Last Indian

Frosty I understand that & sad to hear about the man. Obviously it would be the simplest if you can buy them in the proper backspace. Yet presuming you can’t you can still accomplish this. If you lived in this area it would be a snap, as I know quite a few machine shop owners personally that I used in my working days for LZ. But since you don’t there are a couple ways you can still get this done! You may have to do some research or looking though. Most of this you could accomplish on your own. You would need a grinder, a big rubber mallet, a magnetic base that is used for a dial indicator & a dial indicator. Also a GM front spindle with the hub & bearings installed that has the right bolt pattern + some lug nuts. You would also need a way to attach the hub assembly to a bench or mount it in a large sturdy vice, & you need someone who can Tig weld. I can explain this procedure further if needed. An other way, there’s a Machine service company in Oxford Michigan that could possibly do the work or direct you to where you might go. Casemer tool & machine. They have some manual lathes. In particular Clausing/Nardini. If these lathes are 17” they would be capable of holding those rims. In this instance, steel rims usually run pretty true, unless the rims are bent, they can turn the rims on the lathe & cut the welds out. This procedure usually works the best for having the best results of removing the weld without introducing on the center hub or the ring. Once the center hub is free & removed ring can be cleaned up. Any excess weld can be machined out to make it a clean finish. Then the center hub can be relocated. If they have welding capabilities the center can be indicated true with the proper backspacing, tacked in place on all the attaching points. Then remove for complete welding.

Frosty, can you buy the Rally lls in 15x8 but just in the wrong backspace? If you can, you might consider buying them. But first you need to find a good local machine shop. One that does machining, fab work & welding. They can grind away the weld that attaches the hub to the ring. Then they can reset the hub in the ring to the desired backspace, check it for running true, tack weld the hub to the ring, recheck & then weld it up. After that, take the rims have them checked for balance. Any out of balance issues can be resolved by adding the weight needed, in steel, than again tack weld that weight in place. I have built several sets of rims over the years this way. I have actually done this, but split the ring. Added a rolled ring in between the two halves to widen the rims. Than rewelded the hub where I needed it.

So here’s the switch setup. I stand corrected there are six hot wires one in, 5 out. Those distributed out from the switch to various components. The real dumb part of the switch that I didn’t take a picture of is the inside rotating cam that depresses the springs you see in the one picture. Which moves a finger tab to make contact with another fixed opposing tab! What happened to just supplying 12 volts to a fuse box? So when you turn on that component there’s power at the source you turned on?! All purty again! below the double wire loom on the far side of the motor was original one single bundle. Which was to bulky to run between the valve cover & the redesigned engine mount. So I tandemed the single bundle into two, but specific wires had to be placed in the proper bundles since some would go in one direction & others in another direction. Likewise all the wire looms that run parallel to the core support needed divided & redirected downward as some looped up in the air, as is obvious in the last picture. This all took a lot of work because most of these wire runs are actually formed with a particular curve. Which in most cases means not all wire lengths were equal. JustA side note. What most folks don’t realize, unless you own one & look close, is all the work involved in the rewiring that had to be done to change over to my redesigned engine mounts & valve covers.

Daniel, can’t blame you, I hate Naugahyde! Hot, makes you sweat, etc. I would rather have cloth under my butt too! Below is an example of a polyester blend corduroy, not the right color just an example! But you might be able find something close. Your other consideration is to buy enough & do the front seats to match. Which might actually be wise. If the backs are that bad how far behind are the fronts? If you did that you could do more of a contrast. https://www.joann.com/red-stretch-corduroy-fabric/19475565.html

Finished the ignition harness a week an a half ago! Talk about ridicules! Needed to order a new Odyssey battery. Mine’s 8 years old, so might as well bite the bullet & start fresh. Lots of cleanup from the coolant flushing, some aluminum needed re-polished, so needed to pull most of it out make it all shiny again. Hopefully I get the battery this week so I can get a little drive time in before the Indian goes up for winter. Did I say WINTER😳!? Oh crap! That means all the indoor projects start!

No! But there was a lot of air; which is a gas you know!

What I mean by a nylon cord is, its like a corduroy, but made from nylon, which makes it more durable. If you are trying to only replace the fabric panels due to cost, I understand that. If you are doing it to try & match the rest of the interior that will be hard. I doubt that they make any replace fabric that would match in color. So I guess the question what is your goal? Restoration, resto rod, custom, just fix it?

In short, yes. You can probably find something close, but your best bet would be a car upholstery shop obviously! A regular upholstery shop may be able to help as well. It appears to be a basic nylon cord fabric. So the width of the cord & color will be what you need to match. Doubtful that you will be able to match it close enough to match your front seats though. Your biggest issue will be restitching the new panels to the old Naugahyde. It may look good, but it may be dry rotted at the seams, you won’t know until you take it off the seat. If it’s not I would advise hand stitching the panels! I have done this kind of work before & what happens if you use a sewing machine is it literally acts like a pair of scissors. Because even if you can get the stitch spacing right you will never hit the same needle holes repeatedly. This in turn causes more holes to be pierced along the same line, which in Naugahyde is bad news! Notice when you take the seat cover off the seat that the stitch sequence is about a 1/4” of an inch apart. This is because of what I mentioned.

Sorry Mats can’t answer that question. I would think they are the same basic configuration that you could make it work, but I don’t want to tell you yes & be wrong. I would suggest emailing the companies with that question, they possibly might be able to answer it.

There are several issues/problems with the LS4 V8. The first to be concerned with is the burning of oil will poison the cat! Causing it to fail, AKA quit working. What you might consider doing. 1. Replace the PCV valve just as a precautionary measure. In the 5.3 these have been an issue. 2. Do a leak down compression check of all cylinders, not a momentary rotational one. A leak down test tells you a lot more about ring condition. 5.3 are known for having a problem with ring tension.

Lar, ok! Thanks for that info. So I realize you asked about advice on struts & we have discussed that, & I’m not preaching, I’m just trying to help you get to where you want to be, so bare with me! First off I wouldn’t encourage you to change diameter, but not for the reason you mention. I assure you that tire diameter has no impact on ECM control over engine timing. The only relevance of larger diameters would be they can increase load on internal gears by causing more pressure on the fluid film layer which is a whole chemistry thing I won’t go into. That said, wider is a different matter! Still, first you need to address the suspension, not just struts. Struts are just a small part of the suspension! Really! Struts are nothing but a shock absorber with a spring attached to it! This setup was not, I repeat not an improvement to suspensions! It was a downgrade! 40 years ago 20,000 to 25,000 miles on a set of shocks was considered replacement time! Nothings changed except people pay a lot more money for a strut assembly so they want to get a lot more miles out of it for their money. Sorry it doesn’t work that way. It is actually harder to tell if a strut is bad while on a car. Why? Because most struts fail on just one side of the valving. This usually occurs on the down stroke of the strut, but the up stroke will often actually increase resistance against up movement. This causes an abrupt ride on rough roads at slower speeds. So 20,000 on the Gabriel’s is approaching end of life. If you have not put the car up & gone through the suspension, all the suspension, you are basically shooting blind as to what might or might not be in need of replacement. If you replace the struts & have a bad lateral bar than the strut will not perform well & may fail even sooner than it should. Your car has aluminum knuckles, do you know their condition? There is actually a dielectric action that takes place with these because GM does nothing to isolate them through gasket separation. This corrosion can be so great that the knuckle will start to crumble under the strut plate as well as other metal attaching parts. I could tell you more but, if this is not what you’re interested in pursuing than there is know point.

Welcome to FP! One of these two sites might have something that will get you close. The retro sound site is interesting because it offers a retro look with modern options. https://www.retrosoundusa.com.au/index.php?l=product_detail&p=3101 https://www.classiccarstereos.com/

Lar, several things here. 1. Do you intend to keep the car long term? 2. Do you drive the car in the winter? 3. & within reason, even if it’s more than you wanted to spend do you prefer to get it right & than done? I asked this because going back over all you said I perceive that you might consider going back to zero! What I mean by this is all 4 corners of the car impact the ride. You said you replaced the front struts, when & with what? Replacing just back struts will more than likely have minimal effect if you leave the fronts as is. At 130,000 you more than likely have front Aarm bushing issues, unless you have addressed them. I have never seen a front Aarm transverse bushing that wasn’t blown out by 60,000 as one example. So even if you need to wait a little longer to get all that you ultimately determine you need. But this would really only apply if you want the car long term & don’t drive the car in the winter. If that is the case consider Monroe’s for all 4 corners, be they quick struts or build a set of Monroe struts as I indicated previously. The rest of what to look at we can talk about as you proceed if you want. Than you need to step though tires & rims. Why? As I indicated before, tires & rims account for more than 50% of ride characteristics. Am I correct that you run 16”x6.5” rims? With 225/50 x16 tires? A little taller tire with a little more width will drastically change your ride & still fit in your wheel well. So if you want to talk about this feel free.

In general I would say you are going about it the right way! Michelin’s are far superior to Goodyear, & if you go about in the way you are that’s about the best you can do. In your case I can easily make the argument that the KYB’s are probably not worth it for you. The Monroe’s not Gabriel, would be the least intrusive ride. I would still encourage you to go to someone & discuss building a strut using the Monroe strut, but choosing springs & other components that will actually be higher quality. Those components will have their own warranty. The other thing that hasn’t been discussed is how many miles are on the car, not the tires or struts, but the car? If you have not gone through the entire suspension ever, meaning knuckles, wheel bearings Aarms, bushings, trailing arms, lateral bars, sway bar links, etc, etc! They maybe contributing to part of the problem & might even be the largest part.

Not having any knowledge of your skill level I can understand that. So what I would suggest is you look at the attached link to a strut available through NAPA. It is a KYB assembly, but it is an OEM replacement, not a AGX adjustable. KYB’s are a much better unit & will be using their strut mounts, spring insulators & springs. https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/KYBSR4037 What tires do you run? Goodyear? Or who?

The best stock, AKA ride, you’re going to get is out of the factory strut, which are by all appearances gone. So your choices are as follows. If by chance you want the OEM struts you’ll have to go to a real good GM dealer who knows their stuff & see if the supply is exhausted! Many times even when other dealers say they are gone they are not. Why? Because dealers all over the country will have old stock at their dealerships that don’t show up on any websites. But a GM dealer has access to a database that shows every dealers stock! They in turn can see if that dealer wants to release the stock. If they do you can get it, but you will have to pay more for it! Shipping etc. I have done this for years with many cars. The next closest will be Monroe’s or Gabriel’s best struts, but I personally would by just the struts, not the quick struts, which is the complete assembly. While these are convenient you have no control over any of the components & there are much better upper strut bearings, spring insulators & springs to be had than what they will use. I also would encourage you to by new springs! No matter how good you think yours are, they are fatigued & work hardened. They, not the strut are what do most of the work. If you can’t get the OEM springs, but I think you may be able to, there are many spring companies that can make them. Last, if you are looking for a good ride, but one that improves handling, KYB’s AGX struts would be hard to beat! They are adjustable in firmness! They have a substantially larger shaft diameter, which makes a huge difference in suspension defection & movement, as well as handling. This is important why? At the end of the day with a MacPherson strut the only thing holding the top suspension to the car body is the strut shaft since there isn’t any upper Aarm! Think about that for a moment! Also unrecognized by most folks more than 50% of your ride comfort comes from your tires! The wrong tire tread, bad ride. The wrong tire composition, bad ride. Tire technology is very important today & even more so for a FWD car, since the front tires do both steering & propulsion! My two cents worth! I’m blushing!

You have not resolved the issue I presume?! So many things can cause a p0300 code which is indicating multiple cylinders are misfiring. One of those causes can be a bad cat! You say it started to drag, so if the abrupt downshift caused enough increase in pressure to a already aged & compromised cat it could have caused the cat to crack! If that happened it usually blocks a large portion of the passages. This blocks air movement out of the engine, which will not allow it to start. Also a cracked/broken cat will rattle. So try dropping the cat at the back exhaust manifold. See if the engine fires. If it does the cat is probably the main problem. DO NOT run the engine for any length of time with the cat off. It is very likely the engine will not even want to stay running due to the lack of any back pressure, 3800 are fussy about back pressure due to the fire cycle. Let us knows what happens.

Ok, when you downshifted what happened at that very moment? Did the RPM spike, did you feel more power from the engine or did it fall on its face. At this point I would tend to say it’s not push rod related, but we’ll see as you move forward. How many miles on the car? Original cat?

I apologize! I should have asked, do you know what code it has set? Before you do any of the things I mentioned. If you don’t know you need to get someone who has a scan tool & find out. That will be the starting point. There has to be a code set since you said the engine light came on. This is the first task that needs done.

Well, first things first welcome! Next I doubt shifting into second caused your problem or there’s more occurred than just shifting into second?! Why? You should have a 4t65e tranny. If you tried to shift into second at to high of an rpm it would not happen until the rpm’s came down to the rpm window. Than it would be a very abrupt occurrence. So start from zero! Will presume you have charge battery! Connect a pressure gage to the schrader valve on the fuel rail, turn the key on, but don’t start. What pressure do you have? If you have adequate pressure proceed to spark. Pull a spark plug boot at the coil pack have someone crank the engine or use a remote starter & see if you have spark. Check all 6 wires. If that all checks out as good you’ll need to next check the valve train, which means pulling valve covers & or check the torque converter. It doesn’t matter which you check first. Why the torque converter? I suspect that’s what you may have damage. Those are a lockup converter. If you were going fast enough to be in lockup, which is overdrive, something may have occurred that damage the converter inside. That damage is what you may hear rattling & could keep the engine from firing. Try those things & let us know what you find.

Yeah those are not GM torque converter bolts! These are. the ubolts are a story as I don’t see the nuts, but GM always ran grade 8 nuts with grade 8 lock washers on their driveshaft ubolts. One thing that does come to mind for the ubolts though, because I have seen it more than once, is upon installation of the universal joint caps into the of the cradle they will move out slightly because of the grease. Then they are not trapped between the two tabs that retain them in their pockets. The ubolt will still install, but over time the nuts will loosen & the cap will either move back into the pocket, leaving the bolt even looser or cause rapid degradation of the U joint. My two cents.

Sorry to here about your hip Steve! Not a good thing! Pain is never a good thing! Hope it can be resolved without a replacement🤞 You are so right Kiwi! I have read over & over again on different sites all the folks who have had this or that fail & they can’t find the problem! They have spent untold hours chasing an issue with no results, even at a dealer. In some cases I have read that the car has sat for many months. The stupid design controls nearly every major function in the car directly or indirectly with the drivetrain being the exception. These 5 12 volt hot wires of the ignition harness/switch, control the radio, heater controls, starter, seats, lights, locks, etc! The only good news out of all of this is Pontiac was unique in this design, all the other divisions used body control modules, which are a bigger nightmare! Pontiacs design is actually much more in the vain of the old school design! It’s JustA that the design of the component is really poor! It really wouldn’t have taken much more effort to make it a really good one! Sad!

JustA to expound on the electrical engineer moron comment. This is the third 97-03 Grand Prix I have had to replaced the ignition harness do to the failure of the switch design failure. Unlike the switches of old like Frosty’s Lucy! Separate lock cylinder, one main hot 12 volt line heavy duty direct contact switch. They felt 5 main 12 volt lines, feeding 16, 8 on one side 8 on the other .020 thick that rotate as you turn the lock. Which is integrated as a molded one piece assembly. When the fingers get close to each other they arch like a set of points! Which any of you who have ever worked on old school distributor points know what happens. They burn & cause corrosion! Eventually makes it more & more difficult to pass electrical energy across. So when I did the load test for the 12 volt wire that’s involved it is only passing 3.4 volts because of this corrosion. Seriously! What a joke, but not funny! And for this incompetence I get to pay GM a mere $160 for a new one & a ridiculous amount of work.

Copy that Steve! I personally for me, would rather tear something down & fix it right than use a band-aid. But I have been accused of being a bit anal!

Just to be clear on my end, the Irontite product is the one that has the Ceramic Motor Seal as well as the All Weather Seal. Not blue devil.