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My New '90 Sunroof Coupe


ol' yeller

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If I did this right, here are some pics of my new purchase. Do those seats look like they have 146,000 miles on them? I wanted a Maui Blue Coupe with a sunroof and CD player. I didn't expect to get them all especially given the scarcity of Reattas here in the Great Northwet. The ugly Corvette wheels were not on my wishlist! The overall condition of this car is fantastic.

Greg

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Nice looking coupe....I think those wheels were maybe Toronado...not sure. They are not Corvette as that car had a different bolt circle.

Also, there were only 461 Maui Blue coupes built in 1990. I cannot break it down any further as some had blue interior and others had grey. We do know that only about 15% of the Reatta coupes had sunroofs so that drops the number to around 70

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Verrry Nice! I am curious, the pics show chrome trim around the wheel wells. This is not stock AFAIK. Is it just stick on, or some aftermarket trim kit like E&G or Vogue makes?

Also, is the driver door out of vertical alignment? In pic #1, the pin stripe seems to "jump" up from the front fender to the door and then back again at the rear quarter. Maybe just be an optical illusion due to the angle at which the pic was taken?

KDirk

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The wheel trim is cheap stick on plastic. As the chrome has peeled off a couple of them, I will probably just remove it. I'll have to check the pic to see what you are saying but the door is in alignment and the pinstripe lines up as it should. I bought the car from the second owner who has had it since it had 6,000 miles on it. He said it had been in 1 minor accident in the front that required the front bumper cover to be repainted and then produced receipts showing that.

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Greg,

Funny, the chrome wheel trim doesn't look bad in the pics, and the pin stripe goofiness must just be due to the perspective down the side of the car if it is straight in person.

I have to say, that for what I assume to be original paint, save for the bumper cover you mentioned, it looks awfully good. While I am not a big fan of the Maui Blue (lighter blues just don't do it for me for some reason) it is a very sharp car. And, I think the blue interior suits it well. I think given a choice I'd take that over grey interior.

I wish they'd offered a dark midnight blue as an option, I would go for that if it existed. Yeah, a repaint could be done but changing the color of a car in a full repaint is a dog, and it wouldn't be stock which probably diminishes it's value at least in some circles.

Anyway, it's nice to see there are still really nice unrestored Reatta's around. Most I see locally are pretty rough, and many have clearly been poorly maintained. Yours is a notable exception to the norm.

KDirk

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The mystery of the wheels was solved today. My local Les Schawb identified these as aftermarket Enkies from wayback in the late '80s early '90s. I am still on the hunt for 2 center caps. I'll probably ride with these for a while while I look for something better. I did replace the tires with new TOYO Trovenos (SP?). It sure rides much better.

I got some bad news today from my local AC shop. They want close to $1,000 to fix the AC. They showed me where the leaks were. I need a new compressor, a new receiver drier, a new orifice tube, and a new high pressure schrader valve, and about 3.5# of R12. Now I'm really glad the car came with a sunroof! I am deciding whether or not to install the new parts myself and then have them charge the system. I am a lousy diagnostician on these newer cars but a pretty fair wrench. I can buy a reman compressor locally for about $240. Has anyone bought one of those compressors on ebay? They are running about $140 for a reman plus about $40 for shipping. The rest of the stuff is pretty cheap and readilly available.

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Guest jamhudson

You can do all this A/C work your self. The price is almost double for my area.

Just checked Auto Zone prices $230.00.

Labor at $70 per hour. $200.00 Plus tax and freon and labor for charging. So you could get by with $475. I bet it don't need compressor.

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Guest CL_Reatta

DONT DO IT!!! shops charge up the _ _ _ to fix a/c's here is what you do. You first call around and find a shop that will convert your a/c to r-134a... just call and ask for them to retrofit a r-12 system to a ri134a... but dont ask for a die kit, you just want them to pump out the r-12 and replace with r-134a. After that you see if the A/C works properly. if the compressor really is broke then they cant retrofit it properly. but if the compressor still works what you do then is buy this stuff in a yeow can. its $35 but it works great. Its A/C stop leak for rubber and metal parts. put that in your system and you should be good then

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The car has sat undisturbed for 8 years in a garage. It is my understanding that if the AC isn't used regularly, seals dry out and the refrigerant leaks out. That is why most of the cars made in the last 20 years use refrigerated air in the defrost (and it is drier air). You can see the track marks of the freon around the clutch on the compressor. You can also see the track marks on the other components. The shop I use is trustworthy and I don't think they were trying to take advantage of me, they just have an overhead they have to cover. The only expensive piece is the compressor. That is why the ones I have seen on ebay intrigues me. I have never been one for a solution to a mechanical solution from a can. I do have to admit however, that Bar Stop Leak did save me a few dollars back about 40 years ago.

I'm thinking that for just under $400 I could get this job done myself and do it when I have the time and the money. I'd still like to hear if anyone has had an experience with the ebay compressors. Thanks for all the advice. You folks are the greatest!

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Guest jamhudson

Don't know about ebay compressors but buy local with warrany. Auto Zone and Advance will be the cheaper local stores. I got my Reatta from a man who did not like A/C and he told me it needed a compressor. I brought it home in the middle of July and charged it up and it's still cold. I have been doing auto a/c work for 47 years. Shops will want to do the whole job for fear customer will not want to pay for a recharge if it don't fix it.

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