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What did you do with your Reatta today.


DAVES89

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On 6/4/2020 at 5:37 PM, DAVES89 said:

It's out of my hands. The garage insists that they provide the parts so that part is done. I will tell them to do a test fit [or look to see if it will work] before installing.

Any updates on the fuel pump and fuel gauge sender?

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Not yet. My wife and I are here in Brownsville getting the place "ready" for fall. We are trying to rent it for some of the months we won't be there. My wife insists we have to "update" some things to make it rentable.

 I did talk to the shop and he cannot find a sender and is making it my project. I will probably deal with it when I get back next week.

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Friday, 6/12, drove the Reatta to an impromptu cruise-in with a couple of Mustang buddies of mine...about a 50 mile round trip.  Felt good to get it out and about.  Still haven't driven it enough to require any gasoline refill...still running on last fall's gas-in-tank with stabilizer!  Do know if I drive it to next year's BCA at NC and OH I'm going to have to replace struts and shocks beforehand.  

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1 hour ago, ship said:

I'm going to have to replace struts and shocks beforehand.

That's not a bad job. Good wintertime project so you don't have to get in a hurry.  Instructions are here on ROJ and I have a ton of photos on my computer if you need them.

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3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

That's not a bad job. Good wintertime project so you don't have to get in a hurry.  Instructions are here on ROJ and I have a ton of photos on my computer if you need them.

Thanks, Ronnie.  My plan is in fact to wait until fall/winter .  Not quite sure I personally will tackle the job at age 71 (vertigo) but will certainly read all about it beforehand on the ROJ (the ROJ is the best thing since sliced bread in my opinion).  I always like to be fully educated on a car repair before handing it over to a mechanic.

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Swapped the tires and wheels from the Red to the 'vert. The 'verts tires have less then 2000 miles on them and the Red's have about 25,000. The 'verts tires show they are 3 years old so better to wear them out then run the risk of the tires breaking down...

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I also had been dealing with a "chugging" with the 'vert. So yesterday after taking the car for a drive I decided to swap Mass Air Flow sensors with the Red and swapped in a different ICM/Coil Pack. Took it for another drive and that wasn't it. So rather then do anything more with a hot car I waited until this morning to swap out the Oxygen sensor. I keep a diary on what I do to my cars [I just write dates/miles/service done in the back of the owners manual] and saw that the plugs/wires/coil swap were done 7 years and 15000 miles ago, but nothing with the Oxygen Sensor. So that was next. 

 Took it for another drive and that seemed to be the fix. The car runs much better, has the acceleration it used to have, and no vibration.

 I also had thought maybe the catalytic converter might be going bad because of the vibration and poor acceleration, but thought "Do the easy stuff first" and that was the Oxygen sensor.

 And that appears to be correct! 

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I was running errands with the 'vert and decided on a lunch at Burger King today. As everyone knows most places are "drive through" only so I placed my order and drove up to the pay/pick up window and the guy hands me my order and says "I haven't seen you in awhile".

 I didn't recognize him so I said "Do you remember me or my car"? He says "The car. I don't see too many of them come through here". 

 So we both chuckled at that and I was on my way...

Edited by DAVES89
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  • 2 weeks later...

I got a text from a friend who went "junking" at a much smaller "you pull" yard near here. He said there was a white/tan Reatta out there that was still complete. So today I finally found time to get there and he was right. Still complete.

 Going back tomorrow to pull the "bling" [headlight switch and Instrument cluster]. Don't really need them, but someone will some time!

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Okay, got back from that other "You pick" yard. I was able to test them in the 'vert before buying and I found that the Instrument Panel was DOA showed "error" so that was no go. The headlight switch worked fine. It was only after I got home so I could see how the "back lighting" worked. I found that switching from dims to brights worked as did the slider switch to dim the dash lights. Only problem was that the back light bulbs did not all work. The P O thought that by scraping the button the light would shine though [I have seen this way more then once]. What I did do was remove the little bulbs through the back [without taking the switch apart]. I cleaned the contacts and installed them again and had success. I then used some black nail polish to touch up the scrapping and while it is not perfect it is very serviceable and I am now using it and will until I can get to Jim Finn to swap out a Headlight button. 

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Been an interesting couple of weeks with the Red and the 'vert. First the 'vert developing driveability issues that were due to a collapsed front driver's side brake line. The blockage was so great that it seemed that the car had bad fuel injectors. It would idle fine [in Park of course] but when driving there was just no go. Swapped out the rotors, pads and both front brake lines. The difference was immediate.

 Then the Red acted up. Two things at once. There is an ignition module on the column that my friend Kendall diagnosed and replaced for me. How/why I had a back up of that part I will never know. However we had another issue as well. I had little or no fuel pressure. The only way I could start the car was "whacking" the gas tank with a rubber mallet while someone was turning the key. Turned out that there was a loose connection on the fuel pump sending unit which I was able to repair.

 But as long as I was in there I did have the mechanic replace the fuel pump as well [and fuel pump filter]. So as I have purchased a used fuel pump from Jim Finn [a Reatta used parts seller] I have a good used fuel pump for sale.

 I paid $135.00 delivered for it and am willing to sell it for any reasonable offer. My e mail is;  lemke1044@aol.com

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Sometime when it rains it pours Dave. Glad to here got them both going again.

 

Good luck selling the fuel pump. Feel free to start a separate topic for selling the pump. It might get more attention that way. 

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Pads were getting thin so I looked at replacing them. My guess is that these are the original pads since the car only has 38K miles.  Getting the caliper brackets off was no easy chore.  Nothing local had inexpensive pads so I ended up ordering a 4 wheel rotor and pad kit from Amazon.  Nothing wrong with the original rotors. It was just a few dollars more to replace all.  Slotted rotors and semi-metallic pad for $100.  Seemed like the thing to do. The brakes do seem to be a bit better, but could be just from the new pads.  Nothing to write home about, but they are better. 

 

I also replaced my tires.  I had some worn 235/55/17 Hankooks.  The right front was scrubbing the fender well a little when turning full left.  I went with a 225/50/17 and they fit perfect.  Speedometer is accurate and the ride is great.  The Uniroyals I put on have a softer sidewall than the Hankooks.  All in all a productive two days work.  For reference, the tires are mounted on Pontiac SSEi 17" rims.

20200708_192945.jpg

20200710_151854.jpg

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Looks good, however you may want some chrome acorn nuts [available for cheap on ebay] as well as some Reatta center caps to not confuse someone looking at your car. I do like Pontiac wheels. I had thought about getting some in the past.

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Everything looks good. I like the wheels. For a few bucks you can get chrome lugnuts from Amazon that would look really good on those wheels. They would be like icing on the cake.

 

 

 

 

SAM_2261.JPG

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Looks like we post almost the same thing at the same time Dave. Great minds think alike!!

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Drove the Reatta to a cruise-in at the Shaws grocery store parking lot with fellow Mustang friends on Wednesday (7/8/20), about 30 miles round trip.  Only two Buicks in sight besides mine...a '65 Grand Sport and a '71 Riviera boattail.  All were adhering to social distancing and masks.  Had planned to attend another on Thursday at the old Raynham MA Dog Track parking lot, but the heat index was up in the upper 90's, so I poo pooed that idea.  Still driving around with a half tank left of last fall's gas (with Seafoam) with no problems...the Seafoam is actually helping improve my gas mileage slightly!  All local MA car shows have been canceled to date.  A few are still on the books for August and September but we'll see as these dates approach.  RI and NH have allowed a few to happen, though.

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I have been sampling the Facebook Reatta forums for the last week. Certainly geared more to social and story telling, but most information seems reasonable and accurate. Marck does a nice job overall. I am not used to the format or how Facebook style posting is arranged, which is my issue to deal with. This style forum seems more intuitive with things grouped by subject and threads rather than a timeline style. I am sure that is part of the filtering process that I am not familiar with. Interesting to see people directed here or AACA for details and tutorials on several subjects. Would be nice to have some reverse pollination going on.

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6 hours ago, 2seater said:

I have been sampling the Facebook Reatta forums for the last week.

Probably a good idea if you like to discuss Reattas.  I don't think the Reatta forums will survive much longer.  The AACA Reatta forum might because it is a small part of a larger community of antique car enthusiasts. This website is so focused on just the Buick Reatta that I question why I keep it open when interest in a Reatta is on a rapid decline.  Keeping this website online isn't free.  I put a box on the right side of the forum that shows how may posts have been made on this forum. As you can see there have been about 9 posts made in the last week on this forum.  I have no way of knowing how many people are actually using the how-to guides and tutorials but I doubt there are many. A handful of us old folks are still here but I feel like we are like the Maytag repairman sitting around waiting on someone to break something so we can offer some help to fix it. I'm starting to think it might be time to move on to something else. Marck declined to approve me to be part of his group so if I want to go the Facebook route my best option is to just get rid of my Reatta (AKA give it away) and find a car that will fit into a group where I'm allowed to participate. 

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4 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Probably a good idea if you like to discuss Reattas.  I don't think the Reatta forums will survive much longer.  The AACA Reatta forum might because it is a small part of a larger community of antique car enthusiasts. This website is so focused on just the Buick Reatta that I question why I keep it open when interest in a Reatta is on a rapid decline.  Keeping this website online isn't free.  I put a box on the right side of the forum that shows how may posts have been made on this forum. As you can see there have been about 9 posts made in the last week on this forum.  I have no way of knowing how many people are actually using the how-to guides and tutorials but I doubt there are many. A handful of us old folks are still here but I feel like we are like the Maytag repairman sitting around waiting on someone to break something so we can offer some help to fix it. I'm starting to think it might be time to move on to something else. Marck declined to approve me to be part of his group so if I want to go the Facebook route my best option is to just get rid of my Reatta (AKA give it away) and find a car that will fit into a group where I'm allowed to participate. 

I can't say I blame you for the sentiment. I knew about the personal decline and I cannot get my original Facebook log in to work, so I started over from scratch, but I must admit, it isn't my style. 

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