Jim

I agree, I have tried a couple of times to look at it and it just doesn't work for me either.

I remove the three screws that hold the latch mechanism to the end of the door and then with a large screw driver you can push the latch mechanism down further pulling the yellow tipped rod down further and this gives you additionl room to get the yellow tip in and out of the handle. From experience be sure and put the screws back in the latch before you close the door.

The ball joints hold up pretty well but a common problem with the lower A arms is the rod going forward off the arm that bolts through some rubber grommets and through the cradle is prone to rusting out and breaking especially on Northern cars exposed to salt in the winter. This rod is about 1/2 inch in diameter but will rust right through in the grommet area. I have sold a few lower A arms because of this problem. It would be a good idea to get the A arms if you can also get them comparably cheap but then you have the problem of finding buyers. We talked about the compressors but with the purchase price plus the shipping it didn't seem like a good idea at the time. Over the years I have sold 6 to 8 A arms but I would expect that number to go up some as the cars get older. Finding buyers is the problem as items like these are not good Ebay items because it is not something a person would want to have as a spare.

I have an almost new '90 folder complete still in the original plastic bag. It looks like it has been out of the bag maybe 5 times. ( 3 by me ) I looked at the paper and also had my wife try and guess the color and we both came up with a grayish green. In some lights it looks grey and in some lights it looks green. One of the signatures is a bright blue and one is a darker blue. The rest are black with varing degrees of sharpness of the ball point pen. I believe the pens were all the same from '88-91. I have several extra NOS pens and they match the pen in the above folder and also in an original '88 folder I have in one of my cars.

Thanks everyone for the nice words. I would be reluctant to buy one of those cheap ones on ebay as I suspect they are made in China, as is maybe many of the ones at the auto parts stores. I recently changed one on my sisters car. It was fairly new but the rubber let loose from the metal and I think it was one of the cheap replacements. If a new one is purchased I would get a good one.

I see the guy who is so stupid he can't even pronounce his own name, just set the record for the most bad decisions. In his defense though when you are on a team that for 17 years has had no running game the QB will be passing a lot and will set a lot of records as an obvious result. Not skill, just a numbers game. P.S. Turn about is fair play from the post a few weeks ago that I did not respond to.

The harmonic balancers do go bad on the 3800 engines like in your Reatta and there is a good chance it was not bad when the previous owners had the car. You do not need a puller to get the balancer of the crankshaft as once you remove the bolt holding it on it will slip right off. The hard part might be getting the bolt to break loose. Sometimes they have come loose with just an impact wrench and sometimes I have had to put some vise grips on the flywheel to hold the engine. I have also successfully got the bolt to break loose by using the starter method. Last Saturday however as I was about to take a Reatta to the crusher I tried everything I could to get the bolt to break loose and was unsuccessful as I thought I would break my 1/2 inch drive bar with a two foot pipe extension. I gave up and left the balancer on the car and it is now on its way to Japan to be made into a Toyota. You can drive the car but it will make a lot of noise. It may also start hard but I don't belive it will cause any damage. I would get it fixed asap though. I do have several Reatta parts cars and have a good harmonic balancer available. I normally do not post my prices on the forum but if you tell me you will try and give up the smokes I will sell you a good used balancer for the $ 40 you have and that will include shipping. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

You didn't say what the problem is but you can open the hood and manually open the headlights. Open them about 1/2 way and then try and lift up and down the headlight assembly. If it moves more than an inch your bellcranks are bad and with a little more force if the bellcrank rotates on the shaft coming out of the gear case then the rollers are bad. If in turning the knob on the end of the motor doesn't open the assembly or you need to help opening the assembly while you turn the knob the rollers inside the gear case portion of the motor are bad. You can get rollers and a very good repo bellcrank from Barney Eaton barney@texas.net If you are having some other type of problem it could be your headlight control module which is located under the windshield washer bottle or it could be the diode. I have both of those parts if you need them and I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

I am not sure why it looks like that as the wheels are 15 inch and I mounted some tires of the correct size that I took off some '90 Reatta wheels. I would sell the wheels if anyone wants them. They are aluminum and would sell them for $ 100 for all 4.

We have 4. One is a parts car that will be striped and will be going to the crusher next week. My son drives a fairly low mileage green and my wife and I have a green that we use in the winter when we put our convertibles away. The one in the picture I drove for several years and then about a month ago I decided to part it out rather than sell it complete as it has about 180K on it and is probably worth more in parts than as a whole car.

I have too many green '91s so I thought I would sell one. I didn't want to leave the wheels on it because I put them on my blue '89. I put on these Riv wheels to sell the car and then decided to part out the car instead.

The '88-89 door panels are all the same. The '90-91 door panels are the same and fit both the convertibles and coupes. The 88-89 panels could maybe converted to use on the '90-91s by making the hole for the seat switch etc. larger and then using the '90-91 trim pieces. Finding good drivers side door panels for any year is getting harder and harder.

Thanks Nic for the nice words. I do have several Reatta parts cars and have most parts at reasonable prices. I do have a CPS and can be reached at reattas60@gmail.com

Good idea to try cleaning the MAF and it is very nice of F14 to be helping her out. Be very careful cleaning the elements as they are quite fragile. I do have a good used MAF for MUCH less than a new one and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

About the only problem will be it might not want to idle and when you put it in gear the engine might die. Just restart it and drive a few miles and the computer should learn all the information from the various sensors and then run good.

When buying a shop manual be sure it says on the cover bottom "final edition" and not "new product information" The latter is a supplement to the previous year manual.

The zippered folder was about 9X11 and came with the owners manual. Also include were a signed craftsman's log, a script pen, tire gauge and flashlight. A small Reatta note tablet and some spaces with blank cards for the salespersons and service advisors business cards. A Reatta road atlas and a small Reatta brochure showing pictures of the car being built. I have available a used complete folder with a '91 owners manual. I also have available the identical complete folder with a '90 owners manual. This one is new still in the black plastic bag it came it. It looks to me like it was opened once by the owner of the car, he inserted the original window sticker for a Maui blue coupe and then never opened the folder again. In the past few years I have seen these folders go for over $ 350 on Ebay. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

25518745 This is for the key in the ignition, seat belt etc. I have some good ones. Jfinn@cpinternet.com

You mentioned the dash started smoking and then the lights went out. I am assuming you meant the instrument panel cluster went black. The IPC is the most common part to go bad on the '90-91s and sometimes they go up in smoke. Recently my brother in laws car did the same thing and he tore the whole dash out of the car looking for the problem before calling me. When he didn't see any evidence of burnt wires he called and I explained he did a lot of work for nothing. I went up to his home and we put his IPC into my car. It was black initially and then after about 30 seconds smoke started rollin out. It was only his IPC that was bad. They are easy to replace and you only have to remove a couple screws to remove the trim in front of the IPC/radio and then there are 4 screws holding the IPC to the dash. I have several Reatta parts cars and have a good tested IPC available. I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

I do have a good IPC available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

Thanks Tom for the recommendation. I do have a good IPC available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

I have some and I can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

Frank, I will send you the connector or a board on Monday. Jim

I have never had to replace one and in all the years I think I have sold a total of 3 of them.

Somebody replaced the original tape player bezel with one from an '88 Riviera