Throttle 115% price guarantee since they sell it for the same price Summit does you can actually get a few bucks cheaper from a Buick vendor.
Alright, that got my original stuff purchased. I knew I would be buying more stuff like gaskets and stuff but for the big stuff I thought I was done, oops, shows what happens when you think I guess.As things progressed through October and into November I just kept buying stuff with the mindset of "well, I will already have it torn apart, I might as well do that too". Since the valve covers would be off (they were leaking BAD) I decided to get an RJC Racing power plate (#ADPPs). I also got a new heater water block valve from JaysGN since although mine did work, it was corroded and nasty as well as twenty years old. I would recommend getting this from Jay as he has the original stock valves made of metal for less than Kirban has the aftermarket plastic ones for. Some would argue the plastic is better, not me.The last thing I thought I would buy (there I go thinking again) would be the alcohol injection kit from Alky Control which is one of the best purchases I made for this car to date. That system is so complete, and tested. It may have taken us a few hours to get it installed but that's only because I want it done right the first time so there is no second time. All the lights work, and with the very first test everything else worked flawlessly.
When I finally got the car to Toms he had pretty much talked me in to getting a transmission cooler. I had also already talked myself into getting a new radiator since I had cooling issues last summer. I got the radiator from AutoZone it is for a 1987 Chevrolet Camaro V8 5.7L (part# 433918). Its a one core aluminum radiator which has received great feedback in how well it cools over the stock radiator. It doesn't hurt that its just a smidge over $100 either.Also, my Power Master accumulator ball was pretty much shot. With every pedal push the motor would run and the brake light would flash on. It was back to JaysGN for a Cardone accumulator. These units are a bit larger over the stock (I had a stock, original ball) and may take a little work to get in but its nothing bad. Another problem solved for under $200.
Once we got the car on the hoist we discovered just how big the crack in the driver side exhaust manifold was. The motor was caked in oil from what seemed like every seam on the motor. We decided both manifolds would come out to make cleaning easier so I had club member Roger F blast the driver side. He was also kind enough to weld the giant crack as well as weld in a gusset so it will not crack again. He also blasted my valve covers and turbo heat shield. Since he had also just recently installed a 3" downpipe on his car he already knew where to cut the heat shield and did a terrific job cutting mine. There is maybe an eighth of an inch between the shield and the pipe making for a very clean install.
Next came some ordering of more parts. I bought a Tru-Cool 48 row fluid cooler from RacerParts Wholesale (part# TRU-H7B). The hoses and fittings came from Summit Racing thirty feet of Aeroquip hose (part# AER-FCN0615), cooler fittings (part# AER-FBM2013), hose ends (part# AER-FBM1222), Transmission fittings (part# AER-FBM2514) along with a B&M trans temp gauge (part# BMM-80212). That pretty much sums up the stuff needed for a generic install of a trans cooler. Each application can be anywhere from slightly different to radically different, just remember to get enough hose so you can put it where you want. I also picked up a 10" fan (part# SUM-G4901) from Summit. This completes the transmission cooler set up. I ended up getting some spark plug wires that fit from Quadair (phone# 1-440-235-3232) along with a new boost line set from JaysGN I figured I would be able to use the Hooker Super Comp mufflers off the rusted system I had on the car but once we tried to remove them it was evident they didn't want to go so I bought new mufflers from Summit Racing (part# HOK-21106HKR).
Now all the parts are ordered right? Wrong, I tried to get by with the stock fan but the front mount piping was not allowing that. So back to Summit Racing I went to get the dual Flex-A-Lite pancake 12" puller fans (part# FLX-220). I ended up buying valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket, spark plugs, bushings, end links, along with other stuff directly from Tom. We decided to wire up fan bypass switches so I got a switch panel from BuickGN.com which is a nice anodized black piece that came with switches already installed. I am sure I am leaving something out but cant think of it right now.
So on to getting to work. We finally got started working on the car in Feburary. The cleaning took the longest as there was oil all over the place. we removed the headers, turbo, valve covers, oil pan, starter, converter cover, intercooler, throttle body, doghouse, exhaust, along with other stuff. The oil pan was the source for most of the leaking as there was no gasket in it, just a poorly made RTV gasket that didn't do much of anything in ways of keeping oil in the engine. While I cleaned up the pan and all the bolts (they were all capped with RTV) Tom went ahead and changed out the rear main seal. He also inspected the bearings and did a visual inspection of the cam (its worn but still ok). The rear main was surprisingly good but was the rope style so it was changed to a lip style. I cleaned the heads, spark plug bays, and front of the motor next. This also included all the oil stuck to all the suspension. The cleaning seriously took three days working at least eight hours a day to get it done. While I was messing around with all the cleaning Tom was also finding materials to fab up the transmission cooler. The cooler is located under the passenger side behind the front fender. The hoses are routed through the frame and come out just after the body support and swing nicely to where they need to be (replacing the hard lines of the stock cooler).
The intercooler was next and man did this turn out to be a job. We removed the vinyl piece from the bottom of the grill, then we removed the grill. We slipped the intercooler into place and made the marks for the holes that needed to be drilled into the header panel support that are used to mount the top of the intercooler to the body. Dan was smart and bent some metal tabs so that the bottom would mount to factory holes already there. The U-bend pipes wrapped around the bumper supports allowing the other pipes to mount under the bumper support and stretch up into the engine bay. This proved to be a problem since the alky kit mounts to the passenger side bumper support. We ended up pulling the passenger side U-bend pipe out and cutting six inches off of it, basically turning it into a C-pipe. This worked out nicely and freed up the area needed to mount the alky pump where it is designed to be mounted. My Grand National now had a front mount intercooler, I was happy.
After all that cleaning and when I got my stuff back from Roger we were ready to start putting stuff back on the motor. I sprayed the valve covers with clear coat (just normal rattle can stuff) and they came out looking new. We installed them as well as the RJC plate, I also cleaned up that entire area. Tom had found an old oil soaked mouse nest behind the plenum and under where the coil packs mounted. It appears this nest is old as it was comprised mostly of hood insulator yet my hood insulator is not missing any of its material. After the plate was installed and the valve covers were put back on we went ahead and replaced my spark plugs inspecting each plug as it was removed. The old plugs shoed signs of running lean at some point but all in all they showed the motor was running nice without any evidence of problems. We then moved on to installing the manifolds and cross over pipe. Once those were installed I installed the down pipe. While I relocated the IAT plug Tom finished the outside install of the alky kit and drilling the hole in the up-pipe for the spray nozel.
Once the fans arrived we finished the top and front motor install of everything. Tom drilled and mounted my o2 sensor on the downpipe and I ran the wiring around the back of the motor and into the cabin to be hard wired into my MAFTPro. Tom then took on the task of fixing my wiring nightmare I had under the dash. My guages were installed so badly I am almost ashamed to admit I did it, my only argument is I did it late at night and was tired.
So now the motor is back together, the tranny cooler is plumbed, the alky kit is installed and the wiring nightmare has been taken care of. All that was left was tapping and wiring the LC-1 and hanging the exhaust.
As it sits, that's whats left and we hope to have it wrapped up soon. When the weather is nicer I will update this with actual times to back up all the work we did over the winter. Hopefully, if your looking for some or all of the parts I used I hope made your search a little easier by posting part numbers and links. The amount of work I actually did on my car has given me new respect for the car. I learned a lot and will continue learning more and more about these wondeful cars each time I do anything to it.
I cant wait for summer now, its almost good the car is stuck in Toms Garage so I am not tempted to just take it out for a minute. With the weather as messed up as it is I would most likely just end up putting it in a ditch if I was dumb enough to take it out.
Anyways, that's it!
Abe
© 2007 MGNTA.com
