Da' further adventures of da' trusty billy-goat wagon!

[elagache]

Dear Harle, Jim, John, and mid-60s Buick nondenominational muscle car lovers,

In the interest of keeping you young Harle, here is our 68 Coronet R/T hardtop, bought in 1978 and still drive it today. Edouard, this one could use the EFI!

Plz stop ,  I have a puddle of drool in front of my key board .

Well now, perhaps Jim should send that photo to Rich at FAST-Man-EFI.  That way we could get real Mopar guy to join the drooling! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick fans of beautifully washed and waxed cars,

Gosh darn it . . . .

Station wagons are really good for all sorts of things.  Alas, there is one chore for which a station wagon is a real drag . . . . . wash and wax.  That's when you discover that d'em long roof is awful hard on your muscles . . . .

Well, yesterday I started at 10am, took a short break for lunch, and didn't finish until 4:30 pm.  Still, I managed to get my trusty wagon out for a few quick glamor shots before putting her back in the garage:



Here is the passenger side front view:



Here is the all important tailgate from the passenger side:



Finally one last view from the driver's side:



Hopefully I won't be sore for more than a day or two!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Loren At 65GS]

As usual Edouard, pretty wagon.

Cleaning and waxing is always a big , time consuming task.  But necessary to protect our lovely Buicks.

  Loren

[GS66]

Great car all around Edouard!

[elagache]

Dear Loren, Jim, and mid-60s Buick "acreage appraisers" . . . .

Thanks, I was lucky.  Not only the wax job turned out nice, but I managed to take a really nice photos.  The sun was low on the horizon and that illuminated the paint without washing it out.  Considering I took all 4 pictures in less than 5 minutes - I'm pleased!

Cleaning and waxing is always a big , time consuming task.  But necessary to protect our lovely Buicks.

. . . . Yeah, but why does it seem that every six months there is even more surface to wax, while there doesn't seem to be any more room in the car?  It couldn't be that I'm growin' old or somethin' . . . . .

. . . . .

Cheers, Edouard 

[Loren At 65GS]

. . . . Yeah, but why does it seem that every six months there is even more surface to wax, while there doesn't seem to be any more room in the car?  It couldn't be that I'm growin' old or somethin' . . . . .

. . . . .

Cheers, Edouard 
[/quote]

Welcome to the crowd ,

 Loren

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick fans of exotic motor vehicles,

Have you ever parked next to one of these?



The car next to my trusty wagon happens to be none other than an Edsel Ranger!  The story of Edsel is much more fascinating than I had ever realized.  You can read up on it on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsel

As the Wikipedia article points out: "The Edsel is an automobile marque that was planned, developed, and manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for model years 1958-1960."  You guys might have known this but I didn't realize that Ford was trying to create a new division like Buick or Pontiac.  Of course GM brought together pre-existing companies with their own loyal buyers and reputations.  To try to create a new division for scratch was a bold move on the part of Ford.  However if they had succeeded, Ford would have 4 divisions: Ford, Edsel, Mercury, and Lincoln.  That certainly would have put them close to GM.  When Edsel failed, it put GM in another pickle.  They so dominated the market that they were close to the Sherman anti-trust criteria.  GM would lay low during the first part of the 1960s and this too set up the battle for the muscle cars.

As much as the Edsel was a flop they are now extremely collectible and are much beloved by their owners.  This one was getting some work done at Orinda Motors on the same day my trusty wagon went in to have her fuel regulator replaced.  The swap went perfectly.  Just one small problem: the new pressure regulator was completely defective! I've returned it for a replacement.  My wagon will have to limp along with the old pressure regulator until the new replacement can be installed.

I have one more bit of trusty wagon news.  Back in May I ordered a pair "retro 1960s" personalized license plates and they are waiting at our local DMV office.  I have an appointment to pick them up later in the month.  So what does the new license plate say?  You guys will just have to wait!   

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick outfitters for automotive "social occasions,"

A week from Saturday, my trusty wagon "is expected" at the Orinda Classic car show.  This is the first year since 2011 that she can be really driven so I really should try to make her look good.  I needed to ask a question on the FAST technical support forum and to motivate the guys over there to help me out I thought I would give them a bit of "eye-candy" in this photograph:



I didn't do a real engine detail.  I'm terrorized of screwing up some of the electronics in this engine bay (and there is a ton! )  However, I cleaned with what I could mineral spirits, I polished the chrome, and did the hoses with tire dressing.  The results aren't too shabby!

Enjoy!  Edouard 

[cwmcobra]

Very nice, Edouard.  We can see and feel the love!

Chuck

[66nailhead]

 [emoji1303][emoji1303] looks  good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners whose cars are truly a member of the family, . . .

Late this week, my trusty wagon developed a curious "skin condition" on her front bumper:



What's going on here?  A wider view reveals the culprits:



I fertilized our Granny Smith apple tree and the result is that we are overwhelmed.  I filled up a 5 gallon bucket and the trees still has plenty of apples that aren't ready to be picked.  I rinsed the fruit off and needed a dry place that was away from critters.  Since my wagon isn't moving at the moment - why not use the space in front of the car in the garage?

My wagon has faced this sort of embarrassment before:



Oranges make for an even more intense effect:



Fortunately, the problem vanishes when the fruit is finally dry and can be relocated!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick fans of trusty wagons,

Yesterday, my trusty wagon headed back over to Orinda Motors to make another attempt to replace the fuel pressure regulator and try to fix two oil leaks.  Over the past year or so, Orinda Motors has acquired a wagon of their own.  They will use it to shuttle car owners as they use their van now.  However, the wagon is also an advertising tool for their growing classic car work.  When I arrived at Orinda Motors I was able to park right next to their wagon:



Here is more of a side view:



Here is what the two wagons looked like from the back:



Note the respective personalized license plates.  Finally here is one last view from the driver's side:



You might be able to see that their is a logo painted on the rear windows of the cargo area which advertises Orinda Motors classic car service.

The fuel pressure regulator should be straightforward replacement.  One of the oil leaks is coming from the fuel pump block-off plate.  This plate is made of a weak steel and has leaked in both incarnations of this engine.  I asked Mike Tomaszewski of TA-Performance and he encouraged me to look for a beefier plate.   I was skeptical, but I looked anyway and found an outfit selling some very nice aluminum plates on eBay:

http://stores.ebay.com/jacer-enterprises/BUICK-/_i.html?_fsub=8095114010

I don't know if you guys would be very interested but he even makes fuel-pump block of plates for the 401 and 425 Nailhead engines!

The oil leak on the passenger side of the engine is more mysterious.  It is coming up through the hole of the center cylinder head bolt.  Mike knows that this hole doesn't come near oil or even water, so something is out of whack here.  Mike has given me a list of things for Orinda Motors to check and I'll run over there to take a bunch of pictures before we try anything to stop the leak.  Mike can look the situation over remotely and decide what's the best course of action.

In the meantime, my wagon will have plenty of classic company.  Right now Orinda motors has: 2 Ford Mustangs, 2 Ford pickup trucks (one from the 1930s,) a Ford Thunderbird, a Corvette, and one other car that I didn't get a good look at.  There were more classics in the service bay than modern cars!

Looks like she'll be in good hands!

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick caregivers,

One of my ongoing struggles in my three ringed circus life of mine was trying to solve a strange hot-starting problem my trusty wagon was having.  She has a FAST XFI Sportsman electronic fuel injection system that is described on this thread.  The ECU also controls the ignition using an E6 controller box.  After a moderate run on the freeway and having her sit on the driveway a few minutes to unload, she would turn over but not start.  The first time this happened to me, I opened the hood hoping it was some sort of overheating issue, and sure enough, after 15-30 minutes she was back to normal.  Ever since this problem has started I suspected this was some sort of overheating issue, but I could never nail it down definitively. 

All this started back in the Spring but this problem had gone to back burner because of oil leaks and other issues.  With the leaks fixed, yesterday I took her out on an extended freeway run to get the engine good and hot before trying to capture the hot start problem on my laptop when I got home.

Well, I finally did get home all right, but by then there was no need for logging.  About 1 mile from home the engine abruptly - quit!   I was on a busy access road at the time and just barely was able to make it onto a side street before rolling to a halt.  Up went the hood and the emergency flashers were turned on.

It was a strange experience!  All of a sudden a number of people stopped and offered to help.  Normally suburbia is so impersonal.  It was an excuse for people to admire my wagon and she got a lot of complements.  Still she was a very difficult spot on a side road with some traffic.  As soon as I could I managed to start her again, but she only was able to travel about a 1/4 mile before stalling again.  This wasn't a good spot either, but I managed to get to street with even less traffic.  So there she sat for another 20 minutes:



Finally the faulty part appears to have cooled off enough that I was able to drive the rest of the way home.  I posted a question about the incident on the FAST technical support forum and the only replies thus far suggest that the E6 controller box is faulty and will have to be replaced.  Fortunately, it should still be under warranty.  However, I'm not entirely sure the box is defective.  The instructions recommended placing this box in the passenger cabin if at all possible because it does have the potential of overheating.  The engine bay in my wagon can get really warm.  I have observed hot start logs with the intake air temperature over 150? when the ambient air temperature was not above 70? - with the hood open!    I don't know how much heat these boxes can take, so I'll need to find that before deciding what to do next.

Never a dull moment when you own a classic car!

Cheers, Edouard 

[schlepcar]

Back dealing with the "techies" again? I was wondering if you can actually see fuel spraying from that injection unit. I had simililiar problems after long driving and it ended up being no problem at all. The car would just vapor lock at anything above certain temperatures and altitude ranges. If It happened I would let it cool for two hours and it was normal again. This would generally happen above 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I ended up overdoing my coolant system and it solved the problem. If the car has a slow crank when this happens,it may be just too hot even though it isn't overheating.

[elagache]

Dear Dan and mid-60s Buick troubleshooters,

Back dealing with the "techies" again?

Afraid so, but it seems in this case the conclusion is beyond doubt.  According to a guy on the FAST technical support forum, The E6 Ignition box is defective and that's why it is overheating.  There is a lifetime warranty on the part, so I need to find a time when I can send it in for repair or replacement.

I was wondering if you can actually see fuel spraying from that injection unit.

Well, I haven't looked, but I am able to drive the car, so clearly the engine must be getting fuel.  I did log a hot-start before this incident and the fuel pressure is now steady as it should be.  So replacing the fuel pressure regulation seems to have solved the apparent "vapor-lock" problem.

Cheers, Edouard