TxBuicks
-
Posts
970 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Forums
Gallery
Events
Posts posted by TxBuicks
-
-
Your expiration date is on your mailing label, top right hand corner, after your BCA number. It will be in the MM-YY format.
-
Looks like it went from Rhode Island to Houston, then back to NY. That's crazy.
-
-
A very rare Buick, indeed. Not only were Apollos only produced for a few years, this one is about as option-less as you can get. I don't see any power options, no PS or PB, no A/C, a post model, the cheapest hub caps, 6-cylinder, manual transmission column shift, bench seats, no tilt steering wheel, etc. The original owner of this car wanted nothing more than cheap, dependable transportation. Very interesting. Is it in Ohio?
-
-
It is good to see a great car sell at a reasonable price. I will look for it at the next BCA Nationals.
-
I don't really get the excuse for not judging an event because there are a lot of cars. The Nationall event grows each year, and the judging has continued. Do you think there were 300 cars to be judged at the earlier National Meets? Of course not. Yet, the judging evolved to handle the larger number of cars. Who is to say we can't judge the larger events? Yes, it will be more work, but you will have twice as many people there to help. If time is a concern, have the judging on Friday (like they did in Ames in 2010) and the banquet on Saturday. I have been involved behind the scenes of National Meets for many years and I think larger events can be judged fairly, using the same system we have now, just on a larger scale. Those people that say it can't be done just don't want to do it.
-
Another effort to try to rescue another Buick. I ran across a 1999 Park Avenue which has been diagnosed with a blown head gasket. The owner says he was driving it on the highway and heard a weird noise coming from the engine then it stopped running. He had it towed to a mechanic, who took a compression reading and said 3 of the 6 cylinders had very low compression, indicating a blown head gasket. He gave an estimate of $1,500 to fix. Obviously, the owner does not want to spend that much money on a 1999 Buick. So, the question is, how much effort is it to change a head gasket on a 3800 engine and is this something you would consider doing yourself? I am not a professional mechanic but I have changed head gaskets on older V-8 engines, so I could be up to the challenge, depending on your opinions. If I did it, I would only charge the owner a minimum amount, just to get the car back on the road again. He is a friend of mine, too. What do you think?
-
Do ou have any idea on what they want to get for it? How long has it sat?
-
Ol' Yeller, congrats on your Gold award. Reading your post reminded me of a common thread, though. People think the 400 point system is so far out of their reach that they won't even try. When, in most cases, it truly is a reachable goal. You can lose 45 points and still receive an award. That's 10% deductions. As registrar, I take a lot of phone calls from people attending their first show and they ask questions about the judging. I ask them to tell me about their car. I encourage them to enter the 400 point judging when possible. I think my best advice for any type of judging is to spend some time and clean it. Really clean it. Replace the little parts like clamps, hoses, nuts, and belts that look old or worn. Especially clean the engine, engine compartment, and underneath, the best you can. You will be amazed on how well it will score after it is cleaned. And anyone can clean a car. (However some people on this forum, like smartin, are a bit better than others.)
-
Working behind the curtains at many of the past national meets, I can tell you several things about how the judges are selected. Many hours and much effort is spent deciding the judging teams, even before the meet begins. Every Judges Volunteer sheet received before the show is sent to the head judge for his review. He looks at the classes you indicated that you feel comfortable judging, as well as the check boxes you wrote down as far as previous experience. There is also a database kept in the National office of all judges and which meets they judged at. I know every reasonable effort is made to place the judges in classes they feel comfortable in judging based on their selections and experience. Every team will have several experienced judges on it. Any new judge will be coupled with experienced judges and encouraged to ask questions. In a few years, they will be the experienced ones answering the questions. The point I am trying to make is that there is a tremendous amount of time and thought that goes into the formation of the judging teams so that they will be as experienced and as fair as possible for the difficult task of judging. They take it very seriously. I can't think of a better method to do this.
-
I talked to the original owner and he has agreed to split the cost of the A/C repair with me. Actually, he said he will now take $750 for the car. What a nice guy. I truly believe he did not know of the A/C problems when he agreed to give me the car to sell. He just wants to see it go to a good home. I will definitely do what I can to get the A/C fixed and ready to sell. I will post pictures as soon as I can.
-
I located a set of A/C gauges at a local pawn shop for a decent price. I will hook those up and watch what is actually happening. I can't stand all of the speculations without the correct diagnosis. Probably won't have time until this weekend, though.
-
After talking to a mechanic friend in Columbus, Ohio, he has me convinced it is the orifice inside the system. His theory is that since it runs for a few minutes, all of the pressures start off ok. But if the orifice is plugged, the high pressure end will suck faster than the low pressure end and after a few minutes the low pressure will drop to the point of the switch taking over and shutting it down. Makes since to me. He said if I could hook it up to gauges and watch it run, you will see the low pressure drop until it cuts off. But if the pressures are all ok when it shuts off, then it is something else telling it falsely. But I don't have gauges to check it out myself. However, to change the orifice, all of the freon has to be taken out of the system, then put back in after the orifice is changed out. I don't have to equipment to do that, and to have someone else do it would cost me more than I am willing to spend on the car. The deal was I take the car and find a buyer for $1,000. The original owner expects to get $1,000. I just spent $100 getting the A/C diagnosed. If I spend another $500 getting the A/C fixed, I will have to sell it for $1,600, or take a loss for being a nice guy and trying to save another Buick. I really do think this will be a good car for basic transportation for some time to come. I think my next attempt will be to approach the original owner and see if he will split the cost of repairing the A/C. If so, I will probably do it, and take a little loss on it.
Pete is correct in his assessment of the car. There is absolutely no rust on the car, and the red leather interior is almost perfect, other than the headliner being held up with stick pins. The trunk is perfect. However, being in Texas and sitting outside, all horizontal surfaces are badly faded. I figure a $250 Maaco paint job would take care of that. At only 125,000 miles, the 3.8 Liter engine runs great. I will post some pictures as soon as I get a chance, within the next few days.
-
Well, everything I was able to check seemed ok. It keeps throwing an error code 66 that indicates low pressure in the compressor but I couldn't see anything wrong with the low pressure switch, and it seemed to be full on freon. So, I took it to a mechanic. He tested everything and told me it is all in working condition, but something is telling the system it is low on freon, and shutting it down. He said it could be the ECM, the A/C controller, or even the control panel. He said it would take him another 2-3 hours of diagnostics at $90 per hour to determine the cause of the errant signal, then there will be the cost of replacing the broken part. I can probably replace whatever module is broke if he can tell me what it is. At this point I am thinking it is too expensive to fix. My point in all of this was to have a cheap car to sell to someone who needs it, but putting more money in it defeats that. The car has only 125,000 miles on it and runs great. I haven't paid for it yet. I told the original owner I would sell it for $1,000 to someone by the end of August or buy it myself. He was going to donate it to a charity for a write-off. I guess I can explain the situation to him and just give it back. Any thoughts?
-
Controller? Do you mean the control panel in the dash with all the buttons? No, I don't know how to check that. That is my biggest fear, because they don't look like they are repairable, only replaceable. I feel lost without a shop manual. A shop manual is usually the very first thing I acquire when working on a Buick I haven't owned before. The manual I have for a 1991 Roadmaster is not the same. But I'm hoping I can fix it without one, with your help, of course.
-
I am trying to rescue another neglected Buick from an old neighbor of mine. He bought a 1991 Park Avenue new and has let it sit for several years while he drove his modern cars. It runs great, and the leather interior is almost perfect. I have everything fixed and ready to sell, except for the A/C. Not only does it blow through the defroster vents all of the time, but the compressor never kicks on. If I try to put it on Cold air, it immediately goes to 'Econ' and starts blowing outside air. It originally had the old Freon system but the owner had it converted to 134 several years ago. The Freon level seems to be ok, as I tried to add Freon and the high pressure level was in the operational range. According to the past owner, he was driving it one morning and turned the defroster on to clear dew from the windshield and it never went back to blowing out of the normal A/C vents afterwards. But he swears it was blowing cold air up until I took possession. I read somewhere that disconnecting the battery for several minutes will reset any computer related problem. I tried disconnecting the negative terminal for a few hours, and there was no change. I am thinking of buying a shop manual for it but do not want to spend $50 if I don't have to, especially when I want to turn it over cheaply to someone who needs transportation. I am trying to keep it below $1,200.
So, my questions are:
1. How would you continue to diagnose the cause of the A/C compressor not coming on?
2. Do you think the defroster issue is related in some way, or do you think it is two separate issues?
3. Could it be the control panel?
Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm just trying to get another Buick back on the road. I have two people interested in it now but they won't have it without A/C. It is summer in Texas, so I don't blame them.
Thanks.
-
That's a great looking bunch. Paul, you are fortunate to have so many good friends. Take care, and we'll see you behind the wheel in no time.
-
Eric, I am so pleased to see your progress. To have it driving again must be thrilling, after all the hard work you put into it.
-
The numbers for Portland are a little better than previous west coast meets, the most recent one being Seattle in 2007. The east coast meets will draw a little more, due mostly to a more dense population of BCA members there. I don't have all the figures with me right now.
-
The non-member 'At Large' registration fee covers the registrant for only the duration of the meet. Not wanting to get too detailed, but it is an insurance thing. As it was explained to me, the BCA insurance which covers the meet participants only covers current BCA members. So we are forced to collect some sort of fee to make those registrants members for the duration of the meet. This satisfies our insurance carrier.
-
Some statistics from the 2014 Portland National Meet:
443 separate registrations
831 people officially registered
23 separate vendors taking up 43 spots
8 Buicks for Sale
283 Total Buicks were registered. Of those:
98 were formally judged in the 400 point system (8 of those were formal Senior status)
26 were judged as Archival / Unrestored
67 were in the Driven class
22 were Modified Buicks
70 were Display Only
-
2014 was the last year for allowing non-BCA members to have a car judged at any level. For 2015 and beyond, any non-member who pays the higher 'At Large' registration fee will have no other choice but to enter the car as Display only. But I see that as a discount for joining the BCA. If you join the BCA for $50 per year, you get a $20 discount on registration for the National Meet ($35 instead of $55). So join before the show and enjoy the discount and the wonderful magazine you get every month. It is well worth it.
-
All judging is on Saturday from 9:00 - 3:00. That's the best time to see the Buicks, as they will be parked according to class. Without registering as a vendor the best bet is to post a note on the bulletin board.
THE OCTOBER 2014 BUGLE
in Buick - General
Posted
I, too, will come to Willis's defense. A lot of thought goes into everything he writes, and he is never confrontational. He has worked on site at a major Texas Buick dealership for decades, so his knowledge of 'behind the scenes' Buick dealership procedures, parts, and cars is invaluable. He brings to this forum a perspective that no one else here can. I find his posts always interesting and thought provoking.