Jim

I am home and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com The last time we emailed was 1/08 and your address then was at cox.net I will also send you an email at that address. Jim

Sounds like the fuel filter to me.

From my experience if anyone is planning on attending the 6 PM show they should leave their home at least 4 hours early. Last Friday evening about 7 PM I drove through the Chicago area and it took forever. I did the trip again yesterday afternoon and same result. Not only that, they give you the privilege of paying to be stopped dead on the Chicago toll roads. Jim

Ed mentioned in the other post " Sorry to pass on this sad news " about folks wanting to say something about Domenick. For those that knew Domenick and would like to have there comments forwarded to the family please do a posting there this week. The comments can them be printed out and presented to the family this Saturday or Sunday. Please post there-------"Sorry to pass on this sad news " and then if you want, post a note here that you posted there. That will bring this post along with the other one to the top so it will stay current this week. We will not forward this post, only the other one. Jim

Domenick and I were good friends. He was the director of the Reatta division and I was the assistant director. Two years ago he flew from New York to my home and we drove from Minnesota to Seattle in my Select 60 to the BCA meet. We had a really good time and quite often joked about stopping at Wendy's and getting a "baconator" About 1500 calories. ( never did buy one ) We bought and ate several boxes of "Hot Tamales" on the trip. This May I visited Dom in South Carolina. He had set up a trip for us and Ed to go to the Darlington Nascar race but by then he was too sick and weak and couldn't make it himself. During that visit I took him to a drug store, probably his last outing in public so to speak other than to the hospital. I got out to my car first and was waiting for Dom to come out. He came out with a big smile on his face and gave me a box of Hot Tamales. Domenick always enjoyed helping others and will be greatly missed. Jim

The CRT/touch screens and the headlight switches are the most common part to go bad in the '88-89 Reattas. I have several Reatta parts cars and have a tested good working and appearing CRT/touch screen available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

I am guessing what you are seeing is the engine block. The magnets were designed to be put in from the back side of the cam gear and pushed through the hole until the tabs in Padgett's picture snap into place on the front of the gear. I would be careful not to get any JB weld on the end of the magnet when putting it in the hole but if you do the first time you rotate the engine, even with the cured JB Weld, that will shear off and should not be a problem. Unless of course a gob of it stays on the block and on the second revolution that gob knocks the magnet forward towards the sensor and ruins the new magnet.

Harry, Thanks for the directions to find Padgetts home page. The link was wrong though as www.6007.com takes me to chinashop. com. The correct address is Padgett's web page I then went to google and typed in Padgett Peterson and the first thing on the list was Padgett's home page. I found the instructions and my questions were answered. When I used to JB weld in the magnets I used an original magnet and glued it into the original holder or what was left of it. I see Padgett is using the same magnet I just bought from GM, made in Mexico. His instructions using this replacement magnet were very good and if it turns out my wife's sensor is not the problem ( as mentioned in a previous posting ) I will try JB welding in the newer magnet per his instructions.

My wife's car has an intermittent code so I am also assuming the magnet has deteriorated. From my experiences the plastic holder stays intact and the magnet deteriorates and will give an intermittent reading. The original magnets were a substance that will erode/corrode away and then fall out. Yesterday for fun I pulled the sensor off a parts engine. I then took a screw driver and broke off two of the plastic tabs that hold the magnet to the holder and the magnet then stuck to the screw driver blade and came out. It was supposed to be a sort of square magnet with a flat top and bottom but it was deteriorated on all sides. The kicker is when I looked inside the sensor connector there was oil in there. In the next few days I will remove the sensor on my wifes car and check to see if the oil was leaking into the pin area causing erratic readings. Similar to what happens in the ABS pressure switches. It could also be the deteriorated magnet. Can someone tell me how to look at Padgetts repair link so I can see a picture of the magnet and holder? Sounds like the one I bought yesterday and maybe I can use the magnet to glue into the original holder.

Harry, Odd you should just post this as I just got home from my local GM dealer where I picked up a cam sensor magnet. Good ol' GM changed their source and they now get their magnets from Mexico. With the original magnet in the original holder you could buy a new magnet, take it out of the plastic holder and using JB weld glue it into the original holder through the hole. Now with the new Mexican magnet and holder, the magnet is encapsulated in plastic. The magnet looks smaller and is of a different makeup so I am pretty sure we can no longer glue in a replacement magnet. This leaves taking the whole front of the engine apart. The one you bought at Advance, does it have four tabs holding the magnet in place like the originals or is it encapsulated in plastic with just a little of the magnet showing and actually some plastic over the end of the magnet? Jim

I have several Reatta parts cars and have a good tested ABS pressure switch available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

Brad, Don't buy a new one. I have a good used one cheap. I also have a '65 GTO convertible 4-speed. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com and will send you an email also. Jim

The car was at the Back to the Fifties car show last weekend at the MN fairground and it was in the swap meet on Sunday. I looked at the car and it is still pretty nice. The car was at my home here in Duluth about 10 years ago and the installation looked like the factory did it. It is showing a little wear under the hood but the car still looked quite good.

I have one set of cargo straps available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

Greg is right on the seat belts being used in other cars and if your plastic sleeve is good you can get any color belt from a junk yard and put your sleeve onto the replacement belt. A passenger belt will not work correctly however on the drivers side as the drivers belt has a wire up to the buckle to tell the computer the drivers belt is fastened. The passenger belts do not have this wire.

I have been selling Reatta parts for about 12 years and am familiar with the radios. He absolutely can take out the radio, test it, and put if back in in 45 minutes. I know I can do a removal in about 3 minutes and replace in 3. That leaves 39 minutes to put it on his bench test setup and check it. It most likely is the capacitors in the radio module and this module can be easily replaced. I have radios available. Send me an email and I also need to know if your tape player works. On the door panels it is not so much the plastic nails breaking but the plastic holder for the plastic nails on the back of the door panel that break. If you are careful taking it apart you should be able to get the nails to slide out of the rubber grommets on the door without breaking the holders for the nails. If you do break some of the nails I normally give them away free when someone buys something else from me. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

You simply move the seat forward, remove the cover over the bolt and then with a Torx socket remove the bolt. I think it is a 50 Torx. I have good seat belts available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com Let me know the color of your interior.

I also got bumped. I called Heather Smalley whose name was at the bottom of the letter and she told me the folks with the Buick club gave them a list of names to move from the host hotel to the one down the street. I had my hotel reservations in many months ago at the Crown Plaza but I guess the someone in the Buick club decided there were more important people they wanted at the host hotel, so I got moved.

I thought maybe it was the number for the heater programmer but the numbers on those were different. If you can take a picture maybe we can figure it out. Jim

I mentioned my friend in South Carolina would be coming here and could bring the parts back there. I just go off the phone with him and he has the parts at his home near Columbia right now. Send me an email and I can put you in contact with him. Jim jfinn@cpinternet.com

I do have a good fender and hood. Both are pretty expensive to ship but I do have a friend coming here from South Carolina and he could maybe bring them back at least that far. Send me an email and also let me know what color your car is as I might have them in the correct color. Jim jfinn@cpinternet.com

Craig, After you talk to Barney, I do have some '91 caps available. You have my email address but here it is again. jfinn@cpinternet.com

The '88 Reattas used a high pressure hose from the pump to the master cylinder. The '89-90s used a steel line. That is the only difference between the years but the pump/motor is also drilled and tapped differently so if you need to replace the pump/motor on an '88 you need to get a pump/motor from an '88 whereas if you have an '89-90 you would get a pump/ motor from either of those years. The pressure switches are the same for all three years as are the accumulators. I have both pressure switches and both style pump/motors available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com I also have good ABS controllers. ( mounted in the trunk )

You cannot disable the ABS from the touch screen. The easiest way is to disconnect the connector on the EBCM in the trunk on the drivers side fender well behind the carpet. Your yellow ABS light will then be on all the time. You can get rid of that by taking off the bezel in front of the IPC and then remove the face plate on the IPC and put a piece of paper or something in front of the ABS bulb.

I see you are in MN. I think I have a good grey headliner. I am in Duluth. Send me an email at jfinn@cpinternet.com