Leaderboard

I have been having trouble for years with my 1990 Reatta refusing to start when it is hot. I have scoured the owners journal for leads and have found many...and I have been attacking each possibility in turn (thank you all!). Having taken the side battery terminals off so many times, I thought I might have a risky connection at this point. So I tried copper washers. But the bolt threads weren't long enough to keep things tight. I have a dual terminal battery so I decided to I was going to use a side-to-top-post converter and put new ends on the cables (The larger cables weren't long enough to simply use the existing top posts.) So I proceeded to cut up the red rubber coating over the positive cable ends and discovered some pretty significant corrosion. I thought I would mention it here because from the outside it looked absolutely PERFECT. If you suspect this and just want to eliminate it as a potential problem, you don't have to cut it up (its a miracle I didn't cut my hands). You could just cut the cables below the rubber, of course. So far the car is starting fine...but we'll see...the saga continues...

Today went over to Bob's [my machinist friend's house] to do rear struts on the Regal. By prior agreement I was "the guy" doing the work with just a bit of help from Bob. From start to finish it was just 2 hours and much easier then when I did the Reatta. Two bolts on the bottom of the strut, one nut for the sway bar end link, and three nuts inside [with easy access] to the top of the strut. Then with a little assistance from gravity and a pry bat the strut drops out of the car. Reinstall is fairly easy as you push the strut up into place and put the three nuts on the top of the strut and slide in the bottom of the strut into the bracket and reattach the sway bar end link and you're done. Did I say the the strut comes with the strut mount attached and are preloaded with the spring? Well they are!

As I was tracking down a vacuum leak under the hood, I managed to snap one of the vacuum line nipples off of the cruise control servo. What is the servo body made of? ABS? PVC? Obviously, the real question is what glue will stick to it well enough to hold the nipple in place with a heavy vacuum hose attached, under real driving conditions. As manufactured, I'm guessing the hoses were supple, and the servo body was nice and stiff. Now, the hoses are stiff, and the servo body is brittle...

You, can use any small air-tight tank to replace the vacuum tank.

The servo was used on multiple GM cars in multiple years. take a walk through a you pick yard and look for a lower mileage Buick. Once you get it off suck on the big hose nipple. If it holds while you have vacuum on it, it probably is good.