E-mail your tech questions to us at carcraft@primedia.com (include the words "What's Your Problem?" in the subject line) or fax them to 323/782-2223. All correspondence must be signed with the sender's real name (not a nickname or a screen name) and include the sender's hometown and state or province. While mail cannot be answered personally, Car Craft will publish as many letters and replies as space permits. Photos are welcome, but no materials will be returned.
Designer BoostI have an '85 Buick T-Type with the WH-1 option. Several Buick Web sites say WH-1 is a rare "Designer's Series" package but couldn't provide any additional information. I was hoping you could help me find out more about this option.Brandon SniderBurton, MI
Our source material lists the WH-1 option for the '84 and '86 model years, but not the '85. This could be a simple oversight on the publisher's part; the package was apparently the same for both years, so it was likely the same for the '85 as well. The WH-1 is, in fact, the Regal T-Type Designer's Package, which included "special black and dark gray Designer's Accent paint, black front air dam, and black rear deck spoiler." Our production figures don't break out the WH-1, but since there were only 2,100 non-Grand National Turbo Regals that year, you can figure that the WH-1 is rather uncommon.
Deductive DiagnosticsI installed an Edelbrock intake on my 307-powered '69 Camaro after the testdrive. It started to miss on cylinders No. 2 and 8. I removed the intake and found that there was antifreeze inside. I returned the intake and pulled the head and took it to the machine shop to get it checked. It turns out that I had a bad head gasket. After I put it all back together it ran fine for about 200 miles, but now it's acting up again, and this time I don't have the antifreeze leakage. The machine shop says the cam or the lifters could be bad. I was told to back the lifters off and let them click for a while because they may be collapsed. What do you think?S. Lambersonvia e-mail
When you say the intake had antifreeze in it, we'll assume you mean inside the intake ports, since antifreeze does circulate through the intake manifold at the front crossover (where the thermostat housing bolts on). Small-block Chevy cylinder heads have coolant passages at each end, located outside of the intake port pairs; the front passages mate to the coolant crossover in the intake while the rears are normally blocked off by the intake. It sounds like your intake manifold gaskets were not sealed properly, allowing coolant to leak, where it was probably drawn into the adjacent intake ports, which on the passenger-side engine bank would be No. 2 and No. 8.
We're not sure why you thought the head gaskets were at fault, since there's no way we can think of to get coolant past a head gasket and into the intake manifold without having some serious problems. This is where deductive reasoning needs to be exercised. If the car ran fine before the intake was installed, but not afterwards, chances are good that the problem has to do with the intake installation. It's also a safe bet that the manifold was not at fault, since Edelbrock is known for high quality, and has been manufacturing small-block Chevy intake manifolds for decades with great success.