A little adventure... Road Trip... New Cadirat! :)

Wow. Today was a great day.

Short version, took a road trip with Billy Mac and finally scored me another Fleetwood. Woot!

Long version, ends up the same way. So the past couple days, there's been some co-conspiring within the secret society and I was benefactor to the millings about. Glen hooked me up with his buddy that was selling a 94 Fleetwood for dirt frikken cheap, and I chatted with the dude, we came to an agreement, and then I set the plan in motion to go grab it today. I called Billy Mac to see if he wanted in, and that it would involve a long road trip, and a trailer with a dude with NO experience pulling one, and could be an interesting and fun time. He said yes, and we set it up for today.

He got here about 730am and we ran over to Uhaul and rented a trailer and signed the papers to go get a cavalier.


Then we went and got Billy's new 9C1. I had it stashed at Al's place. No sense in driving right by it and not bringing it to his house!


Then a nice easy ride, getting the feel for towing on the way from Nashua to Dover. That truck tows NICE! We cruised most of the way 70-75mph and felt safe and stable and all was well. We made it to Billy's place with no hiccups or scariness or anything.

ONE car down, ONE to go! Not bad for a guy who had never trailered before!

So then we heading up to the place that rednecks come from, Glen's area of Maine. 155 miles north of MY house. To a mythical town called Wiscasset. Another uneventful, empty trailered run up 4 to 95 to 295 to 1 to who knows what local roads. Took about 2 hours from Bill's place. We even drove through a town that looked remarkably like Natick or Quincy. Weird. Anyways, we met up with Glen in town and followed him to his buddy's house. And then I saw it in person. It looked just as ratty and abandoned and nasty as it had in the pics I was sent. PERFECT! I couldn't wait to load it up and call it mine! Even with the blown opti and plugged cats we were able to start it up (if you'd call it that) and drive it onto the trailer. Sweet!


Then we decided to follow Glen to the magical place where old Caprices go to die. Not sure if it was B Heaven or Hell, but it sure was a cool place! On the way there we were talking about how we had never seen a car like that, color combination, no vinyl roof, etc... And the EXACT SAME ONE drives by us! LOL! Billy was all like "Hey, there's one just like yours, but it RUNS!" LOL! And I saw Glen laughing in his truck too, cuz we had chatted about the rarity of the combination also... Anyways... Thanks for the tour, Glen! It was really cool. And glad to finally meet you! You've got some pretty neat **** tucked away here and there up there! Thanks for the hook-up, too!


So we left Glen's because he had to head back to work. We decided to look for a place to eat and fill the tank and head on home. We ended consuming some sustinance at the BK lounge in Brunswick or was it Bath? Not much to be said for that place. And then we set off down route 1. Bad idea. It was all traffic and lights and secondary roads. Boo. But we made it through. Found a gas station I could maneuver through and filled up. 10.8mpg on the way up. Not bad! Then it was an uneventful, if not slowed with Holiday traffic til south of Portland, run down 1 to 295 to 95 to SCREECH!!!!!!! 3 miles out from the York tolls. Like 20 miles of gridlocked backup for no apparent reason all the way to almost the Hampton tolls on 95. That sucked. Slowed us down so much we had to detour to Hampstead (instead of dropping off the car and then heading back there) to pick up my daughter from my mother's house... Late. Oops.

When things started moving again is when it got a little hairy. People were driving twitchy, as people are known to do once traffic starts moving again after sitting in it for hours, not sure if the speed is actually up and if it will actually last... But we made it to 495 with no real issues, just the occasional "running down the hills too fast to stay ahead of the trailer game" like we'd been playing all day. And then we hit a bridge/expansion joint/ Evil Kinevil ramp at 75 mph. And that was NOT fun. Especially 3 abreast with two other trailers! Holy Crap! Got air and everything! And then ANOTHER bridge! And another!!!!!!! Holy friggin pucker moment. Trailer rockin' and swayin.... Mashing the gas to stay in front of it all. Oye! We were so shocked by it, that we honestly couldn't even remember what it was we were talking about when we hit the first one. Like that 5 minutes was completely wiped from our brains. It was weird. So we headed to the slow lane and just cruised an easy 65-70 the rest of the way there. So then we get to my mother's house and Billy checks out the trailer while I'm loading Bella and her peripherals up. She sees the truck and trailer and is all excited. "TRUCK!" "Wow!" "Cool car!" And then I see Billy working at the trailer end of things so I walk over there and... Holy Shnikes! The wheel straps had let go and come off the wheels and were just laying on the control arms. DOING NOTHING! So those "jumps" on 495 actually almost did throw the car off the trailer!!! Nothing holding the car on aside from the safety chains loosely wrapped around the axle and the tranny's park detent. Scary stuff. So we re-situated it and drove the rest of the backroads home, uneventfully, with Bella singing in the seat behind us.

So we get to my house and it's time to unload. Here she is in all her popping, farting, and backfiring through the intake glory.


And here she is in the driveway. It really is a nice color and the car was a STEAL for the price. It looks to be fairly solid, the body is good, and the trim is all there and straight!




I'll clean up the garage tomorrow and get it in there and start tearing it apart. Gonna install a new opti, plugs, wires and Mark Ross's old cats (Thanks Mark!) or a set of Afterburners and hope to drive it next week. She looks like she'll clean up pretty good, too. The paint will shine, and the interior should clean up good too. And man, what a weird dark raisin purple that interior is. I diggit.

Anyways... That's my - long - story of an idiot learning how to tow by covering about 400 miles and delivering TWO cars. And I really even fell more in love with my truck. That is a NICE rig and she tows nice and made an idiot like me look good. Love it. Thanks for reading. And stay tuned for the Cadirat v.2 mods.

Oh, and how the HELL did I make it this far into my life WITHOUT owning a car trailer??!?!?!?!?!?!?

Sweet score! I'll get with Tommy to set up delivery!

Nice! Not much into red cars typically but the FW looks good in red.

I still have a few leftover parts from my parts FWB, lemme know if ya need anything.

Neat Caddy! Love that color and look forward to seeing it cleaned up. Keep us in the loop on the repairs. Pics!! Also that 9C1 sure is sharp.

In my opinion, nothing tows like a GM truck. Period. I've towed many cars from Texas to New Jersey behind the family Suburban, and all over this state. I actually don't use the tow/haul button on the shifter, but always tow in 3rd, never overdrive. Was told to do that years ago by a transmission guy, and now have 160K on the original trans. Hard to argue with that.

As for towing, sounds like you got a crash course. I will say I never tow much above 65mph, no matter if it's my trailer or my tow dolley. You get a big load fishtailing and it can scare you to death. Slow and easy gets you there in one piece.

Thats a mighty large Cavilier you picked up
Thats a great color combo, any fleetwood (or RMS) without the vinyl roof looks great.

I've played the "what are you towing" game with U-haul a time or two as well. ; )

Here's a quick "pucker factor" towing story.

1994- Towing my 1981 Citation X-11 behind my brand new 4.3 S-10 pickup. My girlfriend (now wife) and I drove up from Austin Texas to New Jersey to get my X-11 from my parents house. Bolted a tow bar to the X-11's bumper. S-10 towed it fine, headed back south. We'd been driving all day and were coming into Roanoke Va. Went over a bridge and took an exit off I-81 to get dinner. The exit was a huge circle that went off the highway and curved back under the highway bridge.

I took the exit a little too fast and the X-11 started to push the rear of the lightweight empty-bedded 2WD S-10 sideways. I counter-steered and have no idea how we didn't jackknife. I think the only thing that saved us is I never jammed on the brakes. We went around that exit with the rear of the S-10 sideways, the Citation in full view out the passenger side window of the S-10, smoke coming from the tires of the truck. I knew I'd just totaled my brand new truck (had just made the 3rd payment) and my favorite old car, and in the process killed myself and my girlfriend.

There was no traffic at end of the offramp, thankfully, and I steered the S-10's wheels straight and was amazed when the S-10 straightened out as we pulled onto the road there, just as if nothing had happened.

I slowly pulled into a gas station there, came to a stop and put the S-10 in Park. Took a breath, sat in silence a second, looked at Misty, and we both died laughing. She said I was yelling "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" around the entire turn....I remember none of that.

You just never know what will happen next!!

-Mike

LOL Mike! Got a chuckle outta that.

Yeah, I think I may have not respected the tow enough, in retrospect. But when you're used to moving with the traffic at 80mph or so, 65 is painfully slow... Next time I will be more careful. I was pretty lucky this time.

I can't wait to tear into this car! Tonight it'llbe in the garage and I will start the teardown as time allows...

I just remembered something else funny about that trip. We stopped in Wythville VA that night, and the next day we were towing from VA to my grandmother's house in Jonesboro Arkansas. That's a long drive with a trailer, from one side if Tennessee to the other, and it was pretty late when we crossed over the Mississippi at Memphis and headed into Arkansas.

We turned north and drive into the Delta heading towards Jonesboro. It's hard to relay just how flat the eastern Arkansas Delta is...it's especially weird after spending two days in hills and mountains. We were tired and it was a nice break after fighting the mountains across Tennessee all day with the car on the back.

I'd say it was about 10:30pm when we drove through the small town of Marked Tree Arkanasa. I'm in my new S-10 with Texas plates. The Citation X-11 his New Jersey tags on it. We get just through town and I see red lights in the mirror. I'm shocked I didn't see a cop, it's flat and there is a full moon. Oh great.

I pull over, and please understand my entire family is from Arkansas and I love it there, but the most "Barney Fife" redneck cop comes up. First he asks me where I'm coming from and where I'm going. Then he asks if I know how unsafe it is to use a tow bar. I relay that I've just driven 1000 miles with one. He doesn't say why he's pulled me over, I was not speeding, but asks for the paperwork on both cars. I figure he's bored and saw the out of state tags. Fine, I hand over the paperwork. He goes back to his car and sits there for what feels like forever.

I'm tired. We've been on the road ALL DAY and I just want a bed, and we're less than an hour from the end of the day. I'm not in a good mood. He finally gets out and shines his flashlight on the tow bar, asks me to get out of the truck and come back there.

I get out and walk back. The tow bar is bolted to the front bumper of the X-11, and I also rigged up some safety chains to be safe. To keep them from rattling, I'd used Duct Tape on the ends. Well Barney asks me what I'm thinking "taping on" my safety chains. I stare at him a minute to see if that's a serious question. I tell him I have hooks under the tape and the tape is only there to stop rattles.

Here's the best part. He tells me to take the tape off so HE can see it hooks. Holy Crap. I start to pull at the tape, but it's been on there two days now, has been rained on, and is a mess. I'm pulling off little pieces by flashlight here on this dark 2-lane country road. The cop sighs, and....here it comes.....pulls out his knife, unfolds it, and HANDS IT TO ME!

I'm not sure what the laws in Arkansas are, but I'm pretty sure handing someone a weapon in the dark on the side of the road is not in the training books. I stare at the knife in my hand...and this was no swiss army knife....it's a real pig-sticker, and ask him point blank if he realizes what he just did.

I see the realization dawn in his eyes. I hand him the knife back, and he tells me I can go.

Amazing what can happen on a road trip.

-Mike

Looking forward to the pics, and sorry for my rambling stories. ; )

Really a neat car you got. I love those Fleetwoods. HUGE legroom in the back.

And I was planning to send you this listing. http://austin.craigslist.org/cto/1949118298.html

Thought that was right up your alley. ; )

So when exactly are you going to be working on your wagon?

sherlock9c1 wrote:

So when exactly are you going to be working on your wagon?

When the time is right. Gonna be an "all winter" project, so I'm waiting for all our club stuff to be done this year and start on it then.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

So when exactly are you going to be working on your wagon?

Wait, Bill has a wagon?

DBeaSSt wrote:

Wait, Bill has a wagon?

See, I'm confused too. Cuz i see a wagon in his sig, but I also see an Impala. I know the Impala is gone. Then, we hear about the cadirat, then the 3rd gen, then this new red fleetwood. Before that it was big ugly, then the truck. Like I said, I should sell my 9C1 to him so he can "drive it" for a few months, then buy it back.

My sig is like one of those "rolling" billboards that changes all by itself on the side of the highway...

sherlock9c1 wrote:

So when exactly are you going to be working on your wagon?

Two days before WF and he'll be complaining he has no time to finish everything

I remember looking at those Fleetwoods new at the Caddy/Pontiac/GMC dealer in Corsicana Texas while I was going to school. This was in 92 I think, the year they changed the body style. They had a new black in black leather Fleetwood parked next to a white RWD 91 Brougham...the design that had been around since fall 1976. I remember thinking how modern and HUGE the new car looked next to the 91 model. It was both longer and wider than the 91.

I also remember the window sticker was north of $40K, and thinking that was all the money in the world....which it was to a college student!

Neat car. Contrats again!

-Mike

40k doesn't even cover a year and a half where I'm at... LOL

So um what's with the '67 or '68 in the second picture??????

You slut, I'm jealous. I want me a fleetwood. everyone I see around here is either on 24s or they want a mint for it....

Cadet57 wrote:

sherlock9c1 wrote:

So when exactly are you going to be working on your wagon?

Two days before WF and he'll be complaining he has no time to finish everything

I literally LOL'd there!

81X11 wrote:

I also remember the window sticker was north of $40K, and thinking that was all the money in the world....which it was to a college student!
-Mike

Yeah, when I bought my 96 it was only 4 years old so I paid good money for that one. And I spent twice what I paid for it on bastardization... I think I'm a little ahead of the game on this one for 500 bucks.

Oh, and that 68 is a friend of mine's. He was all excited when I got my 66! Then pissed when I sold it. LOL!

EDIT: Oh! And the garage is cleaned up (enough to get her in) and now I can get to work!!!!!


Woot!

I want your 495 sign.

Stingroo wrote:

I want your 495 sign.

I want to burn that 495 sign. (Ok maybe not Crovo's, but a 495 sign nonetheless) 495 has to be the most boring crap ass road in Massachusetts.

And even has all the lower chrome, nice.

I miss my FW.....

Interesting to see you were able to use the UHaul trailer for these cars. I ended up using thier tow dolly when I picked up the 94 from Freds. That was a big mistake. Won't happen again. Do they come with surge brakes?

Good to see you back in a real Cadillac again. We are going to have to start our own forum. Nice find by the way.

Bill

nice score billy,. love the color and the slick top,.need a t56 and an lt4 clutch yet??

lol

Nick

I helped restore a 68 DeVille convertible about 10 years ago. What a pain! The door locks are vacuum operated. Holy cow was it complicated. Getting the dash vents to blow and switch positions was also a nightmare. The big 472 engine had lots of power, but those cars didn't use doughnut gaskets where the manifolds bolted to the exhaust pipes, and we had a terrible time getting the exhaust leaks quiet.

60's Caddy's are fun to look at and smooth to drive, but find clean ones to fix up or get ready to pull your hair out. ; )

Wait, Dover? Who lives in Dover?

I used to live in Dover.

convert2diesel wrote:

Interesting to see you were able to use the UHaul trailer for these cars. I ended up using thier tow dolly when I picked up the 94 from Freds. That was a big mistake. Won't happen again. Do they come with surge brakes?

Good to see you back in a real Cadillac again. We are going to have to start our own forum. Nice find by the way.

Bill

Yeah, they have the surge brakes. It towed pretty good, but they only rate it to 4000 pounds, hence the Cavalier part of the story.

phantom 309 wrote:

nice score billy,. love the color and the slick top,.need a t56 and an lt4 clutch yet??

lol

Nick

I do too. And maybe...

Thanks guys.

Nick Danger wrote:

Wait, Dover? Who lives in Dover?

I used to live in Dover.

I do!

toomanytoyz wrote:

Yeah, they have the surge brakes. It towed pretty good, but they only rate it to 4000 pounds, hence the Cavalier part of the story.

Yeh and they also say you should only go 45MPH with their cargo trailers. We all do that right? Have looked at the trailers before and have no worries about capacity but thought they would be too short. The dollies are actuallly too narrow for our cars but you can force the issue. Now that I know the trailers work I may be forced to tow a few "Smart Cars" around .

Bill

So I finally had some time to work on it for a couple hours today... It's a LOT cleaner underneath than I was expecting! I mean, it's no southern car, it's just a little scaly, but very solid. Floors, rockers, frame, everything. Too cool.

So I started by taking off the driver's exhaust manifold. Took it and the cat off in one piece. Took the water pump and opti off next. Came apart pretty easy. But man, I really had to use my rubber mallet to get that water pump off!!!! I hadn't had to do that before!

Anyways, I think I might have found the opti problem...










Yeah, you saw that right. Bare ends of the plug wires just pushed into the opti. 2 of the ports were broken on it, too! Inside, it didn't look too bad though. And it still had the stock plugs in it at 169k! Oofah.

And wouldn't you know it, my whizzer wheel accidentally went through the air pump tubing and then that stuff all fell out. Oh well. Guess I won't be putting that back.

I also noticed some disconcerting things on the passenger's side. Apparently that side got RED HOT and melted all kinds of stuff over there. It melted the alternator plug to the alternator, so I had to break it to get it off. Also melted the wiring harness that goes down behind the alternator for the PS, AC, coolant tank sensor, and whatever else is in there. Looks like the wire loom took the worst of that and the wiring looks ok. Gonna try it anyways. Also melted the vacuum lines that run past the alternator. **** got HOT over there! The valvecover is all burnt up the side too from where the gaskets blew out so it could breathe. Yikes!

So here's a weird thing... When I separated the passenger cat from the manifold and tipped it over, a whole bunch of gold/silver sandy stuff came out of it. I'd never seen that before... Hope it's not metal from inside the engine! Here's a couple shots of the dust on the floor...




Very odd. Any ideas what that stuff is? I don't see any in the exhaust ports... *shrug?*

Thanks to Billy Mac, I have a good distributor to put together and throw back in it. My spare broke all 4 bolts when I tried to take it apart. He send me all but a cap and rotor, which I have from Accell. Thanks Billy! I will probably do that tomorrow. Alson with new Autolite platinums and a set of Summit F wires. I also need to finish reinstalling the passenger manifold. Haven't started on the driver's side yet. Then I need to decide on what to do with the cats. Hollow out my old ones? Or try a spare set I have? Both look to have the stock o2's in them, one set has 150K and the other has 169K. I have a used pair with like 5K on them, but who knows if I'll be able to get them out???

Anyways, making progress. Will go back in the garage tomorrow if I have time.

And go figure... I'm already 100 bucks into my "free" fix that I had all the parts for. Oofah. I had cats and wires and cap and rotor kit... Plugs and gaskets are expensive now! Coolant too! Oye! And I grabbed a new thermostat. And I will need to replace the water pump too, cuz this one's bearing is toast. Guess nothing is free, eh?

What are these "cats" you speak of? :p

Good to see you working on it.

This is the reason I always go through a "new" car when I get it and see what needs to be done right. I need to run the mileage numbers on my wagon, but I think I picked up close to 3 mpg just by changing the opti.

So the cat was plugged? If it was me, I'd put a good stock cat and new O2 sensor on there and go. I hate the sound and smell of empty cats.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

I hate the sound and smell of empty cats.

rotflmao,.. um,. you hit them to get the sound? pick them up to smell if they're empty??



Nick

Man that Opti was a mess. You just never know what you'll find with an old car. Really glad to see you working on it. Keep the pics/updates coming! Neat car!

Dang! Congrats Crovo!! Baretop too!! Is that gold flake stuff part of the Cat material? That Opti was a hot mess. Lol

Wow, that is a real mess there! And that pump drive shaft!

Caddy FAIL!

So Al stopped by tonight and we got it all back together and all the fluids topped off. Never thought I'd ever reinstall a home plate and first base and stock airbox ever again, but I was fresh out of PVC, SLHAI's, and hockey pucks. Got the new-to-me cats on and all that (thanks again, Mark). Fired it up and the driver's manifold is leaking somewhere and the passenger manifold seems to be cracked. Dammit! But it ran good... until the power steering pumped itself dry and all over the floor. D'oh! Pressure lined is blown right where it bolts to the crossmember and the return line appears to be melted. Drat. So we didn't run it more than 15-20 seconds, but it seemed to run good. So now I am on the lookout for a power steering line pair... Plan is to fix the power steering and drive it around with the exhaust leaks and see if it's worth putting headers and such on.

But on a brighter note, Chris showed up and started in on cleaning up the interior. Wow. He does some great work! That is cleaning up REAL nice. The carpet looks brand new again! Can't wait to spend some time in there when he finishes it!

So stay tuned. I will not be defeated!

Time for some Afterburners

VICTORY IS MINE!!!!!

Well, a small victory, anyways. I managed to get it all back together and take it for my first ride tonight! The check engine light only came on once, too! Well, that and the low oil light. But it was a successful round trip! Woot!!!!

I tell you what, I'd rather swap an engine on these things than change those power steering lines again. What a pain in the balls! and the cooked alternator was only putting out 11 volts, so I swapped it with a spare and spliced in a new (used) plug for it off a harness I had laying around. Still need to change the oil and swap out the snows on steelies in the back for the stockers with all seasons.

But back to the drive... It sputtered a bit and hesitated under full throttle. That's when the check engine light came on. Who knows what kind of carbon buildup is on the heads and valves at this point... And the gas is probly 9 months old. too. so I'll fill it with premium next time I drive it to try and bump up the octane a bit and see what happens.

It also leaks tranny fluid at the cooler lines. And might have a cracked tank in the radiator. And I think the primary cooling fan is toast. And the passenger seat switch has a mind of its own. And the trunk pulldown motor is fubared. And the power antenna doesn't go up all the way. but that's ok, cuz it doesn't go down all the way either sometimes. And it still has exhaust leaks in the manifoldal/cat area. And...

But it RUNS AND DRIVES! Drives nice, too! Man, I missed seeing the caddy hood ornament when driving at night! And it's so quiet inside... Drives like a boat! LOL! I think she's gonna be a nice driver. I may just leave this one alone and drive it as it is...

Yeah, suuuuure. lol

Stingroo wrote:

Yeah, suuuuure. lol

I was thinking the same thing.

Bill, let me know if you still want those parts.

I'm putting together a whole list, Mike.

toomanytoyz wrote:

I may just leave this one alone and drive it as it is...

Hope you,re not related to that other italian kid, pinocchio,.or you'll need a new windshield.

nick

Ahahahahaha!

That's classic Nick!

Congrats Bill on getting her mobile again. Keep the updates and pics coming please!

-Mike

Been a productive couple days...

So I think I figured out the WOT hesitation/surge... I was thinking about it and came up that it felt like i wasn't getting fuel. The tank showed a 1/4 full, but I took it to the gas station right near my house to fill it with premium and it took - 22.5 gallons!!!! Well, that's your problem right there, sir. 22.5 gallons into a 21 gallon tank means you're out of gas, shithead. LOL. So yeah, yet another GM gas gauge not to trust! I hammered down coming out of the lot and murdered that right rear!...until the traction control kicked on. So I guess that still works.

Chugging along again yesterday. Got the tires changed out and ran it through the car wash. Looks much better with matching wheels!




Then Bella wanted to check it out. She kept saying "coooooooool."




I went around and tightened up the manifold bolts again. Also decided to get rid of the baseball field. I found the leak in the coolant tank, too. It was a small crack in the tank. So I cleaned it, sanded it, brake cleaned it and then 5 minute plastic epoxied it!

We'll see how that works out. I needed a radiator anyway, so no loss if it doesn't work.

And I had a 45 and a 90 pvc elbow, so I lopped off half the 90 and made a sewer pipe. Also found my hole saws. I like swiss cheese.


I tried the yankee candle trick, cuz I didn't have a hockey puck. Good thing I went to get one. The lid popped out on the way back from the store.




And Chris stopped by and finished the interior. Looks frikken AWESOME!!! I'm amazed.




He also wetsanded and buffed half the trunk. Wow. No pics of that though. I can't wait for him to finish that! Thanks Chris!!!! I really can't wait to get the outside done! Chris might kill me, but I think I am going to hit it with some Mother's cleaner wax today just so I can drive it for the week without a bag over my head. Need to hit that stainless with some steel wool and chrome polish, too. (I think I just heard Chris cringe... lol)

Yeah, I forgot that I also changed out the cooling fan yesterday, too. It figures, I've had two complete primary and secondary fan sets for like 5 years, and this year I got rid of both primary ones to a couple of you guys and now I needed it! Doh! That's why I never get rid of anything. lol. But luckily, for some reason, one of my secondary fans had the smaller motor on it, so I just swapped the good motor over to my primary bracket. Sweet.

Also did a quick TB service. I'll have to remember to NOT use that toothbrush again! lol!

The first real ride went good last night. I think we put about 80 miles on it. The "patch" on the radiator tank is bubbling, but hasn't let go yet after the trip, so that needs attention still. Al said he had some SEM plastic repair stuff I could try. So if that doesn't work, then I'll do a radiator... But the car drives killer. Nice and smooth and straight and floaty. Only a slight tire vibration. I'm amazed. Gotta get used to that slow steering box again. It's 4 and half turns, lock to lock! Wow! It makes the highway drive feel weird because corrections are so delayed. Gotta go back to the old school "ticklin' the wheel" when driving this one. Al noticed it on the ride back, too. So it's not just me.

Plans? Maybe I can hit 13's for under a grand? I think headers and exhaust. Then maybe 4.10's and a posi and a s10 or vette converter. That'll get me close. And nubbies with caps, rings, and whitewalls and I think I'll call it done. Might throw a set of 1.6 roller rockers on it that I have kicking around, too. With a set of drag radials, I may be knockin' on the door. But this'll just be a cruiser, that'll see some straight line racin... I'm not gonna autocross it. I think. We'll see...

Besides, I'll have the wagon when I want to go fast. (When have you ever heard ANYONE say that???? lol!)

I love this thing. I'm gonna keep it forever.

And by "forever" you mean like six months?

What is it about fuel senders this year??? The tank in my Caddy has been out three time this year with same problem as yours, did the fix shown on the ISS board, replaced the pump etc. etc. Now its stuck on full. Had to do two on a friends truck fleet and now another friend with a Cessna 414 is having the same problems (far more serious repercussions). Is it an epedemic?

Asked this over on the other board, as more Caddy owners are there, and it appears that the Caddy sender unit is different then the rest of the B bodies. Anyone here know what the difference is? Every GM sender I have ever run across are the 0-80 ohm types. Just wondering as I have two almost new Buick senders on the shelf and it would save me a few bucks if I could use one from the Roadmaster.

Car looks good Bill. I agree, its a keeper.

Bill

Bill. I've read as well that the sending unit is different. I don't know how exactly but it has to do with the FW's gauge being digital versus analog in the B cars. I've not compared them side by side to see exactly what is different though.