BqUICK

We are planning a special re-dedication of our Electra GSX, AKA The Tuskegee Airmen’s Faithful Pursuit, April 25th 2024, at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in Big Flats, NY. Tuskegee Airman Herbert Thorpe will address the audience with a special pre-recorded presentation made for this event. HISTORY: In Spring 2004, on the 60th anniversary of the Tuskegee Airmen receiving their P-47's in combat, our rolling Thunderbolt "Faithful Pursuit " was dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen and was dubbed the Tuskegee Airmen's Faithful Pursuit. Major General Mike Hall, presided over the ceremony with 7 Documented Original Tuskegee Airmen (DOTA's) present as Deborah and I fired up the big blue Buick and rolled her out of the hanger amongst the cheers of 250 people present at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center where General Hall served as Executive Director. Stay tuned for more details. God Speed! Michael A. Joseph II AKA BqUICK

Well, we are going for the big Buick Electra quarter mile title once more. Scotty Guadagno’s 11.7@118 record stood for 30 + years. Dennis Swarthout broke it a couple of years ago running 11.4 with a ‘70 and STAGE-2 motor. He has a string of victories against 707hp Mopars. It’s actually pretty impressive.

I have met many great Buick enthusiasts over the years. I am grateful that so many of the people I have met on this site have been very supportive and passionate about my and other Buicks! Thank you all!

Thanks Ben, it’s good to be back in action. Someone asked about the benefits of having headers in a street ‘67 Skylark. I replied: TA Performance provided me with a set of headers back in 1997. Since then extensive work has been done to relocate port side tubes to clear the power steering box, and other minor interferences. They banged on the ground and were welded. In 2009 we developed a BBB Twin Turbo-Supercharged setup so the leaky collector welds typical of most aftermarket headers had to be replaced. The metal was thin in spots and more repair work was needed. It’s possible that after some use we may burn through in spots. I expect I may retire these headers in a few years necessitating fabrication of a full custom set from scratch. The Tuskegee Airmen’s Faithful Pursuit has been shown and raced since 2004 and run under boost since 2009, initially with cast iron manifolds. We rebuilt her engine in 2022 and will take to the track again in 2023. Back to headers…they are expensive, typically poorly sealed, and do not last or fit like cast iron manifolds. The performance gains are relatively low in non competition applications. Remember the goal is to move gasses through the motor and Buick’s manifolds do a pretty good job up to 5,000 or so rpms. My motor can rev to 7 grand and I need to move those gasses through twin turbos so the more efficiently I can do that the better. God Speed, Michael BqUICK Joseph

Merry Christmas All, this year we are remembering the late Dave Machuga with my annual release of this poem. Twas the Night Before Christmas.... 'Twas the night before Christmas and in the garage, No trace of Ford, Chevy, or even a Dodge. The presents were wrapped and the lights were all lit, So I figured I'd mess with the Buick Electra a bit. Crystal Blue body with a top thats snow white my ‘69 Electra’s a heck of a sight. With GSX hood scoops, hood tach, and Red spoiler out back; the STAGE-1 Electra is real hard to catch. A NASCAR CUP chassis built by Dave Machuga upstate made sure she’d win races like ole “78”! I popped the release and I lifted the hood, When a deep voice behind me said "looks pretty good." Well, as you can imagine, I turned mighty quick, And there, by the workbench, stood good ole Saint Nick! We stood there a bit, not too sure what to say, Then he said "don't suppose that you'd trade for my sleigh? I said "no way, Santa" and started to grin, "But if you've got the time we could go for a spin!" His round little mouth, tied up like a bow, Turned into a smile and he said "hey! Let's go!!" So as not to disturb all the neighbors' retreat, We pushed the big Buick into the street, Then, taking our places to drift down the hill, I turned on the key and I let Big Block Buick spill. The sound that erupted took him by surprise; But he liked it a lot, you could tell from his eyes. With Mickey Thompsons a' crying and exhaust tips aglow, We headed on out where hot rodders go. And Santa's grin widened, approaching his ears, With every shift up as I went through the gears. Then he yelled "can't recall when I've felt so alive!" So I backed off the gas and said "wanna drive?" Ole Santa was stunned when I gave him the keys, When he walked past the headlights he shook at the knees! The big block exploded with the STAGE II sound! When he dropped the hammer, The Deuce shook the ground! Power shift into second, again into third! I sat there just watching, at loss for a word, St. Nick turned to me with a gleam in his eye, And said “Lets get TURBOs & then let’r Fly!” With a wave of his hand and a prayer to the Lord, There were twin Turbos & water & alcohol Injection aboard! We passed Hemi’s, Cobra's and Veyron's that night, Santa punched over-drive and blasted from sight! St. Nick turned to me with a gleam in his eye, And said “Merry Christmas BqUICK!” and we took to the sky!!!" God Speed, Michael “BqUICK” Joseph GSCA, North East Member #33, 1982 1969 Buick Electra GSX “Faithful Pursuit”Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Show/Race Car

Need a driver’s side front fender for 1969 Buick Electra. text me 607-346-5208

Still Punchin’ up! Electra + STAGE-1 = Chrome Plated Brass Knuckles

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thread. Lots of water under the bridge. September’20 The new Holley Super Sniper fuel injection system has received it’s initial digital tune from Imagine Injection in Phoenix, AZ, and runs fine. So many new features to test and she’s dropped ~85lbs in weight with aluminum competition heads replacing the stainless steel. An aluminum driveshaft reduces the weight and rotational mass of the steel one. A few other things help here and there. I don’t know the status of NY International Raceway Park but it would be great if we could go for the big Electra 1/4 mile record before the end of the season. Took her to the track and blew something. Jan. ‘21 Opened up twin-turbo Guadagno pro/built BBB 430. Motor looked good, no cracks in block, pistons are fine, just main bearing wear. She held up okay for 11 years. There is evidence of detonation which probably caused the crankcase to be pressurized and the smoke we saw. Need to get rid of the MSD Pro Billet ignition and put in Holley to connect with the Super Sniper. I suspect that when we moved from FAST to Holley EFI the ignition was not completely compatible. Back in July ‘21, Mike and Mickey Marollo at Marollo Racing completed my twin turbo Big Block Buick re-build. My thanks to you guys for your expert machine and assembly work! December 2021 All new Super Sniper EFI replaced by Holley in addition to the complete new Holley distributor and ignition system. We will install over the winter! God Speed bQuick

Nice dedication to one of the finest yet unappreciated of American luxury muscle cars.

I talked to a few friends about the issue, John Csordes & Pete Majestic who offered good troubleshooting suggestions. I was really bummed out and they encouraged me not to take apart just yet. Talked to Mike T. at TA Performance today and told him about my issue. 0 pressure in #5 and he said it sounded like one of the valves was not closing. Pressure checks BEFORE/AFTER VALVE ADJUSTMENT 1.200 2.203 3.200 4.204 5. 0/192! 6.205 7.190 8.195 I will fire her up tomorrow and see whether we can get her to run right.

After running well for about a week, I am seeing telltale signs of coolant leakage. TA Performance recommended some coolant sealer which I will try. It will not run for more than 10 seconds then acts like there is a short in the system. The only thing I can think of is moisture in the cylinders and the MSD trying to compensate. It's weird but that may have been killing our MSD's over the years. This sort of problem may be solved by Bars Leaks on a normal engine but a boosted racing engine may not take to the idea. Last year, I was at the 1/8th mark when there was an engine explosion of coolant. She blew out the exhaust gasket and #1 piston showed evidence of detonation. There had been the same telltale signs of rusty exhaust water and hard to idle until warm. The hard choice, but the smart one, is to pull the engine and go for a full rebuild. Sadly, there are no Buick engine people near here; the good builders are too pricey or dead. There is obviously something wrong with the deck of the block or something else causing this. This is perhaps the most disappointing thing to happen since I blew the first 430in this car 39 years ago! The past 14 months of cylinder head delays and now pushing for an October deadline hard for the past 3 months seems like a lot of wasted effort. It was a risk I took when I opted to not pull the engine. Even if I could get it to run, risking damage to the new heads or losing the car in a wreck would certainly not be worth it.