bobj49f2

When I installed the manifolds on my 248 in my Special I read a lot about the end bolts snapping do the movement of such a long manifold. Both end bolts in my engine were broke off. I spent some time with a spring punch pounding on the bolts to shatter them. The front one was broke off too deep into the block to weld and nut and washer on it. I finally got them out and cleaned the threads on all of the bolt holes, I replaced all of the studs. I did further reading about suggested ways to assemble the manifolds to the head and it was suggested using a graphite slurry not a gasket sealer. The slurry would allow the manifolds to move some. I also used new Bellville washers. BTW, Never Seeze is what I used, if you read the label it made up of graphic and a few other chemicals. I have not had a chance to run my engine for any amount of time so I can't say how this works. I just followed the suggestions of a few members here that have a lot more experience than I do.

You'd make up a form and cast new mats for around $200? That's not including the few mats I used trying to perfect the mat. Wow, that would be a great deal! When Steele and Bob's sold them I think there price was in the $900 range. They didn't have wide enough forms to make the mats in one piece, you had to clue a triangular piece into the mat.

What do charge for a set of mats for a '37/38?

My lasted progress on the running board mats. I glued the mat on a beat up running board I have. By doing this I was able to determine if there were adjustments needed. I will make a new mat and glue it to a new running board I made.

Here are some interesting videos on the straight eight if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/@Hagerty/search?query=straight eight

I ran into problems with the material I used to make the above mat. The quality of the rubber mat started to fail and the company went out of business. I switched to neoprene rubber and it's about three time the cost but seems to be working better than the rubber mat I started with .

I have finally nailed down the procedure for making running board mats. I am going to make one for the other side to see how that comes out.

I don't have any concerns on what to use to adhere the rubber to the board. I made a sample piece and used contact cement to glue and have had it sitting outside my shop door for about a year. It has been exposed to rain, sun, snow and people walking on it and it looks as good as the day I made it. The question I have is what did you do with the raised rib that runs down the center, the area I have circled. I am making new boards for my car so I don't have a concern but if I can nail down the procedure to make these I plan to offer them for sale and potentially will be selling them to people with original boards. I want them to fit properly without a lump running down the center. One suggestion is to use a layer of body filler to gradually taper the area to the side of the board. The rib isn't that high.

I'm surprised you haven't gotten any nasty replies by the diehards on this board for altering the originality of your car. I find it an interesting write up. I have a Frankenstein '37 Special that I've installed a '40 248 with dual carbs and a Lloyd Young OD. I have yet to have it on the road but I hope it will be an interesting car when finished.

For those that have used the rubber running board mats that Steele Rubber and others used to offer how did they fit over the raised rib that runs down the middle of the running boards. I'm in the process of making new mats but I don't see how you can glue them on over the rib. I am also building new running boards that won't have the ribbed area but I would like to know how the rubber mat made by others fit.

When I installed the manifolds on my '37 Special I used the Belleville washers, I bought them on eBay, they were listed under Jeep parts. I also applied the silver never seize paste on the gaskets. I got this information on previous posts here. Someone suggested using a graphite slurry which never seize it if you look at the side panel of the container. I have run my engine long enough to have to do another adjustment. You won't find the torque specs in the shop manual. I got this from a MOTORS shop manual. The shop manual says to use an 8" wrench and tighten the nuts until the wrench stops moving which is dependent on whether the person doing the tightening is 120 pounds or 300 pounds.

You can try to fix it yourself following this artical: https://www.ply33.com/Repair/tempgauge

I have many times jump started my '49 Ford truck with a 12 volt vehicle. The one time it died at a nearby grocery store and had my son bring his newer Ford truck with a Power Stroke diesel to give me a jump. That was not the ideal vehicle to use. The power it takes to start and run a Power Stoke made my truck sound like the engine was ready to fly out of the truck. Way too much power but a typical 12 volt powered car will work fine as long as you turn everything off before hooking up the cables. I take the cable off as soon as the truck starts, the charging system doesn't like the added power and makes a ticking sound. One more thing to think about powerwise. Anyone use their cellphones when touring around in their old Buicks? I made a very simple charging port in my Ford truck. I use it to keep a charge on the cellphone as I'm using the GPS feature. I just bought a simple power port, cigarette charger type, and ran a fused circuit to it ( the case has to be (-) and the center post (+). I plug my charging unit into and it works great. All a charger needs to see is 5VDC to charge the phone. My truck is positive ground so I have a piece of plastic to insulate the mounting plate to the underside of the metal dash and nylon bolts to fasten it. You could also find a plastic unit but I thought the metal one looked a little more period correct.

Dave is a great source for Buick parts. Great guy to deal with. Kemps makes very good reproduction metal panels but for some reason I had trouble accessing their website, they have an eBay presence, you should be able to contact them through there: https://www.ebay.com/str/kempsrodandrestorationinc Classic to Current advertises floor panels and few other items but their pictures of their panels don't look like a stock Buick floor. https://www.c2cfabrication.com/products/1937-40-buick-series-40-special-front-floor-pan-lh?_pos=3&_psq=1937+buick&_ss=e&_v=1.0

I rebuilt the motor mounts on my '37 Special using a pourable elastomer. I would use the same material to do running board mounts. http://www.fatfenderedtrucks.com/motor_mount_rebuild.html I like doing as much as possible myself. Currently I am working on making my own running board covers using rubber mats and my CNC router.