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1951 4dr Super project


Guest chevy_dude97

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Guest chevy_dude97

Snapped a couple of pics of progress this week. I managed to get the fender back on and aligned properly. Now I just need to mask and paint the couple items that are not so nice looking, yet leaving a few items in original condition.

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Guest shadetree77

Seeing those pictures is psyching me up for my underhood resto! I ordered the degreaser, engine paint, and manifold paint yesterday. Did you ever decide what to do about the valve cover lettering? I was going to order one of those mask stickers I showed you above so I could paint mine on. Right before I hit the "Buy It Now" button I got to thinking. How are you supposed to scuff the shiny paint on the valve cover to allow the paint you use for the letters to stick well? In my experience, putting fresh paint on top of shiny paint doesn't work out well in the long run. You almost always have adhesion problems down the road. So I contacted the seller and this is the message I got back:

"Hi, thanks for your interest! If your valve cover paint is fairly new you should not need to scuff it in order for the lettering paint to stick. I haven't had any problems with the paint used for the lettering having problems sticking well even with valve covers that have been painted for a long time. I hope this helps. If you have any other questions please feel free to get in touch with me. Thanks again, Bruce"

Hmmmm. I just don't know if the lettering paint would stick in the long run. I don't want the paint peeling off of the letters in 1000 miles or less. What do you think about it?

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Guest chevy_dude97

Shadetree; I figured if I color sand the whole cover while it is off to make it perfectly smooth(as you will notice even with sponge brushes there may be imperfections) I will then add on the paint for the decals(atleast they will not yellow over the years) Then do a final "high temp" clear over the whole thing. Im not going to bother doing this untill the paint is good and cured. As I noticed alot of thinner burning off the last couple of runs with the car pulling it in and out. I have had very good success with that high temp clear made for headers. I painted some ceramics a while ago and they could not be shinier still to this day.

Now the REAL DEBATE will be in color choice for the lettering.

Also what do you think clean off the carbs dirt/grime and clear over the goldish patina or strip it clean and hope one of those "carb paint in a can" looks good. I like a few components that tell of a long road life considering how well alot has aged.

Edited by chevy_dude97 (see edit history)
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C.D.97, Just want to say you are doing a fantastic job on this car. I sure envy you and Robert ( Shadetree77) for being able to work on your cars at this time of the year. You both are very comitted and it is fun to watch the dual progress of two cars so close in nature. I sure hope I run into both of you at a meet sometime.

Thanks for the progress reports and keeping the dream alive for at least this one Buick fellow.

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Guest shadetree77

Sounds like a plan to me. I'll probably do something similar. I've never used a high temp clear. To be quite honest I didn't even know they made such a thing. I'll have to get some. I agree about the stickers yellowing. I've looked at a lot of engine pix on the net and they almost always have that yellowed background on the valve cover sticker. Those stickers just can't hold up to the heat over time. I'm going to be driving mine a LOT too so I want the lettering to hold up and look good. On the lettering color, I've been thinking about that too. I considered ordering one of the stickers just to have a color reference. The stickers aren't that much and I'll have to place an order for all of the other underhood decals at some point so I think I'll just throw one of those in the cart too. Should be able to use it to find a similar color at an auto parts store or elsewhere.

On the carb, I would just clean it and clear it. I haven't heard good things about those carb. paints. Others may have actual experience with them but I have heard that they don't last that long. They are gasoline "resistant" not gasoline "proof" so if you get a good amount of fuel on it somehow I've heard that it will flake. My carb had absolutely ZERO gold color on it when I re-built it. At the time I didn't know about the carb. paints so I just put it back together as is. Works for me.

John, no problem buddy! Glad to be of assistance in "keeping the dream alive"! I hope we run into each other at some point too. You going to South Bend next year? I agree, it is cool to watch a car similar to mine being worked on at the same time. It sure does help to be able to compare notes. As for the weather, I'm amazed it's held out this long. This has to be the mildest winter I've experienced here in the entire 15 or so years I've lived in Georgia. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll have a winter this year. Temps. have reached the mid 60's to low 70's here every other day. Let's hope it holds out. I work on my car outside so if the cold weather hits, I'm going to be sitting on the sideline for awhile.

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Guest chevy_dude97

John, I'm not sure how to compare tenacity for winter work... lol Here on Ford Island us "shade trees" are glad for a pop-up canopy and a garage, to keep the winter sun off our backs...:cool:

I think the only hamper I have in a proficient completion is the time alloted by the wife and my 3 spawn hahaha

Thinking back to the "shop helper" talk I think I found mine.

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Guest chevy_dude97

Haha yeah "mommy" frowns on "dirty" hands

Well I got some more time with her today, I got the headlamps reconnected and operating and I took her for a test drive..... and she misses a couple while underload. (currently troubleshooting)

I also got the rear seat belts installed, really simple and didn't require much, 2 drill bits and a tape measure.

Found a few more things to add to the todo list, the dome light only works with back doors, and the dash lights are intermittent to say the least. (do they make new rheostats??)

Also an update on the paint durability...... the first few times I started her up I had a bit of smoke off.... to be expected right? ok... but 2 months of curing, and about 10-15 minimum runs for curing should be enuff....

lets just say the exhaust paint didn't make it 2 miles. It completely dulled and started to flake in some spots. oh well.... at least the intake and engine paint is still holding out. I may just bead blast the exhaust when the gasket gives and give her a nice high temp clear.

Oh and the other thing on the todo list is to find out if the rear doors are supposed to hold open like the fronts or not. Mine do not.

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Guest chevy_dude97
Misfire under load usually indicates a bad sparkplug wire. Check that your firing pattern is correct as well.

Firing order was checked and rechecked apon initial fire up as I had a no spark condition. Also all of the wires where inspected, cut to fit, and installed. She tends to miss during warm up and then only misses "underload" when at operating temp. I was thinking lifter or bad fuel being my primary suspect. My guess is the fuel gauge does not work below 1/2 and I have not run through any fuel besides the drive home and the road test. I looked at the filter housing for the fuel and it does not even have a filter..... super suspect. I think I will try propane to see if she runs smoother this weekend along with the majority of work I had to forgo due to helping a fellow from work R2 his brakes. But I shall post my findings asap. -Jessie

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Guest chevy_dude97

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Problem solved...... wait for it. PLUG GAP! yep must have taken too much off cleaning the plugs and shame on me for not checking immediately after. I'm really used to large gap high voltage systems. where .02 would make no difference. But yeah back when I had no spark I was troubleshooting and the miracle happened after I set the gap on #1. Hindsight I see where I went wrong. But now I am on the right path! smooth idle and zero hesitation! Car show here we come on Fri!

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Guest chevy_dude97

Finished getting the lights and the rest of the bumper back on.... relatively easy. I R2 some hood bumps and you know what the doors stopped rubbing the hood when being opened. (I cannot wait until I have all of the rubber for it)

Took her out for a spin and noticed she pulls decently to the left, I think the next 2 things I will tackle is the floors and the brakes.

I also "temp installed" rear seat belts so I could drive the kids to the car show. I'm not a big fan of the anchors under the pans. I will also be making better anchors while assessing the floors. (luckily the only holes are in the front)

I also ran into a snafu with the charging system that I am currently trouble shooting.

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Guest chevy_dude97

Anyone know if I can find one of these? Or if I could just swap this part to make it work, Part of the knurled end is warn down and the thing will not stay all the way in or sweep completely across. The pass side works just fine. I do need to get this fixed prior to Jun as my inspection is due then and that is one thing they look at(wipers for proper function)

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Guest chevy_dude97
What the heck?! My travel agent told me it never rains in Hawaii. Whattaya need wipers for?

Lol yeah tell that to my daily rain spots on my cars....

The biggest reason is I must pass a HI inspection which requires operational wipers.....

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Guest chevy_dude97

So taking apart my wipers I noticed the backing plate was really bent(probably from trying to force the shaft back into the tower)

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Here is where the problem is the end of the shaft has stripped out the turnbuckle.

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Just about everything I tried to fix this came to no fruition.

In the end I used some JB weld.... er after it was installed. The reason I could not just mesh them together is it only fits through without the shaft installed.

Oh well it worked :D I also think I found why it went bad, the shaft was pretty rusty and a little bent, creating alot of friction when it would rotate. I fixed this on my vice with a mini sledge and some emery cloth.

Also while I was waiting for the JB to dry I did a few "detail" items.

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Guest chevy_dude97
Nice job fixing that wiper arm.

Thanks for the kind words. I think I will r2 them, after final install they worked flawless but I did find out why it was missing the washer fluid nozzle, looks like the shaft had been shortened as it may have broken off with the PO and thats how he rigged it to work, so with it shorted the wiper arm hits the nozzle. I just got a set of used ones in and have them soaking in MMO to free them up before I install them. And in comparison I noted that the one from my car was a good 1/4 inch shorter than the mint one I got in the mail. Needless to say new ones should be on before this weekend. -Jessie

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  • 1 month later...
Guest chevy_dude97

Ok so I had been slacking, no excuses with weather ect.... But I did tear down the master cylinder. All I can say is I tor it apart cleaned it figure it may need to be resleaved and reinstalled it. It looks like it has had a new piston installed as it is anodized. Needless to say I have a very clean freshly painted leaking master cylinder..... I figure I will take it out again and drop if off at the machine shop tell them it should be 1 inch and let them work some magic. Then buy a new piston kit. What do you think? Looking at it myself I think a small o-ring can fit inside and possibly stop this leak as it sits.

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Guest shadetree77

Rebuild kits are cheap. I'd start there. That might just solve your leak. I ended up having mine sleeved but only because it had some bad pitting in the bore. Just make sure you trust the rebuilder. I sent mine to a place and apparently they didn't bother to check for metal shavings before they put it back together. That caused me to go through quite a bit of money and time trying to figure out why my newly rebuilt master cylinder was still not working.

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Guest chevy_dude97
Rebuild kits are cheap. I'd start there. That might just solve your leak. I ended up having mine sleeved but only because it had some bad pitting in the bore. Just make sure you trust the rebuilder. I sent mine to a place and apparently they didn't bother to check for metal shavings before they put it back together. That caused me to go through quite a bit of money and time trying to figure out why my newly rebuilt master cylinder was still not working.

Yeah I did order one of those off of ebay. I went for the not so cheap one that looks more robust. I noted upon removal and dis-assembly that there where a few seals missing, as pictured in the rebuild kits. I had used a rubber gasket to seal the leak in a test run, but I figure I will run the course and replace all suspect parts.(as they did not appear stock or of high quality) I did note a small ridge inside the cylinder that came out easily with emery cloth. I am hopeful this was the cause of the leak. As now the housing looks too pretty to core out.

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Guest chevy_dude97
Rebuild kits are cheap. I'd start there. That might just solve your leak. I ended up having mine sleeved but only because it had some bad pitting in the bore. Just make sure you trust the rebuilder. I sent mine to a place and apparently they didn't bother to check for metal shavings before they put it back together. That caused me to go through quite a bit of money and time trying to figure out why my newly rebuilt master cylinder was still not working.

Yeah I did order one of those off of ebay. I went for the not so cheap one that looks more robust. I noted upon removal and dis-assembly that there where a few seals missing, as pictured in the rebuild kits. I had used a rubber gasket to seal the leak in a test run, but I figure I will run the course and replace all suspect parts.(as they did not appear stock or of high quality) I did note a small ridge inside the cylinder that came out easily with emery cloth. I am hopeful this was the cause of the leak. As now the housing looks too pretty to core out.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest chevy_dude97

Ok Finally got back from CA and got my rebuild kit in the mail. It was very simple to rebuild since the cylinder was still 1'' in diameter. Needless to say its bleed in the morning and test drive time! WOOOHOO! Oh and sorry for no updates I was unexpectedly called back home for family assistance. I should be getting the pics from this R2 up shortly.

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