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Top swap

nos4blood70

nos4blood70

New member
So I'm poking around the idea of a topswap pretty seriously now. I've seen the thread about it in this section so you don't gotta link it to me. Basically I was just looking to hear from the people who have done it how they like it and if it caused them any trouble. My car is a 2003 Pontiac Bonneville SLE. It has 78k miles on it. I've had the UIM failure happen about 18k miles ago so I figured if the motor was going to fail from having coolant in its bearings for a while it would have done so by now. My trans is in decent shape and I don't really beat on it too much. I know I'm gonna need headers, I just ordered an Aeroforce, and I have HPT at my disposal as well. This is going to be my DD so I want to be reliable. Please give me your thoughts and advise.

If anyone also wants to assist me with this in the Chicago area I'll buy you beer. My mechanical skills range to being able to do LIM gaskets, but I'm really scared of removing the heads.

Thanks guyz.
 


I did it on my 04 this year right before I went off to college and I love it, it was quite a bit of hassle because there were a few little things that I over looked but once I got those worked it it has been amazing and I have absolutely no regrets about it. I say go for it
 
HockeyBawler did you mod the car at all? Cause I know I'm gonna want to drop a pulley or at least do rockers.

Grimsin yeah I know. lol I missed out but I don't think I'll be getting started on this till the end of the month, so I have time.
 
I did mine earlier this year, with other stuff, and I love it!! Not hard to do and nice outcome. Don't worry about doing the heads, although I would suggest spending a little extra and get head studs. Torque and done, no torque plus 30 degrees or whatever... Just make sure you have the top swap you purchase checked and heads freshened up.

I'd run a stock pulley if I were you though, at first while you scan. And if have the option between cam or rockers, CAM!!!!!! Cam will for sure let you drop pulley.
 
A cam is beyond what I could do. Not looking to pull the motor. Plus I don't really want a nasty idle on my daily commute.
 


the way i look at it. is that car has survived so much already so it will survive a top swap
 
nos4blood70 said:
A cam is beyond what I could do. Not looking to pull the motor. Plus I don't really want a nasty idle on my daily commute.
Click to expand...


if your willing to pull the heads to top swap, the cam is just asking to be changed, the balancer and timing cover need to come off then the timing chain, and out comes the cam.
 
Matt Palm said:
the way i look at it. is that car has survived so much already so it will survive a top swap
Click to expand...

That's where I've arrived at. I don't know. Just not really feeling a cam. I'm think I could run like a 3.4 with corn juice and some rockers. Maybe down the road intercool it.
 




Those look like plastic intake gaskets but if you don't mind swapping them out in about 5-10 years when they leak again I'd go for it.
 
Yikes. Good catch guys. I'd rather do it right the first time. I'll keep looking. Probably just piece a gasket kit together.
 
Might as well.

LIM gasket kit comes with a lot of the little pieces you need or may not need.

Then it's just valve covers + grommets, head gaskets, head bolts, sc gasket.

L36 head gaskets are cheaper, don't know why, but that's all ZZP sells last I checked.
 
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