2021 - What did you do to your wagon this week?

last week I finally got around to replacing the heater core in my 94 rmw, not too bad, the main reason I replaced was that even after flushing the system 5 times I was still having poor heat at idle. when I removed the old core did find a leak at one of the end tank gaskets, but also the hook in the housing that the front mounting strap hooks on is broken so used some caulk rope my grandpa had laying around for who knows how long to help keep the new core tight, as sadly I couldn't get the broken part of the hook to stay glued into the housing.

Finishing up my cooling system rehab , saw a post on YOUTUBE where a guy removed the knock sensors on the engine to completely flush the system I'm going to try it today and see how much cleaner I can get everything ,gone through about 6 gallons of distilled water and a bottle of Blue Devil radiator flush . I picked up a Buick  hood ornament at a swap meet ,trimmed the attachment piece off and epoxied it to my hockey puck on the air cleaner assembly a nice detail touch .  I've got my side and back metal mouldings clean and will be reinstalling the rubber pieces with 3 M tape I've used this on my other wagon and the stuff works my friend who owns a body shop said that this is the stuff GM used .

Yes, removing the knock sensors is the best way to flush the cooling system on these cars. Any small block chevy car actually. Before knock sensors existed those ports just had plugs in them.

Did all new brakes and wheel bearings in the front. Decided to just replace the wheel bearings since I couldn't tell how old the grease was and didn't know their service history, so figured coming up on 200k miles was as good a time as any to do them. I'm also going to put the S10 off-road bump stops on the front, wondering if anyone had a similiar suggestion for the rear.

Just curious what is the purpose of using the S10 bump stops ?

They're supposed to be a little longer but a lot more progressive.  When the suspension maxes out the bump stops will hit more gently, plus my original ones are disintegrating anyway. I'm looking for a similar set on the back because I want to replace the rear springs with air bags to allow for more load levelling, but I want some cushioning still 8n case those fail for whatever reason so that I can at least drive to a safe place to repair or get towed.

Flyingtaco wrote:

They're supposed to be a little longer but a lot more progressive.  When the suspension maxes out the bump stops will hit more gently, plus my original ones are disintegrating anyway.  I'm looking for a similar set on the back because I want to replace the rear springs with air bags to allow for more load levelling, but I want some cushioning still 8n case those fail for whatever reason so that I can at least drive to a safe place to repair or get towed.

If the stops are more progressive, won't it hit harder, not softer on them?

For initial hit, there would be another spec that they never seem to give, and that is initial rate of the stop. If you are talking about urethane stops they might hit pretty hard.

No, they're softer rubber stops. You hit them a little sooner and they apply softer. They're popular with Impala SS guys with lowered cars since they hit their bump stops all the time, but I've got some rougher roads around me so I'll hit the stops with stock ride height.

Removed the wire harness from the engine along with the TB/Intake Manifold


Next I plan to replace the factory rocker arms with 1.6 full roller rockers, replace valve springs and seals, new pushrods, clean up the lifters and clean up the engine block.

Hope this shows the difference in the bump stops better.  The new one is taller but also much softer.  It's not so tall that I'll be hitting it all the time l, but when I do it should provide a much more gradual and hopefully more comfortable stop.  It also took all of 5 minutes to change them out, so if it's actually awful I can always go back.  Just turn the front wheels towards whichever side you're working on and it's one bolt that can easily be accessed with the car on the ground.

We went to Hershey, Pa for the AACA Fall National Meet. Wife put slightly over 1000 miles on the car and it ran flawlessly. We talked to a lot of people about the car, it was the only B body wagon in the show. There were several sedans, I think they were all Buicks. There were several wagons from the 60's and 70's, I don't recall seeing any 80's wagons in the show. There was a little over 1100 vehicles registered for the show.

Not a ton done yet....

Pulled the front seat belts and sent them to Safety Restore for refurbishment.

re-seated the middle seat back

replaced the rear glass struts

Ordered a bunch of suspension stuff

To Do:

Reconnect heater core and see what's up with it.
Suspension stuff when it arrives

So, flyingtaco, where'd you source those S10 bump stops? Are they any particular brand?