rapidride2

HMMM,, I've seen 3-4 buicks within a 100 sq. miles or so from me and they all have screws in the vin. One is even 19 hrs away with screws in the vin?

This is the cowl tag for my 1952 Buick Roadmaster Riviera. The first line is blank? not stating it's a 76r. Is this unusual?

Well,,, after further review with an inspection mirror it was noticed today that the seemingly repairable 320 exhaust manifold is also cracked. not quite as bad as the one i already have but indeed pretty bad. After the second look i decided not to purchase the engine(this was the only way i could get the manifold) Anyways since the floors are gone in this car i've long realized this won't be a pebble beach car lol,,, i think i am going to purchase a custom built header for this 320. This will definitely eliminate the expensive labor for repair and possible recracks to come.... That is unles someone has an uncracked center-section,,,,lol.. All in all, i'm forced to go another route in getting this car road worthy. That is unless someone has an uncracked center-section for sale,,,,lol.. Thanks to all who helped out.

I've located a 52' 4 barell exhaust manifold for my 52' roadmaster. It is cracked, however not extremely bad. It seems as it could be welded without alot of work. I do know cast-iron needs to be preheated and braized etc. My question is: Is there someone who knows the in/outs of this repair? I WANT THIS THING TO LAST after it is repaired. I do realize this was due to poor engineering along with stuck heat risers that caused these to crack. But it seems i have read somewhere that this problem can be corrected,,, If this is true could someone point me in the right direction to someone who knows how to do this repair properly? Thanks for any other advice. p.s. My title meant to be 320 4 barell "exhaust" manifold...

Were these still hydraulic or electric power windows? Any leads on a 53' coupe deville in good, driver, easily restorable condition?

I am 35 and have really grown to appreciate the styling of the 53' cadillac. Could someone tell me what were the different styles of the 2-DOOR cars only Were all the 2-doors series 62? Were all the 2-doors on the same wheelbase? If so what options set the cars apart? Thanks in advance.

HMMM,,, i tested the vacuum advance with a hand vacuum pump. It moves very freely at low vacuum levels and it seems to move in a full range of motion.

Carb King. Any other options?

Well, today i adjusted the floats to achieve a very slight drip out of both sight plugs. I am still having the same problem. The acc. pump squirters don't begin to squirt any fuel until right whem the secondary throttle blades begin to open. If i do a full throttle "snap" from say 1200 rpm's on up it performs flawlessly. This is because i snap the throttle far enough to achieve squirt from the acc. pump. However off idle there is no squirt and the engine still stumbles and "falls on it's face." I installed a new fuel tank, fuel line, and fuel pump. Maybe i should check fuel pressure??? At idle,, the bowl level seems to stay consistent as viewing through the sight plugs.

Are there any differences between the 52' Buick Special and the Roadmaster steering wheels? Meaning between the wheel design/size and chrome ring and horn medallion etc? I have a roadmaster. I know someone who has a Special wheel. Just wondering if they are the same? Thanks, Matt.

Actually what i meant to say was that there was a slight drip from the sight plugs before the rebuild. I can' t wait to readjust the floats and see what happens.

Jon, I definitely did have to change the fuel float setting. So obviously this seems it can be narrowed down to the float level change. I guess i'll add 1/8 to my measurement and see what happens? I was leary about resetting them due to having the proper, light fuel drip before when the car was running. However, I decided to go with the factory settings. I do have the early float style without the ribs and checked and rechecked them afTer setting them to factory settings. Thanks for giving me some more hope and thanks again for your time!!! I may try this this evening.

Hmmm. I set the float levels to factory specs. Withthe engine running, when i remove the sight plugs on the side of the carburetor the fuel level is about 1/8" below the threaded holes.

Well, i am just about to give up. So,,, I took othe carb off again. I replaced the old acc. pump i temporarily had in the carb for testing that didn't work with the new acc. pump that was in the kit. I was unable to get a good vacuum pull on the acc. pump circuit due to not having the exact adapter needed. I also took a small hammer and punch and used the old needle check as a guide and rapped the needle check 3-4 different times in hope to reestablish a new seat. When i pulled out the check i could see where it was seating, both on the needle check and down it's passage. I reassembled the carb and i am still having the same problems. My goal was to get this carb running good enough for now. As said earlier it starts and runs excellent at mid-upper r.p.m.s. I just wish it was performig just as good down low? What gives???

As an appetizer for thought. I've just installed the carb back on the car with the old acc. pump. Well,,, as well as it pumped during the test it simply doesn't cut it on the car running. Since then i have removed the carb and plan on doing a vacuum test with a hand pump. i hope to have an adapter to pull a proper vacuum. On another note. when disassembling the carb for the first time. After using the vacuum pump to remove the needle check i did notice that the old check had some slight wear rings on it where it was seating. The new needle check could very well NOT be seating correctly. I will test with vacuum to check.

Heres my initial set up procedure for the test: I removed the spring from underneath the acc. pump. I then placed the acc. pump within it's bore. Then i set the airhorn ontop. I then measured from the boss of the airhorn to the top of the acc. pump shaft to get the spec of 9/32 (or.281) per my buick manual. I then removed the airhorn while the acc. pump stayed where i measured it due to not having the spring in it's bore to move it. My measurement from the top of the acc. pump to the mounting surface of the main throttle body is now .635 .635 will be where i began the pump shaft stroke with the airhorn off to test the acc. pump as close to it's natural, specified stroke as possible as if it was fully installed and adjusted. I now installed the new spring and acc. pump and started to compress fully from that .635 baseline. Then i began attempting to pump acc. pump within it's designed stroke,,,,,, I basically get very little to nothing UNTIL the spring UNDER the acc. pump spring is almost fully collapsed and i begin to compress the spring on the acc. pump itself. This seems to be way out of it's operating range???? I did notice that there is friction between the pump bore and the new leather surrounding the new pump. It seems to want to hang up within it's bore. It also seems as if fuel cannot break that seal in order to fill the pump bore for pumping between strokes??? As a comparison I did install my old pump with a somewhat worn leather seal. I began it's stroke at .635 from the main throttle body also. The pump moved very smoothly within it's bore and seemed to pump much better within it's specified stroke. I am assuming the worn leather cup is allowing fuel to fill it's bore and i have no friction between the leather cup and it's bore as well. With the old pump i have fuel squirt much quicker in it's stroke than the new leather cup/seal on the new acc. pump??? Sorry for the book. I just wanted to be as descriptive as possible. Let me know if you have any questions....

The throttle works the same as it did before. I have no problem gently actuating the throttle with one hand. No hang ups or increased friction. I just removed the carb from the engine and i've partially disassembled the carb. I do remember installing a new pump check valve from the kit as my old needle check was stubborn to get out. I had to use a hand vacuum pump to provide suction to remove my old pump check valve. However the new check needle slides in and out of it's passage with ease. Simply turning the carb over by hand and it will now slide out everytime. I also removed the brass "jet looking" piece from the carb known as the the pump relief valve. I then used a straight pin to depress the small ball and spring within itself. It depressed and returned smoothly without any problems at all. Now that i have the carb partially disassembled is there anything else i can check??? Thanks for your time... Matt Green

You might check with Ron Campbell at R.P.M. Engineering in California. He doesn't have a website anymore but his number is 1-706--329-1886. He's big into 40's-50's Cadillacs and other buick , olds and pontiac cars of the same era. He is currently doing a set of power disc brakes for my 52' roadmaster. His kits are designed so you can use stock wheels if desired. Hope this helps. Take care, Matt.

Well, i called the gentlemen whom i purchased the kit from. He truely thought that due to modern gasoline my idle screws were set too far out. He suggested turning my screws in farther than normal. Her stated it would cause a less desirable idle but it would improve throttle response. I tried the above with no success. So i went back to setting the screws to achieve the highest, smoothest idle (highest vacuum) and leaving them there. My other note is,,, i still have no acc. pump squirt until just after i open the secondary throttle butterflies. I GREATLY EXAGERATED THE pump connecting rod length just to see what the pump would do. But it STILL doesn't squirt until slightly past half throttle??? I'M really not sure to do now?

The acc. pump distance is dead on per the buick manual (9/32 with throttle blades closed). I am not getting any fuel squirt until the secondaries just begin to open. This seems to be just slightly more than 1/2 throttle. I would think it should be sooner???

Well i rebuilt the carb this past weekend. I used the advice and didn't tear it down to the lowest form. However i dipped whatever i could in berrymans carb dip and thoroughly sprayed whatever i couldn't until i seen ever passage clear. I also used compressed air when i could. Overall the carb wasn't that bad. It wasn't too dirty at all. It was a fun rebuild. I've installed the carb back on the car and it is running much better. However it's not perfect. I now have fuel squirt from the acc. pump but i still have an off idle bog. I am able to actuate the throttle quicker than before but it's still bogs off of idle. I adjusted/checked the acc pump clearance per the buick manual. The acc. pump squirter now works but it's not until 3/4 throttle? I thought it would come in sooner especially since it's needed for off idle throttle up to approx. 30 mph??? The car starts up pretty much instantaneously, idles nice etc. Anyone have advice on what to check for???? Thanks in advance.

Hmm i purchased this kit form the carburetor shop in Eldon Missouri. No directions,,,,i have a buick manual but was looking for a little more detail. Has anyone ever used the CARTER SERVICE MANUAL that is now being sold on cd rom?

I have a 52 roadmaster with the carter wcfb 4 barrell carb. It needs to be rebuilt. Has anyone on here ever rebuilt one of these carbs? Has anyone ever used the carter factory service manual for the rebuild? I was wondering how comprehensive it is.... I bought a nice kit with alot of hard parts in it. I was wondering if these carbs are difficult to rebuild????

I second that one. I was fortunate enough to get the 52' roadmaster. I am from Saint Louis.

I left the timing at the 11 degrees for now. I figured if i retard it to 6 degrees it would only idle even rougher. I figured who ever had the car may have had it set wrong at the 11 degrees, not that the chain is stretched. Although it could be. We've only had the car for a short time. If the vacuum advance isn't applying advance at idle won't this cause the engine to idle rough,,,along with a potential vacuum leak? I was thinking if the dist. advance wasn't working and was replaced that it would advance the timing and smooth out the idle? This is after thoroughly checking for vacuum leaks. I was aware of removing and plugging the vac. advance while checking/setting the timing to get the 6 degrees. However, It didn't change from 11 degrees either plugged or un plugged. This is why i thought the advance is bad. As of now the engine starts fine with no backfiring issues that a worn timing chain would show.