#261  
Old 08-21-2021, 06:42 PM
SD455DJ SD455DJ is offline
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Default TA Nationals Bound

Getting the Formula ready for it's maiden voyage (262 miles according to google maps along to back roads route we are going to drive) to the TA Nationals in Dayton (Fairborn), OH since acquiring it 20 months ago and going through it to make it road worthy. We checked the timing and dwell (9 degrees BTDC with 30 degrees dwell in the points), all the fluids levels, tire pressure (30 psi in the Eagle ST's), new wiper blades if we encounter rain, and spare fuel pump, alternator, points/condenser, carb rebuild kits, mini floor jack, jack stands, extra fluids/lubricants, fire extinguisher, spare tire (original Firestone F70-14 Wide Oval), hand cleaner and paper towels....I think we are ready.

There will be 5 Firebirds leaving Michigan together on Friday morning and rendezvousing with several more in Van Wert, OH for nice Firebird caravan the final 100 miles to Fairborn through the Ohio countryside.

We're all looking forward to the cruise and adventure to the Trans Am Nationals! We hope to see a bunch of you PY'ers there....and the Birds too!

Dennis
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  #262  
Old 09-01-2021, 07:01 AM
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We had a nice uneventful TA Nationals trip and hard to believe this is the end of summer around these parts. We drove almost 520 miles round trip and the Formula ran great on 93 octane and didn't use any oil, or other fluids. It got a decent 15+ mpg to boot! I was amazed that the temperature driving slow, fast (60 - 65 mph), or stopped never exceeded 185 degrees (indicated) on the temp gauge and it never had a problem with heat soak starting after filling up with gas and food/restroom breaks. I'm impressed with the Cold Case radiator (180 degree thermostat). The oil pressure was a steady 55 psi (25 psi at idle) and the new aftermarket gauges were sensitive to engine speeds and electrical use.

We drove the backroads to and from, so 55 - 65 mph with stop & go driving through the little towns of rural America...which is the best part of the trip for me. We had rain showers down & back, but nothing heavy. The car stayed dry inside and the wipers worked better the longer they were used...by the time we got home they didn't chatter any more. Norwood and I had the 'old' Firebirds in group with 4 - 4th gens. The show was amazing with almost 500 cars (probably lost 50, or more, from Canada), but the weather was HOT.

The Ram Air screens do keep bigger critters out too! He was still alive, so released him...

Dennis
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  #263  
Old 09-01-2021, 07:36 AM
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Heck of a road trip & car looks great! 15mpg is pretty nice, too

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  #264  
Old 09-01-2021, 09:18 AM
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Yeah, those are 'catch and release' in these parts too

Congrats on a successful voyage and a fitting finish to the resurrection of this beautiful 'Bird.

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  #265  
Old 09-01-2021, 11:17 AM
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Always a great trip. I have no idea why the pic is sideways
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  #266  
Old 09-01-2021, 02:51 PM
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Fixed it

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Old 09-01-2021, 08:14 PM
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Thanks OCMDGTO & Starlightblack! I wish I was done...lol! We are thinking this was the first long trip this Formula experienced since 1978 when it was last registered and driven to CA. It was parked in a San Diego basement level open garage under the house since that time...what, some 43 years ago. I think we are going to replace the valve seals as it did burn a quart of oil in the 520 mile trip. Dan was following me the whole way and he said it would puff a little blue accelerating from a stop then disappear, so it seems to be pulling oil past the intake valve stem under deceleration. The R45S plugs show a lean condition and no oil residue, but, we're going to see if it makes a difference. I imagine we are going to rebuild the engine before too long.

The car came with the wrong gas cap too. The dealer we got the Formula from installed a new tank and cap, and after driving 200 miles, it was darn near impossible to twist the gas cap off due to so much suction. I can't believe it didn't lean surge or stall during the trip. The poor fuel pump must have been working so hard to keep fuel in the carb bowl. So, a new vented cap is on order.

It was great seeing PY members Norwood, LadyTATA, Bentwheel Bob, and 'Best of Show' Tim Burton at the meet.

Dennis
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Old 09-11-2021, 08:33 PM
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Look what happened to one of the low mileage circa 1978 'new' Firestone 721 Radial tire that came on the Formula and now just sitting on the shelf. It self-destructed sitting in the pile sometime in the last week or so. I'm glad we never drove it with these time bombs on the car! I can't recall if the 721's were 'recall' tires back then...?

Dennis
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  #269  
Old 09-11-2021, 10:36 PM
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I think I would let the remaining ones down to 8 lb's. Cool Rims!

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  #270  
Old 09-12-2021, 12:31 AM
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That is totally unreal!! Worst tire I've seen in decades.

IIRC, the recalled tires were all Firestone 500 models with the so called "GM tread" pattern Yours look somewhat different.

  #271  
Old 09-12-2021, 11:04 AM
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Those are the Motor Wheel Spyders that were on the car since new. This was a PMD radio give-away promotion with this one with WKNR(?) in Detroit. It was also equipped with a dealer installed power antenna in the right rear quarter (hole is still there, but not the antenna). The Spyders were a part of the promotion from what we gather since it had no wheel option on the PHS and the date codes on the wheels are 6/12/70 (5/24/70 shipping date). The PHS has 2 credit memos that may be for the wheels and antenna.

Dennis
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  #272  
Old 09-12-2021, 12:54 PM
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Default Tire failure

The same thing happened to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. Fortunately it happened while the car was parked, not while being driven.

Dennis, do you have the original am/fm radio for this car?
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  #273  
Old 09-12-2021, 01:10 PM
Baron Von Zeppelin Baron Von Zeppelin is offline
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Both tires on my Harbor Freight hand truck/dolly blew apart all to he[[ like those.
Looked like an explosion happened on the inside. And they had tubes in them.
Both went about a week or two apart.

Wonder if the quality of todays compressed air needs to be flushed more often ?
juskiddin , sorta

  #274  
Old 09-12-2021, 01:17 PM
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I've never seen a tire do that. Great public safety announcement there

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  #275  
Old 09-12-2021, 02:53 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eaglesan13 View Post
The same thing happened to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. Fortunately it happened while the car was parked, not while being driven.

Dennis, do you have the original am/fm radio for this car?
Yes, the am/fm (mono)still in the dash. We had to attach the replacement windshield antenna cable whip to the radio and it worked...a little scratchy volume control however. The front and rear speakers worked too. The rears are replacements and they added one over the spare tire.

That BFG T/A's are notorious for falling apart after 8-10 years. How old were they on your friends Firebird? These Firestones were at least 40 years old and should have been thrown away when we received the car, but now they will be! We'll restore the MW Spyders and get new tires.

Dennis
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  #276  
Old 09-12-2021, 02:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OCMDGTO View Post
I've never seen a tire do that. Great public safety announcement there
Amen to that! This was a good reminder to check all the date codes on all the tires we have.

Dennis

  #277  
Old 09-14-2021, 10:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SD455DJ View Post
We'll restore the MW Spyders and get new tires.

Dennis
Cool. I'm a big fan of Spyders as well.
I've had a set sitting around forever to put on my 4-speed T/A... just haven't allocated the funds to get tires for them, either!

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  #278  
Old 10-01-2021, 07:45 PM
eaglesan13 eaglesan13 is offline
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Dennis,

I'm not sure how old those tires were. He bought the car about six years ago and the tires were on it when he got the car.

My father -in-law passed away last Thanksgiving and left his 1970 El Camino to my wife. It's an original paint car in very nice condition. I went through the car in 2006, at which time I installed a new set of BFG Radial TA's on it. The car only has about 2500 miles on the tires, but they're 15 years old now, so I guess they're ticking time bombs and I'll need to replace them immediately.

Chris

Quote:
Originally Posted by SD455DJ View Post

That BFG T/A's are notorious for falling apart after 8-10 years. How old were they on your friends Firebird? These Firestones were at least 40 years old and should have been thrown away when we received the car, but now they will be!

Dennis

  #279  
Old 10-01-2021, 08:10 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eaglesan13 View Post
Dennis,

I'm not sure how old those tires were. He bought the car about six years ago and the tires were on it when he got the car.

My father -in-law passed away last Thanksgiving and left his 1970 El Camino to my wife. It's an original paint car in very nice condition. I went through the car in 2006, at which time I installed a new set of BFG Radial TA's on it. The car only has about 2500 miles on the tires, but they're 15 years old now, so I guess they're ticking time bombs and I'll need to replace them immediately.

Chris
Probably not a bad idea Chris. My BFG Radial TA's are 8 years old (already!) on my '71 Formula...I hate the idea of replacing tires that look new and may have only 2000 miles on them! I think the glass belted bias ply (read repops) tires don't have this problem like the steel belted radials do and last longer. Those heavy steel belts play havoc (inertia and centrifugal force) on the belts when they dry out over the years.

Dennis

  #280  
Old 10-02-2021, 02:45 AM
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You guys are killin' me with this old tire talk. Two of my cars have tires that date to 1991 but like your experience, none of them have over 2500 miles on them. Rarely do any high speed/long distance driving and the cars are always stored in a climate controlled building. Zero cracks or checking on the outsides, but guess I need to be more concerned with what's happening on the insides.
I've always been under the belief that tires only rotted when exposed for long periods in the weather and/or sun.

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