|
My niece rearended someone, totalling her '08 Civic. While her uncle was thrashing Craiglist in the Philadelphia area for something she could afford, I happened upon a non-running '93 Buick Roadmaster wagon asking $2000. I wasn't really looking for a project (yet), but two things drew me: 1. It was close to my house 2. They claimed 58,000 original, one-owner miles. Less than a day later, I am gazing at a very dirty Roadmonster with a dead battery.  Can't check poo poo. Two brothers are selling it for their grandmother; it was her husband's pride & joy, garage kept (well: a leaky, cold, mouse infested garage, but better than outdoors); he died a couple years back, and the grandsons were driving it now & then. One day about eight months back, on I-95, it just quit running. Towed home, they guessed it was the fuel pump. They said that they replaced it, but no joy. I check it out as best I can: it's solid, doors open & shut smoothly; it's unmolested with a perfect (if dirty) interior, a few grandpa dings while berthing the beast; somehow, he pranged the rear hatch wiper, bending the shaft without breaking the arm. It has some surface rust on the underside, but no rust-through. The rest is cosmetic stuff I'm not even looking at - including the rare-rear end grille, which is stove in ($200 for plastic, fits only the RM wagon) - until the thing has had a good shakedown cruise.    $1100 & one AAA tow later, I have a large doorstop in my driveway.  After a new battery, & researching why the thing could be spinning & not catching, I get #1 son to crank the engine; no joy. Opening the airbox revealed the first mouse condo (stopped at the air filter, fortunately) . Cranked it again & hit it with starting fluid; started straight up. Pulled the gas tank. Mouse nest #2 was on top of the sending unit. Wiring was unmolested.   & replaced the sending unit (which was original) and the fuel pump (which may have been new - the hoses & clamps looked new, but the pump was dead). Started up & has been running ever since. Stopping, however, was a problem. Brake reservoir front chamber was empty; my fantasy of leaking rubber lines was dashed after refilling the reservoir & watching it empty from underneath the driver's side between the doors. So, up she goes!   The line had rusted out where it sat on top of the frame rail, which seems to be a common problem with big GMs in the Northeast. I removed most of the line up to the front wheel arch, & then ran into a real rat's nest of bends and why the gently caress did you assholes run it under the steering column & then under the upper control arm pivot... So I left that first two feet of (actually good, solid) line in place & declared victory.  Tomorrow: off to Generic Auto for 25' of the vinyl coated & some fittings. I am of high hopes that it'll be done & bled by tomorrow afternoon. Then, I can finally really road-test it. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Apr 2, 2018 |
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 04:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 10:50 |
|
|
Nice. I am still kicking myself for passing up that '95 that needed bodywork.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 05:41
|
|
|
Nice find, I love lucking into cars like that. You gonna flip it or keep it?
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 16:39
|
|
|
Hell yeah, last of the full-size wagons. I'm jealous.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 16:52
|
|
|
Haha, nice grab. My wife and I were just talking about these -- We were watching Dax Shepard on Hot Ones and he was asked which of his many cars were his favorite, and he said his Roadmaster Estate Wagon. I pointed out to my wife that I TOLD her they were cool cars (I bought one, a pristine '96 with 75k miles) and she didn't believe me. Now she understands a bit, since Dax confirmed.  Looks like you've got all the moldings either on the car or in the back, which is good. How's the tape-fake-wood perimeter on the wood trim? I had a couple chunks out of mine and couldn't think of a good repair other than a tactical art-type airbrush to make it match.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 20:14
|
|
EVERYWHERE 
|
Hell yeah nice find! Have a nice look at the calipers too. Last car I had with rust on the lines like that ended up having the rotor and caliper basically fall apart in my hands. Definitely recommend some speed bleeders or a vacuum bleeding kit, but you've apparently got sons you could possibly con into bleeding the brakes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 21:14
|
|
|
Love those old things. My wife would murder me in my sleep if I ever brought one home, however. I've threatened it, many times.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2018 21:18
|
|
|
Applebees Appetizer posted:Nice find, I love lucking into cars like that. That really is the question I'm pondering, as I sit here, aches developing everywhere & my hands slowly inflating & scabbing over. Finished the brake line & bleed about 4PM. Jesus, what a bitch; everything located in a tight spot under/over something. Still have to go back & adjust some bends so I can get the line from the ABS through the engine compartment into its various racks & isolators. Oh yeah...flip or sell. I had it up to 80 at 4:15 when the Philadelphia Orchestra with Chick Corea was doing great justice to "Rhapsody In Blue." Appropriate for a floating concert hall. The Buick ride remains impeccable, even though it needs new shocks all around. It was hard to park it. On the other hand, I don't know what might be fixin' to go tits-up. It runs & rides like its mileage, the calipers are rusty but work; I have to pull the drums & have a look, but the brakes are working properly; but it is still 25-years old. The muffler looks...iffy. In New Jersey, it's exempt from state inspection, so there's that... I'd like to take at least one good, long road trip in it. The best move may be to list it on various sites for a ridiculous reserve/amount and enjoy it for a while. I would like to sort out the shocks, the grille, right rear window motor (track's broken or something; goes down all right, but comes up cock-eyed), the rear wiper, and get the alloys on it. I have a line on a factory set for $100, but no response from the seller yet. Everything works. Also, if I keep it, it's getting an MP3 input; either a newer GM radio (Monsoon) or an aftermarket JVC. Seminal Flu posted:
Yeah, they're all there; they must've started coming loose when Grandpa was alive; he tried reattaching them with two-sided tape and Gorilla Glue. I've been pulling them off, since I intend to run it through a car wash in the near future. I have to heat them up some & straighten them, get busy with a razor scraper & decide whether to use adhesive silicone or 3M spray to reattach them. And yeah, the light-colored woodgrain trim is losing its applique in little flakes here & there. Great minds must think alike, because all I could think to do was to cut off what's loose, figure out some way to seal the edges (clearcoat?), and break out the Testor's to hand-paint woodgrain back on. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Apr 2, 2018 |
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 00:13
|
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:On the other hand, I don't know what might be fixin' to go tits-up. The water pump.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 01:18
|
|
|
I remember looking up parts for them on rock auto once and laughed at how drat cheap everything is. They made a billion of those things, so a water pump you say? A gates one is $20. I dunno what I would do in your case but if it were a 94+ (LT1) then I think I'd keep it for sure.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 01:24
|
|
|
Larrymer posted:I remember looking up parts for them on rock auto once and laughed at how drat cheap everything is. They made a billion of those things, so a water pump you say? A gates one is $20. Ah, I forgot the LT1 didn't start until '94, so a '93 water pump isn't anywhere near the pain of water pumps and optisparks.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 02:01
|
|
|
Turbodiesel it. You know you want to.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 02:20
|
|
|
That fake wood paneling. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 02:25
|
|
|
https://paceperformance.com/c-1074751-engine-shop-crate-engines-bare-blocks-and-long-blocks-chevy-small-block-trans-engine-packages.html Just going to post this here so you can have some ideas.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 02:48
|
|
|
Nice. I helped my uncle reapply the wood grain vinyl to the hatch door on one that had been rear ended, circa 1995 or so.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 03:21
|
|
|
I'd have put Cunifer brake lines in, but you'll get a few years out of the steel ones. Those old boats are really cool. I'll bet the rear window is a damaged regulator; the weight of the window is enough to keep it square going down, but it can't handle the force of the motor. They're usually repairable with the right size steel wire rope and crimp ferrules, plus a Dremel to reshape the crimps... Or buy a new one for like $50.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 12:29
|
|
|
sharkytm posted:Or buy a new one for like $50. Thread title.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2018 16:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 10:50 |
|
|
This is relevant to my interests.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2018 23:30
|
|
