project restore vicky

[oldsmobile99]

well that's what my girl named the Aurora lol. Some of you may know that about a year ago my Aurora blew a head gasket. I have tracked down and purchased a good replacement motor from a member here. This project will last quite some time, as I am swapping the engine, doing some custom engine cooling mods, trans work and repainting the car. Right now I'm driving the LSS that I rebuilt the engine in about 200miles ago.

My parents call me insane for wanting to revive this car from the poor condition it is in. It almost met the crusher but I couldn't do it. I have wanted an Aurora since they came out and now that I have one I'm not letting go. Here are some pics;



seems to be very well taken care of



and sorry I haven't been around in awhile, this forum is great and feels like home. It's good to be back.

thanks for viewing


-Josh

[tipsymcstager]

does look nice and clean in there!

tell you mom&dad your saveing the planet!
(it take's less fossil fuel and energies to restore and run an old car then to make a new one)

[Marc]

I admire what you're doing......keeping an Aurora out of the junkyard. I hope you get it running soon.

[robaurora01]

there you are, I thought you dropped off the end of the world

[roara]

Kudos to you and good luck! Keep us posted.

[oldsmobile99]

thanks guys, unfortanitly i didnt get much done today (worked ) i did try to pull off the water pump pully. but couldnt get it to budge, so sprayed some penitrating oil on it and will try again tomorrow. i did stop andbuy the gaskets on the way home.
also looked at how to lift it to mount it to the engine stand, the heads is the only way i see how. im not much of a fan of lifting a northstar buy the heads, anybody done it another way ?

rob yea i had some computer problems and got busy. i forgot my password to gmtunerz or i would be back there too. i emailed rick but got no response.

thanks for veiwing

[andy2003si]

Mar 6, 2011 18:19:00 GMT -6 oldsmobile99 said:

thanks guys, unfortanitly i didnt get much done today (worked ) i did try to pull off the water pump pully. but couldnt get it to budge, so sprayed some penitrating oil on it and will try again tomorrow. i did stop andbuy the gaskets on the way home.
also looked at how to lift it to mount it to the engine stand, the heads is the only way i see how. im not much of a fan of lifting a northstar buy the heads, anybody done it another way ?

rob yea i had some computer problems and got busy. i forgot my password to gmtunerz or i would be back there too. i emailed rick but got no response.

thanks for veiwing

EEEK yeah def. pulling the northstar engine out by the heads wouldn't be good (may end up warping the heads or block).

[oldsmobile99]

thats how you usually pick up an engine

[tipsymcstager]

do you have the eye hole brackets off the old motor?
thats a lift point

[oldsmobile99]

yea i have them, i have a few engine lift brakets off other engines that i can bolt on. just wondered if there were diffrent spots other than the heads, but after thinking about it by lifting the engine by the block it would make it top heavy and want to flip over. also i should know this already but how do you remove the water pump pully from the cam ? i put a three jaw puller on there and it didnt budge, just started binding.

thanks
-josh

[oldwino]

There's a special tool for removing the water pump. You can probably borrow/rent one from an auto parts place. The pump has tabs on it and it has to be rotated with the tool to remove it.

[oldsmobile99]

thanks oldwino but i ment the pully that on the end of the cam, it has to come off to remove the valve cover

[oldwino]

Sorry Josh. Not sure how I missed that "from the cam" part. Here's the page on it from a 2002 FSM. Yours shouldn't be much different, if any.

Some WD-40 and let it soak might help. The other thing you can do is apply heat to the pulley. You want to moderately heat just the pulley and not the cam. Maybe put a bag of ice on the cam before it exits the head to help it stay cool. This will expand the pulley. Don't overheat it, it doesn't need to be RED hot.

Also, with the puller tensioned, you can tap on the end of the puller with a hammer to jolt the pulley, may break it loose.

[oldsmobile99]

here she is first day after pulling in to the garage


the replacment on the engine stand






bottom end


oil pan


i have many more pics i'll upload tonight.
also i've encoutured a problem pulling the engine, the passenger side engine mount is unbolted from the engine bracket and from the car, i cant figure out how to move it out of the way. the engine has to slide about a half inch towards the passenger side to get lose from the trans and that mounts in the way. anybody got any suggestions ?

thanks

[nelson480]

Prybar against framerail to motor, psh motor toward drivers sidebout half inch, should be free

[bobsblue95]

Remember to separate the mount from the bracket. They will come out separately but not together.
Oh, and definitely a car worth saving! Keep up the good work!

[oldsmobile99]

thanks guys ill try this when i get home from work

[oldsmobile99]

well bad and good news, good news is i got the engineout. had to drop the cradle and everything tho, just seemed easier overall with going back in and everything.. and from trying from the top with no sucsess. bad news i put the replacement engine on the stand to put a oil pan gasket on it. droped the pan and to my surprise i found quit abit of of shavings, looks like bearings to me. and a little bearing sliver on the pick up tube. ive seen what bearigs going out look like in my 3800.

so... rebuild time, plan on pulling out the crank tomorrow and inpescting it. hopfully i can just freashen up the bottom end and leave pistons and rods in block. just get crank machiened , but if theres any damage to the rods will have to have them macheined too. and new bearings and bolt. probly get a new oil pump too while im in there. and inspect timing chains and tensioners. and while its getting redone might as well put the nsp head studs and new gaskets too. and a mild port job too

ill post pics tomorrow of everything.

[lanceslambos]

thanks for saving this car man.

[oldsmobile99]

yea i love this car

[bobsblue95]

At least you'll have a new engine when you're done.
so how did you lift the car up over the drive train?

[oldsmobile99]

so here some pics of the engine drop. sorry dont have many pics we were in a hurry
and bob i just used four concrete blocks on each side and two floor jacks to raise it enough to pull the engine out. really was very easy

friends thought i'd be funny take a pic of me as the engine lol


finally out after setting the car down and taking engine off the cradle ... yes we pulled it out with the lawn mower


the oil pan as it looks now, notice how it looks much diffrent than the pic of it before. it sat for a couple months after the first pic and i guess this stuff drained down.



new and old engine. new one is on the stand


what i got done today, timing marked and started to remove the crank. i cant seem to get the balencer bolt off, tried heat and an semi weak inpact gun, any suggestions or tricks you know of to get it out ?


thanks

[bobsblue95]

I threw my 2 engines in the back of a friend's truck, ran to a local tire shop and paid a guy $5 to remove them with their impact. They used an electric impact and got them right off.

[oldsmobile99]

hmm thats a good idea, now i just need way to get it in our truck lol

[bobsblue95]

no engine hoist?
put a chain across the lift points (pretty snug) and run a heavy duty bar thru, then 2-4 people can lift it. ~350 lbs or less.
That's how we got it in and out of the room I worked on it in.

[oldsmobile99]

the aurora's sitting under my only hoist, i used it to drop the cradle. thats a good idea lol.
havent gotten anythen done, been at work. also a couple questions,
1. are the main bolts tourqe to yeild ?
2. are the rod bolts tourqe to yeild ?

thanks

[oldsmobile99]

so this morning i almost went a diffrent direction lol i was going to buy a 300hp L37 northstar with pulled heads out of a 98 seville for $132, and put a stud kit in it. i asked the yard to reserve it and they said they could for three days, this was two days ago, yet yesterday after noon they sold it . they have a few devilles out there with the 275hp northstar i belive. so i want your guys opinion on what you would do. option 1. rebuild the bottem end in my 4.0 and get the head studs and swap out the cams from the 275hp northstar, witch should net alittle more hp for my 4.0. if ths can even be done (its still just an idea). 2. get a northstar out of the deville (275hp) , put a stud kit in it and drop in car. 3. rebuild my 4.0, put in studs and leave stock cams , witch would you guys do ? im looking for more power if possiable.

[bobsblue95]

I'd probably go with the 4.6. Maybe keep looking for an STS or DTS version though. Be patient and get what you want though. You could always repair your engine for now, then sell it to another member after you find the right upgrade. Extra work but hey, you're young haha!

[oldsmobile99]

yea that was an idea too, would the cams out of a LD8 northstar 275hp version work in mine. i ask because i can get a set dirt cheap.

[oldsmobile99]

well i now have the complete engine apart, cranks at the machine shop and bearings are on order. engine had lots of carbon build up, bottem end did turn out to be okay, just bearings had signs of being overheated and also headgaskets seemed to have stop leak on them.
heres a few pics, post a few more tonight.




i also mean no offense to the member i got the engine from