Never meet your heroes! '86 Grand National

[dynoman]

Jon , stop by our tent with the WH1 & GN with NY plates

 

[Jon Early]

will do!

 

[Jon Early]

I decided to load up my trunk with parts this year. After completing a project like mine, it's pretty easy to figure out what needs to go and what's worth keeping.

She made it to the Red Roof! The only casualty was AC. It stopped blowing cold and the compressor no longer kicks on. Judging by the big splatter on the downpipe, I'm guessing refrigerant found its way out of the evaporator. Oh well. We'll get to that some day.

I sold a lot more stuff than I anticipated, and used that money to score a brand new Pypes system that I found in the swap meet! At $560 I thought it was a great deal that I wouldn't find anywhere else. This car has been waiting too long for an exhaust, so I figured there was no need to waste another eight years trying to figure out which stainless system I liked better.

I would say the car did well, but there was an issue which prevented me from taking the car down the track. My O2 mV were staying pretty low and I'd get a lot of KR under heavy loads. I thought I was done with KR when switching to E85! I went to a Napa and swapped my original O2 sensor with an NTK, but it didn't make a difference. While waiting to get in the gates, I actually noticed the reading go down to 000 and stay there until I blipped the throttle. Hmmm. Fuel pressure is 40psi with the reference hose disconnected. I'm not sure what else to look at. The plan for now is to change the fuel filter because I have one and I've never done it since buying the car. If that doesn't fix it, I'll plug my laptop into the power logger. I've never actually used it. I hope I can figure it out!

The important thing is that the car made it to the event and I had a great time. Sam, it was great to meet you! I enjoyed hearing about you and your car's story. I look forward to meeting new Buick people every year!

The car made it home just fine. I just couldn't beat on it too hard. Of course it wouldn't be a Buick event without the the car giving me one last swift kick in the nuts. Here it is around 1:00AM on Sunday.... Sigh

I have no idea what will be in store for next year. I've been saying that I need a truck to haul race toys since my first year coming, but my daily driver is rapidly approaching 220k miles and the time is finally feeling appropriate to upgrade. Will I be back with a properly running, exhaust leak-less GN? Will the turbo V6 Camaro make a return in its quest for 12s? Will either car cooperate enough to justify the tech fee? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[granitestategn]

The car looks good Jon. It sits just right, IMO. Too bad about the A/C. I doubt mine will work once I put everything back together. I haven't had a lot of time to work on mine lately. I didn't make the nats. Too many things at home that can't wait.

 

[turbobuick]

Car looks great Jon, glad to see you made the NATs and had a good time.

 

[crvogt]

Great thread! The commiseration was therapeutic I also got to a point where an accident while working on the car led to the heads coming off, and new manifold. I was just going through the same A-pillar gauge debate you were, but decided on the GNS 3 gauge cluster. In the middle of installing it.
I worked on the car for months, only to then get a bunch of knock and the car running really rich under load. Found the DP rattling against the headers, but still haven't figured out what's causing the rich scenario. I feel like I'm always going, "I only need to fix this then we're good..."

 

[Jon Early]

Thanks everyone!

I bought an antenna repair kit and removed the old assembly, but I'm dreading the process of putting it back in. The fender did not come off without a fight, and it certainly doesn't want to go back into place. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the car has been in storage with a poorly aligned fender and no antenna ever since early June. I'm hoping to get the car back in my garage very soon, but I may talk to a body shop about getting the fender put back on correctly. For some reason I had to put all my body weight against the fender while tightening the screws in order to get it even remotely close. Judging by all the videos I've seen of the process, it shouldn't be this hard. I might just have a local body shop deal with it once I get the antenna is back in.

You can kind of see how the bottom of the fender is bowed out. With the tape removed, everything looks terrible.

 

[Blacky]

Thanks everyone!

I bought an antenna repair kit and removed the old assembly, but I'm dreading the process of putting it back in. The fender did not come off without a fight, and it certainly doesn't want to go back into place. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the car has been in storage with a poorly aligned fender and no antenna ever since early June. I'm hoping to get the car back in my garage very soon, but I may talk to a body shop about getting the fender put back on correctly. For some reason I had to put all my body weight against the fender while tightening the screws in order to get it even remotely close. Judging by all the videos I've seen of the process, it shouldn't be this hard. I might just have a local body shop deal with it once I get the antenna is back in.
View attachment 394445
View attachment 394446
You can kind of see how the bottom of the fender is bowed out. With the tape removed, everything looks terrible.

That's a crying. Shame because the car looks so beautiful Jon. I would just go through your steps again. If it came off and it was looking good. It should go back on. Maybe the antenna wasn't installed correctly and that's why it's pushing it out. But I don't blame you for trying to body shop but find a good one that has some knowledge about g bodies

 

[Jon Early]

That's a crying. Shame because the car looks so beautiful Jon. I would just go through your steps again. If it came off and it was looking good. It should go back on. Maybe the antenna wasn't installed correctly and that's why it's pushing it out. But I don't blame you for trying to body shop but find a good one that has some knowledge about g bodies

The antenna isn't in it right now so it can't be that. I knew it was going to be trouble as soon as the fender came off because it took way too much force to happen. Judging by all the issues I've had with fitting air dams correctly (another job that shouldn't difficult at all) I'm starting to wonder if this thing was in an unreported wreck. Nothing in the front end fits like it should and the hood has for sure been repainted.

 

[Jon Early]

Long time no update! I don't have a whole lot to report, but it's been an adventure as usual nonetheless.

This antenna deal just about defeated me. If I'm being honest, I'm not not sure I can call the results a success yet. Not only is the fender a problem, but the antenna just refuses to cooperate. The GN ended up going to storage for a couple months while I rebuilt the antenna and tore the turbo Camaro apart. Here's a some pictures of taking her back home.

Here's my stainless antenna cable from The Parts Place. Spoiler: Don't bother buying this.

There's the old nylon in two pieces!

The stainless cable is in no way, shape, or form correct for this application. It doesn't fit the lock, and doesn't wind up nicely, but I had the part, and wanted to try it anyway.

It didn't work. I rebuilt it a second time and it bench tested good! I started the horrible task of putting it back in the car and made it this far...

Before plugging it back in and finding that the antenna no longer worked! I was OVER it. I wanted so badly to have the antenna back in and working before the work car show, but it was the following day, and simply not meant to be. I put the fender back on as straight as I could, and left the hole.

I wish I knew why it wouldn't fit the same way it did before pulling it apart.

but hey! I won my class anyway.

Both cars then sat for months because my son was born on Sept 28th! Knowing that I wouldn't have a lot of time to work on cars this winter I decided to keep the GN in my heated garage for the winter. I'm not sure if that was a solid decision because there's no room for me to walk in there, and I'm not convinced that the car is in any better shape than if it were to stay in the cold barn. I have a bad mouse a problem this year. I haven't seen anything chewed up yet, but they've turned both cars into toilets, and I'm finding myself using spray detailer every couple days. Hopefully my combination of moth balls by the doors, drier sheets in the cars, and series of traps keep my paint and wires safe!

Anyway, I think I took the car for its final cruise of the season last week.

and since I had some free time yesterday I decided to put the newly rebuilt antenna back in once again. I reached out to facebook, and ended choosing Mike Massino since he offers a lifetime warranty. He made me feel a lot better. He said I had rebuilt my antenna perfectly fine. The issue was the stainless steel cable. That cable type is only meant to be pulled on and not pushed. It just binds up and uncoils when it's pushed on with any force. Makes sense to me! Mike makes his own cables that are designed to work in both directions. I would highly recommend going through him for your power antenna rebuilds and not buying the steel cables. His turnaround time is quick too! Given that the cables are $75, and Mike's service with warranty is $125, this is just a no brainer.

 

[Jon Early]

The only gripe I have is that I think the cable is shorter than stock. The original cable has been out of the car so long that I can't remember for sure, but this didn't look quite right to me. I'm not sure why the mast isn't coming out of the center of the hole either, but I'll get over it since it extends and retracts just fine.

The good news is that the antenna does still extend past the roofline which is all you need in theory to get a good reception. I'm hardly even worried about it. I just wanted it to work again which it does.

You may also notice that the fender fits again! A couple careful tweaks and bends of the tabs which hold it to the fender liner made all the difference. I'm not sure how it got screwed up to begin with, but it looks much better now. This certainly doesn't make power antenna replacement anything less than punishing though!

I'm so glad I finally have this behind me. I hope that I can install the poly body bushings and new exhaust before nats, and that the KR I'm seeing is related to those parts. I'm not holding my breath though. Nothing on this car is that easy.

 

[dynoman]

Jon , since you like to build things this might help with your mouse problem . I made one myself and they work .
pestkill .

How to Build the Best 5-Gallon Bucket Mouse Trap [*2023 Edition*]

Are you anxious for your resident mice to finally "kick the bucket?" Perhaps, you should consider using a bucket mouse trap to make that happen. They're easy to make, and the online mousing community gives them rave reviews!

pestkill.org

 

[Jon Early]

Jon , since you like to build things this might help with your mouse problem . I made one myself and they work .
pestkill.org/mice/bucket-trap/

I was thinking about what you said at the Nats about these antennas every time I ran into an issue with mine.

I do love building stuff! I was planning to make something similar until I found these 5 gallon bucket traps on ebay. Hopefully they'll catch the ones who go unfazed by the moth balls.

 

[LANDAU LIMITED]

The best way to get rid of mice is poison blocks. Trapping them you'll just be chasing your tail.

 

[mblum]

I can vouch for the bucket traps Sam mentioned, they work great.

Years back I had to store 2 cars in a non heated garage and mice were a problem. I tried sticky traps, dryer sheet, granular laundry soap, traditional traps and only had mild success.

I put together two bucket traps with some used anit-freeze in the bucket and killed 14 the first few days. After that I would get 1-2 a week through out winter. Zero mice in my vehicles.

The anti-freeze allow it to work all winter but no pets were able to get into this garage, the anti-freeze may not be a good idea if your pets have access to it.

 

[dynoman]

I do love building stuff! I was planning to make something similar until I found these 5 gallon bucket traps on ebay. Hopefully they'll catch the ones who go unfazed by the moth balls.

The first one I built , then I found that exact same one you found on Ebay and it works great !! When I put it out in the unheated pole barn I used RV antifreeze .

 

[Jon Early]

The best way to get rid of mice is poison blocks. Trapping them you'll just be chasing your tail.

I put some poison pellets out. So far they have been nibbling on it outside but none that I can tell inside the garage.

 

[LANDAU LIMITED]

The reason for the poison is to kill the offspring not just the adults. All mice do is eat, shit and make little mice. The mother will stock up food for her offspring, even if she dies they'll have food to survive...and the cycle goes on. I tried trapping and I just couldn't keep up. On a tip from a exterminator he said use the blocks within 2 weeks I could tell they were dying off. You can try both trapping and blocking but just blocking worked good enough for me.

 

[Jon Early]

I have not seen any more poop on the cars so far. However, I threw the bucket trap out before bed and had two dead mice floating in antifreeze before I went to work. lol Let's hope this trend continues.

 

[granitestategn]

I have to do my power antenna and your write-up makes me think I can put it off for another decade or two. I have the original GM replacement part for the cable that I bought..... decades ago. Mine is at full staff and I'm amazed I haven't broken the mast or bent it badly over the years. With all the fuses installed mine runs continuously. As far as mice, I second the Tomcat poison blocks. I buy them by the bucket. My garage has a bunch of them spread all over the place. I put them in my portable shed where my garden tractor is stored. Kills them there too. Maybe I'll do a bucket trap in the basement. We have a couple of pets that could get access to them in the house. I've been using snap traps and I catch mice pretty regularly.