water pump leak?

[steveo412]

lol mike your starting to scare me! j/k,,i will take pictures of everything,,your right tho i should replace everything i can,,i whana keep this car and know that everything is in good shape,my buddy has a nice drill we can use,we should be ok there,yes i will be reading the manual very closely,,the northstarperformce studs are to pricey due to the parts i allready replaced,,steve

[BodybyFisher]

don't laugh, I was scaring myself. But this job is no laughing matter. Its in the planning and knowing the tips up front, its being prepared.

If you recall, you poopoo'd my warning once before, :-)

[BodybyFisher]

Here is an interesting reason why to pull the engine directly from Northstar Performance, I had not considered this.

You've probably seen other shops advertise that they can do the repair with the engine in-the car. There are some big issues with in-the-car engine repair. All 20 head bolt holes have to be drilled and tapped to accomodate the new thread repair. Doing this in the car means that you will have metal shavings EVERYWHERE. You cannot afford to have aluminum shavings in your alternator or exhaust system (can cause flow restriction in your catalytic converter), or A/C lines, transmission vent tube, pulley systems, etc. Special care needs to be taken when performing thread repair around so many moving parts.

We carefully REMOVE your engine before starting the repair process. We pull the engines through the top, it's actually a time saver for us and we also don't have to disconnect any suspension parts, steering linkage, brake lines, etc. There's not a lot of clearance to do this- but this eliminates the need for an alignment after the repair process is complete. The only thing we have to remove from the chassis is the RF wheel.

Kevin feels that this method is more difficult, its interesting that NP prefers this method. Kevin did you have help when you pulled the engine?, or did you do it yourself? I would think this would be easier with a helper

[makoskey]

I gotta tell ya. I have worked on A LOT of cars in my spare time. These Northstar engines have got to be by far the hardest to work on! I just finished replacing the pump and all the seals on my water pump assembly. If it wasn't for the 2 bolts waaaay on the back side of the engine this wouldn't be that bad of a job!

Just my .02 cents thrown in!

[BodybyFisher]

I gotta tell ya. I have worked on A LOT of cars in my spare time. These Northstar engines have got to be by far the hardest to work on! I just finished replacing the pump and all the seals on my water pump assembly. If it wasn't for the 2 bolts waaaay on the back side of the engine this wouldn't be that bad of a job!

Just my .02 cents thrown in!

The engine is actually easy to work on, but different. But certain procedures require the engine to be shifted. Its a huge engine, but its an awesome engine. The crossover job is a deceivingly hard job

This engine has a 5800 - 6000 rpm red line.

The "shortstar" >> L47 Aurora engine was a special V8 designed for the Oldsmobile Aurora, based on the Northstar engine. It is a DOHC 4.0 L (3995 cc) V8 which produced 250 horsepower (186 kW) and 260 ft·lbf (353 N·m) of torque. The bore is 87 mm and the stroke is 84 mm. The L47 has a 10.3:1 compression ratio and uses premium fuel.

Although most of the Northstar's features, including the coolant loss system, remained intact, the decreased bore increased weight unacceptably. To reduce it, Oldsmobile used a one-piece glass-filled thermoplastic intake manifold and simplified AC Rochester sequential fuel injection. A new die-cast structural aluminum oil pan incorporated baffling to reduce oil starvation in hard driving. A starter interlock prevents the starter from engaging if the quiet L47 is already running. A special version of this engine was used as one of the two engines available to Indy Racing League competitors at the inception of that automobile racing promotion

[KHE]

We carefully REMOVE your engine before starting the repair process. We pull the engines through the top, it's actually a time saver for us and we also don't have to disconnect any suspension parts, steering linkage, brake lines, etc. There's not a lot of clearance to do this- but this eliminates the need for an alignment after the repair process is complete. The only thing we have to remove from the chassis is the RF wh[/i]eel.

Kevin feels that this method is more difficult, its interesting that NP prefers this method. Kevin did you have help when you pulled the engine?, or did you do it yourself? I would think this would be easier with a helper

I had help when I installed the engine but removed it myself. It is easier to have a helper watching the clearances when installing the engine. The worst part during installation is the bolt that fastens the transaxle brace to the rear head on the passenger side of the engine compartment. I had to lower the cradle to gain enough room to get the bolt started.

If I ever did another one, I'd try lifting the body off the powertrain just to see for myself what method is easier.

I gotta tell ya. I have worked on A LOT of cars in my spare time. These Northstar engines have got to be by far the hardest to work on! I just finished replacing the pump and all the seals on my water pump assembly. If it wasn't for the 2 bolts waaaay on the back side of the engine this wouldn't be that bad of a job!

Just my .02 cents thrown in!

The engine is actually easy to work on, but different. But certain procedures require the engine to be shifted. Its a huge engine, but its an awesome engine. The crossover job is a deceivingly hard job

This engine has a 5800 - 6000 rpm red line.

The "shortstar" >> L47 Aurora engine was a special V8 designed for the Oldsmobile Aurora, based on the Northstar engine. It is a DOHC 4.0 L (3995 cc) V8 which produced 250 horsepower (186 kW) and 260 ft·lbf (353 N·m) of torque. The bore is 87 mm and the stroke is 84 mm. The L47 has a 10.3:1 compression ratio and uses premium fuel.

Although most of the Northstar's features, including the coolant loss system, remained intact, the decreased bore increased weight unacceptably. To reduce it, Oldsmobile used a one-piece glass-filled thermoplastic intake manifold and simplified AC Rochester sequential fuel injection. A new die-cast structural aluminum oil pan incorporated baffling to reduce oil starvation in hard driving. A starter interlock prevents the starter from engaging if the quiet L47 is already running. A special version of this engine was used as one of the two engines available to Indy Racing League competitors at the inception of that automobile racing promotion

The "Shortstar" was the LX5 V6 - 3.5 L, not the 4.0 V8 used in the Aurora. The 3.5 L engine was used in the Olds Intrigue and the Aurora.

[BodybyFisher]

Thanks Kevin, you are correct, I extracted the info wrong from this site

http://www.kitcarusa.com/kb.php?aid=79

[steveo412]

mike can u pm me,,you cant take no more messages,,steve

[BodybyFisher]

ok I cleared some room