Nothing. I did nothing but keep it another day. Turned 81k the other day though Bought her at 49K and some change in September of 1991.
I think I hit every swarm of bugs between Lake Worth Beach and Yeehaw Junction (Hwy 60 & 441), on my way home yesterday. When I pulled over for gas in Lake Wales, I had to bust out the window cleaner and scrub the windshield. So, the GS400 got a thorough cleaning this afternoon.
It wasn’t today, and it wasn’t my Buick, but Starc Traxler, Bryan Woodworth and I spent Thursday through Saturday at Jim Rodger’s house and shop, where we helped drop in a fresh ‘stock appearing’ big block in his Titian Red ‘70 Stage 1 and a new rear in his blue, four speed ‘70 Stage 1 car. The red car’s engine has a Qjet and iron manifolds and idles at 900 rpm. It should be a serious competitor in the BSA race class at the 2024 Nats. Patrick
Cleaned the bejeebers out of the Enclave -- if it was painted, I cleaned it. Swapped out both air filters, got two new (2023) front tires (bridgestone) for $80 each mounted & balanced. (got an expensive C5 tire for $70 for good measure.) Wish I had seen the thread about green Buicks before washing it -- my yard has a live oak canopy and they are flowering. Hood and roof were a nice light green.
Drove the Riv to the store and back. Ran like crap. Id made and installed a 1" wood spacer for the Qjet to get the air cleaner clearance over TA's ready to run dist which is taller than the old unit. Looks like it cracked on both sides and caused a huge vac leak. Also seems the R muffler has a broken baffle inside so that was making a racket as well. Going to call Summit in a bit and start an exchange
Hitting bugs in your Buick is a good thing. Its just a small reminder that you are driving it. Which is a blessing.
Finished running Peel & Seal up the inside/behind the dash. Done with all that. Worked on cleaning & trying to straighten out the warped heater resistor (mounted to hardboard/Masonite). Wet one side and clamped it to a flat steel bar so (hopefully) it dries flat. Cut a new gasket for it. Measured the factory front sway bar - only 11/16th" (3/4" light) ! That's pretty spindly.
Actually spent the last 3 days (I work slow) installing the Pertronix III Igniter in my stock distributor to take the place of the single wire Breakerless SE points eliminator. My purpose was to have the RPM limiter of the Pertronix III but I got a lot more than that after road testing the new installation. I also discovered that the shaft end-play was very excessive so, I re-shimmed it to about .020. First thing I noticed was a much smoother idle. Previously I had to set idle at about 850 RPM in neutral which gave me about 775 in drive. The motor would not idle below 750 or so. The idle has now smooth out and I'm able to set neutral idle at 750 RPM and it idles at about 675 in gear. (I love the lope at 675). I think the 45,000 volt Flamethrower III coil has something to do with that. Second surprise has to do with a problem that has plagued the motor ever since I installed it. During hotter weather and when idling for longer than about 30 seconds (like at long traffic lights) the engine would stall suddenly with no warning or idle fluctuation. I used to think it was idle fuel related but the Pertronix with the new Flamethrower coil has eliminated the issue. (at least with several road tests in town on an 85 degree day and with the new, lower idle setting). And, finally, when rechecking the timing after the install, the timing mark is almost rock solid where it was very jittery previously. This was likely due to tightening up the shaft and also cleaning up the advance weights which were very corroded and dirty. I should mention that I chose to use the Pertronix recommended relay to deliver a strong ignition signal to the Flamethrower coil rather than removing the factory resistive wire and replacing it with a solid wire from the bulkhead connector. The Flamethrower coil draws 3 or 4 times the amperage of the factory coil and I didn't want that much current running through the ignition switch. I also have a backup distributor with points in it just in case the Pertronix or the relay fails and the resistive wire would be needed to hook up to the coil to get me home. I also found out that when using a relay to deliver voltage to the coil a diode must be installed on a pin of the external voltage regulator (for those that still run the factory regulator) to keep the engine from continuing to run when the ignition switch is turned off. All-in-all 3 days well spent. Sorry for the lengthy post. Thought some might find it interesting.
Thanks for sharing. I am curious about this statement "I also found out that when using a relay to deliver voltage to the coil a diode must be installed on a pin of the external voltage regulator (for those that still run the factory regulator) to keep the engine from continuing to run when the ignition switch is turned off." Is this info from the Petronix Instalation instructions or some thing you learned another way. We have all heard of failures with these units and I am considering a change as well. Tony
Made up a console mount bracket for another Buick guy because I need to save the original for another car. It’s thicker metal and fought me but will do the job. I was a little surprised the measurements were taller on one end than the other but assumed they were accounting for the tunnel variances. Factory welds were average in 1970.
I'm curious on how this holds up for you Ray. The same set up came in my 69 when I bought it (relay and all) and I had a lot of issues with it. Didn't have the diode, but also didn't have any issues with the car not shutting off either.
I first used an old online installation instruction to install the module and wiring but didn’t see anything about needing a diode. When road testing is when I discovered the issue of the motor not shutting off and the dash idiot light I've also heard of some failures but the latest Pertronix III seems to be getting overwhelming approval based on my research. The Relay/Diode instructions are not included with the standard installation instructions that came with my Pertronix III. I had decided before even buying it that I would install a relay to route max battery power to the coil. My reasoning (I have an electrical engineering background) was that the Flamethrower III coil will draw 10 amps or more when charging voltage is high vs. only about 4 amps for the factory coil. (Factory coils are about 1.5 ohms while the Flamethrower III coil is only 0.32 ohms). I didn't want that much current flowing through the ignition switch and the long run from the bulkhead connector to the coil. So, I installed the relay next to the overflow tank and triggered it with the original resistive coil wire. When the key is turned on, I have battery voltage flowing directly from the back of the alternator, through the relay, to the coil. So, when the motor wouldn't shut off and the idiot light would come on I decided to call Pertronix. The Engineer I spoke with referred me to their power relay instructions which I had to download from their site. He said the reason it wasn't included with the igniter kits was because the problem applied to pre-1974 GM and some Ford distributors only, not systems with internal voltage regulators. So, all I had to do was buy the right diode and install it onto pin 4 of the regulator and problem is solved. They offer a relay/diode/wiring kit on their website for about $50. I just bought all the parts myself and had plenty of wire and crimp connectors on hand. For anyone interested in doing the relay/diode mod the parts are: Relay - Any 30 amp 4 pin automotive relay. I chose a Bosch because of high temperature rating of 125 deg. C. Relay socket - came with my relay. Diode - Any 3 amp 400 volt diode. Relay and diode total cost was under $10. Here is the Pertronix installation instructions taken from their website and a wiring diagram for the relay. (Use any color wire you want. The pin numbers are the same for all automotive relays) As mentioned in my post, above, the motor idles much better now and at a lower RPM. I haven't made any full throttle blasts yet. http://www.pertronix.com.au/assets/pdf/Pertronix_Power_Relay_Installation_Instructions.pdf
Yes, it was. After a short while, when it was hot, the timing was all over the place when viewed with any timing light, and it didn't want to restart. I also had the exact same issue with the Crane/FAST module and coil (no relay used this time), after a couple months of heat cycles. I had enough after the Crane/FAST failures and went back to points last fall. It has been stone reliable since and has never run as good as it does now. I just made a 420 mile trip the weekend before last and it was flawless the whole time. I have the points triggering a MSD 6AL box and Blaster 2 coil combination now.
