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1938 Buick Century Model 61 - Four Door Touring Sedan - Trunk Back


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Thanks. I have to do some research to figure out exactly how to fix it, but it seems that the generator is not starting to charge quite as soon as it should to avoid the problem. I think it is an adjustment in the voltage regulator that needs to be tweaked, but I have not studied the service manual enough to be sure quite yet. I understand why most people simply bypass the accelerator pedal starting circuit, but I really would like to restore it as it was when new. 

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This morning, I rolled the rear end of the Buick around on the two wheel dollies so that I could back it out of the garage. I took it off of the wheel dollies, started it up and backed it out of the garage. I cleaned the windshield and back window so I can see the road a bit better. The windows were really dirty. I let it run in the driveway for a little while and adjusted the idle to about 650 RPM. At that level, the generator will be slightly charging at idle. At that idle setting, accelerating the car from idle will not engage the starter. I think this is the easiest way to avoid problems with the accelerator pedal starter circuit accidentally engaging the starter while the engine is already running. I drove it around the block another couple of times and the scraping noise is gone and the brakes appear to be adjusted fine. The temperature is still fine. Oil pressure is great, and the generator charges fine. I did find one slight problem. There is a slight water leak from the bottom of the top radiator hose. I will slightly adjust the hose and clamp and see if I can stop the leak. After that, I drove the car back in the garage, using about a 6 point turn, I have gotten good at pulling the front end of the car in so that I can just jack up the rear, insert the 2 wheel dollies under the rear tires, lower the car onto the wheel dollies and then roll the car into its normal position in the back of the garage.  

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It was way too long when it arrived. I cut it off but I may need to cut it a bit shorter. The bottom clamp is almost bottomed out. I might need a slightly smaller clamp on the bottom of that hose. I had a large engraving order come in today so I spent the afternoon working and need to finish that job tomorrow morning. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon, I will have some time to work on the Buick and resolve the leak. The good news is that, anticipating the possibility of leaks, I filled the cooling system with just water to start with, knowing that after I was sure there were no leaks, I could drain it and refill it with a water and antifreeze mix.

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It's really coming together nicely!

 

A question regarding your seats. Are you buying an upholstery kit from some place like Lebaron Bonney, or sending it to an upholstery shop to have them recovered? Unfortunately, my century didn't come with seats, though  I've found a split back bench seat out of a late 30's GM coupe that appears to be about what I am looking for. they are in about the same shape as yours are now, fabric and cushioning completely stripped out off of them, but the springs, sheet metal backings and the wood supports and track seems to all be there. Metal, body, paint, mechanicals I can do, but upholstery is something I don't know much about and have no experience in, and have been talking myself in and out of buying the stripped seats and have them covered or keep searching for complete, usable seats which im not too optimistic about.

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Thanks. I held off on the most expensive things too long, as I am paying as I go. I just recently ordered a kit from LeBaron Bonney. That really seems like the logical way to address the upholstery issue to me. I think I am going to be able to do the interior with that kit after having followed Gary Wheeler's restoration thread. If I run into trouble, I do know some people with a local auto upholstery shop that can bail me out.

 

If I did not have the correct seat cushions, I would check with Dave Tachney and see if he had some. If those seat frames are not correct, possibly he has the correct ones. If you don't know exactly what they came out of, I don't know how you could get LeBaron Bonney to make a kit for them. I guess a local upholstery shop could probably do something wtih them, but I am not sure I would trust that option myself.  

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I have been absolutely kicking myself for missing out on a split bench seat in great condition out of a 38 buick that i had seen online about a day after i got my car home. The seat i found is supposedly from a '39 chevy coupe, it appears they have multiple ads for the same thing wth slightly different wording. Although the ad has been up for a few weeks that i know of, they still are asking a fairly pretty penny for it, but after reading your posts disassembling the seat, i can atleast be relieved there wont be any surprise rodents in it and with the exception of the fabric, seems fairly complete. I know it is not absolutely correct for my car, but is atleast the correct style, which is more of a concern.

They are asking $600, although i havent contacted them to see how firm they are on that price. There are other pictures of the underside, track, etc but to get the idea

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Edited by Stooge (see edit history)
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I would really suggest you call Dave Tacheny. If he has the correct seats, or even something close that would work,  I would be very surprised if they were not cheaper than that. He is the probably the most reasonably priced parts guy that I have ever dealt wtih.  

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The problem with sharing your restoration work online is any little silly mistakes you make are broadcast to everybody. Today is one of those days... 

 

Today, I had too many other things going on to be able to do much on the Buick. This afternoon, I did get a few minutes to look at the top radiator hose leak. When I installed the radiator, I used a level to get the radiator totally vertical. When I was installing it, I positioned it where I thought it should be and then used a level to determine if it needed to be moved. I had to move it slightly and then I tightened up the radiator hose clamps. Apparently with my attention focused on the level, I did not notice that one of the radiator hose clamps had moved slightly when I slightly moved the radiator. Today, I loosened the top radiator hose clamps to reposition the hose and clamps. As soon as I started to loosen the bottom clamp, I realized why it had been leaking. The clamp was not totally on the water outlet neck. The clamp had slid up so that it was only partially covering the neck. In that position, when it tightened down, it was pulling the hose at an odd angle which is what was causing the leak. As soon as I positioned the hose and clamp correctly, the hose clamps now both tighten down like they should. It looks much better and I trust that the leak is solved.     

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1 minute ago, MCHinson said:

The problem with sharing your restoration work online is any little silly mistakes you make are broadcast to everybody. Today is one of those days...

Yes, it takes more courage than I have got to broadcast what you are doing. But mistakes to date are minor! Good going.

 

While I was trying to free stuck valves, the number of times I pressed the starter with the crank handle still in .... Clang! another chip in the cross member paint. Grrrrr.

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Yesterday, the grabber green paint arrived. Today, I had a few minutes so I painted the main part of the jack that is supposed to be grabber green. I still have to find or make the hook portion that goes on the top of it to hook under the bumper bars. It is an unusual color of paint but my research shows it to be correct. When we see black and white photos of the period, it is difficult to image some of the vibrant paint colors used back in the day.

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This morning, I decided to install the switches for the heater, defroster, and fog lights. I had recently received three NOS switches and although they will have to be removed from the dash rail briefly and then reinstalled when I install the dash assembly, I wanted to go ahead and get them wired up. I wired and installed the three switches but soon discovered that one of the heater switches was defective. Whenever the switch is turned to the rheostat position, the rheostat shorts out and blows the fuse. I switched the heater and defroster motors from one switch to the other to diagnose whether it was a defective switch instead of a motor pulling too much current. The lighted switches look good when lit up, but the light switch apparently has a brighter bulb in it than the heater switches. I might check the bulbs later and see if I can figure out a way to get the bulbs to illuminate more consistently.

 

Later this afternoon, I realized that I did not paint the jack base when I painted the rest of the jack assembly. I primed it and later painted it with the same odd looking, but correct, grabber green paint color.  

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The 1938 Buick project did not get any attention today. I had a lot of other things to do and errands to run today in preparation for a trip to Auburn, Indiana for the upcoming 36-38 Buick Club tour and an AACA Meet after the tour. Today, I picked up the truck that I will be taking to Auburn. Tomorrow morning, I have to pick up the trailer that I will be using to tow my 1937 Century to the Auburn. I will be leaving Sunday morning and should arrive in Auburn on Monday.  It pays to have generous friends with trucks and trailers. I was seriously considering buying a truck, but a local fellow AACA member convinced me to take one of his trucks instead. It is a much newer and nicer truck than I would ever be able to afford to buy.  

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That is a long drive! If we started in Wellington at the southern end of the North Island of NZ and stopped at the northernmost point (Cape Reinga), we would still be c. 250 km short of the distance you are going to drive. It is hard for us in a small country to grasp some of the distances you people drive.

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It is a long trip. It is interesting to note, however, that trip is less than 1/3 of the total distance across the United States. The US is a big place!

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I took a few minutes to do a little bit of work on the Buick project today. I received a toggle switch that I had ordered today so I wired up the electric fuel pump circuit with the toggle switch and temporarily installed the switch in one of the predrilled holes in the dash rail, near the steering wheel. I also took an old heater switch faceplate that I had and sanded the "HEAT" letters off of it. I then engraved "DEFROST" on the switch faceplate and then filled the letters with white paint to match the other switches. The photos show the results of the steps to paint filling the engraved letters. I will polish it a bit after the paint has had plenty of time to dry.

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I forgot to mention that I did some investigation concerning the bulbs in the illuminated heater and light switches. The bulb that came in the heater switch is labeled 24 volt 5 watt. The bulb in the light switch is labeled 534F. I have no idea exactly what these bulbs are, but I plan to replace all of the bulbs with appropriate 6 volt bulbs which should make the switch illumination consistent. For the moment, I swapped the bulb out of the defective defroster switch with the bulb out of the light switch, so both of the current switches are illuminated the same for now.

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It has been an interesting but fun day in spite of an unexpected vehicle failure. I started out today on the way from home to Auburn, Indiana for the 36-38 Buick Club's annual tour and the AACA Auburn Meet. I was driving a friend's 2014 Ford F250 Super Duty truck, towing my 1937 Buick Century on another friend's trailer. While in the Raleigh area, we enjoyed a great lunch with our daughter. Unfortunately,  the truck experienced a major brake failure near Raleigh. I was able to limp the truck to a Ford dealer in Cary NC and drop it and the trailer off for them to fix the truck. I unloaded the Buick and transferred all of our stuff to the Buick. I have driven the Buick about 1/2 of the distance to Auburn, a little over 300 miles. Beverly and I are spending the night in Charleston WV, and will finish the trip to Auburn tomorrow, another 300 or so miles.

 

I typically use navigation with the "avoid tolls" option. In the future, I won't do that when I am driving a 1937 Buick in little mountain towns of West Virginia. When the navigation takes you off of the interestate to avoid a toll onto a small dark tree lined narrow black top with no center divider painted on the asphault, running next to a twisting turning creek or river with constant hills up and down, the headlights are not really very helpful since the road is either up higher or lower than the headlights. I am sure that locals who know the road do well with it. For a non-local, that few miles was a very entertaining experience. As soon as I got back to civilization, I changed my navigation settings to avoid that experience again.   

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2 hours ago, MCHinson said:

 

I typically use navigation with the "avoid tolls" option. In the future, I won't do that when I am driving a 1937 Buick in little mountain towns of West Virginia. When the navigation takes you off of the interestate to avoid a toll onto a small dark tree lined narrow black top with no center divider painted on the asphault, running next to a twisting turning creek or river with constant hills up and down, the headlights are not really very helpful since the road is either up higher or lower than the headlights. I am sure that locals who know the road do well with it. For a non-local, that few miles was a very entertaining experience. As soon as I got back to civilization, I changed my navigation settings to avoid that experience again.   

 

The money you are saving using non toll is spent with fuel, brakes and nerves by driving on such narrow roads.

It's a shame that such a recent truck has  such brake failure. Lack of maintenance?

Edited by Roger Zimmermann (see edit history)
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Here's wishing you a safe uneventful adventure in your '37 Buick. Back roads are fun, but you MUST drive slowly, that is part of the fun. Get a crack of dawn departure, and avoid driving at night. Night driving is more dangerous, even a modern car. In an ancient CAR : FORGET IT !   GOOD LUCK !     -  Carl 

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Why is it that whenever you borrow a friends _________________ (lawnmower, leaf blower, snowblower, car, truck, hammer, t-shirt.....) SOMETHING ALWAYS HAPPENS????

 

Matt..  Safe trip!  Enjoy the tour!  Looking forward to photos when you return.  Gary

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The internet service here is not what I am used to. Rather than repost the comment and photos, please check out post 2241 on page 90 of the following link for more information on our trip: 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the past 10 days, I drove my 1937 Century over 950 miles.  We enjoyed our 702 mile drive to Auburn Indiana after the borrowed 2014 Ford F250 Super Duty truck died 2 hours into our trip to Auburn. We had a great time on the 36-38 Buick Club tour. We enjoyed an extra day in the Auburn area after the tour, and had a great time at the AACA Meet in spite of the rain. The owner of the 2014 Ford, brought the trailer and another 2014 Ford F250 Super Duty to Auburn, so I was able to bring a truck load of his auction and swap meet purchases home and was able to trailer the 1937 Century home. 

 

The 1937 Century performed flawlessly for the entire trip. The only issue with the car is that another 36-38 Club member told me that my brake and tail lights were not as bright as they should be. In Auburn, I cleaned up the contacts on the tail light/brake light wiring and got them working better. Today, I disassembled them and using a wire wheel on my bench grinder, and a dremel tool, I was able to do a better job of cleaning up the hardware and wiring connectors. The light are much brighter now. 

 

After working on the lights, I pulled the car out of the garage and washed it. I then drove it a bit to get it up to operating temperature and then drained and changed the oil. I probably need to pull the wheels and repack the wheel bearings and check the brake system. Nothing appears to be wrong with any of these but it is probably about time to check them due to mileage.  I am including a couple of photos from the tour. 

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I was not 100% happy with the 1937 brake lights after yesterday's work so this morning, I opened them up again and cut the crimp on wiring terminals off and replaced the wiring terminals with soldered on terminals and also replaced the wiring terminals on the brake light switch. That seemed to brighten the lights up a bit more, so I think I might be done with the 1937 Century Brake lights for now.  I might still do some more looking into the wiring harness and find where the two brake light wires connect to the main brake light wire of the wiring harness and see if there are any terminals there that might be able to be improved. I am also thinking of purchasing some 6 volt halogen brake/tail light bulbs in the future. This evening, I drove the 1937 Century to our local AACA Chapter's Annual Picnic. The weather has been stormy for the past few days and the forecast from the past few days was looking like we would have thunderstorms this evening but it cleared up and the weather was cloudy and comfortable for the picnic. With the original weather forecast, we had less than a dozen antique cars, since most members chose to drive modern cars in case of the stormy weather that luckily failed to happen. 

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2 hours ago, MCHinson said:

I am also thinking of purchasing some 6 volt halogen brake/tail light bulbs in the future.

 

 

I would use LEDs instead of halogens, Matt. I buy them from www.superbrightleds.com and have been more than satisfied. They fit with no modifications, are SIGNIFICANTLY brighter, use less current, and don't make any heat. I put them in my '41 Limited with very noticeable results, I have a set for my '29 Cadillac that I haven't installed yet, and even put some in Melanie's '56 Chrysler wagon, which, while 12 volts, saw a notable improvement as well. They use so little current that my brake lights no longer register on the ammeter in the '41. They also illuminate faster than incandescent bulbs, which can buy you precious seconds in a rear-end situation.There's really no reason not to use them. The standard brake/tail bulbs (1157) were less than $4 each. (https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-vehicle-replacement-bulbs/1157-led-bulb-dual-function-19-led-forward-firing-cluster-bay15d-retrofit-car-classic-car-bulbs/508/)

 

I'm not shilling for the company, but they exchanged a defective bulb without questions in about three days. I have been very pleased. Be sure to buy red LEDs for use behind red bulbs.

 

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Brake lights (LED on left)

 

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Taillights (note standard bulb in turn signal on right)

 

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LED turn signal on left

 

 

 

Edited by Matt Harwood (see edit history)
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Thanks. That sounds like an excellent choice. I have a set on the way now. It is sort of funny how nobody told me my brake lights were dim for the past 4 years, but now that someone has mentioned it, I am obsessing about making them the absolute best that they can be. 

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Matt Harwood, thanks for the real-life info and pics on these LED taillights. I've been looking at the various options and companies that have these available. My '54 Studebaker needs 6V, and my '64 Studebaker needs 12v which SuperBriteLEDs can supply. I think I'll get them on order today.

 

I've already ordered a 6v LED 3rd brake light from J & L Enterprises (http://jandlenterprise.com/products/brakelighter.htm) but it just came a few days ago and I have not had time to install it.

 

EDIT: Unfortunately my '54 Studebaker takes a 1154 bulb which superbrightled does not offer :(.  Matt Harwood, what bulb number did your '41 Buick Limited take for the rear?

Edited by r1lark (see edit history)
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This morning, I actually got back to trying to work on the 1938 Buick project. I got interruped by a few small engraving jobs, but I removed the "Heat" lettering and engraved the "Defrost" lettering on the switch plate that came with the replacement defroster switch. I had previously done an old switch plate and could have used it but the color of the old switch plate was enough different from the new switch plates that I thought I would prefer the new one. I got that done and paint filled and was happy with the switches. The heater switch felt a little bit loose but everything was working. I decided to let the heater and defroster run for a little bit as a test. After a while, I noticed that the heater switch started acting strange. Apparently the spring that holds the contact on the rheostat was a little bit too loose. It got hot, the spring compressed even more, the bulb's solder contact started to melt and the switch stopped working. I pulled the switch out, disassembled it, and using the spring and insulator from the first defective defroster switch, I was able to build a working switch. Now I only need to get a set of matching correct bulbs for the switches and I think that the switches are finished. Sometimes the little jobs can require more time than you would think, but at least I did finally get something accomplished on the project.

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Yesterday afternoon, I spent a few hours helping a friend work on another friend's 1970 Chevrolet Truck. Pulling the driveshaft for a bearing replacement was not the quick and easy job he had hoped. The truck is a bit of a rusty mess. My friend has rebuilt the rocker panels and it really needs a bed.  Removal of the driveshaft to be able to press the old bearing out and press a new bearing in was worse than expected due to how rusty everything was but we got it done.

 

Today, I decided it was time to spend some time cleaning up the garage. It is in much better shape for restoration and other work now. I also did solve the light bulb issue for the lighted switches. At the recent Auburn AACA Meet, I bought a few odds and ends in the swap meet. Included in a bundle of stuff that I bought was a box containing a bunch of 6 volt bulbs of various sizes. I checked the bulbs today and found that every one of them was actually good. I found three that would work in the lighted switches and now the lighting on the switches look like it should. I then repackaged all of the spare bulbs in a plastic bag.

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Matt...what bulb did you ultimately use in the switches?  I have the same issue, very dull "HEAT" and a bright "LITE".  Is there a number on the correct bulb you used?

 

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Today, I did not have any time to work on the 1938 Buick. The new LED tail light bulbs for my 1937 Century arrived today so I installed them this afternoon. I should have taken some more before photos. I had recently made a lot of improvement to the tail lights by cleaning up and changing the various terminals in the wiring harness. 

 

The first photo shows the tail lights with the original 1154 bulb on the left and the new LED bulb on the right. 

The second photo shows tail lights with both LED bulbs.

The third photo shows brake lights with the LED bulbs.

The last photo shows what the LED bulb looks like.

The tail light and brake light photos are taken with no flash in the garage with the lights off but a bit of natural sunlight filtering through the windows. I am much happier with my tail lights and brake lights now. 

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On 5/18/2018 at 8:47 AM, r1lark said:

Matt Harwood, thanks for the real-life info and pics on these LED taillights. I've been looking at the various options and companies that have these available. My '54 Studebaker needs 6V, and my '64 Studebaker needs 12v which SuperBriteLEDs can supply. I think I'll get them on order today.

 

I've already ordered a 6v LED 3rd brake light from J & L Enterprises (http://jandlenterprise.com/products/brakelighter.htm) but it just came a few days ago and I have not had time to install it.

 

EDIT: Unfortunately my '54 Studebaker takes a 1154 bulb which superbrightled does not offer :(.  Matt Harwood, what bulb number did your '41 Buick Limited take for the rear?

 

 

Paul,

 

I followed Matt Harwood's link to their website. I was originally a bit confused too because I was looking for an 1154 bulb as well. All I could find listed on their website was 1157. The 1154 bulbs and 1157 bulb use the same base. They just call them all 1157's on their website. You select the 1157 and then check the blocks for 6 volt, red, and 15 degree beam angle and what they send works on 6 volts in place of an 1154 bulb for tail/brake lights. It is part number 1157-x19-xV-CAR. 

 

I think this link will take you to it: https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/tail-brake-turn/1157-led-bulb-dual-function-19-led-forward-firing-cluster-bay15d-retrofit-car-classic-car-bulbs/508/

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