What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

Dang! That looks great!

 

Changed the oil in the 91 custom cruiser

 

I finally got the old block out, and disassembled. Here are pics of the #7 cylinder, piston and what is left of the rod. I think the rust came from the car sitting outside with no hood for over a year at the custom body and paint shop. Water in the cylinder may have hydraulically locked the cylinder, and bent the rod.

 

Power Steering bracket sheared off one of the bolts. The bracket was scraping on the hormonic balancer. Fortunately, there was a tiny bit of the bolt visible on the block. I was able to tap the edges with a screwdriver and get it out. Replaced the bolt and lock washers. Back on the road again.

 

I got my donor block back today, and it only cost me $440 to get it bored .030 over, and have the decks milled. He had to mill .007 off of the decks to get it right. I must do the cleaning, but I have time not money. I must get my gun cleaning brushes out to clean the oil galleries.

The donor crank polished up nicely and was include in the price. Monday I will be measuring the journals, and ordering bearings.

 

I finally got off my duff and replaced the Premium Sound speakers in the doors with a pair of Pioneers, to go with the Sony head unit. I'll be removing the Premium Sound setup, put my own setup in. Now, at least, I have tuneage while I drive!

 

I acquired a 700R4. It's in the shop being rebuilt. The plan is to have the technician rebuild the tranny, then pull out the Turbo 350 and slip in the 700. Then he'll pull the differential and upgrade it to posi-traction.
I hope my gas mileage will improve ;-)

 

Nice!

 

Recently purchased a ‘72 Squire off of BAT. To their credit they did indicate, and show pictures of the current exhaust that needed replacement. Well, per a suggestion from Country Sedan, and as well as my own research I added the dual exhausts. Also sounds nerdy, but here I go. Some time back I found a saddle cargo carpet mat in a ‘72 Country Squire at my local U pull it. Well I thought I could use that in my green ‘71 Country Sedan. Fast forward 8 years. Bought a ‘72 Squire with a saddle interior. And presto. That cargo mat looks like it came with the car. Lesson, never pass up a chance to get parts when you can. Lol

 

Yeah, you're absolutely right, never pass up parts you're likely to use.

 

It can become a disease.

 

Who says it isn't already?

 

For whatever reason, (um, let's call it lack of funds!), I hadn't put a dime into the Colony Park in years. Shame on me, I know, but I made up for it last summer. Found this repair garage in Scotch Plains and guess what the owner drives--an 87 Country Squire. When I saw that, I knew I was at the right place. Let's see if I can remember everything. He custom made some y joint for my exhaust which took care of it being so loud and installed a new catalytic converter. Switched the ac over to, ah, what's it called? R144 maybe? Anyway, you could hang meat in there now. Ice cold. New brakes and shocks all around. New radiator and obviously fresh coolant. (Heaven only knows how old the stuff in there was. For all I know it could've been original.) New tranny fluid, wheel alignment, new battery, some sort of idle valve thing, new timing chain and water pump. There were a couple of other upgrades but the "piece de resistance" was, I finally replaced the worn out dealer floor mats with a set of replacement mats that look identical to factory that I found on line.
As you can imagine, it runs like new again. Money well spent