All right, the Dad called me last week and told me that the transmission was acting wonky. So I plugged it into the scanner and sure enough, p1811 came up. I've ordered a shift kit to buy some time but I figure the trans' days are numbered nonetheless. With that in mind, I told him I was interested in the car as I've always wanted to do a DD LeSabre build. Well, he said he didn't give a ****, I could have the car if I found him something else to drive. So I'm currently looking for a new set of wheels for the old man.
But that'll leave me a rust-free 04 LeSabre. Car looks like it came off the factory floor, unless you count the LaCrosse wheels against it.
I've thought of building it as follows: top swap the L36, 1.9 rockers, headers, intercooled, and about a 3.2 pulley, and all the various supporting mods. Outside of the engine mods, I plan on leaving the car totally bone stock - fishbowl appearance with no tint, no obvious sign of, well, anything. I'd shoot for 300 to the tire but would realistically take 280.
I've collected about half of the requisite parts and will build the heads while they're still off the engine. Somewhere along the way I'll get a TEP trans.
Known issues I can see (I'll update this as I go along with the build):
1) The H body catback is down the right side of the car... pretty much any headers, including the SLP's I've bought, run down the center line of the car. I would assume the best option here is to take the car to an exhaust shop and say "See that, fix it, align them." I'm open to an aftermarket catback if it's reasonably quiet, though.
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Anything else I should look out for, though?