First week with my Reatta

[DAVES89]

No But I plan on being at the National meet held in Wisconsin this July.

[Posti]

I decided to register the Reatta as HPOF - Historic Preservation of Original Features.  I think the car is pretty much as it left the factory, with original paint and interior.  A little nervous about driving it that far, which is silly.  I've put over 2,000 miles on the car and it runs great.  They extended the deadline to register until today if you do it online at www.aaca.org, and then send in the paperwork.

[Posti]

WEEK 19

 

After deciding not to post if I did not accomplish anything, I got busy on the Reatta to prep it for the AACA Southeastern Spring Meet in Charlotte  in less than two weeks.  First off, the engine bay was sorta grungy, so I gave it a good bath.  To my surprise, a good deal of the paint on the underside of the hood washed right off like dirt!  Note the shiny metal in the middle of the hood in the photo.  I was able to pick up some correct color Dupli-Color Arctic white, which has a touch of cream.  After masking off the light and center bumper, I repainted the underside and it came out well.  Then I attacked the wheels - that is covered by separate post.  They came out really well.  And got a slow leak in the left rear fixed.  I still want to clean the inside up and maybe give the car a good wax again next weekend, but she is pretty much ready to roll!

[Ronnie]

I wonder if the paint came off because the insulation blanket under the hood is missing and was effected by heat? OR maybe the factory applied a minimal coat of paint in that area knowing the blanket would be attached.?

[Posti]

Good question - probably a combination of those factors. I have not seen any indication that the car ever had an insulation blanket/pad under the hood. There were no adhesive spots or worn areas in the paint, and no retainer tabs or plugs. I'll have to check the junkyard car to see if there is one on it.

[Ronnie]

There should be a blanket. The photo below will show you the location of the attachment points.

[Frogware]

Bob -

Just a thought...The Hood spring leaves a nice rust mark on the black plastic shield where it rests. I used some back to black on mine and then placed a blue shop towel where the spring rests to prevent future rust marks.

 

By the way the engine compartment looks great, do you have a before picture?

 

Scott

[Posti]

The brake pump stopped working yesterday - the light came on and i was able to drive for a while before the pedal got hard.  I ahd hit the parking brake with my foot and had been hoping I had just triggered the warning light.  One of the relays had fallen down on the exhaust gas pipe - I plan to replace it tomorrow in hopes that is the culprit.  If not, I have a complete good used master cylinder unit i can swap out.  I'll check the fuses and breakers first, of course.

 

UPDATE:  I swapped out the relay and the brake pump came back on and seems to work fine.  I'll have to watch it for a while.  In the meantime, the power steering has started leaking - A common problem on this series of GMs, even when they were much newer.  Ah, the fun of old cars!

[ShadowMaster98]

Any update on this project?

[Posti]

My Reatta is not really a 'project' per say - doing pretty well, though it has typical issues of a nearly 3-decade old car. It currently is in need to a new steering rack, which I may be able to get done this weekend. A recent acquisition is a really nice original driver's seat upholstery set to replace the worn and split covers on my car. That was less than $100 on eBay, considerably cheaper than having an upholstery shop try to patch are recreate the cover in matching leather! I've restricted use of the car until I can get the steering rack done, though I still run it short distances. Running and driving great, and the AC is keeping the interior nice even on 95 degree days.