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Post by COMpulse on Oct 12, 2017 19:50:03 GMT -5
Fluorescent lights (including CFLs) contain mercury, so they are considered hazardous.
I just don't feel like dealing with it myself. I'll get it flushed.
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Post by flylear45 on Oct 12, 2017 20:16:46 GMT -5
Tranny fluid isn't a bad thought, but for now I'd just make sure that it is showing on the bottom of the stick. It has to be checked warm and must NOT be overfilled at all. Those trans levels are critical to good operation. The fluid will expand when hot, so stay to the low side early on. Only use the correct fluid as per the manual....again very important.
Have a couple of quarts handy when you start it up. After you have it running a couple minutes the first time, hold the brakes and shift through all the gears without moving. Put it in park and get a reading while it is running. Carefully add until it is to the low mark and then drive it a short distance and fill it when it is warm.
It won't take very much at all once the fluid hits the low mark on the stick, but might take a fair bit to replace what will be lost from the rad cooler and from the torque converter.
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Post by philg on Oct 13, 2017 10:31:25 GMT -5
Regarding the rad flush, what I meant was take the rad only to a rad shop and have them clean it before you finish installing it. That's what I did while the engine was out of my truck. IIRC, it was like $30 or something.
If you think the engine you bought needs the coolant passages flushed as well then taking the whole car for a flush is probably a better choice but will be quite a bit more money. If your flushing the whole cooling system and engine, your going to want the T-stat removed to do it properly.
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 13, 2017 11:14:54 GMT -5
I wasn't too worried about the engine block. I considered hooking the air compressor up and trying to blow out the coolant passages in the block.
I looked around under the car. At a minimum, I need to remove some plastic splash guards to see if I can access the radiator drain plug. If I can, I will weigh my options.
If I can get the flush done for under $100, I might have a shop do it. We'll see once all the mechanical is done, fluids will be the last thing to mess with.
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 17, 2017 8:12:46 GMT -5
So, I did some more work on the GTP. The transmission dipstick tube was an easy install. I installed the torque converter bolts. That was only a mild pain in the ass, since it's a tight area to fit my carpel-tunnel hands into. I attached the fuel line to the fuel rail. I put the alternator back on. I was installing the heater hoses with new fittings. And I snapped a bolt off in the tensioner bracket where the heater hoses connect. So, the alternator and tensioner need to come back off.
I went to the junk yard over the weekend. It was my first time at a "pull your own parts" kind of junkyard. I got a new tensioner bracket. I got a couple of Evap solenoids with hose fittings. Got some nuts. And most importantly, I got a dust cover for the bell housing. I might have even gotten a new wiring connection for the MAF sensor (if it's in my toolbox). $22 for parts and $2 for admission. That place was like the MicroCenter of car parts. Huge place. When I first walked into the yard, I was overwhelmed. But I started walking until I found the GM area, and started looking for any Grand Prix or Bonneville that wasn't stripped to the frame. It was a little wet and a little chilly but I was damn determined to get my parts. And I wasted no time laying down in the mud to get my parts. I may have left a pair of pliers somewhere though. Just walking around, I saw forgotten sockets and other tools under cars and in the mud.
So the new list is: Remove alternator. Remove Tensioner bracket again. Attach new tensioner with coolant elbows. Attach heater hoses. Attach alternator. Check torque on the torque converter bolts. Attach dust cover to bellhousing. Attach evap line to purge solenoid. Put belts on.
In a perfect world, all of that gets done today.
Then: Flush radiator somehow. Attach coolant overflow bottle. Pre-fill engine with coolant and attach coolant hoses.
Reconnect motor mounts. Drain oil pan. Fill engine and filter with oil.
Remove rear tires, fill with air, put tires back on. See if they hold.
Install battery.
Roll it out into the driveway. See if it starts. Watch for leaks or fire. Check and add Trans Fluid. Attach hood.
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Post by revheadkev on Oct 17, 2017 17:12:36 GMT -5
Yep, those "pick-your-own-parts" places are great. I have one here in AUS that I go to for things that aren't critical to be new. Mine has a computer screen at the front gate where you can search for your car type to see if there are any in the yard and what parts have been already taken.
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 18, 2017 6:40:33 GMT -5
A lot got done yesterday. I did the oil change, bought a battery, and even put the air intake back on.
The remaining list:
Reconnect motor mounts. Figure out where new mystery wire goes. It's near the front. Maybe the fan wiring? No idea yet. Remove rear tires, fill with air, put tires back on. See if they hold. Fill radiator and engine block with coolant.
THIS WEEKEND: Roll it out into the driveway. See if it starts. Watch for leaks or fire. Check and add Trans Fluid. Attach hood.
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Post by flylear45 on Oct 18, 2017 8:31:02 GMT -5
So close......
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Post by jhornbr225 on Oct 18, 2017 10:45:29 GMT -5
Yeah, Pick-a-parts are fun. We have Pull-A-Part here in Ohio. The only bad thing is that they don't have an inventory of what was removed from the car. I understand the logistics of it though. I had the thought of changing the wife's car so that if you lock the doors twice, the horn does not beep. She had the Acura a few years ago that had a little buzzer under the hood. Much less annoying than the horn. I found that Acura has used the same buzzer for years. I saw that there was an Acura that should have had the buzzer on the lot. By looking at the exploded view on Acura Carland website, I saw that the buzzer was in the rear passenger side of the engine compartment. I looked everywhere, no buzzer, no plug, no wire harness. I then got the crazy idea that it might not be under the hood. It was actually up under the wheel well. But that's the fun of it right? As long as it's not rainy, or cold, and you don't get stung by a bee that made a nest in one of the cars.
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 18, 2017 11:29:10 GMT -5
The place I went to (Parts Galore) has 3 locations. You pay a $2 admission, and it's good for the day at any of their locations. I went to their 8 Mile location not far from my house. They have a website that lists which cars are at which locations, but individual parts are not listed. Every vehicle is propped up on used steel wheels. One laying flat on the ground, welded to a vertical wheel which I think is then welded to the frame of the car.
I pulled a tensioner bracket, two Evap solenoids with tubing, and the bell housing inspection cover. On my way out, I think the guy just made up a price. I was hoping to maybe find a Grand Prix with Special Edition body parts (different side-skirts and bumper covers) but that may have been naive of me. Everything was pretty beat up. Also, I was exhausted after walking around with my toolbox and parts. The junkyard also rents wheel barrows for $3. I think that's where they make their money.
Putting the air intake back on really felt like I was just about done. And changing the oil. I forgot just how different used oil looks compared to new oil. I expect to get the motor mount nuts on tonight and also figure out the one remaining electrical connection. Tomorrow maybe do the wheels. Should be easy. Take them off. Drive to gas station. Fill them up. See what happens. If they don't hold air at all, I will need to decide on new tires, or craigslist some used wheels with tires. The GTP comes with large brake calipers, and not every wheel has a high enough offset to clear the caliper. So shopping for wheels can be tricky.
THIS IS ALMOST OVER.
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Post by jhornbr225 on Oct 18, 2017 11:54:17 GMT -5
Pull-A-Part here is $1 to get in, if you join their free club. I think the regular price is $2. Also, the wheelbarrows are free. I have been known to go to the Akron or Cleveland location if they have the car listed I'm looking for. It's funny, I watched a guy destroy a Civic door handle that he wanted because he didn't know there was a little e-clip to remove to get the handle out. I also feel it's a little uncomfortable working on the same car as someone else. If someone is in a car I want to look at, I move on for a little while then come back. I was in this Civic trying to get the dash out because I wanted to change my 96 Civic to the Double DIN dash of the 99's. You need the air vents in the center of the dash, the little servo motor under the dash, the transistor in the heater motor to control the speed and a small wire harness. It was quite a job to get the dash out. I'm upside down under the dash, and this guy comes up and starts abusing the door to get the handle out. And there was another guy who needed a tire, but knew nothing about how tire sizes are interpreted. Things are a little better at the Canton, OH location.
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 20, 2017 8:58:48 GMT -5
The place I was at wasn't so crowded that you would have to worry about two people working on the same car. Plus, being in the hood, you kind of just avoid other people.
Man, I was working on some last minute details on the car, and things were looking desperate. The new mystery wire went to the AC compressor. No big deal. The motor mount nuts on the other hand were complicated, and most likely something I should have done differently from the beginning.
I had left the bushing in the car. Removing the motor mount from the bushing is way more difficult than simply removing the bushing from the frame, but I did it that way so I would have the bolts sticking up from the bushing to guide the engine into place when I lowered it. But the clearance to get to these nuts is tight. Like, you can barely take the nut off without also removing the motor mount from the block. And the old engine had a different mount (which I probably should have used). So basically, I couldn't get one of the nuts onto the motor mount bolts. There just wasn't clearance to get the nut to thread onto the bolt. I had a different shorter nut which I could get on, but it didn't feel tight enough. So I decided to try to lift the engine up from the bushing a little bit. With a crowbar. But it wasn't working the way I wanted it to. I was considering using the hoist to lift the engine just half an inch. But instead I decided to tap the nut into place with a hammer and a screwdriver. All of this sounds terrible, but it actually worked. I couldn't get a wrench on the nut at first, but I was able to tap the nut with the hammer hitting the screwdriver gently. And it started threading. After a I'd tapped the nut around a few revolutions, it was threaded enough to where I could get a wrench on it.
Then I reattached the upper motor mounts again. I believe everything is secure.
THIS WEEKEND: Remove rear tires, fill with air, put tires back on. See if they hold. Fill radiator and engine block with coolant.
Roll it out into the driveway. See if it starts. Watch for leaks or fire. Check and add Trans Fluid. Attach hood.
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 23, 2017 6:49:29 GMT -5
New list:
Figure out why it doesn't start. Add trans fluid.
It tries to turn over.
Ignition requires air, fuel, and spark. Air - Usually the easiest of the three. I guess I should check the intake butterfly valve. Fuel - I checked the fuel rail has fuel in it. Not sure on the pressure, but there is fuel. Spark - I can't tell without pulling a spark plug I guess.
But it's out of the garage. Hood is on. Everything looks good.
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Post by philg on Oct 23, 2017 7:10:46 GMT -5
Well, out of the garage, that's a good start!
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Post by COMpulse on Oct 23, 2017 8:44:25 GMT -5
It could the be the anti-theft system, which did flash a few times when I first tried starting it. Tonight I will hook up the OBD scanner and see what's up, and maybe clear codes. And I will do a re-learn procedure for the anti-theft system.
If that doesn't work, I have an extra set of plugs, cables, coils, injectors, and a fuel rail. Probably just blindly swap it all if it comes to that. But first, I will laugh like a lunatic if it's just the anti-theft system.
I would have done this stuff yesterday, but I have new neighbors, and they have kids that want to talk and ask me questions while I'm trying to get this thing to work.
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