Just a thought Chuck.. Are you still using the factory air cleaner? There's a metal flap inside the bottom piece right behind the snorkel, you can snip that off to help air come in. It was put there more for a quiet motor as its a Buick and flip the lid and have the air cleaner filter stick up and be open maby 1/2 to a 1 inch..
The engine is completely stock, so, I will look at the air cleaner today. Thank you for your advise. I know, I drive it, but, I know my present limitations of knowledge, so, I usually leave well enough alone. I have tried a few things with mixed results. managed to replace my rear springs.... almost cut myself in half with the axle falling down. jacked up the car, bent the rear control arm. Like I said, mixed results.
You learn by mistakes but wow you took a beating At least now you know. That car is a tank so it takes a good floor jack and jack stands. I tried using these sheet metal stands back in the day that had a pin go through a hole in the tube to where you set the height. I tried them on my 5000+ lb 73 Riv and as I lowered the car on them they just started to fold like a soda can
I purchased 2 sets of 4 ton jack stands with a lever so you have to take the weight off of the stand before they lower. I also like to leave the floor jack under the car, as a sort of 'Plan B' if a jack stand does fail. In my youth, I have put my truck up on a jack-all (what we called a heavy duty bumper jack), then worked underneath it. A little slow learner. I freely admit that I am not well versed in cars, but I am trying to learn and my mistakes, costly as they are, kind of drive points home. I am a visual learner who has to try things myself, or it just doesn't sink into my skull. All in all, I am glad I am learning on a '66 425 engine, rather than trying to work on my '12 3.5 Litre Ecoboost. Too many wires and hoses, no distributor, no points, individual coils... my head hurts thinking of it.
Today my wife informed me that our tax return was in the account, and, yes, I can do my wheels. I took off for the tire shop, before she changes her mind, and told them what I wanted. They had a little trouble with my instructions until I clarified that I had 5 Rallye Rims and wanted the spare changed as well. (The spare steel wheel was not able to be balanced. At 16 Oz's, they gave up trying) I asked them to mark the spare wheel as warped to I wouldn't put winters on it. They didn't quite understand that either as they wrote warped, on the tire. I asked them which rim was on the spare and then they understood and marked the rim. While it was up on the hoist, they called me back to make me aware of a couple of items. There was a drip from the hose from the fuel pump to the carb, and I lost a bolt off the drivers side shock. Yikes, thank you very much! I take criticism and advise the same, I listen and, if warranted, act on it. I went to pay and, oops, my bank card is at home. "No problem.", they said. You are a regular, so, come in when you get your card. I went home, picked it up and sheepishly returned to pay. As soon as I got home, I found a bolt, washer and lock washer and replaced the shock to the axle. It was in, but, could have come out anytime. At least it was the bottom of the shock. The fuel leak, a worn hose. I had some spare hose, so, I just replaced it and tomorrow will check it when I go out to it. The two techs working on my car fell in love with it. One asked me if I would ever sell it. I said sorry, but it is promised to my eldest son, William. "No harm asking." he replied. I thanked them for their professionalism and made certain their boss heard the positives about them. I believe that when someone helps you, you help them. When it come time for a raise, this will look good for them, at least I hope. The car looks, well, different with Rallye's. I like it and, from the response on the streets, other people do as well. Well, I'm out of ideas, and it's time to have supper, so, goodbye for now.
Thank you all. I fixed what they showed me, and found some rust. (Ohm Ohm, nope, meditation didn't make it go away, time to break out the tools, I guess.) Just a little in the back corner of the drivers rear wheel well. Not hard to repair, but I need to purchase something to convert the rust I cannot reach, but can spray. Then, cut back the metal around the rust hole, new metal, bondo, .... People love the car, but, when I fueled it up, I paid $1.48 9/10 a litre. ($5.96 US gallon). It's a little shock to the pocket book, but, then you turn the key and, it is all worthwhile.
Today I took my Son and Grandchildren out to the YMCA to play. Of course, we took the car. It ran beautifully and, after the kids played, we started driving home. All of a sudden, the Voltage gauge pegged over to 16 volts a couple of times, then settled into the 12 volt range. At the same time, the GEN light came on. Crud! I must have a loose wire, or dirty ground, I thought. I got home, cleaned all of the contacts, replaced everything and restarted the car. No change. I went to the front and took off the NEG cable. The car stalled, instantly. Okay, I need alternator. I called my friendly, sort of local, wreckers and they told me to bring the dead one down with me. I drove to Raymond, exchanged my dead alternator (With only about 1000 miles on it since new!), and drove home. I put it in and started the car. No change. Now, I am bummed. I suddenly realized I had my old alternator, with a broken bolt hole, in the basement. Before I tell them that the alternator doesn't work, I decided to put the old, known working, but tired, one in. I started it and the light went out and it was charging at 14 volts. Tomorrow, I will drive back down in the morning and exchange the alternator. I thought about going RockAuto again, but the ones he has are Delco-Remy and I trust an older, but, well made alternator to Chinesium. I know that things are not made as well as they used to be, but, I am having really poor luck lately with Rockauto parts, and, because I spent 2 years accumulating the parts, no warranty left. Well, time to have supper. I wish a wonderful evening, and life, to all my friends on here. And, as they say "A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet.".
That was one of the things I did do already. Thank you though. I won't be paying for another as he has a rack of them, I just need to trade. The car is running and charging fine with my old alternator, but, as I said, it really needs a rebuild, at least brushes. Have a good evening. I am off to bed!
My eldest son, William, drove me down to Raymond to exchange the alternator today. I explained that my old, worn alternator does charge when I put it on, but this one doesn't. Solid GEN light while running. Okay, he replied, took it and placed it on a pile of alternators in the corner. He went into the back room, and, to anyone looking for starters, alternators, power steering pump..., all sorted and hung on racks, this would be heaven. He came back out, apologised and handed me the next one. It had the old wiring cut and the plug still in it. A little dirtier than the last one, but, I can clean things! We went home and, after completing some home chores and taking my wife to the bingo, I set about changing it. I decided, since William is in line for the car, he should help. He put on some shoes and came out. I really didn't need help, but, this is how I try to teach. We changed out the alternator and I had Will start the car and tell me if it is charging. He looked a little confused, so I stood beside him and explained the gauges and the 'idiot' light. He now has a better grasp of things. I explained that a lot of what I will show him is not applicable to his 2015 Focus. The new alternator was charging at 14.5 volts, just about perfect. I had him turn on the lights and the voltage gauge didn't drop at all, which the original one did. After buttoning it up and putting the tools away, I decided to clean the original alternator and try to fix the broken bolt hole at the top of the alternator. I cleaned the alternator and put a bolt into the broken hole. Then, I mixed up some JB Weld and caked it on. In a couple of hours, when it starts to set, I will remove the bolt and see how I did. I have never tried this before, but, I hate to see a working alternator go in the scrap. If this works, I will see about putting new brushes in it. Never hurts to have a spare that you can rely on, at least, that's what Dad used to tell me. He would have known, I swear that he carried a used parts store in the back of his truck. When you are in the bush and hours away from other people, you kind of become self-reliant. I am not that bad, but tools and a few spare parts, as well as a good assortment of fuses, just in case.
Today, I decided to check all of the fluids in the car. Wiper fluid, good. Oil.. Clean and full... Transmission fluid... full (running) ... coolant... a little low. Start and fill, check when thermostat opens. Wait, what is that. Crap... a damp hose going from the bottom of the fuel pump. I reached down to check if the hose was loose and the whole nipple came out of the base. Okay.... off to Canadian tire. I got some RV Gasket material that claims it is gas resistant. I smeared the nipple and tapped it back into the hole. It said to leave it for 90 minutes before using, so, after that I went out and started it up. I didn't see any seepage, but will check tomorrow if any leaks appear. As I was about to go in, I passed the 5 wheels I took off the car. Pretty rusty. . I went downstairs and got some steel wool, drill with soft wire wheel, Rustoleum Primer and Rustoleum Gloss Black paint. I then found some clear coat. I cleaned all the wheels up, then gave them a good going over with the drill and wire wheels, then 0000 steel wool. I then washed them again and let them dry. Then the fun parts, painting. After all afternoon, they are drying. I may not be using them, but, I have found that these things are hard to acquire when you need them. They may as well look good. Tomorrow, I have to take Mike out to get a shot (They are going to Mexico in May.) and we will take Luke to the Mall for a walk. Today, while waiting for paint to dry, he walked me 6 Km (3.6 miles). Easy for him, he is on his bike, and I am pushing on the handle. I am bushed! Well, have a great evening all. Tomorrow is another day.
Mike and I took Luke out for Mike's shot today. After the shot, we went to the park to let Luke play. When we got back to the car, Mike remarked that someone had broken that mirror again. I seem to spent an inordinate amount of time repairing normal things, such as the gas leak, shock, alternator, refurbish the steel wheels.... all in the span of a week. I definitely do not need someone else helping me by breaking more things I have to repair. To me, it not really a big deal as I don't use that mirror much, Will does. I am going to have to go out and try to repair it again, it's going to be ugly, for now at least. I do wish people would keep their hands to themselves, I can't afford to keep repairing things. Big car... Iddy biddy pension.
Today I decided to try and repair the passenger mirror, for a second time. Well, I have to own up to making a bigger mess of it than what I started with. It is a cheap chromed plastic, but, shazbbut. (A little Mork from Ork for us ole guys.) Ah well, enough is enough. At least I got all of the snow off her. Amazing how heavy wet snow is. We finally managed to get 10 inches of snow over the last 24 hours. Back to looking wistfully at the car, but there is no way I am going to drive it until the roads dry. My Grandchildren wanted to go for a drive today. I promised them that we will go out when the roads dry. "When is that, Gampy ?" I told them that was up to the Lord, not Gampy. Well, the kids went out to a movie so I am sitting in their house with Luke. He decided he wanted to sleep at home. Aria is in bed with Nana and that is where I am going as soon as they get home. Might stay in bed tomorrow, try to get rid of this cold. May everyone have a great night and, May you be a half hour in Heaven before the Devil knows you're dead. Goodnight all!
So, I had to apologise to my son William. On Tuesday, just after I got the car running with a new regulator and liberal doses of Electronic Contact Cleaner on Monday, I borrowed William's car to go to Calgary and take his brother Mike to get some cortisone shots in his shoulder. When I got home, Jenny mentioned that the car wouldn't start for Will after he put 1/4 tank of gas into it. It had to be boosted by the attendant with a jump pack. Hmm, very strange. Jenny mentioned it fired right up after the boost. Okay, let me go check it out. I checked all the connections, and, then by a whim, I checked the posts on the battery.... negative post was loose. Oops, that one is my fault. After working on the car, I forgot to re-tighten the negative post. I took both posts off and cleaned them, then put them back on, reached in, and cold, she started right up. That was the easy part. I went downstair to William's room and told him it was my fault that he had problems with the car. I told him about the loose post and mentioned that he should always give a casual look-over when he uses someone else's car. Anything you drive is your responsibility. If an officer pulls you over for something wrong and writes a ticket, that ticket is in your name. He said no problem Dad, thanks for telling me. I am far from perfect, or knowledgeable about mechanics, but I am learning. Apologising is just a way of reminding myself, and the family that I make mistakes. Not big ones, just annoying little ones. I have the best support from my family, both local and extended, that I could ever ask for. I am blessed.
I took today off and had my eldest son help my wife shave the dog for summer. In the meantime, I decided to do my chores and then tackle some of the little things that have been bothering me on the car. First, the chrome trim across the lip of the trunk. Half of the nuts are missing and the trim is loose. I looked at the studs and found that the threads had worn off, long ago. Now what.... ah ha! I took some plastic wall anchors and pushed them on the studs. Cut them off and, what do you know, it worked. I was thinking about taking it off and using my tap and die set to re-thread the studs. I am not certain that that the metal would stand up to re-threading them without twisting off. Any thoughts? After that, I took the drivers door panel and the rear panel off, cleaned up behind them, and re-hung them. They were both on wrong, bent guides. I cleaned and straightened things and now they are on right. The drivers side high beam chrome wasn't straight. It is now. I took the arm rests off and sanded and painted them. The bottom of the metal part was really rusty. Not any longer. I will put them back on in about an hour. Next will be working on getting the new antenna to go up and down. Right now, it's just up for radio. First though, a break. Have a great day all. Enjoy Spring, I am!
I had to replace the original antenna last year as it snapped off. The original wiring for the car includes the momentary switch for up and down. The new antenna, which I tried and failed to figure out last year as it did not arrive with any instructions, has three wires, not two. Black - Ground as usual Red - Requires a constant +12 Volt Blue - Putting +12 V to this wire causes the antenna to go up. When you remove power, it retracts. It was getting kind of late today, so I buttoned it up and will continue in the morning. I have a couple of hours before I have to take care of the Grandkids. I will run a wire from the antenna to the switch I put in when I was having problems with fuel. It originally ran the electric fuel pump, but isn't needed now, I will run a wire to this switch and label it antenna. It is an illuminated switch so I will know when it is extended, at least while the car is running. I wasn't looking forward to trying to figure this out as I failed last year and just extended the antenna and left it up. I do want it to be able to retract so I can use my car cover in inclement weather. I know I am being a little, well, shall we say, OCD about this, but I paid for an electric antenna, so I really wanted it to work properly. My fault for buying it from Banggood.com. It definitely was not made in North America, but, as long as it works. Well, goodnight to all. I wish everyone a wonderful evening and a productive day tomorrow
