Happy New Year 2024!

image source: dreamstime.com

Thoughts as the old year of my automotive hobby winds to a close. 

Next April I will celebrate the tenth year of producing my blog. That is a considerable milestone. I have kept at it seriously, posting a new entry every week. My stable of old cars has provided me with a good source of content. I know that there are some people out there that read my blog, but there have been times when page views rocket it to a couple of hundred a day! I don't know if the site has been discovered by bots or what. A couple of months back page views were the highest ever. I wonder if an AI program was searching for language data, draining my posts of phrases, looking for speech patterns, colloquialisms or what. 

I find it hard to believe that so many visitors only read it for a month. Maybe they didn't find it that engaging.

I enjoy producing this blog, it is one of the best parts of my automotive hobby. It doesn't take up any room in my garage or driveway, doesn't leak any oil, and I never get my hands greasy! It's also a bit like jogging, it's regular exercise for my writing skills. Just as you'd have to train steadily to run a marathon, I think that you have to write steadily if you want to write a book someday. Or at least a few short stories. 

The state of my hobby is good.

I have four hobby cars and they all run. I'm glad to report that I don't have any non running projects taking up space. Except for the lit CEL in my '96 Mustang. everything else is doing fine. Not that I have the opportunity to drive all the cars. They often sit for a month or more as I don't drive all that much. It would make more sense to have fewer cars which I would drive more, but it's the selling that's the hard part. 

I had told my Wife that when I turned 70, I'd give most of my tools to my Son. One of the reasons for having a newer, lower mileage fleet was to hopefully cut down on the need to wrench.  However, I still need to do some fixing, and I do use my collection of tools. I don't think that I'm ready to give them up next year, it just seems to be too soon, but the idea of a mostly wrench free existence gets more and more appealing. 70 will be here next year! It's hard for me to believe that I'm that old, I still feel good enough most of the time. Besides my Son currently only has a one car garage, and doesn't have anywhere to put my tools ... yet. I'm operating on the assumption that he'll even want them! 

As always, I've devised an escape plan if things don't work out with my Riviera. The Riviera has proven to me that I prefer a quieter, smoother, more comfortable vehicle to a raspier sporty car. I still like a car with a nice interior, my Navigator reminds me quite a bit of my Jaguar XJ6. Leather and wood with nice colors. I'm thinking that a compact CUV like a Lincoln MKC might fill the bill. Either that or a Cadillac XTS or maybe a CTS. 

Today I pointed out a late model Lincoln Continental to my Wife as it stopped next to us at a traffic light. Her reaction was quite positive. That may be another direction. An MKZ might even fill the bill.

One of the reasons for buying the Riv was so that I could become active in the ROA. I should reach out to the former regional coordinator and see if he can hook me up with an email list of local guys that would be interested in getting together. Anyway, it's not going to happen before the end of the year.

Sometimes I'm feeling kind of bored with the whole car thing. I just need to pick out a few events, like swap meets, cars and coffees, or shows and just go. I went to a Datsun swap meet in Manteca as a vendor this year. I sold everything cheap, especially to buyers that were interested in buying a large quantity of parts. My goal was to get rid of the inventory that I've been sitting on for years. I was pretty successful and even made a couple of bucks. 

Just go... that's good advice, no need to sit around and complain. I'm lucky that I'm able to get out. I've got the cars, the money for gas, and the time. Not to mention the health, can't take that for granted.

I've still got a list of projects that I haven't finished around the house. I had planned to get them done within a few years after my retirement. I find it's best if I have the supplies on hand, then I can work at my own pace. I told my Wife that now that I'm retired, she would never get another eight hour shift out of me! Painting the exterior of the house is a big job that I put off last year. I'd like to get that done, it will be the last time that I ever do that.

All in all I feel that I've been very fortunate this year. The world is going through a very rough time. Being thankful for what we have is a good way to close out the old year, as well to begin the new.

Thanks to everyone that takes ten minutes a week to follow my blog, I hope that you are entertained. 

Happy New Year to all!

 Glue-O-Rama! 

Take your choice!

If you're talking about plastic, the subject of glue can't be too far away. You know that those plastic bits are eventually going to break!

So many types of plastics, so many adhesives that just won't stick. The hope is to find something that will.

There are the old standbys:

Super Glue from a whole different bunch of manufacturers.

JB Weld.

E6000 (or any clear silicone )

There are quite a few two part epoxies, glues, and fillers. They are strong, but will they stick to the base material?

There are spray adhesives for fabrics and vinyls.

Oftentimes a splint can be made to help hold the two broken parts together, I like to use aluminum flashing, it can be easily cut and formed, with basic hand tools. Then it can be attached by small screws or pop rivets. 

I'm not a big believer in duct tape, but there are times when it can be suitable to the job. 

3M double sided tape can be a quick and effective fix. 

There are special plastic bumper adhesives.

All of these repairs call for a lot of ingenuity. It helps to have several of these adhesives on hand. Usually you've disassembled something, find broken mounting tabs or pegs, and you need to fix it right away so that you can reassemble the components. 

A typical piece of plastic,

I decided to do a test of some of the commonly used adhesives to see if they would work on an automotive plastic panel. I chose the damaged front license plate mount that I replaced on my Navigator. This is a tough plastic part, somewhat flexible but quite strong. I think that it is made of PVC and it seems typical of plastic parts found  in the cars interior. 

The waiting test subjects.

I used a hacksaw to cut several bits of plastic from the edge of the piece. The test will be to see which adhesive will hold it to the parent piece. 

There are four candidates. 

I had this sitting around.

#1 is a glue used to join PVC lawn irrigation pipes. It's a two part process, first a primer is applied. After that dries, the glue is applied to both parts. I thought that the pipe material would be similar to the plate mount.

The best super glue that I've found.

#2 is Loctite Super Glue. I have found this to be one of the best of this type. It also comes in an easy to  control  squeeze bottle. My first impression was that this probably wouldn't stick very well.

 

#3 is JB Quick Weld. JB Weld is a known quantity and is quite versatile for repairs. Usually to rigid surfaces.

This one surprised me.

#4 is E 6000. This is a flexible silicon caulk-like adhesive used by many crafters. Both my Wife and Daughter use it when making jewelry and other assemblages. 

May the best glue win!

Surface prep consisted of wiping down all surfaces with rubbing alcohol. I did not roughen up the surface to provide a better bite. This might have affected one of the adhesives more than the others. (Looking back, roughing up the surface should have been a part of the prep for any adhesive.) 

The PVC pipe glue had been sitting in my garage cabinet for a very long time, possibly twenty years! The primer seemed fine, the glue was a bit gelatinous and might have been past it's prime. It was still very aromatic. The primer seemed to melt the surface of the plastic a bit. After I applied the glue, it didn't seem to set up at all.

The Super Glue was easy to apply, I may have applied a bit too much and it took longer to set than I expected. 

I mixed up the JB Weld right on the test surface, I also probably applied too much material as it took longer to set. 

Finally I applied the E6000. I didn't have a very high expectation for it's success. The application area was pretty big so I thought that it would probably hold, but maybe not as strong as I would like. 

The Super Glue set up the quickest. It felt quite secure. The PVC pipe glue didn't set up or hold at all. The JB Weld began to set after about ten minutes, the E 6000 after about 20 minutes. I decided to let the JB Weld set for another half hour. The bond seemed pretty strong.

I tested the bond by twisting the glued piece back and forth. I didn't go crazy, as this wasn't a destruction test.

The E6000 stated that it would need 24 hours to cure fully. I left all of the samples sit over night.

The Super Glue was very impressive. I've had experiences where Super Glue won't even dry on certain plastics. It felt as tight as it had felt the night before.

The J B Weld stuck to the test piece pretty well.

The JB Weld seemed pretty tight, but as I twisted it harder it broke loose. It might have held better if the surfaces had been roughed up before application. However it did stick to the little piece as it broke free. The E6000 really surprised me, it seemed to be holding as well as the Super Glue. It finally broke free after more vigorous twisting.

It appears that Super Glue could bond broken edges, this wouldn't be a very big surface area and it might fail under stress. The joint could be built up by sprinkling baking soda on the joined area. That could be repeated until the desired thickness was achieved. It seems that JB Weld might be used in the same way to reinforce the broken edges. JB Weld is a liquid epoxy that is very hard and strong when it dries. 

I don't know if the E6000 would be as effective in joining two broken edges, however if the break could be backed up by some type of material, say, fiberglass cloth, it might form a strong flexible repair. My test was joining a flat piece of plastic to another flat surface, this provided a very large area for adhesion. 

If fiberglass cloth was used as a backing material, POR 15 paint might also be an effective adhesive. Especially as the cloth could be saturated with the POR 15, and that stuff sticks to everything! The entire repair would be tough and flexible. This could be a real plus when repairing a somewhat flexible panel. This is the type of repair that is recommended by the manufacturers of POR 15. Weathered plastic panels, or old hard board panels can be given several coats of the paint. It will form a tough plastic skin. Voids in rusted metal are bridged by the saturated fiberglass cloth. Several successive coats increase the strength. 

I've used the POR paint and the epoxy for repairs. That stuff is very tough.

I'm going to do further experimenting with POR 15 in a future post; Glue- A- Rama Part Two.

 Plastics. 

"Remember one word. Plastics."

It was the wave of the future recommended enthusiastically to Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate."

I remember back when household items were touted for their construction of "high impact plastic!"

Back then we lived in a dent filled world. Items like waste baskets, buckets, small appliances, and especially garbage cans would get banged around and end up with numerous dents. That would make them look pretty beat up. I was reminded of this when I was emptying the waste baskets in my Wife's studio. They are wire mesh units that were purchased at IKEA. I've accidentally put a dent in the sides, then I pounded them out by hitting them on the inside to straighten them out. Plastic items resist being dented, until a really serious impact causes them to crack!

Plastic also has another benefit, especially for outdoor household items, it doesn't rust. One piece resin patio chairs have been popular for decades. They do have their advantages. Folding aluminum  chairs with steel hardware would have the hardware get rusty, sometimes leaving unsightly rusty streaks. The major problem with resin and other plastics is it's susceptibility to UV damage. Exposure to UV light weakens the plastic, but sometimes you are not aware of this until the item suddenly fails. Lots of people, myself included, have experienced a collapsing patio chair. 

Metal items can be repaired easily, dents can be straightened, cracks can be welded, or broken areas can be bridged with mending plates. Replacement parts can be cobbled together by the home repair person, restoring a broken item back to a usable state. Plastic is a different matter, sometimes it can be repaired through mechanical means like mending plates, and reinforcing brackets. Although the most common repair is by using adhesives. 

So plastic has it's place and it's usefulness.

But it's the bane of the old car guy.

At one time, the trim pieces on cars were made from steel, cast zinc, glass, stainless steel, and minimally... plastic. Now almost every panel inside is made from some combination of plastics.

Is there anything worse than 25 year old plastic?  How about 15, 10, or even 5 years old? 

It was bad even when the car was new, and parts broke during warranty related dealership servicing. They even broke frequently during the cars assembly process! But they had the option of grabbing a new OEM part out of a bin.

I was there in '77-'81, screwing together Chevy Monte Carlos in Fremont. I thought that there was an awful lot of plastic in the dashboards, door panels, even the header and tail lamp panels. It didn't look like it would last a long time, but I wasn't  thinking about them making it past the New Millennium. It just had to last long enough for me to finish my installation. Miraculously, the lifespan of these parts has exceeded my meager expectations. 

Realistically, a manufacturer has to build an item to last through the warranty period and to provide it's purchaser with a reasonable period of reliable use. I'm sure that automobile manufacturers didn't conceive that examples of their products would become collectors items and be kept in use for 25, 35, or even 55 plus years. 

But they have.

One of the most worrisome events is the initial disassembly of a section of an old car's interior to gain access for diagnosis or repair. Removing dash or door panels is fraught with the potential for damage.

It can be almost impossible to do this without causing even more damage. It's like doing CPR on a 90 year old person. The intent is to save their life, but how many ribs are likely to be broken in the process?

Sometimes you can find how to videos that can give you a good heads up on how to proceed. Other times you have already gone to the wrecking yard and disassembled parts of a donor car to get the parts you needed. But you may have broken some mounting tabs or pins in the process. But now at least you know how the panels were attached and fit together.

There are various types of plastic used in the construction of a car's interior and bodywork. 

Polypropylene is one of the most widely used materials in construction of a car's interior. It is also used for bumpers, carpet and other floor coverings. 

Polyvinyl chloride,  PVC, is commonly used in dash board and body parts.

Polycarbonate is highly impact resistant, and used in bumpers and headlight lenses.

Acrylonitrile Butadiene  Styrene, ABS, is used in steering wheel covers and dashboards. It is well suited to heavy duty applications like body parts.

Polyethylene is used in glass fiber reinforced car bodies as well as electrical insulation.

Nylon 6/6 can be fabricated through molding or extrusion techniques and is often used in weatherproof coatings.

I wish that I could tell you exactly where these plastics are used in your particular car. Just being able to properly pronounce the names of these types of plastics will lend you an air of authority! But I'm no chemist, my only interest and concern is how to repair broken items made from these materials. 

The important question is: Can I find a commonly available adhesive that can bond the broken part? 

How do you repair the damage, and reattach the part in a workmanlike manner?

How can you fix broken plastic pieces like mounting tabs or molded posts? 

Adhesives are a first attempt. Usually superglue or JB Weld. But the glue has to stick to the original plastic. This is the biggest issue because the somewhat flexible PVC plastics will often not bond with super glues. Sometimes good old plastic model cement will do the job. 

Epoxies like POR 15 are another route, but again will they stick? 

Silicon calks and sealers can sometimes work. Especially if there is a large area for adhesion.

Plastic welding works for some plastic panels.

A hot glue gun? 

It's easy to test the efficacy of the glue on the back of a panel, if after drying, it can't be easily scraped off, then it might be a good candidate. 

It also depends on the job that you are asking the glue to do. Is it holding something like a badge, lens or small panel in place, not much strength is called for. Or is it to repair a broken part like a cover panel or lens?.

Is it going to be used to fix a broken mounting bracket, locating pin, or other piece that completely snapped off during disassembly?

How much surface area is there for adhesion at the break?  A wide jagged shoulder or a narrow knife edge? 

Sometimes the fracture can be splinted with a supporting piece, using another layer of plastic, or what I've favored, something made from aluminum flashing. The flashing is easy to cut and shape. In many spots I used a combination of small screws or pop rivets and an epoxy glue. If there is enough room to accommodate the splint it works fine. 

The repair pictured above was one of my more ambitious splinting projects. The curved section is attached to part of the steel tube framework. Then the metal was bent to a ninety degree angle and screwed into the plastic leg. The front leg of my Wife's rolling cart was broken when it was dropped off a stair step. The part was cracked, but still attached by a section of intact plastic. My splint holds the leg in place as well as bracing it from moving back and forth. There was no way that glue applied to the edges would be strong enough to hold. Since the repair is underneath and out of view, aesthetics aren't a primary concern.

I formed this splint by hammering on a piece of aluminum sheet clamped in a vise, after it was roughly cut to size. Sometimes a simple mending plate can be used to bridge the broken area. 

If the broken part is part of a plastic door card you have to be careful that any screws or rivets aren't visible through the upholstery, or protrude through to the other side. 

I'm not a great fan of duct tape, but it is quite sticky and it can cover a large surface area for maximum adhesion. 

The biggest challenge is if the plastic part needs to have some strength, for example the door pull cup or strap, molded into the door panel. In my Rivieras case, the middle of the door panel is held on by three curved plastic prongs that hook into the doors steel panel. The door pull strap has screws that are attached to metal, but the middle of the panel can get floppy if the hooks break off of the door card. 

At one time, up to the 1950's and '60's, door panels were held on by a combination of hidden clips and visible external screws. Now visible exterior screws are avoided. Although it will be visible, and look like an amateur repair, sometimes a screw drilled through a panel into the metal underneath is the best option. It is certainly the easiest option! 

The end result of this discussion of plastics used in automotive construction boils down to one reality: I've got some broken parts that I need to fix.

 Progress is measured in small steps.

My mascot approves of my efforts.

More little fixes to the Riviera. 

I don't know what those stains are from. I do know that the former owners
 transported their Grand kids in the backseat.

Some fixes are easy and don't require any parts, just gluing down a loose area of head liner. It's best to glue loose spots as soon as possible. Loose headliners in cars of this age are pretty common. Best to try and halt the process as best you can. I used some fabric spray adhesive for this job. Kids, and some adults,  like to pick at loose trim.

These lifts are reasonably priced at RockAuto.

Others are simple parts replacements. The trunk lid struts have lost their strength and needed replacement. The trunk lid would stay up in some situations. Other times it would fall on my head. There was the mandatory long stick in the trunk that served as a prop rod in the trunk when I bought the car. 

A section of broomstick was commonly used 
in the past.

All you have to do is pry off this spring retainer.

It works, but don't expect miracles.

There is matte dark gray textured trim on the bottoms of the bumpers and along the rocker panels of the car. This plastic is not painted and it will start to look dirty and oxidized over time. Mother's Back to Black is more aggressive than car wash soap, but won't damage the adjoining paint.  

These are the after photos. It's hard to tell, but the trim is much darker and richer looking than when I started. As you can see, the quarter panel really curves under behind the rear wheel. This does accentuate the width of the tire, giving the car a more aggressive appearance, but a lot of road dirt and debris gets thrown up onto the body. I plan to add a small flare/mudflap to cut down on the dirt.

Fixing the radio and HVAC control panel meant removing the dash board fascia. I found a very good video on YouTube that details the process. I wonder why GM didn't make a removable center section to access the radio and HVAC control units. It would have saved a lot of time and reduced the possibility of damaging all the plastic attaching hardware. 

Under neath the taupe plastic fascia is a black bunch of components.

Stereo AM/FM radio, cassette tape player, and a single disc CD. 
New cars only come with a radio and a Bluetooth hook up. 

If the dash had a removable section, removal of the radio unit would only take a few minutes. There are a lot questions that Riviera fans have had about the decisions that Buick made when designing the interior. It appears that cost cutting was the primary factor behind these decisions. I had a '94 Cadillac Seville which had a beautiful, high quality interior. Of course the Seville cost quite a bit more, but I wish that GM had spent another hundred bucks on the interior. I liked it less when the car was introduced, I've recently come to accept it as part of the car's personality.

I'm waiting until I have the a/c system checked and repaired before reassembling the dash. I don't want to have to take it apart again. I'm still having some issues with the heater functions. 

The fuel level sender is not accurate or reliable, I ran the car completely out of gas once and the car conked out. Luckily it was on a level surface street and there was a place to pull over out of traffic. It was my good luck to run out directly across from a gas station. I did have to buy a gas can but the episode only cost me twenty minutes or so. I have AAA road assistance but that can take up to an hour.

 Replacing the sending unit will be a bit more complicated repair, however I ordered a special tool at the same time I ordered the combo sending unit/fuel pump from Rock Auto. I can't say that I will enjoy working on a tank that still  contains some fuel in it,  At least the Riviera has an access panel in the trunk so that I won't have to drop the gas tank. 

I've been driving the Riviera as much as I can, even in the rain. I learned that when it's raining fairly heavy and the wipers are in use, it's best not to open the driver's window. A cascade of water pours in! There aren't any drip rails on this Riv, and newer cars don't have them either. I used to wonder what those aftermarket plastic window guards were for. Now I know.

 Still another trip to the wrecking yard!

This is the blower motor resistor module.

This time I was looking for a fan blower motor resistor module. This is the device that allows for the variable fan speeds. It consists of a series of resistors and a heat sink. It gets pretty hot when it's on. It's located inside the ventilation duct where it will be cooled as air from the blower flows over it. I forgot that this was an essential component. I've checked the blower motor for proper function with direct electrical current, it spun without any problems. But it still wasn't working under the control of the HVAC panel. I had reached out to the ROA's technical director for the eighth Gen Riviera and he reminded me that the resistor module was something to check. He also reminded me that the A/C compressor will not engage if the level of "Freon" is low. There is a low pressure sensor that prevents the compressor from engaging. Yes, I know that the system doesn't actually use old fashioned freon, but I'm comfortable with that term.

I checked on RockAuto and this resistor pack retailed for almost 40.00. I figured a wrecking yard unit might work, and it was only 7.99. Certainly worth a chance.

I found that my passenger seat was stuck in a raised and tilted back position and didn't respond to the switch. I tried to jump the seat motors with direct current without success. 

 

I pulled the seat motors, wiring harness and control switch from the donor car. It was an involved process, The seat is designed to be removed and installed when it's in the most forward position, exposing the rear mounting bolts. How could I do this without electricity to power up the seat? I found that the seat itself is bolted to the tracks with four bolts. After I unbolted the seat, I had enough access to remove the seat motors and wiring leaving the seat tracks in place. I was lucky that the seats final resting position allowed this access. I don't think that Pick and Pull will allow you to hook up a battery to power up the seats.

Note the plastic hooks on the panel.
I'll have more to say about those in a future post.

The window motor is located behind the 
door lever.

This is the motor that was mistakenly sent to me.

The first thing that I wanted to fix was the passenger window as it was very hot in the car, with limited ventilation. I carefully removed the door panel to gain access to the mechanical bits. I could see that the regulator looked okay. I unbolted the motor and checked the operation of the window. I found that I could easily pull the window up and down by hand. It moved smoothly and without any binding. I had a window motor that was previously sent to me by mistake, I had checked it for function and it was working fine. So I bolted that in. Now the window was moving as it should. I lubed all the linkage points that I could reach. 

Replacing the passenger power seat motor was a more involved process, though I was able to move the seat completely forward. The mounting bolts were rusty and the torx bolt heads had been previously damaged. I was able to hammer in a larger size bit that allowed me to loosen them. I completely removed the seat from the car and flipped it over to gain access to the tracks. I removed and replaced the tilting motor and attached the replacement harness and switch.  Then anxiously reinstalled the seat. I was quite relieved to find the seat motors responding to the new switch.

I had to remove the right front wheel to install the inner fender liner. I jacked it up enough to pull the wheel. The liner is a very large piece of surprisingly thin plastic that takes a lot of push in fasteners. I found that the stainless steel wheel opening trim that I got at the wrecking yard was sprung quite a bit. I straightened it out as best as I could, but it wouldn't rest close enough to the wheel opening. The mounting clips are unusual in that they don't securely grip the inner part of the trim. It looks as though the tension of the curved trim, when in place, exerts outward tension that helps secure it. It's kind of like an internal expanding snap ring.

Since my replacement trim is mangled and twisted a bit, it can't exert the proper tension, I tried mocking it up in place by clamping it with spring clamps, but it doesn't want to work with the trim clips. I have a couple of ideas, how to remedy this, but they're not something the Concours crowd would agree with.

The left side trim is still in place, though it was slightly creased by scraping against something in the past. The trim would spring out if I manipulated it. I don't want it popping off. So I decided to glue it in place with clear silicon caulking. 

You can see daylight in the trim gap.

This caulk will dry clear.

I taped it up securely.

Now it won't be going anywhere.

I flexed the trim away from the fender opening, then squeezed the caulk into the void. Then I flexed the trim as close as possible to the sheet metal, and taped it down until it dried overnight. In the morning I removed the tape and filled any voids that I found. That trim won't be coming loose any time soon. 

I have a couple of options for the right side.

My first option is to use a combination of double sided tape and clear caulk to attempt to glue it down, using the spring clamps to secure it while it dries. I might have to use a few small stainless screws to hold it in place. Using visible screws on trim is a big no no, it looks totally amateurish and crude. However, I have found a couple of spots where this was done on my car.  

I could substitute the right rear wheel trim up front, and use a cut piece of the "sprung" trim at the ends. This a better idea than it sounds, as it mounts to a plastic lip that slips inside the fender opening.

If I couldn't find any replacement trim I might have used some of that flexible, self adhesive, "chrome" trim instead. It might not be authentic, but it would be better than nothing. 

I plan on documenting this wheel trim procedure in a future post. I'll try to take plenty of pictures.

It's not my intention to butcher my car, or to bodge it up. But it also isn't my intention to freak myself out over every little failing. I'm going to handle repairs in the most reasonable, appropriate, and cost efficient manner that I see fit.

The Casa de Fruta was freshened up not too long ago.
It used to be the home of the "cup flipper."

I recently took the Riviera on a hundred mile drive through the country, out to the Casa de Fruta for breakfast. This restaurant is located on the Pacheco Pass Highway, SR 152. Before the highway was widened, it sat directly off the highway right of way.  This is kind of like a Route 66 type of establishment with shops and rides for the kids. It's also a big compound with a couple of smaller restaurants, a wine/gift  shop, produce stand, motel and RV park. It's worth a stop if you're passing through, and most importantly it serves up good food!

On the drive back home I stopped at a bookstore and heard an unfamiliar sound. It turned out that the fan motor was running! That was a pleasant surprise.