Johnd1956's Buicks

I'm still amazed at the oops-we-forgot location of the heater controls in a '56 Buick. I wonder if GM's interior design squad was relocated to Florida for a couple of seasons in the early 'Fifties...

Even though I believe that is what happened, take a closer look at that control. The bezel is done in the shape of the Buick Crest. and in the center there is a Buick Crest. And if someone has a picture of the factory A/C unit it's the same way. So maybe it actually was planned? But it does seem like a fish out of the water after the awesome dashboard in the 54-55, and the sweet controls in the 57-58.

And then again, it is easy to service.

I'll take a shot of my heater A/C control on my '56 and post it. It's just a bit wider than the usual, and like John said, it is quite easy to service.

Keith

Hey guys, it only took me a week to do this. Here's a shot of the factory A/C and heater control on my '56.

Keith

I am interested in the coolant filter, but the only one I can find online is from V12performance and they want $78 for that hunk of plastic! Is there a more reasonable source?

Hey Keith, can you describe how that control works with the A/C? What I am wondering is if you can run the A/C and get heated air, like the newer cars? Thanks.

Brian, I got mine from Tony Gentlicore of the Riviera group. Tony is in Australia and I had the unit in a short time period. I got this a long time ago and don't have his contact information any longer, but he may still be on the Riviera board below.

John;

You can run heated, A/C'd air by having the heater control midway, like you would in the cold weather. That way you have dehumidified warm air. It actually woks quite well to defog the inside of the car. The defroster control is locked out mechanically though, ie., you cannot pull out the defroster knob.

Keith

I am interested in the coolant filter, but the only one I can find online is from V12performance and they want $78 for that hunk of plastic! Is there a more reasonable source?

Brian, look up "TEFBA coolant filter". That should bring up something. I looked into them a while back and I remember them being mighty expensive for a plastic container with a piece of wire mesh inside it. My cheapo' side won that argument and I put a piece of black panty hose on there instead.

The search showed one on the V12 site for $78.00, and one somewhere else for $69.00. I think it is money well spent on preventative measures. If nothinng else it is very easy to clean, without having to undo any clamps or hoses. That alone makes it more worthwhile since I can clean it as many times per day as needed. Also it is less than one radiator shop boil out. The estimate for cleaning and checking my GS's radiator is $125.00 However, I would be reluctant to recommend this for a crossflow radiator, unless your car was sitting for decades without any coolant. On a top tank radiator the price for this filter is a bargain compared to the work/time/cost of a radiator boil out.

I agree John. I would like to have one eventually. It seems like it would be a good addition to the engine that would save you a lot of time, hassle, and money in the long run. For me though, it will have to wait until I'm done spending dough on more pressing matters. Or maybe until I can engineer my own from bits and pieces from Home Depot.

I'm looking for a nice 69 GS 400 convertible if it should ever become available please look me up same if you spy one 4sale.

Thanks,

Kev

Willie does not know it but I definitely pay attention to everything he says. And when the discussion a few weeks ago centered on old power steering hoses causing fires, I got especially uncomfortable with the 58 year old hoses in my car. Upon disassembly this showed up:

New hose next week, with some reducer equivalent in the middle.

Thank you Old Tank for an appropriate and timely warning!!!

And Thank you Lord for no fire in the hole....

Glad you found that before something bad happened!

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JohnD, Nice pic but PLEASE resize your photos. It took me 10 minutes on dial-up to download it. I was too curious not to though. That is what mine looked like before I replaced it.

Sorry about that. I did not realize that would be the result of choosing the large option. Photo resized.

Well, it doesn't look original, but it sure is functional. I also found out that the lower clamp on my return line was loose. God knows how long that's been the case. Probably since 1975 though. At least I'm back on the road.

This is a story of two fixes which were deceptively simple.

After installing the replacement PS hoses I saw that I could not accept the leaky steering box anymore. The leak is coming from the column port of the box and probably looked worse that it really was but in any case it was so embarrassing. That said I'll be sending my spare steering box to Lares Corp for a rebuild. Until that is done though I purchased a bottle of Lucas PS Stop leak, just to see if it would help any. For those who have never seen this product let me just say I was astonished when I tried to dump it into the reservoir and discovered it's like 80 wt oil for the power steering. Whoa. I thought I was going to have to spoon it out of the bottle. But it did work, and provides a temporary fix while I get my parts together.

So now I've been using the old girl a little more and finding myself unpleasantly annoyed with all the rattles from the passengers side. What with all the pot holes on my street, getting out of the neighborhood is enough to give one a headache. So I finally decided to see what I could do.

There were three issues in this fix. First, and most simple, the metal shelf on top of the door upholstery had come loose. I didn't realize this since I'm never on that side of the car. Tightened two screws and cured most of the problem. Next the window rattles in the back window track. Most likely the felts inside the track are deteriorated and gone. I wedged some foam pipe insulation into the groove until I am ready for an interior and can get the track out for repairs.

Last was a issue that I have put off since I owned the thing. The door on that side was out of alignment at the rear edge. This resulted in the chrome strip being misaligned with the rear quarter panel strip by close to a 1/2 inch. I did nothing about this for decades because I always thought I'd have to adjust the hinges. And I didn't want too touch those bolts cause you need a large point size Phillips head socket. For whatever reason, I did not realize all I had to do was adjust the latch. So after a few trys I managed to get the door to an acceptable alignment. It is amazing how such a small adjustment can make such a big difference.

After dinner I took it out for a ride. After 14 miles at country side speeds I snapped this picture of the gauges. That temp is right where I like to see it. Of course it was a cool evening, in more ways than one....

Very nice! Glad she's performing well. Now to get that power steering box repaired to exchange it out!

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Can't wait to get that fixed.

Very nice, John. Glad that a latch adjustment was all it needed. My passenger door doesn't fit right, but it's because my door got hit badly about 30 years ago and hasn't ever been the same since.

Keith

Really? I did not notice anything wrong with your door Keith. I am surprised to hear that it was hit.

A local restoration shop did an admirable job of straightening the door, but the frame of the door was twisted. The hit bent the door skin in so much that the Window won't work. Just last weekend I finally got another door. Maybe that we be the push I need to do a fresh paint job. Don't mean to hijack your thread!

Keith

I am not worried about thread hijacking. Hope you'll post some pictures of the fresh paint job.

Will do, when it happens, which might not be for a while. I've promised that since I'm now semi-retired, I'll get to work on her '68 Wildcat. Trouble is, I seem to be so busy doing other things!

Keith

Recently I sent my spare 56 steering gear to Dan Lares of this forum, who rebuilds steering boxes. After disassembly it was determined that my spare gear was not salvageable. Dan's staff found another gear which could be rebuilt and after getting approval from us, they had the gear restored within a week. They did a wonderful job communicating with me, and discussing alternatives and then met every goal we agreed to.

Today my friend Adam ( a terrific mechanic) and I installed the rebuilt gear. After we were done I took the car for a 40 mile test drive. No problems were detected, and the steering was much better than the setup that was in there. And it was so nice to approach the car and not see a huge puddle of oil underneath. Next up is a persistent engine oil leak. But that won't stop me from putting some smiles on my face this year.

Thanks Dan, to you and your team. Great job!

Thanks again John. Now we will all expect to see the hood of that 56 in some of those great photos you get from your local cruising .

LOL. Took her for the annual inspection today and when we opened the hood I looked down at the box and thought holy crap, it's leaking oil. But turns out it was just the shiney surface. The unit was dry as the desert. We even determined it was just the oil pan gasket that's leaking and tightened it up to see if it will stop. Been driving that car all day. It's the first time in 39 years I pulled out of a parking spot with no leftover telltale sign that this car was ever there.

Glad she's back in tip-top shape. Ready for some heavy duty cruzin'!

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Well John, maybe we'll get the chance to park the 2 '56s side by side again somewhere! Good stuff.

Keith

Keith, I am holding out hopes for this at the National Meet in Allentown PA. 2016.

Allentown Pa would be a possibility, I'll keep it mind.

Keith

If I still have my 56' when Allentown rolls around,

It will be there also to make your two cars look better! Wifey or a friend will have to drive it because I plan on having the 47' convertible done by then!

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Alrighty then, it's starting to look like a 56 fest!

On the way home from the Caddy Meet this past Thursday I had a chance to push the 56 a bit. Monitoring the temp gauge and the GPS Speedometer, it was run above 65, and mostly 72 MPH for 45 miles on the highway. It ran above the N position which I figured was close to 195 to 205 degrees. The temp gauge never crossed into the red zone at all. And it was in about 85 degrees out but with low humidity.

A few weeks ago I found a service tech bulletin where-in the engineers said when the temp gauge is half red, then the engine should be at 205* . Previous testing with my thermometer led me to believe that area is 209* in this car. So all in all I was pretty happy.

When it cooled I pulled that filter screen and discovered quite a bit of debris and scale. Indicators that the run stirred up the status quo. A quick flush and when I had it out today it was running solid below the N around town. I'm gonna miss that car while attending the National.

COOL!!!

It's hardly news that we acquired the 72 this summer. I have been doing some cleaning since we've been home and finding it is much better than I thought. Tonight I wanted to tighten the power steering belt and discovered I needed a new one. Naturally it is the first belt on next to the engine and the AC , Alt and air pump belts needed to be removed to get at it. Well, actually I could have left the air pump belt on since it only goes around the water pump and the PS belt does not. But I wanted to make sure that belt was tight too since I was hearing some chirping at idle. The only reason I mention any of this is cause every bolt came loose exactly like a new car bolt. With 4 belts off the engine I had the job done in a half hour. It is so nice to work on a vehicle and not break anything taking it apart.

Yesterday we had the Chrome Rallys installed so here's a few pics. Gotta get some new centers and may just buy a set for my birthday. Found a garage in town for up to one year. But working on a storage solution right here at home. More on that as it progresses.

Sweet looking Buick there John!

Can`t get over how the look changes with the rallys & blackwalls vs the caps & whitewalls, kinda like the Banker`s Hot Rod.

LIKE!

I like it better with white walls. I would also like it better if the car was blue

Tell us more about the performance of the car like gas mileage, max speed on your gps...

The wheels give it a nice look.

Thanks Doug and Bill for the kind words.

Thanks to Willie too . As for Blue, yes, i can see blue just thinking about that. As for performance, we recorded 14.6 mpg on average. Thats running around 65 with the A/C on and pretty much maxed out with weight. Its less around town even though its empty. I think it will do better now that it has blackside walls, but we wont know till Sunday nite when we meet up with Matt and Ken for dinner.

One nice thing is it runs good on regular octane gas. Another is no vapor lock. But the better part is no washing whitewalls.