rkmdogs

[quote name='HarleyEarl' date='Aug 25 2005, 12:39 PM'] rkmdogs, there is a book in there somewhere, you have knack for story writing. :( Sorry about your Buick experience. " Been there, done that, --- thank you, I do like to relate experiences and have done some writing in the past. There is one other story about the Buick to relate. It is one about cleanlyness. I used to always keep my engines clean, for appearance purposes, but I learned of another, more important reason --- the hard way. One time I pulled into a gas station to buy a pack of smokes, (we did that back then). When I came out to restart the Buick which was still warm, I hit the gas while engaging the starter, and the car backfired! The next thing I new, smoke was coming out from under the hood. I used to carry a compact fire extinguisher in the glovebox, so I reached over, got it out, went out and popped the hood. (No inside releases then) As I opened the hood, flames shot up and I aimed and pulled the trigger on my compact extinguisher. NOTHING HAPPENED! The extinguisher had apparently leaked, and there was no gauge on it to observe that it was empty of pressure! The station attendent then came running with their extinguisher and put out the fire. This whole thing happened in about 20 seconds!............. but, the result was, there had been a flame-up from a carburetor backfire, but all the wiring on the top of the engine had been coated with a film of oil residue, from lack of cleaning the oil caught fire and the whole engine wiring harness burned and the wire insulation had melted! I had to have the car towed to a friend's garage, and replaced the whole engine wiring harness, including the plug wires! Not cheap!!! After that, I cleaned my engine compartment at least once a month, whether it needed it or not!

I mentioned this car in the Corvair thread, and then I found this pic. This was gem! I had traded in the Corvair for this 1962 Buick Special coupe, built to order as I mentioned before. I had a friend who had bought one of the first Skylark coupes, with the high-compression ratio. He was having constant problems with blowing head gaskets, so I wanted to avoid that issue. I bought the standard 155hp, 215cu. in. all-aluminum V-8(3.5L for you metric boys) with the 4-speed tranny and thew police & export options that I mentioned. I wrote to Buick and asked about getting a trailer hitch. I got a rather nasty letter back, which I still have, that they built CARS, not trucks and they did not consider a hitch on any Buick as acceptable! Boy, have things come around. Well, besides the spring issue, which got resolved, I had problems with the 4-speed grinding. Zone service rep said that I had bad syncros, should be replaced. So, scheduled an appointment to do so. Got a call the next day to come get the car. I asked, which mechanic had worked on it, 'cause I knew most of them. I was told curtly, "Just drive the car!" This made me suspicious, so I went out to where the car was parked & looked under it, at the trans to see if I could see anything. Well, living in the North at the time, we got snow in the winter---- and after snow you get salt trucks on the highway. On my car I observed salt spray tracks over the bolts on my transmission case, and we hadn't had any snow for a while, so I knew the bolts had never been removed. I called the Zone Service Mgr. to report what I found, and he swore his tech rep says that he saw my trans torn down & the syncros replaced! I told him I could prove that never happened ---- and he said, "Drive the car." The syncros still caught, ---- and I never went back to that dealership again. That was also the last Buick I ever bought! I must say though, it was one of the best cars I ever owned. Ran it 98,000 miles, and it was still only costing 4 cents a mile to drive when I traded it in 1967 :unsure: .

Here's a pic that I ran across while rummaging. We used to have a slot car racing club that met every week, with different class racing each time. So, you had to buid a large collection of different types. This was mine, at the time.

[quote name='Sixty8panther' date='Aug 25 2005, 12:45 AM'] Screw the cops, I want a 5th gen. Camaro in base trim wiht NO power options (except for brakes and steering) a 6-spd manual and an LS7. Paint it up light green or sky blue... make it really look like a Chick car and I'll be up at the dragway humiliating people left and right! nothing coller than a sleeper. Any idiot can make a 17 second Civic look like a touring car but make a car that looks like a 15 sec. girly mobile run a 11.9 and you've got yourself a sick ride! (cheesy plastic hubcaps please)" (Sigh) When are you guys gonna learn! Stck trans today, on an everyday car is macho, but passe'. Try 10 out of 10 fast shifts and I guarantee you will blow one of them. Autos today are not the old slushboxes or yore! You can't think as fast as an auto, nor read the engine signs as quick as the brain on the trans! Now I'm not talkin' straight out of the box slusheboxes, that are made to appease the moms and grannies. I'm talkin' about a built, hard-shiftin' auto that will walk all over you and eat you alive 9 out of 10 times. You may get lucky ---- once, maybe twice, but in the long run, you'll lose! I gave up on sticks when I had to do a 38 mile commute into and out of the Chicago loop, and never got above 2nd gear! I got left leg fade from pumping a stiff clutch! For the week-end warrior, stick-shifts and clutches make about as much sense as bias-ply tires!

[quote name='Flybrian' date='Aug 24 2005, 11:59 PM'] Here's a little-known fact: The budget A-body models introduced in '61 for Buick, Pontiac and Olds started off as Y-body (Corvair) variants." Thank God they didn't make them, but came up with the BOP series instead. Had one of those too! One of 11 built with full police and export option packages! Funny story on that one. When dealer placed the order, he did not include the export option springs. When the car arrives, I pick it up & start checking the build. Can't verify the spring option, so I called Zone. They told me dealer had not ordered. But my sales contract specified that option. Dealer did not want to fix, so I called Zone again. They made the dealer order the springs, at their expense and put them in and eat the stock springs! Last time Buick did something for me, cause another tale on the 4-speed "wall job".

Here's a little tip for you Sixty8, when you get your dream Corvair. When these cars were built, they were not privy to the later technology about sealing. These cars were all leakers! By that I mean, due to thermal expansion and contraction, fasteners would loosen, and the the engine would start leaking oil! It was a rule of thumb that every 20,000 miles or so, you had to go in and retighten all the fasteners! With todays' technology and the use of sealants or lockwashers, you can cure that ill. :unsure:

Oh yeah, and if you really want to get the low-down on the second generation Corvairs, go to: wwwcorvaircorsa.com/intro.html :rolleyes:

O.K., somebody asked to start this thread----- so I did, as probably the oldest former Corvair owner! Tale from the past- My 1960 Corvair was ordered in the last 30 days of production, right after the GM entry had won its' class at the Sebring 24hr. race. That was were the 95hp Sebring engine came from, and I was told that less than 10 were built on production '60 models. It was a regular option in '61 and later. BTW, the standard engine was only 80hp. The differences were in the cam and exhaust system. It did have a very nice throaty sound. I had also ordered it with the 4-speed trans, but they reneigged on that option and I got it with the 3-speed stick. One frustration, the rear-end geometry was fixed, not adjustable. And, sometimes, on wet pavement with a slight wind, the tail would wag -- and you would have to cut speed to less than 40mph to be safe and keep from fishtailing all over the place! They fixed this on the '61's by making the IRS adjustable! No more tailwag! One other idiosyncracy of the 95hp. It could rev!!! But if you were not careful in your shifting to not let the engines revs get out of hand, the fanbelt would flip off of the pulleys, since it ran in two planes.(Horizontally on top of the engine, and then turned vertcally down to the crankshaft pulley, over an automatic tensioner. This became such a common occurence that I made a custom tool to set the preload tension when you put the belt back on the pulleys. It got so that I could reinstall the belt in less than 3 minutes, even on the side of the road, in the dark! This all changed with the 2nd generation models in 1965. But to no avail -- Ralph Nader had already started his hatchet book. Note below that the style of the day was pillarless hardtops, in both 2 and 4 door models!

One other major distinction - rear wheel openings. The '55 & '57 Nomad had teardrop wheel openings. The '56 had round wheel openings. The Safaris' had half-flattened openings.

You guys into Corvairs? I loved'em. I had a 1960 Corvair 700 Coupe. With the "Sebring" option-engine. 95hp. Only problem -- had an 800 rpm idle, and in the winter the starter couldn't spin it fast enough to start on its' own. I also order the 4-spd., but they wouldn't give it to me--- held that back for the 1961 Monza feature! Meanwhile, drool over this one! B)

[quote name='HarleyEarl' date='Aug 24 2005, 01:11 PM'] Here's what we need, Holey moley Batman! Shades of Broderick Crawford! 10-4, good buddy.

AND,...... I was talking about cars made by the General, that would be legal here. It we want to discuss tomorrow, this one is gonna kick everybody's ass! Can't wait for the Michigan tests next month. :rolleyes:

Nice thoughts Northstar, But a little info for future dreams. Rule of thumb: The smaller the engine, in outputs(horsepower, torque) the more gears you need to produce acceptable performance.i.e., the 4 should have the 6-speed, the v-6 only needs the 5 speed. This is how truckers can move such HUGE weights, with relatively small engines -- lotsa gears! But dragsters, with mega horsepower usually only have 2gears, and Jim Hall's Chapparal race cars did the deed with Powerglide 2-speed automatics!

Oldsmoboi, You give a new meaning to the word, "clunker" May all your future rides be as "clunker" as this one!

Frequency of servicing is based on how the vehicle is used, and most people do not understand that fast driving, highway use is actually "light" duty! Stop & go city driving, short distances, without complete warm-ups and temperature stabilization is actually "severe" use! It is the operating conditions, and the quality of filtration that determines when fluids need to be changed due to property exhaustion or contamination. Short hauldriving, where the engine does not get up to operating temperature for a sustained period produces the most contaminates, mainly water in the oil. Cold oil when mixed with water causes sludge to form in your engine and in your oil filter. This sludge prevents proper lubrication of the moving parts in an engine, which causes premature wear! 3000 mile intervals are just a rule of thumb. If you drive only short distances infrequently, you could need an oil change as often as every 1000 miles! On the other hand, if when you turn on the engine you then drive 50 or 100 miles without turning off the engine, and not doing stop & go driving, but steady highway use, you could go 4000-6000 miles between changes. It all depends on how you use the car.

Yeah Trevor, But what options do those mainstream buyers have? None, unless they go upscale! We need choices, not echoes!

[quote name='mute' date='Aug 23 2005, 10:46 PM'] screw minivans i hate em, sob . . . why cant i get a truck? . . .sob" You can, mute! Just go rob a bank, take out a quart of your own blood, and sign over your first born child......... then maybe they will let you look at the inside of a baseline truck. As long as the fuzzy thinkers in our great capital think that they have to protect us from ourselves, and know how to make cocoon cars, better than schooled designers & engineers, vehicle costs will continue to skyrocket. In this world economy which everybody on the propaganda mainstream media thinks evolves around "free trade" instead of "fair trade", you'll be looking at trucks made in China, sold as GM products, but not made here!

AND..... it is RWD, with an LS2 engine and all the other goodies from the GTO!

Here's a pic of some very happy cops! Should be, look what they are driving, that we can't get here --- but it is made by the General. Guess where? That's right, down under, along with the Holden, Monaro and .... the GTO! Why can't we get our priorities straight?

And then I got talked into entering the 2005 Daytona Spring Car Show -- my first........ and last time! It's a lot of work trying to make a street driver look as pretty as a trailer queen!

I don't remember what I ran against in these pics. My son was in the grandstands shooting the photos. My biggest pleasure at the time was blowing off M-Benz's! I never spent money for slicks, cause I would have had to carry them out and change, 'cause I drove to the track & drove home! This was no trailer queen. About the Super Chevy article, it is 6 pages long ---- can't post it, but Sixty8panther send me your e-mail and I'll send you a copy.

At the time these pics were taken, it had a blue-printed, 400 small-block, releaved of duty from a full-size station wagon, a 1976 if I recall. But then it had some add-ons. If you like, I could send you a copy of the story about it that was in Super Chevy magazine. There was one last shot in this series of pics that showed the finish line and the clocks, but I didn't want to hog that much space. I also have a pic of it that was in the Chevelle Review from the 1988 National show held in Nashville, TN. At that time I had done an engine change, (again sob), and had added the Z-28 wheels. When we moved to FL. I had too many vehicles to take with, so I sold it to a young man in Nashville, TN. who was capable of giving it a heavy dose of TLC that it sorely needed at that time. That was in 1999. The car originally was from Des Plaines, IL., and had been taken well care of, before I bought it in 1986 at a police car auction. I did not have the police service records on it, but I had the original line sheet that I found in the car, from when it had been built. It was a well-loaded model. :rolleyes:

'83 Malibu@ Great Lakes DragawayO.K. Sixty8panther, you made me brave! Here's my attempt to load the ol' Malibu showin' its' stuff!