working on the wife's car

by pila Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:00 pm

This is really off topic ! The wife's car is a '93 Caddy, Fleetwood Bro... Can't locate a cross-over pipe for the exhaust, and the oil pan is leaking from pin holes. Bought a new pan for it yesterday, along with one of the new style 1-piece gasket for it. Since the crossover pipe has to come of to get the oil pan off, I hope to get it all fixed at once. I'm gonna have to rebuild the cross-over pipe, at the flanges where it bolts to the manifolds. I'll likely use some stainless tubing & plate that I have around here, and TIG weld it in there.
Engine is a 5.7 Chevy 350, which is likely the best part of that car !!

Trouble is, this takes time from my Elco project Crying or Very sad

And it take money that I would rather use for my project too ! Head Bang

She asked today when it will be done, and I said maybe next week at this time. (if I'm lucky)

by 77mali Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:28 pm

LOL...I just dropped some $$$ on my daily driver Mini-van...there's a vehicle you don't want to spend a cent on... Mad

by ant7377 Thu Jul 12, 2012 5:30 pm

See if an exhaust shop can make on for you.

by pila Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:41 pm

Only the passenger side is bad, at the flange, but that's an idea. I'll check around the local muffler shops & see what they say. Thanks for that ant7377 Very Happy

by 1973 454 MONTE Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:54 pm

i just spent 1000.00 on my 05 grand prix DD. it came out of my repaint the monte fund Head Bang

by pila Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:17 pm

I hear ya about having to spend money on a DD when there's a project in the works. My Elco project still needs a bunch of stuff, like about 1400 bucks worth....

by ant7377 Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:27 pm

pila wrote:I hear ya about having to spend money on a DD when there's a project in the works. My Elco project still needs a bunch of stuff, like about 1400 bucks worth....

Its a Fleetwood Brougham though,spend the money its worth it,they are nice!

by texan01 Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:26 pm

i hear that. So far the money for this years interior project has gone in the DD Explorer. (302,000 miles and counting)

I'm thankful that I have the 77 as it is able to do commuter duty when necessary.

by Tom77 Mon Jul 16, 2012 7:04 am

ant7377 wrote:See if an exhaust shop can make on for you.

X2 I have a Meineke nere me here and they do oldschool fixes on exhaust. Like repair instead of replace. Remember those days??????? I have a 2001 Rodeo for a DD and the tailpipe broke off. It was a flange between the pipe and muffler. They cut it off slide the pipe forward and welded all for $40 bucks and I never even broke a sweat. cheers

by pila Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:00 pm

Since only one side of the cross-over was broke, I had a new section of pipe flared to repair that side. I have a bit more to do to get the pan off. And while under the car I see bad spots in the floors, so I've been fixing those too (Michigan cancer ya know )
This car has an adapter for engine oil cooling, which is sandwiched between the oil filter & the block. Luckily the oil pan gasket came with new seals for the adapter. The car has a trailer package option, which I expect included the engine oil cooler, and the 3.73 rear end.
Hope to get it done in the next few days, between other projects.

by 77mali Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:34 pm

That's too bad about the rust on the floor. Northern winters are tough on cars. Hopefully it doesn't take too much more time away from the Camino.

by pila Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:15 pm

Well, all the work & expense of it was for nothing. Friday, (yesterday) I drove it home from the airport shop, to have her bring me back there to get my pick-up truck. On the way there, while waiting to make a left turn, we were rear-ended by a guy going like hell. The Caddy is really wrecked & a total loss. The wife had some aches etc & I took here to get checked out at the hospital. Turns out she was just sore etc. I was too !
So now I have to find another family car. Likely wont find one as good as that one was, even with it's problems. A heavy 4-door Fleetwood probably helped prevent injuries. I'll be looking around next week for something. It had full coverage, but we all know how insurance companies don't like paying out much.

by 77mali Sat Jul 21, 2012 9:35 pm

Glad you & the Mrs. are OK. The car is replaceable...grind the insurance co for as much as they'll give you. Find some comparable cars for sale online like your Fleetwood (print out the 3 or 4 most expensive ones you can find). That way when they low-ball you, you've got some ammo to shoot back. Wink

by ant7377 Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:25 pm

Glad you are ok,there is always a lot of Town Cars out there and still plenty of Fleetwoods and Roadmasters too. Get one with a LT1 (94 and newer).

by 77mali Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:56 pm

Here's a nice 95... & 93

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1995-Cadillac-Fleetwood-Brougham-One-Owner-Low-Miles-Clean-Carfax-Contact-Gordon-/130733240035?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e704eeee3

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Absolutely-new-1-Owner-93-Cadillac-Fleetwood-Brougham-Sunroof-Loaded-Original-/130732090444?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1e703d644c

:<P

by JB2wheeler Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:14 am

Bill, I had a neighbor lady who lived 2nd door from me since I moved in here in 1955. She bought a new 1984 Oldsmobile big biody 2 door and she went into a nursing home about a year or two ago. She always garaged her car and whenever anything went wrong with it she would get it fixed asap. About 6 months or a year before she went into the nursing home she had to have the engine rebuilt because she had a bad habit of reving the engine hard to warm it up when cold and she spun a bearing on the crank. The car has no body rust or dents. The family are asking $3,000 for it, but I have a hunch they will take less. The engine already has a noise of some kind since the rebuild. Maybe lifters? Maybe another spun bearing? I know, Michigan is a long drive. JB

by orange Juiced Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:04 am

Good to hear u guys are ok Jb. U can still find the fleet woods at a decent price, I keep coming across them in state. . . Someday I'll replace the one I killed Sad

by pila Sun Jul 29, 2012 6:33 pm

I found a really nice Buick Park Avenue Ultra this past week. I actually saw it earlier, but didn't pay any attention to it. It's a '93, with 85 K miles on it, and in very nice condition. I even drove it over to my son's house, a few blocks from where it was sitting for sale, and crawled under it to check out the body for rust etc. Very little rust noted. The engine is a Buick 3800 V6, supercharged. And really has some power. Not being used to it, the tires howled a bit when I stepped on it. Since it has the blower on it, I've been researching that. Found lots of info on a Buick site forum. Neat little roots-type belt driven blower on that engine.
Of course, the wheels were turning in my head, about using that type blower on something else !! Very Happy

There are a few different sizes, in regard to how much CFM they push out.
Looks like I will buy that car this week, and I know it will have better gas mileage than the Caddy, which had the trailer towing package, like 3.73 rear end etc on it.

by ant7377 Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:27 pm

I have a 99 Regal GS withthe same motor. Ive had it since 2002 its got 135 k on it now,its been a really good car. Check out the intake gasket for leaks 3800 tend to have a problem there and those stinkin plastic coolant nipples that the heater hoses got to,changed them 4 times on my car the o ring shrinks starts leaking then take them out and they fall apart,cheap to fix just a PIA. Change the dexcool too, it ruins the heater core if you let it get all murkey

by Joe73 Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:39 pm

That 3800 engine is a real good one. Over the years, everyone I've known that had them went over 300k and still running great. I have a 99 lesabre with the series II 3800. Excellent car. Got it from my father in law who used it going to Florida. He would clock 32 mpg on the highway. He then bought an 04 impala again with the 3800 and still clocked 31 plus mpg. Now he has an 11 altima with a 4 cyl and only gets 30 mpg on the highway.
As for the intake manifold gasket. I saw a few drops of antifreeze under my throttle body back in January. I picked up the parts, Dorman makes the best updated manifold. I did the lower intake gaskets while I was in there. Not a difficult job at all, but time consuming. Shops usually charge around 1000 to do it. If I remember correctly, all the parts cost me less than $175. I highly recommend and car with that engine in it. Great engine with lots of power and great gas mileage.

by ant7377 Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:11 pm

I had a SSEI Bonneville (SC 3800) too for a while and I like that car better it was bigger and had the cool heads up display and 8 way seats. The Park Ave is the same chassis as the Bonnevile.

by pila Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:50 am

My aviation partner has the Pontiac SSEI also, which is where I first noticed the little supercharger.

by pila Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:49 pm

Well, today I'm a proud (??) owner of a nice Park Avenue Ultra. ( what's so "ultra" about it ?)

I didn't make out too bad with it. The insurance co gave me $3044 for the wrecked Caddy, and I bought the nice Buick today for $3500 out-the-door, including tax, license & title. They originally wanted $3650, but I'm wondering if big cars are harder to move, with most folks thinking all big cars are gas hogs. I'm told that this one should get great mileage the the little 3800/supercharged engine......we'll see Very Happy

by ant7377 Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:16 pm

Ultra gets you things like a sunroof and power seats on both sides and steering wheel controls for the stereo which should be a Moonsoon stereo annd all that stuff. Good luck with it!!!

by 77mali Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:01 pm

Congrats! I would have held out for $4,500...it being a Caddy and all lol!

Just kidding...good score!

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