This car is a 1987 Century Limited, with approx. 70,000 miles! I bought it (with clear title) from a salvage yard in central AL. They were going to part it out. The car is clean and low miles (to be an 87).
Safely away from the salvage yard. No one will hurt her here!
Virtually ding-free after 22 years.
Car is pretty well optioned and has seen good maintenance:
Power locks, windows and driver's seat.
Power steering
Cruise control
Tilt steering column
Wire wheelcovers. Have all 4 center caps, locks and lock removal tool.
AM / FM / Casette radio (radio works have not tried cassette)
Seat belts mounted to car body NOT to door!
Full instrument package (fuel, volts, temp, speed, odometer)
4-speed auto transmission
Buick 3.8L Sequential Fuel Injected V6 (LG3) (Real Buick motor, not 'corporate' motor)
Relatively new paint (give it a C+ there are some places with some fade)
Clean interior.
Absolutely NO rust.
Have original jack and spare tire.
Many new parts (See below)
The reason it was sold as junk was because the engine had stripped timing gear. To get the car running, I charged the battery, and replaced the timing gear set (and cleaned the pieces of the old gear out of the oilpan). After that, it fired right up. Everything works, including the air conditioner!
This is the stripped gear (nylon sprocket teeth crumbled away from the aluminum gear core)
Here is the new STEEL gear set and new tensioner...
The pieces of this gear were in the oilpan....
So I cleaned it out.....
With this particular model of engine (LG3 Buick 3.8 SFI) there is additional damage if the engine jumps time while running. Because of this, the engine ran rough, so I pulled it apart further to replace the bent valves.
WOW this is a clean engine. Virtually NO sludge!
Cylinder bores still show cross-hatch honing marks...
From the beginning, I have planned to sell this car. However I have some mods in store for it before it goes to a new home.
The heads had to come off to get new valves (after the broken chain bend the old ones) so I ported the heads. The valve bowls have been cleaned up and "blended" and the intake and exhaust ports have been gasket matched. This allows the air to flow into and out of the engine easier. The more air you can flow in and out of the engine, the stronger it runs. This is good for a very noticable increase in midrange and high RPM power.
Ported heads:
More pictures will come as I re-assemble the engine and install the rest of the modifications. My HP goal for this unit is 240 HP, because that is the HP level of the original supercharged 3800 engine.
Here is the car being loaded on the borrowed trailer I used to haul it home:
YES the loader operator is very skilled. His machine has long forks that reach all the way under and support the car by the frame rails.
Now for some interior shots. This car is a southern rust-free example.
Underbody looks like it has never been off-road or even driven on dirt roads. That granny-silencer muffler will be replaced with a better (but not obnoxious) one.
Will try to locate door handle bracket covers at the salvege yard. Otherwise door panels look pretty nice.
Backseat looks pretty nice too. May be a little faded on the right side of the picture, but it could be the picture. I don't remember the seats being faded. Will get more pictures after the interior is cleaned. I haven't done anything to this interior; this is how I got the car.
Dash looks OK, has the 2 small cracks by the defroster vents (that they all get) but the trim piece around the instrument panel, AC and radio is great, and it has the optional instrument panel with temp gauge and voltmeter.
The 3.8L V6 engine. This is before I started working on it. Was fairly clean, no oil leaks or other signs of poor maintenance. The prevous owners had a very good mechanic. Everything that had been removed and reinstalled had loctite or anti-seize on it.
Based on inspection of car I BELEIVE (but have no proof) it has recently (within 2 years) had the following parts installed new:
Radiator (3 row)
Alternator (105 A) (very new)
Battery (very new)
Cooling fan motor
A/C compressor (R134A)
Brake pads and rotors (very new) (front new, haven't looked at at rear drums)
Engine belt
A/C blower motor
Coil pack (brand new)
Ignition module (brand new)
Crank sensor (brand new)
Water pump
It definately has (or will have) the following parts new:
Timing gear (upper and lower sprockets, chain and tensioner, and housing gaskets)
Oilpan gasket
Engine valves and valvestem seals (all 12)
Pushrods (all 12)
Head, intake, and valvecover gaskets
Cylinder head work (valve job and port work)
Before the car is for sale it will have a used refurbished Garrett turbocharger installed, and will have a custom ECM tune performed.
Page 1 - Car as-received, and engine repairs.
Page 2 - Turbo system build.
Page 3 - Restoration
