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Hey all, new to the forum and excited to learn. I’m a medically retired Army veteran with admittedly no background in classic cars. I left the military with some really tough mental health, but buying this old car brought me joy and purpose in having a project and things to learn.
i recently found and purchased an 88 coupe and brought it to a shop to repair all the leaks and make a bunch of safety fixes. When I get it here soon, it should be in great shape and ready to drive daily.
My question is, what sort of daily maintenance should I be doing? I heard from someone that I should be adding some sort of additive when I fill up the gas tank (on premium). Other than that isn’t just regular oil changes and keeping up with issues?
Thanks so much for everyone’s help! Cant wait to soak up some knowledge here.
I will let some others chime in with fuel additives as I’ve never had a use for them personally.
As far as daily maintenance, they usually don’t require much if you drive them fairly regularly.
The charging system should be checked to see what it’s throwing out to the battery, you may want a battery tender if it’s just being driven once a week.
You also may want to check for any slow drains.
Theres nothing more frustrating than wanting to go for a ride and then having to charge it for an hour.
Be safe with your driving technique and give everyone a wide birth and your self plenty of time to slow down and avoid the dopes out there.
Congratulations on your gorgeous Olds, great choice and excellent therapy.
The best thing you can do for your car, besides regular maintenance, is to drive it every chance you get. This will not only fulfill enjoyment and boost mental contentment, but will help maintain the car by sorting out any weaknesses the car has and make it more dependable. Another important tip is, to keep your Olds dry. It looks like it has been well kept. Again, great car, great color!
Welcome. I would strongly suggest that you purchase an original, paper copy of the 1964 Chassis Service Manual. It is a five volume set and the first section covers all factory-recommended maintenance and suggested intervals. Do not get a reprint or electronic copy, as those are all scans of a paper original and details get lost in that process.
Welcome and thank you for your service to our country. Beautiful car. All good advice above. The service manual will be the best thing you ever buy for your car. One thing I did not see mentioned above was motor oil. Zinc is important to these old engine with flat tappets (lifters) There are several recommendations but many of us use Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil. I imagine your car will use 10W30. It has all the zinc you will need for your engine. My choice is Wix filters. You don't really need any additives for you gas unless it is going to be sitting for a prolonged period. Then I would add some Sta-Bil. Enjoy your car. She's a beaut CLark.
On a car of that age, the important fluid choices are the oil, covered already, and the gasoline. Peruse pure-gas.org and find a station with ethanol free gas. Run as high an octane ethanol free gas as you can find. The other item is a tetraethyl lead substitute additive which keeps your valve seats from being hammered to death. This, while recommended for pre-72 cars, is not absolutely required for cars unless you are really beating on them. With the low mileage and cruising nature of an old boulevardier like that car, you will not be putting enough load on it to do much valve seat recession. On the other hand, you can look up things like this:
My question is, what sort of daily maintenance should I be doing? I heard from someone that I should be adding some sort of additive when I fill up the gas tank (on premium). Other than that isn’t just regular oil changes and keeping up with issues?
The one thing to keep in mind is that, unless it has been upgraded, your car's brake system is single-reservoir, not the dual-reservoir that became standard in 1967 or so. That means that, if you should lose the brakes for any reason, you lose all four wheels, not just the fronts or just the rears.
I owned a '64 Jetstar 88 for five years back in the 1990s. I know it's not the same car as yours as it had a 330 and F-85 brakes. Nonetheless, the brake system on it, which was original, never gave me any trouble and stopped the car just fine with drums on all four wheels. But keep an eye on it. Especially make sure that the brake system warning light actually works because you want to know immediately if there is any loss of pressure. Also, make it a habit to periodically check the brake fluid level like you would periodically check the oil, just to make sure there is no slow loss of fluid.
Again, I know it's not exactly the same car, but I never worried about the gas I put the Jetstar. Whatever was sold at the local Speedway or BP was all I ever put in, and the car always ran fine. I didn't worry about 10% ethanol or any of that. If you can find pure gasoline at a station near you, great, but don't worry about it if you can't. People nowadays tend to treat these old cars like they're fragile and will break into little pieces if you do so much as look at them funny, but remember that, when the car was new, people threw into them whatever cheapest gas they could find. You do probably want premium (it probably says right on the air cleaner, if the original plate is still there).
The octane of fuel needed will depend on which engine you have.
A motor that was painted green from the factory, is a low compression engine.(9.0 to 1)
It should run fine on 87 or 89 octane fuel.
If the motor was painted red, or a combination of silver and red. It is a high compression engine. ( 10.25 to 1 )
It will need premium fuel of at least 91 octane to run successfully.
Fuel additives are unnecessary unless the car sits un-used for several months at a time.
In such case, Sta-Bil is a good product to add before storage.
Gentlemen, thank you so much for the warm welcome and incredible advice. I’m really blown away by the knowledge and that you all took the time to help get me started. I’ll take all of this to heart.
Did you guys join any car clubs when you started all this or did you have to learn a lot of this trial and error along the way?
Car clubs are probably more for fun than they are for knowledge. Most of the member cars will be A bodies. That is not to say you cannot gain knowledge from a club. As you may already know, you have found the biggest source of knowledge available to you is right here. And when it comes to your model, Charlie Jones is the expert.
I'm president of the Florida Region AACA.
Right now I have a free one year national membership to AACA for you, If you sign up for the Florida region at $25.
PM me for details.
Last edited by Charlie Jones; Jan 21, 2024 at 08:48 AM.
Oh wow—do you know a good place to source those complete manual sets?
And thanks for the info on the clubs! I’m really keen to connect with others in the community.
Will post more photos when I get the car in hand. It’s going through a whole range of maintenance right now as well as getting A/C put in and shoulder belts for my kids. First project will likely be bringing the stereo back to life!
I'm president of the Florida Region AACA.
Right now I have a free one year national membership to AACA for you, If you sign up for the Florida region at $25.
PM me for details.
That’s right! I’m in FL for now, but likely moving up to Virginia this summer. I take it I’d be able to find these virtually anywhere I land?
