Roadmaster75

With great regret, illness dictates that I must sell my old friend of 28 years. I've been a BCA member since Spring of 1973. #2954. My preference is to sell this lovely car to a BCA member that will appreciate its originality and become the steward for it for the next 20-30 years! Not advertising it anywhere else at this time. I acquired the car from the original owning family in 1989. It had sat in their garage under a cover for 17 years. It had 31,800 on it when I picked it up. The car is dead original and totally rust free. It has one of the original tires for a spare in the trunk (8.00x15) I have not touched it up anywhere; including under the hood. The car is "Silver Mist" in color with matching silver gray interior. Paint is getting thin in spots on the front fenders. The engine compartment is NOT detailed. The car runs beautifully with its Flight Pitch Dynaflow. The dash is perfect including the pads. It still has the customer instruction sticker on the clock! I didn't want to remove it during all these years. I have most of the dealer delivery papers/tags that were on the car when new. The power windows all work fine, the power seat works fine, the speedo operates perfectly as does the "Speedminder" accessory. The radio works fine. I have many new and excellent used parts for the car that I have collected over the years; incl. NOS headlight sw., NOS hood eyebrow molding, NOS windshield wiper control assembly, rebuilt master/power booster, one rebuilt Rochester 4GC and another awaiting a rebuild. The car has a Buick AFB on it, incl. the correct accelerator start switch. I also have an entire differential with torque tube. Two near perfect aluminum 58 front brake drums go with it. Lots of other little goodies go with the sale. I recently put new rear springs on it from Detroit Eaton. These put the car at its correct ride height. I am asking $22,500 / with all the parts acquired. I can send more pics upon request. Just ask. Contact me thru the forum here or at 630-567-2507. Thanks for looking! Mike

The 58 Buick has two LONG studs emanating from the die cast tail light housing that bolt through the body. This is apparently the only ground opportunity for that housing. Over time those studs corrode, as do the attaching nuts. I had the same issue on my Roadmaster. Removed them. Cleaned them up real good. And, ran a short hidden wire from the housing & light socket to body ground. Both filaments came back and did what they were suposed to do & the green arrow inside blinked brightly!

T/A Performance sells the correct frame mounts for a 430/455 swap into your car. Go to the V8 Buick site to look up archives on others who have done this swap. Should make a real nice street machine ; and all Buick, too!

My take on dual quads for the 322 is that it would end up being way too over carbureted. Without matching fuel delivery with exhaust mods, cam, head mods, valve train mods, etc. it's just gonna eat raw fuel and end up blowing sooty exhaust. I had a 350 small block motor in a street rod. I wanted dual exhaust ...largely for the visual effect...! It had the Edelbrocks (500 CFM was the smallest they had), a cam, headers, headwork, and a dual point distributor. Despite a serious dyno tuning session; the car ate fuel, got terrible mileage (10mpg), and really didn't start or perform well.... although it looked cool. Just couldn't eat 1000 CFM fast enough. The remedy of sorts ended up being an MSD 6A, an MSD billet distributor (mechanical advance), and hotter coil. This set up really helped burn fuel better and got 14-15mpg., and woke the thing up in the performance dept. It was still over carbed in my opinion. Should have been more like a 650-750 CFM 4 barrel instead of 1000cfm! So moral of the story....IF you put twin 500s on that 322 you must put that MSD combo on it. But, without some serious machine work and mods I don't think you'll be happy & you'll constantly be fiddling with jetting, mixture stuff. I think you'd be better off with a well researched EFI combo, the MSD set up, big wires, alternator, and a plug heat range that makes sense. Turn the key & go! my 2 cents

Yes, and I saw it recently. It's a beauty. Pretty clean, a nice driver. Still has the 425 in it. Been painted gray, but is a nice job. He's freshening up the steering/front suspension with new stuff. Maybe a disc brake upgrade, too. He bought it for his wife to drive.

I find it necessary to liquidate all my remaining 455 Buick parts inventory. I prefer to sell as a lot to someone who is interested in building these motors. Retirement, health, etc dictate an end to my pastime of rebuilding these nice motors! 44 year BCA member. BCA number 2954. Hope I'm not breaking any rules here, so here goes: These parts are from 72, 73, and 76 engines. 3- timing covers; all good with no strip outs or cracks. Degreased and unpainted. one has a new T/A seal in to replace the rope. One has had the rope retainer removed. One still has the rope in it. 2- Oil pans 1- Distributor 1- set of 1976 rods 1- single groove water pump pulley 1- two groove water pump pulley 2- 3 groove crank pulleys 2- harmonic balancers with correct bolts 2- pairs of valve covers 72- air pump 1- aluminum P/S pump bracket with pump 1- 7 blade clutching fan 1- 76 A/C compressor 4 good used motor mounts 3 starters 2 Alternators heat shields from a 76 motor 1- 76 intake manifold Lots of assembly bolts, bracketry, and hardware for oil pans, timing covers, intakes, etc. One new and one used oil pump with lots of new rebuild parts and gaskets. Some new valves, valve springs, seals, go with the lot. There's some other small part that will all go with the lot,too. I am pricing all the above for $450; provided the buyer takes EVERYTHING at sale time. I am about 60 miles west of Chicago. If you are actively building 455s then I hope you'll take advantage of this collection of parts as a lot. I am moving on...... Mike

Trying to sell as a LOT to 455 enthusiasts. I find it necessary to liquidate all my remaining 455 Buick parts inventory. I prefer to sell as a lot to someone who is interested in building these motors. Retirement, health, etc dictate an end to my pastime of rebuilding these nice motors! 44 year BCA member. BCA number 2954. Hope I'm not breaking any rules here, so here goes: These parts are from 72, 73, and 76 engines. 3- timing covers; all good with no strip outs or cracks. Degreased and unpainted. one has a new T/A seal in to replace the rope. One has had the rope retainer removed. One still has the rope in it. 2- Oil pans 1- Distributor 1- set of 1976 rods 1- single groove water pump pulley 1- two groove water pump pulley 2- 3 groove crank pulleys 2- harmonic balancers with correct bolts 2- pairs of valve covers 72- air pump 1- aluminum P/S pump bracket with pump 1- 7 blade clutching fan 1- 76 A/C compressor 4 good used motor mounts 3 starters 2 Alternators heat shields from a 76 motor 1- 76 intake manifold Lots of assembly bolts, bracketry, and hardware for oil pans, timing covers, intakes, etc. One new and one used oil pump with lots of new rebuild parts and gaskets. Some new valves, valve springs, seals, go with the lot. There's some other small part that will all go with the lot,too. I am pricing all the above for $450; provided the buyer takes EVERYTHING at sale time. I am about 60 miles west of Chicago. If you are actively building 455s then I hope you'll take advantage of this collection of parts as a lot. I am moving on...... Mike

Thanks, Dan & Barney Going to save this project for a nice cold winter day....! We're enjoying some unusually mild weather and I'm taking advantage of it. I'll take pics as I go along, tho. Hope that screw didn't fall down into a black hole......! mike

Gentlemen, Just took the 58 Roadie out for a stretch of the legs before going to sleep for a month or so. The turn signals worked perfectly fine for the ride until almost home... Then, the stick suddenly went limp like a noodle on a left turn and no signal actuation. Clearly something went bad under that horn ring. (suspecting something plastic and brittle from age..) The car only has 40,000 miles. Before I dig into it & look for the shop manual ... any guesses on what broke under there? And, any parts to be on the look out for?

I think was legit Recently while working on my PT Cruiser, I came across a wire that had deteriorated And fell off the front hub. Turns out it was to ground static and interference that might cause theECM to go nuts! So, keep them in!

Hi Pete FYI, 3M sells woodgrain material for auto & industrial applications. They sell through dealers. They have LOTS of patterns and colors to choose from. The dealers should be able to closely approximate your material & send you swatches. Di-Noc as it is sometimes called is not cheap, but I've used it on exteriors of wagons, as well as woodgraining the interior cargo area panels of my 51 panel truck; with great results. If you can't find a source..let me know and I'll try to dig up the dealer's info that I used. mike

Thanks, Sean! Very helpful, indeed! Amazes me sometimes what you guys know! m

One of my car buddies just made his first Buick acquisition; a 65 Wildcat Deluxe - 46437. Has a 425 4bbl. in it! Questions: - The body data plate says that the paint code is "AA". Does that decode to black.. or? - "ACC" code says "1-19" …. ? - Where would the car's build sheet be most likely befound? under the back seat, on the gas tank, …? Hope to get another Buick fan in the fold! mike <script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/5f1f84dd/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"> </script>

Dittos to above , plus, keep checking fluid level; even after only a short drive down the street. If the torque converter was empty and the trans was completely drained….it's gonna take a bit of circulation to get enough ATF to the converter, pump, valve body etc. I had the same thing happen to my freshly built T400. I freaked, since it wouldn't shift after a brief drive down the street. Ended up I was just low on fluid; even when the initial stick reading showed full. Drove it a block or two…. needed another qt. …. etc. till she shifted just fine!

Nice work! If it's running good and actually moves under its own power you are well on your way! Now for all the "little" stuff….brakes, cooling, fuel delivery, and old electrics... Go slow & have a ball with it!

Unless you need the Nutri-System program …. Check out Eaton Springs in Detroit …. they got my 58 back to the original ride height AND a great ride…. Many times you see a 50s car that just stands up too high …. But, Eaton dials them in for your specific car.

If you don't have one already, then acquire a 62 Buick Chassis Service manual that still has it's original wiring diagrams in it….. Then with your dash exposed your can trace down all the circuits and get them working again. I've bought manuals over the years that had the wiring & vacuum diagrams cut out….! Make sure it's complete before sending your hard earned dough to PayPal!

While you're making your final decision ; consider placing a winch in the front of any trailer you might choose. I had one in my 24' Haulmark Elite race car trailer for the front engine dragster …. but, that set up proved invaluable in retrieving dead or almost dead full size cars,too. You never know when your runner might stop running! Plus, you can operate it with the remote… making it a one man job. Perfect for retrieving barn finds all by yourself! Plus you don't have to worry about getting out of the car! I once had a dead 76 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow (starter). The car was all of 5500 lbs. I had a 5000 lb. Superwinch up front and it pulled it straight in with no issues for the trip to the garage.

I know this is very frustrating, BlackPack….. Lot's of us are rooting for you! I think you (or your mechanic) really need to take the entire torque tube out and dismantle it all out on the floor and see what's what in there. I know WIllie said there's no u-joint in there…but, there is some sort of slip fit carrier bearing that that drive shaft runs through. If any of that is broken or compromised…. it will shake the daylights out of the car.

Also, don't attempt to start the car on fuel that's in the line & the tank. Assume the fuel is petrified and don't force the old junk through that pump or carb! You may wish to consider hooking up a gravity feed container right to the carb inlet line just to see if she'll run…. afterwards you can deal with tank removal, new gas line, pump, etc... Also, before putting cranking power to the motor, remove valve cover so that you may observe the valve action while GENTLY turning the motor by hand. (Maybe give them a tap before doing anything) A stuck valve or too can be dealt with…. you don't want to break anything if one or two are stuck

Willie, thanks for the update on my comments about a rear U-joint on 48s vs. 58s! From the pic I thought they were similar. Bernie….. just what year is that pic from…? cause it looks a whole lot like my pile of parts from the 58 Roadie….! Dang, tho…it sounds like a u joint kinda problem to me from all that's gone down so far! can't wait for the final resolution!

Bernie is on to the "surprise" inside! Since you said the torque tube has NOT been removed, now I think I can jump in on the issue of the torque tube and the stuff Bernie has in the pic above. When the rear most U-joint let go in my 58 Roadmaster it made a very similar noise as you've described. Under load, intolerable….. diminished greatly when off-loaded. I thought I blew the rear end! The torque tube and related bits in the Bernie pic look very similar to the set up in my car. The basic engineering didn't change all that much. In my case the u-joint actually broke the ear off of the carrier casting & I had to source another carrier assembly. The car still moved because the tight quarters of that torque tube contained the shrapnel … so it would smack the inside of the torque tube on each revolution, but stayed together…barely! Hellacious sounds!! You'd never know unless you took it all out and inspected it. Once I replaced the driveshaft bearing itself & the u-joint …. all was well and it operates silently today. So, while you go at it one more time…. I'd dismantle that whole torque tube assembly at the back and check it out. There should be a rolled pin that attaches the shorty rear drive shaft to the long one. I hope that's the issue …. pretty easy fix once identified...

It's normal for a newly rebuilt engine to run a bit warm. All those new rings and bearings generate more heat from friction as they wear in. Also, temp gauges are notorious for being "off" a bit. This drives old car guys nuts sometimes…..! I now carry a laser pointer-ed, infra-red thermometer when I go out in an old car. You can take readings anywhere under the hood; radiator top and bottom, thermostat housing, cylinder heads, etc…. A gauge that is only 10 degrees off on the high side will make you crazy on a hot summer drive! <script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/34f3a214/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

Leave it alone if it's not leaking too badly…. Drive the car more and it will probably diminish. Topping off fluid once in a while is a far better option than removing a torque tube drive line….. replacing all the seals, gaskets, and soft parts…. only to find it leaks worse after all the aggravation... my 2 cents <script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/feecc95/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

Be VERY proud! It looks fabulous and what a difference! <script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/feecc95/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>