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I'd move to TN in a NY minute if it was next to the ocean!

Well Ronnie, you can always move up here and enjoy our beautiful winters. We can go junkin, swap Crank sensors in 20 degree weather, all kinds of stuff! lol!

I missed this on the first read. You seem to have all the bases covered.

The funny and coincident thing about this story is it sounds like an echo of almost the same words Daves89 and I had yesterday at lunch. We both felt the same way. The first drive out of storage just makes us smile. Similar words used to describe other cars we have had, but something is just "right" about a late 80's GM fwd V6 automobile dressed in a fancy frock as the Brits would say. It makes little sense and yet the feeling does exist.

Looks like he repair shop did a half-ass job on installing the Heli-Coil or whatever insert they used. They must have known that since they used so much red Loctite on it. If you didn't check the valve lash after changing the head you should do so. If one is too tight it could burn a valve.

My Reatta had been sitting in the same spot for quite a while so yesterday I got my Reatta out and drove it around a little. Just enough to limber it up and to keep the tires from getting flat spots on them from sitting in the same spot too long. I closed the battery cut-off switch, waited for the brakes to build pressure, and it fired right up. I let it idle for a few minutes and headed down the road a couple of miles. It always brings a smile to my face when I drive it after not being in it for a while. It reminds me why I continue to keep it after owning it for 15 years. In the past I rarely kept a weekend car (toy) for more than 4 or 5 years before getting rid of it and moving on to something else. I've owned a lot of British and Italian sports cars but I always got bored with them. My Reatta has been the exception. Not only do I enjoy driving my Reatta, I enjoy discussing my Reatta with all the nice people I have met online in the Reatta community. You guys are the best!

So non reatta related car story to share here. My brother in law owns a 2001 Honda accord and for some reason it blew out a spark plug a couple weeks back. He took it to a shop and they did a thread insert and sent him on his way about 10 days later he started getting engine codes for misfires. So he brought it for me to look at. At first glance I noticed the ignition coild for the plug that the shop had repaired was not sitting all the way in the tube and was a quater of an inch off the mating surface of the valve cover. The coil mounting screw was screwed in just like that (meaning the shop left it that way). I tried to figure out why it would not go in all the way. Decided to pull that plug out and inspect and it came out mangled thread insert and all (picture). Even left one of the leading threads in the cylinder head. Needless to say I was like ****! We are up a creek now. Bit the bullet and decided there was nothing for it but to replace the head. Pulled a junkyard head that seemed in decent shape other than some oil sludging in spots. It was real unfortunate because the original head that got messed up was as clean as could be. Whoever owned the car before him took really good care of it. See the pictures for comparison. Original Head with 150k miles: Junkyard head (mileage unknown): But honestly other than it seemed that this new head probably saw cheap and less frequent oil changes, everything seemed ok with it. Cam surfaces were clean with no real signs of wear. Rocker arm to valve clearance only needed very slight adjustment. Got it back together this past weekend. Took me 22 hours but I move slow when working on something new. That and in my haste to remove the junkyard head, i destroyed the wire for the coolant temp sensor, which is tucked behind the timing sprocket, and did not realize until after I got the timing belt and timing cover all back on. But it's running good now. Had a high idle problem that boiled down to the cruise control cable getting out of adjustment during removal and reinstallation to the throttle body. Anyway that is my weekend car story

awesome ! thank you. i will try to check on these things hopefully this week. i will keep you informed on my findings.

I have seen a few surveys that seem to point to BMW drivers as the most rude. I found a photo that seems to confirm this, at least in part: