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My 60 Electra 225 Convertible


Smartin

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Most of you already knew my reasoning for selling the 58 Roadmaster, so this is no surprise.

So here it is! I have lots of work to do; but for now, I am going to make sure the car is roadworthy and mechanically sound. The brakes are shaky at best. I found out this morning that the booster won't hold vacuum, and neither will the vacuum holding tank. That would explain why I have to stand on the brakes to get it to slow down.

It is rusty...very rusty. Thankfully, the real rust has been focused in only the rockers and front fender rear corners. The rest of the car appears to be very solid...possibly some door rot, but not much.

The top isn't in too bad of shape, but it is shrinking, and I really like a white top...so as soon as I can feel safe about driving it to the upholstery shop, it's getting a new top.

Interior is in serviceable condition, with only the seat bottoms on the front two seats being torn at the seams.

The engine runs great after a little tuning this morning. I do have the dreaded plug rust-out under the intake manifold that causes a huge exhaust leak. The transmission works great. The power difference between this and the 58 is pretty amazing. It feels like this car has much more pulling power.

It needs paint, but that will wait until I start messing with rust work.

I didn't have much time to get photos, but my fiancee took these yesterday before we parked it.

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It's going to be a great looking piece. Not that it doesn't look good now, but with the things you will do to it, well, it will be a very neat piece.

Love the lines, looking forward to seeing a few more pictures. A side view, and a 3/4 shot looking from the rear too.

Wishing you well,

Dale in Indy

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Guest shorttimer

I was sorry to see this one go, but I am glad to see it arrived safe and sound. The documentation and ownership story make it a unique car and I know it could not have found a better home or be in more capable hands.

You have accomplished more with it in the last 24 hours than I was able to in the last 12 months. It is good to hear it is running strong and I hope the remaining gremlins are readily resolved.

I am sure many of us here are looking forward to reading about your progress with the car over the coming months and years.

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James, I am really glad we could work out this deal. And you mentioned the paperwork...it is nearly mind-blowing how well documented this car is. Every receipt from when it was bought at the dealer new was saved. The time was taken to organize and create a binder that shows each of those receipts and bits of history up to the current situation. Totally cool!!

I worked on it for about a half hour this morning, and found out that the carb needed a quickie idle mix adjustment, and a idle speed tweak. Yesterday, within 10 minutes of me driving it home, I had it on jack stands and all the wheels off for a new set of tires. I bought a cheapie set from Dobbs and installed them so I can drive the car...the old ones were pretty scary.

The front drums feel a bit warped, but I am going to work on the power brake issue before I mess with the drums. I adjusted the brake shoes while I had the tires off yesterday, and also bled the brakes.

Photos will have to wait until at least tomorrow when I can do something in the daylight. I've been too busy this weekend to spend any real time with it.

Wow...I have my very own 60 Electra225 convertible!!! Too cool!!!:cool:

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I can hear your jealous neighbors now... ( woman) Look, Adam got another new car!... ( Man) I wonder what it is?... (Woman) What the F is wrong with you, of course it's another freaking Buick!!!

I must have missed a lot around here. I didn't know you were contemplating selling the 58. I thought you were happy with it after fixing the tranny? None-the-less, Very nice purchase. 60 Buicks are so great looking!!! Good luck with this one.

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I was happy with the transmission, but part of the drive to get it fixed was so I could sell it with a transmission that wasn't toast. :)

Also, I wasn't particularly vocal about selling it either. I just kind of tossed it on ebay and let the auction run out. Reserve was not met online (surprise!) and I sold it privately to a collector in IA.

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The '60 Buick 401's are real good performers. I had a six year old black Invicta when I was 17 and have put about 12,000 on my white Electra. Just be careful about getting a little nutsy with them. Like when your first born is standing in front of you with a camera:

post-46237-143142765906_thumb.jpg Bernie

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Congrats on the new acquisition. It looks nice in the photos. I am really looking forward to reading of your exploits with the car. As I mentioned on your other thread, I used to own a 60 Electra flat-top for about 15 years and really loved it, although it had to go because it took up too much room and too much fuel (at UK prices).

I even did a rebuild on the 401 and now have a lot of respect for that engine. Mine suffered a build up of carbon in the inlet ports which nearly blocked on of them and also a lot of wear on the camshaft, which i replaced. It went very well too.

Good luck with yours.

Adam..

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On a '60, you need to step back and look at the car from the side. Follow the major sculpted lines with your eyes and just wonder how in hell did all those angles come together so well.

Then go up to the front fender and look just under the edge of the main fender line. I have never had a fender off my car but I am pretty sure you can see a seam where two fender pieces are joined. There was a lot of work that went into building those cars in both the body and chassis. And it shows in how tight and solid these cars are.

We drive my car with all four windows down often and there is never a problem carrying on a normal conversation at speed.

The only caution I would suggest would be to check the chamfer on all the wheel bolt holes. In the 12 years I have owned my car that has been the only real concern I have had. The wheels weren't designed with Bobo the mechanic and his 175 PSI impact wrench. I replaced two of mine.

Bernie

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Guest 4 bufords
On a '60, you need to step back and look at the car from the side. Follow the major sculpted lines with your eyes and just wonder how in hell did all those angles come together so well.

Then go up to the front fender and look just under the edge of the main fender line. I have never had a fender off my car but I am pretty sure you can see a seam where two fender pieces are joined. There was a lot of work that went into building those cars in both the body and chassis. And it shows in how tight and solid these cars are.

We drive my car with all four windows down often and there is never a problem carrying on a normal conversation at speed.

The only caution I would suggest would be to check the chamfer on all the wheel bolt holes. In the 12 years I have owned my car that has been the only real concern I have had. The wheels weren't designed with Bobo the mechanic and his 175 PSI impact wrench. I replaced two of mine.

Bernie

adam,is that 57 buick in the driveway in the first picture parked next to the 60>.don aka 4 bufords

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I found out that the radio works tonight...and listened to a bit of the Cardinals victory to go on to the NLCS on it :)

I intended to pull the booster tonight, but I kept finding little things to mess with and adjust. The right door sags, and stuck out a bit when it was closed...so I adjusted the striker on the door jamb to pull the door in a bit more when it was latched. It takes an extra little oomph to get it closed now, but the door gap is right again.

I put the top down tonight...goes down great! Up, not so much. Motor needs to be bled.

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Guest 60electra225

I just hope the rust in the rockers is not too bad as they are quite complicated to get right. There is a form of double skin like a vent that is meant to allow hot air to escape from the engine bay, but in reality, it becomes a water trap.

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I removed the booster and master cylinder tonight, and disassembled both pieces, cleaned, and reassembled. Installed again, and bled brakes. Proceeded to nearly drive through the garage wall! Bled a second time for nearly a pint per wheel, and I finally have brakes.

The carburetor is really acting up, and leaking fuel into the venturis, causing a very rich condition...also the rear throttle plates are sticking open just a touch...enough to make the engine race unless I manually close them.

This weekend, I plan to pull the carb and go through it to make sure there aren't any particles blocking needles or whatnot. I am also going to remove the intake manifold to replace the rusted out exhaust plug on the bottom side.

After that, maybe next weekend I will take it to get a new top. My upholstery guy is waiting on me to make it roadworthy so I can drive it to his place 50 miles away.

Oh, and I will give it a good wash and take some good photos this weekend! It is really disgusting from the transport truck...and all the oils splattering on the paint from the other cars.

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OK...

I removed the carb and intake today. After taking the carb apart, I found out the floats were in completely wrong and doing nearly opposite of what they should be doing. After that was fixed, I looked at the intake...assuming I had a giant hole in the exhaust plug underneath. NOPE...solid as a rock...no cracks anywhere. I did find that the carb gasket was leaking exhaust out of the crossover, though. Ok, I thought I had found the leak I was hearing. I put it all back together and still had a leak!! It was actually coming from the top front corner of the left exhaust manifold. I took out a ratchet and got a half turn out of it...and suddenly I had no exhaust leak.

Next project - making the car run right. I was still having a problem with the rear throttle plates sticking open, so I hosed the linkage down with lube...seems to have fixed that. It smells like I am running lean, like there is a vacuum leak somewhere, but cannot locate it. I did find out that the vacuum advance can will not hold vacuum. I have a new one on order along with a set of plug wires. I am also going to replace the points with a Crane XR-i points conversion kit. It fits in the stock distributor and hooks right up to the coil. Can't tell it's there, and I have had great luck with them.

One little thing at a time...the list is growing, though!

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We took it out for its maiden voyage this afternoon/evening to a friend's wedding. Not even a hiccup! It does feel like the front drums will need some help...possibly relined. I'll have to pull them and check.

The speedometer doesn't work at all, though. I may have to table most of the tinkering projects until I can get Lance's car completed.

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I had bought a new master cylinder from Rock Auto last week during my brakes thrash, and it came today. I went ahead and installed it. The brakes do feel better, but maybe it's just because it's in my head. I made the final adjustment on the parking brake and we are good to go!

New top this weekend...

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OK Buick people: The car in in the hands of the upholsterer for a couple months. Free rent :) I took it to him to have the top replaced, and casually talked about doing the seats. He said he had some time over the Winter to get it done, and we agreed on that. Today, he called me back with a formal estimate and said he could get working on it in about 3 weeks, and it will take about 3 weeks to complete. So, We are just going to let him go at it.

New top and boot, front seats, rear seats, carpet, center console, drivers arm rest...can't wait!!!

At least my car won't be around for a while so I can concentrate on Lance's 57.

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