So I got everything together, changed the oil/filter, added fresh antifreeze and connected up the charged battery. Things were going to be great. Or so I thought. I was loosing coolant all over the ground. It was coming from the front of the engine and it wasn't shy about it. I thought it was the elbows. Wait, they're aluminum now. The only place I could find water was along the bottom of the water pump. I should have known. I went ahead and tried to start the engine and on the third crank, it was running (I should note that I pulled the fuel rails out of the car to replace both "O" rings on the injectors. There was no gas in the rails). By then water was spraying everywhere so I shut it down. Back to Amazon to order a water pump. I got the pump (this Friday) and Saturday I pulled off the old one and this is what I saw.
A little more cleanup and...
So I put it all back together for the second time, refilled the coolant again. and fired it up.
It started, idled, ran. For awhile. No leaks, water or air. It was hunting a bit but otherwise was running smoothly. The curious thing was that at idle, it now had a V8 burble at the exhaust. But why was it smoking? I waited for the temp to come up and stabilize, but before it could, it started to howl under the hood. It sounded like a slipping belt, only worse. Wait, I replaced the belt, so that can't be it. I pulled the belt off to make sure all the pulleys turned freely (they did) and decided to fire it up with the belt off. Sure enough, there was the squealing without the belt on. Now what? Back to Google for the answer. Found it on (you guessed it) The Grand Prix Forums. The PCV valve? Really? So I got the whole PCV valve assembly (I had broken off one of the ears that hold the connector on top when I was was tearing down the top of the engine, so no big deal). Put it on and fired it up, and no change.
Time to think. So, the original L36 and the L26 setup both draw vacuum for the PCV inlet after the MAF sensor, but before the throttle plate. My clever setup was drawing vacuum after the MAF sensor, but not before the throttle plate. It was on the engine side of the plate. It was creating such a strong vacuum in the crankcase that it was hard to pull the oil cap off (which also made the noise stop). Back to work. The EVAP hole in the new UIM had to be plugged (as originally planned) and I needed another source for the vacuum. In my defense, I saw a post on the Bonneville Pro Forum that actually drilled a new hole through the UIM to create a port that was already there. At least I didn't do that. I did see a post somewhere (can't find it now) where someone drilled out the plug in the bottom of the throttle body to tap for a fitting, but I don't think he posted the final results. But that seemed to make the most sense. Off with the throttle body and down to the drill press. I drilled out the plug (brass—you can see what's left of it in the photo) and tapped it for a 1/8 NPT elbow to 3/8 pipe barb fitting.
I had to remove some excess aluminum from the throttle body to make room for the elbow (at bottom right).
With the elbow installed. Note that I point it away from the crossover pipe.
Here's the throttle body back on the car.
The elbow at the top of the UIM has a short section of plastic tube connecting to a 3/8" ID hose, then to a longer piece of plastic tube that I bent to turn under the throttle body. They're both left over from the "emission hose" Help parts I bought to make the adapter for the purge solenoid/FPR connector. I used one of the rubber sleeves to connect the elbow on the bottom of the throttle body to the plastic tube.
So, for the third time, I put it all back together and it started up perfectly, idles smoothly, runs nice and no squealing noise. That fixed it. I don't have the V8 burble anymore, but It's all good.
The only negative thing I've noticed so far, is a slight bogging down during shifts. It seems to happen under light throttle only. That will have to be the next post. I'm going to drive the car a bit to see if there's anything else to report.
