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

8/13/2017 - Ran all over Central Texas looking for a reverse-light pigtail assembly. The one on the '92 Sedan was torn and socket cracked (my guess was in shipping). Finally found this 1993 Roadmaster parts car at Austin Wrench-A-Part with 190k miles on it. Got the needed reverse-light wiring pigtail off this car....was HOT! Said 104-degrees in the parking lot. WHOO!!!



8/14/17 - Reverse lights fixed, all bulbs on entire car now working.


Next repairs are the a/c system and headliner replacement. Will keep the updates coming!

-Texas Mike

 

How many Buicks you got??

 

Currently at my house, by age, 1978 Electra Limited wagon, 1992 Roadmaster Limited sedan, 1996 Roadmaster GS wagon, and 2012 Buick Enclave Premium.

Since GM killed Oldsmobile and Pontiac I've had to move to the tri-sheild division for my not-quite-a-Caddy needs.

-Mike

 

Progress is looking good Mike. Thanks for the updates.

 

8/15/2017 - Got home from work to find these waiting for me. 235/55/17 Falkens




This morning, 8/16/17 - Rolling the new tires and wheels in for Mr. Serna to mount and balance.


New tire on left, old still mounted on right. Those old junk Kumho tires were super wide!


New tires mounted. Back-balancing so no weights on the front, looks better.


Another load of joy! New tires mounted on refinished wheels, Buick center caps installed. Will mount on the car soon!



Looking forward to seeing how much different the car looks with these installed. It's always amazing to me how much wheels and tires change the look of the car.

Oh and as for size, the 235/55/17 is not as low and wide as what the Impala SS cars got, but I've had issues with groove-following/road-walking with wide tires on the wagons, and moved to these some years back, and these ride smooth and there is no steering wheel pull. Also there is almost no change in the speedometer reading with this, and I've checked with my GPS.

These are Falken Ohtsu FP7000 tires can be bought for $280 on Ebay. I guess we'll see how they ride and how quiet they are, but at that price these are about the same price I was paying for used Pirelli PZero Nero tires....which sadly have not been showing up used like they were when this was the Crown Vic and V6 Mustang go-to size.

We'll See!

-Mike

 

8/16/17 - A/C fixed on the 92 Roady sedan. New Delco compressor, accumulator and orifice tube, system flushed, new O-rings and oil. Running quiet and blowing COLD. Coming Along!




Last Roadmaster Sedan update for a week or so. Dropped the car off with my interior guy for the headliner job. He was NOT happy when he saw the aftermarket ASC power sunroof. Says these headliners are a nightmare to replace...but it's falling in the back and totally fallen-off the sliding sunshade, so it's GOT to be done.. He said he'll have it at least a week. Oh well...




Will post next update in a week or so!

-Mike

 

The first thing I replaced professionally on my cp was the headliner. It has a custom sunroof as well. The guy I bought it from purchased it from the original owner around 1995 for around $1500. The first thing he did was put in the sunroof for $1200. Crazy. But it is neat. The place I took it to was also not happy about working around the custom roof. Got a good looking fleet there mike

 

My 2014 Impala has the factory sunroof. I was thrilled when I bought it in 2015. In just over two years I believe the cover has been opened four times and the sunroof opened twice.

 

I swear, extras like sun/moon roofs and convertible tops are a waste of money if you do not put them to use. I love the sun/moon roof on my '97 Explorer, and if I owned a convertible, I would have the top down and a deep burn from the sunshine. Having either, IMHO, truly extends the driving experience.

 

I used to think that way and was happy for the price the Impala had a sunroof. Actually the vent position is nice.
Still where we've lived and driven it's usually raining, sun's too bright, or it's chilly.
I've had convertibles and T-tops. Same deal plus between the noisy wind and sunburn it's not as much fun as the commercials and movies make it look.
For some strange reason we'd rather ride a motorcycle with a tall windshield than a convertible.
I'm sure cars, like the Buick, will resale faster with a sunroof, moonroof, or whatever they are called. My sunroof becomes a moonroof after the sun goes down on clear nights.

But I've discovered if I leave the heat/AC on and preset I get cooled or heated in silence without the worry of getting wet or bird poop. I no longer want a driving experience. I wanna get to the doctor, drug store, or shopping and back home with nothing to experience.

 

Nah, I don't have enough good in my life, to include other lunkhead drivers, so I need something special in my driving experience.

 

TIME FOR AN UPDATE! Here We GO!

9/2/2017 - New headliner installed. My interior guy was not happy with the aftermarket ASC power sunroof. This job took over two weeks and the fabric had to be installed inside the car...could not remove the headliner like on a normal car. Looks good! Shade slides fine and everything works!

 

9/2/17 - Took the Roadmaster Sedan to Taylor Muffler, because when we did the shocks we noticed that the muffler was bulged and the car had always sounded a bit loud under load.





Discovered the muffler had broken baffling inside AND the mid-pipe between the catalytic converter and muffler had three rust holes at the weld seam.






New exhaust mid-pipe, muffler, and chrome exhaust tip welded on.

 

9/4/2017 - Door panel coming off again. Already did one roller/slider in it, but the motor is acting up. It only works when it wants too, and slapping the door brings it back to life, so it's a bad motor. ZERO FUN PROJECT, but doing a step-by-step for folks that need to do this. Hope it helps.


Remove two Phillips screws in the arm rest pad. The pad will stay connected to the door panel.


There is another Phillips head screw near the courtesy light. above the storage compartment in the panel.



Remove the Phillips head screw in front of the door handle.



And there are two large Phillips head screws hiding under the door-pull handles. If you have a Caprice/Impala/Custom Cruiser, there are little caps that pop open on the ends of the door pulls on those cars to access these same screws.



There is a spring clip under the front edge of the power window switch panel. Carefully pry this up...remembering this is brittle plastic...don't force it.


The rear of the window switch panel just unclips once the front is lifted up.


Now carefully unplug the seat and window plugs. These all have little lock tabs you have to push or pull back to release, then wiggle until they unclip.


Next you need to remove the door handle bezel. This is held to the door with clips as well. I use a small pick to carefully release these. A small flathead screwdriver will work too. Again be careful with 90's-era plastic.



There is a small light above the door handle. Twist this to remove the bulb from the bezel.



Next you have to unscrew the small Allen-head screw to release the mirror control switch. You just loosen this until you can push the switch out of the bezel...don't remove the screw totally. It's tiny.





Here is the backside of the bezel showing the power lock switch that needs to be unplugged.




Power window bezel and lock bezel removed. Panel unbolted.

 

Now carefully pull the door panel off. It is held on with "Christmas Tree" clips, and I tend to pull back on the panel and get my hands under it, and then carefully pull and unclip each clip but hand. You can use a prying tool, but the door panels are plastic and brittle, and I prefer to pull off by hand. Once loose, you have to lift the upper panel off the window channel. Wiggling works. You lastly have to unplug the door panel courtesy light, and then put the panel safely out of the way.


To get the window motor out, the entire regulator has to be removed from the doors. I start by drilling out the four rivets holding the armrest support to the door. Some folks say they can get the regulator out without removing this piece...but they are more talented than me I guess...or have much smaller hands.




There are two slider rails that make up the window regulator. The outer one is mounted to the door with two bolts just below the power lock actuator. Unbolt both and let the rail fall down into the door.



Before drilling out the rivets holding the window motor and actuator, you need to unclip the mounting studs from the window sliders in the rails, and then tape the window up so you can work. Sorry, no pics of me prying the roller balls out of the sliders, but take your time...they will pop out.


Here are the two sliders in the inside regulator rail. I have a chunk of wood supporting the window in the door so I can work. Amazingly, when I popped the actuator pivot balls out of these oval sliders...the ORIGINAL oval slider, they didn't break. I'm still cutting these out...because they would most-likely break on re-installation...and are a problem waiting to happen.


To easily remove the stock sliders, I use cutting pliers and snip them into two pieces, and then needle-nose pliers to pull them out.




The next part is a lot of fun. The actual power window motor and window regulator are riveted to the door with four rivets, here in the middle of the door. I use a cit-off "whizz-wheel" to cut off the center studs, and then drill the rivets out.







Regulator assembly and motor carefully removed from the door.


Window regulator assembly removed here. You take it out through that larger hole under the power lock actuator. Rivets drilled out where regulator was mounted. Make sure to reach into the door and pull out any broken pieces of rivets and such to prevent rattles.



About to remove the window motor from the regulator. IMPORTANT, the regulator is under tension from that center spring. DO NOT remove the motor until you have the regulator in a vice or clamped! DANGER. It WILL snap back and can hurt you. Here I have it in a vice, and have a long extension going through it as well, as an added safety precaution.


The old window motor is riveted to the regulator. I use my cut-off whizz-wheel to slice the backs off the rivets and then tap the rivets out with a punch and a hammer. A friend is helpful here, to hold the regulator and move it around on the spring to get all the rivets out and replace them with the new bolts.


Some replacement window motors come with attachment bolts. The one I got...didn't...thanks Rock Auto. No big deal, ran to Home Depot for these screws. I also used lock-washers, not shown. NOTE, once I installed the motor to the regulator, I again used my cutting-wheel/whizz-wheel, to grind the curved ends of the screw heads down some to clear the pivot gear on the regulator.


Next I got new round window-track sliders, Dorman 74444, and I used my grinder to sand the thickness of the circles about in half, for an easier installation into the slider rails and to make sure they don't bind once installed.




New round sliders installed in channel rails. You will want to soak the rails in white lithium grease. Use the small clamp shown earlier in this album to press the pivot balls on the regulator arms into the new round sliders. These round sliders are a permanent fix for 91-96 GM B-body cars.