My new 1988 T/A

[MP81]

Nice work!

So what's the plans with having two sets of wheels?

[DynoDave]

Long answer.

The current Michelins were on the car when I bought it in '14, and probably a few years old even then (original owner had them installed). So while they look new in most respects, they are just old, hard, probably flat spotted a little from sitting so much, and starting to show a few age cracks in the tread. (At a dinner for the Meadowbrook Concours some years ago, I was placed at a table with a Goodyear engineer. The poor fellow...once everyone at the table found out he worked for Goodyear, everyone had tire questions for him! Sort of a busman's holiday I guess. Anyway, I asked him about the then very old biased ply Goodyears on my travel trailer, which were developing cracks along the rim. The right answer, replace them. The real answer, he said if the cracks were small and along the bead, you were probably OK, as the bead is by far the thickest part of the tire. He said if the cracking was in the tread, buy new tires tomorrow. Which I did.)

So last year, through the MIFB bookface page, I found a local fellow who was selling a 1 year old, very low miles set of tires in my size. A bargain, and the same brand I have on the Jeep (Falken), so I bought them. Not necessarily the tire or brand I would have gone for otherwise, but good enough for now (and the next 5-8 years at least).

When those Michelins were installed on the factory rims, the tire shop made the horrific decision to hammer weights onto the outside of the rim. Then job 1 for me when I bought the car was to have the alignment checked to protect those $1200+ Michelins which were no longer being made in my size. And the shop, enthusiast owned and recommended by my regular mechanic, proceeded to clamp on some '40s era alignment equipment that GOUGED into the rims (which were otherwise in perfect condition). Thank you Mr. Muffler in Lake Orion, MI. So while the factory rims are in nice shape overall still, the damage they do have has always bothered me. Thus I had always planned to have them refinished when I mounted new tires.

The factory PW7 (lace) wheels have a different offset front and rear from the factory. The rears actually have less "dish" on the outside, making them appear narrower (though they are not). So it's a pretty popular change on on 3rd gens. to run 4 front rims (Buick GNs do). And that's been going on for 40 years. So its pretty hard-to-impossible to find a pair of just fronts for sale these days. When you see a pair for sale today, they are almost always rears. I "just" missed a deal on a set of these last year at the T/A nationals. So when these came up for sale close enough to home to drive and get them (Whittemore), I jumped on the deal. They were not a bargain, but a fair price.

So now I will find a trustworthy wheel refinisher, have my two fronts refinished, the other 2 fronts refinished and repainted in red, have my new tires installed, and my new wheels centers installed (a gift from my wife a few years back), and I'll be all set for rolling stock for many years to come.

[MP81]

Oh I think I do recall the wheel weight and alignment damage stories - both infuriating.

Weldcraft in Livonia is basically who everyone will recommend for wheel refinishing in the metro area.

So I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but you can't fit four rear wheels on the car - say, for winter storage, can you? Keep the flat-spotting to a minimum on the nicer spring/summer/fall tires.

[DynoDave]

I was thinking of having the 4 old Michelins mounted to the rear wheels to use for winter storage. I'm not sure if that will work or not. Could be a caliper clearance issue, but I sort of doubt it with how small the discs are. I'll have to find out about that.

Thanks for the tip on Weldcraft.

[MP81]

And if brake (or other) clearance is an issue up front, a set of spacers would probably help there, especially since you're just using them for storage.

[DynoDave]

After a few good rains, had a sunny 50* afternoon on Monday, so I gave the T/A it's first drive of 2023.

[MP81]

It was definitely nice enough to do so then.

Not so much right now.

[DynoDave]

Culver's had this flier up on all the doors, counters, etc. Cruising season starts soon!

If the weather is decent, that first night of the season is usually NUTS! The main lot will be full, the overflow (which he also owns) across the side street will be full, they will be on the burms, on the sidewalk....if you want to go, get there early.

Would be a great spot for the first MIFB get together of the year.

[DynoDave]

Embarrassingly slow progress on the garage of late. Work has just been running me ragged, and I have had no energy after work (which sometimes stretches late into the evening).

I did get these shelves back up. These were taken from a fridge we were scrapping when we moved here 30 years ago. I figured I could use the shelves, and they've been hard at work int he garage ever since. When the firemen bumped their way through the dark garage, they hit a couple of these pretty hard, tearing the metal tabs off the back of them. (They have tabs that go into slotted rails, just like some shelving systems). Not sure for a long time how I was going to fix them, I stumbled on these nearly matching brushed stainless shelf brackets at my local Ace. I bought the longest ones they had, and some steel rivets. Cut the bent tabs off the originals, sistered these new ones up with plenty of rivets, and boom...back in business.



Only had to do that for the top two shelves.



With the shelves in place, I was able to get this restored cabinet back up. This also took more work than it should have, as the stud in the wall behind it are not right (not 16" on center, and one is not straight). But we got it done today.



Restored thermometer back on the side of it too. That was a Walt Disney World purchase at Hollywood Studios when we were there on our honeymoon in 1994.

That gets these large items off the floor and back up on top of the cabinet.



And another 4 boxes (plus a few loose items) of items back inside the cabinet.

[MP81]

Hey - as Atrus said to me about my disappointment at how little work I got accomplished over Easter weekend versus what I intended: at least I got something done - more than zero. I'd certainly say that applies here. The fact you're able to get even this done with work trying its hardest to kill you is impressive! Good work!

[DynoDave]

Oh yeah, way underachieved over Easter.

[DynoDave]

Safe moved back into place. And the old steel door and frame between the kitchen and garage got their first coat of primer (all of the frame, and the garage facing side of the door). Not that it;s in a pure white primer, the difference is striking. And I clearly need to paint the kitchen side of the door as well. Not at all my best painting work, but at 2 years in, I'm anxious to get this garage done and get back to the cars, and the back garage. It won't look worse than before, so I call it progress.



We were supposed to be at the season opening cruise night at the L.O. Culvers. But with two hours of rain/snow just a few hours ago, the roads are still damp, and has mostly grass cruiser parking will be a mess. So I decided to skip this one, and get the door frame primed in a 2nd coat, and get a first coat on the back side of the door.

[MP81]

Yeah, yesterday wasn't what I'd consider to be optimal cruising weather...

[DynoDave]

Let me just say that is sucks that 3 of my favorite shows happen on the same day.

We had the same great weather as the Meet & Greet at our Pontiac Oakland Club International Chapter #16 Michigan Widetrackers 34th Annual Dust-Off. in Lake Orion, MI.

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[DynoDave]

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