I think you may have missed a couple of pages, but that is the sequence of events that was followed almost to the letter. The gas tank was siphoned and scoped; new gas plus heet added; radiator drained and refilled with distilled water; oil drained then engine drenched in 20 liters of new oil; new fuel and oil filters; plugs changed; cylinders compression tested; vacuum lines changed; and engine turned over by hand BEFORE the first start. I think that was a more than prudent sequence to follow. The car has yet to be driven or even idled more than five minutes out of an abundance of precaution.
The MAF and (base) TT chip was added AFTER the successful first start to improve the idle and adjust for ethanol that is now in the gas. Those were needed. Then restarted successfully. Then the new injectors and fuel regulator were installed, and EGR deleted. (FYI those new injectors/regulator are nearly stock - so no overkill here.) In that process I spent time cleaning intakes etc. since the parts were already disassembled.
There has NOT been a haphazard or random approach of simply pulling parts off for the sake of replacing them.
The assertion that rubber and silicone ICs don't deteriorate over time is specious. But if you would like to buy the old tires, old vacuum hoses, and old MAF, I will give you a good deal...
I think you did it pretty much the right way ,(or tried to anyway,Much better then alot of people getting a new car that they are not familiar with would have ).
You knew not to just start it and hope for the best.In the first post you mentioned that you had already learned alot from reading on the site, and then went further and asked the advice of people in the know, on how to do it right so as not to cause further damage, and pretty much took most of the advice.
Unfortunetely these cars can be a pain sometimes, they are 30 yrs old and have had boost run thru them all their lives,and then this one sat for yrs, kind of a recipe for potential problems.
I'm guessing a head gasket problem(if that is what it is) didn't just happen from a little bit of idling, and low rpm no boost revs.
I would have to think this was an issue when the car was parked yrs ago.
Anyway, you should continue the way you have been, and read and ask LOTS of questions on doing the head gaskets,because this is " when it could get very frustrating and costly if not done (( exactly right )) "
There is alot of things to know when doing a head gasket on these cars,and people on this sight can save you alot of time,money and headaches ,so definetely ask the questions.
Do a search for " replacing head gasket " threads ,which will help big time,with info like not reusing the original style tty head bolts, and that the head bolts on these motors go into water jackets so they need to be cleaned and then sealed with thread sealer (VERY IMPORTANT) and on and on.
You may want to take a video of the vacuum lines and all other connections before you pull it apart,so you can go back later and refer to the video to make sure you got things right when reassembling it.
when pulling the heads, know that there is a ground strap on the back of the passenger side head (IF it hasn't been moved to the back of the intake),that is kind of hidden and can be broken and go unnoticed and then when reassembled can give you electrical head aches if not reatached, and the list of tips you will recieve will go on and on.
If you have somebody that is very familiar with THESE cars it is aVERY good idea for them to be involved when doing this, for these cars the head gaskets are very important ,(As you now know) because they are constantly under 15 Lbs and up of boost.
These cars are also known for wiping out cams, a big part of the problem is that the oil we have today is not formulated for flat tappet cams,that is why i suggested you add the zddplus (post #64) to your oil change, it adds the things that protect our ancient flat tappet cams that are missing in new oils, click on the different pages on that site and it will explain all about it)
It is not just a auto parts store mystery oil it was actually formulated for our cars by a much trusted member of the Buick community ,who just by chance has given you some great advice in the past.
So while it is apart pay close attention to your cam and the lifter bottoms and make sure everything is ok there, usually once they start to wear ,the lobe wear accelerates quickly and kills the cam and can put metal thru your motor, so if there is a problem, the time to discover it is while you have the heads off.
All this is assuming you have determined it is definetely a blown gasket.
A leak down test should tell you for sure.
Have you pulled the spark plugs out and gandered at them yet?
Good luck.
