Putting on the miles...... : (

My Roadmaster hit 90,000 miles on my way home from work today....made me sad. 73K miles back in April when I found it...so I've put 17,000 miles on the car in 10-months....shows how much I like driving it.... I love this car and want to keep it a long time. Got to slow that down...do NOT want to wear it out. It's in much better condition now than when I bought it, but still....90K is no longer "young".

So I've got 50K on the 79 Buick, and it's NOT a daily driver (13mpg and low miles) and 92K on the '88 Cutlass...and don't want to drive it daily....it's way to easy to steal, somewhat gutless, and with the t-tops on it's like being under a sun lamp when I drive it closed up, even with the a/c blasting. That's a weekend t-tops off toy...

It makes me want to find a high mileage wagon to drive daily, so I can save my white car....but then I'd have another car to fix up, because I can't NOT fix a car I drive....and I can already hear my wife yelling if I show up with another car....

Maybe I'll re-list the '79 Buick. I love it but all it does is sit.

I wonder if my buddy is ready to sell the Citation X-11 back to me..... ; )

Such fun!

-Mike

Mike we all know how fanatical you are about your cars.Just drive the wagon and dont worry about the miles.Its never
going to be a cherry one owner, low miles, garage kept cream puff!!!!What it is is a low miles,rediculously well kept,very
nice,rediculously well kept wagon.Personally I dont think the extra miles are going to hurt the value as long as you
continue to take care of it the way you do.You love that car and you love driving it so waht more could you ask of
a car.
Just Drive It
Jim Gordon

Just drive the damn thing. It's not a collector car, so just use it up. My current B/D's have 160K, 170K, and 199K and they ALL run strong and I'd take 'em anywhere. I've had others with higher, and dead reliable. So... just drive it!

^^ Agreed

I know...I know....

-Mike

We drove to Yellowstone last fall, and we really enjoyed taking the trip in the wagon.

I guess the question is whether you want to put your gold coins in a hole and count them every night, or if you want to spend them on something you enjoy. I don't leave toys in the original package -- I play with them.

10-4

Mike,
If it really bothers you to have over 90k on that beauty, I think you should find a lower-mileage, rust-free, "car of your dreams" RMW and let me take that one off your hands. Please, please,please!!!

If I find another 50-70K mile Roadmaster.....especially a black one without wood....you may see the white one come on the market.

Then again if I found a clean higher mile wagon, I could park the white one next to the Cutlass and keep the miles low. So many people on here have multiple wagons...I have the bug.

I keep looking at this.......would be a perfect commuter, higher miles so who cares about the odometer, but low enough that it should have life left.
http://laredo.craigslist.org/cto/2136893459.html - honey it just followed me home...

Think she'd shoot me??

-Mike

I like this one a lot too. I could make twins. This one has the Limited interior too....might be fun to mess with. I NEED heated seats in Texas bad you know. It sure looks clean. Only 17K more miles than mine....mine will be there in 10 months...doh!

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/2110845716.html

I say getcha a side wagon on the cheap and slowly fix it up. Do the mods you would never do to the other one and save yours for trips.

OR find an even cheaper clean TBI wagon and just cruise in it. I love my OCC and would not give it up as my daily for anything!

Thanks for all the comments gang

I like driving my car. It's nowhere near as nice as yours, mind you, but it makes me smile when the miles roll on, because I've had fun with it. So far 9k and counting. I make tiny little personalizations/mods to it as I want/can afford/see fit and just enjoy the hell out of it. Next up train horns and probably real dual exhaust.


It's all part of the fun.

Ha! I had air horns on my '93 S-10. Used to scare the hell out of people. Fun stuff.

Got mine of JC Whitney.

I had dixie horns on my 69 GTO clone. Got lots of attention in New Jersey. ; )

I'll probably order my set in 2 weeks. I got more hours at work, and more hours = more monies! Woohoo! And I like my job, it's easy and fun and fits around school. Win!

Good deal Bud!

I'd LOVE to find an LT1 wagon but I don't know... I've grown attached to my little TBI monster.


Plus mom would shoot me....

and you're only allowed one parking spot at school. (And I almost need two as it is! LOL)

The TBI is a lot less complicated and easier to work on.

Easy is relative, since I'm a poor mechanic, but yeah. An LT1 would probably scare me right now lol

The Optispark on mine scares me. I'd SO rather have a normal "up top" distributor. I'm also on the lookout for oil leaks....so far so good.

My wagon has been reliable as the sun (knock wood) but I think about that dumb Optispark on every road trip.

I've already replaced the water pump. Trying to head off an issue.

Don't say oil leak... I'm pretty sure mine has one starting but I haven't been able to mess with it yet. I'm not sure if it was my oil or someone else's under there (after all, this is a college campus..) I'm going to wash it and check it out tomorrow and see if I can find where it's coming from (assuming it's coming from me, that is lol)


And B-body TBI distributors are weird too - I think they're bigger than regular ones. So we don't get out of it either :p

The opti is dead reliable.... as long as the vent harness is working as designed. Age, oil, and the elements take their toll on the rubber.

Once the opti goes out, the problems come from people buying the cheap Chinese knockoffs with aluminum (or is it brass) contacts.

These cars are ment to be driven. Long as you stay on the maintenance, you'll be fine.

Signed,

Someone who just hit 129,600

Approaching 112k here.

Krzdimond wrote:

The opti is dead reliable.... as long as the vent harness is working as designed. Age, oil, and the elements take their toll on the rubber.

Once the opti goes out, the problems come from people buying the cheap Chinese knockoffs with aluminum (or is it brass) contacts.

I'm actually considering making the trek to Wagonfest this summer. My buddy Ben in New Jersey wants me to pick him up, and my wife wants to see Niagra Falls. Thought we might make a summer vacation out of it. My only hold-up, other than putting another 3K miles on the wagon, was having the OptiSpark crap out on us in 100 degree heat somewhere in Tennessee at 1am. ; )

I know the vent hose is still hooked to the intake, but I'll take a hard look at it's condition.

-Mike

And sorry I'm not towing my BBQ trailer 3000 miles. ; )

Turned 201k last night. The car is running strong as ever. I've had issues but like I said before, it's all normal maintenence at a faster rate than normal. Even the opti is a fairly simple job once you get past the expense of one.

Other than the deer damage the car doesn't show it's miles at all. Don't let the miles on yours scare you. Just do like I do and enjoy driving it

Jon

81X11 wrote:

And sorry I'm not towing my BBQ trailer 3000 miles. ; )

Then you're not invited anymore!

Cadet57 wrote:

81X11 wrote:

And sorry I'm not towing my BBQ trailer 3000 miles. ; )

Then you're not invited anymore!

Well fine then!

81X11 wrote:

Cadet57 wrote:

81X11 wrote:

And sorry I'm not towing my BBQ trailer 3000 miles. ; )

Then you're not invited anymore!

Well fine then!

That and you'll put all our cars to shame with how clean it is (I kid)

Thou last year my car felt very outta place compared to how clean all the others were.

Krzdimond wrote:

The opti is dead reliable.... as long as the vent harness is working as designed. Age, oil, and the elements take their toll on the rubber..

Probably more opti's have been killed by poor maintenance on the secondary side than anything else, The No.7 plug and the wires don't get changed because they are a bitch and they eventually take the opti with them.

Krzdimond wrote:

Once the opti goes out, the problems come from people buying the cheap Chinese knockoffs with aluminum (or is it brass) contacts.

I would add that the 4 pin opti harness connector seal _does_ degrade as the plasticizers bake out of the silicone, it should be periodially inspected & replaced.

81X11 wrote:

My only hold-up, other than putting another 3K miles on the wagon, was having the OptiSpark crap out on us in 100 degree heat somewhere in Tennessee at 1am.

I know the vent hose is still hooked to the intake, but I'll take a hard look at it's condition.

-Mike

If you're that worried about it, take a few minutes off from the daily routine of carpet bombing the forum with craigslist finds and get out to the garage and change it already.

- J

Mine is just a daily driver, and I'm SURE there are many others cleaner and in better shape than mine, but thanks for the comment.

Keep in mind my car was rust-free but fairly rough when I bought it. The previous owner had USED it, but the low miles sold me. Remember what I started with? Filthy dirty, ugly hubcaps, trim falling off and missing, had not been waxed...ever??





I've fixed the wood trim and re-painted the one fender, but the lower front bumper has lots of road pecs and bug stains that won't come off, my lower body chrome has various parking lot dings here and there, and the sides of the cars have shallow parking lot dents in a few spots....thanks goodness for the wood, it hides them well. My rear bumper also has it's share of scratches in it.

I've done my best to clean it up and detail it to the hilt, but it's far from perfect. It lives outside, sits in a huge parking lot all day, and my sons climb all over the interior. I try to keep up.

I just don't want to show up at Wagonfest this summer with the idea that my car is perfect. It's far from perfect, but it's clean at least!

-Mike

81X11 wrote:

Mine is just a daily driver, and I'm SURE there are many others cleaner and in better shape than mine, but thanks for the comment.

Most of ours aren't that nice either. We would like them to be, but can only do so much. Besides, as has been said many times - it's about the people, not just the cars. I wasn't even able to bring my wagon this year, but wouldn't have missed it.

81X11 wrote:

I just don't want to show up at Wagonfest this summer with the idea that my car is perfect. It's far from perfect, but it's clean at least!

-Mike

Change the opti and make the trip - you won't regret it and will have far more fun than you would be sitting at home and wondering when the opti is going to go.

- J

^ What he said.


I want to go this summer too, I'm trying to budget for it.

I kick myself for not doing the Opti and the oil seals behind it when I did the water pump. I plead ignorance....I didn't know it was an issue . If I had, I would have done it.

I may try to tackle that job before the weather gets hot again. Is hate to pull off that engine fan and all that crap...again....but it sure would be easier to do it in the driveway than on the road in the summer heat.

We'll see!

-Mike

81X11 wrote:

I kick myself for not doing the Opti and the oil seals behind it when I did the water pump. I plead ignorance....I didn't know it was an issue . If I had, I would have done it.

I may try to tackle that job before the weather gets hot again. Is hate to pull off that engine fan and all that crap...again....but it sure would be easier to do it in the driveway than on the road in the summer heat.

We'll see!

-Mike

Lose the engine fan while you're in there. There's a conversion setup posted in the parts for sale section for short money right now.

https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t2454-fs-electric-fan-conversion

- J

Or just run without the mechanical fan like I have .....for 3 years. STILL have yet to hook up that secondary fan.

Come to think of it, I'm not even sure it works....

81X11 wrote:

I kick myself for not doing the Opti and the oil seals behind it when I did the water pump. I plead ignorance....I didn't know it was an issue . If I had, I would have done it.

I may try to tackle that job before the weather gets hot again. Is hate to pull off that engine fan and all that crap...again....but it sure would be easier to do it in the driveway than on the road in the summer heat.

We'll see!

-Mike

You already know how to do that hard part actually!!! No excuses now

....just buy new water pump gaskets and get the Opti done. You might as well change the opti seal and waterpump drive seal too (I can loan you my waterpump seal tool if you want)

Jay is right, its about the people! No one (hopefully) is a snob about the condition of our wagons. We enjoy the company of others who appreciate what they are and how special they are.

I know I'll get flack for saying this, but rememebr there will be other Wagon Fests too this year (OH (I think), FL and VA) I'll be at the VA one. So if you can't make the NY one, you have backups that are closer.

Opti's not a big deal. Even if it does chit the bed, it's less than 200 bucks and a couple hours to swap it. And they are a lot more reliable and impervious to damage than people tend to think.

After drooling over all the pics of last years Wagonfest, if I'm going to make a long trip, I want to go to the BIG one. Hope the other ones don't keep folks away from the main one. That being said, if the main one moves closer, I won't cry, but getting out of end-of-July Texas heat for some northeastern summer sounds pretty good.

In college I had the best of both worlds. I spent my winters in Texas and my summers in Jersey with my folks. Never too hot or too cold! Ha!

-Mike

my wife's 94 DD has 190K on it and I'd hop in it tomorrow and go to your house. Oh wait it just made that trip last July.

I changed my Opti when I bought the wagon with 135,xxx ( if I remember correctly) miles. Was nothing wrong with it but I was doing the water pump and all that so said hell with it. I have a spare Opti in the garage that I removed from a car with 155,xxx miles on it that was running great.

i replaced the original opti cap&rotor and plug wires at 135K when I bought the car. Only reason was it had a miss (inside the cap was shorting). at 190K I'm on the second cap but the opti is still OE.

I went through the paperwork on that '95 RMW I just bought in ATL. It still has the original Opti after 220+k miles and made it through 2 waterpumps (judging from the paperwork) Its covered in oil now, but still runs fine. Lol That is crazy.

That also makes me feel better about mine! Thanks!

I like the Atlanta RMW by the way!

-Mike

I bought my RMW at 83k, it was a bitter sweet day when it rolled over 100k. On the other hand, I am looking forward to the day my Caprice rolls over 200k. I am only 1200 miles away from that day!

We've got 169K on the '03 Suburban. That's been a fabulous truck. Hope the wagon holds up as well.

My '96 Roadie just turned 89K about a week ago Still love it but looking forward to working on, and getting my '98 Grand Prix GTP on the road and not use the wagon as much. Pontiac only has 79K on it.

My wife's daily car is an '01 Grand Prix GT with the Nascar package. It's got 137K on it now. Still a really nice car and hardly shows any wear. Those are good cars...I miss Pontiac.



I took the kids to Cabela's yesterday and ran all over this weekend in the Roadmaster....wagon has 90,260 on it this morning. It adds up fast.

-Mike

You worry too much about what might happen SS. An accident is a higher risk than the motor going.

I found out my 1a2 car was driven by the foreman of the Gov't dept that paints all the lines on the highways.He decides the passing zones etc.

So I can honestly say it has seen every highway in N.B. and it explains the high miles.

It was parked from November until spring every year,so that explains the lack of corrosion. However it also shows the motor was not affected under these conditions.

I had it rebuilt when I bought it,258??? and saw the inside myself. They said I could have left it alone and put the origional cam back in.

I say drive it,I have the one you really want anyway