Quaraxkad's '92 Cutlass

[Quaraxkad]

Good news, maybe! I pulled off the SC and the heads today. The heads look like they're alright at first glance There is a lot of debris, but I didn't feel any damage. I'll do a thorough cleaning tomorrow, and take a closer look at them and the SC.

The block is mostly disassembled. I think the only thing I forgot to pull off that I will need is the crank pulley.


Here's the bad cylinder


A pair of grooves worn into the cylinder wall

[rwheadon]

Reminds me of the old Classic Quake days where everything would turn red and the screen would say:

"Rich tried to put the pin back in."

[Visitor]

Love the w bodies! I have a brand new set of overkill engineering camber plates id let go dirt cheap, if ya need em!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

[devolution]

That's all?! What happened after this? I feel like I've been watching a show that got canceled mid-season

[Quaraxkad]

It's not canceled, just on hiatus. The writing staff has some outlines and drafts for future episodes...

I've got a new engine and transmission that I pulled from another JY Grand Prix a couple of months ago during a 50% off sale. It's just sitting in the garage where I left it... In September... I've been thinking about working on it lately. The next step is locating an '89-90 Turbo Grand Prix steering rack, it's got the tightest turning ratio. Then I've got front suspension parts from 95+ W-bodies for larger rotors. Then possibly finding an aluminum subframe and a good aluminum welder to modify it to fit. Or I could just throw everything back in as is and be done with it without having to spend *too* much more money.

[devolution]

Originally Posted by Quaraxkad

It's not canceled, just on hiatus. The writing staff has some outlines and drafts for future episodes...

I've got a new engine and transmission that I pulled from another JY Grand Prix a couple of months ago during a 50% off sale. It's just sitting in the garage where I left it... In September... I've been thinking about working on it lately. The next step is locating an '89-90 Turbo Grand Prix steering rack, it's got the tightest turning ratio. Then I've got front suspension parts from 95+ W-bodies for larger rotors. Then possibly finding an aluminum subframe and a good aluminum welder to modify it to fit. Or I could just throw everything back in as is and be done with it without having to spend *too* much more money.

LOL, that sounds like the progress of my project. finding the motivation after being distracted by other things, debating whether to spend more money on another modification or to just get the damn thing back together already...

anyway, this is a cool project thread that I've been meaning to read for ages and I'm glad I finally did. It's interesting seeing a car that has so many options for swaps that it's almost overwhelming...quite a change from a Legend. Looking forward to seeing the finished ("finished") car at some point.

[Quaraxkad]

Stuff happens once again!



Been working on this a little at a time for the last couple of weeks. Haven't really taken any pictures, nothing much to show yet. I have decided to put a hold on all of the fancy stuff, and instead just get this installed and running without spending too much money. Maybe some time in the future I will buy a new block with fewer miles on it, rebuild that one properly, and then give the rest of the car some much-needed attention. The stock suspension is crap, the stock brakes are crap, the body needs some work and paint of course. Engine mods will be much easier after I've already familiarized myself with it by doing this first swap.

I started working on the wire harness, which came out of a 1998 Monte Carlo Z34. This harness is good because the Monte Carlo is a w-body, the engine bay has a similar layout, the connector on the firewall where the engine harness passes through to the cabin is physically the same, but I need to move around a bunch of pins so that the wiring matches up with the harness in the cabin. The wire descriptions in the manuals aren't completely clear, so I'm looking through the wiring diagrams for each wire in both the Cutlass and Monte Carlo factory manuals to ensure I've got everything in the right place. 13 out of the 36 wires in that connector are in the right place... The rest either need to be moved to another location or removed completely. I may also need to re-pin the 4 connectors on the PCM. That will depend on which PCM I use, and I still need to do some more research on which PCM I can use and which I should use. I have the PCM from the exact car this harness came from, and also two PCMs for 2000 Grand Prix GTPs, which is what this and the previous (blown) engine came out of. The Monte PCM would note require any re-pinning of the PCM connectors, but it's not programmed for boost. The GTP PCMs are already programmed for this exact engine, but may require repinning on the PCM connectors

I also fixed the brake lines that I had to cut while removing the old engine. I tried to use a double-flare tool to make a bubble-flare. That doesn't work, despite what YouTube videos might have you believe... I ended up buying an OTC Master Flaring Set. It's not too expensive and significantly better quality than the K-Tool Double Flare set I had before. This one made proper bubble flares on the first attempt, and very nice ones too. I also bought a new master cylinder. I re-routed the brake lines that were cut and re-flared so that they reach the master cylinder again. But after I get the engine installed I may find that the brake lines are in the way of something else... If that happens I will have to cut the brake line somewhere under the car and run a whole new line from there up through the engine bay.

I got a remanufactured steering rack out of a 1989-90 Turbo Grand Prix. Coincidentally, the engine that I pulled from my Cutlass, a 3.1L 'LH0', is the same basic motor as what's in the Turbo GP, only in that car it's turbocharged of course, and tuned by McLaren. It's called an LG5. I figured I would have a hard time tracking down this rack because only 2000 Turbo GP's were made. Externally the rack is identical to almost every other w-body rack, but the ones used on the 89-90 Turbo GP have a shorter lock-to-lock of 2.25 instead of 2.5, 2.75, 3.0, or even higher. The turning radius is the same, so it feels faster, more sensitive, and more responsive. Since they are generally indistinguishable from each other, the aftermarket remans have all been mixed together and what you buy at the store could be any one of them, regardless of what the box says. I was lucky enough to get a true 2.25 on my first attempt at AutoZone.

The supercharger needs a new coupler, there's about 2mm worth of play on the pulley. With the sound that much free play must have been making, I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the reasons why the donor car was in the JY in the first place. It's not at all an expensive part or a difficult job, but I suspect an uneducated owner would just assume it's going to explode any second. The coupler itself is a whopping $26 for a replacement from ZZP or Intense, both of which make quality 3800 parts. To replace it requires the supercharger to be drained of oil, 10 bolts removed from the snout, pop off the old coupler, pop on the new one.

Today I started taking apart the new motor. New. The one that I bought exactly 1 year ago, Labor Day weekend 50% everything sale at the JY. I've removed the supercharger, lower intake manifold, and front cylinder head. I *was* going to just drop the whole thing in as-is, but there was so much filth built up on the top that I would never have been able to install injectors without fearing that I knocked some gunk into the intake. The lower half of the block and transmission is disgusting as well, I may give it a quick wipe-down, at the very least so I can spot any leaks.

To give you an idea of the mess I'm cleaning up... This is on top of the water pump:


And this is the starter solenoid:


Tomorrow I'll take off the rear cylinder head, start cleaning, and order a gasket kit for re-assembly. Usually I'm crazy about making every sure that part I re-install is spotless... That never ends well because I get bored of cleaning and give up, let it sit for days or months. Now I just want to get this thing running so I'm just going to scrape off the loose stuff, and happily leave the old carbon buildup right where it is.

That's a lot of words! And I thought I didn't have anything to say and this would be a quick post with nothing more than that first photo...

[sam o nela]

Looking forward to the (reinstated) progress

[Quaraxkad]

Brown Santa has been stopping by the house all this week..

[radieon]

Originally Posted by rwheadon

Reminds me of the old Classic Quake days where everything would turn red and the screen would say:

"Rich tried to put the pin back in."

I'm sorry to bump this old thread, but my coworkers heard me laugh at this quote.