wws944

Ronnie - the rear speakers in the ‘90 and ‘91 coupes have 6x9s. But I think the earlier cars are 6.5” round.

Perhaps you could find a shop that would "wrap" the moldings to the color you want. If at some point in the future you get tired of it, and want to return it back to original, just peel the wrap. I go back and forth on whether body matched or black is best. My Reatta is white with white moldings. I really like it that way. But with other color schemes I could definitely go either way. On a 17K mile car, I would keep it as original as possible.

Neat discovery of the hidden 'loudness' and DNR functions! Kevin - have you found any 4x10s that stand out from the rest? I replaced one of mine some years ago with a NOS "parts number matching" Delco. But now the other side is getting buzzy. I should have bought two at the time...

1.) Follow this forum more than I have the past couple of years, 2.) Take the Reatta to a few more local car shows and of course, the Blackhawk Cars and Coffee. (I typically go with forum member kitskaboodle who some times takes his Reatta too.) Also need to sell my Suburban and 944 (sigh...).

I almost hesitate to mention it, but another possibility might be to go ‘backwards’ to an ‘86-87 FWD 3.8 block. I suspect it would be compatible with Grand National parts. Note that the only difference between ‘86 and ‘87 was the addition of roller lifters in the latter.

Found it: http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/index.html

Many years ago, in the early days of the web, a fellow decided he was tired of the BS surrounding oil filters. He bought one of just about every filter he could find that fit his car, cut them open, and took lots of notes and photos. Things like quantity and quality of the filter material, end cap construction, anti-drain back valve, etc. He was not impressed with quite a number of them, Frams in particular. He also reported on how various filters seemed to come from a single manufacturer. And so on. It became a bit of a sensation within car discussion forums. He actually rated AC Delco filters pretty highly. Mobil-1 filters were also excellent, along with Mahle and some others. It is interesting to note that a couple of years after he published his findings, Fram came out with their higher grade filters for those willing to pay an extra couple dollars per filter. I think his site was called 'mini-mopar' or some such. Too lazy to google it right now. Barney: I've owned a couple of cars where the recommendation is the opposite of what you do. That is, they recommended a filter change every other oil change. Nonetheless, I just do both at the same time like most people.

I think the biggest problems with the stock wheels are that the clear coat seems to get dull and even craze a bit over time. Even my car, which only has 16k original, always garaged, miles on it got dinged a couple of points during BCA judging because of this. The other problem is that 15" wheels are a bit passé these days. I also have a set of the chrome 16" wheels that Barney and Kevin mentioned - though not currently on the car. They are very similar to the non-chromed '91 Reatta wheels, but are 6.5" wide instead of 7" wide. They were an option on late '90s-2000 Rivs and Park Aves, and also 2002 Lesabres. They add some nice bling. They also weigh in at a reasonable 19.6 lbs or so, thus probably lighter than many aftermarket wheels. The 7-spoke Caddy wheels also look great, and I really thought long and hard about them. They are fairly easy to find on eBay, craigslist, etc. However I came to the conclusion that I tend to like the look of covered lug bolts on the Reatta. Gives it a little more 'finished' look. Also if you look at the original David McIntosh concept drawings for the Reatta, he almost always drew the wheels with caps. Ronnie/Kevin/Dave - have any of you weighed the Caddy wheels?

Rear speakers in the 'vert are full range (whizzer cone) 4x10". Front woofers are 5-1/4". Seperate tweeters.

Another approach to an aux input is to use the stock stereo and make a small cable to use its CD player interface. It requires finding a GM 4-pin speaker plug for the back of the stereo, and filing off the ridge so it will plug into the low level CD audio inputs. Then add a pin to illumination plug and, when desired, switch +12v on it to get the stereo to listen to the aux input. If you are interested, I can post more detail. Beautiful looking 'vert!

Not just theory but fact. About three years ago, I had a head gasket go bad in our Rendezvous. The tech who diagnosed it used a bore scope to peer into the cylinders. When he saw one piston top that looked "steam cleaned", he knew the gasket was bad.

Suggest installing Firefox and using it instead of Explorer. It is the first piece of software I install on a Windows machine. (The second being cygwin. But I am a linux nerd.)

This post is a blast from the past. Kit and I found an appropriately jumpered ALDL cover for his car at a wrecking yard a long time ago. However IIRC am pretty sure he also replaced his instrument cluster - again with one found on a wrecking yard car - that worked better than the one he had. He has since found and fixed a number of other problems in his Reatta. And now that everything is working, he is looking at selling it soon... (I suggested selling one of his Fieros instead, but he didn't like that idea.)

Unfortunately, any new car they come up with has to have a nod to the ever increasing CAFE requirements. With that in mind, I keep hoping Buick will see fit to install the Voltec drivetrain in a car or two. A four door "Electra", or two door Riviera, with a variant of the RWD Voltec that is in the new Caddy CT6 PHEV would be a great product.

While not a two-seater, the new Cascada convertible is very nice. Of note, its MSRP is almost exactly the same as the Reatta convertible was 26 years ago.

If the idle is OK when the engine is cold, but starts going south when things warm up enough to go into closed loop, also check the fuel pressure regulator. My Reatta had this problem a few years ago. I found traces of fuel leaking into the vacuum line - which allowed unmetered fuel into the intake. Would not idle right - sometimes even backfiring and stalling. New Bosch regulator fixed the problem.

A little late in reporting this. (Sorry I've been MIA. Been having too much fun with my new Volt these days.) In May, my wife and I drove down to Los Angeles for the All GM Car Show/Reatta Rally. In preparation for the trip, my Reatta got fresh coolant and an oil change. We took the "scenic route" down 101. Had a fun time checking out the cars. Won a door prize. Unfortunately Jay Leno didn't show up this year. (Thanks, of course, to Ervin/Bushwack for hosting the event again!) After the show, we drove towards San Diego and made some visits. Return trip was a fast burn up I-5. We put nearly 1000 miles on the Reatta, and it ran great. Do need to do something about the AC though. Maybe it is time to switch to R134a. Might also be time to think about new windshield wipers. The current ones came from the Craft Center 26 years ago...

If you look between the three terminals, there is probably a resin-like seal to the interior of the housing that has been breached. Since the halogen light capsule itself is still intact, the light still works - sort of. I saw this happen with a Sylvania Xtravision.

Are you sure both are Silverstars? The original Guide H6054s only had 35 watt low beams. A lot of replacements are the same way. You have to look carefully to find replacements with a 50 watt low beam - which Silverstars do.

East Penns batteries are also marketed under the Deka brand name. I have a couple of Deka AGM batteries (one in the Suburban, one in the 944). They have been fine. The cells are not cylindrical like Optimas, so they look like a conventional battery. A couple of years ago, my Reatta got a Delco so it wouldn't lose a point at Portland. Interestingly the 12v battery in my new Volt is a Delco AGM.

I was the original owner of a 1978 Regal Turbo. The very first day, we noticed some red tranny fluid on the ground. Took it back to the dealer and they found the housing was cracked! So with less than 100 miles on the clock, they dropped the tranny and replaced it. Said there was a big mark "like someone had dropped a large tool on it"...

The stereo in your photo is identical to the one in my '96 Suburban. It represents the next generation of Delco stereos after the ones that came in our Reattas - circa 1995-early 2000s. It will be very interesting to many of us to know how compatible the E&C protocol in your stereo vs our earlier models.

That would seem to rule out leaking injectors. So I am thinking fuel pump. Our Reattas have a 3.0 bar (43 psi) FPR. So the pressure, when running, should be a little less than 43 psi. (E.g., high 30s, low 40s.)

20 psi is way low. When you turn the key off, does the pressure stay at 20? Or does it quickly go to zero?

Since I mentioned it, Kit sent me this photo that he took: