At 02:29 PM 1/26/98 -0500, Charles Harrilal wrote:
>....I purchased an orange 75 #2857 from the original owner.....
>...and it was worth only $500 (like I was told by a Bricklin owner who
>mysteriously popped up at my front door one day shortly after the
>purchase was made)
Don't know who told you that. If the car is intact, and the seats are
there and salvagable the car is worth at least $3,000.
>The car is powered by a 1970(?) 351 Cleveland, a very beefy cam, with
>the big monster port heads and a 1050cfm holley.
I don't want to have to pay your fuel bill! :)
>I don't Know if the Bricklins came with the FMX tranny, but that's what
>I was told and thats what mine has,and I'm quite curious to know.
Yes, the FMX is correct.
>...Now to sum up my major frustrations... the motor screams, leaves like
>a sling shot (if the tires don't burn), then a healthy bark from the
>tires when I shift second,.....
>Now here's the catch to this picture... I'm guaranteed none of the prev.
>will take place if the vacuum lines are hooked up to the headlight
>system. The headlights work in their own sort of way. They come up
>immediately upon starting the car and go down after driving a few miles.
>At this point, if I step into it, the car bogs, the passenger
>headlight comes up. If I really step into it, they both come up (always
>the passenger one first) and will not go down by means of the switch
>(which is new). At this point I drive the car unhappily with the
>headlight lines disconnected.
Sounds like you have a vaccumn leak. Unfortunately, there were several
changes to the headlight system during the production run. The 74s and
early 75s have a coffee can looking vaccumn accumulator mounted on the
front cross brace behind the bumper. They also have 2 control valves,
one on the front of each of the front fender well.
The later 75s used the front bumper as the vac. accum. and only have one
control valve mounted on one of the fender wells. I'm not sure which
side. For starters you can try replacing all the vac. lines. If that
doesn't help, try clamping off the vac. lines where they enter the front
bumper. This will tell you if there is a leak in the tank in the bumper.
The only plumbing diag. I have is for an early car. I could
scan it and send it to you as a GIF file. However, it would be better
if someone with a late 75 car could draw you a diag. (It anyone does,
please email me a copy for my files.)
>I am also having trouble with the door system which was converted to air,
>with an air tank in the back bumper (original?). the vacuum air pump,
>under the hood is sending air to the back bumper, but still yet the doors
>will open by themselves maybe five times after putting air manually in
>the bumper.
Charles, is your car actually using the rear bumper, or is there a tank
welded to the 2 mounting brackets on the bumper? My car has a tank welded
to the brackets. It is possible that you have a leak in the rear bumper
if that is where your tank is. Don't know how many times the doors can
be opened on one filling of the tank. The real question is, if you fill
the accum. and don't open the doors for a couple of days to a week, will
they still open? If so, you don't have a leak. To look for a leak, use
the old soapy water trick at each and every fitting.
>I am also afraid to order out of the Brickline magazine. The guy who
>sold me the car gave me a bunch of old mags. I ran into some canceled
>checks in one book from parts that were ordered. These parts are still
>in the car and look nothing like the original. The console which is not
>even close-
Don't know what the console looks like, however, the orig. console is No
Longer Available. There is a replacement console make that now has a
glove box in it and is substantially longer than the original one.
>...two of the gauges, same story.
Don't know what to say about the guages. They are standard VDO guages.
You mention that The Bricklines you received were old but didn't say how
old. Some of the vendors in the older issues are no longer around.
If no one has yet, let me be the first to invite you to join Bricklin
International.
If I can be of any more help, feel free to contact me.
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
71 Saab Sonnett III 75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire
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