New Guy from Toronto!

[clean8485]

Thanks for your response Jake. I hope your apprenticeship goes well. Not that many people getting into this trade anymore. I've had my license for 37 years now, both 310S and 310T. I worked in dealerships for a number of years, and it got to the point where I couldn't make a decent living fixing cars anymore. I went to a transit company about 3 years ago, and I'm fixing buses now. Probably the best career move I've ever made.
Sounds like you've covered most of the bases with your car. Not trying to be skeptical here, but are you sure that there's absolutely no degradation in any of the suspension bushings? If they're original, they're close to 35 years old now. Those bushings were never really designed to last this long, and if the car has been oil sprayed as regularly as you mention, the oil could start to cause the rubber in those bushings to degrade. Combine that with the age of the bushings, and it can cause problems. As for suspension parts, your best bet is to stick to a name brand (i.e. Moog), as others have pointed out. Most reputable auto supply stores (Carquest, NAPA, PartSource) should be able to help you. If you need to have control arm bushings replaced, you're going to have to do a bit of shopping around, to find a place with the proper equipment (a press), and some experience for a job like that.
If you're sure that the ticking noise has nothing to do with the exhaust system, then you're probably looking at an issue with the valvetrain. Are the valves adjusted correctly? What kind of camshaft is in the engine? Do you know if there are any special valve adjustment procedures for the camshaft or lifters? Is the oil pressure OK? Once again, I'm just thinking out loud here. Hope it helps.

 

[85442/86buick]

Jake
if offend you sorry that was not my intent .

now to your issues -

one wheel ( rim ) is toast , can you replace that one ? of course with the exact same wheel. i just quickly googled the nexen n 7000 not alot of good reviews on it , but it's the Internet so a grain of salt is required.
wait you got 4 new tires and these rims for a $1,000 tax in ? the tires alone list for $149.99 each plus install , balancing , etc....the deal sounds a little too good.
my opinion would be to find a good front end shop and start with an alignment , I cannot point you to any off the top of my head ...your west end toronto ?
maybe someone reading this could point you to a good shop , of course there is the google option too.... a good shop would or should have the spec's for your car...yes it's 35 years old...and they may not use these spec's daily ... but any good shop has the online support system which is not cheap i have hear it's $ 1,200 plus a month to belong these resource's ( some one correct me if i am wrong )

i would not just start replacing parts first , without this step.

one of the parts place's not mention to now is auto spot , they have locations across the city ( again google is your friend ) they sell at 3 levels of parts
the cheap s%#& an mid level & a high end.......do not waste your time on any thing but the high end , yes it's $20.00 more depending on the part.
i have nothing but happy dealing with them , on parts for my GM K2500 rebuilt the front end , and endless parts for my g-body's .

your engine issues , well nothing i can add to clean8485 reply besides all good points.

i realize money is not growing on tree's in your backyard , not in mine either . but please deal with your control issues before chasing the power issue

that east end guy
Dave

 

[81Caleh]

Don't worry i am not easily offended! haha, the wheels are badly oxidized so replacing one doesn't make sense I will replace them all when my budget allows, it's definitely a high priority! Back to the bushings i know oil spray and rubber dont mix well, when the snow melts and i can get the car out again il take another good long look at everything and check the bushings twice. i definitely need to get this thing to handle and be shake free before i look at the motor. the problem with the motor is no one knows what inside this damn thing. no one knows what cam or pistons or anything. there was no build-sheet for it because my father paid one of his buddy's to build it, and he hasn't talked to him in a long time. So its a mystery 350! it does seem to have good oil pressure going off the wacky ralleye gauges reads about half at idle 25ish and when you get the revs up reads at the top of the gauge 50 ish! not sure if i should trust those gauges though, because the tach's been reading twice the rpm for as long as i can remember. Also thanks for the auto spot recommendation Google'd auto spot there's one about 5 mins from my house thanks! and don't worry i always go for the best quality part 🙂

 

[mymontess]

Hello Jake.
Once your finished replacing worn front end parts, bent/ out of round wheels and/ or bad tires, ask around friends & family, shouldn't be too hard to find a decent alignment shop. Don't know where exactly in the west end you are, I bought tires for my daily from a Goodyear store in Brampton called Superior Tire that did a decent alignment on my daily.
Good luck,
Rod

 

[axisg]

I have to agree with much of what others have said. Wheels and tires make a huge difference in a vehicle. Common bolt-on upgrade is the GM 16" wheels are ZQ8 wheels off a Sonoma. Same offset as the Gbody whilst bumping you up to 16". Ad on Kijiji below for a set in your end of town. $650.00 is a pretty good price if the tires are in good shape
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-tires-rims/m...le/1052680084?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
If you have that "vague" feeling in your steering check the rag joint. Its one of the most overlooked things in a front end inspection. If you pull the blue boot back where the shaft connects to the steering box the rubber should be dry, firm and intact around the rivits. If its soaked in oil or sloppy when rocking the wheel back and forth it should be swapped out for something with a solid universal joint ( look around for Jeep steering shaft on the site and you'll see some people selling refurbished units ). Its hard to road test a car with a bent wheel and vague steering so do the easiest things first and rolling safely down the road straight.. No sense in swapping out parts if they are not worn and especially if you don't have the means. Once its working correctly then you can save for the "upgrades"

Oh !! and once its running, Specialty Carburetors is just off the Queensway 1 block over from Ikea, Older Portuguese guy over there really knows his stuff !!! He's pretty well known for setting up at lot of the performance cars in the West End of the city. PI used to refer their clients there.

 

[Doug213xrj]

Hey Jake, Welcome from West Michigan.

Doug

 

[81Caleh]

back again pulled the cover back on the rag joint everything is dry and firm, honestly doesn't look original they may have changed it when they swapped the motor. Anyways i went to the auto spot location as per google ended up not being there 🙁 oh well went to part source and was blown away with how much they wanted to charge me. Just for inner and outer tie rods they wanted 200$ so on to rock auto! ordered up pretty well the entire front end for less than 200$ , and lucky me i forgot i got a set of multi bolt pattern wheels/tires when i bought my riv they have a set of decent tires on them which should get me rolling in the meanwhile there 16x7 and there 235 55 16. I also had a chance to go talk to my boss at the shop i used to work at 427 auto collision he said he do the alignment for me whenever i wanted so when the snow melts i have a game plan.

 

[axisg]

Weston rd & steeles or dufferin & 401 are the only 2 locations I know of anymore. They used to have a bunch around the city. I am sure they have a website.

Rock Auto is great for some things but I find their shipping cost kills the deal for me a lot of the time. I have a courier account in both the US and Canada thru work so I know what it should cost for shipping and they are making more $$ on the shipping than on the parts I figure. And they wont ship 3rd party using my account either !

I have found NAPA pretty good or an independent jobber even better. Show them what you can get it for from Rock Auto and they will sometimes give you a break on the price. Or try and use your 427 Auto Collision connection. They surely use a parts jobber and will likely get 30% - 40% better pricing than you walking in off the street. A couple coffee's and a box of donuts can still go a long ways in this day !

 

[85442/86buick]

hello
sounds like you got a plan of action together , way to go. the auto spot down the street from changed it's name to Hot Spot , maybe a others did too ?.
Parts Source is just another name for canadian tire....... and it's been along time since i bought car parts from them.

good to hear it's coming together for you.

is it spring ?

Dave

 

[85442/86buick]

Jake

any updates ?

Dave