My L67 swap from LesabreT.com

Yeeeah it was a little frustrating a first, realizing what I did, but everything's sealed up nice, so I'm not worried about it.

That makes sense about the resonator. I'll have to take exact/extreme measurements. Since the glasspack types are cheap, I'll probably do it whether I need it or not. I LOVED the sound of my LN3, but I'd rather have a more organized tone than what it was. Time for a change.

Any other thoughts everyone?

So, MAN am I good or what! The car ran on its own for 32 minutes tonight, with no issues except a small trans leak and vacuum leak. The 180 degree thermostat works perfectly, and the cooling fans kicked on at the correct temperatures! Still have to hook up the boost gauge and see what my vacuum is reading.

My new coolant sensor doesn't seem to work, but I don't think it's grounded properly. Bummer. The oil pressure gauge is still pegging, but now that I'm on my 4th pressure sender, I think it's the circuit somewhere. Most likely in the gauge cluster. Everything else seems to be reading correctly, especially on the scanner. Still no computer codes as well...I don't have a whole lot to complain about!

Except how much transmission fluid I had to add. I almost ran out. That cooler took up quite a bit of fluid, but it'll be worth it in the end.

If it doesn't rain too much tomorrow I might take the car for a spin. I still have some things to do to it, but if I have the opportunity, I may take it.

Tomorrow's list consists of changing the oil pan gasket, and bolting the exhaust to the manifold. I also have to button up the wiring at the firewall and reinstall my dash.


EDIT: Some pictures real quick:

I ended up screwing up the threads with my other sensor setup, so I ran to the junk yard and got another cover and tapped in the correct sensor and did it right this time. (outside)


Sensor probe (inside):


Installed...looks better and like it should be there this time.


Got the exhaust installed like I said, but not bolted up. If you remember my previous picture of this manifold connection, you know that this is what it SHOULD look like. Nice and close and tight.


Dad helped my put the hood back on since no one will be around tomorrow, so this is how it sits tonight. Hopefully tomorrow we have some movement!

she looks good!

Thanks robo!

Alright guys...I met my goal for the project. The car is running and driving before the second week of November, and like a DREAM! I'll get videos later but other than that oil pressure gauge not working, all other gauges are working perfectly, and all information from the scanner is coming back perfect. Perfect operating temps, engine speeds, ZERO knock whatsoever, cool intake air temperatures, the trans is shifting like it's brand new. I could go on, but the point is everything appears to be operating normally. I drained most of the fuel out of the tank, filled it up with fresh 93 Grade, and took it for a nice 15 mile drive.

This engine pulls like a BEAST in this lighter car. And the Riviera was not a slow car by any means. I haven't done any WOT runs yet because the engine has been sitting, but I throttled up to 3 1/2 PSI and I got up to 60 pretty quick. As it sits, the engine is capable of 7 PSI so my butt-dyno is gonna be smoking. The supercharger sounds incredible, the exhaust sounds powerful (for a 3800....), and there's no odd suspension noises or anything. I'm so pleased and excited I could go on and on. Anyway, here's a picture of the finished (but not clean) engine bay:



And here's the car out in the open AND getting it's first bath since August.


And the finishing touch...

Ah man! what a cream puff!


NO COVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME. I am so glad to see this project complete. I love that body style LeSabre and think the whole thing is just too much awesomeness. It's the way that LeSabre should have been made!!

WOW ... What a nice ride !!! I love Rivs, but it's good to see pics of something different. You have something there to be proud of. GOOD JOB !!!

LOOKS GREAT,NICE JOB!!!

great,great!...man....how you people do it?.....

Thanks a lot guys! I knew if anyone could appreciate it, it would be you .

Robo - Don't worry, I have the cover safely stored away in the garage!

Derek - I agree with you completely. I've seen to many project fizzle out when they could have been completed. I WANTED this thing, mostly because I loved my Riviera so much and the drivetrain was too easy to NOT swap

Stan - It was certainly a job, but it helps to be handy and creative. All I know is I'm never doing it ever again. Ever lol.


Thanks again everyone. Videos within a week or so. I have to find my car-camera mount and wait for good weather!

Congrats Andrew, definately something to be proud of. This was obviously a labour of love as indicated in the timeline that you were able to achieve your goal. Plus, it probably feels pretty cool knowing that the Riv still lives on in some way.

Z-type wrote:

Thanks robo!

Alright guys...I met my goal for the project. The car is running and driving before the second week of November, and like a DREAM! I'll get videos later but other than that oil pressure gauge not working, all other gauges are working perfectly, and all information from the scanner is coming back perfect. Perfect operating temps, engine speeds, ZERO knock whatsoever, cool intake air temperatures, the trans is shifting like it's brand new. I could go on, but the point is everything appears to be operating normally. I drained most of the fuel out of the tank, filled it up with fresh 93 Grade, and took it for a nice 15 mile drive.

This engine pulls like a BEAST in this lighter car. And the Riviera was not a slow car by any means. I haven't done any WOT runs yet because the engine has been sitting, but I throttled up to 3 1/2 PSI and I got up to 60 pretty quick. As it sits, the engine is capable of 7 PSI so my butt-dyno is gonna be smoking. The supercharger sounds incredible, the exhaust sounds powerful (for a 3800....), and there's no odd suspension noises or anything. I'm so pleased and excited I could go on and on. Anyway, here's a picture of the finished (but not clean) engine bay:

I wish Don Yenko was around to see this. Car's a piece of work. Very good job.

Albertj

BMD - Thank you, I am certainly proud. I know it sounds weird to most people, but a lot of you guys on here can understand how attached one can get to the Riviera. That's why it was kind of important to me to try and keep what I could around after I had parted it out. Doesn't get much better than this .

Albert - Thanks! And believe it or not, I actually live about 4 miles from where a Yenko Dealer used to be. I think it's pretty cool that you'd think he would have appreciated this kind of car.

I'm sure this thing will be getting a lot of attention at the next BPG Nationals. Not what the project was intended for, but if people like it, I'm ok with that!


Small update - I really need new rear struts now that the KYB's are up front. Other than that, my auxiliary trans cooler is working wonderfully. So far, I haven't seen the trans fluid breach 146. I'm pretty happy with that. I did one short WOT run tonight, and I'm very pleased with how everything is responding and SOUNDING . Got up to 80mph REAL quick on the highway on-ramp topping out at 7 psi of boost up through 3rd gear.

Videos will be coming!

Very good job Andrew. It reminds me of the turbo Reatta that Buick should have marketed also.

Thanks Patrick! A lot of people who've seen the car in person have been saying similar things. Can't make any car maker do what you want I suppose....


Videos! These are the best I could do being by myself, but it gets the point across.

This one is just a walk-around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJt-rywYvFk


This one shows the exhaust and a 10 minute drive. Long video, but the best parts (SC whine) are at 6:27 and 9:27:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2qcaOXNpM



This is my favorite - drive-by. Good exhaust sound at the beginning leaving the driveway, then skip to 1:30 and 4:10:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_v8AVd7GqA

Oh man! dats beautiful! Aint nobody better tell me that hard work dont pay off! I'll smush mexican tamales up their nose!

robotennis61 wrote:

Oh man! dats beautiful! Aint nobody better tell me that hard work dont pay off! I'll smush mexican tamales up their nose!

SWEET!!!

Haha thanks Robo, and Flyineagle!

I'm going to re-post the videos here so they're easier to find in this thread:


Videos! These are the best I could do being by myself, but it gets the point across.

This one is just a walk-around:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJt-rywYvFk


This one shows the exhaust and a 10 minute drive. Long video, but the best parts (SC whine) are at 6:27 and 9:27:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2qcaOXNpM



This is my favorite - drive-by. Good exhaust sound at the beginning leaving the driveway, then skip to 1:30 and 4:10:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_v8AVd7GqA

Haha nice! It really marches up to speed eh? This winter we will make is scream like a banshee!

It sure does! Everyone who's seen the videos seems to be saying that. I'd have to agree. It pulls so strong all the way through the powerband. I hit 76 MPH at the end of the first pull in the second video. It FELT like it would go forever. I didn't notice any lapse in pulling power even in the high RPM range. The only other car we own that feels that strong through all RPMs is the '86 Regal T-type. It's strange how it's acting so different in this car than the Riviera. Weight makes a huge difference I guess!

The blower sounds nice as it is, but I'm way too excited for the power and sound gains with your work!

Another little update that you all may enjoy. You know the label on the radiator top support that shows vacuum diagrams and belt routing a whatnot? Well, the Lesabre's is obviously inaccurate now! So I had to fix that as well.

I have the old radiator support/label from the Riviera still, so I scanned that label into the 'ol computer and got this: (big image, click on link)

http://www.zamiska.net/z/vaclabel.jpg

So since the Lesabre has an opposite-opening hood, the label had to be modified. The supercharger had to be spun around and allllll the little labels reworked, as well as the 'front of car' arrow. I then stretched the image to get it to the same measurements as the label on the Lesabre. After some test prints and color adjustment, I printed it on stick-on label paper, covered it with a clear sticky paper I have, and got this, essentially:


http://www.zamiska.net/z/vaclabel2.jpg



What do you think?

I probably won't put it on the car until Spring, since the car is put away for the Winter, but this is one of those little details that I just could NOT resist! I just hope it holds up to the heat. Only one way to find out!

BRILLIANT !!!

The new label is way cool - ought to replace the GM part number on the label with your name or the car's name *you did name it right) or some such. Good thing you did not copy and paste the bar code off of a can of energy drink or beer, scanning to log in for an emissions test would have been pretty funny - so yeah, it gets scanned to log in for emissions... heh heh

No, I didn't name it . I didn't even have a project name for it. The Lesabre has always been called 'the red car' because we have so many cars to begin with. And good point about the bar code. I didn't realize that's what it was for until recently. Luckily, my car doesn't need emissions because of the Classic license plate, at least in PA. I have everything installed and in place in case it ever does though!

What do you think would be a good name for it?

Lesabre Ultra.