Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Looks great.

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

----Cant wait to see it in person, Jake!.....Bill S

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Looks great...and the Dykstra's make awesome chocolate chip cookies!! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Here we are at the MCACN show!

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...cacn_regal.jpg

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Awesome!!

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

We could say he had an &quot;uplifting&quot; time!

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: napa68</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We could say he had an &quot;uplifting&quot; time! </div></div>

HA! Yes

Jacob won the Triton 4 post lift.

Funny story.......when we were leaving the building Saturday night we ran into Bob Ashton and as we were finishing up our conversation he looked at Jacob and said make sure you register for the lift give away in the lobby (Thanks Bob!). As he was signing up for that I ran into Dave (A12pilot) and had a nice conversation. On Sunday afternoon Dan Vasic told us to swing by the Awards ceremony - which we did but ended up leaving after about 10 minutes as we did not enter the car for any judging and he had some homework he needed to complete back at the car. The guy with the car next to ours came back and said they did the drawing for the lift and picked Jacob's name! Lucky kid!

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

We had the car all cleaned up Friday morning and about 30 minutes before we were going to leave it started raining (I know......we should have left earlier but it didn't happen) We decided to wait it out and take our chances. We waited about 3 hours and decided to go and try and beat the traffic before dark knowing we'd probably get wet - made it to within 10 miles before the roads were wet - oh well

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...2-img_3536.jpg

Staging lanes - more rain

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...3-img_3537.jpg

Jacob won a Shining Star award

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...5-img_3551.jpg

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Car all cleaned up again - original Owner and current Owner. My brother had new Dykstra Motorsports shirts made for the event.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...0113_small.jpg

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

----BIG congrats to Jacob and the whole Dykstra family. What a weekend you all had. Bet that lift will come in handy! And,,,a special thanks to Jake seniors wonderful wife, Birdie, for keeping me well fed during the show. Best chocolate chip cookies anywhere, and terrific sandwiches......Bill S

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Thanks Bill. It was great seeing you. By the way, Jan's car looked gorgeous as usual!!



Regards,
Dave

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Good looking tires!!! Great to see this beautiful car! Lucky young man!

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

So - for those that did not know - Jacob won the Titan lift they were giving away to a youngster at the MCACN show this year (Thanks Bob Ashton for the heads up on our way out Saturday evening). Since we drove the car there we had no way to get the disassembled lift home with us. The ceilings in our garage are a bit too low to use the lift so on the ride home from the show Jacob decided that we should install it at Grandpa Jake's house. Grandpa Jake also happened to have a neighbor with a box truck large enough to fit the parts and pieces of the lift in - and by 11 AM Monday morning everything was back in Dad's garage waiting to be assembled. We arranged for the garage door tracks to be changed and a new operator installed to clear the lift and since we all had some time off for the holidays we met there last week and put it all together.

Dad had everything laid out when we got there - doing some strategizing on our game plan

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...8-dscn2651.jpg

A &quot;before&quot; picture

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...9-dscn2652.jpg

In about 45 minutes we were able to get the framework completed

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...0-dscn2653.jpg

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...1-dscn2659.jpg

Measuring to make sure the cables are all adjusted properly

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...2-dscn2663.jpg

The 409 will reside here most of the time - maybe we can park the Turbo Regal underneath next winter.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...3-dscn2677.jpg

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...4-img_1346.jpg

Done except the installation of the concrete anchors - we wanted to verify we had all the clearances we needed on all 4 sides before we anchored it down.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...5-dscn2679.jpg

It took about 4 hours for the 4 of use to assemble the lift - none of us had ever done one before.

Thank you Titan and MCACN!

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Way cool....congrats!

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

----Motley looking crew!!!......Bill S

Re: Passing the reins to our Grandson
 

Big cars sure do make a garage look small in a hurry!

Great job guys!

Updates
 

Over the winter we fixed a few items - first up was a small leak in the radiator at one of the seams. Local radiator shop was able to take care of the leak.

Next up was the turn signal stalk - a member here had an NOS one for sale that we bought and installed to replace the old one that the lettering had worn off one and was having some issues activating the wipers.

----All my long termers have the same problem. Learned to carefully cut a clear piece of tape to size and cover up the letters. It works!.......Bill S

2 weeks ago the weather was nice and warm here so we took everything out of the garage and to do some spring clean up. Roads were clean and dry so everything got started up and taken for a ride - great time to test the radiator repair (no leaks). In addition to a dead battery on my Chevelle we found out the power antennae puked on the Regal - when we pulled it in the garage at the end of the day the power antenna motor would not stop running and the antennae would not go all the way down. Disconnected the battery and did a quick google search to realize the plastic cable probably failed.

Dennis Kirban offers a rebuild service for your original unit rather than installing a generic replacement - so that's what we did. Highly recommend buying the removal instructions, saved a ton of time. Here are the pictures from the removal. Sent out the old one this morning, hoping to have back in a week or so.

While we had the fender on the passenger side loosened up to remove the antenna it was a good time to fix some cosmetic issues that have badgered us for a while. About 20 years ago Dad had new rust free doors installed (the rest of the car is remarkably rust free). When the shop painted them they got some overspray on the forward jamb pieces. A little light wire wheel and some mineral spirits made short work of the overspray. Since the passenger side now looked much better we decided to do the driver side as well. Now we are just waiting on the rebuilt antenna to return and hopefully we can enjoy this summer.

Always nice getting a bunch of those nagging small issues behind you. Looking good!

Came home to find the antennae delivered back on Saturday (less than one week turnaround time). Evidently the plastic case was cracked (must have broken in shipment) as they replaced that for no charge.

So our Easter project was to get it installed.

Was able to get everything back installed in short order.

https://youtu.be/F_k6a54D7KM

After we installed the antenna I buffed out the rear quarters and roof/trunk as they had some scratches in the original paint. Then power washed the engine and washed the whole car to get the compound off. After it was dry touched up all the paint chips and waxed it. Finished detailing the door jambs and washed the windows inside and out. Ready for the summer.

Looks killer!! Great job!!

The Turbo Regals used a Powermaster electric/hydraulic brake system that is prone to problems and unique issues. We had been having an issue with the brake light in the dash coming on briefly when the pedal was initially depressed. Not many shops are willing to work on these systems due to their uniqueness and lack of replacement parts.


After some diagnosis with the help of online forum information we determined it was likely the accumulator that was the issue. Dennis Kirban sells an accurate reproduction of the factory installed accumulator units. The one that was on the car was an over the counter replacement from back in the day.


Replacement is simple, just de-pressurize the system by depressing the brake pedal 10 times with the key off, and then simply unscrew the old one and screw on the new one. We also replaced the brake fluid as advised. *****EDIT 8/13 - test drove and brakes are way better, what a difference, son has been driving it 40 miles each way to work. *****


If you own one of these cars and have not heard of Dennis Kirban, you need to. This is the 3rd or 4th time we have purchased specialized parts from them. Very knowledgeable and reputable people with first class service.

How It All Began
 

Birdie and I were on our way to Mt. Emblem Cemetery to visit the family graves. Going east on Grand Ave. there is a Buick dealer on the north side of Grand Ave. We were traveling in our maroon '86 Monte Carlo SS. Birdie hollered out, "Look at that Regal!" There, on an elevated metal stand was this white, '87 turbo Regal! There were balloons attached to the "T" bar billowing in the wind. I turned around and went back to the dealer to take a look at this car that caught Birdie's eye. Looking over the car, I was immediately interested. A salesman came out and we started negotiations to buy the car, only to discover that someone was trying to lease it! Another salesman told us he had someone wanting to buy our '86 Monte Carlo SS! We left the dealer somewhat disappointed. About an hour after we arrived at home, the dealer called and told us the lease deal fell through, and we could buy the car. He made sure to tell us to bring the '86 Monte Carlo, because he had a buyer for it! We went back, and bought the car! The '86 Monte Carlo was sold before we got there. The Regal has been in our family ever since, now Jacob #10 is enjoying it!

Winter project time here as the snow has started to fall already.....The valve cover gaskets have needed replacement on the Regal for some time now. Tackled the passenger side last night as it was leaking the worst and I assume the most difficult side. I don't think Dad ever had the valve covers off this car in over 130k miles - silver cork gaskets still. Bit of a challenge to get everything disconnected and get the valve cover off with the A/C box so close but after about 90 minutes everything was complete. Amazingly clean inside given the age and miles - a testament to regular oil changes and Mobil 1. I'll tackle the other side soon and get a correct breather installed too.

Nice work. Have you ever sent oil sample to black stone ? I just did recently on one of mine and always appreciate the info..

No - Probably not a bad idea given the miles.....

This is a great thread and a very enjoyable read. Car looks fantastic especially with the Eagle GT tires and has a great caretaker for it. TR's have always been my kryptonite for over 30 years. Currently have two black Turbo T's in the stable. Original paint 49,000 mile Astroroof car with cornering lamps and the other was a project car for the old GM High Tech Performance Magazine. Your updates/repairs are what we're all are dealing with for years with these cars. A couple suggestions if I may:

Keep an eye on the "Press and Pray' Powermaster braking system. There are other problem areas with them- cheap stock appearing replacement vacuum systems available.
The factory nylon gear timing gear is prone to having teeth break off due to age miles.
Factory valve springs are very weak-many cheap replacements available.
Factory fuel pump is completely inadequate. Many inexpensive replacements available as well as a hot wire kit to ensure enough voltage for the pump.

Love seeing that the car has stayed in the family since new. Continue to enjoy it.

Spent a bit more time on the Regal yesterday. I should have looked through the box of stuff in the basement that came with the car years ago before I bought the new valve cover gaskets.........Dad had spares of about everything you would need. He'd be laughing at my decision to just go buy new vs. looking to see what we had. In addition he had a duplicate of the original breather setup (one from this car day two takeoff and one from a good friends car that was also a day two takeoff). I failed to notice the breather was originally plumbed to the turbo intake plenum. One of his day two mods was to cap the breather intake on the plenum and install an old school chrome breather in the valve cover. I put the original system back on.

I also found a stack of old GSX-tra magazines he saved - this was one of the go-to sources for go fast information on these cars back on the day.

I remember those magazines!!

One of the original horns failed several years ago........I found a generic used Buick Regal replacement on E-Bay and installed it but saved the original as nobody was rebuilding these "newer" horns at the time. Fast forward to MCACN 2023 and Gary from The Horn Works was in the swap space next to us and is local to me so I dropped the non functioning original off at the beginning of the month and picked it up today.

Kind of hard to see - but it's installed and works great - probably should take the other original one to Gary now as it has something rattling around inside. Thanks to Gary for a job well done.

As a follow up to this - I had Gary do the other horn and installed it, works great. New AC Delco battery installed too and all ready for summer driving season.