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bthompson
Jedi Warrior
Offline
For years, I've done my oil changes and tuneups around the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. No hocus-pocus as to why; just makes it easier for me to remember to do it. (Kinda like changing the smoke detector batteries at daylight saving time.) The weather's usually nice too. Well, today was Nigel's day. :laugh:
Since he's been my commuter car for the better part of the year, without a whole lot of time for fiddling and tweaking, I gave him a real once-over today. All the valves were still right at .010, so no valve-stretching or nut-loosening in six months. (whew!) All the cylinders read 115-120 psi, and all my Bosch Pl+ plugs were light fluffy grey. (Well, #4 had a little grey scale and electrode wear, but not bad at all.) I replaced the plugs, cap, rotor, and wires, (Pertronix--no points!), and the fuel filter, and drove down to Advance to pick up oil and grease. Woohoo! I didn't realize how much spark I was losing. Engine is noticably smoother and quicker now.
Thus encouraged, I grease-gunned all the zerks. (even the u-joint!) Some of those rubber bushings in the front suspension are looking mighty crusty...Probably should do something about that some day. Bled the brakes and adjusted the rears, which had been sorely needed for quite a while now. Good news, right rear drums are dry as the desert. Bad news, left rears are soaking in diff oil. Again.
Grr...I had already had the axle out and replaced the gasket once. Guess I have to think about that at some point too.
Trans oil hadn't leaked a drop, nor had the engine. Diff oil was way low, though. :shocked: Haveta keep an eye on that...
One tire has a slow leak...will lose a few pounds a day. Haven't tracked down where from, though. I'd rather have a spike through the sidewall...at least then I'd know where it's coming from.
All that to say, this is solid evidence that a thirty-five-year-old LBC makes a pretty good daily driver. Far from being cantankerous and unreliable; with no extraneous attention, he started every day, got me where I was going, and got me home, and didn't strand me once. :thumbsup:
Since he's been my commuter car for the better part of the year, without a whole lot of time for fiddling and tweaking, I gave him a real once-over today. All the valves were still right at .010, so no valve-stretching or nut-loosening in six months. (whew!) All the cylinders read 115-120 psi, and all my Bosch Pl+ plugs were light fluffy grey. (Well, #4 had a little grey scale and electrode wear, but not bad at all.) I replaced the plugs, cap, rotor, and wires, (Pertronix--no points!), and the fuel filter, and drove down to Advance to pick up oil and grease. Woohoo! I didn't realize how much spark I was losing. Engine is noticably smoother and quicker now.
Thus encouraged, I grease-gunned all the zerks. (even the u-joint!) Some of those rubber bushings in the front suspension are looking mighty crusty...Probably should do something about that some day. Bled the brakes and adjusted the rears, which had been sorely needed for quite a while now. Good news, right rear drums are dry as the desert. Bad news, left rears are soaking in diff oil. Again.
Grr...I had already had the axle out and replaced the gasket once. Guess I have to think about that at some point too. Trans oil hadn't leaked a drop, nor had the engine. Diff oil was way low, though. :shocked: Haveta keep an eye on that...
One tire has a slow leak...will lose a few pounds a day. Haven't tracked down where from, though. I'd rather have a spike through the sidewall...at least then I'd know where it's coming from.
All that to say, this is solid evidence that a thirty-five-year-old LBC makes a pretty good daily driver. Far from being cantankerous and unreliable; with no extraneous attention, he started every day, got me where I was going, and got me home, and didn't strand me once. :thumbsup:
