Larry Schramm

Just a quick question on your chart, I follow the numbers for the vintage car and they add up to 19,300, but for the two new cars, how is the estimated total cost to own less than the original purchase price??

I just took my 98 Chevy Astro van with 214,000 miles on a quick trip to Florida which was a 2,500 mile trip over Christmas. No problem be cause like other older high mileage drivers I keep meticulous care and records of work done. A couple of years ago we drove it out to Calif towing a trailer and I think it had about 180,000 miles then.

The only slower experience in a diesel I believe is a 1982 vintage VW Vanagon/Westfalia camper. They had so little power that you could not even have air conditioning.

Might want to ask this question on the Reatta thread. The fuse layout should be the same as a Riviera.

The reason that I said that it was possibly a hydrant wrench is that I too was a volunteer firefighter for a number of years. Also, I have not seen any 5 sided bolts anywhere else.

Keiser31,.... We must have been typing in the answer at the same time and hit enter at the same time. Great minds think alike.

Do you have a picture of what you need?

This might be a stretch, but the pentagon looks just like the top of a fire hydrant bolt for opening the valve. The other end might be for taking the cap off???? just a guess

Steve, If you are not using a torque wrench to install the wheels on your car/truck, the rotors are subject to bad wear patterns that will give pulsation. This is especially true if you use an impact wrench. The brake pulsation usually shows up about 2000-3000 miles after the wheels have been r&r'd.

Charles, Thanks for the response, but this gage does not have any electrical connections. This gage has another piece missing and that is a rod that goes from the left side of the gage shown in the first picture to a float. That rod is connected at the joint to two gears that turn the gage at the top as the float moves up and down. My gage came off a 1917 Buick and also had the gears corroded from age. As to Mark's suggestion about freezing it I am going to try it, but I am almost to the point of carefully cutting the ring off to fix the rest of the gage... but not yet.

I remember when the center of the road area under the car/trucks between the wheels was just black from the oil dripping. Also don't forget the road draft tubes before 1962 when PVC (Positive Ventilation Crankcase) systems were installed in vehicles. That road draft tube ran down to the road where it dripped.

On the price of gas, I can remember it being in the 16-19 cents a gallon in the late 50's early 60's here in Mi. The lowest that I can ever remember for gas was in 1968 I think my parents paid 12cents a gallon in Texas. I think that the current tax load for gas now is about 50 cents per gallon give of take sales tax which changes on the price.

If you would like to know about something about gas prices in the teens, etc...look at this article from Motor Age Magazine dated January 13, 1916. Also when reading the article think of the names of the congressmen and senator that are players and see if there are any names your recognize. Enjoy the reading.

What is the application for the carb?

Was this truck in the years that had a cable attached to the motor mounts to keep them from separating that ended up in a campaign?

Jeff, I have the same problem with a gas gage that I have. I have even tried to put a little heat on the outer ring with no luck.

The gauge looks similar to my 17 Buick.

The best paying job is the one that you WANT to go to, not just the dollars. A 200,000 dollar job could be the worst in the world if you hate to go to it versus a 75k job that you love to go to and it is not really work.

The thrust bearings are what determines the end play. Before I finished putting the engine together, I would mic the distance of the crank main bearing where the thrust bearing is located to determine the size. Then go back to the bearings and find out where the difference is. Could be the wrong bearings or the crank is worn. Need the crank specs to determine the problem

I have seen some vehicles from the teens done in chrome instead of nickel or just black paint and they look awful!! The restoration work was done by a hot rodder shop that loves chrome (which is great for the appropiate vehicle) but was so out of place and deterred the rest of the restoration. Unless you are going to cut and chop the vehicle, original in my opinion looks the best.

And I would makd the title.. "Help with 1939 Buick Special engine removal"

I have one of the jacks that has the Buick script like the Cadillac jack and it was painted black gloss as near as I can tell.

On some of these installations you might need to get the molding real warm in hot water and then insert into channel

Cheaper by the dozen is a good rule of thumb??

Joe, Having been a service rep for Buick in the 80's, my first question is does the car have any aftermarket anything???? The reason I ask that is because if it does have things like alarm system, remote keyless entry, remote starter, etc..... I would remove them all before I tried to do any diagnosis. There were/are a lot of extremely poor installations of that stuff that causes all types of problems and the problems increase where one of the modules go bad. Then if you go to section 8A in the manual, there should be a pin out of the fuse block to get you going.... but check for non factory wiring first and remove that first. Good luck.