A 1941 Buick in Holland

On sunday i cleaned up the Tie rod Steering center link ..

I found out there was a spring broken to 4 pieces in the Rod so i have to search for a new one ,

it shows also that it is good to dissamble all the parts you remove. Its old an used , for example the gearbox it seems to run smoothly but when i removed the bearings and try to rotate them you could feel so much resistance that it would be a matter of time before they worn out.

Found a centerlink repair kit at Bob's ..

thanks Paul

Hey Paul,

what a way to go! Just subscribed to this thread as you're really going along great and you're Dutch too. Keep up the great work, it's informative and makes me even more anxious to get my '49 56S from the USA.

Cheers, Wilfred

Thanks Wilfred , good to see some other dutch imates on the forum ! The difficulty of every project is just starting the project and keep it going ... till now its going fine . What kind of engine does your Desoto have? 6 cil flathead? Start up a thread for the restoring of your car. nice for us all .

stay tuned :cool:

Paul

Hi Paul, I'll keep it short to keep your thread clean: The DeSoto is indeed a flathead 6 with the M6 semi automatic with fluid drive coupling. It's for sale (making room for the Buick). I just made a new topic for mine.

Cheers, Wilfred

Hey Paul, I rebuilt my three speed as well. I had broken synchro drum on the main shaft. I did find a NOS replacement! The transmission is a huge 3D puzzle. Interesting how each part works together with others to make the gears turn. I have a 54 Buick. Looking at the pictures of your transmission compared to mine....they have not changed much over between the years.

Great pictorials on disassembly. I was particularly interested in the tie rod. That complete spring looks like the ones holding the brake shoes on. Did you get replacements in the tie rod kit from Bob's?

Hi John,

Bob's does has the centerlink repair parts (i only need to order them now ) it is a complet set all the internal centerlink parts , the springs are actually much bigger and stronger than the springs that holds your brake shoes. i can wait another two weeks before the parts arrive overhere ....

The gearbox is simple but you know for sure that it still works after 70 years. Great stuff !

I had another challenge today , i completly disambled my steering gear housing , steering shaft, direction signal switch etc (wow its a puzzle ) . It needed some attention ... looked like the gearhousing was filled with grease but is was some spongy oil .

Renewed the pitmanarm seal , blasted the collum , painted some parts , made some new cables for the flasher switch and horn button .. and took some pic's :cool: enjoy .

control lever housing

complete view of parts

Paul

I'm impressed with your dedication and progress and looking forward to the final stages!

Wilf - great avatar!

Geoff

Here a few pics of the directional switch parts, i like to see how these things work and its amazing well designed , i really don't have to do this to my VW these days

to remove the housing you have to pull out the steering shaft first otherwise you can not get the wires through.

one set of wires with a connector for the rear lights and the other ones for the front .

it looks like an ignition build up with the 3 bearing balls (same manufacturer Delco )

switch with 6 wire connections

Now vingers crossed i can get all the parts together again ...

Paul

I took some time to remove the bearing sleeves from the axle shafts , i recieved the right parts last week from the usa so i could finally get the axles ready

Had to use a grinder to grind carfully through the sleeve to get some tension off it . new Bearings and seals .

I still wondering if the new modern seals will hold . I polished the surface of the axle with fine Scotch and brite but you can never get the old seal groove out .. Time wil tell ............

Have a nice weekend

Thank you Geof,

Now there is a lot of progress , my chassis and rear axle are coated now so i have to pic it up next week, and last Friday i brought the body of the Buick away for a good clean up blasting and epoxy primer

They first put the Buick into an enormous oven, (poor Buick ) that wil burn all the paint and tear off the body , after that they do a quick blast of the body and a ferm blast of the rusted parts . Well see how it comes out ..

That sure is a LOT of progress, you're steaming along full speed. Cool! Thnx Geoff for the compliment.

Lol :cool: not today wilfred. Its going to be 20 degrees Celcius overhere . This afternoon will ends with a couple of beers i am afraid. Have fun ! oh boy....

Paul,

i'll take a Heineken, thank you. When do you get the body back?

Cheers!! They were not so busy so maybe next friday the body is ready . Than the weldings can be done...

So that is soon enough i finally had some time now to clean up the workshop. It was black all over the place of oil and grease. ...

regards paul

Yesterday i picked up the frame and the last parts from the powdercoater .............. i was very happy with the result :cool: it looked nice I only had to cut some thread's into the frame again because of the thick layer of coat.

so i finally can start building up some parts

even the front seat was powdercoated .. why:confused:

I build up the gearbox again with new bearings new seal and painted it black , ( i had some struggle with the shafts and the two bearingballs but it all works again )

Paul

update:

The steering colum is ready now, all the parts are cleaned, rebuild, painted and adjusted .

Paul

update : engine

I took the head off from the engine. And i know now why there was so less waterflow through the engine ........ all the water ports were stuffed with rust and calcium

so i am learning all the time ... the engine has a very low compression it needs a good clean up new bearings new pistons, timing gears etc, so i am going to let do an overhaull of this

great engine .. (and it is heavy too ..) And hopefully its gives us many years of fun driving the Buick later ( somewere in the future) ...

Paul

I too had an unbelievable amount of crud inside the water jacket, and the rad and block had been flushed not long before I took it apart. The hardest part was getting the block clean around no. 8, as there isn't a freeze plug at the very back of the block. It was worth the trouble though, as I've never had it run hot, even on the hottest days.

Great work you're doing!

Keith

Hi Keith, i noticed on this "newer" engine behind the fleewheel that there is actually a freezeplug , zo probably they tried to solve that problem a few years later. I let the waterpump also rebuild and they installed a modern type of fan so it will increase the pumpcapacity a bit. And the modern cooling fluid (instead of water) prevents the engine also against rust.

Rebuilders use ultrasonic cleaning to clean the engine parts now . So youll get your engine as clean als it was new.

to be continued

Today i picked up the body from the blasting company ..

And ... it looks good ....

A Good start for final weldings .. it really clean .. only one thing i discovered when i got home . Something was gone (not only the old paint and rust ..)

I tried to find out were the trunk hinges good be ..... and i discovered that the were melted during the "backing proces" can you imaging, that car survived 73 years in the USA ..

came to Holland was put in a oven and lost its trunk hinges .. !! bigger problem is that they didn't told us that the temperature is getting so high that potmetal parts melt .

I was not so happy afterall .

So now i hope that someone of the Aaca forum members can help me searching for two other hinges for the 41 buick , if so, please sent me a message . that will be really appreciated.

Paul

Paul,

a quick search revealed several for sale on eBay, two are being sold with a complete trunk lid. You should have no problem.

I've never heard of subjecting a car body to an oven in order to remove paint - typically they are blasted or dipped in a chemical stripper. What is the advantage of baking the car?

Geoff

Hi Geoff, the proces is very usefull when your car or frame is full with grease or tar or undercoat. everything is burned away and gives you a very clean car body and you don't have to sandblast it so intensive.

But was it neccesary for my car? .. i don't think so, they made a mistake so it happend and the owner of the company feels sorry about it and want to help to find other hinges or make some hinges.

So i looked on ebay but unfortunatly i found no hinges for the 1941. Maybe there is a salvage yard that has them on an old buick body ?

If you see any don't hesitate to send me a message ,

thank you

Paul

Guys i need your help ,

I ordered a new Drag link kit for the steering arm for my Buick at Bob's But i recieved the new parts and i fond out that it was not the right size , it seems to be 1" orginal and on my buick i have a 1-1/8"size (also on my parts Buck it has the 1-1/8"size ) When did they change those parts and more important were do i get the right kit ? (if i have 1 spring i am happy )

Bobs Helped me out .. it seems that early 41 Buicks had the 1-1/8" steering arm (the same as the 1940 models) .. Springs are available so that problem is solved . My parts buick seems to have also the same 1 -1/8" size arm so its coincidental that i have two early models ? ??

Paul

I ran across this "bake it to clear out the grease" method on another car restoration site recently. I believe they were using 450F for about 1/2 hour, but this was in a kitchen-size oven for small parts. I did not know a whole car would be done this way.

Hi Eric,

Just found a movie on Youtube about it , http://youtu.be/4rAGDkIPkHg

its a huge oven ..

regards Paul

I recieved the bearings for the rear axle this week so i could start buildup the rear axle again , its not very difficult to do but to get the bearings right adjusted takes some time . It worked out fine .

New gaskets and some loctite to prevent oilleaks in the future (i hope ) .

also putting the brakes together with new parts ....

And also bolted the rear springs back on . ... starts to look something ...

Yes indeed, it IS beginning to look like a Buick to me! Nicely done!

Clean and solid! Well done Paul - I am enjoying this thread.

Geoff

Very nice! Everyone should have forklift to get to a comfortable work height.

Yes a forklift is very handy for restauration ...:cool: its an old lady

But she works fine. For the heavy stuff...

paul

Great looking working work!

Keith

Thanks Keith , Now we working at the fun part (sort of mecano box) Just build up the rear axle to the chassis again ....... that was a great moment . wheels back on ...

new stabiliser links and bushings . .. And now we wait for my front shocks so i can build up the front suspension.. I allready had them checked but they leaked again so i sent them away now for a good rebuild .. Hope i will recieve them next week . The engine is also to the machineshop for honig and some fresh piston springs and a valve job . so that can take also some weeks / months ;-) before i can finish these steps .

till next time

Paul

Finally i have some time to post some pictures of the progress of my Buick, due work i don´t have to much time to spend on it but slowely you can see it is transformed back to a car again .

First i placed back the front and rear shocks. Than mounted the front springs including the lower control arms and al new bushings king pin´s etc. ect . That all should improve driving .

than placed back the front brake assembly

stabilisers front and rear

The steering gearhouse is back on including the Tie rod

now i am busy bending and flaring the brakelines , tomorrow i will get the right brake hoses back, the ones i bought as a complete set were to short ? so i let them reproduce them overhere in stainless steel and teflon so they go for another 70 years ;-)

I am now i am waiting when the engine is ready from the machine shop . Another company is working on the chrome work now and they have some problems with the bad quallity of the potmetal parts , so its a slow and expensive process . And we work on the body right now , So a lot to do

Paul

Hi there Paul

I'm Bob from Holland as well. A few years ago my father bought a 1941 buick roadmaster series 70. The car is overall in a good shape, recently the engine and transmission have had a complete overhaul. I will sent you my email in a pm to you maybe we can meet some day some place an admire each-others car.

Hi Bob ,

Great to see another Dutch Buick Fan on the forum .... just the 1941 models are very rear in Holland so nice to know you have one!

Your welcome . And if you have any questions please ask,

regards Paul

Just finished the brakelines a bit of bending and flaring

I bought a universal brakeline set in the USA so with the right flaring tool i could make the tubes in the right size. New brakehoses with Stainless steel and Teflon innerhose wil last for a lifetime

Paul

And after i finished the braklines i pressed in the bearing cups for the front wheel bearings into the brakedrums , lubricated the bearings and `nearly ` ready to go . :cool:

Paul

Looking good! This the part I like where you have to wash your hands BEFORE you work on the car!