Another new member with a 2000 Century

[Waiex191]

Thank you Zeroboostbuick! All good info.

 

[Waiex191]

Made some progress tonight. Adam started putting in the front rubber hoses. Matthew and I pulled the rear brake drums. They were rusty inside including a rust ridge outside of where the pads live. We sanded off that ridge and cleaned them up a little.


The wheel cylinders were seized. We ran to the parts store and grabbed a couple of new ones.


The left brake adjuster was also seized - both the threaded and other part. We used the torch and some PB Blaster, then cleaned it up and lubed with syl-glide.


Will be interesting to see how the calipers look.

 

[Waiex191]

The wheel cylinders are held on with inverse torx. What a pain! There is no room for a socket there. I would have welded something up but I ran out of gas (oxy-acetylene) when I was making the fuel filter bracket.


So what I did was to file a couple flats on my socket. No way could I get a ratchet back there.


I had some long M6 x 1.0 hex bolts and hacksawed them to length.


Here is one new cylinder in.


From the back side you can see the hex bolts.


I also put insurance on the car today and did the Illinois electronic title and registration online. I have all my paperwork and plan to get plates tomorrow. Looking forward to getting this on the road.

 

[Zeroboostbuick]

You guys did a quick job out of the whole thing. It would of taken me months to do all that work !

Next one do a 98 - 04 Regal GS !!!
Lots of aftermarket stuff for the Regal and can be very fun and fast.
The 3100 engine is just a grocery getter with little pep. The 3800 and especially the supercharged 3800 is a grocery getter with excess testosterone.

 

[Waiex191]

You guys did a quick job out of the whole thing. It would of taken me months to do all that work !

Next one do a 98 - 04 Regal GS !!!
Lots of aftermarket stuff for the Regal and can be very fun and fast.
The 3100 engine is just a grocery getter with little pep. The 3800 and especially the supercharged 3800 is a grocery getter with excess testosterone.

We have an airplane to finish, so the Century is mostly a distraction. I did see this supercharged 3.8 at LKQ last Monday though.

 

[Waiex191]

Here is the new fuel line bent up. The new plates are on.


We were having a hard time fabricating our 1/4" brake lines from the master to the ABS controller. I went to LKQ today and found a good used set.


I also grabbed a coolant level sensor. I destroyed the metal clip that holds it on, can anybody give me advice on how to take it off gracefully?

 

[Waiex191]

Happy father's day for those of you so afflicted!

My son Matthew and I went over and reassembled the rear brakes, and adjusted them too. Much like the Saturns the star wheel adjuster thing is offset from the oval slot in the brake backing plate. Must have been some sort of enterprise wide GM delusion. So we adjusted them with the drums off, until there was a tiny bit of drag.


Headed back over to finish routing the brake lines, which will be a lot of lying on my back and swearing. I'll get the kids engaged again when it is time for bleeding.

 

[Waiex191]

Pretty much done with the swearing phase of the job. It is very tight and hard to route lines past the subframe and up the firewall. Would be easier if the motor was out.

Lots of new nicopp. Still have some of those darn clips to snap in, but I'm getting there. This is probably one of the few Centuries to have AN fittings and steel braided hoses in it.


Home to grill some father's day burgers then back over with the kids to continue reassembly. We need to start it, warm it up, and change the vintage oil & filter.

 

[Waiex191]

Brakes are plumbed and bled, at least the first pass. I want to look at the calipers before I go too crazy. If I have to replace them it is more bleeding anyway. Here is our nicopp plumbing to the ABS controller.


My fuel line and filter are all in, and after we reconnect the throttle cables and induction stuff we can do a leak check and engine start.

 

[CorvairGeek]

Awesome work, rust is so discouraging to me from growing up in Ohio.
Your boys are going to have exceptional skills that are becoming unusual, you should be proud. I saw a story about a high school class teaching life skills, including changing a tire! I guess some others have noticed not everything can be done from a keyboard.

 

[Waiex191]

Thanks Jerry! We changed the oil. Maybe it was coffee. When we were warming it up it was clattering quite a bit. With fresh oil it sounded very happy. You can see the old stuff looked more like coffee.


Matthew has never put a tire on before. I let him struggle then showed him better body mechanics. Better to learn this at home than on the road.


So the brakes work well, it runs great, shifts good, and handles fine. I did notice a steady drip of antifreeze when we were changing the oil. After we looked and could see a small lake of green antifreeze under the intake manifold. I assume this is the dreaded lower intake gaskets? Any pictures, tutorials, parts list available? I am going to go add the Buick to my AllDataDIY subscription.

Here Adam is pointing to the lake though you can't see it in the picture.


I let Adam do the test drive around the airport as he did all the brake fabrication work.

 

[HotZ28]

Sounds like how I trained my two older sons, they are both master mechanics/technicians now and take care of all my cars. You are doing a fine job raising those boys! To bad, not many can get that experience?

 

[Waiex191]

More kids need experience like this. Both my kids are on the engineering track as I was. Sad how many young, smart engineers don't or can't change their own oil. Hands on experience always makes you better. Thanks HotZ28 for the comment.

I have a fel-pro gasket set on the way from Rock Auto. I spent an extra $5 to get it by Friday. Amazon had it for the same price shipped, within a couple of bucks. But, then I wouldn't have gotten the magnet.

I did add the Buick to my Alldatadiy subscription and reviewed the procedure. Doesn't look too bad. Any pitfalls?

 

[CorvairGeek]

Don't mix up the push rods! Seems many folks can wipe out a 3100/3400 by mixing up the long and short ones. It is an interference engine. No doubt the substantial difference in length will jump out a you, but some don't notice.
It is suggested to loosen the rocker arm bolts (if you do it the old fashioned way) when the valve is closed to remove the push rods. Some folks have managed to pull the rocker arm studs out of the heads when the valves are open.
I assume you have ordered the improved / problem solver intake set for the engine?
If the fuel lines don't want to come out of the fuel rails, disconnect them at the quick disconnects instead (towards the strut tower). Sometimes the o-rings will swell and they may be extremely difficult to remove without damaging the lines.

 

[Waiex191]

Can anybody help me find my radiator drain petcock? Driver's or passenger's side? Front or back? What do I have to remove to see it?
Thanks.

 

[Waiex191]

Rather than look for the drain, I siphoned the radiator. Later I'll drain more out.

Under the plenum, or upper intake as it is often called.


Table full of parts.

 

[CorvairGeek]

You'll be amazed the gaskets ever worked at all when you see the plastic carrier and what looks like the seal from a Weather Pack connector around each port. You are almost there!
I've given up on using the plastic pet cocks after one suddenly failed in the Costco parking lot. I carry an emergency spare in each car.

 

[Waiex191]

New gasket set. Seems pretty complete. Hopefully there are injector o rings in there.


Removing valve covers.


The injectors did not come out very gracefully. Probably hard o rings and corrosion on the manifold.


Here is the underside of the manifold.


I think this is where it was leaking. The manifold bolts seemed not very tight when I removed them.


One last picture, engine guts.

 

[CorvairGeek]

The plastic shrinks so the bolts loosen.
Make sure you change the oil pump drive (what is left of the old distributor) o-ring. I completely forgot until I saw it in the picture.

 

[Waiex191]

The plastic shrinks so the bolts loosen.
Make sure you change the oil pump drive (what is left of the old distributor) o-ring. I completely forgot until I saw it in the picture.

So were the Buick distributors in the front? I've not had a 3.1 family motor apart before. Is that plastic intake manifold gasket OEM? My new fel-pro set is metal.