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After selling my '88 Black to 2 seater's son I was without a winter car. My original thought was just to drive the Red until January [it has "Collector" plates which are 11 month plates and cannot be used in January] and then park it as we winter in Texas staring in February. I could have waited a year as so far our winter has been very mild and we leave the 10 of January for an extended vacation to Asia to celebrate our upcoming 45th wedding anniversary. But I digress. I cannot drive the Red in the winter. It has been my all time favorite car and I refuse to chance driving it in snow/winter/salt especially with the liquid deicer they now spray on the roads. So the search was on. My mom owned a 2001 Supercharged Buick Regal. I drove it a couple of times and liked the ride. She no longer has the car, so I started looking for one and just picked up a 1999 Regal, red in color, light gray interior with a sun roof. There is no rust on the car which has 98,000 miles. I believe it was used a a summer car for the owners who wintered in a warmer state. It does not have the supercharger which is fine by me as I don't like the price difference on the gas price because of the miles I still drive in my business. I bought it in Detroit and drove it back to Wisconsin. That's about 500 miles and I got a good feel for the car. It is pretty comfortable, has good power, but does not have some of the creature comforts I expected. Has dual heat, but not heated seats. Cabin storage for "things" is not as much as I expected. However I bought the car for winter driving and it will fit the bill nicely.

I personally think this forum is indispensible for the Reatta community. Although not possible to know, I would venture to guess that the number of views per day or per month is quite high. Ronnie, your effort is most appreciated.

I just happened to see this today 😄 "This is not parallel parking, Christine; this is magic!" Cagney and Lacey, season 7, episode 20. May 2, 1988

My 1990 Reatta with 87K miles needed new struts all around. The job seemed more complex than simply changing shocks on my 1950's classics. But thanks to the guides here on ROJ, I'm proud to say I did it successfully. Some shops gave breathtaking labor quotes, more than my budget is comfy with. So I read through the guides here on ROJ, took my time, with an excellent outcome. All 4 original struts on my Reatta were totally shot. They weren't leaking, but they weren't absorbing road shocks. The pistons just dropped into the bores. I assume every Reatta that still has the original 30+ year old struts either needs or will need new struts. I bought the previously unobtanium rears from ECRP, and Monroe front and new mounts from Rock. ECRP says Monroe will not do any more runs or our 71966 rears, so suffer the ECRP price and get 'em while you can. After following the guides on this site and finishing the strut job, I'm very impressed with the newly refreshed ride, and proud that I was able to do the job myself. I have an appointment at an alignment shop this week, mandatory after changing front struts. Here are some tips from replacing the front struts I will share. This $13 tool from Amazon made it easy to deal with the nut on top of the front strut mounts. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKZXJ881?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details I ordered front strut dust cover bellows from 2 vendors that claimed their bellows were correct for Reatta, but the "bump stops" didn't fit. I modified the bump stop on the KYB bellows, and it functions perfectly to hold the bellows in position, while fitting into the upper spring seat plate. The supplied bump stop was too tall, interfering with the strut mount, and the inside diameter of the bump stop was too small to fit on the strut piston. My Dremel tool solved both problems. Description of 13 photos: 1. original strut - note the broken bellows. When the strut was unbolted from the strut mount, the rod sank into the bore...totally shot, but not leaking fluid 2. New KYB bellows inside diameter at gripping lip at top is larger than original. Can't use the original GM orange dust cover retainer/bump stop which requires smaller diameter sealing lip on the bellows 3. New KYB bellows with original orange GM dust cover retainer/bump stop, and the new bump stop included with KYB bellows. I cut the KYB bellows at top and bottom, and reamed out the inner diameter to match the GM original 4. New KYB bellows with original orange GM dust cover retainer/bump stop, and the new bump stop included with KYB bellows. I cut the KYB bellows at top and bottom, and reamed out the inner diameter to match the GM original 5. KYB bump stop with crown cut off, inserted into upper spring seat plate. Crown must be cut off so that strut mount fits correctly on top of spring seat plate 6. lower side of spring seat plate with KYB bump stop installed, cut shorter 7. KYB bellows pushed onto modified KYB bump stop, with a smear of JB Weld to permanently attach the bellows to the new bump stop 8. New front strut and strut mount with spring compressor 9. 24mm strut nut tool from Amazon 10. Strut nut tool with 50mm torx bit for original strut, and 10mm hex for the new strut 11. This inexpensive tool is much better than clamping the polished chrome rod with vice grips to keep it from turning 12. New strut assembly ready to install 13. New strut installed

My daughter fusses at me for not recycling plastid water bottles and cardboard. She says if my generation had done more to keep the environment clean it wouldn't be in such bad shape now., implying that my generation did nothing to stop pollution of the environment Later on I found the following and emailed it to her. She hasn't mentioned recycling to me since. The older people here will understand the moral of the story. --------------------------------------------------- This Green Thing Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment, The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day. Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation.

After owning the GT for over month, I gave it it's first bath today. I waited until I got all the mechanical things done so I could do a really good wash job to get all the finger prints off from working on the car. It cleaned up really good but it really needs to be waxed to get it to shine like it should. I noticed a few tiny rock chips in the paint here and there as I washed it but nothing unexpected. I finally got some touchup paint that matches to take care of them. It was hard to find Crystal White touchup paint for some reason. After the touchups, the next step will be using a clay bar to make the paint as slick as a baby's bottom. Then a good coat of wax to bring out the shine. I don't think I will have to buff it like I did the Reatta to get it to shine. Clay bar and wax is what I did to the Mercedes and it turned out great.

I have noticed my engine making a rattling noise lately and getting louder. I thought it was the timing chain rapping against something. I pulled the serpentine belt off and started jiggling all the pulleys. Lo and behold the water pump had lots of movement and rattled when moved around. Funny thing was, I had changed this pump before, roughly 10 years and 10k miles ago, It was a ACDelco unit. Also, it was not seeping out the weep hole. Installed another supposed Delco unit, rattling noise is gone. I guess I should be glad it lasted 10 years, even with the little miles put on it.

After driving the Regal for about 3 weeks and a bit over 1000 miles I have had to do some "fine tuning". Started with an Idle Air Control, Then on to a Mass Air Flow sensor. Then yesterday I stopped in at Gibson's a local You Pick yard to get a back up battery. [This was after lunch with 2 Seater] Came out to the car and it wouldn't start. It would grind but not start. So I first checked fuel pressure, that was good. Then said to myself " Either Ignition Module or Crank Sensor". The obvious easy answer was to start with the ignition module. I know I was at Gibson's but I had a back up in the car [always carry extra parts and tools]. Had it swapped out in about 15 minutes. Hit the key and it started. I decided that I needed to do a tune up and checked my inventory of Reatta replacement parts. The Regal is a Series 2 so I knew the Delco upgrade I had done on the Reatta would give me pretty much what I needed. I checked online for spark plug wire length and plug number and checked what I had in inventory. Sure enough I had a wire set that was close in lengths and the correct number plugs [#14]. Called up Kendall [my mechanic friend] and invited myself over for a tune up party. Plugs and wires and clean up the plate under the ignition module. About an hour later the old original plug wires [in poor shape] and the old plugs [badly worn] were out and the new ones were in. Drive home was much better as the acceleration was noticeably improved.

Today is my 67th Birthday. 15 years ago I bought the Red as a birthday present to myself. We've been through a lot of parts together and a repaint and I still wouldn't give it up. My plan is to drive it 2 more weeks and then park it until spring. My license plate is an 11 month plate meaning I can't legally drive it in January. That's okay as my wife an I are taking a 3 week vacation to Viet Nam so most of January we''ll be gone anyway. Then February off to Texas for the balance of the winter so I really don't need a second car for me. Maybe next year I'll get a second car as I really don't want the Red to be a winter car. Besides I spent a bit of time replacing light bulbs [cornering lamp, license plate bulb, and one of the high up brake lights], the leak on the Master Cylinder and finally different ABS sensor leads on the front. Baumgharts [My car repair center] did both lower ball joints, both axle shafts and then a tire rotation and alignment. Car runs really good now and is real joy to drive...

Lit

Not a posed photo. My two boys were over this morning and parked side by side so I pulled mine up so the nose was visible in the photo. Left to right, 88, 89 and 90. The 88 & 89 came through Daves89.

So I was driving down Midway Road in Menasha [for the benefit of 2seater] when a guy pulled up next to me and gave me a "thumbs up" on my Reatta. I wave d back and shortly pulled into a vacant store's parking lot to do some paperwork. As I was sitting there the guy circled back and said that he wasn't stalking me but wanted to let me know that his grandfather had a Reatta years back and he always liked them. I asked him if it was a 1990 or newer one and he wasn't sure so I showed him some of the features of the touch screen. He was really impressed, so hope I made another friend today...

I've always felt that the price drop from what I paid for the car originally to what I sold it for was the difference in enjoying it while I owned it.

Two of the more interesting pics of my '91 Reatta are when I was having it repainted right after purchase in 2013:

The forum has been overwhelmed with an attack by spammers trying to register for an account, mostly from Russia. For that reason I have temporarily disabled new forum registrations. I'm hoping that the spammers will go away soon and new forum registrations can be restored. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

After two failures of brand-new AC Delco HR6 Compressors, I did some research and found that there is a known manufacturing defect, or "decision" as it might be put. For whatever reason, GM removed the dowel pin from the body of the compressor. Some speculate that it was done to make it easier to assemble at the factory. There is just one problem with this. When the unit is installed on the car, tightening the bolts without using shims to make the mounting surface fit perfectly flush with the compressor results in the compressor housing twisting and coming apart at the seams in the middle of the housing, and complete loss of refrigerant in short order. There are improved aftermarket versions of the compressor available that have dowel pins wisely reinstalled where they belong to keep the compressor body intact. Note that these compressors use PAG 46 rather than the PAG 150 of the original design. I hope this helps someone else who may be experiencing this problem, or prevents it from happening entirely.

My search for a new toy is over... for now anyway. 🙂 I picked up this '99 Mustang GT today. I think I'm going to like it but the stock wheels have got to go.

If you look at Reatta Facebook groups you can see a lot of the threads are about someone parting out a Reatta. I guess the reason for that is parts are getting so expensive for a Reatta, both new and used, that people don't want to spend the money to fix them. What does that tell us? Are Reattas parts, and paying a mechanic to keep them up, getting so expensive that the threshold where a Reatta should be parted our versus trying to fix them up getting lower? Or does it mean that less people are interested in them and figure there is more money to be made parting out an old beater than trying to sell them? The way it's going the only people who are going to own a decent Reatta are people that can afford to pay big money for a low mileage Reatta to admire, brag about, and drive occasionally. The days of buying a Reatta as a cheap car seems to be over. Yeah, you can still buy a higher mileage Reatta at a good price, but after you spend the money on parts and labor to get it in good condition, your cheap driver isn't going to be so cheap. Especially if you have to pay a mechanic to do the work. My advice to Reatta owners who plan to keep them, is buy up all the parts that you can afford right now that are on Facebook and hang on to them because the price of those parts is going to get much more expensive and harder to find as the number of Reattas dwindles because of people parting them out.

When you want to use a generic automotive floor jack, but don't want to mangle your Reatta's sheet metal...

Good idea. I recently purchased a rubber pad for my floor jack that has notches molded into it that might serve the same purpose. I can't jack up my Mustang using the pinch welds because the pinch weld area has fiberglass ground effect parts attached to it. The main reason I bought the rubber pad is because the K member (cradle) where you jack up the front of a Mustang is slightly angled making it easy for a floor jack to slide off if you don't use a rubber pad to provide some grip. Using the jack metal to metal is dangerous and using just a block of wood isn't recommended on the front of a Mustang like mine. The rubber gives the jack a better grip on the K member, and the the pad has a lip on the bottom to keep it from slipping off the jack. For only $8 on Amazon the rubber pad is a good addition to any floor jack.

The good thing is that the 7th generation Rivieras had many mechanical parts that will fit on our Reattas. They made a few more Rivieras than Reattas.

Decided to try and get some better braking performance on my Reatta. The brakes always felt kinda spongy and like the pads were sliding on the rotors. I have been changing the brake fluid every 2-3 years, but it never made much difference in the 11 some years that I have owned it. Last weekend I changed front calipers and rotors using Delco parts, and some Bosch QuietCast semi-metallic pads. The brakes are way better now. Brakes start grabbing much better without the slipping feel, and I think I must have got more air out because they engage with slight pedal pressure. I think the calipers I took out were originals. They were not leaking at all, but maybe just old and stiff after 35 years. I still have to do the rear pads, calipers, and rotors when time permits. Now that its getting warmer here in Nebraska, it should be soon.

I've always loved the Reattas since first seeing one. I have a '72 Centurion convertible and a '12 Mazda MX-5 PRHT. I was distracted one day on Hemmings listings and my wife looked over my shoulder when I stopped on this Reatta; a 1990 with 34k miles in California. She perked up and said, "I want that car. I want my very own convertible." How could I be a good husband and refuse my awesome wife's request? So, it's now in our garage. I didn't see an "Introductions" thread, so I just put this one out there. Even with only 34k miles... as a nearly 35 year old car, it does need a little work, so I'm hoping to be in the right place. Last week I pulled out the original air filter and replaced the original spark plugs. (Apologies on the signature... my first attempt didn't take... I'll work more on that tomorrow.)

Thinking maybe some of you will be interested in seeing a chart of how active ROJ forum members were last year. The monthly count includes posts, and reactions to posts. Probably 20-25 percent of them were mine.

Just now leaving Saigon for a 3 day stay in Bangkok, then home. Saw a lot in Vietnam. Saw Hanoi Hilton but all the American cells were tore down. They talked mostly about the French occupation and little about our soldiers incarceration There were propaganda pictures of happy soldiers getting physicals, playing volleyball and basketball. Saigon we saw the tunnels the North Vietnam soldiers used and the various traps they used to injure US soldiers. Was very interesting, and gave me a new appreciation for those that came and served. Also saw the killing fields of Penhm Pehm. Walked away thinking how can people be so cruel to each other..

You can buy a kit to rebuild the headlight motors. The kit includes bushings, that tend to crumble over time, as well as new crankarms. The crankarms are made of a soft material that tends to wear out in the hole that fits on the shaft. The new crankarms are made of steel and will last the life of the car. I was thinking about rebuilding the headlight motors as preventive maintenance. If they have already been rebuilt you can check that off the list Thanks to Barney Eaton for the photos.

This isn't Reatta specific, but it may be a useful addition just to have handy when needed. The short backstory is I was looking for a way to connect my satellite radio subscription to my older cars I use in the winter. As it turns out a reasonably priced radio channel transmitter works flawlessly in several vehicles when blue toothed to my phone via the Sirius app. Maybe old news, but then again, I am old too. It simply plugs into the 12v lighter type socket and has a small display screen as well as a USB A connection. Once paired, it connects to my phone immediately when powered up. It doesn't create satellite radio, it is all per cell coverage, but it works surprisingly well and can be moved from vehicle to vehicle with no setup or physical changes. I found it handy travelling with a friend that has a large collection of music on his phone too. This is the one I have but there are many choices available. Amazon.com: Nulaxy Wireless in-Car Bluetooth FM Transmitter Radio Adapter Car Kit W 1.44 Inch Display Supports TF/SD Card and USB Car Charger for All Smartphones Audio Players-KM18 : Electronics

I haven't posted that many photos of my Reatta, but was going Through some old photos and found these. The day I bought her in Louisville KY. October 12 2019: Stopped off at this Advanced Auto to buy a new radiator cap, the first of many repairs. She's sitting next to my park avenue ultra which I have since sold :'( With the top down just after a wash The Rock Auto Magnet photo submission Brand new kicks! Trip to Brevard NC for anniversary with the wife. Washing "daddy's fast car" Big Stack O' Rock Auto Magnets

Today turned 327,000 miles. 1000 miles in 10 days...

Pretty self explanatory. They are 1/4" longer than OEM. Need to purchase 1/4" plexiglass, and longer bolts. The mounting holes have a metal sleeve, that can either be ground down, or as i did, ground out so the spacer lays flat. The clearance is slightly larger than a razor blade... should be sufficient. The right side sensor can be used also on the left side. It will be about a week before I get the rest of the suspension work completed and I will update on performance and function.

Forgive the less that perfect photos, but there's only so much even the best phone can provide. My girlfriend found me a universal LED kit for models, which I used to add lighting to the front lights, rear lights, and interior light. I am by NO means a model builder, this was a very simple (and totally reversible) modification that I think added a lot of pop to an already cool collectible.

Here’s my ‘89 and i can wink at people since one light doesn’t go up or down. 👍 I still need to do a ton of work as you can tell from a few things in the pictures.

I'm NOT recommending anyone try this but... I thought someone might want to hear about it. My daughter's Camry had cloudy headlight lens. The lens was bad enough that I thought about replacing the headlight assemblies. I saw on the internet that you could spray the plastic headlight lens with "OFF - Deep Woods" bug spray and it would make them look good as new. With her lens being so bad, what did I have to lose by trying it? After covering up the painted surfaces I sprayed the headlight lens generously with the Off bug spray and immediately wiped it off with a handful of paper towels. No scrubbing with the paper towels. Just a swipe to remove the excess Off and let it dry. A yellow residue was on the paper towel when I wiped the spray off. To my amazement the cloudy lens now looks like new. I don't know how it works or how long it will last, but after two days it still looks great.

I have never viewed a vehicle as an investment, so the Reatta value is not a disappointment to me. What it does do for me is make me look forward to the first drive in the spring after a winters sleep. Never fails to make me smile. I have never desired to be the member of a large group either. Not on the personal level, but that of things mechanical. Personal appeal is what I desire. After all, as I have mentioned in the past, my first brand new car was a first year AMC Pacer X in school bus yellow and ordered out by me😖 As mentioned above, if the vehicle has a following or personal nostalgia attached to it, the value shoots up. High school cars or ones lusted after during that time make up a fair amount of the market. Rarity doesn't seem to matter much. Just peruse the vintage car marketplace or auctions and a 1 of 100 Camaro will likely bring more than a 1 of 10 Mustang or possibly a 'Cuda. The Chevy will simply be more likely to have been in the buyers personal past. It just seems that simple to me. The Reatta won't be in many peoples past and the high schoolers of the era, now see it as an unusual used car. My two boys, classes of '89 and '93, each have one acquired through Dave, and I suppose I have something to do with it. Different era, different crowd.

Used the Bright Aluminum wheel kit from dipyourcar.com. Closest I could find to the original without getting too creative... or shelling bucks out for those remans. Sanded them down, ground and glazed the curb rash and popped out the emblems. Repainted the bumpers too, as they were crumbling apart the day I bought it. Been a project.

I drove my Reatta about 100 miles this morning on one of my favorite roads. I had a great time cruising in the cool morning air. It had been a while since I've had a chance to drive it so I got that first time feel that always brings a smile to my face. It fired right up and drove like a new car. The road I was on has lots of sweeping curves and gently rolling hills. Just enough of both to keep your interest while allowing you to enjoy the drive . I came home to eat lunch and rest a little before I jumped in the Mercedes and drove the same route on the same road. Both are great driving cars but they have an entirely different feel. The Reatta feels heavier (it is) and it holds the curves really well. The MB feels lighter and more nimble in the curves but it doesn't take the curves as smooth as the Reatta. It doesn't have rack and pinion steering but it does have a steering stabilizer shock on the steering linkage like the old Volkswagens had. I guess that is the reason the steering feels so different. Both cars are a lot of fun to drive. Power delivery of the 3800 V6 and the 2.2 liter inline 4 is completely different. 165 HP vs 148 HP is quite a difference but surprisingly you don't notice it much because of the lighter weight of the MB. The MB engine has VVT and I think that gives it more torque than you would expect but not as much as the 3800. The MB engine really likes the higher RPMs to without feeling strained. Both are really good engines. The Reatta is a much more high tech car. The MB doesn't have an electronic shift transmission or even a lockup torque converter. It's a very simple rear wheel drive car compared to the Reatta. The MB has standard analog gauges on the dash, which I like, and none of the high tech electronic stuff like the Reatta has. The MB does have ODB2 diagnostics. With a good scanner it gives a little more information about some things the Reatta diagnostics doesn't cover. Mostly ignition, brakes and emission problems I think. Comfort is good in both cars with the MB having an advantage in leg room and headroom. The Reatta has more of a solid feel. I think part of that is because the weight of the doors on the Reatta compared to the MB doors. Both have all the power features you expect in a luxury car, seats, mirrors and automatic climate control to name a few. It goes without saying that the Reatta wins hands down in looks and grabs a lot more attention.

We’ve been receiving messages and emails from a lot of you regarding our rear shock project. I owe you all some correspondence, so here’s what I know so far. Firstly, this info may change as I haven’t been able to get up with our sales rep at Monroe all week. They have gone radio silent all week. Secondly, we had to place an order for a minimum 1000 rear shocks in order for Monroe to produce the 71966 shock for us. We committed to that back in April. We were told Monroe would tool up and make them for us with that minimum order and only that minimum would be made. They assured us they had zero interest in holding inventory for what they referred to as an obsolete part number for them. They would produce them, but we had to buy them all. However, it appears that Monroe has been selling OUR order off the top of our pallets in their facility to everyone at well below our wholesale price without requiring the minimum order they required from us. Essentially destroying this project for us. Our order was even shorted with only 976 units or less reportedly coming. If you ordered shocks from anyone and the packing list says 71966-ST, you can thank us for that. That was our special part number for the order. Monroe has been stealing out units off our order and selling direct for well under our wholesale pricing. Monroe has continuously lied straight to our faces saying “we don’t fulfill direct for any retailers”, and that they’ve shipped our order. We still have yet to receive our order despite reportedly shipping from Monroe on Monday. Please bear with us while we try to get to the bottom of this. We have thousands of dollars tied up in this project and are committed to finding a resolution. Our intention is to renegotiate price with Monroe on what is left of our order (given how they’ve screwed us) and still fulfill all orders and offer folks a refund or store credit for the difference. Please stay tuned for more info, and we sincerely appreciate your patience in this matter. We are a small family run business who has been screwed by corporate America big time on this project and we are working to do our best for our loyal customers. regards, Marck Barker EastCoastReattaParts.com

This is probably the best, and most important, topic that has been started on this forum. We had a serious problem to solve with the rear struts being discontinued and no off-the-self alternatives could be found. We kicked around a lot of ideas and then came up with some good solutions to the problem. Solving problems and helping each other out is what the ROJ forum is all about. Thanks to everyone who participated!

First set of struts are done and I have four more sets that will be completed within the next week. I will let each of these sets go for $275 per pair, plus shipping. PM me if you are interested in purchasing. I will ask for a release of liability as these are modified to fill a need where no replacements exist. As mentioned earlier in this thread, these are new, Monroe brand gas charged struts. They started life as rear struts for the 1990 Regal, which are the same base strut as the Reatta but with different mounting brackets and missing the pinch bolt dent and sway bar adapter. All of the Regal brackets were removed, the pinch bolt dimple added, the struts painted satin black (where the brackets were removed, there was no paint). Each strut will include an A&A clamp on mount for the sway bar as shown.

I took my Reatta out today and I noticed a new mural has been painted on the side of a building in town so I got a shot of my Reatta beside it.

The 3D plastic printed adapter arrived today. it sides snugly over the Monroe 71801 Riviera struts that I have (which use the same body as the 71966, but with the addition of an air spring bladder). At the time, I made an assumption on the gland nut diameter being 48mm, however DPS.01 has since determined it is M51-1.5 diameter and thread pitch. I am going to have the top mount sleeve adapter printed in plastic for proof of concept of that so the stack up for the OEM bushings and retainers can be determined. Threaded end view (top) and slip end view (bottom). The resolution of the printing makes everything look threaded, but it is not. The threads are 1.5" deep which should allow for everything to come back to OEM suspension stroke, as the 73305 insert cartridge has 0.375" more stroke than the 71966.

Regarding rusted nuts and bolts, saw an interesting response in another forum I visit (Chevrolet SSR) on a variety of lubes used to break the rust. Since you "rounded" the head on your project, it may be too late. However, I've cut and will paste the response below. Sounds like some useful info that I have not tried myself, but maybe others have and can chime in. Sorry for the length of the article. Here goes: "From my experience in restoring antique trucks I tried most of the typically referenced penetrations sold. I found that none worked better than a concoction an old time restorer recommended. It was a 50:50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone. I never had it fail me in breaking loose countless “frozen” nuts and bolts. "Machinist's Workshop" recently published information on various penetrating oils. The magazine reports they tested these products for "break out "torque" on rusted nuts and bolts. A subjective test was made of popular penetrating oils, with the unit of merit being the torque required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" bolt. Average torque load to loosen nut: No Oil used .........................516 foot pounds WD-40 ..................... .........238 foot pounds PB Blaster ..........................214 foot pounds Liquid Wrench .......................127 foot pounds Kano Kroil ..........................106 foot pounds ATF/Acetone mix..................... 53 foot pounds The ATF/Acetone mix is a "home brew" mix of 50/50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Note this "home brew" released bolts better than any commercial product in this one particular test. Our local machinist group mixed up a batch, and we all now use it with equally good results. Note also that Liquid Wrench is almost as good as Kroil for 20% of the price. ATF/Acetone mix is best, but you can also use ATF and lacquer thinner in a 50/50 mix. ATF = Any type of Automatic Transmission Fluid."

Even though they are combined in the master cylinder as a unit, you can think of the ABS (Antilock Brake System) and the power brakes as two separate systems. 1. Power Brakes The red warning light staying on all the time tells you that there is a problem with the pressure in the power brakes system. This is a dangerous situation and the car isn't safe to drive. If you see the red warning light flash momentarily when you tap the brakes it is usually caused by a bad accumulator. The car can still be driven with caution but the problem should be fixed as soon as possible. 2. ABS The yellow ABS light tells you there is a problem with the ABS. When anything in the ABS system goes wrong, even one wheel sensor, the ABS light will come on and the entire ABS will be disabled until the problem is fixed. The power brake part of the system will still function normally and you can still drive the care safely as long as the red warning light isn't on. You just won't have the anti-lock feature of the Teves brake system. The ABS makes the Reatta stop much quicker in a panic situation without sliding the wheels. It has saved my butt several times. Something that should be noted is anytime the red warning light is on the yellow ABS warning light will come on within a few seconds. That doesn't always mean the ABS system has a problem. The problem that is causing the red warning light to be on should be corrected first before trying to get the yellow ABS light to go out.

Glad to be on the forum - here is a pix of my front yard during last years 4rth of July parade- thanks, bob

My '89 at the Rockville Car show of 500 cars - showing off my new "Survivor Plague"

I took my vert to Tower Rock Saturday. This is on the Mississippi River near Chester, Illinois. The river is low now that people can walk out to the rock in the river bed.

Posting here for future knowledge: the issue was in fact the harmonic balancer. My Handiman said the old one looked like it had been “beat on with a hammer.” replacing the balancer did fix the issue. I guess the moral of the story, is if you have a weird engine vibration you can't track down, it might be the balancer. Even if you don’t have the usual sound that occurs with a bad balancer.