Lukes Maroon GTP
- Thread starter CHI2000GTP
- Start date
Wrenchin cont'd
While working on all those repairs, I got some 06+ Impala, dual piston brake calipers and rotors from a junkyard. My initial plan was to buy a rebuild kit, and rebuild them fresh myself. I had a shop push the bores out and I was on my way. Then I did some more research. Googled things like “Tips on Rebuilding Calipers”… “Best Way to Rebuild Calipers”…etc. The first post on just about every forum, every “How To”, was how much of a pain in the ass it is. How much patience and finger tip dexterity is needed. I said FUCK that. This is something that will drive me to pull my hair out. I ended up taking a loss and buying some already rebuilt calipers. There’s this place in Chicago called Phoenix Caliper Rebuilders. They rebuild car calipers, trucks, airplane, even boat calipers I think, haha. Bought a complete set from them. They looked really nice, rebuilt well, and were zinc plated. Something like $160 out the door for all 4 wheels, for OEM rebuilt calipers. Then I painted them a classy, shiny, silver color. Again, I used the Aluminum POR-15.
While working on all those repairs, I got some 06+ Impala, dual piston brake calipers and rotors from a junkyard. My initial plan was to buy a rebuild kit, and rebuild them fresh myself. I had a shop push the bores out and I was on my way. Then I did some more research. Googled things like “Tips on Rebuilding Calipers”… “Best Way to Rebuild Calipers”…etc. The first post on just about every forum, every “How To”, was how much of a pain in the ass it is. How much patience and finger tip dexterity is needed. I said FUCK that. This is something that will drive me to pull my hair out. I ended up taking a loss and buying some already rebuilt calipers. There’s this place in Chicago called Phoenix Caliper Rebuilders. They rebuild car calipers, trucks, airplane, even boat calipers I think, haha. Bought a complete set from them. They looked really nice, rebuilt well, and were zinc plated. Something like $160 out the door for all 4 wheels, for OEM rebuilt calipers. Then I painted them a classy, shiny, silver color. Again, I used the Aluminum POR-15.
Last edited:
Wrenchin cont'd
Next up on the “odds-and-ends” list was the coolant overflow talk. This thing pisses me off to NO end. What a shiity design and terrible placement. Don’t mind my super dirty engine bay. It will be cleaned OCD style this spring when I pull the engine to completely re-gasket it. I hacked that bottom tooth off. Drilled a hole in the neck and used some zip ties to pull it closer to the strut tower. Zip ties are janky, I know. But no 3800 is complete without them. I also drilled new mounting holes for the tank, and fuse box. This moved them over like .5 inch. All that actually worked out and I gained a good 1-2 inches of clearance.
Next up on the “odds-and-ends” list was the coolant overflow talk. This thing pisses me off to NO end. What a shiity design and terrible placement. Don’t mind my super dirty engine bay. It will be cleaned OCD style this spring when I pull the engine to completely re-gasket it. I hacked that bottom tooth off. Drilled a hole in the neck and used some zip ties to pull it closer to the strut tower. Zip ties are janky, I know. But no 3800 is complete without them. I also drilled new mounting holes for the tank, and fuse box. This moved them over like .5 inch. All that actually worked out and I gained a good 1-2 inches of clearance.
Last edited:
Start It Up
With everything put together, and the oil changed, it was time to start this baby up. Except, spoiler alert..... it wouldn't fuckin start. I was pretty disappointed. I immediately blamed my fuel pump rewire and just knew I made a mistake with something. Either that, or the fuel pump itself took a dump.
Spraying some starter fluid got her going for like 2 seconds. This was only 2 months ago:
https://youtu.be/R1m1L-dEYL8
With everything put together, and the oil changed, it was time to start this baby up. Except, spoiler alert..... it wouldn't fuckin start. I was pretty disappointed. I immediately blamed my fuel pump rewire and just knew I made a mistake with something. Either that, or the fuel pump itself took a dump.
Spraying some starter fluid got her going for like 2 seconds. This was only 2 months ago:
https://youtu.be/R1m1L-dEYL8
Fuel Pump
I thought it might be the fuel pump. Really though, what I wanted was a visual confirmation of the fuel pump and the wiring. I took the fuel pump out and everything looked good. I sure regretted taking it out though, cuz getting the fuel pump O-ring seated correctly, while putting on the C-clip was just awful. Good God. I wanted to kill someone. And then, came back to it one day, and done. just like that... did it like nothing. Couldn't believe it.
I thought it might be the fuel pump. Really though, what I wanted was a visual confirmation of the fuel pump and the wiring. I took the fuel pump out and everything looked good. I sure regretted taking it out though, cuz getting the fuel pump O-ring seated correctly, while putting on the C-clip was just awful. Good God. I wanted to kill someone. And then, came back to it one day, and done. just like that... did it like nothing. Couldn't believe it.
Last edited:
Wiring Problem
After checking my work on the re-wire, I found my problem. Getting to the area where the wires was took a lot of work. I had to drop the rear sub-frame again for like the 5th time. All the rear control arms and everything. Man did that suck and slow me down. And the problem, well... it was an amateurs mistake like no other! I crossed the negative and positive wires. You can see it in the photo below. I had the top black wire on the left, going to top gray (power) wire. And then the red wire going to the black wire. Black is clearly the ground ya big dummy! Shyyt. Fixed that. And then kicked myself again for removing the fuel pump and the whole fiasco.
After checking my work on the re-wire, I found my problem. Getting to the area where the wires was took a lot of work. I had to drop the rear sub-frame again for like the 5th time. All the rear control arms and everything. Man did that suck and slow me down. And the problem, well... it was an amateurs mistake like no other! I crossed the negative and positive wires. You can see it in the photo below. I had the top black wire on the left, going to top gray (power) wire. And then the red wire going to the black wire. Black is clearly the ground ya big dummy! Shyyt. Fixed that. And then kicked myself again for removing the fuel pump and the whole fiasco.
Last edited:
Wrenchin cont'd
Mann. Been busy but wanted to put up some more photos...
So in that video above you see coolant pissing out under the car. I knew it wasn't the water pump because that was new. I was thinking it might be front cover gasket the way it was leaking so much. Turned out to be the heater hose adapters that fit into the alternator bracket. They were in bad shape. Went to Haggerty, bought some fresh ones. Also installed the brakes, which my old man helped me bleed.
Mann. Been busy but wanted to put up some more photos...
So in that video above you see coolant pissing out under the car. I knew it wasn't the water pump because that was new. I was thinking it might be front cover gasket the way it was leaking so much. Turned out to be the heater hose adapters that fit into the alternator bracket. They were in bad shape. Went to Haggerty, bought some fresh ones. Also installed the brakes, which my old man helped me bleed.
Wrenchin cont'd
A couple photos of my work area. As you can tell, all the work was done outside. I worked in the cold, the heat, rain, snow, etc… I live in Chicago and don’t have a garage, which sucks. The best place for me to wrench on my car was the back of my sisters flower shop out in Wood Dale. That’s photos #1 and #2. I had electrical hook up, bathroom, WiFi, running water. I had those luxuries for about 10 of the 20 months that I’ve been working on this thing. Then my sister expanded and moved locations. Luckily, the Indian couple that owned the tobacco store next door were cool with me parking behind their shop. You see the car is now behind their door in photo #3. They let me work there, but they didn’t really want me using their bathroom, or electricity (I offered payment of course), or water, etc… For the 10 last months I had no electricity, no bathroom, no WiFi, no running water. I had to haul everything in myself, make a lighting rig, and piss in a McDonalds cup. Even when I had those luxuries, I still had to drive out there after work in traffic which ate a lot of time, or take the train from downtown. This was faster but meant hauling parts and tools and even the car battery on the L and to work (which is downtown), and then Metra train, and then short walk from Metra to car. The car battery powered my lighting rig so it would need to be re-charged every few nights. Fucker is heavy as hell. In any case, juggling my job responsibilities, and dad duties, and husband duties, and car project was tough.
What I’m trying to say is: If you have a garage and NOT working on your project car. Stop being a pussy and go out there and wrench on it.
A couple photos of my work area. As you can tell, all the work was done outside. I worked in the cold, the heat, rain, snow, etc… I live in Chicago and don’t have a garage, which sucks. The best place for me to wrench on my car was the back of my sisters flower shop out in Wood Dale. That’s photos #1 and #2. I had electrical hook up, bathroom, WiFi, running water. I had those luxuries for about 10 of the 20 months that I’ve been working on this thing. Then my sister expanded and moved locations. Luckily, the Indian couple that owned the tobacco store next door were cool with me parking behind their shop. You see the car is now behind their door in photo #3. They let me work there, but they didn’t really want me using their bathroom, or electricity (I offered payment of course), or water, etc… For the 10 last months I had no electricity, no bathroom, no WiFi, no running water. I had to haul everything in myself, make a lighting rig, and piss in a McDonalds cup. Even when I had those luxuries, I still had to drive out there after work in traffic which ate a lot of time, or take the train from downtown. This was faster but meant hauling parts and tools and even the car battery on the L and to work (which is downtown), and then Metra train, and then short walk from Metra to car. The car battery powered my lighting rig so it would need to be re-charged every few nights. Fucker is heavy as hell. In any case, juggling my job responsibilities, and dad duties, and husband duties, and car project was tough.
What I’m trying to say is: If you have a garage and NOT working on your project car. Stop being a pussy and go out there and wrench on it.
Yes. Unban Unban. Indeed!
Well he should have told me that in the confusing emailI'll unban when im at a computer.
Sorry about that.
Haha. No probs. I can only imagine how confusing that email must have been. I'm sure it was written in broken English, with my family's typical eccentricity added to the mix.
Hehe I like his screen name
Know few people from Sanok here.
Really?! Dang dude. That's cool. Wouldn't suspect anyone knew where that place was. Been there a few times with my old man.
Well. I haven't have the GTP to wrench on for a while now. I did have to do some basic maintenance on our Corolla S before taking it on a road-trip to Orlando just recently. Went to change the spark plugs and found oil in the spark plug wells. Ohh Noz. Research tells me its the VC gasket. YouTube tells me it's a easy DIY fix.
Bank One. A little wet in there Boss.
Bank Four. Nice and dry:
Looks like oil is starting to seep through the top/rear part of the motor:
Bank One. A little wet in there Boss.
Bank Four. Nice and dry:
Looks like oil is starting to seep through the top/rear part of the motor:
Also wanted to share that the road-trip went well. Fam and I made it back safely.
It was 65 and sunny out there. Versus the forecast in Chicago last couple of weeks. Holy icicles Batman. On my way down I thought it would be cool to drive through Deals Gap, aka "Tail of the Dragon". It's right on the TN and NC and GA borders. Something like 311 turns in 10 miles. I'm sure many of you have heard about it. It's more popular with motorcycles. Wish I had better than a Corolla for the drive, at least its the "S" version. I had just recently came across an article about this place. Got there early. Had to wait for the sun to come up and over to the Smokey's. Surprisingly, it wasn't over hyped. So many turns it could make you nauseous.
The area where I pulled off had some sort of dam:
It was 65 and sunny out there. Versus the forecast in Chicago last couple of weeks. Holy icicles Batman. On my way down I thought it would be cool to drive through Deals Gap, aka "Tail of the Dragon". It's right on the TN and NC and GA borders. Something like 311 turns in 10 miles. I'm sure many of you have heard about it. It's more popular with motorcycles. Wish I had better than a Corolla for the drive, at least its the "S" version. I had just recently came across an article about this place. Got there early. Had to wait for the sun to come up and over to the Smokey's. Surprisingly, it wasn't over hyped. So many turns it could make you nauseous.
The area where I pulled off had some sort of dam:
Metal Work
Driving out to Fox River Grove today to talk with my welder and check out what’s been done to the GTP. Pretty psyched about it! Haven’t seen the car since Oct. 20th, 2017. Passenger rear strut tower is done and drivers side is almost done. The rockers are real bad he said (LOL) and there are a couple of different solutions, with pricing being the main variable. I will have some decisions to make knowing that this car is going to succumb to the rust cancer anyway…
Hoping I’ll have the chance to take some photos of the progress. I’ll definitely do a follow up post and upload the pictures.
Driving out to Fox River Grove today to talk with my welder and check out what’s been done to the GTP. Pretty psyched about it! Haven’t seen the car since Oct. 20th, 2017. Passenger rear strut tower is done and drivers side is almost done. The rockers are real bad he said (LOL) and there are a couple of different solutions, with pricing being the main variable. I will have some decisions to make knowing that this car is going to succumb to the rust cancer anyway…
Hoping I’ll have the chance to take some photos of the progress. I’ll definitely do a follow up post and upload the pictures.
Thread Info
-
Created -
178Replies
-
7KViews
-
Participants list
