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What did you do with your Reatta today.


DAVES89

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Thanks for the tip but we have wipes in the car and I plan on using them on gas pumps and anything else I will touch. The 'vert is still in Wisconsin and will be until this fall when I drive it down for it to stay. I have driven the 'vert on prior long trips [by myself] and believe me a Reatta is not a fun car to sleep in. However I drove a Miatta back from Phoenix for my daughter years ago and that was far worse.

 We have the Enclave here now and that is the vehicle I will be driving back. I will have the luggage so my wife won't have to carry anything on the plane. 

 But as you might remember I put a camping mattress in the back with my pillow and a sleeping bag and I really was very comfortable. I had no problem sleeping 7 hours after about 12-14 hours driving. I'm not worried about being at risk either as I would either park in a Truck Stop or a out of town rest area.

 I've done it before and consider it part of the "adventure" Of course if there are no further posts from me then I was "wrong"...

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On 4/12/2020 at 12:58 PM, DAVES89 said:

Thanks for the tip but we have wipes in the car and I plan on using them on gas pumps and anything else I will touch. The 'vert is still in Wisconsin and will be until this fall when I drive it down for it to stay. I have driven the 'vert on prior long trips [by myself] and believe me a Reatta is not a fun car to sleep in. However I drove a Miatta back from Phoenix for my daughter years ago and that was far worse.

 We have the Enclave here now and that is the vehicle I will be driving back. I will have the luggage so my wife won't have to carry anything on the plane. 

 But as you might remember I put a camping mattress in the back with my pillow and a sleeping bag and I really was very comfortable. I had no problem sleeping 7 hours after about 12-14 hours driving. I'm not worried about being at risk either as I would either park in a Truck Stop or a out of town rest area.

 I've done it before and consider it part of the "adventure" Of course if there are no further posts from me then I was "wrong"...

Well I made it home. the trip itself was pretty uneventful, although things have really changed on our highways. many trucks and very few cars. Saw a sign in Texas that if traveling through Louisiana one must self quarantine for 14 days. Tried to stop in a rest area in Arkansas and Missouri and they were closed. Forced to sleep in a dirt and gravel semi truck parking area adjacent to a truck stop. It was cold too as the overnight temperature dropped to 35-40 degrees. 

 Gas wasn't as cheap as I thought it would be and pricing was all over the place from $119.9 to over $2.00 a gallon. I paid the $119.9 and highest was $189.9. [here where I live it's under a dollar].

 Only ate one meal on the road and always paid at the pump. Used the truck stop [where I slept] twice and one gas station and one one rest area [in Illinois] for relieving myself. Rationed the fluid intake [just water except for the fast food meal].

 Glad I am back and spent some of the day putting together an order for a guy wanting an MP3/smart phone lead for the '88/89 Reatta cassette deck and CRT. Had to go to Gibson's first to get the pigtail out of a Reatta there. 

 Today I might work on installing the headlight relay harness and "LED Truck Lites" into the '88.

 Kendall, my mechanic friend has been laid off due to low repair needs and he and I will be doing the timing chain, cam magnet on the 'vert next week. Also have to track down the security light issue and want to do the resistor bypass on the ignition. 

 As I'm taking this car down to Brownsville to leave I want to be as proactive as possible.

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Dave,  Glad you made it home safely.  Gas under a dollar where you are?...nice!  Averaging $1.59 here in Eastern MA.  Problem is that my cars are all full to the brim with really no place to go.

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It's almost like back in the '70s with gas wars.  Took the Red and paid .95 a gallon at the local station and got a free soda for an 8 gallon or more purchase. Then went home and got the '88 Black and some gas cans and filled up again and got another free soda.

 I think we will start going up as I see a few stations at $1.059 a gallon.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It was a busy week with the '88 Black and the 'vert. The Black got a timing cover gasket, cam magnet,  tensioner, timing gear and chain, then a new water pump, oil pan gasket and intake manifold gasket with valve cover gaskets. Then a new water pump oil change and anti freeze. Sometime in May I hope to swap out the early '88 Teves master cylinder with a '89-90 one. Also swapping the hubb assembly to get the good wheel speed sensors as well as the EBCM from the trunk with the '89 parts car.

 Then we started in on the 'vert doing the timing chain gasket, tensioner, gear and chain. Also did oil pan gasket and oil and anti freeze change.

 The intake and valve covers were done about 5 years and 15000 miles ago so that is good. I had been experiencing a little "pull" when doing a hard brake so we flushed the brake fluid. Made all the difference as I have yet to feel the pull when trying hard stops.

 The Red wanted a little loving so started flashing the amber ABS light. So checked the ohms on the front leads. They both tested good and I looked closer and one pin receptacle on the lead was pushed back. I took the protective rubber off and with a small screwdriver pushed it up and hopefully over the male end from the car's harness. Then taped it up good and tested it. So far so good.

 Most of the work with the '88 and the 'vert was done by my good friend Kendall. He is a top mechanic who was laid off because of lack of business due to the virus going around.

 Now I really feel good about taking the 'vert down to Texas and leaving it there as a "vacation" car.

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Dave, I wish you, Kendall and 2seater lived near me. I would have a parts guy, a good mechanic and a high performance guru to hang out with.  All my kind of people. It would make owning a Reatta a lot more fun.

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Yeah, Ronnie when you add in my other friend Bob I have quite a resource to draw on. Kind of lucky that way...

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I do like Tennessee and even thought of it as a retirement destination, but that's unlikely today?

 

In any case, to stay on subject of this thread; I briefly had possession of Dave's winter Black, which is now doing DD duty for my son. I must credit the new owner with doing due diligence becoming familiar with the FSM and using onboard diagnostics with almost no input from me. At the risk of speaking out of turn, he mentioned a persistent erratic idle and sometimes actually quitting when at idle. He also had a persistent MAF code. I mentioned the usual suspects, IAC, TPS etc.. This is where I learned a little something new. I had him run through the sensor readings which seemed pretty normal, maybe a lazy O2 but not much else. The MAF appeared to function acceptably, following increase in throttle opening although in retrospect it seemed a little low at idle, but I use my car as the baseline which isn't exactly bone stock, so dismissed it. We tried a junkyard sensor from my stash and it perked right up. Steady idle, it also just sounded better at idle too. The next time I run sensors on my flow bench I will need to be more critical of indicated flow relative to the actual cfm. In other words, the original sensor appeared to work reasonably well, survived the tap test and gave no trouble except at idle. By the way, he replaced the O2 sensor as the existing was installed at 190k miles thanks to Dave's record keeping and it is just shy of 319k miles now?

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A few years ago I had a similar problem with the idle on my Reatta while sitting at traffic lights with the car in gear. It idled smooth with the car in Park and no load on the engine and it ran smooth going down the road.  I did all the testing I could to find the problem but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. Thanks to Dave I had a spare MAF sensor and I tried it. The engine smoothed out and ran like it should.

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My Reatta got a wash and wax today!  Now I can finally post some real pictures of it.

IMG_20200426_1733010.jpg

IMG_20200426_1732222.jpg

IMG_20200426_1732101.jpg

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Good looking Reatta. Even though there are a lot of them you just can't beat red on a Reatta. ?

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Coming from a guy [me] who has owned 3 Black Reattas and one Red one I still think Red looks the best.

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25 minutes ago, DAVES89 said:

Coming from a guy [me] who has owned 3 Black Reattas and one Red one I still think Red looks the best.

oh man I just missed out on a black convertible before I bought this one.  It was lower miles and in almost mint shape at least from what I could tell from the pictures. All things considered I'm glad I got this one and I do like the red.  It's in pretty good shape for it's age, has about 130k miles but came with a number of problems, most of which I have fixed already.  You might notice the black door handle.  It's a non painted 1991 replacement.  I actually like the black handle look.  I want to figure out how to retrofit the 91 handle with the little bracket for the switch, because other than that they are exactly the same.  for now it opens the door.  I fixed the headlight bell cranks, turn signal canister, brake fluid flush with a new accumulator, new wheel bearings in the front and new IPC.  I absolutely love the car and it looks great in the red. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today I wired my fans to run on high on command. Even if the air is not on the front fan runs on high when I wish. With the air on both fans will run on high.

 I have tried to replicate the hood opening as seen in that red coupe, but have been unable to find a custom shop that is willing to take that project on.

Edited by jon L
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  • 2 weeks later...

I stopped by the Widow Schneider [the lady I get to store a Reatta at year round] to "summerize" her snowblower for storage she told me that at 85 she just doesn't want to keep the house anymore so will be putting it up for sale. While I am thankful for the years I got to store it there, I am also glad that I will be taking and leaving the 'vert in Texas at our winter/vacation home.

 Problem is, is that there was a change in plans at our house. The Enclave is taking the next trip to Texas to haul some stuff there and the 'vert will go on the next trip which will be some time in February.

 So things will be a bit tight at our house for storage.

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Traded the winter 4x4 Ranger for the '90 at the cottage today. A little tardy but it feels so good to get it out for the summer and bring it home. At the same time, Reatta89 was there to remove the radio module and door speakers from my '89 "in need" car. The speakers are the originals from my '90 which I pulled out in the mid to later '90's for an aftermarket set. The stock radio had the typical capacitor popping but didn't know it at the time and swapped speakers and radio. Reatta89 is chasing a low volume issue with the left door speakers so swap everything and see what works?

 

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I had been looking at the Headlight  Relay harness and LED Truck Lites I had taken out of the old Black for too long and decided to install tem in the new Black. So I started in and about 2 hours later harness and LED lights installed. Went quickly as I had done this before [the Red and the old Black]. I did have to clean up the prongs on the plugs as they were pretty green. Used plenty of dielectric grease and then wrapped all the connections with plenty of electrical tape. 

 Also cleaned all the wires in the ground and power box behind the battery as that is where I wired in the harness to.

 Overall a nice little project on a cool overcast day.

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Very loosely applicable to this thread but not worth its own. Apparently it is all too true that as you age, it is possible to hide stuff from yourself, as I have commented before? Dave and I are planning to get together to test some brake parts, accumulators etc.., and I cannot find my pressure gauge setup for the brake pump. I am in the process of rearranging my garage shop and moving some operations to my basement and somehow my kit for testing has become separated, so I have just ordered the gauge, high pressure needle valve and tee to make another. It's the only sure way I know to have the missing item resurface?

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I feel your pain. For Christmas last year I asked for [and got] a headlight for hands free repair work. Promptly misplaced it and only just found it after getting another one...

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I guess it's just age starting to take it's toll. I do that kind of stuff all the time.

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