Texas82GP's Roadmaster

[Texas82GP]

I daily drove the car three days last week. Last Monday night, when I got home, I aimed the headlights. It was cool outside so I wasn't running the A/C and was letting the car idle. The temp guage crept up one tick away from the red, which is the warmest I've ever seen it get. It turns out that's not that warm (low 220's) but it was disconcerting at the time.

In looking into what was going on, I realized the primary radiator cooling fan motor wasn't running. It turns out it hasn't run the entire time I've owned the car. I had misidentified the Driver's side fan (the functional one) as the primary fan.

In my research, I learned you can display most of what the ECM monitors on the climate control display in the car. Armed with the temperature that the primary fan (passenger side) is supposed to turn on, I watched the coolant temperature and observed the fan didn't run. I didn't diagnose it further. I bought a Four Seasons replacement motor from RockAuto. It was a $28 gamble.

I replaced the motor after work tonight. I was a little surprised to learn the motor had been previously replaced. When I swapped the motor I noticed the old one had a NAPA tag on it. Anyway, Success! Now the primary cooling fan works. Another small improvement for the car.

 

[303'505rollin]

I daily drove the car three days last week. Last Monday night, when I got home, I aimed the headlights. It was cool outside so I wasn't running the A/C and was letting the car idle. The temp guage crept up one tick away from the red, which is the warmest I've ever seen it get. It turns out that's not that warm (low 220's) but it was disconcerting at the time.

In looking into what was going on, I realized the primary radiator cooling fan motor wasn't running. It turns out it hasn't run the entire time I've owned the car. I had misidentified the Driver's side fan (the functional one) as the primary fan.

In my research, I learned you can display most of what the ECM monitors on the climate control display in the car. Armed with the temperature that the primary fan (passenger side) is supposed to turn on, I watched the coolant temperature and observed the fan didn't run. I didn't diagnose it further. I bought a Four Seasons replacement motor from RockAuto. It was a $28 gamble.

I replaced the motor after work tonight. I was a little surprised to learn the motor had been previously replaced. When I swapped the motor I noticed the old one had a NAPA tag on it. Anyway, Success! Now the primary cooling fan works. Another small improvement for the car.

View attachment 161566

Are those fans shroud less?

 

[fleming442]

Are those fans shroud less?

Yep. Used to have one on my 67. It pulled A TON or air.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Yep. Used to have one on my 67. It pulled A TON or air.

Curious, why did you switch?

 

[Texas82GP]

Took care of a few small projects on the Roadmaster today. A few months ago I was lucky enough to find a new old stock front license plate bracket for it. The car came out of Florida where a front plate isn't required.

When I took delivery of the car I needed a front plate holder since a front plate is required here in Texas. I was lucky enough to find one on a junk car in a U pull it yard. It had character but it's what I've run for a year. They aren't easy to find as they are specific to 91-96 Roadmasters only.

The one I bought reportedly ran around in the trunk of a car for years and years in a state that didn't require a front plate. It's essentially in perfect condition. I put it on today. Here are a few pics.....

Side by side, new vs. old....

The top edge of the old plate holder, which is all really see of it on the car. It has a small crack and is pretty sun damaged....

On the car, it really finishes out the front bumper restoration....

The other small project was replacing the wiper motor pulse/delay circuit board. Since buying the car, the wipers have had a lot of character and the colder it was outside, the more character they had. For example, if you ran the wipers on any setting, they would only turn off or park if you timed it properly and turned them off at the bottom range of the wipe. If you give it just one wipe or run the washers, the wipers would just keep running even though the switch was in the off position.

I had been looking for a new delay board since I bought the car. They have been long discontinued and the aftermarket doesn't offer one either. After looking for nearly a year, a new old stock board came available and I snatched it up. It's very easy to change. Three bolts and one connector....

Now the wipers work the way they should. I try to drive the car once a week. It runs and drives basically like a new car at this point. All I really have left to do on it is some cosmetic stuff but all of that can wait. I guess that's it for now friends. Thanks for looking in.

 

[fleming442]

Curious, why did you switch?

Just saw this- I don't know really, just cleaner and more symmetrical? And, they were free?

 

[Supercharged111]

I remember reading the first couple pages when this thread was new, but just binged the whole thing now. One thing I wanted to mention was that the injectors cannot be cleaned. Nobody will touch them because they're garbage. Same as the Vortec 454 injectors. What happens is the insulation gets washed off the wire coils inside and they short out and make your car misfire and run like crap. If you ever find yourself down that rabbit hole, just know that new injectors are the only way out. Also, since that trans is has a PWM lockup, the shudder can be caused by the valvebody. This was the case for my truck before it got a 4L80 swap. I did an HD2 shift kit and a PWM delete and it fixed my shudder. Well, that and a full flush. The PWM delete was CHEAP and, depending on the year, you can simply restack the guts in the valve body to eliminate the PWM lockup for free. Something to consider if your issue ever comes back.

 

[Texas82GP]

Sean and I put a new battery in the car this morning. It's been on my mind for some time. I finally pulled the trigger on a Deka Intimidator from Rock Auto last week. Their packing wasn't spectacular but they did better on price than anyone else and it made it here intact.

We were right on time. The car had a Duracell lead/acid battery in it with an L/16 date code. When I pulled the positive cable, blue sh!tt started falling out. I had cleaned up the connections when I took delivery of the car at the beginning of 2020.

I pulled both battery cable sleeves and gave the cable ends some detail. The negative was like new. The positive cleaned up good. I had new side post bolts on hand too. It's the details that count.

I feel good about this. I want this car rock solid dependable. Part of me was saying the car didn't need a battery. My bias against lead acid batteries has been reinforced.

Back on the Tender...

 

[Texas82GP]

Sunday 7/25 I went over to the storage and changed the oil in the LT1. It had been a year since I changed it, which was right before we went to Orange Beach, Alabama for vacation. I'm guessing the oil change had maybe 1,500 mile on it. The oil looked fine but it was just conventional 5w30 Pennzoil so I changed it. I also checked the pressures in the tires. I did this in anticipation of a business trip. Sunday 8/1 I got in the car and drove it down to Brownsville. It was right at 375 miles to the hotel. I was in town all day Monday and Tuesday (8/2-8/3) for work. On Wednesday, I headed home. All told, I put about 900 miles on the car. It was nearly flawless. It runs great and is very reliable. I got an average of 20 mpg for the whole trip, which included a fair amount of in-town driving in Brownsville on Monday and Tuesday. I'm really happy with how the car did and the fact that I got to use it once for its original intended purpose (road trips for work).

When I got home and got unpacked, I cleaned the car up real well inside and out, put it back in the storage, back on the tender and back under the cover.

One minor issue I noticed was that when running cruise, trying to bump the speed up one notch using the "Accel" button often times caused the cruise to kick out. After I got the car home, cleaned up and put up, I went ahead and ordered a new turn signal stalk. I'm not sure if the one I bought is genuine GM or not. I'm getting it from The Parts Place. They're not easy to find. I'll keep my stalk of course but I'm looking forward to put this replacement in as all the lettering on mine is gone. This will help sharpen things up....

 

[Texas82GP]

I haven't done much with the car since the trip to Brownsville back in August. I try to drive it every few weeks or so but the time often gets away from me. I took it to work yesterday (1/5). I hadn't driven it since 11/13. It cranked right up and ran great as always.

About a week ago I did some shopping for a rubber trunk mat for it. I keep a box of fluids and spare parts in the trunk together with a small tool kit. They slide around alot on the stock trunk mat.

Lloyds offers a custom fit mat for a Caprice/Impala, but it's expensive, special order and non returnable. I ended up going with a universal mat from Weathertech. It's grey, reasonably priced and made in the USA.

When I first installed the mat I was pretty disappointed. Weathtech was really stretching things a bit by saying this thing fit a Roadmaster Sedan's trunk. I stayed with it and trimmed the front strip off it, tucked the front end of the mat under the spare, and trimmed it for the fuel filler neck tunnel.....

All in all, not bad for the money. I'll likely drive it to work again today and then put it back under the cover.

I'd like to work on the side molding project but there's never enough time.

Oh, I finally got around to putting classic car insurance on it with an agreed value. If something bad happens, I'll get a reasonable sum out of it. That's it for now friends.