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I just has a thought. Bob's, and I assume a couple others, sell the preformed covers for the '37-38 Buicks. I've never seen a set in person but from what I've read you have to cut the ends and fold them over the edge of the boards. This means when using the preformed covers the ends aren't anything thicker than the thinnest part of the top of the board. I was able to get the dimensions of the cover from the last Buick parts car I had and made a drawing. The thin section was 3/32" thick. I would assume if I made the edge 1/4" thick that would be thick enough. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Mark, I've had four "37 Buicks, all in very bad condition when I got them and their running board covering was totally deteriorated so I don't have anything to reference off of. I have one set of boards from a '37 Special I'm using to make the core of the new boards. I was told the ends have a certain thickness so I'll like to try to accomplish that. I have pictures of the bottom side of boards and I could take measurements and try to make scaled measurement from that but I'd like a better way to get a correct measurement.

I have dropped the original price to $1300, this is about as low as I'll be able to go and still make some money on them to cover my material costs and labor.

Anyone?

I am recovering my own running boards on my '37 Special. I have the thickness of the overall cover but I need the thickness of the covering on the ends, the red areas in my drawing. Thanks, Bob

I do want to venture into other grills and parts that are available. I would need a sample of any part I would reproduce. It wouldn't have to be in perfect condition, I just need something that I can get dimensions from.

Pete, Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought about either of those venues. I'll have to check into it.

I just posted in the "For Sale" board a set of new stainless grills I am making. http://forums.aaca.org/f117/new-reproduction-1937-buick-grills-370433.html

I have started making stainless steel grills to fit 1937 Buicks. I am editing this listing with a new reduced price. I will sell a set of these grills for $1300. I make these grills out of 304 stainless steel and they will last forever, at least a lot longer than the car itself. I have each slat laser cut, there are 41 on each side, 15 different sizes and weld them in a fixture to the side uprights. Test fit them to the '37 grill shell I have in my shop. I used a good, but broken, set of grills to make the patterns for the slats and the welding fixture. The grills have the correct belly and twist like the originals. After welding the grills are sand blasted, slats are sanded on the front edge with a belt sander to remove the laser cutting marks and then wet sanded to 1000 grit paper, afterwards they are buffed with three grades of buffing rouge to achieve a shiny finish. The front of the slats are taped off and the rest of the grills are sprayed with a self etching primer and satin black enamel. Although I have tried my best to make these like the originals they are individually hand made and some tweaking may be necessary to make them fit your grill shell. As everyone who owns a '37 or '38 Buick knows, the original grills are prone to crack in multiple places and the chrome finish pits and deteriorates. It can cost around $1000 to have a grill repaired and replated and then it's not guaranteed not to break once it's back on the car. These stainless steel pieces will be a lot more durable and if they do get damaged they can be repaired by anyone who can weld, sand and buff. If you're interested please either PM me or email me directly with a phone number and I'll contact you directly. I will not require a deposit when you place an order but I will request that you pay for the grill before I ship them to you. I have just started to offer these grills so I don't know what kind of demand there will be for them but they will be made on a per demand basis. Price does not include shipping. I am offering a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. All I ask I require is you to pay the return shipping and return the grills in the same condition as they were sent to you.

The best thing to do, if anyone is interested in the car I looked at in the yard, is call the yard. I didn't take notice too much about the car because I'm interested in parts related to my '37 Special. I wish I had taken pictures but I didn't think of do it.

The headlight was mounted on top of the fender. The owner at first told me he had a '37-38 Buick in the back, when I saw it I knew it wasn't a '37-38. My knowledge of anything before or after '37-38 is very limited. Both fenders had the side mount pockets with the hardware.

Sorry, I don't. It probably didn't because it didn't have any door on it that I remember. Give the guy a call, he seemed pretty friendly and I'm sure he'll tell you.

I just came back from a road trip through Iowa and Kansas to pick up a truck with a friend. On our way back we stopped in a little country junkyard in Kansas, the type that used to be abundant before scrap prices and EPA bureaucrats forced most into extinction. It's a small yard but there's a '39-40 Buick there that is mostly stripped but it has a very decent set of side mount front fenders with the hardware, no covers. If I would have had the time and tools, I would have pulled them and offered them for sale. The owner seemed like a decent guy and seemed to be realistic about prices. Here's their web site: http://169autopartsinc.com/about.html

In the repair manual it says it's a common procedure to flip the gear to get additional life out of the gear. I flipped mine myself. It wasn't hard, just heated the gear all around, once it expanded it came right and before it cooled off I flipped it over and dropped it back on. It's been a while but I think I might have had to apply a little.additional heat to it. I let cool. I worked in a machine shop when I was younger and saw the guy in the shop cool them with water, I didn't think that was a good idea.

I think Steele makes all of the matting like you're thinking of buying from Cars. Bob's and Cars are just distributors, I think. I there are two places that do all the work but they cost about twice as the do it yourself matting but I think you'd get a lot nicer job. One is Hunley Acuff in GA, http://hunleyacuffrunningboards.com/, and the other is Kris Arneson, he must be the one in Alberta you're referring to. You probably know about Acuff also. I am toying with the idea of making my own covers using pickup truck bed liner. I've used it to coat the bottom of the floor on my '37 Special and once it's dry it's tough as nails. It also can be molded. I figure I can cover both running boards for around $200+ and some prep time. I've heard the do it yourself covers are kind of difficult to get on correctly. Not impossible but you have to some cutting and gluing. I don't know personally, I've never used them. I'd suggest you do a search of this site to find the experiences of people who have used them.

If the cylinders aren't pitted I'd rebuild them myself.

What are you using to cover the boards, the covers sold by Bob's for the boards or a generic running board matting?

Rock Auto's on line store has some pretty good descriptions of heater cores they sell. You have to search around a little but if they have a heater core listed they'll have a picture of it and usually the dimensions.

I did a dual MC upgrade to my '37 Special. It needed the entire brake system so I figured I'd go with the upgrade. The X member wouldn't allow me to mount a dual MC in the stock location so I moved it to the other side of the X member. I used a MC for a late '60, early '70 Buick Skylark. It had the same sized bore as the '37 MC. I made a new mounting plate and had to modify the brake pedal arm and made a longer push rod. The modern two reservoir MCs do not have residual valve built in so I had to install two in line, one for the front, one for the back. Residual valves are needed to maintain a slight pressure on the brakes, without them the brake fluid will bleed back into the MC. When you mount a modern MC in the below floor position, when the MC is level or below the brakes, you need the valves.

Dave is a good place to start. I was going to check out to see if this one would work on my '37 when I get to the point of installing my fuel. Fuel Level Sending Unit for 41-54 GM Universal Gas or Fuel Tank - 3/8" Inlet - B1-S2 http://www.leadmineproducts.com/servlet/the-723/Fuel-Level-Sending-Unit/Detail

I am planning to make them from 7 ga. stainless. I haven't considered casing them. If my calculations are correct these grills will be about.10 pounds heavier than the stock grill. With a car as heavy as these old Buicks I think it will matter.

Those are good parts to consider but I don't have much experience working with stainless steel, at least not light gauge sheet metal. The grill are made of heavier metal that just needs to be cut to shape and welded together, the trim parts have to be stamped and formed with special tooling. There was a guy, I think in Florida, making the running board trim out of aluminum. As far as I remember his parts were made with solid aluminum stock with the features machined out, they weren't stamped stainless like originals. The running board trim is another piece I'm looking into doing for my car. There also a person on this board, Brian DePouli, who reproduces the center hood hinge section, I don't know if he's ever considered reproducing the center nose trim.

I don't have near $25K into my rust bucket Special but if included my labor I'd bet I could be coming close. I'm not restoring the car to make money or even have a car worth more than I will have in it, I'm doing it because I like the design. I am pricing out the parts to make the grills, I'm not sure of the total cost, there are different avenues I am exploring on assembly. I am hoping to keep the price around the same cost as having a broken, pitted grill refinished with the added benefit of a more durable part. I've seen the aluminum reproduction pieces on eBay a few times and they can bring almost as much as a good quality original but like with the pot metal grills, I think aluminum would be a bit fragile and aluminum will corrode.

I am seriously considering making grills for '37 Buick grills out of stainless steel and would like to get a feel for the demand. Finding a decent original pot metal grill is extremely hard to find. Having a stock grill repaired with the normal breaks and pitting can cost close to what I am considering for the price for a new one made from stainless steel. A stainless grill will outlast the car it's installed on and also allow some adjustment to install into a car that isn't exactly perfect. It would also be a lot more durable than a stock pot metal grill. What are your thoughts?

Here's another idea from the Chevy truck guys: http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/hood_prop.html