It's gone.

Late to the party, but I have pictures.

The Bucket is gone. I sold it to a scrapyard on February 18th. A funny story: the car didn't want to leave. The tow truck driver apparently hooked the winch to a rather rusty part of the frame, and it gave way as he was cranking the car up onto the rollback. It rolled down the ramp and barreled back down the driveway towards the garage where it spent so much time, like a puppy that runs to its dog house when animal control comes to take it away.

Separation anxiety in the extreme.

Anyway, here are the pictures. Farewell, my friend. I gained a career's worth of knowledge about EFI and GM engine systems with you. You'll be missed once I finish repressing the memories of all the times you left me stuck on the side of the road.

Engine's out!

I pulled the engine out of the 'ol Bucket today. Not a whole lot to tell. The catalytic converter was melted and plugged, which was bad. I was going to keep it, but I guess I'll see if a recycler will pay for it.

Only mishap was a set the engine down right on top of my garage light, crushing it. Ooops.

On to the pictures!

Here it is in the engine bay:

From 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix

Here's the radiator on the floor

From 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix

On the way out

From 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix

Up

From 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix

Out

From 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix

And on the floor!

From 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix

Though not pictured, I've already separated the transmission and gotten the engine up on a stand.

I've already called the junkyard. They'll be coming to get it on Monday or Tuesday, then the Datsun can go back in the garage.

Plumbing...

No updates on the car, because I've been working on the house.

From that work, I've learned a few things about plumbing:

1) Don't try to fix a problem if you can bypass it. Ripping out walls is a pain
2) You only get one shot with PVC. Measure three times.
3) Gaskets are single use, and most "kits" for items like toilets will be missing parts from the store.

Cars are easier. I suspect it's because cars are designed with some expectation of maintenance. Homes are not.

Disassembly has begun...

I've started pulling the low-hanging fruit, so to speak, out of The Bucket. Today I managed to yank the rear shocks, the radio, the rear deck speakers, the wideband O2 sensor, and drain the radiator. I already have a buyer for the shocks, so I'll be pulling the fronts tomorrow and hopefully shipping them out later this week.

With the radiator drained, I can pull it. I think I'll be able to use the big electric fan on the Datsun. The radiator itself will go up in the attic as a spare for the Grand National, and I dunno what I can use the second fan for. Maybe it can blow on an aux oil cooler in the Z if I ever get one.

With the radiator out, I should be able to get the engine out in short order. We shall see.

The pain became too great...

Well, it's over. After dying twice in the line to drop my son off at school, requiring me to push it out of the way and wait for it to cool off and/or whatever what was wrong with it, I've given up on the '85GP.

After much research and a little negotiation, I shelled out $9700 for this Panzerwagon:



It's a 1999 BMW 540i with a six speed manual. It had been on a local car lot for the better part of a year with a malfunctioning alarm, non-working CD changer, a toasted clutch, and a couple handfuls of other broken bits. During that year, the dealer had put on a new alternator, radiator, and replaced a broken right rear window regulator (and fucked the door panel to hell in the process). They had it advertised for $11,995. I walked out with it for $9700. Spent another $1400 on a clutch and a new set of tires, and off I went.

Since the purchase, I've put almost 2000 miles on it. It's been to Cincinatti and back, and Madison Indiana with nary a hiccup. I've also blasted through a list of minor broken things:

• Replaced broken rear cupholders with a nice little storage cubby
• Fixed the right rear door (outer handle didn't work)
• Replaced the front speakers in the stereo
• Replaced a fuse on the CD changer and got it working again
• Replaced the main battery, which had the side effect of fixing the goofy alarm. The dealer had installed a nice, brand new Interstate, but the one they installed was 200 amps too small and they promptly allowed it to go flat and stay there, ruining it.
• Replaced the leaking valve cover gaskets and changed the oil

That's pretty much everything that was broken on the car. It's nearly good as new.

I'm getting - no joke - 21mpg around town, and we saw 26mpg on our trip to Cincinnati. All the widgets work inside the car. The display under the speedo is missing some pixels, but that seems to be normal for German cars of this vintage. Best of all, it starts every time and doesn't overheat and die in line to drop my kid off at school. It's also the nicest car I've ever driven. Quiet, smooth, handles well, lots of power... it's everything I wanted The Bucket to be, plus it doesn't have any rust. Coil-on-plug also means I no longer have to deal with burned up ignition wires.

And The Bucket? I've already sold the Megasquirt. I'll soon be pulling the drivetrain and electronics (stereo and speakers), pulling the hi-po shocks off and putting the Gabriels back on, and then dragging the car to Pull-A-Part where it will be sold for scrap. The tires are going to my Dad for his in-progress '66 Mustang restoration.

All this means that the original purpose of this blog, to document the work on The Bucket, is gone. I may update this with the deconstruction, and hopefully a memorial to the car when I finally drag it to the scrapyard.

So, I'm actually doing pretty good with this thing...

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/FEG/noframes/519.shtml

Yup, original fuel economy information for the 1985 Grand Prix with the 5.0L V8 and a 3 speed.

15/20. I'm getting that when I don't have roasted plug wires. Hoo-ray for matching the factory with a bigger engine, bigger camshaft, and 3.73 gears out back. Go me.

#$@#% ignition!

So, last tank was a paltry 13.4mpg and it feels like the miss is back.

I go and inspect the plug wires. Two are burned up. TWO. These are supposed to be super-duper high-temp wires. Burned wires on on the passenger bank, so the O2 sensor didn't pick up on it.

Oh, and Edelbrock, your T.E.S. headers for G-bodies are SHIT. I'm sorry, but the passenger side header provides no way to get the damn plug wires to the distributor without running them dangerously close to the primaries. Technically, you owe me three sets of Accel Spiral-Core plug wires.

I've wrapped the burned up wires in electrical tape and tied them up against the valve cover. Hopefully they'll last until I can get some different headers. Wife's going to love this...

Andrew as a gerbil...

Save the Richard Gere jokes.  This was over at Icanhazcheeseburger.com.  Topical, I thought.