Thinking about modding my 1990 SSE
 

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Good drivetrain. It's sitting in my garage. What do you guys think I should do with it?

what year? what trim? NA or SC?

Please do not post Performance topics in the Mechanical sections of the Forum.

I'll move this one for you. In the meantime, maybe you should go into more details on the donor car. At this point I can assume it has an engine, but I'm at a loss as to which one.

strip it!! throw it on the bonnie or sell it on ebay

Thinking about a FrankenBonne II? Hows that back wheel? Is it badly compromised?

Sorry Will.

It's 2004 GXP.

Surprising enough it rolls on all four wheels, after a little moding on the quarter with a saws all.

Drivetrain has 8000 miles on it. Series III SC, HD trans without the performance shift.

Started taking out the engine in the Bonne this weekend. I don't really know what I'm doing - kinda making it up as I go.

I was thinking of calling 'er BonnePrix.

if you plan on swaping youre going to run into a nightmere becauce you will have to FAB up all your mounts w-bodie and h-bodie have diffrent casings on the trans as well so your going to have to deal with that just a couple of minor setbacks thoughit shouldnt be to hard on you either that or chop up the sub frame and make it fit :evil:

Trust me on this one.......if anyone on this Forum can make it fit and work, KEOTOK can. He's the first to do a HUD swap, and the only one to date in the older generation (87-91). He's an Engineer, Fabricator, water-walker, and beer guzzler from WAY back.

KEOTOK is very well aware of the work involved on this one, particularly controls/PCM.

Do you man GTP? not GXP. The GXP is the V8 model

Thanks for the confidence Will, I wish I shared it. I'm really weak on mechanical fabrication, but maybe this will make me good at it.

Do the W and H bodies have different trans mounts even in the newer years (ie 2004)?

I was gonna drop the whole Prix subframe and see if it lines up with the Bonne's holes. Let's hope its that easy.

Another problem I see are the dogbone mounts on the top front. On the Prix they go to the radiator support, which on a 90 Bonne are weak. I'm sure the torque will bend it quick. I gotta figure out how to strenghten the support and mount the dogbones to it.

Wait till I get to the accellerate by wire stuff.

I'm quite sure he said what he meant and meant what he said. ;)

Yeah youre right GTP. 3800 Series III SC. Dont temp me with the V8.

And before yas ask I spent $4000 and had it shipped from Iowa.

yea they have diff trans mounts and as far as drive by wire you get rid of that maybe use a northstar throttle body or ls1 throttle body and use 98-02 PCM to control the engine as far as mounts go some of the guys doin l67 cavalier swaps weld angle iron across the whole radiator support to further brace the top ill see if i can find pics for you but anyway good luck on the swap

The radiator core support won't support the dogbones. Use a 92-99 H body front lower mount and torque-axis mount instead.

The subframes won't line up either, but the mounts should bolt up to the block/timing cover just fine.

You may have to drill the holes in the subframe for the torque-axis mount, or get a subframe from a 92-99 to use. That's actually a really good idea. 92-99 subframe and all 4 mounts.

Let me make sure I understand what your sayin. All of the mounts should line up with a 99 Bonnes subframe, then bolt that up ala Frankenbonne. Does the series III have a torque acess mount on it? I've never seen one before so I'm not all that sure how they mount to the car or engine.

I was also thinking of rigging up something from the engine upper mounts to a cross brace (on top of the struts) from a second gen to keep it from torquing.

I don't believe the S3 block is different than an L67 block. It should have the same bolt holes for the TA mount to bolt up.

Searching for a pic.......

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looks like it mounts to the right side shelf or does it go down to the subframe?

Heres a ACAD dwg of what I was thinking.

Attachment 48321

goes on the shelf right under the a/c/ lines

Keotok, don't use the upper strut bar for an engine brace. It's not designed to handle load in that axis, and it could cause handling problems under accelleration.

Use stock 92-99 mounts.

Yeah I was thinking the same. Maybe if I were to use a stronger material in conjunction with the side mount.

Did the Frankenbonne just tap holes for the side mount? Should be strong enough for the little extra hp the 3 give out, you agree?

There are 92-99 L67's putting down more hp and tq than the S3 using the TA and lower front trans mounts. No problem.

Franky? Not sure. He may have already had the holes. Not sure what year that started.

yea just make sure when you get the mounts get the solid not the hydraulic however alot of people now are using 3m window wleld (its the same polyurethane you would use for performance mounts) on the hydraulic mounts since they have cavities in them to make them very very strong and stiff and you still have a litlle give and yea you can drill into the shelf but use a backing plate on the bottom for some extra strength

91PA, please read this:

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=73691


I disagree on modifying the stock mounts. The OEM mounts on the 92-99 are far more than sufficient in handling a S3 Supercharged motor. Many of us are way beyond factory hp and tq specs on OEM mounts, and are doing fine.

The only one I would suggest you MAY want to modify is if you get the 95-newer front lower trans mount with the shock, delete the shock and insert some harder polyurethane (energy suspension endlink bushings) in it's place. But I don't even have that shock mount. Just rubber on the Zilla, and it does just fine, despite the torque at the bottom end.

well sorry about my spelling but anyway read this http://importnut.net/motormount.htm

That's already been posted here. And billboost37 and I will both tell you from our heavily modified experience, that stock mounts are more than sufficient. We are over-mounted for our application.

PA, your mounts are not the same as ours. You may need that, but the 92 and newer don't.

correction we have the same mounts i just checked part numbers we are the same S/C'ed or N/A we have the same front right and right rear and TA mounts

If you indeed have the same torque axis mount on the passenger side fender, don't waste your money and time beefing up your mounts.

Older LN3's and LG3's have a much weaker and simpler mount system.

Yeah I dont want to do anything extra which I don't have to. I'll try the factory mounts, if I have problems I'll come up with something.

*****Buckles remaining good seat belt*****


This is gonna be good. Question, what is drive by wire?

crzy, there are no throttle cables. There's a TPS (in a sense) and a spring to give 'feedback' on the throttle pedal. That signal from the sensor drives a servo (motor) to open or close the throttle plate in the TB.

Which is one of the reasons that I needed the whole car. I needed the gas pedal.

In a nutshell..it's a bad idea :lol: Seriously, like Will said, the drive-by-wire (A play on the old "Fly-by-Wire") is just using a servo motor to run the throttle plates directly..no throttle cable (Like a super sized IAC motor.)

Another option (Similar to what I am doing to my '90) is to use an older throttle body and a plate to convert the flange between the TB and the SC. This avoids the drive-by-wire problem.

I'm excited about using the electronic trottle. Dont see it as a problem.

I gotta find a junkyard with a torque axis mount, and a sec gen subframe. What years guys? 99 sound good for both?

99 would be the best, but honestly, anything from 92-99 will work. The 92-94 L27's may not have beat up the TA mount enough to matter.

The TA mount is also easy to replace and relatively cheap. It comes with the FENDER side stuff new. The iron bracket on the engine side you see in my pics is what you'll need for sure.

Have you driven one yet with the Drive-By-Wire? The '07 Pontiac we bought has it and I really dislikeit. The lack of feedback and lag on the throttle is a bit irritating. I'll take my cars with the cables and springs :lol:

Will,

I finally got a good look at your pic of the TA. Are the bolts coming off the block part of the block or are they like some kinda of threaded rod?

Nevermind I think that is the ground post that sits under the ignition module.

Alright I have everything but the exhaust downpipe and the drive shafts disconnected on the Bonney. Anyone know the size of the drive shaft nut (Hub nut)? I need to get a socket.

34mm. A 500 fl/lb impact wrench will make it very easy.