fordrodsteven

first off - I like your Reatta avatar! Anyway. If the caddy is nose in it could be picked up with a tow truck at the rear (rear wheel drive) and towed with the front wheels on the ground. If it is situated "nose out" you could jack the rear to get it onto dollies and then roll it out to allow a tow truck to pick it from the rear once it's clear of the structure. If you're trying to get onto a flat bed truck it depends on whether you want to have it dragged with the rear wheel not turning. Another option is to get under it, disconnect the shift linkage and shift it into neutral. Problem is you won't be able to steer ti because the steering wheel is most likely locked.

The search function (magnifying glass) is in the top right corner of my screen. I have to say, though, that I feel it can sometimes be rather finicky. If you put any character incorrect or enter too many words it will just tell you that it didn't find anything matching your request. The flip side of that coin is if you only enter one word it will bring up everything with that word. With a little practice and patience you can usually find what you want.

I helped a friend install a newly rebuilt BBC into his Caprice. We got it bolted in. I had someplace to go so I had to leave. I told him to spin the oil pump shaft with a drill to get oil pressure throughout the engine before giving it the first crank / start. He called me three days later to tell me he had no oil pressure on start up. I went to his house and we worked our asses off to replace the oil pump. When we got it back together I used a drill to twist the pump shaft for pressure. I then installed the distributor. I was having a little problem getting the oil shaft engaged. He suddenly realized that he had pulled out the shaft with the drill each time he started the engine after installing the distributor. We pulled the engine / pan / oil pump back out for nothing! I guess I should have had him show me what he had done when he didn't get any oil pressure.

On some web sites instead of calling it modifying some people would call it mortifying! LOL. Actually I think some body mods are just fine. Those two ideas (the wagon or El Camino concepts) are interesting.

I agree that any good functioning charge system should put out a minimum of 13.8 volts but.... (and this is going from memory of working on Fords back in the sixties and seventies) I always thought the range was 13.8 to 15.2 with an average of 14.5 being what you wanted to shoot for. Are you saying you shouldn't see over 14.5 volts on a good charging system? I have seen cars at 14.9 - 15.0 right after startup and then after a few minutes settle down in the 14.5-14.7 range. I have advised people who questioned when it's over 12 volts "no the system is not overcharging and no fear of "boiling" the battery". Should I be rethinking what I have practiced for 50 years? I only ask because I know you are a retired trained mechanic who has shared some very knowledgeable information. I have not been trained in this field but for over 50 tears have played with and worked on many cars & motorcycles.

This same topic was covered at the H.A.M.B. just last april. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/car-rotisseries-anybody-dare-to-build-there-own.1057761/

Or oil in the radiator (if the oil is under pressure wherever the leak may be)

low coolant or any air in the system will cause a "no or minimal heat" condition.....just sayin'

My first thought is blown head gasket. If something more serious (I doubt it unless car was filled with water rather than antifreeze) I would gues at cracked head or block. I still think most likely a blown head gasket. Standard troubleshooting to start - do a compression test.

My guess would be (with that bullet end) something Ford mid fifties? possibly up into the early sixties. The original wiring on my '55 Thunderbird has those type connectors.

You probably should PM him (retired with Reatta)

Ron, Where did you get an electronic copy of the FSM? I used to frequently use the information that was available at the "Reatta data page" (reatta.net) until GM shut it down. I DO have a hard copy FSM and it's a little worn. My front cover separated at the binding but I took some clear packing tape and taped the binding area back together and it has remained useful without falling any further apart.

for the spacer try P/N 96051354 or 30001592. I got this information at wholesalegmpartsonline. There is a set (2 pcs - left & right?) on E-bay for $23.00 right now. https://www.wholesalegmpartsonline.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_assembly=390794&ukey_make=1025

If you've done that much to the car why would you take that HUGE loss? I know you cannot get out of it what you have put into it but..... you can easily fix the items that you mentioned and have a very nice driver. The "other forum' is reattaowner.com and you will also find tutorials there regarding repairs on many items and specifically on the bushing / bolt repairs for the cradle. If you're trying to make a concours correct restoration you will have trouble finding "original" parts and then you will have to empty your wallet for some certain parts. If you want to have a very nice driver it is easily within your grasp.

VL2 - when I am looking to check for some interchangeabiliy (if that's a real word) I usually go to Rock Auto and bring up the part I'm looking to buy. I then click on the part number in the description and it brings up a pop up window listing all vehicles it will fit. I have even used that function to cross check part numbers across different suppliers and have sometimes found I could get a part from another source if not in stock with rock Auto. for example, I clicked on the lower radiator hose for a 1929 Cadillac and when I clicked on the part number it popped up a listing of about 30 other cars / models using that same part number. Sometimes makes it a little easier to find something.

There was a guy named Dan Herrick up in Flint, MI. He was at a Dort Motor car factory (now defunct). He was parting out many Reatta's and parts for someone's estate. I don't know if he is still there doing that but you can check it out. I was texting him at 810-515-6859 when I bought a complete rear suspension assembly from him. Another place you could check is Matt's Used Auto parts in Hyde Park, New York. When I was there buying a few Reatta parts he was trying to sell me a whole car. He said he had three he wanted to sell. He also had more in the yard that were being parted out. (845)471-2377.

I once had a car misfire when under a load and finally found the problem to be a loose screw that held down the condenser inside the distributor.

I used to use semi-chrome to polish the aluminum covers on my motorcycle and then years later I used Mother's to polish the aluminum wheels on my MACH I Mustang. They both are very good products and as said earlier "elbow grease is required". I had good results and the aluminum shined like chrome when I finished. After the initial hard work to get them looking like that the upkeep /maintenance was much easier to keep them looking like chrome.

that is one very nice looking '55!

DONE!. I took it out for a drive. Everything is functioning as it should. Happy! Happy! I also changed out the front brake hoses along with replacing three lower trans mounts, engine oil pan gasket, outer CV boots, Rack & pinion boot, lower ball joints, torsion bar bushings, front ABS leads/sensors and sway bar links.

Well I made a little progress today and so far it looks good! I was unable to find the exact replacement shaft (8646946) ( unless I decided to salvage one from another transmission). So I had ordered the newer part number (24236102) and I already had it in my hot little hands. I was trying to figure out how the get the shaft with threads on the lower end. Then I had an epiphany!. I didn't have to have male threads on the end I could make it work with female threads. I ground away the peened over material on the new part then drilled and tapped a hole so I could install it using a bolt. I figured it would be the same level of difficulty to get it re-assembled whether I was installing a nut or a bolt. Here are some pictures of what I did. I put Loctite on there and I don't think it will cause any future problems.

Do you turn the fog lights on every time you get in the car? (to use them as daytime running lights). It seems to me that there was once a thread regarding setting the car so that it would automatically put on the fogs as running lights. If I remember right it was an option you could set using the touchscreen. Reason for the option was because at the time of manufacture of Reattae the law in Canada was to have daytime running lights and it was not yet a law in the U.S. I also remember reading among those threads that the fog lights would be on but dimmer when in the DRL mode but would get brighter when the fog light switch was activated. In 2015 Padgett wrote; Original discussion was much closer to the start of the century however the Mc-Reatta post in 2012 appear to be right. It just involves using the built in diagnostics to change a code in the BCM (BCM Override option #1/ BD 90. Believe Canada (DRL) is code 48 and USA (no DRL) is 144. Most detailed is page 8D14 in the 88 FSM but does not mention 48/Canada. Is easy to retrieve if you get it wrong.

I think that the guys on Wheeler Dealer did one of these vehicles. It looked like theirs needed more work than yours.

Mine didn't have any critters in it when I got it home but it did have droppings pretty much throughout. I gave the car a thorough cleaning. (three times before it didn't have a stink to it!) I found a very smelly nest in the trunk under and around the spare tire. The jack is missing from the large rubber insert in the trunk and that piece of rubber was really stinking up the whole car. I finally had to pull the piece of rubber out of the trunk. Other places I found nests / droppings..... up under the dash on top of those plastic covers right above the floor well. The foam on those covers was permeated with urine. It took a few times soaking and drying to get the smell out of those. There was a nest inside the console as mentioned earlier by someone. There was a nest under one of my seats. There was also a mess of stuff (which I thought was the remains of a nest) inside the heat / blower cover at the evaporator. About three months after I replaced the evaporator the fan started making a racket. I remover the fan and found half an acorn shell sitting in the bottom. It was hitting the fan blades and made a lot of noise.

I graduated in '71. I was driving a '63 Mercury Montclair with the breezeway window. Definitely not the fastest off the line but did pretty good once we were rolling. Two cars come to mind though. One was a 62 Valiant that one of the guys had sandwiched in a small Hemi engine and a 4 speed. The other was a 64 Malibu with a big block 4 speed in it. More than once they lined up out on the hill in back of the school to see who could leave the longest stretch of rubber.