'96 Century general project thread

[robertisaar]

that radiator an ebay special?

if it's any indication, a lot of the cheaper radiators I've seen/installed tend to have end-tank seals in surprisingly short amounts of time, making all aluminum units rather attractive.

[LeftVentricle]

Minor update.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but my yellow '92 sedan had some interesting kludges when I bought it. One of them was a toggle switch that powered the fuel pump. Since it was literally lamp cord going straight to the battery, it needed to go. I found out that the reason that switch was there was that the relay and fuse had gone out. Why someone would go to the effort of hot-wiring the pump instead of replacing a $10 relay that took less than five minutes, I'll never know. The problem lie in the fact that they directly wired the fuel pump to the battery and switch, inside the tank. This pinched the o-ring that seals the top of the tank where the sender goes, and allowed all manner of outside air and water to get in and rust the inside. As a consequence, it clogs filters every few weeks and has eaten three pumps.

I bought a new tank and sender from Rock Auto and slammed it in today. I didn't take pictures, because I'm sure most of you know what it's like to pull and replace a fuel tank. Hopefully that's the end of that issue. It damn well better be.

Also, since I didn't want to soak myself in coolant, I hired a mobile mechanic to replace the water pump. The gasket had been leaking for a while, and with another Las Vegas summer approaching, keeping the engine cool is a priority. $211 was totally worth not having to do it myself.

Speaking of keeping things cool, I got a hold of this:


All-aluminum radiator to replace the plastic one. It seems to be put together pretty well. Only cost $100.












I will be installing it tomorrow most likely. I will take a few pictures of that though. I have a 2500 mile road trip planned for spring break, so making sure I don't end up on the back of a truck in Bumfuck, NM, is kind of important.

[LeftVentricle]

It doesn't seem like anyone's really following this anymore, considering how dead this forum has been since the software changeover, but I picked up some 16" Grand Am SE wheels and put on Nexen 225-45 tires. I bought them for occasional racing purposes, since the shorter tire changes my effective final drive from 2.97 to 3.16. Hopefully that will let me pick up a tenth or two on the strip.

I may go back to the yard and grab the other two and put on some tall tires for the rear, like 225-60, give the car some old school rake.

[LeftVentricle]

[Purple pit]

That kind of thing is the worst. Knowing that you could have changed the outcome by just changing your mind on what to do at a given time. Thinking too deeply about that can drive you nuts though.

[LeftVentricle]

Always hate the feeling like every time you let your guard down and live a little you have to pay for it one way or another. It's not true, but hard to avoid thinking that way when things like this happen.

That's almost exactly how I felt. If I had continued on with the rest of the Roadkill group and camped out at the track and had even more fun, my mother-in-law probably would have parked the yellow car in the driveway that night, and it wouldn't have been hit. Me wanting to be somewhat responsible and only have a little bit of fun seemingly led directly to someone fucking my other car up.

[Purple pit]

Always hate the feeling like every time you let your guard down and live a little you have to pay for it one way or another. It's not true, but hard to avoid thinking that way when things like this happen.

[LeftVentricle]

Good news everyone! I partially participated in the Roadkill Zip Ties event. I drove out to Irwindale Speedway in the wagon. It got 27 mpg, which is slightly lower than its EPA rating, but still good. They even took and posted a picture of my lame-o dad wagon on their website! I spoke briefly with Freiburger about my car and he was "impressed" that I did all the research and work myself. Even if he was just blowing smoke up my ass, it's nice to hear.



There was a lot of really cool stuff out there, which I may post about later on. I was probably the only 60 degree V6 car out there though, so I had that going for me. I had to break off and head home after the lunch stop in Blythe though, so I didn't get the full Roadkill experience. Still had a great time.

Then, of course, the fun has to be tempered. The bad news: at some point overnight Friday, someone who doesn't know how to drive hit my other car.

It is normally parked where all the oil stains are, probably at least ten feet away.


Various bits of their lights, and tire marks.





The damage, which is... surprisingly minimal, considering how far the car had been pushed.





I'm not allowed to have nice things, I guess. I could have filed a police report, but they wouldn't investigate it. The police report would be for presenting to my insurance company when I file a claim, but I only carry minimum required insurance because it's a 25-year-old Century. So I instead get to seethe with impotent rage at some random dickhead who can't be bothered to even leave a note saying "sorry I hit your car" or even "why the fuck was your car parked in my way".

[LeftVentricle]

[Purple pit]

They're the same size as the '97 Lumina steel wheels I took off. Much lighter. I had Discount Tire swap the tires over for me. Also, the car desperately needs a bath.

Always good to drop some rotational weight.

[LeftVentricle]

Completely stock exhaust for the Century, for two reasons.
—First, this was intended to be a budget or sleeper build, so combined with the LG8 upper and stock Century air cleaner, yeah, this engine is choked a bit. Running the Malibu manifolds was never a viable option for me, since I would need to find a crossover and have a new exhaust made from the manifolds back. As this is back to being a daily driver, reliability and fuel economy come first, and using the Century exhaust does help with that. I've been getting pretty much the same fuel economy as the stock engine, which is great. About 19 to 20 in the city.
—Second, I live in a county that does emissions testing, so I need it to pass the visual inspection. Most smog techs probably won't know the differences between the L82 and LG8 intakes, but the LX9 intake (apart from necessitating modifications for vacuum purposes and having a different EGR pipe) would likely flag my car as being swapped. I'd rather not deal with the DMV about that.

As for the track time, as I said, it is better than the stock time. Improvement is always good. Reducing the 60' means upgrading things like the transmission (garbage), tires (treadwear 600), suspension (old man soft), and the driver's skill (old man soft). Weight reduction could be thrown in there too, since both the stock 18.34 and this time were run on a full interior. I didn't even dump the jack and spare, and had 15 gallons of fuel on board.

[1QUICKHATCH]

Wheels look good! As for the track time... I would have thought it would be in the 15's or 14's. Working on the 60' alone should get you 16's. What are you running for exhaust on the car?

[LeftVentricle]

3/4 second improvement over stock.

[LeftVentricle]

They're the same size as the '97 Lumina steel wheels I took off. Much lighter. I had Discount Tire swap the tires over for me. Also, the car desperately needs a bath.

[Purple pit]

Do they have less weight than the stockers? Looks as if they came with the car or should have. Seems a bit taller!