K Howie

My story how I got my Reatta (sorry, kinda long): when I graduated college, got married and moved to Virginia, my father gave me a 1970 Buick GS, red with a white vinyl top and pearl white interior. Awwwwwsome car that actually was bought new by my grandfather. One morning, heading out for work, I couldn't get it started and suddenly it backfired. I immediately noticed black smoke coming out of the hood and by the time I opened the door and got out, flames were coming out. By the time the fire department put it out, the fire melted all the rubber and plastic parts under the hood, as well as the dash. I was devastated. Luckily, my insurance company was great and gave me cash value for the car but let me keep it. I knew I wanted another unique car, but something newer, and had seen a Reatta running around town, so I started looking for one for myself. With the $6700 the insurance company gave me, I bought a sweet 89 Reatta with factory sunroof, a wrecked 1970 Skylark for parts, and paid my dad's gas to tow the burnt GS back to his shop in Florida. Unfortunately, the GS is still not back to life yet, but I love having my Reatta and I keep a fire extinguisher in the back!!

Thanks guys. I have tried the pliers route and it works, but painfully slowly since I have to take care not to break the plastic screws. Unfortunately, I'm a little impatient. I like the melt-the-pen-cap-and-mold-your-own-tool idea. Will try that this weekend. Luckily, I took every fastener off of the donor car door that I could find, so I have spares to experiment with. I haven't searched on-line for the tool since I had no idea what to call it, but I'll get creative and see what I can search. If I find something, I'll post it.

I'm replacing the metal and plastic trim pieces that surround the door handles on the interior of my 89 Reatta. I have been unable to find a tool to remove the inverted nuts that hold the trim onto the door panel, so I've been painstakingly removing them with a home-made cardboard tool. It would be so much easier to put them back on flipped over so that I can just use a socket/wrench. Is there any reason they must go back on inverted or can I flip them over? If they must go back on inverted, does anyone know where I can find the tool for that? Thanks!

There's a blue 89 Reatta in the LKQ Copher Self Service Auto Parts junkyard in St. Petersburg, FL. It's pretty stripped, but I found a few things I wanted on it this morning. The address is 5105 64th Street North, St. Petersburg, FL. Phone is 727-546-9224.

Hi - it was $2,405.52 for a total removal and rebuild. Maybe I'm a total sucker and that's not a fair price, but on the receipt, they listed every part and it's individual price and listed every task they performed, which I thought was very nice and honest. If the Buick dealership had done it, the receipt would have just said "transmission assembly" and "labor". Funny (yeah, ha ha) thing was that I picked the car up from the Buick dealership after having new brake lines put in and I could hardly get it out of their parking lot - it was stuck in 3rd gear. I'd heard B&B were good, so rather than walking back into the dealership, I managed to limp the car back to my workplace then called B&B. So, the labor tasks they listed were "remove transmission, dismantle, rebuild, reinstall, flush cooler & lines, check computer for codes with Modis scanner, road test and perform final checks. $17.3 hrs x $65.00." The price also included towing from my office. B&B arranged for the wrecker service and said they added the fee to my bill, although that's the only thing I don't see listed. Their phone number is 813-654-1098. As for the ignition service, I don't know that I'd recommend that shop (Motor Coach of Brandon, Inc.). It's not that they did a bad job, but it was the first and only time I've used them or heard of them. The ignition works great now but they didn't tighten my battery cables back down all the way so the car went totally dead on me at a traffic light in town and I didn't have a wrench on me so I had to wait there for help while angry people honked at me....anyway back on track here...I'd recommend P&M Motor Works instead. Their address says Tampa but they're right on the Tampa/Brandon line. They come with great recommendations from B&B, a coworker of mine, and a fellow Reatta owner who I chatted with at a stoplight one time. The only problem was that their ignition guy was on jury duty that day and B&B was trying to get my car back to me as quickly as possible. So, they sent the car to their 2nd choice and it was ok. The bill there was $282.49 to open the steering column and replace the broken switch and tilt steering rod associated with it.

I just had to put a good word out for B&B Transmission in Brandon, FL. They rebuilt my transmission a year ago this July and were very nice to work with and did a great job. In September this year, I discovered a leak in the seal at the axle, took it back to them, and they fixed it free of charge even though the warranty ran out in July. While they were working on my car, the ignition switch broke (I knew it was on its way out) so they found a good shop that could repair it immediately and drove the car there for me - and still refused to charge me for their time and effort. If anyone in the area needs transmission help, I highly recommend them.

Hi Barney - I think I am in need of a bellcrank. I've had both headlamp motors replaced in the last 5 years. The motor on the "bad" side still runs but the headlamp will no longer raise up. Could you tell me how much you want for the part? Thanks!

Hey Nic! Happy New Year! My 89 has a sunroof and it worked when I first got the car back in VA. I loved it. I'm a girl and I never had any hair issues with it. I drove it through the tunnel from Norfolk to Newport News and on I64 with the roof open and there was never much suction or wind caused by it. It was actually quieter than driving with the windows down. I miss it - it finally died a couple years ago and I haven't been able to afford to fix it yet. If I still lived in VA, I'd let you test drive mine to see whatcha think! :-)

My beloved 1970 GS caught on fire and before it could be extinguished, all the plastic stuff under the hood and all the dash components melted. My dad and I are putting her back together. We particularly need a black dash pad but if you have anything plastic from the front end, let me know. Everything on the dash was black - no woodgrain. Send me a private message about it. Thanks!!!

With encouragement from Barney and Nic, I'm thinking of replacing my brake system accumulator myself. Never done anything like that before. So, last night I sat down and read the directions in the service manual. It says to connect the new accumulator using 30 ft-lbs of torque. How do I measure that? I imagine that if I don't tighten it on enough, it could pop off but how critical is this torque requirement? Also the directions do not say how to actually disconnect/reconnect the accumulator. Any special instructions or tools required? Thank you!

Thanks! That's exactly what I needed!!

Thanks for the info, Padgett and Nic. I had emailed Padgett probably a year and a half ago about coming over and getting help replacing the unit that controls the remote door locks, but I've never found a Saturday that I could free up to drive over to Orlando. Orlando is only 90 minutes or so away but I work full time right now while my husband is in school, so Saturdays are for catching up on house and yard work and whatnot. I did ask why the timing chain had to be replaced...the service manager said that it was damaged by the magnet breaking off. Honestly, I didn't ask him more because I didn't want to sound like the dumb girl who doesn't know anything about cars who can be easily ripped off (which is who I am but he doesn't need to know that!). I had to let them fix it because I need my car back but the bill was really painful. If anyone can elaborate on how the timing chain and cam magnet are related or how the magnet could have damaged the chain (is it near it?) it would just make me feel better. I'll try to get my butt over to Orlando one day, too! :-)

So, this is nothing abnormal, then to have to replace the timing chain if the cam magnet has broken off? If something broke off, wouldn't the car stop running? I'd just really like to understand since the quote for the work is $800! The dealership is not accommodating with expanations. Thanks!

Forgive me - I did a search on my topic but I'm just not mechanically inclined, so I didn't understand what I was reading. Can anyone give me the "for dummies" explanation on how the timing chain is related to the cam magnet and why, if my cam magnet broke off, would I need to have the timing chain replaced as well? My 89 Reatta gave me the "electronic engine controls error" message off and on for about a week before I could get the time to take it to a mechanic. The only mechanic nearby/convenient to me and with a scanner is the Buick dealership. They've called and said that my cam magnet has broken off and that I need a new one as well as a new timing chain. Thank you!!

Oh, and no, I didn't keep the bad horns. Didn't even think to ask that but I sure will next time.