63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Had the Grand in today for it's first ever alignment.
Old school mechanic Tony fixed her up nice. My driveway numbers weren't that great, but he laughed and said not too bad for basically eyeball and tape. I'm kind of proud of at least my right hand side lol!
Before,
After,
Although previously ok, a short drives shows an improvement in tracking and feel. Tony likes big caster along with a little negative camber. He was certainly glad the car has all the aftermarket stuff. Easy to work on, and easy to get the numbers that will work best. It was great being able to watch the process as well, and it is certainly a process.
Modern radials...throw away those original factory specs. They're pretty useless, and you can get far better feel with a little work.
A shout out to Tony and Mike at ZM Auto service in Burlington.
It wasn't in my garage / shop and or driveway today but I had a riot. Teen Challenge held a demolition derby at the fairgrounds here in Morris. Those of you who have been here have seen that is literally our back yard. I was asked to be on the pit crew for our local Youth For Christ Drop In Centre car that was entered in the derby. The stupid Honda let us down, a couple of good hits and it lost all power, we couldn't find the problem. The guys running the show were nice enough to let us "claim" a used car from someone who had won his heat and gets a new car for the finals. At least we got a Pontiac next (sort of...., a Sunfire!) It faired better but we still got knocked out, which was ok because all 4 of us, 3 pit, one driver, were rookies to a demo derby.
This guy sure had a rough go of it! He got disqualified because he couldn't stay in the marked off area! Steering was a bit of an issue....
Parked the Pontiac under a nice shady tree while I started to strip the donor car for my 88, XR7 Project.
I guess I could had put the parts car in a derby first
Took the very rare transmission out.
Now I have two
The wire harnesses, the shifter and kick down cables are impossible to find.
The project car had a MSD ignition installed and removed by a butcher so having all the correct wire harnesses, in the donor car, is like winning the lottery.
Put the Parisienne back in before the sun got too low in the sky.
I completed a steering upgrade on my '64 CS today. I switched out the original intermediate shaft and rag joint for a Double D shaft, Borgeson universal joint, and Borgeson steering damper. I have gained a 5 inch collapsable shaft in the event of a front end collision. However, I did have one major problem after installing a new signal light switch and cancelling cam. I no longer had a horn! After several hours of trouble shooting the original horn relay, wiring, horn button, disc and such, I discovered that I had lost my original ground for the horn contact button because of my newly installed damper which replaced the original rag joint which, in turn, provided a ground. I will run a short wire from the lower part of the damper to the upper part in order to provide the ground. It was a bit of a learning curve, but a good project none the less. I am happy with the look and the smooth steering.
Pulled the drivers seat out of my 2015 Explorer Sport. The seat, rear up/down drive stopped raising the seat. Motor could be heard running. Car is out of coverage. Wife can't see over the dash. Surprisingly no biggie to actually take the seat out, bunch of plugs, 4 bolts. The big drivers door helps.
Found that the actuator worm shaft had broken off at the worm gear. How can a steel shaft with a Nylon gear fail at this point? Another great automotive engineering feat...the assembly has two screws to remove it...one is under the seat base cushion. Ordered a new assembly from eBay, $100...and will take the shaft and gear out of it and install it in the old one, still attached to the seat frame. I'm kind of loath to pull the seat cover off.
Ah...gotta love quality these days.
You can see the affected unit to the bottom left. Minus the pulled gear and related parts.
Here's the broken shaft, follower, gear, cover and shims. Thought of welding it, but I probably can't get the stub end out of the nylon gear. Heat would likely destroy it.
New unit,
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
Sadly that is the norm these days it seems. When the guys bring me motors, gearboxes etc to the parts counter I am usually amazed how flimsy the stuff is made.
Power seats and power windows are both good examples...
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Agreed Carl, but outside of this new norm, this unit looks to be very robust and well made. I'm thinking there had to have been a metallurgical defect in the shaft at the point it failed. It's pretty thick.
I can find no other info on this failure. Nothing on the explorer forums. A rare failure?
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65 Laurentian post, 67 Grande Parisienne 4 door HT.
Put a coat of wax on our 97 Silverado. Still a pretty good looking truck for all original and over 200,000 km.
Like the colour!
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Me too. When these trucks were new I always thought it was a nice colour and when we went to look at this one almost 4 years ago I really liked what I saw when I walked into his garage. I suppose it's not for everyone but I like it because it's a bit different from all the standard red/white/black/maroon/navy blue etc.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Finally got the convertible frame going up and down!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-8mvXIeWg
-- Edited by koolconvertible on Sunday 2nd of September 2018 02:24:14 AM
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cutting a roof off a four door is NOT a convertible.....
65 Parisienne convertible.one of 49 built for RHD export market,402BBC, T400, 2500 stally, posi rear, upgraded brakes with front discs, FUEL FAST efi custom built by me.
Finally got the convertible frame going up and down!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-8mvXIeWg
-- Edited by koolconvertible on Sunday 2nd of September 2018 02:24:14 AM
Congrats, sure is noisy in a garage with no interior or roof material. Looks like it works great.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
after a carb rebuild, (i found fillings in a new quick fuel carb). Replaced faulty new fuel pressure regulator( it would not go less than 8.5 psi) a new set of plugs( plugs fouled do to flooding secondary bowl draining Into intake.
it amazes me what passes for factory tested equipment. car runs great now, so i took her out for a quick drive around the neighbourhood.
Started tearing down my 427 that I hope to rebuild this winter.
Looks real nice inside but at some point in it's life, something fell into number 5 cylinder. Looks just like the imprint of a needle bearing out of a u joint cup!
This engine ran ok but I knew it needed to be freshened up. 4 of the cylinders had a broken top compression ring.
The piston skirts are beautiful, the crank is super smooth, all ok otherwise.
