What oh what did the PO’S do to my car?


A rambling letter.

A bit of history. I bought the car in June of 2006. It was running great, so need on my part to do any engine maintenance or inspection. Which is good because I am not a great one to work on engines. Can do it but it takes me time and lot of research.

So any way about a year later I decided at least to try to learn something.
Upon really looking at the motor I found in the back a long tube coming off the TPI. Upon searching the web and forum I found it was the fuel line for the cold start injector.
Now this is a 1990 GTA and it does not have a 9th injector. It was not doing anything so I just put a piece of hose on the end and tucked it away so it would not rattle.

So going forward to earlier this year I was due for out great Calif smog test. I haven’t had to do much on the car other than a tuneup and oil changes. (done by a shop)
But I wanted to learn more and of course save some money. Found out how to pull the TPI plentum to change out the egr valve and clean out the passages. The egr was was one with the sensor installed. Of course it was not going anywhere. So put a new one on. Cleaned the TPI and throttle body.. While I was there the CTS looked old so changed that. But next to that was another sensor.








Nothing hooked up to it car running fine so just forget it. So a couple of days ago I was looking for the coolant temp switch to get the passenger side fan working with the car wiring instead of the relay and switch I had installed a couple of years ago. So I re-found this sensor again. This time I wanted to know what it was. It turns out it is the cold start thermo switch. Also not a 1990 engine. Which I am going to remove and replace it with coolant temp sensor.

What I cannot figure out why was all this changing of parts done on a 90K motor. What else has been done that I haven’t found?
Is this even the original motor?
Car runs great, lots of power and it is fun drive.
And I am learning every time I do something on it.
Just wish I wasn’t classified as a senior citizen so I would have more time to learn and would not hurt so much after a day of fun.

 

Theft recovery? Could be there was an engine problem and someone just swapped the engine intake and all from another car. Or it could be a 350 bottom end someone swapped in place of a 305. Plenty of possibilities.

Look at the block just below the area shown in the photo you posted, there should be a small pad protruding just below the cylinder head deck surface. Clean it with a bit of carb cleaner, and you should see a few numbers stamped. One of those will be the last few digits of the VIN number. You can also check the casting numbers on the top of the bellhousing flange. With that info you'll know if you have the original engine, and if not what it might be or was.