I hope the gas area cancer isn't too bad. Sawgunner had to get rid of his car because of that.

holy *#(@ thats nice!!!

That second to last pic of my boys is actually the reflection off the drivers door.... I would say that qualifies as a mirror


The gas door area is rusted, but not a hole there yet, if I keep the car it will get fixed eventually.

You may be wondering why I say if I keep the car? Well.... turns out I am about 90% sure it has a failed head gasket :( sucks because it rides and drives so amazingly perfect, but overheats. Thermostat is good, radiator is not plugged, water pump belt and tensioner are fine and bypass purge hose is clear. I knew I took that possible risk when buying it, but I also knew that absolute worst case scenario I could sell it for what I paid for it. With a wedding right around the corner I just don't have the money for an engine. Looking at the possibility of doing the gaskets myself but even that seems like a long, tedious and relatively expensive process.... time will tell!

The good thing about replacing head gaskets is, replacing all the gaskets above it. Once that is all done, you should be gasket trouble free for the next 10 years. That is if you go with the aluminum intake gaskets.

It'* tedious, but not really all that expensive if you do it yourself.

you try taking the fans out and back flushing the rad and condenser fins with simple green and a hose? alot of times theres just a bunch of crap in there.

That'* amazing! You should do a write up (how to) on polishing/buffing paint!

I'd like to know more about the products you're using. Where can you get this stuff, and what kind of materials are bonnets on your polisher? Terry cloth? Micro Fiber? Foam Pad?

Loud

Great idea...sending PM.

I knew he had rust issues, but I didn't know what exactly it all was, is there any pics of how bad his was?

I guess on these Northstars it looks like around $400 just to do the job yourself, then you are still looking at drilling / tapping / putting inserts in the block or studs to hold the heads down as well as all the hassle of four camshafts... Just gonna swap a low mileage engine in and call it good.

I have been searching like a madman on Cadillac forums the last few days, and every single thread I have found with my issue is found to be a head gasket issue. I have checked the radiator, thermostat, cap, lines, water pump belt tensioner and pump itself, as well as the purge line that likes to plug up. I am basically 100% sure now it is the head gaskets.

I can definitely do that! It will have to wait until after swap the engine out though...

PM replied






Well, got some bad news with this one, bad head gasket(*). Although I test drove it and thought all was well, I still knew that even at $2,500 there might be something hidden wrong with it, and I don't blame the seller as they are a reputable salvage yard, I get a lot of parts from them, and they have always been straight up and honest with me. I took the car for that price knowing that there could still be a possibility of something very bad and this was it. We have been tossing around ideas of what to do with the car for a few days now, even put it up on craigslist for $3,500 OBO (got about five people that texted / called me yesterday on it.... after two days of nothing ) Even offered it to someone here... bet you can't guess who but he didn't want it after getting a closer look, would have needed too much work with paint on the bumpers and rust fixing to make it worth the drive here to get it.

So, Heather has been pretty much loving the car more and more, the other day she drove it for the first time and that sealed the deal. I did a search on car-part.com and found a really good deal on an engine, 2005 Bonneville GXP engine with 55,000 miles for $750! We scraped some money around and I just got back from picking it up. The car was hit HARD in the front, engine itself is perfectly fine, but the valve covers both suffered some damage, I can swap those from our engine though. Hoping to swap the engine out within the next week so we can get the SSEi up for sale.

Right now you can drive the car about 8 miles or so before it starts to overheat, then once it starts there is no turning back. I have spent the last four days getting info on the Northstar head gasket issues and with everything I have tried and all the symptoms I have, it points to head gasket failure. I have found probably a dozen threads on various forums with almost the exact issues I am having, even a couple with everything exactly the same, and so far every single one of them has turned out to be head gaskets.

I know the engine has to come out from the bottom, but if anyone has any other tips or tricks to make life easier let me know Pics of course will be posted along the way! All said and done, it looks like we will have about $3,500 into this after the engine swap... still not a bad deal at all I think!

Well, time for some pics here!

Last Sunday we got the engine out, pulled it out the top but also dropped the subframe for more access.











Here is the engine that is going in
Valve covers are off because the ones on this engine were broken from the accident it was in, no damage to any of the cams though, so all good! Swapping covers from the old engine.


Making sure all little pieces of the valve covers that broke are clear of the timing chain assemblies, all good here!




MMMM DOHC sweetness






Engine bay shots. I don't have any pics right now (my phone died... again!) but yesterday I powerwashed it all and degreased it. Looks VERY good now!

Wow you got quite the project going on there! Nice job on the paint, good luck with the rest of the engine swap, never would have thought one of those things could get shoe-horned out the top! LOL.