BUILD THREAD my 1980 Grand Prix w/BBC 454 build thread
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And now you've all learned quite a bit about my musical preferences.
In case you didn't notice it in that photo, I like this stereo simply because of its USB port. I have the world's smallest microSD card reader plugged in, and it contains a 16gig memory card full of mp3 files. This allows me to carry much of my CD collection with me in the car, hassle free. (I was always too cheap to buy an actual iPod, and I don't like wires hanging all over the place anyway.)
If you're curious, here is what it looks like:
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Phase Two is complete... or, real progress
(Phase One was performing the rear axle swap, if you lost track.)
My co-worker Mike and I both worked the early shift today. During casual chitchat, I mentioned that I had no plans for the rest of the day after work, though my wife would be busy and wouldn't get home until 9pm or so. Without delay, he enthusiastically blurted out, "dude, let's pull your engine!" And with that, we began making plans. I would leave work, head straight home, and prepare for the operation by shuffling cars and moving stuff around the garage; he would head to his place, switch to his El Camino, drive to his storage lot and pick up his engine hoist, then head to my place and pitch in. I started spinning wrenches around 3:30 or so; he didn't show up until about 4:30.
At 7:00pm, this happened:
That right there is my stock 231 V6 engine and transmission after having been surgically removed from the car.
(Phase One was performing the rear axle swap, if you lost track.)
My co-worker Mike and I both worked the early shift today. During casual chitchat, I mentioned that I had no plans for the rest of the day after work, though my wife would be busy and wouldn't get home until 9pm or so. Without delay, he enthusiastically blurted out, "dude, let's pull your engine!" And with that, we began making plans. I would leave work, head straight home, and prepare for the operation by shuffling cars and moving stuff around the garage; he would head to his place, switch to his El Camino, drive to his storage lot and pick up his engine hoist, then head to my place and pitch in. I started spinning wrenches around 3:30 or so; he didn't show up until about 4:30.
At 7:00pm, this happened:
That right there is my stock 231 V6 engine and transmission after having been surgically removed from the car.
Phase Three begins
Now that the stock engine and trans are out, it's time to prepare the engine bay for the new ones. Not much is involved in this phase; my primary goal is to remove most of the 35+ years worth of oily goo, ooze and sludge that have accumulated on the crossmember and frame rails. I'll also need to swap out the V6 motor mounts for the V8 ones. After that, I'll pretty much be ready to set the new engine and trans in place.
As I mentioned, the first part of Phase Three involves cleaning. For that, I need to get the car to a pressure washer. This meant spending the afternoon loading the car on my trailer--a car which has no parking brake, if you had forgotten--and I had to do it by myself. This would require creativity.
Step 1: roll the car down the driveway onto the street, with the nose aimed downhill; use wheel chocks to hold it in place.
Step 2: hook up the trailer to the Suburban.
Step 3: maneuver the trailer into position while simultaneously jack-knifing the Suburban.
Step 4: use the trailer jack to make sure the trailer is at an uphill angle relative to the Pontiac.
Step 5: maneuver the Jeep onto the lawn and begin tow-strapping the car toward the trailer.
Just as I was about to hit the ramps, my neighbor came home. Seeing the circus, he walked over and offered to assist. This meant he could operate the steering wheel while I continued to pull the car onto the trailer. I re-positioned the Jeep and the strap, and it went the rest of the way up without disaster.
Fun fact: about 28 years ago, a friend stole a pair of orange road cones and gave one to me. I hung on to it all these years because... well, I don't know why. It has typically sat in a closet or in the garage, simply gathering dust. But today, I finally found a practical use for it!
At last, I was ready to start cleaning.
Now that the stock engine and trans are out, it's time to prepare the engine bay for the new ones. Not much is involved in this phase; my primary goal is to remove most of the 35+ years worth of oily goo, ooze and sludge that have accumulated on the crossmember and frame rails. I'll also need to swap out the V6 motor mounts for the V8 ones. After that, I'll pretty much be ready to set the new engine and trans in place.
As I mentioned, the first part of Phase Three involves cleaning. For that, I need to get the car to a pressure washer. This meant spending the afternoon loading the car on my trailer--a car which has no parking brake, if you had forgotten--and I had to do it by myself. This would require creativity.
Step 1: roll the car down the driveway onto the street, with the nose aimed downhill; use wheel chocks to hold it in place.
Step 2: hook up the trailer to the Suburban.
Step 3: maneuver the trailer into position while simultaneously jack-knifing the Suburban.
Step 4: use the trailer jack to make sure the trailer is at an uphill angle relative to the Pontiac.
Step 5: maneuver the Jeep onto the lawn and begin tow-strapping the car toward the trailer.
Just as I was about to hit the ramps, my neighbor came home. Seeing the circus, he walked over and offered to assist. This meant he could operate the steering wheel while I continued to pull the car onto the trailer. I re-positioned the Jeep and the strap, and it went the rest of the way up without disaster.
Fun fact: about 28 years ago, a friend stole a pair of orange road cones and gave one to me. I hung on to it all these years because... well, I don't know why. It has typically sat in a closet or in the garage, simply gathering dust. But today, I finally found a practical use for it!
At last, I was ready to start cleaning.
On to the cleaning. I decided to stick to Roadkill procedure and buy a can of Gunk engine degreaser. As fans of the show are certainly aware (because it was covered in episode 23), Gunk actually makes three different varieties of degreaser:
In that same episode, Frieburger uses all three on the General Mayhem's engine. Ultimately, he declares the Heavy Duty Gel version to be the best at removing his engine's grimy buildup... so that's the one I purchased. I saturated the crossmember, frame rails and some of the steering components as best I could (the can didn't last nearly as long as I hoped it would), let it soak in for 10-15 minutes, and hit the local car wash. A few bucks in quarters later, this was the result:
Was I pleased? No, that word isn't strong enough. I was actually shocked at how effective this stuff was. Not only was the majority of the grease and grime gone, but so was a lot of the paint (!). Is that supposed to happen? Or maybe the painted finish was eaten away by 36 years of gas and oil? I have no idea. Either way, at least now when I crawl under there to swap motor mounts I won't have hundreds of grease globs falling into my eyes.
I'd definitely call that a win.
In that same episode, Frieburger uses all three on the General Mayhem's engine. Ultimately, he declares the Heavy Duty Gel version to be the best at removing his engine's grimy buildup... so that's the one I purchased. I saturated the crossmember, frame rails and some of the steering components as best I could (the can didn't last nearly as long as I hoped it would), let it soak in for 10-15 minutes, and hit the local car wash. A few bucks in quarters later, this was the result:
Was I pleased? No, that word isn't strong enough. I was actually shocked at how effective this stuff was. Not only was the majority of the grease and grime gone, but so was a lot of the paint (!). Is that supposed to happen? Or maybe the painted finish was eaten away by 36 years of gas and oil? I have no idea. Either way, at least now when I crawl under there to swap motor mounts I won't have hundreds of grease globs falling into my eyes.
I'd definitely call that a win.
Yesterday was my weekly day off work. Due to an important political PR project for the local Jeep group, I didn't have much time to spend working on the car. But what did happen was a visit from brown Santa, who dropped off a huge, heavy box at my house. One of the nice things about ordering from Summit Racing is they always box your item in one of their own boxes, which adds some mystery as to what might be inside the package. But when an item is shipped directly from the manufacturer, well, that doesn't happen... and now it might be a bit easier for onlookers to deduce what is sitting on your front porch.
Gee, I wonder what this could be.
Gee, I wonder what this could be.
I have a box just like that. I didn't like that it was made in China but I wanted a stainless system with the behind the tire exit. After opening the box, everything looked nice and was well packed. What mufflers did you go with? I went with the Speed Pros. Mine is still in the box. I'm going to replace all the clamps with stainless band clamps on my install. When I bought my system last year, there were several recent good reviews on its fitment. I'm guessing you will install yours before me so I'm looking forward to hearing how it fits up for you.
I chose the Race Pro mufflers. They are designed like MagnaFlows (using a straight-through perforated tube wrapped with some sound absorption) and offered the best flow of the three options. Initially I was going to buy a system without mufflers and then add in a pair of MagnaFlows, but this system gives me essentially the same thing for less money. It should work fine.
When I get to that point, I'll be posting video clips.
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