Hello everyone, I had some free time on my hands so I decided to replace my headlights and grill with the ones I took off from my parts car.....lets just say it was a major PIA

1st- the headlight plasti-chrome is very brittle, I unfortunately broke one of them, also I could not restore the side markers to their original condition even using multiple different headlight restoring products.

2nd- there are these little tabs that attach the sunlight sensors into the headlights (for the Twilight Sentinel).....despite both cars being 1990 Buick Park Avenues they were both of slightly different design and both were broken.

however I managed to replace take apart all the lights and change out the best turn signal lens/headlights onto my car

3rd problem- the grills are different sizes/ and one has an extra screw they have different part numbers....but they are from the same year????- I guess the Ultra came with a grill that is a millimeter longer then the standard P/A??? very strange but it worked out, some pics below






last problem- in front of my radiator is these wierd plastic things ? why are they there and what purpose do they serve? wouldn't these be blocking air flow to the radiator?- also would liek to know what this plastic black thingy is





IMG_0010_zps1be5d690.jpg Photo by coldplays | Photobucket

Thanks....the new grill worked awesome by the way you would have to look really close to see the difference

Typically if it is really cold (like sub zero), and the car has trouble staying at operating temp, many will block portions of the radiator to keep the temperatures up. They then pull them out as it warms up in later months.

Is there anything in that black plastic? Any sensors, or wires coming out? My guess would be like a shroud for the outside air temp, or possibly a deer whistle.

Thank you rjolly87, I think you are correct about being something related to the outside air temp shroud.....I will have to take a second look

its seems too factory looking to be a deer whistle.... but I could be wrong

there is also another part that I forgot to add for identification- do you know what this metal piece is?

You'll have to trace that to see what it is, likely an oil cooler, tranny would be my bet

if it is a oil cooler/trans cooler is it worth investing time and $$ to fix?

my car has the following options which may be linked to this part

a) Cooling System- Heavy Duty 13,058/49,139

b) Transaxle Final Drive Ratio: 2,778/49,139

what does the transaxle value meaning? is it geared to be more economical/luxurious/sporty?-

Normally it says like 3.05 or 2.86 for that which is your gear ratio and how they make cars accelerate faster or get better mileage

The first time I looked was on my phone, and I couldn't see that it didn't lead off to the side of the car.

I have no idea what that could even possibly be? Where is it in relationship to the front bumper and grill?

seems like it used to be part of steering cooler line and was rerun due to rust or something

It looks like a handle to a garden wagon, which makes no sense. Can you pull it off so we can get a better look?

Hey guys haven't done much in the way of upgrades, did a quick respray of the hood before it started to rust out....if no big repairs are needed this winter I will do the trunk in the summer

I also aquired two spare 'Carriage Lights'- rebuild them?- haven't tested them out

here are two quick pics