Newbie to a J body Oldie - First Generation Forum

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Newbie to a J body Oldie
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 9:12 PM
Yup. That's right. I'm new to the old j's. I've had a 99 fire GT and a 99 cavi sedan, but we just picked up an 84 sunbird vert. Sweet little car. We bought it for $500, and it obviously needs some attention, but I would love to really restore this thing back to it's young age. There's a ton of new parts on her. New top, really limited rust (Cept the floor pan). Lots of engine work has been done.

Anyway, I'm having a really hard time finding parts for this little bugger. And I've got some issues I need help with.

The car vibrates like it's got a broken engine mount or transmission mount. The engine vibrations are pretty bad. Are any of these common to break? For example, is the upper motor mount prone to breaking? Anybody know here I can find a new one? If not I'll grab one from a junk yard. Or could it be the harmonic balancer? It makes the exhaust bounce like a mo fo.

Next up on the list is the gauge lights on the cluster and the HVAC are... temperamental as well as the heater controls themselves. Should I just go grab a HVAC panel and a new cluster? The heat randomly shut off for some reason, but then started working again after a few minutes. Wiring issue I'm sure, but the HVAC lights don't turn on.

Next up is the window regulator. The passenger window doesn't go up all the way, and It feels like it's hitting something because towards the front, about an inch and a half down it stops, like someone shoved a screw in it. But there's nothing blocking it that I can see. Probably will have to take the panel off and start digging, but was just curious is the regulators break much.

That's all for now.

Thanks guys/gals.

Oh right, um, 84 Sunbird vert 1.8L non-turbo, auto if that makes a difference.





Re: Newbie to a J body Oldie
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:57 PM
Well to start out the temp controls sounds like the blower motor resistor is going bad or a short(I would think the blower resistor).Now if ur car has AC auto zone is the ONLY place u can buy this part and u have to order it online only! I have a post on here about this specifically just scroll back to older post to read up on it if you want.To explain this basically the cars with AC have a different resistor than cars that do not have AC.Now if urs does not have AC u can buy the part all day long at advance autoparts or autozone.I have pics and location of the part on my post and is titled blower motor resistor.As for the motor mounts I myself do not know the 1st gens having issues with vibration or breaking,I have ownd mine for 11 yrs and never had issues or read about it on here.My ? is does it vibrate at idle or driving and does it seem to be a running issue with the engine missing or in need of a tune up.As for the gauge lights issues I would probably pull the cluster and change the bulbs out and make sure ur connections are solid bc it sounds like maybe the light switch may have a short or poor contact causing the fluctuation (not uncommon with any dash light problem).As for the windows check out advance auto parts web page type in ur model yr etc and they carry the most complete choice of parts for 1st gen js anywhere.Could be the regulator is weak and just needs to be replaced.The engine shake is weird and makes me wonder if u need to do a tune up and clean the egr valve ,which can choke the engine and make it drive crappy or run bad.This is just a starter list and if u do need info on the egr I will elaborate if you need me too.



Re: Newbie to a J body Oldie
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 2:25 PM
Thanks for the EGR idea. It does run a little rough. But it's had a complete tune up. Everything has been done. I'll take a look around the EGR though. Now that I think about it, that would make sense. If you ca elaborate on the EGR, i.e. location, and how to go about cleaning it, that'd be great. I have mechanical knowledge, so don't worry. I'll understand.

As for the blower resistor, all the speeds work. So it's gatta be a short in the switch, or the motor. When it shuts off, all the speeds shut off.

As for advance having loads of parts... They don't seem to have anything for this car. I mean bare minimums yes, like alt's, water pumps, etc, but door parts, more specific parts they really don't have anything. I suppose it's probably good that I just called Williams Junk yard and they have an almost complete 84 vert in the lot. I'm going over tomorrow to scrape up some parts.




Re: Newbie to a J body Oldie
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 11:01 PM
The egr on my 85 is located probably similar to urs behind the valve cover going toward the firewall.Mine has two vacumm lines going to it and is about the size of say a small baseball,urs should be about the same.It will have two bolts that hold it in place simply remove it and clean with carb cleaner or brake cleaner and if urs is the type like mine which is sealed inside it has a rubber diaprham which u can cannot replace or repair.I would clean the part first and make sure the metal pintal (little cyldr that will move up and down moves freely) use some sand paper or wire brush to clean it and if after cleaning it and no change just disconnect the vacumm lines or line and if the car runs better u should replace the part and and napa carried the part for mine several yrs ago and they should still carry it.By disconnecting it my reduce ur mpgs but not hurt the eng, that's about it.I know that the egr I got came with some metal washers u place inside the egr pintal area which controls the vacumm so if u do have to replace it the one I got from napa came with orings to place around that pintal just compare the distance between the oem part and the new replacem and u will be fine.I hope the orings thing makes sense.



Re: Newbie to a J body Oldie
Thursday, March 26, 2009 10:25 AM
^^ Will Do. Right now I'm replacing the alt again (Even though it was a new one) because the jack ass didn't know how to line up a belt. She was cocked and burnt up the belt real bad. And the alt pulley was hot a mother trucker. I burnt my fingers on it. I'm assuming he messed up the bearings by putting too much stress on it from being cocked to the side.

Thanks for all the help Ron. I'm sure I'll have more questions later.




Re: Newbie to a J body Oldie
Thursday, March 26, 2009 5:23 PM
As a 1st gen fan from back in the day, I recall an often posted defect for the 2.0 OHVs was a broken torque strap, causing bad vibration.

As you have the 1.8 OHC- The 1.8 OHCs were not listed as having this as an issue back in the day, but I suppose more knowing folks can weigh in on if the OHCs had torque straps or not. If they do...well, might be something to check out.
Re: Newbie to a J body Oldie
Thursday, March 26, 2009 5:31 PM
Torque Strap... Where is that located? What exactly is it?




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