Les' 1936 Model 46 Buick Project

Hello.

My name is Les. I actually posted an introduction in the Buick General forum a few days ago and jackofalltrades70 responded with a nice welcome and suggested that I start a thread in this forum to update as my projects status changes. So, here it is and thank you for the welcome jackofalltrades.

I have owned a 1936 Buick Model 46 (Business Coupe) for many decades, most of which it has been sitting in my garage abused and neglected. A couple of years ago my son and I began the task of restoring it. We have a large job ahead of us because it needs work on pretty much everything and it's going to take a long time. I do most of the work with my sons help because I want him to become as familiar with it as I am (or was).

For the past two years we have been working on building a "new" rear axle assembly. Back in the '60s, the ring & pinion gears broke up and, unable to find replacements at the time (no internet back then), I installed a 1950 Chevy rear end, with housings and propeller shaft cut to fit. Since my objective is to keep this car as original as possible, we're working on making it at least almost correct. I found a 1937 Special axle housing, torque tube and differential carrier we plan on using by having the axle housing cut to accomodate the '36 axles. As luck would have it, according to the parts manual, the differential carrier and all the bearings are the same for the '36 and '37 specials. But the grease seals for the axles are different. I was able to purchase the correct ring & pinion gears and bearings and, fortunately, had saved the original axles, propeller shaft and differential gears. Unfortunately, did not save the housings.

We recently began work on the engine. I remember water getting in the oil the last time it was running. Upon removing the cylinder head, which is now in a machine shop getting checked out, we found that the gasket was "burnt" through in a couple of places and some rust in a couple of cylinders.

So, that's where we are now.

Note: I was able to post a picture below, but any others that I attempted to upload gave me a "file too big" error. Then I couldn't figure out how to insert this one at the end of the message. It was inserted at the beginning and then I had to cut and paste the text ahead of the picture. I'm sure there must be an easier way, but I'm not able to get it from the FAQ or the "Inserting Photos into the Text of Your Post" thread.

Les

Welcome to the AACA forums! Looks like the start to a beautiful car. To post your other pictures, try limiting them to 2000 pixels each way.

Thanks for starting this thread. Can't wait to see your progress.

Welcome to the forum: the more pre-war straight 8's the better !.

We like photos. You can make your own photo album here on aaca.org

Go to "my profile"

On the mid left you make a album

Set privacy setting to public or friends

Dan,

Thank you very much. I didn't know how to change the pixel size of the pictures, but after playing around with the files for a while, I figured it out.

I will now see if I can attach a couple of resized files.

Whadaya know, it worked.

The pictures below show the left-front part of the car and the right side of the engine compartment. Note the Fram PB 1/2 P oil filter. One of these was on the car when I purchased it. The Parts List indicates that the 1936 Series 40 Buicks did not come standard with an oil filter. It must have been an after market ad-on, even though this type of filter is not indicated as an option in the parts list.

Les

Beautiful...Would love to see more of this car!

looks like a nice solid straight car. wiating for update & pics