Pontiac Bonneville

[84bonneville le]

I have a 1984 Bonneville with the 305 chev engine. I'd like to know more about the car, the transmission, the carburator etc. I like driving it.
I bought it recently, and it seems to be in good shape. The windshield is like new, as are the front fenders, bumpers, and the dash area. The seat upholstery is very good. Just a couple of wear points showing. It tracks very well, steers, brakes and corners well. The wheel bearings are very good, as are the lower ball joints etc.
After running it 500 kilometres the oil was still clean, like honey.
Also, if you have driven the 84 Bonneville, I'd like to know more about how the car compares with other cars you folks have driven.

 

[grandamman]

Nice ride. I recently bought an 85 Bonny to flip. 305 4 barrel. It is much like the Grand Prix and Lemans/Grand Am. Nice full frame, rear wheel drive. It has a much softer ride than the other cars. Most of the body will interchange with my 78 Grand Am 4 door.
I've only changed the oil and air filter. It dosnt need anything else. 82K miles.
My pontiacs have the 200 metric transmission, not sure about the chevy driveline.......

85 Bonny............1K to members......asking 1250 :wink:
in delaware

 

[Chevyman85]

I have a 1984 Bonneville with the 305 chev engine. I'd like to know more about the car, the transmission, the carburator etc. I like driving it.
I bought it recently, and it seems to be in good shape. The windshield is like new, as are the front fenders, bumpers, and the dash area. The seat upholstery is very good. Just a couple of wear points showing. It tracks very well, steers, brakes and corners well. The wheel bearings are very good, as are the lower ball joints etc.
After running it 500 kilometres the oil was still clean, like honey.
Also, if you have driven the 84 Bonneville, I'd like to know more about how the car compares with other cars you folks have driven.

Sounds like a nice car! I love older Bonnevilles, it will be very similar to the GBody cars on this site. It will make a great daily driver. It most likely has the same TH-200C Transmission as GBodys or it might be early enough to have a TH-350 which is a lot stronger. The motor if stock is the 160HP 305 that GM put into everything in the 80's. It should have a 4 Barrel Rochester Carb if its stock. The rear Diff. will be a 7.5" 10 Bolt rearend w/ 2.41:1 Gearing. Should be a good set up. Lets see some pictures!

 

[84bonneville le]

Chevyman85,

Thanks for the reply; Yes it is a nice car. Just bought it a month ago. Wanted a daily driver. But the darn thing is a lot of fun too. Very nice interior, great ride, and runs well. My kids like it, but have a hard time getting used to it because they are used to cars that look like jelly beans (as Don Cherry calls some of the newer cars.)
I've put on 700 kilometres, (just over 400 miles) and the oil is still clean on the dipstick. This puppy is just not acting its age.
It does have the 305 chev engine, and the 4 barrel carb. I alway wanted a 4 barrel Rochester. BTW the timing is great. Superb pickup when I step on the gas. And the transmission is very happy to shift up and down when under load/just easing off the gas or coasting. It was bought in January 1984 originally, so it could have the better transmission. I will ask my mechanic when he does the oil change in December. (Too cold to do myself then, unless we get a warm spell.)
I guess I'll have to set up some pics so you can see this little bundle of joy. Give me a few days.

grandamman; thanks for the reply. I'm far from Delaware; good luck with your 85.

 

[Chevyman85]

Good deal! Yeah, I hear you about being too cold. I'm spoiled I have a lift at work. But doing it in the driveway gets old really fast! :? If its shifting good they you shouldn't have a problem. Bonnies are great cars!

 

[84bonneville le]

My new 22 year old Bonne

I'm not a mechanic, although I have been known to do brake jobs (replace the shoes) with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. That was long ago though.
There is a little hill on the way to work, and I can feel the downshift each day; barely noticeable, and the engine revs a little.
This car has the roll em yourself windows, no power door locks, and manual adjust drivers bench/notquite a bucket. The front passenger seat is independent of the driver's seat. Nice dark brown velour cloth. No wear on the passenger seats. Just a little on two high points on the driver's seat. I reset the ceiling liner with a litttle effort to clean the ceiling behind it, and the sprayed the usual glue to keep it in place. The front fenders appear to be perfect. No rust over the wheels on the rear fenders. And only the left rear has bad rust behind the wheel; and that is only on the lower section. I bought a grinder and a set of cutting and grinding wheels, so next summer I will replace the bad metal with some good metal.
For that job I might ask the Forum for some advice, so that it looks good. I can cut away and replace old rust with new galvanized or even aluminum, using pop rivets. But making it look like original will not happen unless I get some new ideas.
The usual hole in the floor over the catalytic converter (heat speeds oxydation, duh) because the original shield was inadequate. I put down lots of 10W30 oil, and then a sheet of aluminum over the hole. Then I used roof tar to seal it, and from below I sprayed some more heavy oil on the rust.
Next summer I will cover this with a sheet of galvanized from below and seal it to keep the bare metal from exposure to salt and water while I drive.
A small hole near the frame under the driver's seat area was patched the same way. And the underside was oiled and sprayed with rubberized undercoat to keep the salt away from the metal. The rest of the floors are like new.
Behind the gas tank the metal is ugly, so I treated it too. But I am not as worried about that. No holes there. Just a lot of surface rust.
There was a hole over the rear wheel in the wheel well. Filled it with oil, then plugged it with roof tar. Did both sides. Probably sounds worse that it was. Just small holes. Now that they are oiled they will be no problem. All this took me a couple of hours per day every few days for a couple of weeks. Not much time realy to stop the rust and seal the holes.
On the mechanics advice I replaced the two front rotors and pads, plus changed the parking brake cable and one brake line. I did the air filter and the fuzzy filter on the side of the air filter cannister. We did an oil and filter change too. The mechanic says the four tires are new.
The car starts easily with a zoom, and the fast idle and choke work just fine. The cams in the fast idle link are good, so the idle speed slows nicely once I hit the road.
There is no play in the steering wheel. And the car tracks perfectly. No wheel wobble, so the bearings, the lower ball joints and the control arms are good. The transmission shifts easily into drive or reverse from park.
So it is like a nice fairly new used car. Lots of good steel in the right places. And looks very clean inside and out.