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

if the customer is a "problem child." guess I have to own up to that title. Chairman of the last Company I worked for
once told me that I was "difficult, opinionated, politically correct but irreverent, argumentative but usually right"
He and I had a mutual dislike for each other - lasted 7 years working for him, but in the end he was the Chairman and I wasn't
finally quit and bought my 1st store.

 

Well, I had to replace the battery in the Fury.

I participated in our local summer downtown cruise night a couple of weeks ago. towards the end of the evening the boys and I stopped at a local gas station to use the rest room and get something to drink. When we came back out, the Fury wouldn't start. I got a jump from another cruiser and we decided to head home.
It was a hot evening and I think all of the starting and stopping was too much for the old battery to handle.

I think I got my money's worth out of the old Les Schwab 60 month battery though.
It's almost 10 and a half years old...

 

At least you weren't stranded alone some where.

 

Getting any battery in a non-computer-controlled car to soldier on that long is pretty darned lucky. Just don't replace it with an Exide or any label made by Exide. Their products do not hold up. The last Exide I bought was over 17 years ago.

 

Yeah, I feel like I got my money's worth.
There are only two Automotive battery makers in the US. Everything comes from them, no mater what the label is. They're all the same.

Yep, we were able to rely on fellow old car enthusiasts to help us out.

 

Never has a bad experience with Les Schwab........

 

The company my sister works for is sponsoring a car show in Kennewick on Saturday, September 9th.
https://www.wheelsontheave.org/
She has been asking me for months if I would bring the Fury down. I figured it would be nice to support her, so that's the plan.

Among the things I wanted to address on the Fury before I took it on a road trip were the brakes.
For some time now they have been getting harder and harder to apply. They still work, but they were almost like manual brakes, like the power booster wasn't working.
We have a family friend who owns a mobile brake service, so he came over to take a look. Within minutes he had diagnosed the problem. The vacuum line that goes from the booster to the intake manifold was kinked so badly at one of the bends that he was impressed I was getting any power assist at all.

So I pulled the old piece off, which was held on by the old fashioned compression clamps (P.I.T.B.) and brought it to work with me the next day. I wanted be sure to get the proper replacement from the auto parts store.




Pretty squashed

 

That'll do it! It amazes me, after all my years under hoods, how many new things pop up to ail our cars and trucks.

 

even though the 85 CP has only 58,000 miles on it - there is ton of "little" things that just don't work well at 32 years old,
gaskets/seals are diving me mad! already did intake manifold gaskets, oil pan & distributor seals/ gaskets, now valve cover gaskets. Should have know, my wife once had a 82 Olds Ciera wagon that e finally traded - it was 12 years old with 50,000 miles - but it leaked everything, every seal/gasket was shot.

need to remember the destination is the journey.

 

Mileage has less to do with seals and gaskets than age. We all begin to leak with age and need "little" things replaced or repaired.

 

I'm right there with my wagon, major basil cell removed, major skin graft. no its not a gasket its a seal

 

I recently rode the Mercury to Pittsburgh and at least four or five people commented on it which was nice but that's not the main focus of this post.

Yesterday while Father was driving home in the 84 Caprice Sedan, someone came on his side of the road in a passing zone and didn't stop although it was not safe. Father swerved and being that there wasn't much space between the road and an embankment and maybe partially because the Caprice was sensitive on steering he hit a telephone pole just to the left of the hood ornament and went down the embankment but the car didn't flip over. Thankfully, he survived well with seat belt rash and some aches but no broken bones. I dunno what to say about the car although it'll take a LOT to work out the problems; all the sheet metal in front needs replaced, the bumper wrapped around the pole, the frame looks bent, a tire went off the bead and might be no good now, there's a dent in the roof where the pole landed on it, the interior's messed up where Father's knees hit the interior panels, the radiator's junk and the engine doesn't look like it's damaged aside from the fan being pushed in but I don't know.

On the plus side, Father likes giant behemoth cars more now and I might have a "jewel in the rough" that I'm not afraid to modify now. The only reason I posted it in here is because hey, it's a sibling car to our 77-90 G.M. Wagons.

 

OK, now that the car's sold off to the guys that towed it now I'm sad. Better than being angry over it and kicking a cat or some other critter that doesn't deserve it.

 

Oh man, that really sucks. Glad to hear your father is alright, but it always is hard when a good car dies like that!

 

Thanks and yes, it did. On the plus side (maybe?) I no longer have as much tolerance for people tailgating me.

Ironically, one way I've been getting over it is by playing a video game called Crazy Taxi for the fun of it; it's a cartoony game where the objective is to drive fares as quickly and stupidly (for tips) as possible to their destinations. The rules of physics do not apply 100%, nor do police and even if a person crashes the cars don't get damaged and nobody gets hurt. It's a good way to be quick on reaction time.