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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

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.

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...

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.

Returning from my trip to Arkansas for the recent eclipse. Lucked out with perfect weather and clear skies. Attached are three photos, one is my poor cell phone photo held up to the eyepiece of my small telescope and the others are from a kind lady from Texas who shared pics from her nice camera and lens combo. Bet you can guess which might be which😜

New adventure, I made my own version of the "Shelfence". Black walnut, works great, keeping small bits from sliding under the seats, and larger things within reach depending on which passenger wants to reach them. Storage bins still open without a problem, and the whole assembly is easily removed by lifting the back end and rotating upwards.

That's a good idea, however what I do is drive the car I have with a weak battery over to the local you pick yard and go in and look at batteries on the shelf. I pick one out, set it on the counter and ask the guy to hold it while I bring in the core battery [ the one that is in the car]. I bring it in, and only get charged for the battery and no core. The selling price is $30.00 and this is an 800 amp battery about a year old.

I got the starter changed and it started without hesitation after sitting for two weeks in -30 / -10 degree weather. Pretty cool. I had to drop the vented plastic panel to reach the bolts for the positive and negative connections and the short bolt on the starter. The job wasn’t too bad, I only needed a few different sockets, and two socket extensions to reach the two bolts holding in the starter. They were pretty locked in place though. I ended up putting my biggest socket on the 18 inch extension and putting it over the handle of my ratchet to make an on the spot breaker bar. The only other thing that gave me trouble was reaching the 10mm bolt on the dust cover more toward the front of the car. The bolt holds down the cover and a little wire clamp. The wire guard housed inside the clamp is right in front of the bolt and hard to move. In total, in the snow, it took two hours to get the old starter out, a cup of hot chocolate, two old ladies asking me what I was doing outside, and about fifteen minutes to put the new one in and get everything back together.

2 seater tells me all the time that I am the guy that learns first the quirks the Reatta develops because of the miles I have on the Red [329,xxx of today]. Well today I learned another new thing. The plastic Teves reservoir is held in place with rubber grommets on two points on the top of the Master Cylinder. These grommets are also seals to keep the brake fluid from leaking onto the MC and then onto the ground. I went to Kendalls with my back up Teves MC and we compared the replacement units grommets to the original one on the car. The replacement unit grommets were soft and pliable, the original unit grommets were hard and cracked. So we swapped the grommets, saving me swapping out the entire Teves unit. Later this week I will be going to Gibson's the local You Pick yard for more grommets. One pair to make my back up complete again and another pair for "just in case".

UPDATE: after dealing with two defective leaky new windshield washer pumps, I finally have a winner! 3rd time is a charm. The $28 AC Delco was a dud...leaked from the weep holes just like the first no-name $8 pump. Glad I bought from Amazon, easy refundable returns on the leaky duds. This one works, no leaks and pumps strong for $9.99 from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078XY4V3Y?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Happy Birthday Dave! Hope you had a good one. I think we got our Reattas close to the same time. I was really happy to get to meet you and your wife in Nashville and park our cars side by side. They almost looked like twins. It's hard to believe that has been over five years ago. I hope you enjoy your vacation and your time in Texas.

Alot of blood sweat and tears went into making this car beautiful and road worthy again. Thanx for everyones help! SOLD to a car collector in Australia for $7500. Next project is full restoration of a 450SL with 40k original miles.

Update: So equipped with a better soldering gun I re-did that splice as well as most of the others both under the passenger and driver's seats. There were a couple I left alone because they looked fine. The ones under the passenger seat were very bad. A couple fell apart taking the tape off. Now for the bad news, fuse #2 still blows :P. The work was not for naught though as it did clear up another issue that I assumed was related to the body fuse issue, but apparently was not. That said, I'm going to cut that splice 311 back apart and troubleshoot from there. It was one of my first splices and I'm not real happy with the soldering job on it so I was kind of wanting to re-do it anyway. My technique got much better 3 or so splices in and from there I was real happy with them. One lesson learned though. The wiring was pretty well tarnished. Even stripping the insulation back the wire underneath was black in most cases. One of my biggest struggles was getting the wire clean enough to take the solder. A little research online, I found a guy that works on boats (highly corrosive environment) that used muriatic acid to clean contacts. I tried it and it worked fantastic. My procedure was to dip just the tip of the stripped wire into a can with a small amount of the acid and let sit for 5 or so seconds. The wire comes out almost perfectly clean. Then dip into water with baking soda to neutralize any remaining acid, wipe dry with a paper towel and then wipe down with rubbing alcohol for a final clean. That saved my fingers from a lot of rubbing with sand paper, which is what I tried first and concluded "there has to be an easier way." Thank you Chemistry. EDIT: Here is the youtube video I found https://youtu.be/mMF5bhbucro?si=ip5vALkUCoUKHBRC For those interested muriatic acid is Hydrochloric acid (HCl) and can be bought at home depot as a strong concrete etcher/cleaner. It is nasty stuff so you want to follow all the precautions on the bottle for sure. Baking soda works well as a neutralizing agent. HCl does not react with copper, but reacts strongly with copper oxide. It will cause copper to corrode faster because as it reacts with the copper oxide it continuously exposes fresh copper to oxidation, so it is important to get it all off the copper after the cleaning is done.

There are two flasher "cans located up high behind the dash to the right of the steering wheel. To do a simple test turn on your emergency flashers to se if both turn signals flash the same. If they do then it is likely the directional flasher can. Going from memory the cans are in a bracket high up and can be reached from the bottom of instrument panel. Turn on the directional and reach up to "feel" for the can. having the directional on you will feel the click and know that is the one to remove. best advice is the leads to the can are long, so when you remove the bad can bring the cans down lower for the next time should you need to do it again.

I wasn't really looking to add yet another vehicle to my arsenal, however I came across this beauty while browsing my local CL and I couldn't help myself. It's a 2012 Regal GS, Smokey Grey over Black leather, 6-speed manual. 112k miles, and she's an absolute garage queen. The previous owner stored it in a heated garage under a cover in the winder, and just had the OEM wheels blasted and powder coated. The interior smells like brand new, not a single mark anywhere. I drove her 150 miles home today without missing a beat.

Thanks guys. On another front I knew my front brakes needed to be done so this morning was front pads and rotors. After that I also swapped out the oil level sending sensor. When I pulled the old one out the plastic float was off only the rod remained. Put in the new one [different design at the head] and now no warning. Enough for today for this old guy crawling around on the floor...

Turn the HVAC Blower on high, close the doors and windows. Using a soapy water solution spray it around the windshield, windows doors and rear window. Look for bubbles blowing out of the car. I have a smoke machine and I wave the smoke around the areas looking for a disturbance in the smoke. Jim

To reassure everyone of my intentions for ROJ... thought I'd let you all know that I've paid for another 12 months of hosting for ROJ, and paid another 6 month subscription fee (paid biannually) for the forum software so we're good to go for another year.

Not a good picture but when I just bought Fred (my wife calls it Fred) one owner 57,000 miles

Contact Jim Finn reattas60@gmail.com . He has been selling used Reatta parts for years at reasonable prices.

ECRP, as an established company that supplies Reatta parts, may have enough clout and buying power to convince Monroe to make another run of rear struts if a large enough quantity are ordered. I think Marck is sincere in saying he is trying to get them in stock. I expect they will be expensive. Most things that are in short supply are. People with nice, low mileage, Reattas will be happy to get them at any price. The rest of us with average drivers will continue down the path we are on of modifying a strut that will fit at a lesser cost. It's always good to have options. Most of us here on the ROJ forum have a common goal, trying to figure out ways to keep our Reattas on the road. I'm proud of what we have accomplished so far on finding a solution to the discontinued rear struts. Although I don't think Marck is a member of this forum, my hat's off to him for taking the initiative to try to make new rear struts available. I don't think he is partnering with someone here to make a reproduction strut. If he is it would really look bad on him, his company, and the person on this forum he is partnering with...