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1970 catalina

im looking into buying this car, it looks like it's definately been around the block a time or two throughout its thirty four years. The body needs alot of work, mostly in the rear end where it was hit on the drivers side quarter panel and on the right side rear wheel well is rusted out. the thing that caught my eye though, was that the odometer only reads 1,600 miles! well when i looked under the car i see that the crossmember has fallen[my guess is from when it was hit from the side on the back] and the tailshaft of the tranny and the driveshaft are angled down in a wideV shape. the crossmember and the frame rails didn't seem to be rotted out . Is this fixable by just jacking the tranny up and bolting the crossmember back on? possibly new tranny mount? help is greatly appreciated

Reply to
Bubba Goat
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My 68 LeSabre had a crossmember under the trans. Four bolts held it in place, plus I seem to recall there was a center support bearing under the driveshaft. Examine the frame on both side to see if the bolt holes are ripped out - like the crossmember got hooked on something and got torn off the vehicle. That's probably what happened if it didn't rust out and just fall off. As I recall those were pretty heavy bolts - maybe

1/2 inch diameter? Ask the guy selling the car what happened to it.

1600 miles in 34 years? I think not. With that much rust & rot you mention the car would be spotless with only 1600 miles.

In 1970 the Odometers reset to 00000 when they hit 100,000. This car could have 101,600 or 201,600 or 301,600 miles - thus the reason only

1,600 is showing.

Good Luck.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~283,488 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
Reply to
Harry Face

the person selling the car is a little old lady who knows abosolutely zilch about cars. she is the second owner but says the car has been through 3 or4 different drivers(it was a company car for some kind of demonstrations) says she's not sure about the miles, and absolutely refuses to sell it for less than $250 because it has four "brand new" (but yet somewhat dryrotted) tires. she says it runs good but she has misplaced the keys, so therefore i cant hear it run. the motor looks in fairly decent shape, but then again looks can be deceiving. I somehow doubt if im gonna end up buying this thing, but if i do, it wont be for more than $75 bucks, and it will be stripped and crashed in the demo derby this fall. Thanks for the help

Reply to
Bubba Goat

With a couple of pieces of wire you should be able to hotwire it... a wire from + to the coil gets you an ignition a wire from + to the starter solenoid gets you turning over.

However... do this at your own risk. ;) You're bypassing all the fuses, neutral safety switch, etc. etc... so if you run yourself over... don't call me. ;)

Although you might want to try turning it over by hand first to see if it's seized up from sitting...

Reply to
ray

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