25K for a 1988 Olds Cutlass?!?

I first saw this ad I was like "What in the world would make an 88 Olds worth $25,000?" Upon checking out the ad I found out that it's a former Indy pace car. On top of that it's a convertible with the Quad 4 engine. It's a little beefier and interesting than your normal 88 Cutlass. Here's the Hemmings ad.

K&N Air Filter recharging

Charge!

They are even nice enough to include instructions.

I've been a firm believer of using K&N Air Filters for many years and different vehicles I've had. I originally put this in my 2000 Chevy Impala soon after I first got it. They do recommend that that you clean and re-oil(Recharging as K&N puts it) every 50,000 miles. Though I didn't note when exactly I do know it's passed that mark. What I do hope to show is how to recharge your K&N air filter is done on my Impala.

The K&N OEM style Air Filter for my 2000 Chevrolet Impala with a 3.8 V6 is K&N part no. 33-2141-1. To clean it I need the K&N Recharger kit. They come in various sizes. The one I got was K&N part no.99-5000 which includes cleaner and oil. I bought this a year or two ago but I believe they only cost $10-$12 in your local auto parts store or online vendors.

First you undo the top two clips of the air filter housing.


Though you can leave this part in I found it easier to just remove it. Be sure and remove Intake Air Temperature Sensor.

Push back and the rear cover should lift right out.

5o,ooo+ miles of debris inside. While I had it open I cleaned it out.


It was dirty though not too bad. I followed the instructions and sprayed it down with the cleaning solution and let it soak for about 10 minutes or so and I rinsed with water. The instructions say to let air dry so I did this before calling it a night so I let it sit overnight to dry. Compressed air, hair dryer etc. are not to be used as per K&N saying it could damage the filter. At $40 a wack I'd rather not chance it. I suppose in a pinch you could just buy an ordinary filter as a substitute if you can't wait.


I woke up the next day. Grabbed the oil and soaked the filter with. I covered both sides as instructed.

I fit it back inside the housing.


Replaced the cover.



I then reassembled in reverse order. Now I'm good to go for another 50,000 miles. It's a fairly simple process. If you can change your air filter you can do this. So easy even a cave mechanic could do it. I hope this helps and thanks for coming by.

RICOA Annual All Chevy Show

IMG_2936
Originally uploaded by Bob Cutlass

Today was the Rhode Island Chevy Owners Association Annual All Chevy Show. I was able to make towards the tail end of the show in the blistering heat.This is usually a show I don't miss being a big Chevy fan(Though I missed last year). This year though I was more particularly interested in the Corvairs being that you rarely see them in general. It seemed to be lighter attended though I didn't make until the afternoon. It was good show. You can see this photo and more on my Flickr account here.

1951 Ford Custom (former Army staff car)

I'm always on the look out for unusual classics in any condition. I came across this one and I was immediately interested. This one is a 1951 Ford Custom 4-door which was a former U.S. Army staff car. How cool is that? I think it would be awesome restored back to original condition. Be a shame repaint or customize this one I think. This one is offered up for sale through Goldenrod Garage of Freeport, Maine. This one doesn't sound far from my mother-in-laws. I may be making a trip up there this summer. You can check out this listing or the many other classics and interesting vehicles they have in almost any condition.

Source: Bring a Trailer

1970 Chevrolet Nova - aka: Green Machine

The 1970 Chevy Nova above might just look like your run-of-the-mill Nova at the local cruise night. If you look closely you may notice something different (or not).


The entire paint job was done using auto paint from a spray can (see above). Quite a remarkable feat if you ask me. I had seen this before at previous shows but not recently. My pictures probably don't give it justice.

1965 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

Corvette Sting Ray: An American automotive icon.

I love those knock-off hubs!

Intimidating Fords, Mopars and small children since 1965!

Hey! Don't touch that!

The interior is immaculate. The contrast of red and white really make the details show well in my opinion.

Power windows, shmower windows. Real men (and women, before the hate mail shows up) crank them.

This shows whats missing from many of todays automobiles...actually styling and shape.

You might need to refinance your house to fuel this for a year(at todays prices).

It just looks fast standing still.


Yeah I'd be smiling too cruising around in this.

We recently(the whole family) recently visited a car show in Northbridge, Massachusetts at Whitney Place. It's the place where my lovely wife's grandfather lives. You might say what does this have to do with this Corvette pictured above. Well this one happens to belong to her uncle who brought it along for the show. So I know a little about this one. I've even had the pleasure of going for a ride in it one occasion(not today though). For the record it is a a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. If memory serves me right I believe he told me it had the ever popular 327 cubic inch V8. This particular one was restored (before purchase) and whoever did it did a spectacular job. Even the interior is incredible that looks like it probably did on showroom floor forty plus years ago. It's plush but not overboard. To be sure I was almost afraid to get something dirty(note the white seats) when I sat in it. When the key is turned the 327 cubic inches come to life and then settles to a steady rumble. It's not an overstated or obnoxious exhaust note but you can tell this engine means business.

I just thought I'd add some quick facts I've found about the 1965 Corvette in general.

• The functional vertical side slots and revised rocker panel trim were new for 65.
• Production: Coupes 8186*, Roadsters 15,376*
• 1965 was the midpoint of what was called the C2(second generation) Corvette.
  
• Price(when new): Coupe $4321*, Roadster $4106*
• Performance:
  

327 Cubic inch V8

Bhp 375(Fuel Injection)*

0-60 = 6.3 second*

1/4 mile = 14.4 Sec. @ 99mph*

Top Speed = 138 mph*

It was nice to see this out and about making a rare appearance at a car show. I've been dieing for years now to get some photo's of this classic and it was a treat to finally get a chance.

*Source: The Complete Book of Corvette by Richard Langworth

Ebay: Fuzzy Photo's

I just happen to be browsing around Ebay Motors when I came across this auction for a 84 S10 pickup(parts car). I first saw the photo and I thought maybe one photo was a fluke. Sure enough each photo I found to be completely out of focus. Not sure if this was done on purpose but I can't see(pardon the pun) how this helps the auction any. My first conclusion is that this person is a twit and didn't realize that his camera was totally out of focus or my second thought is that the person maybe trying to hide something. I'm not really sure what the story is. The only clear picture I found were of the tires. It just strikes me as odd and humorous.

Around town

A couple of days ago we(wife,mother-in-law, son and I) stopped at the local supermarket and we park in front of this creation. I'm still trying to figure this one out. Just thought I'd share the silliness. My wife must have taken the second picture of the guy driving away so I didn't get a look at him

Alternator Rebuild Part 4

Today we continue my gripping series on rebuilding an alternator from a 1965 Chevrolet Corvair. At last we left off I had opened the alternator itself to reveal the guts of the alternator I had to further spray with degreaser to remove the rest of the 40 plus years grime and sitting in the salvage yard. I removed the stator from the rear housing by just prying a little from the casining and unscrewing the stator leads from the three diodes.

Stator.

This was not before I took pictures and notes so I can have a reference for when I finally put it back together. I then removed the heatsink.

Heatsink before removing diodes.

I removed the individual diodes from the heatsink and rear housing by using a handpress was fairly simple. (Watch one of my errors is coming up) I removed the capacitor also. Remember I was planning on replacing everything anyway. Then came the rear housing bearing. (Here it comes...) Using a press I tried to remove the rear bearing when I hear....Craack! Upon further inspection I had cracked the rear housing rendering it useless. Needless to say I was a bit ticked at myself. I had set it up wrong with the wrong tools to begin with. If anyone has any tips on removing these bearings please let me know. Now I turn my attention the rotor, pulley and front housing. The pulley nut being on since the Johnson Administration wasn't coming of easy. From research on how to remove most recommend using an impact wrench and rear housing. Great.. Which unfortunately is not in my arsenal of tools. So now I'm in the market for an impact wrench. That's about all for today. Next I'll cover testing the rotor and stator and my hunt for an impact wrench. Thanks for coming by.

Weekend shows

I was able to hit a few local car events this weekend. First I hit was the Saturday cruise night in Riverside, Rhode Island at the Carousel. Which wasn't too bad kind of light turn out but with some nice cars showing up. Next up was a car show in Warwick at the (behind) Sam's Club. It was a scorcher of a day but it had a decent turn out for cars and people. Though we might ask the kind people at Sam's Club not to put out there garbage the night before because you'd catch the "Ode de Garbage" smell if the wind was right. It was a for a good cause though. Then to round to round out the weekend at another Sam's Club in Seekonk,MA with the weekly Sunday night cruise with a relatively light turn out. That may have been due to the threatening clouds that never amounted to anything. Well enjoy a sampling of photo's I took. You can see many more at my Flickr account too if like.

Porsche Unleashed

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Originally uploaded by Bob Cutlass

I could help but share this. I love this era of Porsche 911.

Ebay: Station Wagon with 440

While window shopping at Ebay Motors I came across this one of a 1970 Dodge Coronet Station Wagon. It has a 440 in it which is pretty cool. It needs some TLC but I think is workable. Makes me wish I had the spare cash somewhere. Oh well...

Ebay: Oldsmobile Final 500

I love many different Automobile makes and models but I'm partial(I admit) to Oldsmobiles and Chevy's. When I came across this item at Autoblog it piqued my interest. A dealership in Indiana is selling on Ebay a set of the Oldsmobile Final 500. This collection has one of each Oldsmobile model set in "Final 500" special paint and trim. It includes a 2004 Oldsmobile Silhouette(The Cadillac of minivan's, lol), 2003 Oldsmobile Aurora, 2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue GL, 2004 Oldsmobile Bravada and, 2004 Oldsmobile Alero GLS. All are equipped with Dark Cherry Metallic paint and have the "Final 500" Collectors Edition Package. Having owned three Oldsmobile's I do miss them and I still haven't forgiven GM for giving up on Oldsmobile. Before I bought my 2000 Impala I even looked a few Oldsmobile Intrigue's . Not a bad car. Who knows I may still get one. It's debatable if these cars will have a lot of collectors value in the future though I'm sure they'll have some. I just think it may be a little soon to try and cash in on them. Especially for all five together.

2003 Oldsmobile Aurora

2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue GL

2004 Oldsmobile Bravada

2004 Oldsmobile Alero GLS


2004 Oldsmobile Silhouette