Dear Chuck, Jim, John, Dan, and mid-60s Buick lovers,
July 4th weekend; prime time for cruising in our classics.
Agreed it is a great time to get our classics on the road, but my trusty wagon is suffering from two unusual "overheating problems." I've noticed that she won't start after I've gotten the engine warmed up and she has sat for a short period of time. I'm not certain, but my strong suspicion is that the E6 ignition controller box is overheating. It is mounted just behind the driver's side headlights so when the car is in motion, there is plenty of cooling air. The problem is when she stops. The is a huge source of heat that radiates and warms the air around the box. I need to put a thermometer on top of it to confirm, but given the symptoms that seems like the most likely explanation. So I need to come up with some sort of heat shield and/or fan arrangement to keep the box from warming up too much.
The longer term problem is she really needs a cool air intake of some sort. When Rich did the professional tune back at the end of April, the temperature of the air entering the throttle body was over 120?!! At the time, the air ambient temperature was only about 70?. The easiest thing to do would be to tap into the cowling at the back of the firewall, but so far I haven't found something that provides enough clearance. Right now the only way I can close the hood is to use a 2-1/2" filter element on a open air cleaner that has a 1" drop. So It appears I only have about 1-1/2" of space between the top of the throttle body and the hood. So far I haven't spotted any sort of cold air box that is only 1-1/2" tall.
So my trusty wagon won't be doing a lot of cruising until I can make some progress on at least the ignition box overheating problem.
Hope you guys get in some great cruising this holiday weekend!
Cheers, Edouard
