rocketraider

The best I can offer is that all the 1968 GM B-body sedans use the same inner door structure. So ventshades for one marque will fit the other three. 1968 B cars are Chevy Impala/Caprice/BelAir/Biscayne, Pontiac Catalina/Executive/Bonneville, Olds Delmont/Delta 88, Buick LeSabre/Wildcat.<P>I assume you've checked parts stores to see if their warehouses or suppliers can get them from obsolete stock? The VentShade Company itself might still have some laying around.<P>It's possible that 1965-70 upper door frames might be the same on these cars. Anyone have a Hollander handy to see if window glass is identical?

Limited, I thought Christine was a Plymouth! <P>Dennis, if you have delay wipers the problem will be in the pulse timer or park relay, which are both inside the wiper motor. Your best bet may be to get a junkyard wiper motor and see if the problem goes away.<P>My 83 Custom Cruiser quirks like this sometimes in cold weather, say 30 or below. The wipers won't start but you can hear the motor buzzing. Turn 'em off and back on using the wash paddle, and then they'll work.<P>Had to replace the column mounted wiper switch a couple years back. The thing locked up tight and couldn't move it. Replacing it was an adventure too.

Another long-term dealer: Wyatt Buick Sales Company (now Wyatt Buick-Pontiac) here in Danville. Opened in 1924 and still has Virginia automobile dealer license #5.

Coker Tire should have something suitable. <BR>These cars came with bias-belted double-pinstripe whitewalls, usually F orG78-14. You can also put a repro wide-oval raised white letter tire on an SX and still be correct. Goodyear, Firestone and Uniroyal were OEM tire suppliers to GM in the early 70s.<P>Expect to pay in the neighborhood of $800 for five tires and shipping.

Even in a code 9 307 HO as used in 442 and Hurst/Olds of those years, overbore won't affect the cam used. It still won't be a powerful engine, but I have to say they're among the most reliable and trouble-free engines I know of. It's not unheard of for one to go 300,000 miles with no major repairs or oil consumption if reasonably maintained.<P>The Oldsmobile 307 has nothing in common with a Chevrolet engine except it was built by General Motors. The 305 used in Monte Carlo et al was a miserable little engine. No power, soft cams, prone to detonation, and notorious oil leakers. But they were cheap to build and Chevy had plenty of engine building capacity, so they went into millions of GM cars. Their one saving grace is that the heads have small combustion chambers and can be used to up compression on SBC- like they need anything else to promote detonation.

I got the ones for my 74 Hurst/Olds Pace Car from Auto Decals Unlimited. Ain't cheap though. 602-220-0800 was the number 2 years ago.<P>To answer yer question on why the Pace Car decals are more readily available for Camaro pace cars than the Olds Pace Cars (yes, the capitalisation on Olds and not Camaro is intentional)- Camaros are common as dirt, is why. More market share means more stuff available, and I can almost promise you half the Camaro pace car replicas out there are bogus.<P>It's generally accepted that only the two Indy 500 Pace Cars had the W30. Y74 should be on data plate. If it's Y74 and W30, unless it has the paperwork to back up actual Pace Car duty, it's been fiddled with. Must also have a Lansing VIN, which you have.<P>442.com and the Oldsmobile Club of America will be your best source for info on any of the Oldsmobile Pace Cars. The REOlds chapter of OCA is also a good source, and they've made several Pace Car t-shirts for their annual Homecoming show in Lansing.<P>Glenn Williamson<BR>the Rocketraider<p>[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

The Olds History Center in Lansing can furnish some information on your car, but I can never remember the address. HydraMatic wasn't that rare on an Oldsmobile, most had it since the Rocket people pushed their invention hard on the sales floor. It's a four speed unit and if working properly will snap your head back when it shifts, even with the 6 cylinder engine. No mushy Dynaflow or Powerglide here.<P>You have an interesting car. Is this the dark grey one that shows up at the Thursday night High Point cruise-ins ever so often?<P>Keep in touch- would like to have you as a Mid Atlantic Olds Club member. Pre-1955 Olds aren't at all common in our group.<p>[ 03-14-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Wonder what transmission was used in Thad's 61 Olds? I'm bound to think the 4-speed Chevy used wouldn't have lasted long behind Olds torque and weight. <P>It's interesting to note that Olds never offered four-speeds in their full-size cars until 1965. Rumour is that if you knew how to pull strings, you could get it in a 1964 Jetstar 88 (330 cid car) but not the 394 equipped Jetstar I. The 64 J-I had a heavy duty 3-speed transmission with floor shift standard, but if one was ever built, I do not know of it. I've seen several 4-speed 65 Jetstar I. <P>And we go back to another thread about 63 LeSabre with 4-speed. Never saw one, but I have seen a 4-speed 63 Wildcat that totally blew my mind when I saw it, with that shifter angled back toward the front of the car.

No offense taken by the Olds camp concerning "ugly 60s". Most of us think a 58 Buick is garish (Limited and Roadmaster 75 excepted), but we know people own and love them. I'm iffy on the 60 myself, sometimes I love it, sometimes I can't stand it, but I grew up with a white over Citron Dynamic 88 so there will always be a soft spot in my heart and wallet for one.

One important thing to consider- the handling and roadholding characteristics of radial tires are very different than bias ply or even bias-belted. Simply put, they grip the road harder and stress wheels more than non-radials. I'm wary of putting radial tires on a wheel not designed for them. There are cases of wheel failure with catastrophic results. I believe most wheels made from mid 60s on are designed for use with radial tires, GM used to stamp an R in the rim near the valve stem hole.<P>That said, I have radials on everything, but the oldest is a 1964 Oldsmobile. And two things I said would never happen, happened when I put the radials on it. One, that it would never have radial tires. Two, it would never have japanese tires. And the day they went on (had to buy 'em because a hard-headed state inspection mechanic who also worked on tire sales commission wouldn't pass my perfectly serviceable bias-plys because one wear bar was showing on one tire) the only tire to be found in this city that would fit (225-75R<B>14</B>) were Yokohamas. I bought 'em to get the car out of there legally, and went right straight to DMV and put antique plates on the car to get out of the annual state inspection bs.<p>[ 03-14-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Hemmings Motor News for a start, then join one of the Chevrolet marque clubs, probably the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America will be your best bet for parts support and tech info.<P>Often mechanical parts can be found at NAPA. Several companies make reproduction interiors. Body parts? junkyard time my friend. Southwestern sheetmetal is the only cure for rust and again, there's several reputable yards in the southwest that specialise in old tin and will ship to your door. May not be cheap though- they know the dreaded tinworm inhabits the East!

Had forgot about the cycling clutch feature on the Old Air STV. It works off a temp sensor? figured it would work off pressure like later cycle-clutch systems. I had thought about it for my 64 Starfire, but the A/C is very low on the list right now. Getting the thing to start, run and drive is the current priority! damn 4GC carbs...

On a 307 RWD Cutlass-<P>A/C belt goes around crank pulley, water pump, A/C compressor and smog pump, in back groove of crank pulley.<P>Vacuum pump belt (if equipped) goes around smog pump pulley and vacuum pump pulley and goes in front of A/C belt.<P>PS belt goes around crank pulley, water pump and PS pump.<P>Alternator belt goes around water pump pulley and alt pulley only UNLESS- some cars with HD cooling and factory installed trailer package, it goes around w/p, crank, p/s and alt pulleys.<p>[ 03-10-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

My Olds parts book shows this fits 1963 all except F85. 1964 p/n is 5910493 all exc F85. I'll say it will work on a 1963 Buick B or C since GM a/c systems were pretty much identical across the board for each year except some carlines have more mufflers in the freon lines than others, and the control head vacuum valves are all different. This is a vacuum operated STV, right? I think you can adjust these things to tailor their performance.<P>Old Air Products in TX has an updated design STV that is more reliable, less prone to leaks and is compatible with R134a.

If you don't have any computer codes set, you may be on the right track with the coil packs. A good friend had a 90 D88 that did the exact same thing and he was getting ready to put in a transmission. The trans shop found the bad coil pack.<P>Other causes could be a faulty idle speed sensor or motor. Get the car on a scanner, it'll find stuff that sometimes isn't so obvious.

Tony, if Dan K is willing to sell his ACRS manual I'll give you first crack at it.

Bill, several years ago the now politically corrected Confederate Air Force came thru Danville on an East Coast tour with a 25 and a 17. Magnificent machines. The local VFW post is named for Captain Archer T. Gammon and his grandkids were special guests of the CAF for that display.

Tony- I checked with the guy at swap meet and he didn't have another ACRS brochure. Said the one he sold me was the only one he'd ever had and to his best knowledge the brochure was only issued in 1974. He said he'd do a lookout, you can e-mail him at dansautolit@aol.com.<P>He's got a lot of neat paper.

Check the fusible links in the main wiring harness. They're located at the starter solenoid. If one fails, you should get the ALT warning light but not always. Those years GM big cars route the charging circuit from alt output back thru a splice in the main harness, splitting the juice two ways, to the fuse block and to the (+) battery cable at the starter solenoid. If the link fails, the alternator cannot charge the battery. <P>Have alt checked by someone who knows what they are doing- not the kid who started work at AutoZone last week.<P>Since this is a computer car, you may also have a parasitic electrical load that is discharging the battery while the car is idle. Check for electronic tuned radio drain; glovebox, trunk or underhood lamp not turning off; or a ground in some other circuit.<P>GM issued a fix for undercharged battery in 1983- believe it or not, they recommended running a 12 gage jumper wire directly from the alternator output post to the battery (+) terminal, bypassing the splice and fuse link. My 83 Olds wagon had had it done and I thought someone had jerry-rigged it until I got the 83 Dealer Tech Bulletin set, and there it was.<p>[ 03-10-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Had my first experience with a "You're-a-Peon" driver this afternoon returning from swap meet in Raleigh NC. I-40 westbound, we're in the 1976 Ninety Eight (with antique tags!) tooling along with traffic in the center lane, about 75 in a 65 zone, when here it comes- BMW 740iL with lights flashing, passed us on the right and left us like we're sitting still...<P>I was glad to get back to the hinterlands, away from all that civilisation. Wouldn't live there for it, fighting that I-40 traffic every day.

Thumper, it'll have to be snail-mail as I have neither scanner nor fax here at the house. E-mail me privately and we'll get things moving.

Ventiports, toothy grilles and sweepspears. Except for the portholes, even the 90s Skylarks had those styling cues, however modified they may be. While we're at it, how 'bout some 50s style hood shields-<BR>not the Tri-shield, more like the ones used from about 1950-53, or even on the 59 hubcaps. Those were works of art.<P>I don't know whether to categorise current GM styling as jelly-bean, melted-by-blowtorch, or just plain bizarre. The Aztek and Avalanche are proof positive of bizarre. At least Buick still has SOME identity.

This is excellent! Someone who was at the factory when Dynaflow were built and knows them inside out- MrBuick, you wouldn't happen to have had a friend over in the HydraMatic plant would you? Who would post and share with us? I have a SlimJim that beats me up bad, and nobody wants to work on it...

If it helps here's the original part #s from the 1976 Oldsmobile Hatch Roof Service Manual supplement-<P>31216M001 right rubber surround weatherstrip<BR>31216M002 left rubber surround weatherstrip<BR>61216M003 hatch weatherstrip left or right<P>The manual is 14 pages. Will copy if you want. It gives all details, 1976 updates over the original 1975 Hurst/Olds installations, service and waterleak correction procedures.<P>It specifically mentions the differences between 1975 and 1976-later weatherstrips. There were some mods made to address water leaks and the hatch panel weatherstrips also have to be updated if you use the 2nd type weatherstripping.<p>[ 03-08-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

That was another thing- having to lower the top 3/4 way down, then get out of the car, tuck the top fabric in between the folding rails, and then get back in to lower the top into the well. Then out again to install the boot. Yah- and I had been searching trader-online for another early 70s big ragtop. I think I have talked myself out of it!