Now that's a cool venue for a car show. Looks like beautiful weather too. Great time to spend with the kids!

-Kevin

I'll be following suit on mine shortly. Driving season is quickly coming to an end.

How often are you changing your coolant?

-Kevin

Pre-mixed green antifreeze. If you buy straight anti-freeze I believe you are supposed to use distilled water to mix with. Tap water will have minerals in it that can corrode and cause problems.

I just used 50/50 mixed from NAPA. Nothing special and seems to work great.

If you're going to lower, I would think air bags are the best way to go so you can adjust the height. Otherwise you're going to be dragging on bottoming out all the time.

I'm on stock suspension and there are times where I'm almost dragging the back end turning into or coming out of a parking lot. I can't imagine going lower. Plus you'll likely be riding on the rubber bump stops and that will make for a harsh ride.

Not much news on the Panama. The starter is getting worse, so I will plan on rebuilding it this winter. Also going to replace the cable from the battery to the starter, as the original one is in very bad shape.

But I did drive it today to work, and picking up kids tonight. It was good to get it out to exercise.

-Kevin

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This is what is different about the sedans and the hardtops. The upper trim on mine had no bolts going through the gasket. Only the lower trim.

If the bolts are hard to get out of the trim, some lube may help with that. Silicone spray or even penetrating fluid can help. It eats up the rubber a bit and will help with removal. It makes a huge mess.

-Kevin

The lower exterior trim pieces need to come off first.

To do that, remove the lower trim on the inside of the windshield above the dash. Then get under the dash and loosen the towers that hold the wiper arms. No need to fully remove them. Then remove the nuts that hold the exterior trim pieces. They have bolts that go through the rubber gasket. Also remove the screws that hold the exterior side pieces to the A-pillar.
The two exterior side pieces come out easily. The center piece needs to be slid out to one side or the other, then the retaining clips and bolts and can be removed.

The rest of the exterior trim on the Cavalier is different than my Panama, but it should be held in the same way. It is held in a channel in the rubber. It should just pull out without much issue. Don't bend it.

Don't forget to remove the rest of the interior trim around the windshield.

-Kevin

It's hydraulic lifters. I tried getting in there with the borescope last night and it's too tight of a turn through the spark plug hole. I can't see the valves at all.

We may need to pull the rear cover again and watch/measure the #8 valves while bumping the starter.

In Washington, if you are driving a classic you can register it as an antique with YOM WA plates. Registered this way is a one-time thing.....I never need to register my car again.

My dad had a set of 1938 plates that I am going to use to register his car as an antique. Currently it is using modern WA plates and it just doesn't look right.

-Kevin

Kev - I watched closely when the valve covers were off and both intake and exhaust valves seemed to move normally. No evidence of space between the valve and lifter. However I haven't watched it while just cranking. Here's a video that shows it while running:


Someone suggested maybe one of the lifters isn't fully collapsing and keeping one of the valves from fully closing. I'm hoping that I can see evidence of that by looking inside the combustion chamber.