NTX5467

Does this car perhaps have the "Max Trac" option, with a switch on the instrument cluster to turn it on and off? Or were those a few model years before this? Agree, on a cold start, the choke plate should not be full-open, but closed. In our hot weather, perhaps not a hard-full-closed, but at least some closing initially. At about 65 degrees F ambient (carb, engine, underhood air), the choke plate should JUST close consistently, then when the engine starts, the choke pull-off will pull it partially open so it does not choke too much. Then the thermostat takes over as the intake manifold warms to open the choke plate the rest of the way to full-open. If the choke plate is fully open at full-cold, see how much effort it takes to manually close it. Perhaps the rod has disengaged from the thermostat itself or the coil spring has broken? Just some thoughts, NTX5467

Possibility of using some a/c fittings and rubber hoses to attach to the condenser inlet and outlet, through which the flush fluid can be added, held, then flushed out through? Flush top to bottom, which might be the best orientation? Install the flush fluid. When it runs out of the bottom side, plug that hose and keep filling until all if full. Might need to elevate one side of the car to minimize the possibilities of air bubbles in the serpentine passages? When full, let it sit for an hour or so. Then drain and use more flush fluid until what comes out is mostly clean. Then plug the outlet, refill, and let it sit overnight? Then complete the flush the next day. Is the flush in prep for R-134a or is that suspicion that the condenser is internally restricted? Just curious. Just some thoughts, NTX5467

Back when the car was built and up into the 1990s, according to GM, "excessive oil consumption" was below 1 qt/300 miles. Which is more miles than one drop per engine revolution. With the later ring packages, the miles/quart for "excessive" went to something like 1000 miles/qt. BUT, one 6.0L company truck I had, it was end of the year, so I ran it 15K before I got the oil changed. At 10K, it was still at the "Full" line and didn't smell of hydrocarbons, so by the time in January when I had some extra time, THEN it was changed at 15K miles on that oil. FWIW

An LS engine probably would have used less oil, BUT in order to use an LS engine, the car's wiring would have to be completely re-done, I suspect. Certainly need an alternator to power the computer network to make the LS run right, I suspect. Not sure Annie's ready for a heart transplant, after proving herself as she did! NTX5467

GLAD you're home!!! Thanks for the incredible chronicles of your cross-country excursion! Enjoyed them very much! Thanks, NTX5467

The oil drainback hole situation sounds a bit convoluted to me, SO with the valve covers off, can you inspect those drainback holes for being open and clear? Coat the valve cover gaskets with black, high heat sealer, a skin coat you can smear on with your fingers. ALL sides . . . top, bottom, inside, and outside edges. Let it cure overnight, THEN install them. If a dab is needed to keep them in place while they are being installed, that can happen to. That skin coat of sealer seals the cork and prevents wicking of oil through them, over time. I coat all of my gaskets that way. It's worked well for me over the past 50+ years I've been doing it. Easy to remove and re-use the gaskets, too. FAR, FAR better than using yellow 3M adhesive to glue them in place!!!!!!! As for the head gasket/oil leak issue . . . perhaps some Dawn Powerwash and gentle water to keep things cleaner? NTX5467

Just curious if they were using current "pump" diesel or "off-road" diesel with a bit more sulphur in it? NTX5467

Main thing is to ensure they are running at their peak, or close to it. That they "run happy", which just makes things that much better for us! NTX5467

In many respects, Buicks of that general school of styling were ICONIC in that they alluded to a future world where planet-to-planet travel was done by space rockets and cars were for speedy ground transportation. The Sedanette body exemplifies that orientation. That car would have looked perfectly at home in the major comic books or movies of the time as the cars the "good guys and ladies" drove. The HEROES and HEROINES of the story! Getting them to the location of the Evil Emperor just in time, before he pushes the button to destroy Earth, or similar. Valve-In-Head Buick power saving the day, once again! Rather than "flathead power" of the stodgier Cadillacs or Chryslers of that time. (Back to normal times . . .) I know the car is not designed to be a street car as we now know them, but is the car sitting on an air suspension, which will rise so the front wheels can turn sideways to turn corners? Headlight location? Behind the grille, somewhere? Why does that air cleaner look like it started life as a '65 Chrysler air cleaner, onto which they grafted a pair of longer Buick snorkels onto it? 1965 Chrysler being operative as the base plate would have the correct-sized hole in the baseplate for the earlier Carter AFB carb on the engine? Thanks for posting this beautiful Buick as it won its award! NTX5467

As GM was using acrylic lacquer on the exterior, I suspect they were using lacquer on the innards, too. Easier to shoot than acrylic enamel, too, even at the factory level. Mist coats are better than "wet" coats, usually. Be sure to clean everything to be sprayed with silicone and oil remover! Just some thoughts, NTX5467

Putting the epoxy paste/coating on the well seals of a QJet has been common during a rebuild since the late 1960s. In those earlier times, if the car was hard to start the first time in the morning or whenever, it was because those soldered well seals had let the float bowl seep into the plenum. There was also a thick foam-type insert for below the float bowl, too. There was also an insert into the float bowl which diverted the incoming fuel to the bottom of the float bowl, decreasing the bowl capacity even more. NTX5467

In any metallic interface, there usually is ONE sacrificial wear item. Usually, it's the bottom face of the valve lifter. If one degrades too much, easy to replace. With the new COMP lifters having a harder bottom surface, that might well make the cam lobes to be the sacrificial wear item? So, is the coating there for friction reduction or wear reduction? I COMPLETELY CONCUR with the use of roller-tip rocker arms. Yes, more expensive, BUT the possible reduction of wear in the valve guides (and valve stems) should be significant. My late machine shop operative noted that as the guides wear, due to sideloads placed on the valve stems by the rocker arms, the wear increases to the point where as the valve seats, it can hit the seat a bit crooked and not seat squarely and firmly as if it was less worn. Certainly, the force of the valve spring might counteract some of this, but not all of it, I suspect. End result is a minor hot spot on the edge of the valve, where it is thinnest, which continues to cook away until a flat spot exists on the circumference of the valve head, i.e., "burnt valve". Some might disagree, but to me, the best valve guide upgrade is the bronze heli-coil type valve guide inserts. Not hard to install. Do a valve job first, as everything centers off of the valve seat. Then cut the grooves into the existing guide. Then install the bronze heil-coil insert. Use the appropriate tool (in the installation kit) to seat the heli-coil in the grooves. Burnish/trim the ends and you're done. Lube the valve stems and install valves, springs, retainers, and valve stem locks. Allegedly this type of guide has a very good wear interface with chrome-stemmed valves. PLUS, should they ever wear, put in new bronze heli-coils and go again, it seems to me. A "forever" repair for a vehicle which does not see much use? Like adding a double-roller timing chain in place of a normal one. To me, both of these are incognito upgrades for longer intervals between "take aparts", which with other quality parts and machining, can extend the life of any engine well WELL into and past the 200K mile mark, by observation, with oil changes every 4000 miles or so. As to the timing chain upgrade to a double-roller design, I put one in my '77 Camaro at 92K miles. When we replaced the engine at 525K miles (for leaking freeze plugs, all of them), it was still working fine. Never had to re-set the initial timing, either. Just some thoughts and experiences, NTX5467

The issue is wheel flex, not tire movement on the wheel, which would affect wheel balance, as I understand it. I had a similar issue on the rh frt wheel of our '66 Chrysler. Although the wheel had two nubs about an inch on either side of the valve stem and corresponding places on the wheel cover, to limit wheel cover movement, they still moved. The valve stem was the only actual travel limiter!! So I just took off the valve stem extension and re-installed that wheel cover such that the valve stem hole was away from the stem. ONLY on that one wheel, even if the tires were rotated. With bias ply or bias-belted tires. Enjoy! NTX5467

After hearing Jay Leno talk about the Evans coolant, I checked it out. Not just a "drop-in" situation, as I discovered. To start the change, a "Prep fluid" is added and then drained/flushed out. That gets the water out. Then add the "coolant" (about $45.00/gallon) and such. Which can put the materials cost over $130.00 or so, easily. IF I was doing a complete restoration, where everything was new, I might consider using it, maybe even on a recent engine, but as normal coolant is still "cheap", no financial reason for now. Might consider a "long-life 100K mile coolant", though. Enjoy! NTX5467

Interesting "Now Hiring" poster for Pony Express riders! Thanks for the pictures and related dialogue! Hope your trip continues going well. NTX5467

You might need to remove a little bit of lube before adding the second bottle, as it will need "space" to be added. I suspect that most brands are the same, but the ACDelco stuff, we know what it's supposed to be. NTX5467

I'm not a real fan of rat rods, but I appreciate the work needed to get there. BUT that orientation is kind of "cost-related" too, just as hubcaps used to be, rather than full wheel covers. On some cars and such, they don't look bad, even with whitewalls but they also bring up the "Che_______" words, from back when ONLY high-performance cars only dared to bare their lug nuts. And when upscale car brands always had full wheel covers, because after all, they were "better" car brands. But for somebody desiring to emulate the "police car look", blackwalls and hubcaps are the ticket. Your car, your money, your dreams . . . Enjoy! NTX5467

As noted, there is constant spring pressure on the generally flat clutch plates. Which means there is more propensity for the lube to be squeezed from between them. Hence, the sticking or reluctance to release initially when needed to release/slip. Even with the low installation rates of PTracs in the later 1960s, I found several references to the "stick, pop.release" situation in car magazines I had from the middle 1960s. In other words, it was more common than not, back then, especially on performance vehicles as Corvettes. On our then-new '69 Chevy pickup, after we figured out why it was popping (usually just once, but noticeable more times than not), we had the dealer change the rear axle lube and add the additive. Chevy used to have a lube for PTracs specifically, plus the additive, bvack then. Or the normal lube to which the additive was added. In some cases, it was suggested that TWO bottles of additive be added in "extreme cases". Which some indicated might not solve the issue. So, what you have is an indication that the clutches are still in decent condition. Add another bottle of additive if you desire and see if it helps. Other than just a "live with it", with the orientation that things are not good, but put up with it . . . or use the pops to verify that things are as they should be (which can be confirmed with some quick take offs with the wheels on dissimilar traction surfaces ( one on dirt, one on pavement) to confirm everything is still working. In these "tests", it is completely normal for lh rr wheel to lay more rubber than the rh rr wheel does. Even on dry pavement, more "evidence" of lh wheel spin. Which is just the opposite as a non-PTrac rear axle. So, easier to spin the lh rr wheel in a corner on a PTrac vehicle. Why?? In a normal non-locked rear axle, it is the torque reaction of the quickly-turning driveshaft (and the normal tendency of its direction of rotation to "take the housing with it" as it quickly spins when the vehicle is at zero-to-low speeds. With a PTrac, the locked clutches counteract that spin action and put more rotational resisstance to better plant the rh rr wheel, which then can tend to lift the lh rr wheel as a result. The OTHER thing is that the spring-loaded PTracs do not completely lock-up, but always allow for a certain amount of slip, only being about 75% locked. Whereas the limited-slip differentials in 3/4 ton pickup trucks to fully lock as the speed differential between the rear wheels moves the clutches closer together mechanically via ramps, so that they lock-up solidly. Hence the term "locker" used for them. In about the later 1980s, Chevy/GMC went to a "governor based" limited-slip/locker differential. Using a pair of teardrop-shapped fly weights, swung outward by a small wheel which turned when the rear wheel speed variation increased. Leaving it unlocked in normal driving, until one wheel slipped a certain amount. "Unlocked until it locks", which also changed the terminology for it to "Locking Differential" in the sales literature. NOW, in the sales training tools Chevrolet used to indicate how well it worked, they would drive a Chevy 1/2 ton pickup and its competitors up a steep hill with the rh rr tire's rear surface wet with Murphy's Oil Soap. After about 40" or so, the competitor would cease to move upward as the Chevy continued onward to the top. In later demo videos, they would slowly drive the competitor across a deep V-shaped drainage ditch, putting the body/frame into a torsional twist of sorts, but also resulting in the rh rr wheel hanging in open air, where the truck would stop and could not move forward. In contrast, the Chevy would drive to the same middle spot, pause, then the rh rr wheel would slowly rotate. After about a full turn, the truck would visibly shake and the Chevy would continue across the ditch, with the lh rr wheel moving it forward. There should be some YouTube videos of these, I suspect. Which supported the term "locking differential" for the same G80 option code. Not EVERY car can leave TWO strips of rubber! NTX5467

Having the speed read somewhat accurately will not always guarantee the odometer is accurate. Which is why running the milemarkers for at least 5 miles (at a steady speed) is needed. 10 miles makes the math easier! NTX5467

Is that similar to the "smileage" you got with BFG whitewalls back then, too?

Earlier-style PTracs were locked until they unlock, using spring pressure to keep the clutches in contact with each other. Regardless of what it might indicate on the lube bottle, PTrac additive IS needed for those differentials. Finding a GM dealer with such in stock might be a trick, but it should be available via sources like Summit, Amazon, or similar. On our 1969 Chevy pickup which we bought new, with a factory PTrac, it always had a "catch" when turning left. Lube changes and new additive did nothing to stop it, but it wouild usually do it once and then that was it, in each lh turn, but by then, too, the turn was over and things straightened out. Just something we lived with. Even tried the lh turns followed by the rh turns and all of that . . . no change. Perhaps new rear control arm bushings will lessen the feel of when it "catches"? "Catch and release", LOL. When I ordered my new '77 Camaro LT, I ordered it with PTrac. It has never displayed any "catches" on lh turns, ever, in over 750K miles. Enjoy "the feel" of increased performance and snow traction, NTX5467

You could just go for the rat rod sedan look and forget about the hub caps and such. Just paint the hub and rear axle center satin black and put some chrome lug nuts on the studs (which would be the factory '69 Super Bee 440 6-Pack look). NTX5467

If that head bolt goes into an open hole, rather than a blind hole, it might just need to be removed, cleaned, and the threads coated with Permatex #2 or similar, then reinstalled in the cleaned threads? I suspect that a failed head gasket would be leaking coolant into the oil or a cylinder. Just a thought, NTX5467

Guess they didn't have any SPAM left for the pineapple upside down SPAM pie?

I strongly concur about the price of fuel these days. NOT to forget the seeminly wild price fluctuations (which are not reflected in the "average price per gallon" in your particular area. Used to be that the floor for price, locally, had been about $2.89/gallon. Usually when it hit that level, it was very possible it might be $3.29/gallon next time you drove by the same station, that same day. Then it would start decreasing by 1-2cents day until it got close to $3.00/gallon again. Cycle repeat. Cycle repeat. Cycle repeat. As the big oil companies make huge profits at our expense. BTAIM Hence, bragging about poor fuel economy on a vehicle which can get better fuel economy seems a bit out of whack to me. Means the driver is either using "jack rabbbit starts" and "short stops" to get from point A to point C. Might look neat and get peoples' attention, but at what personal cost? In any event, to leave the best impression of our vintage vehicles when we drive them, having then running as good as they can is important. Not letting them warm-up in the driveway can help improve fuel economy, too. If you want to see how driving style can impact fuel economy, get a newer vehicle which has an "Instant Fuel Economy" readout in the Driver's Info Center. That can be very revealing!!! Of course, with fuel injection, the nanosecond you depress the accel pedal while driving, the computer is adding extra fuel to the engine. Carburetors need for the intake manifold vacuum to drop a certain amount for the enrichment to happen. Which is why people used to drive with a vacuum gauge, seeking to learn to drive normally with the highest intake manifold vac levels at the same time. In some vehicles which only do "Average Fuel Economy", if you want a high number, get that on the highway FIRST thing after the reset. Trying to nurse it higher from initial city driving is a lost cause, from my experiences. You can also see the average mpg number slowly decrease while in the drive-thru lanes, too. Or sitting through a long stop light cycle. KEY thing is to expand on the old "get into the traffic flow to hit green lights consistently rather than having to stop at red ones, consistently. With modern radial tires, the cars can COAST a long way without loosing much speed, as you approach stop signs. So coast up to them rather than drive up to them and nail the brakes. When in hilly territory, as you maintain speed up the hill, as soon as you get to the top, back out of the throttle to coast down the hill at posted legal speed rather than gaining speed with the same throttle setting. This is especially true with an EFI vehicle as the "coast time" will be at up to 99mpg. Another reason to use the cruise control when safe/possible on an EFI vehicle. Respectfully, NTX5467