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What did you do to your Reatta today? <ongoing thread>


SeanR

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The one I just installed actually tested "bad" at Advance. It does read a bit low at extended idle [about 12.9-13.1 amps] but when driving delivers 13.7-13.9 all the time with or wothout the headlights on and accessories running. I think it is good, any opinions? I still have the known good one in the trunk.

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It must be getting close to spring as I am getting antsy about stuff for the Reattas. So I went "shopping" on Ebay for maintenance items and believe it or not floor mats. I really like the Riv floor mats better then the Reatta ones and I was lucky enough to find a set of tan ones for the Red. I also went looking at r12 freon and scored a couple of cans pretty cheap [anything less then $30.00 a can is cheap in my opinion]. So now I am sitting on 13 cans which is enough to do 4 Reattas.

 I also added a ratcheting 10-19mm box wrench set to my inventory of Snap on tools. I used them on my last oil change and on the alternator swap. I really like them. 

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On 7/8/2016 at 7:53 AM, Ronnie said:

Here are more photos of Dave's taillight when he installed it. One is with the lights on and the other is with the lights off. Beautiful cars Dave!!!

 

taillight--6-7-16-ON.JPGtaillight--6-7-16-OFF.JPG

OMJ this is the results of that post you looked up and gave me the "thumbs up" for. Just go to post about 516 of "What did you do to your Reatta today" and you will see a short discussion of Dashmaster, Ronnie, myself and others about taillights.

 That's after 1 coat of "Spar" varnish. You can see my house in the taillight. That is the reflection you want. It's also wash and wear, no extra work when cleaning your car. Dashmaster did the same prcedure. Once again about post 516.

Edited by DAVES89 (see edit history)
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19 hours ago, DAVES89 said:

Just go to post about 516 of "What did you do to your Reatta today" and you will see a short discussion of Dashmaster, Ronnie, myself and others about taillights.

 

That is really a great discussion about refinishing taillights. It's a shame that it is buried in this long fit-um-all thread. If you would like I could pull all those posts about refinishing taillights out and put them in their own topic so they can be found easier. You started that discussion so let me know if you want me to do that.

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Went "shoping at Gibson's today and picked up a couple of relays and relay harness'. After a conversation with Kendall we are going to wire in relays to help my sequential lights work better on the 'vert. The problem I had was that the flasher cans weren't able to flash the lights. Hope to do it in April when I get back from our vacation and it warms up a bit more.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 A few things done to my 1990 Reatta today. First off, I took it in to get new tires, then later on drove the 140 miles from the country place to the city place with the Reatta for the first time. Then into the heated garage where I got the left door speaker replaced. By then it was getting too late to do the other side. But its' nice to have some success, as now the left side works!

Keith

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I hope spring has officially arrived as the Red comes out today. I put the Black away almost 2 weeks ago and have been driving the 'vert on a daily basis including a trip to New Orleans. I put just under 3000 miles on the 'vert and to be truthful I got tired of it as it has more "road noise" due to the convertible top. Great car I just prefer the Red the most.

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 Finally got back to the Reatta today. I changed the left door speaker, and got the trans fluid changed, and a couple of very soft vacuum lines as well. Drives and shifts great, though it wasn't bad before this. I mainly did it as a preventative measure. Nice to have better sound again. I'm planning to drive it back to the other house tomorrow(Fri). It still has a lopey idle though.

I cleaned the throttle body, as there was a lot of crud in it, but I think that it has to come off for a more thorough cleaning.

Keith

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12 hours ago, Buicknutty said:

 Finally got back to the Reatta today. I changed the left door speaker, and got the trans fluid changed, and a couple of very soft vacuum lines as well. Drives and shifts great, though it wasn't bad before this. I mainly did it as a preventative measure. Nice to have better sound again. I'm planning to drive it back to the other house tomorrow(Fri). It still has a lopey idle though.

I cleaned the throttle body, as there was a lot of crud in it, but I think that it has to come off for a more thorough cleaning.

Keith

 

If you don't know when the last time the brake fluid was flushed, now would be a good time.

 

Cal.

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 That is high on the list as well. The colour makes me think it was done in the last 2/3 years, but I do want to get it done, as I do understand the issues these cars can have, and indeed I do this to all of my cars every few years.

I had new tires put on, and I asked the shop to do a brake flush at the same time, but when I got the car back, with its' new tires, they told me a kind of a song and dance story about not having the proper bleeder, etc.,etc., to do it? I think that they were just afraid of it being a slightly older car and/or the Teeves system. This shop does a lot of tire work, and some  mechanical stuff too, so it doesn't make sense for pros to say that.

 If I can't get to it soon, I'll try another shop I know.

 Keith

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I bought some fuel injectors and tried to install them. I think they were too big as the car was hard to start and didn't idle well, but when I took it out on the highway and floored it, it did accelerate very well. I contacted the seller to see if I can get different ones.

 Also went to Gibson's for a spare tire. Got a 16" fits in the wheel well and works on the car [with the Eldorado brake upgrade]. Thanks Jon!

Edited by DAVES89 (see edit history)
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This what I did during the cold Indiana winter to the select sixty 

1. changed plugs, wires, ECM , and new coil pack

2. replaced brake accumulator, brake pads, rear calipers and bled systems.

3.  re soldered all ground wires under both seats, after doing this every electrical items are working  except cd player and cruise control.

4. replaced the headlight arms and bushings with parts from Barney Eaton

5. changed oil, filter, transmission fluid and filter   

6. replaced the 12 year old tires   no more shaking  above 45 MPH

7.  installed replacement factory radio bought from scrap yard   no more buzzing sounds from speakers

8. replaced headlight dash switch to replaced the original worn one bought from same scrap yard for 35.00

9. replaced front stabilizer bars

10. cleaned, polished and waxed.

What is left is to change drive belt ( looks like motor mount may need to be remove) may change water pump while in there .

might look into why cruise and CD are not working.  The ABS light is on and sensor leads are frayed, one day I may fix but brakes work just fine and I do not really need ABS. 

After that enjoy top down warm weather.

I bought the car in Sept 2017 drove the 220 miles home and parked to work on. After spending time working on the 60 I think that the miles of 89K must have been put on during the first part of life. The car I think has been parked and not used too much in many years, but well taken care of.  It shows no rust at all, except the exhaust.  

I am just waiting for warm weather. 

 

 

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I go to Ebay every so often and look for maintenance items that I don't need today, but with 3 Reattas I know I will need later. Bought a set of #626B Delco Plug Wires for $18.00 delivered.  Won't need them for 3 years, but I'm ready!

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      Iworked at stripping more off my 89 parts car , and decided to put my 89 restoration project up for sale .  I have a red/tan  89 dd , and a 90 that I am getting ready for the road.  Also a 1976 Midget I need to freshen up the paint on and get ready for summer and a 1970 MGBGT that needs complete resto.  Too many projects.  Once I get rid of parts car and project car I am going to look for a clean 91 Reatta to add to the fleet.

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Replaced the starter today in the Red and was glad I had a back up to install. However I noticed that my oil level sensor is leaking. It looks like the oil pan needs to be removed to replace it. Is that correct. I just replaced the oil pan gasket last year when I did the engine rebuild. Please advise. 

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Did Car Pro Cquartz coating, after intense cleaning, paint correction, etc.    It's hard to make it look better in photos since it already looked so shiny in those, but in person the difference is very obvious.   This car was freshly painted/restored in 2012, so the paint was already in very good shape.

 

I did not apply Cquartz to the hood or fenders, because I'm going to cover those in Xpel paint protection film.  I did this to my new Miata RF, and the results are amazing.. you cannot tell it is there, and the protection gives such a peace of mind.   Unfortunately I had the Reatta painted in California, which meant thin weak water based paint (regulations) ; so it chips very easily.. Xpel is expensive but cheaper than repainting.  Once you have it, only larger rocks or anything can do damage, generally. 

Reatta.jpg

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On 3/30/2018 at 4:04 PM, Fox W. said:

Did Car Pro Cquartz coating, after intense cleaning, paint correction, etc.    It's hard to make it look better in photos since it already looked so shiny in those, but in person the difference is very obvious.   This car was freshly painted/restored in 2012, so the paint was already in very good shape.

 

I did not apply Cquartz to the hood or fenders, because I'm going to cover those in Xpel paint protection film.  I did this to my new Miata RF, and the results are amazing.. you cannot tell it is there, and the protection gives such a peace of mind.   Unfortunately I had the Reatta painted in California, which meant thin weak water based paint (regulations) ; so it chips very easily.. Xpel is expensive but cheaper than repainting.  Once you have it, only larger rocks or anything can do damage, generally. 

 

I am interested in the XPel process. Do you take it to a shop and get it installed or is this something you can do by yourself? It sounds like you do the whole hood, the fenders and the headlight buckets?

 

On 3/30/2018 at 4:04 PM, Fox W. said:

Reatta.jpg

 

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On 3/29/2018 at 8:28 PM, DAVES89 said:

Replaced the starter today in the Red and was glad I had a back up to install. However I noticed that my oil level sensor is leaking. It looks like the oil pan needs to be removed to replace it. Is that correct. I just replaced the oil pan gasket last year when I did the engine rebuild. Please advise. 

As I stated on a prior post went to Gibson's to see how the oil level sensor was attached to the oil pan. Turns out there is a treaded flange on the oil pan so removal of the oil pan to swap the sensor is not needed. As the end loader guy had to come out to raise the car up so I could get at the oil pan I decided to buy it [$5.00] as I think that if you get someone from the shop you need to buy something. So anyhow got home and installed this used one in the Red and it worked. So good for me.

 Also bought another starter to have inventory $21.00 with exchange and they had it on the shelf.

 As long as I was doing that I decided to swap in some injectors that I recieved for a Christmas present. 5 worked great and one was froze open. So after attempting to "fix" it I sent them back and reinstalled the original ones. They arrived yesterday and I installed them and took them for a drive and they worked flawlessly so I am happy. The old ones had seen 275,000 miles [also just yesterday] not counting idle time so that is a lot of use.

 I did have an issue with tearing a o ring on the filliting that runs the fuel into the fuel rail so a call to Kendall for some washers as well as a final check to be sure all was good [it wasn't I had started one of the fittings for the fuel rail crooked and he caught that, cleaned the threads and all was good.

 So looks like I am good for spring, that is if it gets here. We got 6" of snow Wednesday and another 1" plus last night. I have the Black stored and am running the Red [as little as possible to avoid salt].  

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i wired in a bluetooth module feeding it off the antenna output and feeding into the radio module using the cassette audio wires.so now when i turn on the radio and push the cassette play button it automaticly hooks to my phone and plays whatever audio my phone is currently set to.

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About a month ago I picked up a trailer hitch for the Reatta off Craigslist.  Seems the young man had seen drawing and measurements on a Reatta forum years ago and had this one made.  Installed that yesterday , and this morning I will wire in the light adapter I bought at Car Quest . I know I cannot haul much , but with remodeling a home my wife and I bought , and getting my Condo ready to sell , I need to be able to haul my little utility trailer with drywall or whatever.  And since my other driver is a 1976 MG Midget , the Reatta was elected.

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10 hours ago, SteveT said:

About a month ago I picked up a trailer hitch for the Reatta off Craigslist.  Seems the young man had seen drawing and measurements on a Reatta forum years ago and had this one made.  Installed that yesterday , and this morning I will wire in the light adapter I bought at Car Quest . I know I cannot haul much , but with remodeling a home my wife and I bought , and getting my Condo ready to sell , I need to be able to haul my little utility trailer with drywall or whatever.  And since my other driver is a 1976 MG Midget , the Reatta was elected.

how does that adapter wire in?ive had my hitch for a while but never wired for lights.

Edited by handmedownreatta (see edit history)
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24 minutes ago, handmedownreatta said:

how does that adapter wire in?ive had my hitch for a while but never wired for lights.

I actually wired into the harness to the tail light right after the plug that is near the antenna.    Since the brake lights / turn signals use the same bulb , all you need is a 4 wire plug with a long enough harness to reach there.   I merely stripped about a half inch section of each wire I needed , wrapped the adapter wire around it and soldered them.  A little 3m liquid tape , then some loom to protect them and I was in business.   Also the mounting screws for the antenna give you a perfect spot for your ground.

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49 minutes ago, SteveT said:

I actually wired into the harness to the tail light right after the plug that is near the antenna.    Since the brake lights / turn signals use the same bulb , all you need is a 4 wire plug with a long enough harness to reach there.   I merely stripped about a half inch section of each wire I needed , wrapped the adapter wire around it and soldered them.  A little 3m liquid tape , then some loom to protect them and I was in business.   Also the mounting screws for the antenna give you a perfect spot for your ground.

thats what i thought.i was hoping it was plug and play.

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I gave my oldest son my burgandy/red 89 , yesterday we did an oil change , replaced Serpentine belt and that small damper shock that sets beside the crank pulley. We also replaced the trim around the dasp panel.  Today he is headed to my pole building to swap tires , I have a good set already mounted there. Next up for his car is the gas cap door and troubleshoot the sunroof.

 

Rather odd , I am at Sophias Resturaunt for breakfast and another Red Reatta just pulled in. What are the odds?

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Drove my '91 over to the local community college, where they were having a state wide skills competition for auto tech skills, welding, body work, and woodworking.

The ask our car club to bring over some cars ....my car was probably the newest, but it was still older than any of the students.

Many commented that it was the first Reatta they had ever seen.....

We also got rained on.

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I'll take the rain [which is what we got to start]. Then snow and sleet. About 4" so far and another 6"-8" to come. All the cars are under cover [wife's and the 3 Reattas] so it is just a case of waiting it out. This time of year there is a lot of moisture in the snow so it makes for heavy lifting. But I also have also have a 7HP Ariens snowblower so that makes clearing the driveway and front sidewalk a lot easier.

 Shouldn't get this weather this late in April. Prior to April we got 29" of snow all winter. April alone will deliver 25" or more. {Could be a recorded history record].

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Took the '91 out of storage to get its annual MA state inspection sticker/oil change Friday.  It's gone back into storage for now since we're expecting temps back into the 30's with sleet/rain for Sunday/Monday.  Patriot's Day marathon runners will be in the rain all day Monday with an expected 2" of rain throughout the day.

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