WOW. I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. I saw the first picture and couldn't believe you saw that as "ratty". I WISH my bumpers looked like that! Then of course I saw the next one haha. Honestly if I saw a car whose bumpers looked like the "before" picture, I would go "wow the bumper looks brand new". Just shows ya what it's ACTUALLY supposed to look like LOL.

Call me picky

I really hate the way bent and crooked bumpers look.


In other news, I dropped the transmission pan and replaced the filter and gasket. I also replaced the o-ring that seals the electrical wires for the kickdown switch that goes through the case. It appears I have found the leak culprit. ALSO, it seems to have been starving for fluid with the old filter...causing a whining sound. The car no longer whines at all.

It'c coming along!!

Adam,

Looking good! Those '72 rub strips just didn't look right on the '71 trunk-lid trim ("BUICK" letters).

"LeCenturion" is finally coming along; wet sanding was occurring about three weeks ago; I was expecting it back around now, but again not hearing from Mr. Paint Guy in a timely manner .

Here's a question to draw on your expertise with the tail light assemblies: I finally scored a decent set of Centurion tail lights, which include the pieces that are kind-of "eyebrows", that fit up under the closed trunk lid, the ones not present on a LeSabre. They are practically sand-blasted, would need to have them chromed. If I leave them off, will the mounting points on the Centurion tail light units (which are not present on LeSabre tail lights) show cosmetically after assembly?

Thanks as always in advance,
Steve.

Nope...they are visually the same as the LeSabre taillights, with the mounts hiding behind the fiberglass/plastic upper taillight surrounds. So if you left off the chrome eyebrows, there is no problem. ASSUMING you didn't drill the fiberglass surrounds to mount the eyebrows already...

Where did you have your car painted? Locally, or did you send it away? Are there any pictures?:D

Locally, he's a nephew of a car-guy friend of mine, runs a little used car business and paints/restores cars in his backyard garage. No pics yet, just the old "before" shots that you've seen. Going w/ the original Nocturne Blue. I'll definitely post when I get it back.

Will I have to drill the gray fiberglass to retain the eyebrows? I have them all assembled, with the eyebrows just fastened to the top of the tail light units. Does one have to mount the tail light, then replace the fiberglass, then drill through it to run screws from the eyebrows to the anchor points? I'm thinking, if it's like that I'll probably leave them off. The Centurion grids on the lights, along with the trunk lid moldings, should be dress-up enough. BUT......

Still on the lookout for a decent Centurion grille (and inserts for the bumper of course).

Wow, there it goes again. Totally didn't notice that it was bent.....now that you pointed it out I do see it.

As usual, you are doing a great job. Whenever I clean things like this, I always feel that the parts are sticky. Do you run into this? If not, how do you avoid it?

Ed

If you're referring to the interior, I didn't run into a sticky situation at all:D

Everything's nice and dry.

What kinds of cleaners do you use?

Yeah-I mean the inside , especially the steering wheel. I use whatever cleaner I have- 409, Simple Green, etc. I recently had a 74 Nova SS and I could never seem to get the steering wheel clean enough. It was always sticky. If I hadn't sold it to buy my Buick, I would have had to replace the wheel. It was a desert car-maybe that enters into it.

Ed

The "sticky steering wheel" situation is pretty common.

Simple green has worked for me in the past. Use a scrub brush and work on it...a lot.

...from years of "hand scunge"

Mike

Grabbed some road wheels this evening from a guy on Craigslist...

All done with the buffing!

Arms and left shoulder are going to be sore tomorrow...

I was hoping the repainted quarter panel would blend a little better, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb.

Looking good!

Hey Adam, here's a question for you: do your windows roll hard up and down/need lubrication? If so, have you addressed it, and what did you use for lubricant/where did you lubricate? LeCenturion's got one slowww-moving driver's window....

Thanks in advance,
Steve.

Do you have power windows? And, have you already added the window frames?

Yes, power windows...window frames not on yet.

Pull the door panels and spray the [censored] out of all the tracks, rollers, and gears with white lithium grease. If you can reach the shaft of the motor itself, that may help as well.

The old grease gets dry and hard, causing a lot of the problems associated with slow power windows.