What did you do to your Car today?

[360Rocket]

So finally getting around to that rear diff and gear change, removing old rusty headers and replacing with a new set of ceramic coated headers, some small projects as well like correct stainless trans cooler lines, a neutral safety switch/back up light switch, paint the driveshaft while I have it out, repair the windshield washer pump, just nagging little loose ends that mess with my OCD are finally going to be addressed and rectified.

[Frosty]

I finally had a couple of minutes on Saturday, while the weather was nice, to go get my dad's Buick Roadmaster Limited washed and topped off with gas. I inherited this land yacht from my dad last year after he passed away. It has the LT-1 Corvette motor in it. So it gets up and moves. It had not been washed in a quite some time and it needed gas. I managed to get it to a car wash and top it off with gas before putting in back into storage and covering for awhile. It was nice to get out and float around in this baby. It was the last new car my parents ever bought. It has around 127,000 miles on it.

The interior needs work. I need to find some interior trim for it. I need one new hub cap because the Buick emblem is missing. I need to clean and detail the interior and the engine bay. I have a new air filter, spark plug wires, and plugs for it. There is some surface rust in the rear wheel wells that needs to be addressed.

 

[Frosty]

I installed a K&N reusable air filter in my 2018 Chevy Colorado. I prefer to use these reusable high(er) flowing air cleaners over the stock paper ones. This filter cost me $53 from Summit Racing. I will have it paid for in about 50k miles / or about 3 air filter replacements. You just take them out, wash them out, re-oil them and put them back.I ran a K&N in my '08 GMC Envoy Denali for over 100k miles. My '04 Chevy Avalanche had one for 90k miles. I use these in Lucy and the Trans Am too. I need to get one for the Roadmaster.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

definitely worth the upgrade.

[360Rocket]

I have finally lost count of the half assed shade tree short cuts I have discovered on this car. Example: electric choke on carb was tapped into the windshield wiper power wire. The trans kick down module was wired but never connected. The neutral safety switch/back up light switch in place but never wired. I've never had full throttle because the gas pedal was snapped in half behind the pedal. Body mounts missing. Piss poor welding everywhere on the exhaust system. Wrong shifter cable and linkage bent to make it work this list goes on and on. We won't even get into the rear end swap where half the parts are Chevy and half of them Pontiac. New axles are 5/8" too long and the Chevy pinion won't match up to the Pontiac yoke and I've gone thru purchasing and returning 3 different U Joint adapters to get the driveshaft to bolt up to the rear diff yoke. Listen folks, If you can't restore a car correctly go flip used cars and stay away from classics. The use of brown lamp cord under the dash and drywall screws to hold in your tail light lenses is NOT restoration.

[Ringo64]

Dang. More like Frankenstein's GTO at this point.

[360Rocket]

So today I picked up my car and I now finally own the street beast I thought I bought  3 years ago. Its a night and day difference driving experience. I had to eventually get off the gas as this car will burn them now as long as you keep your foot on the loud pedal. here's proof that this car is a blast to now drive. I am extremely happy with the outcome and performance.

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by 360Rocket

[Frosty]

Congratulations. I see you are subscribing to the Indyman Joe technique of applying rubber undercoating! One disturbing the peace charge at a time!!!

[360Rocket]

Yeah that’s my kind of dyno run. The good ole butt Dyno. . 

Edited May 18, 2019 by 360Rocket

[Frosty]

Good for you!!!

 

[360Rocket]

some of the small details done

painted and marked driveshaft. Found the original markings under several layers of grease, dirt, and paint.

new rear 3:42 gears and diff cover.

New stainless trans cooler lines and coated long tube headers.

[Frosty]

This weekend the rain gods held off long enough for me to get some quality car wrenching time in. This spring has been so wet and rainy, I feel like I live in Seattle, not Michigan. No offense Seattle.

It rained on and off all day Saturday, so Saturday was a bust. Sunday was good. I was finally able to get some long overdue maintenance on the boy's Hummer H3. I needed to replace the air filter, the hood gas struts, and the exhaust manifold O2 sensor. The Hummer has been throwing a P0030 code since the winter. According the Hummer forums, this is most likely the O2 sensor on the I5's exhaust manifold. Thankfully it's relatively easy to get to once you remove the MAF duct. It's pretty much a straight shot. We soaked it with penetrating lube a week ago. Removing the O2 sensor does require a special socket wrench however.

Here are pictures of the boy wrenching out the O2 sensor himself. I am proud of him. 

 

Hey! Beats the heck out me doing it!!!

We also took out his projector headlights and installed a new set of LED headlights. We also adjusted the passenger side height too so he won't get constantly flashed by oncoming cars. The passenger side was aimed too high (no fault of the projectors headlights). We felt the projectors were a little too bright.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Frosty

[Ringo64]

I guess that’s one way to get up there and wrench  

[Frosty]

Yup. He gets points for style. Oh to be 155 pounds again too!

[Frosty]

Memorial Day was quality time for working on Lucy. I didn't get as much accomplished as I wanted to.

I first removed the trim rings, center caps, and dice valve stem covers I have on each Rally II wheel. I put the dice and wheel caps in baggies and set the trim rings aside. I put regular valve stems back on the wheels. I took my new chrome Rally II wheels to Discount Tire on Saturday and ordered my new B F Goodrich Radial TAs. I pick up my new wheels and tires after work tomorrow. Therefore Lucy will be wearing new shoes by this weekend.

Second I removed the homemade honeycomb grilles I made for Lucy a couple of years ago. They are starting to lightly rust through the paint. So I removed them to clean them up and re-paint them before the Widetracker's Dustoff in 2 weeks! I also have some new bling to add to these grilles too. Stay tune on that.

Passenger Side:

 

Driver's Side:

Finally I've documented my ongoing trials and tribulations with my power convertible top over the last 2 years in this forum. The latest development was last October when I was literally packing for the last show of the year, Charleston WV. As I was packing I noticed that all three rubber isolators that locate and secure the power top electric pump in the trunk had broken loose (hey they are 46 years old after all). That night I jury rigged some metal "safery pins" out of coat hanger wire to keep it mostly in place and prevent it from flopping around and damaging the pump, lines, or electrical connections.

The "safety pins" made from coat hanger wire and the old ruined isolators.

Here is a photo of the pump flopping around:

I was able to purchase replacement isolators from Hydro-E-lectric, one of the premiere convertible top parts dealers in the country. 

Let me just say getting these isolators into the pump itself was a bear using a pair on needle nose pliers. It was even tougher getting the isolators into the metal recesses in the trunk pan. A very small flat screwdriver works well here and some good arm strength! It might have been a lot easier to use pliers if the two audio speakers had not been in the way. However, I was able to finally get it in but I ran out of time and I never did get back to the leaking hydraulic ram issue. That will have to be dealt with another day.

Success! Time to clean up everything, put the car away for another day and go get a cold brewski!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Frosty

[Frosty]

On 4/15/2019 at 9:38 AM, Frosty said:

I finally had a couple of minutes on Saturday, while the weather was nice, to go get my dad's Buick Roadmaster Limited washed and topped off with gas. I inherited this land yacht from my dad last year after he passed away. It has the LT-1 Corvette motor in it. So it gets up and moves. It had not been washed in a quite some time and it needed gas. I managed to get it to a car wash and top it off with gas before putting in back into storage and covering for awhile. It was nice to get out and float around in this baby. It was the last new car my parents ever bought. It has around 127,000 miles on it.

The interior needs work. I need to find some interior trim for it. I need one new hub cap because the Buick emblem is missing. I need to clean and detail the interior and the engine bay. I have a new air filter, spark plug wires, and plugs for it. There is some surface rust in the rear wheel wells that needs to be addressed.

 

Just a slight update on the Roadmaster while I am thinking about it.

I found just the missing Buick logo center cap instead of the whole hub cap for $18 on eBay instead of $75-100 for the entire hub cap. I pulled the one hub cap off the car and brought it home with me this weekend so I can install it.

I also purchase one piece of interior trim I needed for the car. It's a plastic piece for the passenger side. It's off a blue interiored car and as you can see from the photos, my interior is red/burgundy. I purchased some dye and I will be repainting the part and installing it on the car in the near future.

[SPRINT 6]

Been slowing freshening up for Gettysburg and picking off my list I decided to freshen up the Ol Trunk that was looking very well used, As it Should   This came about after securing a more age appropriate storage case for some of my tools.  Also over a several month period I was able to collected enough of the correct plastic safety cap nuts for the emblem pins that were install by the factory originally. These little SOB's are a one year only size for the '66 Lemans quarter letters. I lost track on how many I bought off line to find decent ones to use. Now on to the next list item... 

Edited May 29, 2019 by SPRINT 6

[Frosty]

Thanks for sharing Sprint6. It looks great!

I love what you did with the jack, jack handle, and base. Is that Krylon color the "correct" color for the jack or is it just something close? I know my jack is suppose to be the same color. I am just wondering.

I love the vintage Coke cooler as the tool box/parts bin. I usually just take a tool bag when I go long distances. The suitcase with the jack and jumper cables is also very clean. What else ya' got?

[SPRINT 6]

Frosty, The Bumper jacks for '66 came in 3 known flavors. Looking at the 2nd too last pic note the bottom 4" on my OE lug wrench, that is where I sprayed on some of the new paint to compare against the OE. And IMO the color is NUTS ON as they say. The last pic looks lighter due to flash, looks better in person.

[Frosty]

Thanks to guys like you, I still learn something new every day! Thanks for sharing SPRINT6.

[JUSTA6]

Looks like you have 3 jack kits?  What is the last jack pic? The black base doesn't appear to be the correct V shape for the jack. The rest should all be black to match.  But have seen both light N dark blues as well

[SPRINT 6]

Jack #3 is commonly only found in '66 A-Bodies built in the FREMONT Plant. This one is OE and still resides in an un-restored GTO.

 

 

[SPRINT 6]

PLEASE STAND BY...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ...While we Inspect, Clean & Adjust our Brakes...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ...You may now resume regular driving, Funny how the simplest of task can burn up a whole afternoon😉 

                                                                      

[Frosty]

I cleaned out the Roadmaster this weekend. I throw away a bunch more stuff my dad had in the car that I don't need. It got vacuumed, Armor All'd, I aired up the tires (they were all at around 20 lbs of air). I check the air filter, it was good. It needs an oil change. I will probably put a new set of plugs in it too, it's got 115,000 on it.

[Last Indian]

Got one step closer to finishing the Indian for this year with the back cover & splitter.  Another week or two then it should be done. The splitter had to be raised about 2” because it sets so far forward when coming in or out of steep areas it would scrap the bottom edge. In reality it sits no lower than the air dam on my Buick, but that air dam is only a foot forward of the front tires. The splitter sits about 3’ forward of the front tires!!