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

[dsags]

Edouard,

Simple fixes are the best fixes. Congratulations on solving the problem !

Dan

[Loren At 65GS]

Happy Home Coming Biquette !

  Loren

[cwmcobra]

That's great news, Edouard!  Enjoy the thrill of taking Biquette on her favorite outings.  And for your next soap-opera, we here would all appreciate and episode where the greatest drama is how well she runs, how well she handles and how well she puts a continuous smile on your face.  We love happy endings!

  to you and Biquette.  Enjoy!

Chuck

[elagache]

Dear Dan, Loren, Chuck, and mid-60s Buick fans of a certain rascally wagon,

Thanks!  It's been a long time coming, but things do appear to be finally coming together.  John Vanek who is the manager of Orinda Classic Car remarked that the engine is much quieter than before and to my amazement he is absolutely correct.  The new cylinder heads and valve-train hardware is working much more smoothly than before.

And for your next soap-opera, we here would all appreciate and episode where the greatest drama is how well she runs, how well she handles and how well she puts a continuous smile on your face.  We love happy endings!

High in my priority list is waking up my laptop and taking a look at the engine performance as seen by the Electronic Fuel Injection software.  Mike Tomaszewski did such a great job matching the engine's old specifications that it is running wonderfully on the old tuning parameters.  However, I might have been too stingy on some of the cold start settings.  I'm hoping to take some new videos that can be compared against the ones I took in 2016, so that the difference in noise can be made obvious.  I'll also try to take some video while driving the car.  That's the best way to show the "smiles" on my face!

All this is going to have to wait a bit though.  We are expecting a nasty heat wave and that's not classic car weather.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Super65lark]

Edouard this is all great news. That must be a blast to have the EFI.
Good luck and looking forward to the videos.

[GS66]

Great news, looking forward to the videos!

[TrunkMonkey]

...
All this is going to have to wait a bit though.  We are expecting a nasty heat wave and that's not classic car weather.

...

Yes.

A hot goat does not launch well...

[elagache]

Dear Iain, Jim, Michael, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Thanks guys.  I'll try to make those videos as soon as the weather cooperates and I have some free time.

That must be a blast to have the EFI.

Actually EFI doesn't give you any more power than a carburetor.  What you get is control.  Here is a graph that is generated by the software that came with FAST Sportman that is in my wagon:



It is part of this thread:

http://65gs.com/board/index.php/topic,2719.msg17500.html#msg17500

As you can see, Electronic Fuel Injection allows you to control many more parameters of the engine's performance than the control screws of a carburetor and the available adjustments of a mechanical ignition system.  By fine tuning the available parameters, you can get the engine to run more smoothly or save more gas.

However, if you plan to use EFI, you can use a more aggressive cam than you might have otherwise chosen.  The Stage-1 cam in my wagon's engine, would be idling rougher than I would have preferred using a carburetor.  With the EFI you can get additional power and still have a pleasant driving experience.

A hot goat does not launch well...

. . . Uh, let's not get carried away with that analogy! . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners who's cars are members of the family,

After the mid-week heat-wave, temperatures are finally cooling down enough for classic cars to venture out once more.  I ran over to Orinda Classic Car to make my sales pinch for a 3.08:1 rear end ratio and, as feared, ran into a concerted attempt to increase the ratio and therefore the noise level.  We shall see.  After that visit, I ran over to our local supermarket for some basic provisions:



So my trusty wagon is getting back into her normal activities.  Back home at last! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[GS66]

Good to see things back to normal!

[elagache]

Dear Jim and mid-60s Buick caregivers who occasionally get tripped up by high-tech . . . .

Good to see things back to normal!

Even better! . . .    I managed to connect my laptop to the ECU of the electronic fuel injection and make a backup copy of the fuel injection settings.  This might not seem important, but I wanted to do this since . . . . . . April 2017!   Had these settings been lost, I would have had to get the engine tuned professionally again!  Fortunately, the ECU didn't get zapped somewhere along the way and finally I have a backup copy!  When it comes to anything related to computers . . . . it seems you can never have enough backup copies!!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Loren At 65GS]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners who's cars are members of the family,

After the mid-week heat-wave, temperatures are finally cooling down enough for classic cars to venture out once more.  I ran over to Orinda Classic Car to make my sales pinch for a 3.08:1 rear end ratio and, as feared, ran into a concerted attempt to increase the ratio and therefore the noise level.  We shall see.  After that visit, I ran over to our local supermarket for some basic provisions:



So my trusty wagon is getting back into her normal activities.  Back home at last! 

Cheers, Edouard 

  I like it !  Looking good Edouard.

  Loren

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners who like when their cars are appreciated! 

I got as far as to connect my laptop to the ECU in Biquette and collected log data of a cold start along with a video.  Alas, I ran out of time to really look at either.  However once I got my wagon all warmed up, I went off to errands at the local drug store and supermarket.  Lots of electric cars in California these days, but even so, a fellow working in a yard noticed Biquette's exhaust and gave her a thumbs up and a Harley Davidson type at the supermarket also gave her a thumbs up!    There was even a late 60s Camaro on the road that I waved to.  Definitely classic car season in California! 

Take tuned for further developments! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[elagache]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners with Airstream fantasies,

I was trying to identify a vintage Airstream when I came across this photo that at least stunned me:



It is a photo from a blog posting on an unrelated topic:

http://vintagetrailersupply.blogspot.com/2008/11/1960s-airstream-front-window-guard.html

Still, that looks like at least a 25 foot Airstream and it sure looks to me like it is being towed by a 1964 Buick Sportswagon.  If so, the 1964-66 mid-sized Buick wagons were even more brawny than I imagined!

Cheers, Edouard 

[Loren At 65GS]

Dear mid-60s Buick owners with Airstream fantasies,

I was trying to identify a vintage Airstream when I came across this photo that at least stunned me:



It is a photo from a blog posting on an unrelated topic:

http://vintagetrailersupply.blogspot.com/2008/11/1960s-airstream-front-window-guard.html

Still, that looks like at least a 25 foot Airstream and it sure looks to me like it is being towed by a 1964 Buick Sportswagon.  If so, the 1964-66 mid-sized Buick wagons were even more brawny than I imagined!

Cheers, Edouard 

 By the dual axels , it appears to be a '67 Overlander . If I recall correctly, it would be 26 feet long from the rear bumper to the hitch. We have a '69 Overlander International, it is 27 feet long.

  Loren