First drive - 1980 Buick LeSabre Limited 4.1 with a T5 manual transmission

Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg: 1980 Buick LeSabre Limited 4.1 with a T5 5 speed manual transmission from a 1994 Chevrolet S10. It will not be a fast car. It will be hacky. My wife will hate it. It will be cheap.

IT'S ALIVE!

After months of hacking and learning and struggling and anger and cost, I start it up and drive it forward and back in the yard. Feels good, man!

The tailpipe is missing (hence the smoke) and the carburetor is finicky (hence the high idle), but the clutch works!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• MVI
• 5499

[JourneyRocks81]

dang dude, adjust your idling on your carb, ez to do. or just let it warm up, then hit the accelerator real fast it should snap out of it. but other than that your engine sounds like its got too much miles on it.

[ronanian]

@JourneyRocks81 Good thoughts, but adjusting my carb would be giving up (and ignoring whatever the REAL problem is).

Part, but not all, of that too-fast idle was the timing. I fixed that and it's significantly better. Canceling the choke with the accelerator now successfully knocks it out of cold idle but it still idles a little faster than it should.

There were 38,000 miles on it when I made that video (53,000 now). Most of the noise is a leaky exhaust manifold...getting fixed soon, I hope.

[JourneyRocks81]

@ronanian oic well then maybe a carb kit and a tune up will make a difference and your exhaust should be fixed n new muffler, and check your catalytic converter also. Oil change wouldn't hurt either. I used to have a 1984 buick lesabre myself , was a great car.

[ronanian]

@JourneyRocks81 Agreed on all counts. I bought a couple carb kits and a numbers-matching carb from a junkyard, it's disassembled in my basement waiting for me to clean it up and put it together. After the manifold is fixed, when my budget allows, I plan to replace the cat and muffler...and of course I change the oil regularly.

[JourneyRocks81]

@ronanian great to hear. I had a 84 lesabre and i loved it alot. so yeah, good luck and when finished i hope to get a look at your buick then? Take Care and God Bless... Buick fan 4ever!

[ronanian]

@JourneyRocks81 It'll never be done but I've got other videos. Also google for "Project Christine Slo Hackensteinberg" (with the quotes) for my build thread with links to my photo albums...can't post links in Youtube comments, it seems.

[ronanian]

Is it just the noise, or does it jerk the car? Does it happen immediately or is there a delay for a second or two?

If it happens right away and jerks the car, it might be that your engine is idling too fast. Does it seem louder when idling in park than it should be?

If there's a delay it might be that your transmission is slipping and dying.

You should check your transmission fluid. Drive for a half hour then park on level land with the engine running and check the trans dipstick.

[CODxFUNxMAN]

hey i have a 91 lesabre custom and im having tranny issues. what does it mean when i shift from park to drive or reverse and it gives a hard sound when engaging in a gear? btw its a 3800 overdrive.

[arcticfox771]

IT LIVES

[qwertyuioppoiqwe]

:datgB: