Bought it new in 1990. Was Blue, have painted to dark green about five years ago. Time for a new paint job. Has 242,000 mi on it from the same eng and tranny.

Problems :

I blow alternators and batterys like a religion. Seems every year I put new ones of both in.

Tires : Goodyear GT+4'* are terrible (they are what came with the car), I was constantly blowing tires on the freeway for a long while. After many different types I found the perfect tire for this car. Another Goodyear, model Eagle T/R are the best I have found to date. - Note you can only get these at Sears.

Windows are slow. I change the motors every 5 years or so.

Tailights - The plastic separated a couple of years ago, and they look like crap.

Paint Job - After about 5 years the clearcoat on the car started to crack creating a white haze all over the top of the car. Pontiac refused to fix this.

Other than that she has been a Great car. No major engine or tranny problems.

I did some mods:
Changed the ext color from Blue to Dark Green. At the time barely anyone had this color. Now everyone does.


Changed the seat leather to two toned. Tan on the inside, dark green on the outside. Also changed the bottom of the door panels, the bottom of the console, and the carpet to Dk green. This looks great. It really brought out some beauty in the interior.

Installed a Heads Up Display from a '97 Grand Prix into the dash. For cool point only.

Installed new stereo system.


Future projects include :

Replace the suspension. After 12 years I thinks it due.

Replace the brake system.

Repaint. The last time was OK but I would really like a First class job this time.

Rewrap the leather steering wheel and shifter *****. If anyone wants this done I can do it! Let me know.


That'* about it. Like I said this car has been outstanding and of I plan keeping it for at least another 12 years.

Tell us all about your Bonney.

Sounds like it'* been a good car! I thought my Ford Thunderbird Turbocoupe had a lot of miles when I sold it (199,500): I guess not!

Installing a HUD from a GP is impressive. How did you hook it up electrically?

Do you have a photo of your car? I'd like to see it

Cheers,
Jeff

WOW! 242,000 miles from the original powertrain, that'* impressive. Guess mine is just getting broken in at 134,000 miles Funny u should mention having problems with the alternator, I just replaced mine last week!
BTW mine is a black 90 SSE with tan leather int. I've only had it a short time so it'* stock for now. I'm planning on doing a homemade ram air and maybe a cat-back exhaust. L8r...Andru.

Hey Jeff,

I don't own a digital camera, but I may be able to borrow one from work.

I do have a schematic for the HUD wiring, but I cant seem to Post it up here. It'* in Jpeg. Any suggestions?

I got the part on Ebay for about $80.00 on ebay, and it came with the controller for it. I spent another $30.00 on mating connectors, and then went to town on my Bonney. It really wasn't all that hard, I just matched the signals together. I still haven't finished putting my dash pad back together. I had to cut a hole and now I have to do some fiberglass and leather work.

Part of the HUD system is a special windshield which of course is not availible for the 1990, so I do have shadowing (double imaging) on the windshield. But like I said it is for the cool factor more than anything else.


-ToK



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KEOTOK on 2002-03-15 16:14 ]</font>

Hey Andru,

Yeah you should get plenty of life from her. All I can suggest is that you change the oil every 3,000 mi. I swear this is how I kept mine running so long.

As for upgrading the performance. I'm always hesitant in changing the systems in my cars. I'm an engineer by trade and I know that anything I change is a trade off. By changing the air intake, you affect the way the sensors interpret whats going on in you engine. The computer may adapt by sacrificing fuel economy or engine heat. I always buy GM parts, and I'm convinced that it keeps me on the road. Except of course for those GD tires. They should fire everyone who signed off on the GT+4s.

All I'm saying is that be careful what you change and become informed. Besides the girls like nice, expensive looking cars not necessary the ones that can do a 1/4 mi in 5sec backwards.

We need a photo gallery. I'd like to see your mods when you get them done.

If you need help maintaning your Bonney let me know, I have the service manual.

Talk to ya

ToK

Hey Keotok, I'm hoping this car lasts me a long time too! I totally agree with u about making sure the oil changes get done on time, some of the cheapest ins. u can do for your engine.
I've had good results with my other cars in changing the intake/exhaust, so hopefully this car will respond well too. If not it'* easy enough to put it back to stock.
I've also got some 245/50/16 GSC tires that I'm going to mount on the stock wheels in the spring, should make a nice improvement in the handling. L8r...Andru.

I have a silver '90 SSE with the gold package. I almost sold for practically nothing, now I have decided to completely restore it. It is a sweet car! It is back in style and has a very classic look to it.

I am having a problem finding a wheel for it. How many of the gold package SSE'* were produced, is there a way of finding out?

Yeah, I want to see more pictures of 1990 Bonneville’*. This style of Bonneville in the early 90'* is very cool looking. I'm going to get one asap.

TY

i just recently got an 88 LE around christmas and hoping to restore it. It only has 79,000 miles on it. unfortunatly it sat around for a couple years and wouldnt start when i got it. its starting to run good now. I have a spoiler that i'm putting on saturday and having new brakes installed. so far the only problems iv had was a blown altinator, sagging headliner, breaks, and i blew one of thoe POS tires. if any of you cant think of anything else i should look out for i would apreciate it

HypnosVI

Here'* some advice for you....the following link was probably caused at least partially by my car having been stored for a long period of time....only 15000 miles were put on it in 5 years:

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=510

Anything rubber or plastic should be carefully examined. Another common problem for any car that has been stored is the head gasket. Keep a sharp eye on the dipstick for any evidence of coolant or water contamination. One way to help prevent failures is to cool the car down. You might consider replacing your thermostat with a cooler one. My stock Stat was a 195°, and I dropped it down to a 180°. Your car will run more efficiently, your oil won't break down as quickly, you may have a slight performance boost, and some of the 'age stressed' parts won't be stressed so badly. I'm still weeding out some of the minor glitches from long-term storage, and I bought mine back in May!

Check your belts, also, and at least the upper and lower radiator hoses, and the heater hoses up to the firewall. You're better off just replacing all these things, but at least keep an eye on them for now. Plug wires may be a big issue as well. Some of our fellow Bonnie owners have some great advice on this subject. Read through the mechanical and maintenance forum.

The worst thing you can do to a car is not drive it. Take good care, and be very attentive for the next couple of months at least.

Another thing I found was more than a nuicance than anything, but check it before you wonder what happened. My windshield washer fluid delivery lines going up to the wipers are very dry and breaking. I'm replacing all of them this weekend.

Post a pic of your car, at least in the registry section of this forum. I really like the 'older' body style, even though I have a 'newer' one. I've been a Bonneville fan for about 15 years.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!