NTX5467

When Dexcool came out, the GM rep told me that in the first 3000 miles of use (as it was recommended only for new vehicles which came with it from the factory), a chemical in it would coat the water jackets and such with a coating to kill corrosion and keep it from starting. It was not recommended for older vehicles which had already had green coolant in them. Again, his "recommendations". Yet I also suspected that in an older vehicle with a freshly-vatted and rebuilt engine, adding a new radiator and heater core into the mix, would be the same as a new vehicle, in cooling system aspects. By the time Dexcool was introduced, ALL used coolant was supposed to be collected and recycled. With the long service life of Dexcool, GM mentioned the HUGE amount of used coolant that would not need to be put into the recycling system . . . as an ecological benefit. Dexcool was supposed to be silicate-free, which was supposed to mean longer water pump seal life, but V-8 Silverados with Dexcool still needed new water pumps at about 80K miles back then, anyway. It DID seem that as long as the coolant was kept at its normal level in the coolant recovery tank, no problems. IF the coolant was seeping out and that low level got to the radiator tank, THEN "pink sand" could appear in the radiator filler neck. Which vehicles this happend to, by observation, was not the complete spectrum of GM vehicles. As I understand it, with the many complaints on the Internet and eisewhere, GM started to inspect the lease vehicle they got back in (personal and otherwise) and determine what the issues were. In a few years, it seemed that ALL such issues tended to vanish, never to be heard of again. There are multiple chemical formulas for "long-life coolants". Dexcool is ONE, but Ford and Chrysler have their own specific coolants, too, for example. Different, but related, chemistries which allegedly do NOT mix. Yet Prestone and others now have universal coolants in addition to Dexcool. Valvoline hits Ford and Chrysler, as I recall. By observation, normal coolant can be added to Dexcool, in an emergency situation, the GM rep noted, but when Dexcool becomes contaminated, its benefits are diminished. He noted that for the long-term benefits of Dexcool to remain, the contaminated coolant needs to be drained and replaced with fresh Dexcool as soon as possible. When Dexcool becomes contaminated with "green", the resultant mixture looks like liquid mud, by observation. Normally saw that in the first years of Descool, as most customers did not know what "Dexcool" was back then, they just knew "antifreeze", so they bought the cheapest version they could . . . just like they had been for years. What could be different? The BASF coolant pamphlet I picked up noted that ethylene glycol eats lead solder, so additives in the coolant prevent/diminish this activity. Reason to change coolant rather than just corrosion protection. Of course, with the newer composite radiators and heater cores, no lead solder in the cooling systems since about 1992 or so, if not more like 1982 (when we saw the first composite radiators on Camaros and such). Somewhere back then, I discovered that many over-the-road trucks had "crimped and gasketed" radiator cores, rather than soldered-in ones. Enjoy! NTX5467

(Hydrographic film . . . is that related to "body wrap" material for vehicles?)

There is a '57 New Yorker 2-dr hardtop which used to come to our annual Mopar shows. A fantastic-looking correctly-restored car. The main body areas were very nice and shiny black. The roof was a metallic black. The subtle contrast really stood out against the shiny total black of the rest of the car body. In order to possibly save time and expense, you could paint the car all one color in your choice of normal paint. THEN, use a body wrap material to do the two-toning with. This way, if you don't like it, it can be removed. Plus keeping a decent shine on the 2nd color. A few years ago, the parts truck I had was factory silver, but the other trucks we got needed to match mine, so they were wrapped in the same GM factory color. ONLY way you could tell was when you looked around the hidden edges. The gloss was similar and hard to tell from a factory paint job. You can buy panels of certain colors from 3M or similar, plus do a DIY situation, OR let somebody else install it. Just some thoughts, NTX5467

One realization of "the coolant as 'ground'" was when an associate (who taught at a local automotive trade school) commented that "good" coolant was necessary for the many coolant-touching sensors to give the computer a good and accurate reading. This was in the later 1980s. Might this have been a side-issue for the extended-life coolants, such as GM DEXCOOL, which have a specified lifespan of 5 yrs/100K miles? NTX5467

IF you are going to pull out the block drain plugs and drain it fully, then take the 2 gallons of green coolant and 2 gallons of distilled water to make a 4 gallon 50-50 mix to refill the block (via the thermostat housing) and then the radiator (with all of the hoses connected), plus a dry heater core, with 50-50 mix, that can be a good bit of labor involved. What I used to do was to flush the block with a garden hose (engine at hot idle and the radiator drain open), then let the radiator drain. When empty, close the drain spout, and refill the radiator with pure 100% green coolant. On the car we had, filling the a/c rated radiator usually would take 9qts of coolant, resulting in a -34 degrees F protection level. Then run the engine to purge any air out and re-check the level. Cycle repeat every two years. Worked just fine for us. The whole deal of buying 50-50 mix coolant, already mixed, is a more modern invention. Use it for top-offs and such, rather than complete "drain and fill" operations, to me. If using DEXCOOL, it is allegedly supposed to be put in the engine in a 50-50 mix orientation, according to GM. The need to change the non-DEXCOOL coolant every so often is to keep the coolant additives from degrading the solder holding the radiator and heater core together. Additives in the normal coolant keep that from happening, but when the additive package degrades, the two enemies (ethylene glycol and solder) start to fight each other . . . according to a BASF Coolant brochure I found in the 1980s. If course, if your radiator is welded aluminum or is a composite radiator, then the only solder would be in the heater core. Enjoy! NTX5467

The 4-slot hub fan clutch is what the fan clutch manufacturers went to, in the middle 1980s, to replace the dedicated-drilled solid hubs which the OEMs typically used. Perhaps there is a larger-hub OEM fan, from a later model year, of the same diameter, which can fit the new clutch assy? NTX5467

As a Holley engineer noted in a seminar I attended back in the earlier 1980s, the coil will only build enough energy to jump the spark plug gap, no more, no less. The stock coils were usually good for 30KV in the 1960s. They usually worked just fine on Street HEMIs and other HP engines, back then. But if you had a 6-71 blower on the engine, THEN you might need some extra spark energy. As I recall "Blue Streak" was Standard's "high performance" brand, but is now just morphed into their portfolio of brands. NTX5467

That "car" is a 1970s version of "Speed Racer", painted incognito green to avoid detection! Might Race Bannon's long hair wig be in the rear floorboard?

Can't forget the Batrmobile with the low-intensity flames coming out of the back!!

When I first started paying attention to chrome plating, the "best" was on OEM car bumpers. If the bumper had been reconditioned and rechromed, it was usually obvious to me. IF it was that good at all. Many variations in chrome plating back then, just as there were for vehicle painters. When I began getting involved with friends who had "show cars", then I became aware of "show chrome". There were a few shops in town that did that work, very well, as I discovered. But oin some types of body parts, it could take a few pieces to get ONE good one (especially if the base metal was "pot metal"). Then, one day in the later 1980s, I was taken with how much better Toyota pickup truck bumpers looked that similar GM items. The Toyota items just looked better/brighter, for some reason. That "reason" was the COLOR of the chrome. The GM chrome was more "whiteish" and the Toyota chrome had a blue tint to it, which made it look brighter. FIRST time I had ever noticed different colors of chrome! Then I came to realize that "show chrome" was a slightly different color than OEM chrome, in addition to the higher gloss. One year in the 1990s, I was at Mopar Nats and happened upon a space on the edge of the vendor area. It was for a chrome shop in a regional town. Of course, he had some samples of his work hanging on a board. Plus some example where the original piece had been ruined by other shops. That's when I really discovered how easy it might be for that to happen, especially on an ornate casting! The multiple layers of underlayment coatings were the issue. Too much build thickness smoothed the ornate designs of the original casting. If done correctly, the ornateness was still there. If not, they were buried. Which led me to understand that the "best chrome is the thinnest chrome", at all layers of the process. With the re-chrome looking just like "the first time" it had been chromed. I suspect that anything on a Harley should be (or normally is) "show chrome", all things considered. At the last small chrome shop I took some stuff to, the basic charge was for a certain base amount of items to be chromed. Not charged "by the piece", but "by the pound" until the vat was filled. So I got a chrome air cleaner top re-chromed, courtesy of our service manager. In the case of INTERIOR chrome, that's a whole 'nuther conversation and learning curve! Take care, NTX5467

Back when a national parts store chain was advertising that they'd pull the codes on your car for free, BUT also print out a list of the parts needed to fix those codes, it got THEM a lot of related traffic to the stores, consider then dealer would do it for 1/2hr of labor, refundable if we fixed the car. BUT, just like in the non-computered days, you STILL have to know how the codes interact with each other, such that ONE code could trigger other codes too!!! And a leaking intake manifold gasket (on Vortec 5.3L V-8s, for example) would do just that. For example, the leaking intake manifold gasket (which was a stiff plastic design with small silicone seals in it) could cause a "lean code" on that one cylinder, as it could also cause a "misfire code" due to a lean mixture not getting ignited. If the leak was near the coolant passage at the front, more codes. Seems like there were usually 5 codes all together? In those times in the 1990s, many perceived the computers "knew it all", which they did, to a certain extent. Which was one orientation the auto supply chain used to sell more parts (their ultimate goal). Also knowing that some of those auto supply parts were not application-specific could also result in the issue not being fixed after THEIR parts were used in the repair. SO . . . when somebody came in with the heat-print list of parts needed, I would gently tell them that I could sell them all of those parts, for them to DIY install, BUT that they needed to get to the root cause of why the codes were being set to start with. Explaining, too, that one code could trigger other codes on that list, which meant they were over-spending to get the vehicle fixed. THEN . . . I'd explain that our GM special tools Scanner was much more sophisticated than what the auto supply had, as the dealership's Tech II system could isolate specific timeframes when the code was set, to allow the tech to see what was going on and why. Which led into my suggestion that if they took that list to the service drive, the FIRST thing our tech would do is hook the GM scan tool to the vehicle and see what was going on, making THEIR determination of what was needed to really fix the issue. Not unlike a responsible tech at ANY shop would do, I highly suspect. If a customer came to the front parts counter with a similar list (from where ever) or from their own scanner, I would kindly suggest they run their deal by our shop foreman, for verification. End result is that they should have come to us first in order to get a better fix, in the end, possibly for less money spent. NOW . . . in the 25+ years since then, the level of scan tools available to the public has increased a lot, in what they can do and detect. Just as Internet knowledge of the codes and what can trigger them has increased, too. Just as GM has improved their special tool scanner capabilities a humongous amount too, now being laptops rather than a shop-only roll-around "box with cables". Even with these massive increases in computer capabilities, it still takes one spark to ignite the air/fuel mixture in one cyolinder, just like in the old days. Those relationships have never changed. ONE thing which became available, starting in the 1990s, was that EVERY special tool, access to diagnostics, and TSBs for GM vehicles became available through the ACDelco realm of things. For a subscription which was about $1000.00/month back then. Currently, you can still subscribe or get a certain-timed access (week, month, etc.) into that database for less money. Usually available to repair shops, but MIGHT also be available to knowledgeable individuals, possibly. At THIS time, going back into the 1990s might be "iffy", though. Still. Google can be your friend. Just have to know whom in the search results to believe. The GOOD THING is that most of the common Buick and Chevy engine "things" were easy to diagnose and fix, since the later-1980s. Which can be where a knowledgeable retired GM parts person can come in handy, sometimes. Just some thoughts, NTX5467

In one respect, I "gave up" on ignition coils ages ago. Either the car runs or it does not. Whenever I would use a meter to check the internal resistance, the numbers never matched the service manual specs, yet the engines ran fine. Over the past few years, I've read that some makers used 6 volt coils on their 12 volt systems. Only 6 volts when the engine were running, but 12 volts for starting, or something like that. Have ignition coils been far more universal than we might ever suspect? So, to me, if the engine starts and runs fine, the ignition coil is working. Not "weak" or anything else, just "working". Although of late, newer-manufactured condensers seem to be causing most of the problems in ignitions (past points). The cure? Old, NOS condensers. The newer ones, even name brands, can come apart inside and cause running issues, big time. Just my experiences and observations, NTX5467

There could well be some quality differences (as in how many might fail per batch built), but I determined back in the earlier 1980s that most of the ignition coil production had been consolidated as to who built them. I bought a new ACDelco ignitioni coil for a '72 Pontiac Catalina, suspecting the OEM production coil might be causing an issue (which it was not). When I opened the ACDelco box and removed the new coil, I was surprised that it was a complete satin black item. NO silkscreened numbers, production date, etc. on it. The ONLY ID I found on it was discretely on the bottom. A small elliptical gold sticker near a light stamping, both of which had the same "5 letter word" on them. It's possible that the low cost coils might have less total longevity than the higher-priced ones, but it's been my suspiciion that they all come out of the same factory or supplier. "Brand Name" can account for some price differences, but not all of the difference. Sometimes, it seems that on some ACDelco products, they charge for the longer warranty right up front, too! NAPA could well be a better choice, NTX5467

The velour-era interior probably looked nicely-decadent when it was new, but sun did it no favors. Wonder what the FRAME looks like? Obviously, if the car was "refreshed" top-side and elsewhere, it could be wildly-popular on the indoor car show circuits this winter! NTX5467

Can you imagine the grins on their faces? "ONLY one like it!" THEN they grew up and their acne went away . . .

For the 1977 model year and the new generation of downsized B, C, and E (Riv) cars, for which new two-tone orientations were for "panels" on the cars' sides to be where the two-tones were, the normal pin stripes would not work. In prior times, the "color divider" would have been chrome trim, but it became a piece of tape with BOTH colors on it. It went over the paint edge as the "color divider". I know they were available from GM Parts in the particular segments on the side of the car, but I never saw any in the aftermarket on small rolls as other pinstriping tape was sold back then. Two-tones for the roof area of the vehicle were done with vinyl roofs of different colors. NO two-tone paint for the roofs, by observation. Such would have compromised the great, taut lines of the styling. Yes, GM (and others) usually did "pin stripes" after final assy of the vehicle. This way, the stripes would be on doors which were aligned with the body panels rather than otherwise. Most were painted. With brushes in the earlier times and then with the "Buegler"-style paint striping machine later on. As the stripes age and slightly deteriorate, the method of application usually becomes evident. For the brush-applied stripes, the variations of force of the brush bristles (side to side and front to back) can be observed. On the striping tool-applied stripes, the little vertical indententations of the striping wheel can be seen. Must have been a template which covered the panel gaps as all of the stripes never extent to the full edge of the panel, always being "gapped" in those areas. IF a dealer ordered "Stripe Delete" on a solid color vehicle, then they could add TAPE stripes at their discretion for a suitable upcharge on the additional window sticker. Those stripes were applied in one long roll of tape. The panel gap areas were sliced with a sharp item, with the stripes being wrapped around the panel gap edges. Back then, at many indoor car shows, pinstriping artists were in attendance to work on show vehicles or otherwise. THOSE people used long and thin artists brushes to apply the stripes manually. Watching them work, you begin to understand the difference between a brush-applied pinstripe and a stripe done by a wheeled tool ("Beugler-style" tool). By observation, in some higher-end carline dealers, there were stripers which could do paint stripes . . . for a price, if desired by the customer. Just some observations, NTX5467

Nice looking car, for sure! Knowing how many horses are turning the wheels, those wiere wheel covers are accurate. Something like the alloys pictured would result in "deceptive advertising", possibly? Parking THAT Riv next to any modern "luxury" car quickly reveals the difference between what WE rightfully termed "luxury" and the new "utilitarian luxury" that many now consider to be "luxury". Enjoy! NTX5467

Nope, normal 1/2 to 1-ton stuff, too. Plus cars.

GM transitioned into the full-syn rear axle lube about 20 years ago, with the feature "Smells like grapes" on the bottle. Any good gear oil should work. NTX5467

Hate to hear of your COVID issues! Hope you have a restful and speedy recovery! NTX5467

When I first read of the use of a "vapor separator" in place of a normal inline fuel filter, in an effort to decrease vapor lock in Bill's '29, I thought "That's interesting". When I read further, to the issue of putting the vapor line back into the main fuel supply line, on the tank side of the pump, that seemed as if it might be a "good hack", as it would not require any significant modification to the existing fuel system. BUT . . . if what was actually going back to the pre-pump location was vapor, then putting vapor into a suction situation would only increase the vapor there, due to the suction. Not desired. Chrysler and GM both used vapor separators in some of their factory fuel systems. With the vapor line generally horizontal or vertical (on the top of a vertically-oriented fuel filter. In either case, the vapor/return fuel went back to the fuel tank itself. In reality, an inexpensive way to get "return fuel" using an existing fuel pump. Later, GM started to use "3-line" fuel pumps in some applications with an in-carburetor fuel filter. In about the 1984-1985 model years, we started to see "hot fuel handling" complaints on 305 4bbl Monte Carlos and Camaros. GM had issued a TSB and related "kit" of parts to install or change location of. I thought this peculiar, UNTIL I looked under the hood of an affected Camaro. THEN it all made sense! Due to how the underhood-area plumbinb was (hvac, hoses, etc.), NO air was reaching the QJet carb. No way, no how. One owner wrote to a car magazine stating that the dealer had done the TSB with little to no improvement. End result was that with the very small float bowl volume of a QJet, as soon as the fuel enters, it is consumed by the carb jets into the engine. With little in reserve, as soon as that supply is depleted (through heavy throttle movements and such), the engine becomes unresponsive, temporarily. A few years later, these TSBs would be obsoleted by the 1987 EFI/TBI fuel eystems. The engineeers knew this back then, so no real desire to spend lots of money on re-designs which would only be beneficial during certain times of the year and certain conditions. The use of diesel fuel is a means of decreasing the volatility of the current fuels, I suspect. Obviously, "octane" is not a consideration for these older, low-octane requirement motors. To me, any exposed steel-type fuel lines probably should be polished with 600-grit red ScotchBrite to increase their heat reflectivity, then clear-coated for durability. Under the car, out of sight to a casual observer, then some reflective/insulative "wrap"/heat shielding tubes can protect the fuel lines from heat radiated by the roadways and added to by under car heat from the engine compartment. At the back, something of a silver mylar plastic heat shield for the fuel tank, while the vehicle is being driven, which can be easily removed for judging purposes? I suspect that more modern vehicles would be a bit more involved to do this on than an earlier model vehicle. Key thing would be to decrease the amount of heat absorbed by the fuel (above ambient temperatures) between the gas cap and the carburetor, as much as possible. Remember the "clothes pins on the fuel line" to help decrease vapor lock tendencies?? Back in about 1988 or so, a motor home appeared in our service department one summer afternoon. Complaint was "No power. Top speed down hill of about 55mph". One of our better techs drew the job. He went for a ride with the customer and his family. Although it was a normal Chevy 454 powertrain, it had no power, yet everything checked "normal". On a whim, the tech got a pair or vice grips and clamped-off the return line from the fuel pump. Suddenly the MH cruised at 70mph, with ease, as it should have. He came into the parts counter wanting a carb jet. He told me what he was going to do and I managed to fine an old carb jet in a dusty drawer parts bin. He installed that jet in the return line from the pump. Issue solved! As it turned out, the customer had left MIdland, TX that morning on their way to Dallas. Only being able to run 50mph on a Texas Interstate was not good or enjoyable. They had stopped at any Chevy dealer of any size, plus some motor home specialists, about five times before they got to us. An aux pusher electric pump had been installed at the tank, with little improvement. No other shop had found anything significant. Then our guy had a thought that perhaps there was too much return fuel, and addressed that possibility, which worked. By the time they got to us, it was later in the afternoon . . . a long day for them to go several hundred miles. When they left, they were smiling! The older cars (as I recall from back then) sometimes had vapor lock issues when they were new or "just used cars". Just a part of cross-country travel in the vacation season of the year, back then. Whatever issues there were back then have been amplified by hotter vacation seasons (!!!!) and flakier, higher-volatility fuels. Nobody wants to be sitting on the side of the road, with an inoperable engine due to vapor lock issues, now or in earlier times. Just some thoughts, NTX5467

The tape stripes have been long-discontinued from GM. I somewhat doubt anything similar to them is in the aftermarket. I suspect the paint information is on the SPID label in the luggage compartment. All factory two-tone paint got the related tape stripes. NTX5467

Thanks for the additional information and clarifications, Pete. Agreed, minimal choke involvement with our current temperature range. The flapper in the snorkel changes the SOURCE of the air going to the carb, not restricting it. When closed, the source is from the heat stove baffling on the exhaust manifold for cold starts. Perhaps the vac motor of that item is ruptured and results in a vac leak until the thermostat in the air cleaner cuts vac to it? Unplugging and capping the vac source to that thermostat would decrease one heat-related issue, for diagnostic purposes. Possible electric issues might be checked by swapping in a known good ignition coil, ballast resistor, and condenser. Not new, but from a used distributor/engine, etc.? Just some thoughts, NTX5467

IF the paint on your car is OEM and is a two-tone (as pictured), the color-divider stripes are multi-color TAPE stripes, cut and contoured to fit specific locations on the vehicle. That's how GM did things back then, in the post-paint stripe era. Additionally, some of the stripes with "gold" in them would tarnish "green" with time, if not cleaned. The green could be easily removed with a careful fingernail use, from my experiences. NTX5467

But you do know which pipe goes to the bottom?