I did my LIM/UIM job yesterday. I was a bit intimidated by the job as the only engine work I've done was oil changes, plugs, alternators, and belts. All together it took me 12hrs with a good 1hr lunch. The temps were in the high 30'* for the day and the 20'* in the evening- which slows me down. Anyway, here'* what I did. And forgive me for the blurry photos, most were taken with my camera in a plastic bag as not to make a greasy mess of it.

Some of the external crud that had me worried.



First I worked on bleeding all of the Dex out of her. This itself cost me a few hours working with freezing wet hands. Plus, I wasn't too sure which direction the coolant flows, so I probably removed more hoses than necessary. I'd pull a hose, drain it, run a garden hose in it and run the car for a moment, then move on the next one. Seemed to do the trick though.

I stripped down the UIM, and found it wasn't too bad (compared to some I've seen on here). Some oil crud, but good gasket and a decent looking UIM.



I removed the LIM and found some shady looking gaskets. I don't suppose all that coolant buildup is doing any good- is that common, or did a previous owner dump in some stop-leak?




I cleaned up the crud the best I could and installed the new gaskets.


I used my bathtub along with a bunch of elbow grease to scrub the LIM clean. Not a good idea, as I've got one hell of bathroom cleaning job ahead of me.

Anyway, I also swapped the front valve cover and gasket. I wanted to do the rear too (as I had painted up a rear cover as well), but it seems that I could not remove it without removing the water pump and everything attached to it- not happening tonight. So here'* the final pic, with my freshly painted parts.


And a pic just for the sake of whoring

looks good. That coolant crap is normal for dex

Good work and nice job for a bloke who had never done more than an oil change before!

I'll bet that built your cinfidence up some, didn't it?

BTW, you don't specifically mention if you changed your UIM with a new sleeved one. Did you?

Well, I did change the UIM. However, I used a GM manifold. The guy behind the counter told me that he did the same with his Bonneville, and the new "redesigned" manifold was better (along with LIM gaskets, of course). Maybe it was BS, as it looks the same with no sleeve. But, since my original one with 90k was still in decent shape without any deterioration around the stovepipe area, I'm thiniking I'll be able to go another 90k.

Good job , just waiting for mine to crap out some day soon..

nice job its true youre gasket are the best i have seen so far .should be doing mine soon when its stop snowing .looks like spring its back order this year

Congrats on getting it done. Even if you didn't have a sleeved upper, at least the lowers are aluminum framed.