BearGFR

Yes, I did. In fact I was lucky enough to win the Gold award in my class. There was a great turnout, and some really nice cars there. That maroon '58 was a built-in-Canada car and was packing its original 348 chevy V8. The red Fiero was running one of the little pre-Northstar Cadlillac V8's.

No, it's not a substitute for lead in fuel, unfortunately. The TEL (tetraethyl lead) in gasoline, in addition to raising octane, worked by providing a soft lead "cushioning effect" on the exhaust valve seats so that the valves didn't hammer the seats into the heads when they closed. In reality, that was only a risk under really heavy engine loads such as pulling a trailer up a long hill, when the engine was working hard and putting a lot of extra heat into the exhaust valves and seats. It's pretty safe to run unleaded fuel in engines without hardened seats, as long as it's not subjected to those kinds of loads. Letting any engine sit for an extended period of time with fuel in it runs the risk of having the fuel 'gum up' things - especially if the fuel has any alcohol in it which makes it hydrophilic (it loves to absorb moisture). StaBil helps to alleviate that some. For engines that I really need to depend on, like my backup generator we use to power the critical things around the house (such as our water well pump), whenever I'm ready to shut it down I ALWAYS turn off the fuel valve and let it run until it stops from lack of fuel. Having StaBil-ized fuel sit in the tank after that isn't a problem, but letting it sit in all the tiny passages in the carb and other parts of the system would eventually be. Because of this practice I follow, the generator ALWAYS starts immediately on the first pull, no matter how long it has been sitting, which is quite nice when I'm having to hook it up and switch over to generator power in the middle of the night when it's freezing/rainy outside and I'm still 9/10's asleep. I always keep the tank on the generator full of treated fuel, and also keep at least 15 gallons of treated fuel in metal "jerry cans" at the ready. Thank goodness I had all that already in-place during the "snowpocalypse" we had recently in here in Texas. We ran our house systems on that generator for a solid week and were never without heat or water, didn't lose any food from spoilage, etc.. I've since upgraded to a larger, higher capacity generator but still a 'portable' unit that runs on either gasoline or propane. The one that got us through that winter storm worked to keep us going, but just barely - my wife managed to pop the breaker on it one morning just by using the toaster when the well pump happened to be running. I'd be interested in a 'whole house' backup with an automated transfer switch, but fuel is a problem I haven't solved yet. We're on propane out here in the boonies with no natural gas utility available. Even a large, dedicated 500 gallon propane tank can only power one of the big units for about 2 days, so if we have another weather event like that one and couldn't get resupplied on propane every couple of days, we'd be out of luck. Diesel powered whole-house generators are super expensive, plus I'd have to deal with preventing the fuel from gelling up in cold temps in addition to the problem of keeping enough on-hand to carry us through for an extended time. So for the time being, having a big gasoline-powered backup generator I think is the best option for us. I do have a 4-wheel drive pickup, and because I grew up in the northern Texas Panhandle where we got actual winters, driving in snowy, icy conditions isn't a problem for me. As long as there's a gas station open anywhere in the area I'll be able to get out and get more fuel, if needed. Bear

Unless you're just wanting to keep it all original/numbers matching, I'm thinking that any Pontiac starter for 1964 and earlier (that mounts to the bell housing and not the block) ought to work, assuming that's your situation. I'd also be sorely tempted to change out that timing cover/water pump for the later 11-bolt style that uses a regular front seal. But then, I see in your profile that you retired from PMD, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about Cheers, Bear

Thanks L.I. , Neither one of us remembers if the car was behaving that way before we replaced all those parts, which is part of the problem I guess. I'd found the calipers from NAPA, but both are listed as out of stock on their online site. I did find some from Rock Auto, rebuilt, each from different suppliers. Bear

Howdy, My son has an '87 Fiero GT, V6, 5-speed that we recently overhauled the rear suspension on: new struts, polyurethane bushings, ball joints, brake pads, tie rod end boots. Of course after we got it back together, it was in sore need of alignment so we took it to have that done. Question 1: It sort of "feels weird" driving. Under acceleration it feels like the nose of the car, instead of raising straight up, almost wants to go very slightly left at the same time. It's just barely enough to notice and cause you to say, "that's odd", but not all that drastic. Conversely, when you let off and coast in gear, the nose seems to want to go slightly right as it drops. This car is an '87 so it doesn't have the re-designed suspension that came out on the '88's. The only parts on the rear we didn't replace were the tie rod ends, but they felt nice and tight while we had it apart. What we're not sure of is whether this is a parts issue or perhaps the shop that aligned it didn't get it exactly right. Thoughts on this? Question 2: When changing the rear brake pads, "we didn't know" that trying to compress the pistons in the usual manner with a big c-clamp could damage their internal parking brake mechanisms, so we did - and probably did. His parking brakes are pretty much non-functional now, and we're discovering that finding even rebuilt rear calipers isn't easy. However, if there are rebuilt calipers available, then they must themselves be rebuildable - right? Does anyone know of reference information and parts sources we might be able to use to rebuild the ones we have? Thanks, Bear.

Howdy, I tend to not visit here all that often, but I'm pretty active on the GTO Forum. Despite that, I thought I'd post a recent short video of my GTO. Bear's GTO - Sitting at idle, just outside our gate. Cheers, Bear

This long-standing event, sponsored and put on by the Dallas Area Pontiac Association, is scheduled for Saturday, October 8 2022 at the Frisco Flyers Sports & Event Center 6300 Flyers Way, Frisco, TX 75033 (north of Dallas). Event information and online registration are available on the D.A.P.A web site: https://www.dapa.org Bear

Thanks for the kind words. I just thought those control arms were bad, but the rear disc calipers must have heard me and said, "Oh yeah? Hold our beer and watch this..." With fresh pads, getting them fit over the rotors proved to be "a challenge". But we eventually got them on. It's back together, but with fresh struts it's in desperate need of a 4-wheel alignment. It'll probably be going down the road sideways on the way to the shop. Yeah, my son's a car guy too. He's planning to do an engine swap on this one sometime in the future. It's got the little V6 already but he's been leaning towards going to a blown 3800. I don't get to see him except for a few weeks during the summer, sometimes around Christmas - he's an "international" music teacher. He's currently in Ecuador with his wife. She's a freelance editor. Bear

What did I/we do today? My older son and I are about halfway through rebuilding the rear suspension on his '86 Fiero GT. Struts, urethane control arm bushings, ball joints, tie-rod end boots, brake pads, new braided steel flex hoses. I tell you, whoever designed the access points for the rear control arm pivot bolts needs to be horse-whipped. Bear

Well alrighty then. I had a little time so I just did a test. I've got one of these that I forgot about.. Meguiars Hand Pad I marked off about a square foot with some green tape, then worked that area by hand with a 1000 trizact disc, a 3000 trizact foam disc, and a 5000 trizact foam disc. Then I buffed it out with Meguiars 150 and a red foam pad on my Makita rotary. Much better! Thanks for the tips. Bear

Does it work ok to use the foam pads I already have wrapped around a small block? Or do I need to get paper sheets? Thanks, Bear

You know, that might be it. I did notice that the scratches I see do seem to have a pattern, not like a pigtail, but sort of similar/repeating if that makes sense?

Yes, I did everything wet. After the clear I used 1000 Trizact to get rid of any peel, then 1500, 3000, and 5000 foam pads wet. All done with a Dynabrade 6" 3/32 stroke random orbital palm sander. It all looked flat after sanding and I couldn't see any scratches, but when the gloss came up buffing, there they were. I'm hoping that there's some way to see them without having to buff?

Cool! I may need some guidance! I'm in the process of refinishing my hood. I've got it painted and cleared, color sanding right now. I did sort of a test 'cut and buff' on part of it a few days ago and was surprised to see some small scratches show up that didn't show at all until the gloss started coming up. It's PPG DBC9700 black with Southern Polyurethanes Universal Clear. I can keep sanding/buffing/sanding/buffing until I get it right, but I'm hoping there's a way to tell when it's really ready to cut without having to do all that trial and error. Bear

Wrong way, I'm olde and senile, but occasionally a couple synapses will sputter... Are you a paint and body guy, have some skill there? Bear