what did you do to your ride today?

[woody90gtz]

I dragged the Beretta back close to the garage at least. I gotta get the brakes done on that stupid Blazer and get it out of there...that's been a nightmare getting it to bleed since the rear circuit was completely dry and it has disabled ABS but the hardware is still there...

Snapped this picture cause I had 5 of my 6 cars at my dad's place! haha. And the trailer... Camaro is still a shelving unit in my garage. But for a brief moment, I had Blazer Blazer Beretta Silverado & Suburban all there.

[Rettax3]

Started (and moved) a couple of 'em that have been sitting for a VERY long time. Started and ran the Yellow Indy yesterday (still haven't bothered looking into the ECM problem yet -probably won't as it is just time to swap-in the five-speed and Series 3 3800 SC I have waiting for it). The blue-on-blue '90 Turbo 'Retta hasn't been run in over a year I think, the PCM isn't priming the fuel-pump which was actually okay with me this time -it meant the engine wouldn't get any load until it had cranked enough to get oil-pressure. Which actually happened pretty fast, but it still turned-over quite a bit before she fired up. Ran great though, and man I love those crystal-blue Olds Cutlass Supreme digital instruments I put in there -gorgeous display! Still the BEST-sounding Beretta I can recall ever hearing, even beating-out the NASCAR-refugee-sounding GTU and the Formula-One-wannabe high-revving 3.4 DOHC Turbo Z-26. I decided to move her up to the top of the list, shuffled a few cars around and backed her up onto the lift. She will need tires and a battery, but I'm mounting and balancing my own tires now, so that brings the expense down quite a bit, and she can even borrow the GTU's 16" black GTZ rims if need-be, I'm not in a hurry to tear-down the six-speed from that car...

I need to seal-up a couple of exhaust-leaks related to switching from the Garrett T-04 to the K-03 snail, and have to re-plumb cooling lines for the turbo (I had deleted them when I pulled the diminutive T-25 out in lieu of the T-04, which was only oil-cooled). Apparently, I also robbed a fitting off of the turbo's bypass-valve, mmmm, probably for the 3.4 DOHC V-6 Z-26 Turbo, which means this car hasn't moved in even longer than I was thinking. The hood is trash at this point. The original may be salvageable, but was fire-damaged years ago, IIRC just the paint got burned-off, with no metal warpage. Here is hoping...

The Turbo Z-24 Cavvy was the pisser today, even though I hadn't set the e-brake, it still locked-up one of the rear wheels. This is chronic with this car if he sits. Biggest reason for me to go rear-disc on this car is to eliminate this BS. But, I like drum overall, so I doubt a conversion will ever happen...

And the Turbo Z-26 3.4 Four-Cam... Is idling somewhere over the rainbow. I think it was doing this last month when I parked it in the garage, so now I get to dig into it and find out if this is a bad IAC-Valve, or something worse. Yay.

Well, three of the turbo-cars started and warmed-up, moved around, and nothing blew up. Not a bad day, overall...

[woody90gtz]

That's the main problem with a lot of projects... it's a lot to take care of, and there are only so many hours in the day.

I got the brakes fixed up on that stupid Blazer. Now I have a suspension squeak driving me crazy that I gotta find. Got 18.4mpg though, that's a lot better than the truck! It turns on a dime too, lot easier to maneuver.

[Rettax3]

Welded the downpipe to the turbo outlet housing on the '90 "T-Type" 'Retta. Also cut the pipe from the Wastegate valve (external WG) and re-angled it for the longer outlet housing, drilled a 1 1/8" hole and welded a new piece of pipe in place -I ALMOST decided to run the dump-pipe straight out of the hood, but if/when I replace the hood I don't want to commit to the pipe running up and out. The only things left to do are the turbo's water coolant lines (metric fittings, I will have to order some parts for them), wire-in a fuel-pump prime circuit, and figure out the tach signal to the Cutlass digi-gauge cluster (I don't recall if I have to wire-in the Cutlass ECM to run the cluster or what, so I will go into research mode when I feel up to it). Tires of course, as mentioned. Looking under the car, everything looks pretty decent. No leaks, no rust. I want to update the headlights too, I recall they weren't very bright as much of the housing actually gets cut off by the top edge of the bumper -these are basically Firebird headlight assemblies from an early Third-Gen, needed because the Beretta headlight housings interfered with the FMIC ductwork. I may swap them out with the later Third-Gen lamps, as they were smaller housings, or go a completely different route. Overall, it was just nice to have the car moving around again.

[woody90gtz]

You can get more light really easily with just a bulb swap...assuming they are typical 9005 and 9006. Plug & play. Sealight makes LED bulbs that have the same focal length as halogens are they are really, really good. I had them in my last Beretta and still use them in my truck and the wife's Subaru. I bought a couple extra sets just in case they get discontinued or something, because they're really really good. I can get you a link if you like.

I pissed away most of this weekend helping my old man pick up some Mopar garbage. He bought a pair of Roadrunners and lots of parts from an 82-yr-old guy in PA. He paid a boatload of money, but he's pretty sure he can get back almost half of it by selling the second car and the parts. Then he's gonna unload the Roadrunner he's been ignoring in the corner of his garage. Sadly though, that means the Beretta is kicked out and I gotta bring it back to my place...where there's no lift...and not much room.

[Rettax3]

You can get more light really easily with just a bulb swap...assuming they are typical 9005 and 9006.

Nope, literally big ol' 3rd-Gen Firebird light housings... Aftermarket non-sealed-beam lights I stole from my second 300ZX before it was destroyed in the arsonist's fire...

Partially hidden below the top edge of the bumper, they just lose enough light to make them seem dim to me.
These worked for several years, just not great. Probably the WORST way I could have put lights in this car... I love the other ones I've done:

I don't see a pic of the 'old' BRM Z-26, probably on the old computer... It has the '90 'Retta's old headlights, which were just stock Beretta lamps with the diffuser lens removed and replaced with clear Plexi, hidden behind the grills. VERY bright and effective, but a bit 'spot-light'ish, as would be expected. They work better on the Z-26 with the stock driving-lights to scatter some light out to the sides...

I'm sorry you don't like old Mopars...

Original "Limelight" green. Not a clone, the real thing.

I have a GTX grill I want to put in, just because they were rarer and I like honeycomb design, I haven't gotten around to it yet though. Maybe after the twin superchargers get installed? :D

This was after I ditched the OEM plastic "Pistol-Grip" shift handle, with one I hand-carved from Black Walnut -came out very nicely. :)

I think these were right after the last show we took her to -only got one trophy... Long drive too, she needs a good vacuuming here. It was a while ago, but she still looks just like this.

[woody90gtz]

Old Mopars are ok I guess, and these two are both 4spd, but there's no way in hell I'd pay the Mopar tax. Cost twice as much as a comparable Chevy.

[Rettax3]

Old Mopars are ok I guess, and these two are both 4spd, but there's no way in hell I'd pay the Mopar tax. Cost twice as much as a comparable Chevy.

^^^THAT is a fact! I never could figure that out either. Unfortunately, the heart wants what the heart wants. If you fall in love with a Texas blonde, be prepared to give all your money for a huge diamond. I'm glad I mostly like my 80s-90s Chevys. This is my second RR, a replacement for a B5 Blue 4-speed that was stolen back in the '80s. I always had intentions of buying a shell and rebuilding it up from that, and recall seeing a rust-free 'rolling shell' going for something approaching five-digits. I realized then building up my own wasn't feasible anymore...

For me, I got a lucky hit on this one years ago during a slump in the market. It is already worth more than twice what it cost. A co-worker once asked me what I paid for it, I said, "Too much." He shook his head solemnly and said, "No, you didn't." I think he is right. I love that car.

I did pick up a second-generation Road Runner project (better than a shell, but not complete) for a VERY good price, and have a Satellite of the same year that I daily-drove for a while, that was actually a gift from the previous owner who just wanted it going to a good home.

Good car, pretty quick and a lot of fun to drive. No one ever seems to know what it is either, which is entertaining. Kind of like a Beretta.

[Rettax3]

Well, not a 'Beretta', but definitely one of my 'rides'... Been working on another bike I picked up some months back, a Honda V-4 Interceptor 1000. Wanted one of these since they came out in the early '80s... I know Honda VF-series very well, and have two 750 "V45" Sabres (one a parts/project bike, the other was my daily-rider back in college and early work-years, rode that one coast-to-coast as well during Summer tours back in the day -absolutely fantastic bike). I also had a 700 race-prepped Interceptor for a while, but the previous owner had abused it at the track and finally bent the forks and cracked the front wheel... I had fixed that, but never got the engine running right, finally sold it off many years ago to a friend of a friend who fell in love with it.

This Interceptor is the first of the production gear-driven cam models, harkening back to the original V-Four open-class FWS1000 race bikes Honda made, and is not prone to the oiling-issues that ruined the reputation of the early VF bikes.

I have been swapping the sleeker sport "F" model bodywork onto my repli-racer "R" model, and the subtle little differences make each step a small (but mostly fun) challenge. I just finished welding on the last turn-signal mount (two were missing altogether and a third was broken in half) today, and have an LED headlight assembly I grafted into the front-end working very well. Complete custom mounting plate (turns out the "F" model headlight bucket sits a scoshe further back than my "R" model's bucket, so I decided to go all-out and build from scratch) gives full adjustment, and provides plenty of room to add a projector-style driving-light later on if I want extra illumination on the road. Interestingly, both versions of the Interceptor 1000 had a second radiator hidden behind the headlight, so there is a LOT going on up there.

Yesterday was my first true shake-down ride of the bike, still not very long due to the multitude of small projects left to do on it, but it was good to get some air through the carbs. I found that at full throttle in top gear, the clutch will suddenly let loose, for instance. Same issue my Katana 1100 (overbored to 1200-something) has just developed, but less severe (less power on the Honda too, though in 1985, this was THE fastest production bike yet made). She runs good, but has some unwarranted vibration at RPMs. Honda's 90-degree V-Fours are naturally very smooth, and I didn't notice this during the shorter test-rides I have been taking the bike on over the last couple of months, so I'm thinking I may have to go through the carbs again. Good power though, pulls strong if somewhat tamely (compared to my other open-class bikes, at least). I had lowered the front-end about 2.1 inches, mostly to get the very low handlebars to clear the taller "F" model fairing, and had concerns about the altered handling from increasing the steering-angle rake, but it actually handles very easily, and feels much smaller and lighter than it really is (about 600 pounds, like my other large-displacement bikes). For a high-peg low-bar race-type bike, it is actually quite comfortable. I will still take my Katana for all-day touring at this point though...

Up next is repairing the wiring to the rear turn-signals, switching the rear wheel and braking system out for the "F" model's parts, and mounting the instrument cluster a little farther forward -and fixing the damn tach-needle that broke off randomly during the last ride.

I'll start a thread later on it, when I have some decent pics of it. For now, I am just working on it and having fun -something I haven't been having much of lately when picking up a wrench.

[Rettax3]

Wow, so long since any posting here... I'll just update a little on the Interceptor first, now debating on making a dedicated thread for it due to lack of any activity here and it is Very ofF topic (see what I did there? No? Oh well). I got some seasonal use out of it, but the tires that came with the retro-fit 'F' model wheels weren't great, and I finally took time out to machine an adapter for my tire-machines to balance them properly. Then, last Summer some time before I bought new rubber, one of the carburetor fuel cross-over tubes started leaking -turns out it had a poorly done patch-job done on it that failed. After dinking around for over a month waiting to machine my own tubes out of brass, buying a TIG setup to make a 'tee' tube and fabricating my own six-welder welding-cart because of needing the room for the TIG and its' gas bottle, I finally gave up and bought an ebay CNC-aluminum tube set -OEM Honda was plastic junk. The bike sat around in my shop all this time, I have no interest in riding it off-season anymore and just haven't gotten to it. Another delay in working on the bike was building my own full-platform dolly. Harbor Freight sells one, with a coupon it can be had for ~$100, or used ones for less locally, but I never found a used one close enough to me.

I finally made my own dolly from scratch, cost about the same and took two and a half nights to build, but I'm happy with it. New steel throughout, but at least I got to use old junk parts (a CV axle and a broken dial-indicator bracket arm, specifically) to make a bending-press jig to add structure to the bottom of the dolly to stiffen it up some. I still need to prime and paint it, and drill several holes for tie-downs -which I think the HF one is lacking. My dolly is a little longer than the HF one, made of thicker steel, and is dimensioned exactly to fit every bike in my stable -which is more than a few. My ZX-11D has the widest rear tire, but my XVZ1300 Turbo 'Crusader' Cafe`-Racer project Build has the longest wheelbase (though that has long-term storage on my motorcycle-lift for the moment). Any of them will fit fine. Yesterday, I rolled the Interceptor up onto the dolly for testing, and it fits great. Awesome in my tiny shop to be able to roll a 600-pound bike around and push it easily sideways to tuck it out of the way. I will post picks of that soon, I think, maybe after it is finish-painted...

Two new cars followed me home this year, both Caddys from the end of the '90s. A low-mileage STS with the stripped head-bolt issue (I will make my own multi-point jig for that repair, and have all the parts necessary to pull the engine and repair the block threads and the top-end, and reseal with rest of the block if necessary), but I ran across a CHEAP VIN-9 (high output N*) Deville with some issues before I could lift a wrench to it, and was just going to swap the engine for the time being... The Deville runs great, drives okay, and is a bit too nice to gut though, so I'm rethinking that now, and a family-member who will be driving soon has expressed a very strong desire for the Deville, so it now has a stay of execution. Oil-change was due on the Deville (nick-named 'Cruella') so we did that this past week, and I'm already on my second tank of gas. 21+ MPG and something like a 22-gallon tank last a while, but I'm driving it all the time now. The Seville STS is just 100% a nicer car, and fits me much better, but it is only good for short easy trips -runs great for that purpose though.

The 2nd Audi TT in the family (a six-speed manual Quatro version with the 225 HP Turbo 1., acquired last year, is hogging up my shop's lift, and is just getting a top-end rebuild due to four bent intake valves from a timing-belt failure with the previous owner, but that rabbit-hole created a new project for the wash-tank (using Simple Green instead of solvent, a new pump and an in-tank heater), and I just keep getting side-tracked with work and other projects... I like engine work, but just don't seem to be focused on the Audi for some reason. Once it is done, the STS will roll in and take its' place.

The Better Half's second Toyota popped a tire a week ago from some road-hazard biting the sidewall -nice Falken or Solus or something like that too. The Douglas tires I put up front are horrible and I wouldn't be upset if one of those had gone instead, but the rears are done now. I got a spare OEM full-size rim for it, and will leave the extra good rear-wheel/tire as the spare, instead of the donut.

So, five vehicles, and four or five supporting side-projects... Not bad. But too]/i] bad NONE of them are fully 'done' yet!

[woody90gtz]

I've had a kind of rough few months...mostly blazer problems. I'll make a post.

But I'm finally making some forward progress on the Camaro, albeit slow with all the other things I have to do. Right now I'm somewhat paralyzed trying to make a wheel decision. Yes it's many months away from driving, but I've been wanting new wheels for 10 years and the upcoming tariffs are making me want to strike now. I actually bought a set of wheels a couple months ago on clearance for a smokin deal...and then they called me to say they were out of stock and refunded my money. Big letdown.
Every single option has one pain in the ass caveat though, but I think I'm going to go with the best combination of aesthetics and quality and just redrill my front hubs to a different pattern. Better than spending double on a set I don't love the look of, or using wheel adapters to run another set that I like, or the other set that's HEAVY. Redrilling will kill some time, but I can do a good job with it and it gives me the best final result. I wanted to redrill one hub successfully before placing my order, but my buddy's laser is down and I'll just have to push forward.