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

I first ran into him (I think) on the Impala SS forum, before he went to his own website. He was such a repository of important stuff, that he was pretty much forced to go to his own place. I very rarely made any comments directly, since I didn't have one of those B-bodies.

 

7/31/2017 - So I picked up the 1992 Roadmaster Limited Sedan yesterday. I'm going to refurbish this car, and frankly...I'm debating on how to start this project.

First, I DO like this car. The GOOD parts are very good. It's VERY solid, totally original and untouched. A Dallas car since new, always garaged, zero salt ever, no vinyl top, grey cloth Limited interior, and a dealer-installed ASC power sunroof. The paint needs to be waxed, but should come back to life, and it has sharp painted grey and maroon pinstripes, the original Royal Seal tire is still in the trunk, the C-pillar opera lights work, the trunk pull-down works, the keyless-entry works, and the interior is nearly perfect, other than needing some cleaning and a headliner. The dash and door panels are beautiful, the seats are nice, the carpet is not stained, and its not been smoked in. Door panels are still tight when you close the doors. No rattles at all.

SO again quick recap on the history. 2-owner car, previous owner had the car for years, and passed away. The car hit 81K miles on the trip home yesterday. I think it sat totally unused in the owner's garage that last 3-4 years (it was last registered and inspected in 2012).

My friend Richard got the car about a month ago, put a battery in it, changed the oil and fuel pump, and possibly a tune-up (need to ask about what all was done). He put a couple cans of 134A in it and the a/c came on, but the compressor is rattling and leaking. The LO5 350 motor is quiet and smooth, and transmission shifts fine, and the car itself is still "tight" like it should be at only 80K miles.

I picked the car up in Marble Falls Texas yesterday, which is in the Texas hill country about an hour from my home in Austin. Let me try to describe the 60-mile ride home...

First, I sit down in the car, and notice the headliner is falling, especially on the sunroof shade, so I reach up to slide the sunroof shade back so the headliner will not be touching my head, and the headliner on the shade rips and falls off onto me as soon as I slide it, and covers me, the front seats , the cupholders, and front carpet, in black, dried out/powdered headliner foam dust/chunks. Wonderful. I get out, beat the dust out of my hair, pick it out of my ears, off my clothes, pull off the remaining headliner material, which is hanging by one thread front the shade, and throw the headliner out on the ground beside the car, and then grab a towel and knock as much black foam dust off the nice-looking cloth seats and carpet as possible. Yuck.

Next I get back into the car, and start it. It starts right up and sounds really good, but when I hit the AUTO button on the climate control, the compressor comes on...grrrrrrrrr...rattling loudly. Blowing cold though, but not long for this world.

I turn on the stock, base-level cassette radio (and later find a Frank Sinatra cassette in the car, which FITS this car well), and the rear-mounted antenna goes right up, but there is no sound.


I turn up the volume, and learn that only one speaker works, in the driver's door, and it's almost totally blown, all tinny and high, and you have to turn the stereo up almost all the way just to hear it. Holy Cow. Horrible. I turn it off and listen to YouTube on my phone for the rest of the drive home.

I begin to press buttons, and learn that only the power window on the right-front door works. The driver's side windows, front and back, do nothing at all, the rear passenger side starts to go down, but will only go back up 3/4 way and then jams. WOW. I have my son push the button and after a few tries with me pulling on the glass I get that window back up.... I do not touch the sunroof, which is closed, for fear of it jamming open if it does in fact, still work. I still have not touched the sunroof...but the buttons for it on the headliner ARE lit up, so at least it should have power to it. ...

I then look around at the pretty Limited-level cloth seats, which have controls on the doors and the sides of the seats too. I press the various buttons and the seats move up and down, recliner works, air bladders hum, but when I go to move the driver's seat back it moves about an inch, and that's it. It's sticking on the forward and back. The passenger side seat all works.

So in the span of five minutes, I know the car needs an a/c compressor, has issues with the driver's seat, three power windows are goofy, the speakers are bad and the headliner is shot. Not a really great start.

I sit down in the driver's seat, which is INCREDIBLY comfortable, and look around. Again other than the headliner, the interior is beautiful. I close the door and marvel at how tight it is, no panel rattles. The shifter has no play, the grey leather on the steering wheel is nearly perfect, and all the dash gauges all work. The chrome on the dash still shines, wood is pretty too....again, it's a low-mile, garaged car, and I'm shocked over what doesn't work in comparison to how NICE it all looks and feels in there.

I drop the car in DRIVE and pull out. It feels very smooth, but also heavy and VERY soft. As I pull out through the parking lot, which is bumpy and potholed, the car bounds around a lot more than my Roady wagon does, the shocks, I'm sure, are original, and need to be done. The next issue is power...this car....is not fast. I'm comparing in to my LT1-powered, tow-pack-equipped Roady wagon, and this TBI 350 is..not quick. I had that 92 Olds Custom Cruiser with this same TBI 350 motor, and it was much faster, but it was a tow-pack car too, so I'm sure this sedan just has very tall highway gears in the rear. The gearing HAS to be the issue, because the car seems to run fine. The brakes are firm and don't stutter, and there are not idiots lights on. It's just heavy, and slow.

I accelerate onto the highway, and soon I find the biggest issue, the tires...they're square..I mean totally out-of-round. I'd looked at the tires before leaving, knowing they were older and nearly flat when the car was pulled out of storage. They're Goodyear Viva white-walls, no horrible dry-rot to be seen, and with TONS of tread, but at about 45mph, this car, and especially the steering wheel, begins to shake. It gets steadily worse at 50-65, and then begins to smooth out at around 70. I do stop and look to see if there is a bubble in the tires or something, or if a wheel is loose, but no, nothing seems wrong, until you ACTUALLY drive the car at speed.

The drive back to Austin is through the Texas Hill Country, and it's down Hwy 1431, which is all hills, fast and sharp turns, switchbacks, and long sweepers. It's a great road, with fantastic views, and AWESOMELY fun in a quick car or on a motorcycle (it's even fun in my LT1 Roady wagon to blast around, but again the Roady has KYB's at all four corners and the thumping LT1 undef the hood). In this Sedan, Hey 1431 was NO FUN at all, sadly. The road speeds are at 45-65, exactly where the car is shaking the worst, and between the shaking, the worn-out shocks, massive body lean in turns, and the distinct lack of power to climb up the hills, I was exhausted, stressed, and seasick by the time I got back close to Austin. Beyond that, after about 30-mins of driving in the hills, and the heat (it was around 100-degrees outside), I noticed the temp gauge moved beyond the halfway point and leaned over toward the red, but never quite got there, adding to my stress of a possible issue.

In Austin I left the hill country behind, so the road leveled-out and I was able to set the Cruise Control and drive at around 70mph, which smoothed things out somewhat, and the temp gauge slowly swung back over to below-halfway at that steady-speed. But even at 70, the car feels underpowered, and I still think the gearing is just way too high. This car BADLY needs a rear-axle swap from a tow-pack car.





I DID make it home safely, with no breakdowns or blowouts, but was less-than-thrilled with this vehicle. The Twilight Sentinel kicked the headlights on just as I was getting to the house, and I noted that one of the backlight bulbs behind the tachometer is burned out. Adding that to the fix-it list. As I pulled off the highway I noted that the a/c compressor was cycling as well, so I'm guessing it's got a pretty good leak...

On getting home, I parked in my side-yard and really looked the car over. It needs to be detailed under the hood, but is totally corrosion-free. The exterior paint will shine up, but I need to locate new rub-strips for the side trim, typical, they are all missing. The trunk pull-down still works, and again even the opera lights work. It should clean up really well, and it really will be pretty....and should be a great car, if I can peel the "lemon rind" of issues off this clean and low-mile vehicle. I can't believe it has so many goofy issues, considering the actual condition and miles on this car! I have to remind myself that it IS a 25-year-old vehicle... I know I need to lighten-up!










The purists will cry, but the first mod, after giving the car a REALLY GOOD cleaning and detailing, will be to install Impala SS 17-inch wheels with my custom Roadmaster Buick tri-shield center caps. The wheels are already in the garage, I just have to find good tires for them.





I think the white car, with the tinted windows it already has, and no vinyl top, will look great with the Impala wheels mounted on it. Will of course save the original steel wheels and wire-hubcaps for a future owner (I hate rattly and hard-tp-clean wire wheel hubcaps...). Will plan to install some new shocks while it's in the air, and will look at brakes and check the front bearings and steering for issues while the wheels are off, and lube everything well. New tires and shocks should totally transform how this car drives (I hope!).

Next-up, I plan to get the a/c fixed, and will possibly flush the cooling system and replace the thermostat...that running hot issue is a little worrisome. Will check the fan clutch too, and clean and detail underhood.

Beyond that, I'm planning to get the headliner redone, and will lubricate the sunroof well and see that it all works while the headliner is out. Will need to install new speakers, lubricate the power seat track to hopefully bring it back to life, replace that burned-out dash gauge bulb, and the big job of sorting out the power window issues. I'm great at replacing the window sliders on these cars, but it's odd that the driver's-side windows seem to be totally dead, they do nothing. We'll see if I can figure out what's up....

Will post updates as I sort it out and put this car back together.




Such Fun!

-Mike

 

I also have a Richard friend. Infact, when chicks are around, he's my best friend. He's the only one of my friends who doesn't compete with me, when they're around.

Why's that? Is your interior pin-striped or what? Maybe, they stuffed Jimmy Hoffa ino the frame or something. My God! Who can stand Frank Sinatra. Better to listen to Dean Martin croon, instead.

To heck with the purists. Those wheels look great that way. Good start.

 

You may want to see if the car has anti-sway bar issues, like, none installed. I know some of the Aero Whales left the factory sans bars. And as for the engine, a swap to something like TPI, along with the rear gear change, will definitely wake the car up.

 

Yes, a great find and going to a good home.

 

What?! Have they become that lazy, in Flint? I've heard of early Alfasud models leaving the plant with missing pistons. But, not feeling like installing the sway bar takes the cake.

 

Sway bars came into use in the Sixties. Now they're on their way out, because of very new front and rear suspension designs that don't require them.

 

Are there any big "Gotcha's" on Roady Sedan rear power windows? The right/rear on the '92 sedan is slow/jamming, and the left/rear does nothing at all.. I've had the door panels off my wagons many times, replaced a motor in the front of my '92 Custom Cruiser and roller/sliders on all my wagons, but this is the first sedan I've tackled, and I know the rear door glass design is specific in sedans.
Thanks All!
-Mike

 

Mike,
It sounds like a really solid car, and one you'll have fun working the kinks out of.
I do have a question though:
Is this now your car? Or are you doing all of this for your buddy who purchased it? Just curious. I re-read the entire thread and though I may have missed it, I didn't see any mention of anything along those lines.

 

I believe Mike is just doing the work for a friend. I'm sure you can take all of your projects to Texas for detail work.
Of course no matter what it is it's gonna end up with those Impala wheels.

 

If those are the "X" types, it's the Nylon sliders, but if it's cable-driven, usually the cable's twisted up and jams in the sheave. The non-op is typically the switch on the door or the power delivery at the driver's door switch assembly. Check for power/ground in each direction at the motor connector.

 

About to dive into this project. Been making a LONG list of parts to order and things to do. It will be NICE and totally sorted out when it leaves my driveway.

On as happy note, the dealer-installed ASC power moonroof works, and perfectly, even the auto-open feature. It's big, I've never seen one in a Roadmaster (but have seen them in Impala SS's), and I totally love it.

Nothing on this car scares me too much...except the power windows. I've done rollers/sliders before, and DID replace the front motor on my 92 Custom Cruiser wagon, but both driver's side windows on this sedan are totally up, and do not move. I'm hoping when I remove the door panels and tap on the motors, that maybe they wake up again.... This was a lady-owned, garaged Texas car, but she stopped driving in 2012, so I think a lot of the car is just...frozen, from sitting.

We'll see!

-Mike

 

Fingers crossed up here!

 

Nads crossed, down here.

 

This car has a dealer-installed power sunroof. Cool Feature! Headliner buttons for the ASC power sunroof. The ASC button lights up red when auto-close and auto-open are turned off. Green when feature is on.

It has a sliding sunshade, and the sunroof drops down to open, or pops-up to vent.







ASC sunroof tag inside glove box. Also wire-wheel hubcap tool, along with ASC paperwork tucked in the original owner's manual.








Works perfect, but the headliner material is missing from the shade, and the headliner in the car itself is falling. Will be sent to my interior guy in the next few weeks to have it all redone.


I still have to clean and buff the paint, and clean under the hood. The car was used as a storage shelf in the garage for years, and has rub marks and light scratches all over it. I'm hoping I can make it beautiful again.


I don't think the underhood was ever cleaned.


Who knows when the car was last waxed, but I did give it a good bath, and installed the new Antique plate.




Amazing that something from 1992 is considered an antique now! Yikes!

-Mike