[Mr Twister]

Started my 74 for the first time in months. Fired right up!

[455Grandville]

Took off today and tomorrow:
Went out to my garage early, hooked up the battery and fired up my ‘79 455 Trans Am.
Took it out early on the backroads, nobody out and went to wash it & gas it up.
Me and my wife are going out for breakfast in it, we’re going to relive our youth.

[carcrazy]

Installed the new package tray and trunk divider in my 67 GTO.

[Verdoro 68]

Got new BFGs mounted on the honeycombs for the Ventura. I specifically looked for a shop that had a lug-centric adapter for their balancer. I found a shop that was highly rated and when I dropped them off I specified that these wheels could not be done via the hub and must use the lug adapter. The manager assured me it wouldn't be a problem. So, what did they do? Used the cone adapter and cranked it way down to damage my restored honeycombs.

Once you screwed up one wheel, wouldn't you think you'd stop? Nope, they did all four this way. The damage is repairable, but I was and still am furious. To top it off, one of the mounted wheels has something rolling around inside (!!) so I have to go back to the shop this morning and yell at them some more. Crazy incompetence for such a basic task.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Got new BFGs mounted on the honeycombs for the Ventura. I specifically looked for a shop that had a lug-centric adapter for their balancer. I found a shop that was highly rated and when I dropped them off I specified that these wheels could not be done via the hub and must use the lug adapter. The manager assured me it wouldn't be a problem. So, what did they do? Used the cone adapter and cranked it way down to damage my restored honeycombs.

Once you screwed up one wheel, wouldn't you think you'd stop? Nope, they did all four this way. The damage is repairable, but I was and still am furious. To top it off, one of the mounted wheels has something rolling around inside (!!) so I have to go back to the shop this morning and yell at them some more. Crazy incompetence for such a basic task.

That sucks! I just had some tires balanced. I asked no less than six times if they had coated weights and would they be sure to use them ... They didn't use coated weights. 🙄

[OG68]

For those in the San Diego area, JBA does Lug-Centric balancing. They mounted and balanced the tires I bought at Diamond Tire with whom they're familiar with. They even suggested alternative weights to avoid messing up my rims.

https://jbaspeedshop.com/p-31183-tir...-diego-ca.html

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

Just wishing for some halfway decent weather here in South Florida.

[Verdoro 68]

I’m tempted to buy and donate an adapter for the high school auto shop so we can use that machine.

Went back this morning and got a different advisor. He heard about what happened and was apologetic. They’re making me file a damage claim which is annoying. I’d rather them just refund my money. He personally took care of the tire with the thing rolling around in it. It was a thick washer for a valve stem! He said he didn’t want to disparage his guys but this was embarrassing. You can bet corporate will be hearing from me.

I think I can get these things repaired fairly easily today with some sanding, two part epoxy and a new coat of honeycomb paint, but it’s still time consuming.

[b-man]

Have the wheels repaired by a professional wheel refinishing shop.

Or get an estimate from one and do the repairs yourself if you can’t trust them to do the job to your standards.

Present therm with the estimate or invoice paperwork.

Get paid.

Being apologetic doesn’t make you whole again.

[Verdoro 68]

Agreed, but that attitude was an improvement compared to the apathy yesterday. They set a low bar.

[post toastie]

I took my 70 out for it's monthly run today.

[Cosmic Charlie]

I lubricated my 66 convertible top hinges ... I just spray light oil on them with a rag protecting the top & interior from overspray - I do the hinges like 4 times in different positions of up/down.
This top frame is decent & smooth operating, my 69 Olds was real bad until I lubed it like 3 times in one summer +- and now it's smooth as well.

[PontiacHO]

Didn’t really do anything but took a nice Saturday drive. Lonesome rural road and now there’s evidence of another burnout. Should I be ashamed to admit that at 67 years old? Once that 2.56 rear gets the tires loose it will keep on going. Don’t tell my wife.

[provocating]

Originally Posted by nUcLeArEnVoY

Just wishing for some halfway decent weather here in South Florida.

It is pretty bad in the south right now. Sad, the weather was actually okay a week or two ago. The temp is not that bad, it is the uv index and humidity making it feel worse.

[Rachelsdad]

Ken: That is really, really unacceptable (as if there was any doubt). I find that kind of gross incompetence less and less tolerable as I get older. I hope that you are able to get a good estimate without a lot of hassle, that you can either trust that shop to do the repairs or do them yourself (with minimum hassle), and that the place that screwed them up pays out to you without question to make you whole (of course, there's likely no truly making you whole on this, considering the time and aggravation).

And speaking of aggravation...

As broadband was down - all day - at our Leesburg, VA office, resulting in my VPN from Long Island, NY being down (and me not being able to work while facing an extended tax deadline on Monday), I decided to pull the Bonneville out to see about changing the light bulb in the radio which decided after several decades of service to retire itself from service. It has been a day or two since I had to fiddle with that lamp, and after removing the glove box and reaching for it, I was reminded that I really can't pry the socket loose from the top of the radio without removing the radio from the dash. <sigh> So, I did what any self-respecting, lazy *ss would do and put the glove box back, adding the radio bulb to the after-season list of things to be done in the dashboard (pull the gauges for refacing, having the clock serviced, replace the fuel gauge with the Safeguard low-fuel indicator one, and fixing the dang map light).

(Put like that, I guess pulling the radio for a light bulb isn't so bad, after all.)

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by post toastie

I took my 70 out for it's monthly run today.

She needs more exercise than that!

Still waiting for the Portuguese Customs to exdigitate. Now they want a statement from PT Social Security showing I owe no public debts. Given I don't even have a PT SS account that is kinda hard...

The old Washington collector tag was invalid so I mounted a plate from my native California on it. My folks had it on a Cordoba before we moved to Washington.

I ran about the patch before sunrise to make sure the plate still worked - it functioned as designed.

[srmmmm]

Took the Bird to a family event last evening for the longest highway cruise since the transmission was replaced. Was pleased to see the new radiator and water pump kept the engine at the 180 thermostat level at 3000rpm, running the A/C in 93 degree ambient. Temp only went up to about 200 coming in off the highway. Road manners are good and it's nice having a properly running tach. Can't complain about 18mpg either. Next challenges are the power steering pump (sounds like a coffee grinder and blows fluid out the cap everywhere), HVAC flappers that still don't change positions, and a Q-Jet that can't seem to maintain a tune on the idle circuit.

Went out with it again this morning and rolled 2000 miles on the odometer since the restoration. Can't figure out why it idles fine when cold, idles extremely rich when warm, and idles 400rpm higher (but smoothly) coming in off the highway. I'm suspecting a cracked intake manifold though.

[Verdoro 68]

My impatience got the best of me. We're expecting the seats back from upholstery this week, and my son is anxious to get it back out on the road. Rather than go through the rigmarole of getting an estimate to fix the wheels, I fixed them myself.

The damage looked worse than it was, but still took most of the weekend to fix. Three of the four just needed some sanding and touch up. The fourth was a little more intensive and needed some epoxy repair, so I ended up refinishing the whole wheel. Don't tell anyone, but it actually came out better than the first time. Got the wheels mounted on the car today and they look pretty good. I know the tire shop is getting off easy, but I'm still going to make a few calls tomorrow.

[PAUL K]

Looks great!

[Shiny]

Nice!