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What did you do with your Reatta today.


DAVES89

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I guess I am different with side windows. They are always up with the air on. I will open the sun roof on the Red or drive with the top down on the 'vert, but I like the windows up.

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Okay today was alternator day. I had been talking to Bob [my machinist friend] about the low voltage output of the alternator on the Red. It is right at 12.3 to 12.5 until last night. It dropped to 11.7 to 12.1 which is not nearly enough. 

 Because of the low power I grabbed the alternator out of the Reatta that 2seater wants, but then my conscience wouldn't let me install it on my car. So I grabbed one out my parts bin, it too was no good. But a few years ago I had an alternator go bad [bearings] so I stripped the voltage regulator and stater out of it and kept it for parts. I swapped these parts into the alternator that just went bad, and so far so good as I am now running 13.6 to 13.8 volts. I do have one more good one that I removed from the 'vert as I installed a new one in it before I took a long vacation with it.

 So now the Red, winter Black and the 'vert have new or like new alternators installed and one very good unit in the trunk I take for a drive as I like to have a couple extra parts in my car.

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I almost forgot that Saturday was also "undercoat" day. I had bought a couple of cans of undercoat spray with the idea that the 'vert was going to be in Brownsville with an occasional drive to the beach, and the new winter Black was going to see winters. So I jacked up the car on the driver's side, put it on jack stands and sprayed both the fuel and brake lines. Today I am going to do the Red, because as much as I hate to say this when the Black is done and gone, it will be the Red's turn. Hope that won't be for 10 years like I got out of the last Black, but that is the future as I see it now. In 10 years I will be 74 and if I get 10 years out of the Red I'll be 84 [hopefully I last that long]. What's that saying? Drive em like you stole 'em!  Or, If you don't drive them you might as well collect clocks...

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1 hour ago, DAVES89 said:

Drive em like you stole 'em!  Or, If you don't drive them you might as well collect clocks...

haha I agree with that!

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Undercoated the Red's brake lines and fuel line today as well.

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We hardly ever see undercoating here.  When we do we wonder what damage it might be hiding.

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The last time I did a project like this was when I was 16 and had a 1966 Mustang Arizona car. I had a friend who tried real hard to be my best buddy, and volunteered his dad's garage to undercoat the car. We got it up on blocks and wire brushed it and then sprayed it. I don't remember, but as we didn't lay tarps down we had to have made a mess. We did sweep up and then I left. His dad was pretty fussy about stuff, but I never heard a peep about my buddy catching hell.

 The guy whose garage I used? He now is a senior vice president real estate division for a major national bank and pulls down a 7 figure annual income. Smartest kid in high school, and also in college.

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Hopefully later this week I will get to Gibsons. I had a little run on alternators and need one more. Also need to get another coil pack. There is a 199 Pontiac Bonneville that just came in. Has less then 100,000 miles.

 After I pull them I will do what I always do. Install them in my car and the one that was in the car becomes "inventory" so I know I have a good working unit in the parts bin...

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Also today I asked my wife if she would do a "nail polish" job on my center caps. She did a great job on all 8 wheels [the 'vert and the Red]. I had the Red this morning as I had appointments to run so she did the 'vert first. She complained that is was too hard to do the center caps on the car so I removed the wheels on the Red to make her job easier. Turned out well.

 I like using nail polish as it dries to a hard glossy and comes in the dark rich Red,White, and Blue which is the Buick Tri shield colors.

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On 7/10/2020 at 4:04 PM, Ronnie said:

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

Where did you find the center caps?  Those look really good!

 

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Jay, I have a set of four I might be able to sell.

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3 hours ago, Jay said:

Where did you find the center caps?  Those look really good!

 

I made them from some old Reatta center caps.  You have to cut them down to make them fit the small center caps and it takes a lot of time. You might be better off buying some from Dave if your time is worth anything to you.

 

SAM_2229.JPGSAM_2249.JPG

 

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I'm an early riser and thought that there were a couple of things I could do without making any noise. One was "dressing" up my tool box. I have a Reatta hood ornament that I thought I would use elsewhere so I had cut the mounting pins off. I thought it would nice on the tool box so I put some double sided tape on it and mounted it along with two Buick dealer [Brennan Green Bay and Cloud Appleton] trunk emblems that I found at Gibson's.

 Then because I saw how damaged the hood ornament was on the 'vert when I lined them up for pictures I thought I would replace that as well. I had found a real nice on on a Reatta at Gibson's from a prior visit and installed that as well.

 Now back in the house watching the news [why] and waiting for the rest of the world to start moving around.

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I planned to get up bright and early this morning and wash my Reatta while waiting on my wife to get up. Then we were going to work on my daughters deck while she is off on vacation.  When I walked into the kitchen to make some coffee I felt a wet spot in front of the sink.  When I opened the cabinet doors I discovered water is leaking out the bottom of the garbage disposal whenever you run water in the sink. So I had to trade my Reatta wash job for a trip to Lowes to get a new garbage disposal that I will be installing today. Kat says I need to do more repairs to the house but it still looks pretty good to me. ?

 

hwy 70 3-17-19.jpg

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Attaboy Ronnie! Keep a blind eye and focus on what is important...

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I had a few minutes this morning so I did a couple of things to the Red. First my little trip following 2seater with his fuel deprived car ended up in a beautiful pine forest. Parking under the trees left me with a couple of pine sap spots which I cleaned off easily with mineral spirits.

 Then after going through my parts bin I saw that I had 6 Delco coils without Delco Ignition Modules. So I took three and swapped them into the Red and took it for a test drive. So far so good, but I am keeping the original coils in the car just in case.

 When I am confident with these three I will try the other three.

 Very easy swap out just remove the six screws going through the coils into the mounting plate. Also did a bench test and the ohms resistance was very consistent at about 5.72 ohms.

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How many 2 door coupes can actually carry a dog and wife (plus obligatory bags) comfortably on a 7 hour, overnight trip?

15963738283717998677350206256199.jpg

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Looks like you have her loaded down pretty good Jay.  Sorry I missed being able to meet up with you in K-town. Maybe next time.

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Went out to Gibsons today and picked up a Delco Ignition Module/Coil Pack from a 199 Pontiac Bonneville. It had 99,xxx miles. Installed it in Gibson's lot and test drove it home. Works great. Took the Delco unit I just took off in the trunk for emergency roadside repair and put the Magnavox I had been carrying around back in the parts bin to be used on the '88. 

 I really should get another one to have in the 'vert for when she goes to Texas. Only $21.00 w/tax.

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