A New, Old, Olds

Drive 'em... Dont hide 'em

Greg

FYI, if you loose heat after doing the water pump and such, check for a slug of silicone blocking the heater control valve at the rear of the intake manifold. Seems like everytime I did a thermostat gasket on my old Cutlass, I lost heat a little time later.

You'd think I would have learned but no, I was young and dumb.

Thanks for the tip! So far so good.

When I was younger I hadn't exactly learned the lesson of "less is more" when it comes to sealants. I learned lol!

Got the muffler done today, came out great. 50 bucks to have it put in, that seems fair to me.

Also went for a little drive, stopped at the only cemetery left, inside of O'Hare Airport. 

Kelsey approves!

George

That thing looks beautiful - straight out of goodfellas.

Thank you!

So after working on car all day getting it fixed, whats a guy to do? Drive it!

Since I finally nailed down the Q-Jets tuning, and had an all new cooling system, I felt it was ready for a bigger journey. Me and my friend Dan hit the road with no real plan, just a rough idea of where to head.

Got out of the city via I-80 then exited at Rt 71 and headed south. Stopped in Peoria for lunch, ended up in Havana, then shot across Illinois to Route 66 in McLean. Followed 66 all the way back home. Saw some neat stuff, car drove excellent, and got about 12 MPG. It was a beautiful day. Here's some pictures.

Stopped at the Old District 6 State Police barracks.

And my buddys tuned '11 Crown Victoria that came with

I've always thought the Crown Vic was a big car.

It looks mid-sized next to your Olds.

Nice 98. Good job on cleaning it up and taking care of it and getting to enjoy it.

My brother had a "down-sized" early 80's 98 with what looks to be the same/similar color. It never gave him any mechanical problems, but the Midwest rust did a number on it.

Those wheels make that Crown Vic. 

Georges1991 said:

Stopped at the Old District 6 State Police barracks.

 

Is that the police building that is shaped like a gun if viewed from a plane?

Thanks guys. 

Yeah I love his CV. I had an '11 and still miss it at times. His wheels are an excellent choice. Even with 4.10s and romping on it he still got double the fuel mileage I did lol. It looks like a baby next to the Olds for sure!

Yes! Thats the "gun" building. Very cool

George

Well I broke down and pulled the bug shield off lol.

Looks a LOT better without it. Still think I'm going to hang onto it for long trips etc.

Oh and we went for a Memorial Day ride, Kelsey had a ball!

Adding the Bug Shield Back on changes the MPG from 9 to 8    :-o

Glad you and the Family are having fun with the car!

Greg

Looking good! I know route 66 ends like right through our neck of the woods but you just made me look up exactly where it goes. 

Thanks guys!

Yes we sure are enjoying the car. My daughter loves it, but I think she loves "Green Truck" even more lol. I've even got her handing me 8 Tracks from the tape caddy in the back seat. I think she just picks the most visually appealing tapes, or she has quite an eclectic music taste. She's always up for a ride though, which is great. Quite the car girl!

Robbie: Yeah its right in our backyard. If you haven't its a great way to kill a Saturday. Lots of the towns have great displays, and just a bunch of odd roadside stuff. Illinois has done a great job of signing the old road too. Pretty much keep you on track, for the most part.

Going to look at the AC this week. It works, compressor engages fine, but should be a bit cooler. I'm gonna try an R-12 top off and see how it holds. 

George 

Got the new starter in today. Went with a AC Delco. 

No more whuuuuur every 3 starts. Yay!

Old one has a dealership rebuild tag of 08-87. I'll hang onto it.

George 

Oh! And got a great deal (like 5 bucks a can) on some forbidden ice cubes today too 

Well today I decided to get the AC working, since it was 93 lol. 

Pressure was just a tad low, so I added about 3 or 4 oz of R12, brought it right to where it should be per the chassis manual. 

30.7 degrees out of the vents, according to my not too shabby thermometer. Excellent, and I can now freeze my buns off sitting in the hot sun, love it.

Also had to get the hell out of the city for a bit yesterday, because the sirens and looting was getting to be a bit much. 

Took US 12 along the Indiana lakeshore then Red Arrow Highway to the Blue Star Highway along the coast in Michigan. Had some good food and great ice cream, and watched a beautiful sunset from the pier in Michigan City. Great day.

George

My dads '68 "98" AC compressor and his avocado green refrigerator in the kitchen both had the GM logo and Fridgidaire name on them.  Does yours?

We lived in St. Louis for 5 years and would come back to visit family in Chicago and would drive up I55.  On really hot days if I had the center front seat I swear the metal vent would frost up and blow out the coldest air.  

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

Yes the Frigidaire A-6! Enough BTUs to cool a small house lol.

Love the properly setup R12 systems.

Greg

Well i should have kept my mouth shut about the AC lol.

Compressor started yelling in an angry mechanical voice, so before total system implosion and metal bits everywhere, I decided to source a Delco rebuilt.

Murrays/O'Reileys out of all places had a Delco USA reman on the shelf. Shocking. 147 bucks with my discount so that worked!

Tore into it today. Not a bad project, but a second set of hands would have been awesome. Getting tension on the belt was a sight to be seen im sure if anyone was watching lol.

Filled it up with some mineral oil, gave it a few spins and bolted it in. New O rings and such of course.

Then pulled a nice vac on the system, held for 2 hours so I called that good. 

And, close to 4lbs of R-12 later, we had 31.7 degrees out of the vents at about 90 ambient in park in the sun. Works for me!

George 

R12 Systems are great.  I pulled the epr / Throttle Valve out of the Chrysler Rv2 compressor in my "disco Wagon", If I run the system un checked or with out a cylcing switch it will get to 0°F in the hot sun.

Too bad you had that system melt down and lost some R12.... But it seems you found some :-)

Stay cool.

Greg

In reply to slantsix :

They are the best. 

0 degrees. Wow!

Yes unfortunately the front seal also started leaking when it was screaming so I did lose some. Still have 30 or so pounds of R-12 left in the stockpile so I should be okay for some time yet.

George

In reply to Georges1991 :

30 pounds!!!???  You are set for Armageddon sir!

Greg

In reply to slantsix :

Lol I'm going to stop buying it, I think I have a problem.

I've always just scoured garage sales and flea markets for it, and really anything older and csr related that catches my eye. Found some absolutely killer deals, because there's no way I'm paying the $30+ a can some people want. Just one of those "buy it because maybe I'll need it" things. Also keep it around for buddies who need it for their cars as well.