Texas82GP's Roadmaster

[DRIVEN]

I'd take a look at the MAF resistors for residue. You can take it apart by pulling the 4 torx screws to clean them (the resistors, not the screws). I just spray them with CRC Brakeleen in the green can and use a Qtip to wipe them clean. Light load is where a lean MAF seems to be felt first. You may hear it try to ping if it gets dirty enough. Takes a lot of crud to set a code.

 

[Texas82GP]

You do some fine work. I have a 95 SS you could do next.😉 Plug wires are fun aren't they. My headers went any better.

Thanks for the compliment. I try to give attention to detail to everything I do. I hate doing stuff twice. I want to do it once and move on for a long time. I would have liked to get ahold of an SS but I just couldn't pass this deal up. The plug wire job sucks but it would be easier now that I know how to do it. I hope I never have to do it again though.

I had a buddy with a 96 impala ss. He had alot of the same issues you do. It ran rough at idle or under load. There were no codes thrown. We replaced his original optispark with an msd. It didn't work. We thought it was just bad luck so sent it back for another. Still not working. So I went to the junkyard and got an original. Threw it in and it ran like a top. For some reason the aftermarket optis are finnicky as hell. Im probably wrong but just throwin it out there.

Thanks for the feedback. I hope my problem isn't in the optispark. It looked really clean on the inside. I replaced the cap, rotor and the O-rings on the shaft where it attaches to the cam. It would be disappointing to have to pull the water pump again.

New injectors have a new part number best I can find.

19244617 superseded the old p/n of 17124248. Amazon sells them for 98 bucks each! Even if it cost you $200 to clean them, pay it!

Thanks for the part number help, again. I agree with you. I'm going to get them cleaned. I think it might be what the doctor ordered and I won't feel like it is a waste as I doubt it has been done before. Someone was getting the oil changed on this car for sure but I don't think it got much else.

I can’t remember, did you flush the transmission fluid or just add some before driving? I recently bought the wife a Yukon and the stumble that I swore was a DOD issue turned out to be trans fluid that absorbed moisture. A flush with some synthetic fluid has since fixed the issue. YMMV

No, I didn't flush it. I dropped the pan to replace the gasket and the filter so it got about 4.5 quarts of fresh fluid and a bottle of Lubeguard Platinum that my buddy Jeff at the transmission supply house recommended. I don't think it is torque converter clutch chatter since it does it in reverse too and the torque converter isn't locked in reverse. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Throw a bottle of Lucas injector cleaner in the tank, take it out, and let it bounce off the speed limiter 5 or 6 times. It'll be fine.

SEND IT!!!!! 🙂

Uhhhhh, no! I don't want to pilot that rolling water bed at top speed.🤣

I'd take a look at the MAF resistors for residue. You can take it apart by pulling the 4 torx screws to clean them (the resistors, not the screws). I just spray them with CRC Brakeleen in the green can and use a Qtip to wipe them clean. Light load is where a lean MAF seems to be felt first. You may hear it try to ping if it gets dirty enough. Takes a lot of crud to set a code.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll do that. I did "clean" the MAF while it was out but only sprayed it down real good from both directions with aerosol MAF cleaner. I didn't know or think to pull it apart to get the screen out of the way and do a better job cleaning the resistors with a Q-tip. Your tip prompted me to do some homework and read up on doing it that way. I haven't heard any pinging but it is really quiet in the car. When I regapped the plugs they didn't have much of anything on them but some had some white residue on the external electrode which I thought might indicate a lean condition. I didn't think much of it since there were so few miles on them.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions guys. I really appreciate it.

 

[Texas82GP]

More progress on the Roadmaster. I took Friday off and worked on the car. I wasted a lot of time trying to pull the new upper control arm bumper through the slot. I read a tip from the second gen Camaro guys to install it with the control arm on the car so I moved on. I struggled a bit figuring out the best way to set up my spring compressor on the new springs. Once I finally had the driver's side spring in and the spindle installed, I couldn't get the compressor out. I had to take the lower balljoint loose from the spindle and let most of the tension off of the spring with the jack before I finally got the compressor out. It didn't go as smoothly as I expected. The springs on this car are pretty tall (uncompressed) so they have to be compressed a lot more than I'm used to. Here's where I was at the end of Friday....

Saturday morning I put the brakes together. That went smoothly.....

Saturday afternoon I got the passenger site torn down. It was pretty straight forward except the upper control arm gave me trouble getting it out. I couldn't get it to slide in enough to get the upper shaft off the bolts. It was hitting A/C lines, the fuel tank vent line, the air injection line, you name it. I ended up using a C-clamp and a large socket to press the bolts out of the frame (they have a knurl on them to hold them tight in the frame) and then it came right out.

Sunday I was able to assemble the passenger side. That side went a lot smoother since I had learned how to do it. I never did get the upper control arm bumpers to go in. The trick I tried on the car was to lightly grease the slot on the control arm and lightly grease the tab on the bumper. With the weight of the car sitting on the suspension, I slipped the bumper into the slot and then put a small piece of 2"x4" under it, Then I let the jack down, so that the energy of the spring would push the tab of the bumper through the control arm. It didn't work. I even pulled and pulled on the tab with pliers and I could never get it to go through. I ended up tearing out a chunk of rubber on one of the tabs. Saturday night I did some homework and it looks to me like the reproduction bumpers aren't made quite right. The "feathers" on the tab are too fat and they won't pull through the slot like an OE one will. I ordered a set of polyurethane bumpers that evening because I had nowhere near that trouble installing these bumpers on Sean's Camaro. Later, I ordered a set of NOS GM bumpers. When I get them all I will compare them to what I have and make a decision.

So moving forward I have:
1. Install upper control arm bumpers
2. Install zerks in lower ball joints
3. Grease front end
4. Install new sway bar bushings and sway bar link kits
5. Replace rear brake hose
6. Adjust rear brakes (shoes are adjusted too loose)
7. Bleed brakes
8. Install wheels/tires/hubcaps
9. Clean MAF as described above (might do that this week one night after work)
10. Bed new brake pads
11. Check alignment - I went back with all the same shims and didn't change any of the steering linkage so it should be pretty close

Depending on how all that turns out, I'll take it from there. It needed upper control arm bushings more than anything. The rubber was actually backing out of the front upper bushing on the Passenger side. I had to get ugly with it with a screwdriver so I could get a wrench on the front nut securing the upper shaft. The front pads were at about 50% but I think they were probably pretty cheap. They didn't have wear sensors on the inner pads. They were riveted and I didn't like how they were biting. For $300 I replaced it all. Now I should be done with the front end on the car for a long time.

I'm still getting a faint smell of fuel while working on or being around the car. I'm pretty sure the odor is coming from the back at this point. I'm thinking the hose from the tank to the steel vent line on the frame may have rotted off. It was completely rotten at the engine end of the line. I'm thinking the tank is just venting to the atmosphere and that's what I'm smelling. The car has some surface rust on the bottom of the trunk pan back there. I knew about it when I bought the car. I guess it is a result of the car being close to the coast all those years in Tampa. I think I'm going to drop the tank to look for the source of the fuel smell and treat the rusty area while it is out.

That's if for now friends. Thanks for following along.

Jared

 

[clean8485]

Are those new control arms Jared? If so where did they come from-Rock Auto?

 

[Texas82GP]

Are those new control arms Jared? If so where did they come from-Rock Auto?

Yes they are Jeff. They are Moog from RockAuto. All four were different prices but they ranged from like $65-$75 each. They include new bushings and ball joints. For that price, it was hard to justify rebuilding my originals. When I received them I was disappointed to see they were made in Taiwan but I couldn't find any fault in the quality. I don't regret going that way, at least not yet.

 

[pontiacgp]

Uhhhhh, no! I don't want to pilot that rolling water bed at top speed.🤣

just leave it in 1st gear.... 😎

 

[MrSony]

just leave it in 1st gear.... 😎

Thats how I fixed my p/s pump...

 

[joesregalproject]

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*breathing intensifies*

 

[Texas82GP]

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Damn, that looks like a great buy.

 

[joesregalproject]

Damn, that looks like a great buy.

Someone should buy it before I do something stupid! I'm supposed to be looking for trucks 🤣