| Re: Thinking Of Driving The 1985 Back And Forth Across The US Next Year ... |
Subject: Re: Thinking Of Driving The 1985 Back And Forth Across The US Next Year ... by bogus on 2013/7/22 4:32:37 well... figure this, Matthew, one of his stops will be to visit me...  It's once he leaves and before he arrives that causes me angst. I would drive my 92 across... The thing is, there is a fragility to the 85. The harness just isn't there, and if it starts to get funky... ick poo. This is what I would do: Replace all belts and hoses (heater hoses, too!), flush coolant, change oil, replace alternator with NEW GM unit. Power flush AT, consider a rebuild, seriously. Also consider the head gaskets. depending on age: replace all ujoints. replace all wheel bearings. Service brakes. replace radiator replace cooling fan motor(s) recharge AC flush ps fluid replace all exterior bulbs replace all 8 main injectors new air filter replace heater core new water pump complete tune-up (plugs/cap/wires/rotor) new fuel pump new fuel filter Do all of this NOW. As in within the next 60 days. Then start driving the car daily. Use it, get it worn in, get everything lubed up. Get the car to the point where it is daily driveable. Daily driveable is a different standard than NCRS certified. From there, I don't see much that can fail. If you drive it daily for 4-5 months prior to the trip, all of this work will have its fair shot at failing. I would then thing it would be ok to go. For example, fresh service items (belts/hoses/fuilds/tuneup) will be fine for a while. The trans would need to be settled in, but that's about it. If all the work is done right, you will be ok for 30k+ miles of happy motoring. I would then think the car will be ok to take on a trip like this. It's all about mitigating risk. You don't want to be handing your credit card over to Bubba somewhere in Alabama, ya know? |
