What race gas to get??

[Mera]

Because it is a dealer undercoated car the tank is sprayed with under coating. If and when the fuel pump dies I'll consider my options. I would probably go to my friends shop and we would try to get the straps and rubber pieces back as close to where they were as possible and that is that. A little black paint on a tiny paint brush would fill in any area that do not quite match.

I oiled the heater box motor because it was starting to squeak just a little. Took it out, bent the tabs to open it up. Oiled the bushings and wicks. Put it back in. Used a small paint brush and painted the tabs semi gloss black and before the paint dried I touched the tabs with my finger tips to age the look of the new paint. Looks that same as before I took it out.

Rodney

 

[Johnnie]

I *do * get the originality thing. After all, I did buy mine for an investment of sorts and it is very original. But , one would have to admit that a GN is not an old hemi Cuda , or a superbird, or a yenko , or a boss "9" etc. If one could compare a GN to one of those mega dollar cars , I could easily see the point of keeping it "super totally original". Now, if one wants to,keep it in a museum and never drive it, that is a definite reason to not do anything at all to it.
BUT, for instance, the powermaster has a very bad reputation of failing. So, one has to change it to something more reliable 'lest one likes to gamble on it not taking a krap when you need it most , and end up with a crumpled car -- or worse , a crumpled person. Just save the old parts as I have done and reinstall as needed. Body bushings? Yup. It had most of them from the factory. So, replace it with the stock rubber ones. Makes it much more of a pleasure to drive .... Like it did when new.
Oh well, enough of my soapbox. I just wanted to state I can clearly see Rodney's point of view. But I must also say , the things I have done to mine have made it much more of a pleasant driver and those things I have done can be undone if needed. Sorry for the rambling......

 

[Mera]

One guy shows up at our local drive in occasionally with a 1980ish Ford Fairmont with around 50,000 miles on it. Pretty good original condition. No rust/dents. Factory tires and hub caps. Looks like it was never driven in the salt/winter. Has story boards. I wonder "why".

With only 10,375 miles on mine I hope to not have to replace too much as I'll only drive it maybe 300-400 miles a summer. I might own it several years yet. Should still be under 15k by then. I have faith it will not break down much if any. Is there a dash warning if the brake lights switch fails? I'm pretty sure mine is still original. I'll have to keep an eye on that if there is no dash warning. My 348 had the same type of electric motor driven brakes with an accumulator bulb. Other European cars also use this design. BMW is one.

Rodney

 

[Mera]

GN is not an old hemi Cuda , or a superbird, or a yenko , or a boss "9" etc

It is not but I would put it in the same category as say a 70 SS Chevelle 4 speed, early 70's Cuda/Callenger 4 speed/4 barrel, 70 442 ram air 4 speed etc. It has a timeless look that will look great forever and always have a good following and many willing buyers.

When I go to sell mine in maybe 8ish years or so I expect it will sell easily. Close to original and under 20k miles. Someone will happily buy in IMO. I would put money on the next buyer leaving it as original also. It will be close to 40 years old by then.

Rodney

 

[~JM~]

It is not but I would put it in the same category as say a 70 SS Chevelle 4 speed, early 70's Cuda/Callenger 4 speed/4 barrel, 70 442 ram air 4 speed etc. It has a timeless look that will look great forever and always have a good following and many willing buyers.

When I go to sell mine in maybe 8ish years or so I expect it will sell easily. Close to original and under 20k miles. Someone will happily buy in IMO. I would put money on the next buyer leaving it as original also. It will be close to 40 years old by then.

Rodney

LOL!!!

Good luck with that!

 

[626gn]

Speaking of the Powermaster, be sure to change out the fluid at least once a year with DOT 3 or 4 (4 is preferable). Even by doing that it may still fail one day but keeping the fluid fresh will give it the best chance of surviving longer. That is of course if you can bring yourself to purge the "all original" brake fluid .

 

[Mera]

The previous owner changed the brake fluid last early July before I picked it up last year. It needed a new accumulator ( I brought the German one and gave it to him to install before he turned the GN over to me) so he bled the whole brake system for me.

Rodney

 

[Mera]

Speaking of the Powermaster, be sure to change out the fluid at least once a year with DOT 3 or 4 (4 is preferable). Even by doing that it may still fail one day

What fails? The motor? The pump? When the accumulator starts to fail it still stops somewhat fairly well from what I have seem. On mine it did. The dash lite up but it still had pretty good braking ability. Or can an accumulator fail in a way that you have no brakes? Past those things it is a normal brake master cylinder. At worst one seal fails and you still have some brakes.

Rodney

 

[626gn]

The previous owner changed the brake fluid last early July before I picked it up last year. It needed a new accumulator ( I brought the German one and gave it to him to install before he turned the GN over to me) so he bled the whole brake system for me.

Rodney

Good. Now all you have to do is maintain it. If you keep up with frequent changes you don't need to bleed it. Just pump the brake pedal with the key off until the pedal gets hard, open the reservoir cap and suck out the old fluid, then fill with new up to the proper levels indicated in the reservoir. Note: when you turn the key on the fluid level on the passenger side compartment should settle to about 1/2" or less from the bottom of the reservoir. This IS the proper fill level for that compartment no matter what a mechanic tells you. If your fluid level is above that before you depressurize the system make sure you remove some fluid BEFORE you depressurize. If not, it will overflow and make a mess not to mention could ruin your original paint if it shot out that far.

 

[Mera]

Note: when you turn the key on the fluid level on the passenger side compartment should settle to about 1/2" or less from the bottom of the reservoir. This IS the proper fill level

My friend (the guy that sold it to me) pointed that out to me. Hopefully I can remember that.

Rodney

 

[626gn]

What fails? The motor? The pump? When the accumulator starts to fail it still stops somewhat fairly well from what I have seem. On mine it did. The dash lite up but it still had pretty good braking ability. Or can an accumulator fail in a way that you have no brakes? Past those things it is a normal brake master cylinder. At worst one seal fails and you still have some brakes.

Rodney

All of those things can fail. That's why many don't take a chance and go with vacuum or hydroboost. The brake light was telling you something is not right. If your accumulator failed you would have gotten maybe a couple of good stops before getting the dreaded hard pedal. The thing you have going in your favor is that new accumulator you have on now has not seen any failures last I heard.

 

[Mera]

If your accumulator failed you would have gotten maybe a couple of good stops before getting the dreaded hard pedal.

Glad to hear and now know this. If I feel anything I will try to drive it home right away very slowly and carefully or stop driving it and have it flat bedded.

Rodney