ALUMINUM HEATER HOSE ELBOW 47065HP: GM 1995-2009
Mechanics of a certain age will certainly recall wondering why the accessory belt tensioner in a GM 3800 would have coolant running through it. Antifreeze ran to and from the intake manifold by way of the belt tensioner through small plastic elbows that push-fit at both ends. Fluid dribbles could look an awful lot like water pump leaks, but more often than not, a coolant elbow was the cause of coolant loss on FWD GM vehicles. If you’ve done that job, you surely remember our 47065 elbows. Those sold like hotcakes and still do. During that part’s run, we reexamined this job and began cranking out an all-metal version. (P/N 47065HP, the HP indicating
“high performance.”) This metal version eradicated all possibility of elbow failure, since the replacement driver is generally an elbow that’s become brittle due to time and heat. By now, we’ve sold millions of these upgraded metal connectors. Though GM 3800s aren’t as ubiquitous on the ground as they once were, if you’ve got one with that leak (or you need to pull the tensioner or water pump for a different job), install a set of these and keep one more problem from cropping up.
SUSPENSION STABILIZER BAR 927-100: Buick 1997-2005, Chevrolet 1997-2016, Oldsmobile 1997-2004, Pontiac 1997-2008
It is, perhaps, not a coincidence that our second ’22 HoF recipient also fits FWD General Motors vehicles, many of which were powered by the 3800 engine we just mentioned. Prior to GM’s bankruptcy, W- and U-body cars spanned the Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Chevrolet, and Holden marques. To put it plainly, they were everywhere—and there are still quite a few of them traveling the roads. These vehicles were equipped with a front sway bar that was very susceptible to rust damage. The bars would simply rust through, usually at the area where the tubing used to make them was stamped flat into the eyelets. A simple sway bar link swap often expanded into stabilizer bar replacement once the links were off and the bar underwent visual inspection by a tech.
To combat this, Dorman developed a replacement sway bar (P/N 927-100) with an important construction difference—ours is solid. It’s overbuilt, to say the least. It comes with all the pieces you need to do the complete job, including bar mounts, bar bushings, and new end links, and as a beefy chunk of steel that’s over an inch in diameter, you can bet you won’t be replacing ours any time soon after you install it. As of this publication, we’ll have sold nearly a million of these kits to techs just like you—people who wanted something better for their customers and found it. The next time a FWD GM comes in, take a peek at those elbows and the stabilizer bar, and if you see them looking a little haggard, know that there are some parts for that car that are worthy of a hall of fame. Not too bad for a family commuter, eh?
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