The All About My 1980 Pontiac LeMans Station Wagon Thread...

[motorhead]

Yeah, Paul Beal's garage is pretty well kept.

[motorhead]

Just got a little more of the little things done. Installed a very large power steering fluid cooler because these F-body pumps love to boil fluid. Got the four corner steamlines done for $20 in parts. And repurposed a truck tank vapour line - nothing like straightening 36+ of hard line just to immediately re-bend it.

It is all the little little things that take so much time. I plan on skipping over a lot of this crap when I redo my MCSS (will be so much simpler) - but for this build we need it on the up and up.

[motorhead]

Two steps forward, three steps back. 

Had to fix a few silly ass issues today, so the car hasn't been started yet.  The $300 pushrods are in, oil and trans fluid added, and the start up tune is written (hopefully watching Monty Python doesn't interfere with my crapsmanship).

Maybe tomorrow.

[motorhead]

Didn't get to start it... but did find a lovely fuel leak.

Always fun explaining to your 4 year old why you are panicking, while you are panicking, not to walk off with the pile of wrenches you just made, and to stay away from the fuel puddle forming under the differential. Good times. But, this is why we bench test stuff rather than just cranking it over and watching it burn.

Also I managed to leave the key on last night and drained the battery - so it is sitting on the charger.

In the meantime I explained to my garage monkey how a worm gear clamp works, had her help mount the coil packs, and also had her help me remember how to overfill a power steering reservoir (making another puddle and moment of panicked damage control). Then she just went to town sticking the extendable pen magnet onto every surface she could find.

Finished up with some other Mickey Mouse stuff as we are getting closer to launch.

[TexasT]

The wonders of a magnet. Every kid needs some and as they get older they can have more powerful ones. Cant do big power ones early as it can crush little fingers.
Cat litter, I tend to use a lot to soak up messes. I laugh every time and thing of my dad and how he would get all worked up that I was staining the concrete.

[motorhead]

The wonders of a magnet. Every kid needs some and as they get older they can have more powerful ones. Cant do big power ones early as it can crush little fingers.
Cat litter, I tend to use a lot to soak up messes. I laugh every time and thing of my dad and how he would get all worked up that I was staining the concrete.

When she found that chains were magnetic Tatiana started "making music" - kind of like demonic wind chimes.

[nocooler]

$300 pushrods? WTF Mike?

[motorhead]

$300 pushrods? WTF Mike?

Trend 11/32" - yeah, I know.  But, they are works of art.

[good2win22]

All the little things make the hobby pleasurable. Especially getting to share it with the little ones.

[motorhead]

First start up with just enough tweaking to get it to idle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfPDKcfaR7I

[good2win22]

It sure does sound salty!  Nice to have some payoff from all the labor! Congrats!

[motorhead]

It sure does sound salty!  Nice to have some payoff from all the labor! Congrats!

Thanks!  It is a special feeling.

I am off for the Easter weekend, but the heater bypass valve and a set of 3" 1/2-20 Strange wheel studs arrived from Summit.  Baby steps.

[TexasT]

Will a half inch wheel stud fit a stock T wheel? What about a 15x7 Buick ralley wheel. I've been perusing eBay for some longer studs to put the prostar wheels on and be tech eligible but would want to get some open ended lugs to run the stock wheels with. The regal goes 12x1.5 and it seems they are available in longer varieties. Was looking at the ones for the GS and they appear to be a 7/16 size. But I guess I could go to a 1/2".

[motorhead]

I have a stock T wheel at the house. I will test it when I get a chance, but I cannot see why not as the wheels I am using are an OEM GM wheel.  5/8" studs might need some mods.

[motorhead]

This exhaust system has been one seriously exhausting undertaking. But, it is mostly done now (just need to weld the hangers on).

The biggest challenge was fitting this exhaust with cats and getting the x-pipe to cooperate. I had to section the DS front leg and kick it out, add a bunch of pipe sections, and grunt a lot. Holley got this right on their Blackheart exhaust. Speaking of Holley... I really don't think they were thinking about using full-sized cats with their headers.

I decided to put a second WBO2 bung in the x-pipe to get a balanced reading off both banks. There is some debate about how much error there is having a sensor post-cat (0.1-0.5 AFR on the gas scale) - however for the purposes of baseline tuning it is plenty accurate. I will move the sensor forward of the cat when I start doing WOT blasts.

Other than that it was just a bunch of tweaks to make sure the cats, pipes, mufflers, and tails were all even and level.

Back to tweaking the tune. I will post another idle video once I get the tune better sorted (and yes, it sounds sweet).