Look what followed me home

[Grit dog]

Yeah if you can get her purring and cleaned up, kick it down the road and find something that'll be more reliable and easier to work on than that thing. We call those 4100s the 8,6,4,0 for a reason lol

Hahaha and 24 years later the General is still having issues with multi displacement engines. Except they got the technology down now but have durka durka Temu valves and valve springs!

 

[bucket]

Thank you. Did the 4.9 have a plastic intake snorkel housing? Otherwise did all 3 of those engines basically look the same?
Also this transmission looks to be non electric like an R4?

They essentially looked the same, but they all had differences. 4.9 still had a central throttle body, but it was multi-port injected. From what I remember, yeah, it was a plastic snorkel arrangement.

Trans should be a 440T4, probably has one of the taller final drive ratios that were offered.

 

[squaredeal91]

Me and my son have been working on it together. but Sunday night the back of the starter solenoid broke off. We got it pulled out so I can change out the solenoid when I can get one.

 

[bucket]

How so?

Oh yeah, forgot to reply to this one.

So about 25 years ago when I was working at a local junkyard, the boss put a nearly identical car to yours on the lift, for me to remove the engine and trans. I got everything undone and was loosening the engine cradle bolts, so I could then lower it all down on blocks, remove the cradle bolts, then raise the car body back up.

Well, I had the front bolts loose a few turns. Got one rear bolt out and went to loosen the last one. It was too tight for the impact. So I put a breaker bar and pipe on it. I leaned on it real good, lol. The bolt broke and the rear of the cradle clobbered me on the back of my head as I went falling forward. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the concrete. Thankfully the front cradle bolts held, otherwise I'd been smashed by an engine/trans/cradle.

 

[TotalyHucked]

The 4100 was a different engine than the '81 4-6-8 motor though.

I don't remember the specifics of the 4100 issues. Pretty sure it was head gaskets and intake gaskets, along with electronic issues.

It was replaced by the 4.5 and was more reliable.

Then the 4.9 replaced the 4.5 and got even better.

Then the 4.9 was replaced by the Northstar.

But uhh...not a one of those is actually reliable in the long term lol

 

[squaredeal91]

Oh yeah, forgot to reply to this one.

So about 25 years ago when I was working at a local junkyard, the boss put a nearly identical car to yours on the lift, for me to remove the engine and trans. I got everything undone and was loosening the engine cradle bolts, so I could then lower it all down on blocks, remove the cradle bolts, then raise the car body back up.

Well, I had the front bolts loose a few turns. Got one rear bolt out and went to loosen the last one. It was too tight for the impact. So I put a breaker bar and pipe on it. I leaned on it real good, lol. The bolt broke and the rear of the cradle clobbered me on the back of my head as I went falling forward. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the concrete. Thankfully the front cradle bolts held, otherwise I'd been smashed by an engine/trans/cradle.

Dodged a bullet!!

 

[bucket]

But uhh...not a one of those is actually reliable in the long term lol

I knew of many many 4.5's and 4.9's that made it well past 200k and were fairly reliable. More so the 4.9.

 

[squaredeal91]

Couldn't i put in an hei distributor w/vacuum advance, or modify existing distributor and slap a carb on it?

 

[bucket]

Couldn't i put in an hei distributor w/vacuum advance, or modify existing distributor and slap a carb on it?

On the 4100? Probably. But I've never tried converting an ESC HEI to vacuum advance.

 

[TotalyHucked]

I knew of many many 4.5's and 4.9's that made it well past 200k and were fairly reliable. More so the 4.9.

Granted I have almost zero first hand knowledge of them but anybody that worked on them when new till they were ~10-12yrs old (my dad, several of his mechanic buddies) all considered them to be junk. By the time I was old enough to start noticing them, the only ones left around were granny that wouldn't sell it but it never leaves her car port, or ones that had died and were parked in the weeds out back

 

[Grit dog]

Granted I have almost zero first hand knowledge of them but anybody that worked on them when new till they were ~10-12yrs old (my dad, several of his mechanic buddies) all considered them to be junk. By the time I was old enough to start noticing them, the only ones left around were granny that wouldn't sell it but it never leaves her car port, or ones that had died and were parked in the weeds out back

Bingo. Yup. They were the poster child for 80s GM junk imo.

 

[bucket]

Granted I have almost zero first hand knowledge of them but anybody that worked on them when new till they were ~10-12yrs old (my dad, several of his mechanic buddies) all considered them to be junk. By the time I was old enough to start noticing them, the only ones left around were granny that wouldn't sell it but it never leaves her car port, or ones that had died and were parked in the weeds out back

I've got very very little experience with the 4100's. I don't doubt at all that they are problematic.

A little bit more experience with the 4.5, but don't remember much.

The later cars though with the 4.9, we had a crap ton of customers with those and a coworker owned several. They were 8-10 year old cars when I started getting experience with them. Aside from typical stuff like water pumps, ignition modules and failing Multec II injectors, they seemed pretty damn good.

 

[squaredeal91]

Something ive always wanted to do was find a large big block 70s Gm front wheel drive car cheap, rusted body fine. Just want the frame to cut front out of it and lock steering then put it in the rear of something to make a dune buggy. Those ones are pretty tough and you could put some large paddle tires on it.

 

[Ricko1966]

So almost 40 years later and it still runs,I don't think we can bag on it too much for not being reliable. They came from the factory with sealing tabs in the coolant,if you change the coolant be sure to put the sealant back in. If the GM dealer doesn't have them do a little research for a suitable replacement.