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1952 Buick Super


2Buicks

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The speed is determined by a resistor if I'm not mistake. The resistor looks like it is on the back of the switch. The white looking cylinder. High speed would probably be the full 6 volts(or 12 volts depending on the car/system). The lower speed would be run through the resistor that reduces voltage thus reducing fan speed. I would guess the resister is the on the back of the switch pictured. Anyway you can work the switch while a voltmeter can probe the resistor ends?

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Electrical wire Gremlins?

In checking out the electrical on my 1952 Buick Super 4dr, I found I have a short in the circuit for the glove box light, doom light, and trunk (luggage) light. Included in the circuit is the rear seat cigarette lighter. Since I do not smoke or plan to have anyone use the cigarette lighters, this is not a major concern except where is the electrical short. After finding and repairing the smashed (grounded) wire under the front passenger seat for the rear cigarette lighter circuit, I am still searching for those Gremlins. I have isolated the electrical short to be on the passenger side, somewhere between the front window frame post and rear window frame post. All door jamb switches, doom light switch, trunk light, and glove box light check OK. The electrical short problem has to be in the 14 gauge power wire from the 30 amp fuse.

Anyone have additional options I may want to explore in locating my electrical Gremlin without removing my original headliner (it is in excellent condition). I have not yet cut/splice any of the original wires to isolate what part of the circuit is the problem. My next step will be to cut the main 14 gauge wire after the glove box to try and isolate the problem.

Any ideas from other old car owners will be helpful in tracking down my electrical Gremlin.

Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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Exhaust Manifold Valve Body

After reviewing Dan's story on his restoration of his 49_buick_super, I am trying to determine what my next step is on resolving my frozen exhaust manifold body valve, see pictures below. Dan bought a reproduction exhaust manifold and exhaust valve body set from Bob’s Automobilia. Everything looks original except the internal butterfly (deflector plate) has been eliminated in the exhaust manifold valve body. All other externals look to be the same between the OEM and reproduction.

http://forums.aaca.org/f163/1949-buick-super-4dr-restoration-project-333552.html

As the pictures show below, it looks like my valve body is stuck in the “Open” heat off position, and not in the “Closed” or “Partially Open” positions. I think my 52 Buick Super’s exhaust manifold valve body has been stuck in this position for a very long time since it was also missing the return spring. However, the engine runs great and is very smooth when accelerating/decelerating the engine. To help try and resolve my stuck valve, I have sprayed Kroil penetrating oil on the valve body and mechanism to see if it would help to free it loose. I let it set for some time and nothing happened. All that occurred was smoke being generated from the exhaust manifold as the Kroil was being burned off.

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Since I have not seen any other comments on Dan’s thread since September 2012, does anyone have any positive or negative recommendations on eliminating the internal butterfly valve. I would also appreciate any ideas someone may have to help free up a stuck exhaust manifold valve body.

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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Guest shadetree77

I, also, did not have any luck unsticking mine. Mine is stuck in the "partly open" position but seems to do just fine. I actually took my manifold completely off the engine today and plan on soaking it in some rust remover. Perhaps that will unstick the valve? Guess we'll see. Sorry, I don't have any info. for you on your other issues. Those happen to be some of the very few things that I have not dealt with on my '52. Glad to know you're making progress. Keep us updated.

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Guest Rob McDonald

The level of detail here is inspiring. Apparently not enough to get me away from my keyboard but it'll be a great help in my next life, when I'm reborn as a guy who works on his old Buick.

I actually did manage to free up the heat riser valve in the exhaust manifold of my Nailhead. It was years ago, when I rebuilt the engine, and involved multiple applications of penetrating oil and not just a little force. It still moves freely and would be a great asset to drivability in my northern locale, if I actually drove the car. I might someday but life and laziness keep getting in the way.

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Guest Rob McDonald

M, please try another method of sharing your photos. These aren't showing up properly. If you're downloading them from another site, like Photobucket, that may be causing the problem. Instead, copy them onto your desktop and then use this site's utility ("Go advanced") to upload them here. We like grandbabies almost as we like Buicks.

I've just posted instructions on uploading photos on another thread - http://forums.aaca.org/f163/re-posting-my-52-buick-super-307050.html#post1157032 I use this a lot and it works very well for me in the Mac world. Hope it applies to PCs, too.

Edited by Rob McDonald
Photo posting shop manual (see edit history)
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Guest shadetree77

Rob, which photos are you having trouble with? They're working just fine on my end. Actually, after re-reading Rob's post above I think he may have posted that comment on the wrong thread. I don't see anyone here that would be referred to as "M". Guess we'll have to wait for his response to find out.:D

Edited by shadetree77 (see edit history)
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Guest Rob McDonald

"M" is James Bond's boss, you'll recall, so his/her real identity is classified information. I have no idea what photos I was referring to. Everything on this thread shows up just fine today.

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  • 2 months later...

Update!!

I recently took several pictures of the ‘52 Buick’s under carriage while on my son's car hoist. I wanted to survey the under carriage to identify items that needed to be add to my fix-it list. As you can see the under carriage is very clean with no rust. It shows this car was garage and well taken care of over its 60+ year life. There is some damage to the oil pan and transmission pan and breather tube. Also, looks like someone put sealer on the torque ball rubber boot at the transmission universal-joint.

Overall, I am very happy with how clean I found under carriage. I have work to perform on the engine (small leaks) and replace worn out parts.

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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It has been awhile since I updated everyone on my 52 Buick Super. In preparation for a local July 4th car show, I used Robert's (shadetree77) cork trick in detailing some chrome parts. I filled in the missing red and blue paint on the trunk emblem and the black paint on the port holes and front grille. Instead of using paint thinner or lacquer thinner, I used isopropyl alcohol to remove the excess paint from the top surface. With a rag tightly wrapped around a cork soaked in alcohol, I slowly wiped the surface. It may have been a slower process, but I think it left the remaining painted surface in a better condition. Here are the great results thanks to Robert.

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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Here are some pictures from the local July 4th car show I participated that included about 25 local cars. It was great to just show off my 60+ year car (she has aged well). There was also a 1953 Buick 2dr Super in the lineup plus a beautiful 1937 Oldsmobile L37 Convertible Coupe.

My 52 Super. I parked between a Model A Ford and an Austin Martin. The evaporative cooler on my Buick is a Montgomery Ward unit.

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I know this is not a Buick, but this is a very fine GM product, a 1937 Oldsmobile L37 Convertible Coupe.

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The 1953 Buick Super 2dr.

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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Dale,

You may have put ice cubes in yours, but this has a water tank that holds about a gallon of water. There is also straw inside that gets wet and as the car moves the air enters and blows through the wet straw to cool down. There is a cord you pull inside the car the rotates the straw bed inside cooler to keep it wet. You can find more info at Car cooler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

2Buicks

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I'm sure they were meant to have just water, I recall Dad putting chunks of ice in a gunny sack, slamming it on the concrete side walk to break up, then putting in the tank.

May have helped, maybe NOT, LOL. Dad was always trying something different.

I never saw one apart, so thanks for the info on what actually went on inside,

Dale in Indy

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The wording on that cooler article isn't all that great. It's not a function of low humidity, but the dew point temperature that doesn't give a "cooling effect" but actually makes the air cooler. Those type of coolers (in larger size) are commonly found as whole-house cooling systems around here. The dew point temperature is the temperature that is felt where water is evaporating. Since dew point temperatures out here in the desert are often below freezing, that's why it feels so darned cold when you step out of a 95F swimming pool on a 110F day! As the water dries off, you're momentarily feeling colder than freezing!

Putting ice in there might make you feel better about how the device is working, but the water's starting temperature shouldn't matter (so long as it's in the liquid range). It's only going to evaporate at the dew point temperature. Loading the thing with ice would bypass the evaporative medium (the bed of straw or wood chips or whatever conveys the water into the air stream) because there would not be liquid water to be drawn into the straw. It might still blow somewhat cooler air directly off the ice, but it would be less efficient than allowing liquid water be drawn into the straw and blown through and evaporated by the air guided through the device. In the blow-off-the-ice case, it's not actually operating by evaporation, but simply by convective heat transfer via air contacting the surface of the ice. If you loaded it with ice, then drained out water when you got where you were going, the humidity was too high for the unit to actually work. Though there may have been marketing or urban legends to "just add ice" to sell units in places where the humidity was usually too high for the cooler to function as intended.

Nahuel - if where you live, humidity is regularly near 100%, this type of cooler won't work at all. Even above 50% humidity, the benefits drop off quickly. They work better the more delta there is between the ambient air temp and the dew point temp. Oh - and don't leave the other car windows closed. This works on a flow-through total-loss concept - you have to vent out the air as quickly as it's drawn in or what you get is a hot, wet car. Same thing with the whole-house systems - it will be 110F outside, and the windows need to be open to let the higher-humidity cooler air OUT.

A possible drawback in running a cooler like this now in an antique car is it adds humidity, which could accelerate rust, if there is any.

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Guest shadetree77

Glad I could help. It came out GREAT! It is a somewhat time consuming process but I think it yields great results if you have the patience for it. Your car looks amazing. Thanks for posting.

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  • 4 months later...

The work that has been performed on the 52 Buick since the last post involves working on the inoperative fuel gauge/tank sending unit.

The fuel gauge has read a little over a half tank since I acquired the car over a year ago. After checking out the wiring, I found the fuel gauge was good but the sending unit was bad. Now the challenge was to drop the fuel tank (without draining the tank) to get to the sending unit. That turned out to be an easy task since my son has a car host in his work shop, see thread 53 above. With the car on the host, I used his steel welding table to place under the car at the fuel tank. After undoing the fuel line, fuel tank sending wire, and loosening the bolts holding the tank, I raised the car until the fuel tank filler tube cleared the bottom on the car. I did have to remove the exhaust pipe clamp so the filler tube could be maneuvered to clear the frame during fuel tank removal. With the fuel tank sitting on a spare tire on the welding table, I was able to get access to the sending unit to find out what was wrong. Taking the sending unit apart, I found the filament resistant wire was broken and the float arm was stuck that resulted in the gauge reading only half fuel. I have included pictures of the fuel tank removal and fuel sending unit (unit was bead blasted to remove rust). I did check my fuel tank and it did not have any rust. However, some previous owner had coated the interior and exterior with a rubberized material. Since the sending unit was bad, I replaced the bad sending unit and reinstalled the fuel tank until I could order a replacement. Working alone, having the car on the host made this job relative easy for one person to accomplish. Thank you son for the use of your shop and host!

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After determining I had a bad sending unit, I started checking the internet for a replacement unit. My challenge was to locate one that looked like the original. All I found were units that indicated they would work in my 52 Buick, but may need modification to indicate properly. I was trying to find an exact replacement with no success. After checking my normal sources like Fusick Buick Parts, Cars, Inc, and Bob’s Automobila, I went to eBay and located a replacement unit that was for 53-56 Oldsmobile (0-30 ohms). It looked exactly the same as the Buick except for the bent tube and fitting was different that connects to the fuel line (see picture below). I ordered the part and was looking forward to finally knowing how much fuel was in the tank when I drove it. What I received was not exactly the same as my old unit. I resolved the problem by taking the new unit and replacing the float arm from the original Buick unit so the readings would be correct between empty and full. This worked and I have reinstalled the new modified unit. Please let me know if anyone else had similar replacement problems with their fuel sending unit.

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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2 Buicks,

Let me join the others in welcoming you to a wonderful forum with great folks. I've not been here that long, and they have been amazing friends and mentors. Of course, with a 52 that looks that beautiful already, you're already shining! I look forward to following your progress.

Dale in Kentucky (Dale's Buick)

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  • 1 year later...

Update - April 2015.

In late November and early December, my son and I went through a five step hand rub process to buff the paint out to give the 52 Buick a shinny wet look. We first used 3M (0594) Super Duty Compound (liquid sandpaper) to cut the oxidation, applying the compound on a microfiber towel and hand rubbing a small area. After wiping the surface clean, we then followed up with Meguiar’s Swirl X and Meguiar’s Scratch X 2.0 to remove any swirl marks left on the surface from using the 3M compound. The 3rd and 4th steps were to go over the car’s surface again with Meguiar’s 105 Ultra Cut Compound Polish and then Meguiar’s 205 Ultra Finish Polish. The last step was to put on a good heavy coat of wax. We applied Meguiar’s Gold Class liquid car wax to finish the process. This was a long tedious process for my son and I, but the results were fabulous. This was accomplished by hand rubbing rather than a buffer since we did not know how thick the paint was. The following pictures show the results of removing the oxidation from the paint and providing the car with a great shinny wet look. (Costco sells a large 36 pack of Ultra Plush Microfiber Towels that worked well to apply the five step process.)

The first two pictures show the results from the before and after using the four step process. The last six pictures show the finished look.

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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In February, I finally tackled the installation of seatbelts in my ’52 Buick. I had searched the internet for several installations and found nothing that worked for my ’52 Buick. I am posting the steps I went through that provided a good structural installation and great look for after market seatbelts.

Since I wanted the GM logo on the buckle, I purchased seatbelts from Wesco Performance. This included two 8” long housing retrackable lap seatbelts with 20” floppy ends and four 60” lap seatbelts. I also purchased the “optional hardware for $4.95 each” for installing the belts.

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Installation of the retractable seatbelts was completed first. I first determined how much room I had between the door panel and the front seat side panel to place the retractable hardware. I used the front door sill hole (last hole) as a reference point. By locating a hole 1 1/4” forward and 4 1/4” in, I was able to tie into a crossbeam channel structure side flange in the floor pan that attaches to the frame. (See pictures.)

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The next step was to install the center seatbelt and the two 20” floppy ends for the retractable belts. I removed the front seat and folded back the rear carpet to expose the floor pan. The distance between the retractable holes was 66”. I then used a string stretched between the holes to place a 22” mark on the centerline from each side. With the two L brackets bolted together, I centered the l brackets over the 22” mark to drill the two holes through the floor pan. Since I did not have any cross beam structure to support the installation, I added a 3’’ by 5” plate under the floor pan to better support the installation that was 4" aft of the floor crossbeam channel structure. (See pictures.)

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The back seat was a little more of a challenge - how to hide the seat belt brackets and provide a good structural installation. Before removing the back seat, I determined if I placed an L bracket in the corner and drill two holes…one through the floor pan and the other through the inside fender well would provide a sound structural installation. I was again able to tie into the cross member structure to improve the installation. (See pictures.)

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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Continuation of the seatbelt installation into my '52 Buick Super.

The second part of the rear seatbelt installation involved locating the center seatbelts. The distance between the outer two holes drilled earlier was 69”. I placed two marks at 23” inboard on the backseat structural frame, either side of the armrest. Using two L brackets bolted together, I marked the location of holes to be drilled. After the first hole was drilled, I placed a bolt through the bracket to maintain alignment before drilling the second hole. As you can see from the pictures, I was able to drill slightly into the cross channel structure under the floor pan. By bolting together the L brackets and then bolting to the floor pan, I improved the structural installation. The pictures show the installation process.

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After replacing the rear seat, my '52 Buick Super had six lap seatbelts. I was very pleased with the total installation and wanted to share my pictures with other car owners. I think this is a structurally supported installation and safer for both driver and passengers, especially for my grand kids. Enjoy

2Buicks

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Edited by 2Buicks (see edit history)
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