Time to replace EVERYTHING! (pics of my project)

[d0n_3d]

As you all know, I'm in the process of going through the entire car, replacing pretty much EVERYTHING and doing it all right the first time so I don't have to touch a thing later. I'm just about finished with phase 1 of taking off all the old parts I'm replacing. I'm replacing all the front suspension with black powdercoated tubular lower and upper control arms, 11" Baer brake system with the zinc coated drilled and slotted rotors, Comp Engineering 3-way adjustable shocks, having everything under the sun powder coated, and getting a new motor and trans built. Oh yeah I took out the A/C and heater stuff that hadn't worked for the past 3-4 years. Gonna have a TON more room under the hood this time around! Anyways enjoy the pics...talk about TIME consuming! I've been taking stuff apart for the past month or so...now the fun part comes of putting NEW stuff on!

I'd like to thank TIG Masters (Darrick is the man!) with the custom brackets to hold my fans on my intercooler and radiator...

 

[Robbie-87plz]

Looks like you're off to an awesome start!

 

[d0n_3d]

fixed it:wink:

 

[SS_Sean]

Take some extra time and prep and paint everything as well. You'll thank yourself later. I'm talking frame rails, firewall, ect. It's the little stuff that really counts!!! Looks great so far.

Also, why did you pull all the rubber flaps off the spal shroud?? Those were put there for a reason.

 

[BlackMetal]

I'd go with slotted rotors due to the ongoing debate about how easily drilled rotors crack, but that's just my opinion.

Looks like a fun project to go in and get everything back up to par.

 

[salvageV6]

Baer rotors are slotted not drilled. :smile:

Put the heat and A/C back in it and drive it.

 

[d0n_3d]

Take some extra time and prep and paint everything as well. You'll thank yourself later. I'm talking frame rails, firewall, ect. It's the little stuff that really counts!!! Looks great so far.

Also, why did you pull all the rubber flaps off the spal shroud?? Those were put there for a reason.

They pulled the corner flaps off and I couldn't get them back on for some reason...I'll try it again. Yeah that was probably stupid taking those things off!!!

I plan on painting the frame and firewall gloss black.

As far as the brakes...I don't know what the heck they are...drilled/slotted whatever...they will be much better than stock that's for sure. And I like how everything comes assembled to where I just bolt them on and go.

 

[Tony Shoaff]

Old Memories

looks Good Don. Brings back memories of mine 2 years ago.Do it right the first time because there is never enough time to do it the 2nd time.

 

[bsdlinux]

Damn Don I didn't know you were gonna go to all that trouble just so you can run E-85 Seriously though .. hell just upgrade the whole fuel system so you can run meth in it as a primary fuel Looks good, keep us posted

 

[ChavoLC2]

Duals

Are those the G-Body duals ? They did a Clean job on the brackets/mounting to the radiator and IC. The radiator is it an F-Body? Looks like plastic end tanks? How much air do the duallies move cfm wise ? You have all your fans pulling air thru your cooling exchangers? How much cfm's does the large Spal IC fan move? That fan is nice should/could make a difference in controlling incoming aircharge temp?. Compared to that little fan that spits a lil' air at the stock placement IC. Once you get her put back together will this be the 1st time running that big fan on your IC? .Just wondering if you or others have noticed a marked improvement in decreasing charged air temps? Nice setup. What's that old rule of thumb, old equation ? For every degree/degrees of intake temp decrease equals a increased % of Horsepower .

Not to get off the subject, Have you seen the new CSR performance products customized digital cooling gauge allows you to to turn on / program electric water pumps and fans at whatever temp you want comes with necessary sending units, relays. Looks like a high tech.unit that not only would look good would work well on your ride. You probably ain't running an electric water pump but could use that circuit/sending unit and relay to control your frontmount intercooler fan and radiator fans at diff. temprature turn on points. One set at coolant temp the other at incoming air temps from IC to up-pipe you want to control. Sounds good theoretically , would be nice if one could control compressed incoming air temp from IC... They're a little over 100 bucks at Summit..

That's goin to be one Slick ride when your done. Are you going to stay with the PowerMaster with them badboy Baer brakes / rotors?

 

[salvageV6]

Chavo, there's no motor in that car yet.

I use the powermaster with my Baer front 12" and rear disk Baer brakes on the GN, it works just fine.

Interesting info. on that temp. controller.

 

[ChavoLC2]

It doesn't have a motor ? whoops

Chavo, there's no motor in that car yet.

Yeah I know there's no motor in it yet was wondering if he ran that IC fan or something similar on his previous setup that gave him the idea to run a big fan.before he yanked the engine to be rebuilt. Seen alot of FMIC's but no large fans on them, nice setup, looks like it would work good.

Also was wondering if he was going to keep the PM seeing what happened to that one gentleman's GNX:frown: , I should have made that clear . but I didn't The next upgrade on our Slomo is hydraboost, if one can spend 1000 or more on a turbo and other go fast items, might as well invest in brakes that will protect them go fast parts. Have never liked these brakes on either car we owned, haven't killed myself but they can get scarry on the street. Granted I'd rather have one of Cotton CPT61's instead and I've wrestled with the idea and since I can't afford another GN or repairing one I want to protect myself and the car from the PM. I probably have a better chance of getting hit by lightning then the brakes failing, of coarse I don't walk around with a lightning rod in a Thunderstorm. But I drive around with a brake unit that can fail with no warning.

How nice it will be to have a brake system that will be able to stop her at any speed without worrying about brake failure. One of the reasons I don't let my wife drive her! Really she wouldn't know what to do at slow speed if the brake lights came on and the pedal got hard, she'd freak.That wreck of the GNX got me thinking maybe I'll take out more life insurance and Accidental Death and dismemberment, I'd only be hitting the wall at 110-112mph.

I imagine there was great improvement with Baers at all 4 corners sounds like a awesome setup, Baers in the back cool:biggrin: Sounds like you've really tricked out your ride

 

[Project TNX]

Nice looking project, can't wait to see the follow ups.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

IMO, that fan on the IC is blocking ALOT of tube surface, both thru the IC and the rad.
A. Unless it will move more air than the duals on the rad, it's only a restriction.
B. Most fans, such as these, pull better than push.
C. Like I said, "just my $.02"..

 

[salvageV6]

When my powermaster goes on either car I'd try the vacuum setup with new parts, and add a tank just for extra vacuum and insurance.

I've lost the rear brakes twice when racing at LVD, not fun trying to stop the car at 113 mph, luckily the fronts do most of the work. :biggrin:

The drive home 2 hours without back brakes was worse however.

And that's in the car without the baer setup.

 

[SS_Sean]

Are those the G-Body duals ? They did a Clean job on the brackets/mounting to the radiator and IC. The radiator is it an F-Body? Looks like plastic end tanks? How much air do the duallies move cfm wise ? You have all your fans pulling air thru your cooling exchangers? How much cfm's does the large Spal IC fan move? That fan is nice should/could make a difference in controlling incoming aircharge temp?. Compared to that little fan that spits a lil' air at the stock placement IC. Once you get her put back together will this be the 1st time running that big fan on your IC? .Just wondering if you or others have noticed a marked improvement in decreasing charged air temps? Nice setup. What's that old rule of thumb, old equation ? For every degree/degrees of intake temp decrease equals a increased % of Horsepower .

I run the SPAL dual twelves on my malibu (pictured below) with a Griffin two core standard G-body sized, 1.25 primary tube, radiator. I have absolutely NO cooling issues running 700 hp on the street in stop and go traffic at 12.5:1 compression. My temps stay at between 180-190* depending on how hot the day is...and it's usually in the 90's here.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Your car is in a 1000 pieces. Boy would I love to do the same thing..... Youre soo lucky. If I could lock myself in a 3 car garage with a buick shop manual, snap on toolbox, my car, 4 jackstands, a commerical refrigerator full of food, a cot, and an account with a buick vendor here, I wouldnt come out for a year and a half. It's where I'm going when I die.

Keep us posted with a ton of pictures. I want progress reports. Oh and by the way, I used to use cross drilled and slotted rotors, and they SUCKED. They INcreased my stopping distance. I took em off after a month or so and sold em. The stockers are soo much better in my car. And yes, my powermaster works very well. My brakes are just as good as any other cars Ive ever driven. Better than some too. (I still dont know why people hate the powermaster. My brakes are awesome.)

 

[dwall]

Great Project...

Subscribe...

 

[d0n_3d]

Well just to comment on what people have said so far:

1. The intercooler fan is my own idea and I've never ran it before. I figured since I took out the A/C condenser up front, might as well mount a nice fan on the intercooler. It PULLS btw (1000 cfm) and there's no reason why this would be a restriction. I've seen a ton of non Buick applications with front mounts have fans on them. It should work fine.

2. The dual Spal 12" fan system on my radiator is MORE than enough cooling and will suck a small kid through it. It flows a total of *drum roll please* 3500 cfm. There's no way I should have cooling issues. BTW I did put the rubber flaps back on...I just used a pair of needle nose pliers to pull them back in the holes.

3. I've never heard of anyone running a Baer brake system and the car LOST stopping distance. The stock braking system is a piece of crap past 120 mph. Kudos to those who did the LS1 or Z06 big brakes. I'm running 15" Weld AlumStars now and there's no way I can fit bigger than an 11" rotor. Thus why I went with the bolt on Baer system. Plus it looks way cooler.

4. The radiator IS in fact an off the shelf Autozone 92' Camaro Z28 that I've been using for the past 5 years. I just bought a new one this time around and it only cost me $100 and fits just like factory. In fact I'm going to be using the built-in tranny cooler this time around. With that monster dual fan setup, the water and tranny fluid will be cooled just fine.

5. I just pulled the driver side wheel well out and the PM. Yes I am keeping the PM and going to pray it doesn't fail on me. I think it will be fine. The reman's they are making now are MUCH better than they used to be. This is a Borg Warner unit. Only about a year old and no problems so far. I also took out the lower control arms and springs today and boy was that fun! I must have spent 4 hours total on those things. I had a problem with the damn bolts not coming out, then I got a couple screwdrivers stuck trying to tap them out.

I'll get some more pics once I clean up the frame rails and spray paint everything. Once that is done, then I can start putting the new stuff on. Hartline is sending me the black powdercoated tubular control arms and should be here by Friday. The Baer brake system from Cotton's should be here any day. I'll keep ya guys posted!

 

[Chuck Leeper]

??

"1. The intercooler fan is my own idea and I've never ran it before. I figured since I took out the A/C condenser up front, might as well mount a nice fan on the intercooler. It PULLS btw (1000 cfm) and there's no reason why this would be a restriction".
Hmmnn. If the ft fan is a puller, and the rears are pullers, does that mean the IC and rad cores are going to be operating in a vacuum??
As for the restriction.. Look at the area covered by the fan motor.