Such a Deal!?!?!? "Garage Find" '92 Roadmaster Sedan

I always love seeing folks enjoy their vehicles. You do a great job of that Mike.

 

I used to think I was a "details addict". Mike makes most of us look like detail slobs.

 

9/21 - Finished the transmission and rear axle services, but overfilled the transmission...it reads a good inch-and-a-half above the full mark when the engine is at full-hot and in park. I'm PISSED....don't want to drop the trans pan again, and am worried if I just loosen it a bit and let some leak out that the gasket will end up leaking. I put six quarts in, which is the same amount I always use when I service the filter on my 96 Wagon with the 4L60E. Does the 700R4 in the 92 hold less?? I guess it must! Dangit! I'm debating buying some vacuum line and trying to siphon fluid out of the dipstick tube....

Happily the rear-end service went fine. Drained the axle, cleaned a bit inside, new diff cover gasket and fluid. No leaks, no noises.

I'm thinking with a little luck I can get this car DONE this weekend. I'm going to change the engine oil one more time, and put in synthetic oil. The oil in the car when I started was from 2010(!!) and was black. I put in good conventional oil and have driven the car 500 miles now, and the new oil is already dirty, so I'm hoping that's just the last of the sludge now mixed with the newer oil. With a little luck, once I've done this last change the engine is now clean inside.

Also on the weekend 2-do list is a radiator flush, thermostat, new upper and lower hoses, a new serpentine belt and I'm replacing the belt tensioner pulley because the bearings in it growl a bit when cold.

The FINAL project, hopefully...other than some last detailing/cleaning, will be this...fix the power antenna that WORKED when I started this car's refurbishment. I've never done a mast cable...have to drill out the rivets and split the motor case. Wish me luck!



Bringing this car fully back to life has been a bigger project than I was expecting, but I think I'm in the home-stretch now.

-Mike

 

Good luck. When I put a power antenna on my '55 Chevy wagon something went wrong and I pulled it out too far or something else. It's been since late 80's so I sort of forgot. But ever since I screwed up it makes a clicking noise when fully extended, like it skips some teeth or something.
I rarely use the updated stereo so an occasional click click seems fine. It wasn't easy to get to the mounting area and I had filled in the original hole, making only a red painted ball in a chrome ring visible when fully lowered. Barely visible in this photo.
Hopefully your Buick antenna installs easy and you can suck the extra tranny fluid out. There is a thread on station wagon forums about topping off a transmission if you happen to check that forum!

 

I'll look up the mast procedure on-line, because you're not supposed to have to do anything but install the drag line and mast, and that's it. Give me this afternoon, and I'll see what I can find.

 

Yeah, you have to take it apart. This is a YouTube video of the repair procedure.

 

9/23/17 - Saturday Projects! Flush radiator, install new upper and lower radiator hoses and new thermostat and radiator cap, replace noisy belt tensioner pulley and install new belt, and change "break-in" oil and filter with full synthetic 10W30 oil.



My FIRST project of the day was siphoning out some fresh transmission fluid...doh. Overfilled when doing to filter service...my 96 Roady Wagon with the 4L60E takes 6 quarts with a filter change...this car, it seems with the 700R4, takes only 5. Oh and transmission fluid still tastes as horrible as I remembered. Yuck!



Tools out, ready to take things apart! At least it looks clean under here now. Big change from when I first got the car home.


Air cleaner box removed to access the thermostat housing. I wish GM had just used a traditional round metal air cleaner on these....the plastic box..is goofy..and frankly it's easier (and cheaper) to replace a round filter.


81K mile original thermostat...yucky.


Belt tensioner pulley growling...bearings failing.


You think the belt needed to be done? 81K mile, 25-year-old original serpentine belt!



New belt tensioner pulley and new serpentine belt installed. MUCH quieter!


Cleaned and painted the thermostat housing semi-gloss black.


Now to flush/drain the radiator coolant and engine oil.


Nasty old coolant draining.


The radiator hoses were both original to the car...the lower one was especially nasty.



While laying under the car I did notice that it has a newer starter. Nice to see that's been done.


When I brought the car home, the oil in it was at least 5-years-old. I changed it right away...it was nasty, and THIS oil draining is only 500-miles old here. I'm hoping this "break-in" oil worked to clean out this motor. Replaced with 10W30 full-synthetic...was told to go from 5W30 to 10W30 when switching to full-synthetic on these LO5 Chevy 350 motors.


After doing the thermostat, hoses, flushing everything, cleaning the overflow bottle and adding fresh coolent, I put the new cap on it it was leaking almost right away! I thought it was a bad cap, but NOPE, the actual neck on the radiator cracked right there the cap clamps on! Car needs a new radiator! Frustrating!!


SO I did make SOME headway but got frustrated over the radiator issue and didn't make it to the antenna project....instead parked it until next weekend. About to order a new radiator from Rock Auto...and will plan to be working on this car again next Saturday.

-Mike

 

Bummer about the radiator Mike.

 

That's another first for me...I have never seen a brass stamping fracture like that. That really does suck. Oh, and before I forget, the t-stat housing bolt/stud with the ground wire on it? the bolt hole threads need to be cleaned so that ground has better continuity. Very important to the car running, without turning the CEL on. I can't remember what the ground is for, but I did always clean the nut, bolt, the threads, and a dollop of black RTV just under the bolt head, before tightening, to help keep liquids out.

 

It's always fun working on an older car! I noticed you also use your trees for paint drying racks. The poor Dogwood tree in Florida was for hanging parts and made pretty good anvil or metal shaper when building something. It was used to form the rear roll pan on my old panel truck and lots of other one off projects.
I'm sure it barked at me a few times but I tried not to hurt it.
Have fun with the radiator and hurry up and shut the hood before you find something else wrong!

By the way, I think the universal power antenna I used had a plastic band with holes that a gear moved up and down. When installing it I was a few holes off one way or another which made it do the skip noise thing. It's been years. I could be a little off
on the description.

 

On my 1977 Corvette the neck got a crack. It had something to do with the angle and how the hose causes a strain. It was common on some of the 70's Vettes.
Back then a former Ford dealership became a custom and sports car garage near home. They were able to solder, braise, or use Superglue to repair the radiator which was cheaper than a radiator replacement.
Brass does crack or break. I've also heard about the ground bolt. A stupid place to put a ground wire!

 

You're telling me. I swear, someone did it deliberately, in order to make people get new housings and intake manifolds, let alone nuts and bolts. I've done about a dozen and a half or so of those t-stats and housings, just to fix the broken wire, corroded bolt and FUBARed hole in the intake. I even had one on an early '80s Camaro Berlinetta, where the owner had the whole thing repaired and a new t-stat installed, only to have the engine eat itself. Jamocha milkshake in the crank case. Well. We replaced the engine, and I'm finishing putting the oil and coolant in then starting it; after running it for at least 20 minutes, the cooling system's not topping up as I'm pouring in coolant...
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!
I shut it off, pull the dipstick, and fresh Jamocha milkshake halfway up the dipstick. Oh no. So I go tell my boss, he asks about the intake gasket install, I assure him, I did it correctly. He tells me to yard off the intake, so I do, gaskets were good, and as I tip the intake at a certain angle, coolant comes out from the front center of the intake--NOT the two side passages. I tip it up, and find a hole bored straight through the metal, from the bolt hole, into the water jacket, then through the bottom of the water jacket. You know where this is going now....
The idiots who did the t-stat had to do some drilling (which explains why the stud bolt was one size up), likely because the factory one broke, but the idiot doing the drilling went all the way through. Sooooo, one visit to Pull-my-Pud for a replacement intake, flush out as much of the Jamocha shake as I could, new oil, new coolant, new gaskets, back together, all is right with the world.

 

9/25/17 - Evening project, replace the Power Antenna Cable.

Replacement Antenna cable from TheAntennaSource.com


Was able to get broken antenna down this far to remove it. Used a flat-blade screwdriver and rubber mallet to tap the chrome retaining nut loose.




Now removed the black plastic angled trim bezel and washer.


Next unplug the grey power plug and antenna cable, and finally remove the #10 bolt on the lower mount and carefully slide the antenna out...don't scratch the paint or bend the mast.

Remove #10 bolt here.


Antenna removed and ready for surgery.


Carefully pry off the gold clips...these suckers will fly away into space if you are not careful!




Gold clips removed



Now you need to carefully drill out the case rivets.





Stubborn rivets!



Now use vice-grips to hold the old upper mast and unscrew the button from the end.



Now carefully pry the case apart



Case removed...where was this old cable broken??? Looked to be all there...but look closer...


The old cable broke off at the very end, right where it fit into the metal "fish-hook".



Mast tube removed and gear removed


I added lithium grease to the case and gears/gear teeth. Not a lot...but a nice thin coat.

 

9/25/17 - Next I removed the new cable from the bag.


Threading the new cable through the mast tube


New metal end of cable through old mast, ready to re-install chrome button tip.



Chrome button tip screwed on new cable end.


Next I extended the mast fully so only the end with the fish-hook was out, clipped the hook end into the white plastic gear spool, and carefully fitted back into the motor case. Then I added a thin bead of clear silicon to keep moisture out. There was silicon here when the case was opened, but it tore apart when the case was separated.



Case back together and clips installed. At this point I went back to the car and plugged the antenna in, and had Eddie turn the radio on to pull the antenna back into the case, and then to test that it would re-extend. Once you know it works, go back to the workbench with it.


Found four screws, washers, and nuts to bolt the case back together where the rivets were drilled out earlier.





Case all screwed back together and antenna is ready to be re-installed on the car.


9/25/17, 11pm, repaired antenna re-installed.


Radio on, antenna going up...

...and up....

...and up...

Radio on, antenna fully-extended and working like new again!


Facebook video if you want to see it "in action":
https://www.facebook.com/mike.massey.543/posts/10214278086696759

Such Fun!

Next up is the new radiator. Wheee!

-Mike

 

Here is a Facebook video of the #3 radio "in action" now that the antenna is fixed, if you want to hear it working:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10214173899732150

Hopefully 3rd time is the charm for radios in this car!

-Mike