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My 66 Wildcat 4 door


Guest unihikid

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Guest unihikid

Hi all

another new member with not alot of knowledge.In nov of last yr i got hit by another car in my 94 buick lesabre limited.Got a check a few weeks later and went on the search for another buick and found this cat in south gate ca.it was at a wrecker off of alemeda and had only been on craigslist for a few days.I bought it for 1300 without a test drive.I drove it home and it sat until the summer when i had to drive it up to lake arrowhead for a summer job.I didnt take the freeway because it made a huge noise if i took it over 40mph.One day on my day off from my summer job i decided to drive it down the mountain,it did well.Going back up the hill i was worried but pushed it past 40 and the noise and vibration stopped after 45mph.Anyways i was told when i had the shocks replaced that my tranny may be bad,so i had it shipped to Dallas last month when i moved here.

My question now is where do i start,the car was made in south gate,has power windows,doorlocks,cruise control,am fm stereo,rear defroster,power antena and rear cig lighters in the door pillers.The radio that came with the car was an after market one,when i opened the trunk i found the original one but it was missing the multiplex,so i got one on ebay.the radio works great but i need to find a decent rear speaker.During the move i lost the rear defroster,and luckly that was about it.The only problems im having so far with the resto is the battery is being drained,and i dont know where to start,i took off the cruise control unit to repaint(the previous owner just spray painted the whole compartment black,and the car primer grey),but i dont know if i should use a stripper or sand or have it beadblasted.Im in DeSoto Tx which is south of Downtown Dallas and sure would like to get as much help as possible.

thanks

charliepost-83287-143139228294_thumb.jpg

ps i also started with taking out the carpet to check the vac lines and found some surface rust,but nothing else too bad ill post pics in a few.

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Whoa, Nice score! That is one well optioned Buick. Welcome to this forum and a sweet car. Can you try to tell us more about the noise that concerned you? Do you hear it at idle? Do you hear it while in neutral but with the engine slightly racing? At what speed did it start and end? Can you isolate it to the front or back, left or right?

As for the vibration, I would immediately look to the tires. How old and is there any wobbling when you first start to drive the car for a few days? if so, it is probably a tire with a bad steel belt.

This car looks very solid. Did the mechanic give you any reason he thought the transmission may be going?

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Guest unihikid

thank you!well it comes from right where the tranny hump is.it starts right around 30 and the whole floor vibrates violently,but when i took it out on the freeway and pushed it to 50 it stopped.the guy at the shop said that i may need a tranny mount,or just a flush,but he wasnt so sure about doing the flush job...or adjusting the carb(it was idling pretty high at 6000ft elevation),but they were very impressed with the nailhead and said it probaly hasnt been rebuilt but has been painted.it does not make it at idle,in nut,or in reverse,but when changing gears from park to drive or to reverse ,the catch is a huge jolt.Now my guess is,whoever had it ordered did alot of hauling,it has a very old tow hitch and with all of the options i would think it would be great for highway driving,it handled the road up to arrowhead better than my lesabre.Also the last owner did alot of the work himself and not in a good way,he cut up the vac lines to everything and cut alot of wires for no reason,but he did put everything in the trunk.

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Sounds like the vibration is caused by something in the drive line but is manifested in something loose behind your dashboard. I agree with Ted on the motor/ transmission mounts and the u joints. If it's the U joints in the drive shaft you may hear a clicking as the car is being driven. Either speeding up or slowing down. You could also reach under the car while it's off and see if you can twist the drive shaft back and forth. More than a fraction of an inch and I would be inclined to have that drive shaft checked more thoroughly first.

As to the general approach to the vehicle, besides the above, I would evaluate how the car currently runs before restoring or repairing anything that has been cut out. The first thing would be to address the fast idle. Is it like that because the carb linkage is hanging up ( from non use possible) Was it like that in California or just after having the car transported? I'm no expert but I would not think the idle speed would self adjust significantly because of altitude.

Anyhow, once I lowered the idle to a reasonable speed I would try to drive the car and observe it's performance. I am thinking specifically of vacuum leaks if the power door locks were disconnected. There is a lot of line for that system but if it was disconnected from the engine vacuum and plugged sufficiently at the engine then it should not impact engine performance. but part of this phase is checking for misfire in the engine, and if you have one, what are the causes. Could it be a dirty carb, vacuum leaks in other lines, spark plugs or plug wires, or something else. If it really runs solid then I would suspect a ruptured motor and/or transmission mount.

I could probably go on and on, but I won't. I simply say do not put anything back that has been removed till you know you have a smooth running vehicle. That way you will not be adding potential problem sources to ones that already exist. If you add one thing back at a time and suddenly find the vehicle is not responding like it should, then you'll automatically know you have to look at the system you just added to make corrections before going further.

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Guest unihikid

thanks john,it was only running rish in lake arrowhead,its fine out here in dallas.the i bought a rebuilt carb off of ebay because i thought the one on the 401 was a after market one,but i discovered its the one that was factory installed,also the shocks that were on it were factory installed(from what the auto shop said),and then i found out the carb i bought was for a 300 engine so its still boxed up.right now it has a major tranny leak so driving it is not gonna happen yet,i start it up once a week until the cold light goes off.

as far as vac lines go,all of the lines are plugged up.one of the tanks have been removed(before i bought the car) and i dont know what size to replace it with,its mount is still there but i havent seen a tank in that area for any full size buick from 1966.it also has what looks like 2 other tanks in the passenger side fender.post-83287-143139229535_thumb.jpgheres a pic of the bracket for the tank.

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I have a feeling that tank in the finder area is user installed, not factory. But I am not certain, having never had a 66 full sized before. I would recommend Ken Reeves of Wheatbelt Auto Parts in Oklahoma, to see if he has a factory tank. When he sells something, it is usually of very high quality, and very reasonable price. 580 855 2449

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Guest unihikid

thanks john,only reason why i thought it might be factory is because the heater/ac lines are super near to it.Ive looked at a ton of pictures via google and have seen nothing like it.

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Guest unihikid

thanks wildcat65,never thought of that.another thing ive never had a car with aluminum drums,one of my co workers said that they warp under high heat and to take it easy when going down the hill(the camp i work at is 6000 ft ele),drive it in 2nd.it did fairly well brake wise,but do you get alum drums turned? i remember my uncle had a 68 dodge 3/4 ton truck and it was parked at our house forever because he didnt want to have the drums turned.what are the pros and cons dealing with these

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Since it's about $250 each to reline the drums, you definitely want to find someone who will only turn them as far as they need to be, not stick them on the machine and turn to a preset diameter, but yes, if they need it, you can have them turned.

Any braking concern with these systems is with the single master cylinder. The drums themselves perform excellent if using the correct shoes and installed/adjusted correctly. Some modern shoe material is too hard and causes braking issues. Have your worn shoes relined by a reputable shop that understands the different compounds if you want to avoid this.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[i have a 65 buick wildcat convertable and is loaded w options pw pl p seats p top a/c cruise . I have two vacuum tanks. one is about the size of a soft ball the other in the fender like in your pic. it is about the size of a coffee can.

QUOTE=unihikid;1092525]thanks john,it was only running rish in lake arrowhead,its fine out here in dallas.the i bought a rebuilt carb off of ebay because i thought the one on the 401 was a after market one,but i discovered its the one that was factory installed,also the shocks that were on it were factory installed(from what the auto shop said),and then i found out the carb i bought was for a 300 engine so its still boxed up.right now it has a major tranny leak so driving it is not gonna happen yet,i start it up once a week until the cold light goes off.

as far as vac lines go,all of the lines are plugged up.one of the tanks have been removed(before i bought the car) and i dont know what size to replace it with,its mount is still there but i havent seen a tank in that area for any full size buick from 1966.it also has what looks like 2 other tanks in the passenger side fender.[ATTACH=CONFIG]160017[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]160018[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]160019[/ATTACH]heres a pic of the bracket for the tank.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest unihikid

well i think ill see about going to the local junk yard and see if i can find a used tank.I havent done too much with the car except take out the seats and try my hand at restoring the crusie control,like i said previously the last owner painted everything in the engine compartment flat black,so until i get more funds for the tranny/u-joint issues im gonnna do some stuff that i think i can handle on my own.here are some before and after pics of the cc.post-83287-143139276507_thumb.jpg

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Guest unihikid

well i think ill see about going to the local junk yard and see if i can find a used tank.I havent done too much with the car except take out the seats and try my hand at restoring the crusie control,like i said previously the last owner painted everything in the engine compartment flat black,so until i get more funds for the tranny/u-joint issues im gonnna do some stuff that i think i can handle on my own.here are some before and after pics of the cc.[ATTACH=CONFIG]165214[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]165216[/ATTACH]

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