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I purchased my 1974 Pontiac Astre Station Wagon on July 31, 1981. It is my first car and it meant "freedom". I didn't have any idea that the Vega and Astre had such a poor performance record. Hell, it was mine and I was mobile. After driving it for a year, I started tinkering with the engine. Fuel prices were high and the carburetor looked dirty. I went to Canadian Tire and purchased a Carter Zip kit to retrofit the carb. After redoing the carb, I decided to give it a paint job. Now, that is where the adventure began. The Astre was stripped to the bone leaving just the body. The body had no rust but the doors were total rust. I found a guy who said I could strip his Astre Safari Wagon of whatever I wanted as long as he could drive the remaining hulk to Active Recycling. I arrived at his place just after he left for work and had the thing stripped down to the body by the time he arrived home. He was burned seeing the skeleton of his car sitting there. He demanded I throw my rusted out doors into the back to add some weight to his car. I kept the best parts from both cars. The new doors had zero rust and the new seats were great. The body was sanded down and I tried my hand at minor body work. The date now is about July, 1982. The car was stored in my parent's yard and there it sat for 4 years. Move to December, 1986. I bought a house and my parents decided it was time for the Astre to leave their backyard. I drove the beast over to my place and put it in the garage. My wife said that I had to have it out by July, 1987 or else she was calling Active Recycling. I made sure to keep the key in a safe place. In the summer of 1987, I finished the body work, primed and put a coat of paint on. This was my first, and so far last, time trying to paint a car. It went on not badly for my first time. The candy apple red was very bright. Time moves on. I had to move all the car parts out of the basement into the garage. My registration papers were in one of the cardboard boxes that the squirrels just loved to use for nesting. I had not made any records of the papers so I was now without proof this car belonged to me. We are at July, 1988. The Astre will now sit for 10 years in the garage. I do start it from time to time but not too often. It is now July, 1998. I decide to start working on this car. I should mention that I am not that good with cars but I tinker with them. How was I to know if you leave gas in a tank for a decade it changes to sludge and varnish?!? My baby wouldn't start when I put the key in. I purchased a new battery and still nothing. I had the alternator rebuilt. Nope, nothing. So I decided to check in the tank....I put my noise to the gas cap.. wheewwwww! What kind of smell is that? When I dropped the tank, I couldn't believe what I saw after removing the fuel pump. There was an orange, foul-smelling sludge in the bottom of the tank. I scooped the sludge out and put it into an old gas container. I took this sludge to a proper toxic waste depot for disposal. What was left in the tank was red rust....lots of red rust. My fuel pump was toasted too. I was traveling at the time across Western Canada and I managed to find a new fuel pump in Calgary (this was before EBAY....bless the creators of EBAY). I can remember rushing for the plane back to Vancouver when I asked the cab driver to stop at this auto parts place. They couldn't remember the last time they sold a VEGA fuel pump to anyone. I now had a new fuel pump that I know worked. The fuel tank was a problem. How would I get rid of the rust so that I wouldn't ruin the new fuel pump? I went to Home Depot and asked an associate if they had rust removal products. After questioning me, the associate told me about this guy called "Vega Dave". haa haa. You know it. How was I to know I was living just up the street from the guru of Vega knowledge and parts in North America. I looked Vega Dave up in the phone book and he certainly existed. We arranged a meeting and it was a revelation when I visited his warehouse. If you are ever heading up to the Vancouver, BC area, be sure to call ahead to tour Vega Dave's warehouse. When I walked into Dave's place, it was right out of a GM warehouse. Everything is neatly ordered and Dave has everything. I mean EVERYTHING! He also knows everything about Vegas. Dave sold me a new gas tank and a fuel pump / fuel gauge unit. The really cool thing about Dave is he backs the parts he sells. I noticed a small hole one of the sending units when I got home. I called Dave and he told me to come back so he could replace it. If you ever need parts for your Vega or Astre, be sure to give this gentleman a call. Moving on... with the new tank , fuel pump, and sending unit in hand, I decided to rust-proof the new tank. Have you ever heard of POR-15? POR-15 products are incredible. I ordered a gas tank kit from the POR-15 people in Montreal (stuff is expensive but it works and is cheaper than getting your tank dipped). The kit contains a 3 step process to line your tank with an impervious coating. The first step cleans the metal with a product called Marine Clean. The second step is called Metalprep. This stuff is kewl. When you put the rusty part into it, the solution bubbles and totally removes the rust. I poured the contents of the Metalprep into my new tank. What this does is KILL any rust (you have to kill rust before painting it) and it leaves a zinc sulfate coating to prevent reoxidation of the part. The third step is to pour in the POR-15 Gas tank liner. This stuff is like liquid aluminum. It even fills small holes in the tank. I would put one coat on and let it dry for a day before the next coat. I had enough stuff to line both my gas tanks with 3 coats each. I even had enough left over for the lawn mower tank. These tanks will last forever now. I put the new tank in my Astre and have a back-up tank...just in case. haa haa I reverse flushed the gas lines and used the metal prep to eliminate any rust internally. I reverse flushed the lines again with fresh gas and now it was trial time. (Oh, before I go on. If you don't use gas stabilizer in your project car, you should. If I had used gas stabilizer in my car originally, it would have prevented the gas changing to varnish. ) I also installed an after-market inline gas filter. The wee-little gas filter attached to the carb couldn't really filter out too much and I suggest these inline filters to protect your engine. For 5 bucks, it is a good safety investment. The car fired up on the third try. I was delighted and amazed. Yahoo. I think I heard my lovely wife yell, "Oh, s**t!" from the house. I told her if I couldn't get it started, it was off to the junk heap.. haa haa. I now had to prove to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, that I was the rightful owner of this Astre. Remember, the squirrels had eaten my registration papers. I spoke with a very helpful person in archives who would track down my registration for $20. Alright! They actually discovered that the VIN on my car did not match the original registration papers. Yep, back in 1974, this thing had the incorrect VIN put into the system. ICBC was very helpful and I was impressed they could find a registration paper from back in 1982 (that was the last time I had it on the road.....about 17 years earlier). My car made it through AIRCARE with flying colors and I have had it through a second time. I put it on the road for about 3 months of the year because regular insurance is too expensive to keep it running all year long. Over the last year, I replaced the carb bowl float and tripped back out to Vega Dave's warehouse for a couple radio knobs and seat-belt loops to finish off my car. I am now applying for COLLECTOR plates from ICBC. I hope it makes it because this old beast is certainly a COLLECTOR. Everything is totally stock...even the little 140 cu inch 4 banger in there. If I get COLLECTOR plates, I will be able to keep it on the road all year. I hope you liked the history of my 1974 Pontiac Astre Station Wagon. |
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