I've made the leap from wagon lurker to wagon owner

Good thing it worked, the roads aren't made for handicapped cars.

 

CW any updates.. We can't leave Norm limping along...

 

Sorry guys, it's been a hectic week at work and I'm trying to get some extra hours in so that I don't have to dip into my holiday time when I go for my day in court over the Emissions fine.

I picked up the wagon on Tuesday. All of the work went well. It didn't cost quite as much as I feared it would. I got all of the work done for just a few cents shy of $1700. The mechanic I use is a little expensive but has practically been a landmark in town for over 40 years. They do excellent work with no problems. They're very thorough and fast. At one time they were even the mechanic for the ambulances and police vehicles. The mechanic who did the safety inspection felt that my seatbelt should be replaced but, because it wasn't terrible, he was OK with ignoring it so that I could find the parts and do it myself. The drivers belt has some marks on it that look like a dog may have chewed it. It doesn't look serious but it catches your eye pretty quickly. To pass the emissions test, they cleaned out the EGR passages, put some carbon cleaner in the engine and took it out for a run on the highway. It passed, but I'm still no closer to figuring out why the combustion is so hot and I'll probably have to play this game again at my next test.

I'm a little over budget but not unreasonably so and I did have some extra money set aside for some new rims and repairing some of the little dings and paint chips that have started rusting. I won't be tackling that stuff until summer anyway, as my garage is too small to work in, so really all that's impacted are the funds for my winter parts shopping. There's a guy a short distance from here who has two sets of Impala SS rims, one set new, and one set used. I was hoping to give him a call soon. Of course, now I don't quite have the cash, and I can't decide if that's really what I want. So many people have Impala SS rims that I wouldn't mind something a little different. Although, I've only seen one other '91-'96 B-Body wagon around these parts and it's a snow white Caprice with company markings on the side. It doesn't have a lot of customization other than the exhaust I don't think. It's probably good that I don't have the cash in hand as now I have to think it over some more. I Photoshopped some SS rims, some AR Ansen Sprints, and some Torque Thrust onto a photo of my car just to try out some different stuff. Before I bought it I was certain that I wanted the Ansen Sprints, but after getting my picture edited with them I think they look horrible on the car. SS rims and Torque Thrust seem to be the most common wheels that everyone is using and they both look sharp, I'd just like to be a little different. I'm in no rush so I guess I'll keep hunting for something that I really like.

I noticed quite a difference driving it with the sway bar having been replaced. I was noticing how the steering wheel needed to be about 20 degrees off of straight in order to make the car travel in a straight line. Now with new tie rod ends and a sway bar she tracks straight and true.

Not entirely sure I made the right choice with the Monroe Severe Service shocks. I realize that they will last a lot longer than the SensaTrac's but the ride is a little stiffer than I would have liked. I feel the bumps and potholes more than I expected I would. Perhaps I'll hunt out some suspension components that give a little cushier ride next year.

I knew it would be, but I'm still impressed with how nice the Roadmaster is to drive. I'm just loving cruising to work in it. It makes me wish that I didn't work 5 minutes away. My last job was about a 60km round trip and part of me wishes I had that back again. The only complaint I have is with the loose fitting door panels that the previous owner damaged so badly, the drivers door clatters a fair bit. I'll be glad to locate some new interior panels and get all of that tightened down again. I sure do love listening to the engine/exhaust note. My gas mileage will probably take quite a hit the way I keep revving the engine.

My 2nd temporary permit expires tomorrow so I'm headed into the Ministry of Transportation tomorrow AM to get my full registration. With that done, all I've got to do is convince the judge that I really don't deserve that $360 fine that I got from the Ministry of the Environment and it's clear sailing.

 

Well worth the money I would say. Lets hope the work order will work to reduce your fine since you had the work professionally done.

 

My new baby has cancer

While I've been driving around I keep hearing a sloshing sound from the rear of the car. I presumed it to be a rear washer fluid jug at first but it turns out that the Roadmaster wagon doesn't have a rear fluid jug. I started nosing around in the back and ultimately started tearing out trim pieces. Since some of the rear trim pieces are ill-fitting, I was starting to wonder if the car had been used for smuggling or something and some booty was left behind in the back of the car. Once I dug deep enough I found the drivers side rear fender was full of water. I checked the spare tire well on the passenger side when I bought it and it wasn't wet at all but I could hardly start tearing apart the interior so I accepted that there would be some secrets. It looks like the water has been there for some time. The inside of the fender has started to rust and scale a bit and, of course, there's no drain hole in there. The bottom of the fender well was pretty caked with silt and whatnot so I'm assuming that it's rainwater. I tore out all of the rear trim on the drivers side in the cargo area and I can see a water stain where water has trickled down the inside of the D-Pillar. I've soaked up all of the water, scooped out the silt, scraped off the scaling and poured some leftover EvapORust into the fender well. Fortunately my driveway has a fair slope to it so I parked the wagon nose-up to let the EvapORust sit back there in the fender well. That stuff is magic and should clean it up pretty good.

I'm guessing that my rainwater issue is the typical roof-rack leakage problem but there's a lot of screws up there and I'm not too keen on tearing those out and possibly making it worse until the warm weather comes back again.

I was planning on keeping my Parisienne until next year when I could replace the carburetor and install my HHO catalyzer to find out for myself just how well that works on a non-EFI engine. Now I'm not too keen on letting the wagon sit outside all winter if the roof is leaking even a little but to get it into the garage, my Parisienne needs to go. I hate to do it before I'm ready but I'm putting her up for sale tomorrow to see if I can let her go to a new home. I've noticed that there are a lot of '83-'86 Parisiennes for sale but I've yet to see another '81 Brougham around here. '81 was the last year for the original Pontiac body style and they seem to be a little uncommon.

 

I'm wondering if maybe the leak is a result of power washing?
Maybe check the bottom edge of the rear window.

I've never seen Evaporust before, looks like a great product.

 

It looks to me like the previous owner wasn't much of a clean freak , and I've only washed the car once. Once I took out the D-Pillar trim it was clear that the water has been running down the inside of the pillar from the roofline. There were some rust stains on the rear fender trim but I couldn't find any signs of a leak around the window or any indication that water had run down the inside of the fender. The water stained path was pretty noticeable down the edge of the D-Pillar. It looks very much like it ran down the inside of the pillar until it got to an opening behind the trim and then trickled out to the fender well.

I keep a wide-mouthed container full of Evaporust with a smaller hole-punched jug inside it on the workbench at all times so I can lower screws in and out of it. I'm fascinated by how well the stuff works. The 30 year old door sill screws on my Parisienne were badly rusted and they came out looking like new after soaking in the stuff. As I remove screws and small parts with even a little rust on them I toss them into the container. I usually leave them until I finish working on whatever I removed so they soak for anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks. Generally within 3-4 hours they're pretty clean. Everything that gets removed from the car gets degreased, Evaporusted, and/or painted with anti-rust primer/paint before getting re-installed. A side effect of watching too much Stacey David.

Since the water has been sloshing around in there for so long and the fender well is clearly watertight, I'm thinking that I'll put another jug of Evaporust in it and drive it around for a while. I only had a little bit of it left on hand. There is some scaling but very little so just soaking should do the trick. It's just "surface rust" (A silly phrase, I know, but I don't know how else to refer to a rust patch that's clearly savable) Once the rust is gone, I can clean it out and hit it with primer/paint or maybe repeat the process with Rust Convertor. Apart from cutting open the fender, I don't know what else to do. At this point I've got nothing to lose by trying.

 

I found a small rust hole under the battery in the tray on my b-body.
I cleaned it up and now consider it a drain hole.

 

I poked around in the fender pretty thoroughly with a screwdriver hoping to find the exact same thing. I figured that there would either be a rust hole or a factory drain plugged up with silt. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there were no holes. I wound up stuffing rags in there to soak up all the water (after I threw out all of the large chunks of ice)

 

Oh take a hair dryer to it...

 

Well, my Pontiac ad is up (...SIGH). I priced it pretty high to forestall the inevitable acceptance of a lowball offer from somebody who will destroy it as a winter beater. At least it's not a wagon.

http://guelph.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...ontiac-Parisienne-Brougham-W0QQAdIdZ246516428

 

Good idea! Once the Evaporust comes out I'll give that a go.

 

Well I had my court date on Monday. It was a much smoother process than everyone led me to believe it would be. The waiting area has seating for 60 people, and I expected to spend the day sitting there waiting my turn. The tickets give the address on the back and say "9:00AM SHARP!"...yes the capitals and exclamation mark are right there on my ticket so I expected a line up with everyone showing up at the same time.

I showed up around 8:45 and the place was empty and I was the first on the docket. By the time we got in there were only two others. They seemed to take us alphabetically as I was second in line in the court room. The youngpunk ahead of me had been charged with public intoxication while under age (I live in a University town) and came to protest the ticket because he's only a "poor student". When I was called up I gave my story, showed my vehicle receipt and ownership transfer to confirm that I was caught only an hour after purchasing the car. The judge heard me out and suspended all the charges and even the processing fee. For something that I agonized over so extensively, it went pretty well and didn't cost me a thing. I showed up at 8:30AM was called to the courtroom at 9:40AM and was headed back to my car by 9:50AM.

I haven't had so much as a nibble on the Pontiac yet (not counting all of the people who are currently at sea and would like to buy the car sight unseen for more than the asking price to ship to their father/brother-in-law/drug dealer). I can't say as I'm surprised, I'm willing to haggle and I know that the asking price is high but I don't want it to become a winter beater or a derby car. It's a 30 year survivor and deserves better. Unfortunately, since I have one spot in the driveway, and a single car garage behind it I have to drive the wagon this winter. It's killing me each time it snows. The car is in good shape and has been undercoated regularly but I can't help but think that I'm killing it and it's quietly rusting out from underneath me before spring comes. That 260hp LT1 is also not at all suited to slushy roads. The tires on the Pontiac aren't suited for snow and I don't want to spend money on a set of snows for a car that I'm planning on selling when I have a perfectly good set of snows for the Roadmaster. On the upside, the wagon actually looks pretty cool with the Oldsmobile hubcaps that came with the snows. Cold comfort.
I keep hoping that any day, somebody will be looking for a winter restore project or even a parts car and I'll be able to use what little money I'm likely to get to buy something for winter myself.

 

CW glad everything went well in court. Hang on to that Pontiac the right buyer will come along.

 

I snapped a few photos of the Roadmaster after a good wash revealed just how nice those Oldsmobile wheel discs look.