Beemon

My pcv system only works above 25 mph.

I found some things after pulling my other cap. Is excess oil under the points normal? And point discoloration? also the cap #1 terminal is black. This is probably the main culprit right here. Regarding the new distributor, the old condenser was bad, i was getting a very beautiful bright blue spark when cranking the engine over. I put the other condenser back in and the spark from opening was more normal looking. I rotated the vacuum advance to the near correct location based on the copper vacuum line and put #1 cable at the terminal facing #1, then chased it around. Without looking at the timing, it started right up without effort and idled. I didn't bother setting the timing because it was good enough for tonight and it was getting late. I'm hoping to drive in tomorrow, so I'll throw the timing light on it tomorrow morning.

Yeah that is my mistake, it all makes sense and aligns now. I should do a better job at reading the fine print next time. Thanks for the clarification. After phone call with Willie this afternoon, I'm going to stab it in tomorrow and see if I can get dwell around 29 degrees. That way I can get it out of the garage to swap steering box and then sway bar.

I went back and looked at that manual. Full advance on that table posted above is wrong per the manual, the manual shows full advance all in at 3500 RPM. 🤔

I didn't remove the mechanical advance retainer, maybe I'll do that tonight. One thing to note, the weight plate is supposed to be installed ridges down against the weights per the shop manual. This one is installed "up" with ridges out. That sounds close enough to me. I was trying to watch both the gauge and the advance at the same time, so with human error taken into account I'd say it's spot on. I brought up earlier that the distributor was over advancing. I was looking at the shop manual, and the advance curve in the book also keeps advancing forever, so it seems normal to an extent. No one has a distributor machine anymore, so if the advance weights weigh the same as the 65 distributor, I might put the recurve springs in.

Brad's sway bar showed up today, but I need to figure out this ignition issue first. I pulled the breaker plate, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nuts are staked, both springs, and the advance snaps open and close. Doesn't seem like anything was amiss there. My spare distributor has no springs. I'd really like to take it apart and weigh the weights in the 65 distributor I have in now and compare it to the 56 weights. This was my spare, does anyone know what the 75 means? Probably lobe profile? My original distributor isn't stamped, but I know it's original because the cam gear has never been removed. There does not appear to be excess play or looseness with the cam lobe. I started reassembling. I'm going on a gamble, because the engine that's in the car was a runner, I stole the NOS Delco Remy condenser. I need to go back and re-wrap the points wire, the braided wire is fraying, but not touching anything. I routed the wires per the shop manual I tested the vacuum advance with a mity-vac, it opens fully at 10 in Hg, and closes at 5 in Hg. I didn't see any mention of this in the shop manual, so I'll assume this is normal. It is fully functional, and holds vacuum. I tried putting the replacement cap on, but it didn't fit in the slot, so I grabbed the NOS one with the copper lugs, and it fit just fine. I have two rotors, one rotor hits 4 of the lugs and is NOS, and the other one is unmarked replacement (NAPA I think), and it doesn't hit. Confirmed same condition on the parts distributor. I wish these things would go together easy. I'm going to try and file a bit of plastic to get the replacement cap to fit, and see if I can get a consistent rotation without contacting lugs.

I'm good for now, I had two Pertronix units before, and the starter ate them. Stock 4x fan blade Stock fan shroud 3 core recored radiator rodded before Spokane 180 thermostat verified with heat plate Unless the impeller on the water pump is slipping on the shaft, the only thing that appears to be wrong is the timing. I just went through all my stuff and found my original distributor, so I'll start digging into it in the next couple of days. Also anxiously anticipating Brad's sway bar coming in the mail.

Okay so I've been having overheating issues. My radiator was flushed, confirmed thermostat working, water pump questionable but it was rebuilt 5 years ago. Symptoms are cooling at speed, but run on heat soak at idle, poor idle, rough running. My first thought was to check timing. I typically lock in at 5 degrees, the timing mark was showing 7. Next I checked dwell, it was sitting at 36. I have a dual point breaker plate so I blocked the secondary points. The primary points were reading 28 degrees, so I set it back to 26 and blocked it off. Then I tried to start the car with the secondary points and it wouldn't. I had to brush the points before it would fire, they measured at 29 so I reset back to 26. Then started again and dwell was 26. With both points unblocked. The car ran perfect with the secondary points blocked so I think there may be some type of short. Regardless, I don't know why I decided to do dual points. All things considered, the the tach never sees above 3200 RPM unless you're pushing some speed on the highway so why bother? Now I need to dig through my parts bin and find a single point breaker plate. I think I might go as far to put my old distributor back in. I originally removed it because it was over advancing, most likely the advance limit or something.

Legally I cannot tell you how fast we were going until the statute of limitations is up in 2 years. But yes, it was comparable to all but the Blue Porsche and the Orange BMW.

It's a really nice design feature, similar to how Buick added port holes in the mid 2010s and brought back the sweep spear. Those cars look ugly though, the Sportback was peak design, I'm really sad they stopped selling them in the states.

I got it all back in. At some point I need to pull the sense bulb out, straighten it and replace the insulation hose on the outside. Man that was a huge PITA trying to get it lined back up in the HVAC hose. Hopefully that seal lasts another 60 years because that was some BS. I think aside from the sense bulb routing, the bowden cable was equally frustrating. Then I found the screw but the cable hold down is no where to be found. It wasn't in my parts bag either, so now it's just sitting in there. Hopefully I can find a replacement like in the lawn mower cable repair section at the hardware store. Got a chance to do a couple laps around the neighborhood as well. Next weekend I'll do the steering box swap I think, gotta find my pitman arm puller and a hose clamp to keep the reservoir from dumping all over. My thoughts is get some inverted flare caps and try to be fast. It was nice to get it out of the garage. Here it is, my Buick next to grandpa's Buick.

I went out with some other guys this weekend to drive the old Washington cascade loop in the GS yesterday.

If you want to bypass auto start stop (ASS) you can shift it to "manual" and then back. Or pump the brake, it's kinda annoying.

I finally did it. The seal arrived today from ebay. It took me a solid while to remember what the hell I did last year. The ranco valve is now sitting in a bowl full of water. I'm not that confident to dump coolant just yet, but so far so good! Up next is to swap out my steering box courtesy of John and then I'm back on the road.

Hi Dobrini, I had to dig for this one. All you really need to know is that it's a double pulley, you use the outside one, and a bunch of hardware store spacers. It's not the best, but it gets the job done. I rebuilt the generator and use it exclusively. This is now more of a backup, and I haven't really needed it. It's really ugly.

Willie I am excited to see you progressing! After our phone call a while back now, I have been thinking about your situation. Glad to see root cause was identified. Are you going to put together a list of parts at the end? Looking forward to your first start up, sounds like you are close!

Sounds more like a worn engine problem vs a transmission problem.

Did you replace the hydraulic piston with the new seals? The old piston can corrode and cut the seal cups, creating a leak path. Your primary cup (yellow) if leaking will show some type of bleed back in the reservoir. The secondary cup (blue) will weep through the vent wire. The tertiary cup (green) will suck fluid into the engine - check your vacuum line for wetness. When the pedal is applied, the piston equalizer holes will be in the main hydraulic cylinder and the fluid should not be able to move from the cylinder to the reservoir. If you have any leaking symptoms from either of these locations, then most likely the cast iron hydraulic body is pitted around one of the cups and may need to be sleeved... this is not common though, and the cups as I'm sure you noticed in your rebuild, are an interference fit. In an ideal state, the tertiary cup should always be dry. Also in the rebuild kit is the seal and check valve for the proportioning block. Although I don't think this is your problem, if you don't rebuild the check valve you can end up with lack of pedal feel due to loss of residual pressure in the system. If there are no signs of leaking, the piston assembly can potentially bleed down through the control valve. Put a vacuum gauge in line to the booster before the reservoir. The unit vents to atmosphere through the air cleaner, so if you lose reactive pressure due to a vacuum leak, you will see vacuum plummet. The engine may not see this because there is a check valve on the valve cover to prevent loss of engine vacuum. You would need to disassemble the entire piston by removing the unit, pull all the snap rings that hold all the fingers and plates together, and assess the seals. It's been a while since I've been in mine now, but the rebuild kits should come with all the o-rings and seals, and the control valve diaphragm to rebuild the piston assembly. The shop manual says to lubricate everything with silicone grease, so if you install dry it does have the opportunity to tear or prematurely fail. Hope this helps.

The replacement rubber pieces are a best-effort basis in my opinion... you can pack them on the outside with some closed cell double adhesive like 3M tape, or household window weatherstripping to make it just a little bit thicker. You have to make sure its thin, or thin enough to collapse so you can close the window. The ultimate test is going through a mechanical car wash and see where you are taking in water. In my case, I was left with a quarter inch hole where the vent frame meshes with the window frame due to manufacturing tolerances. I have learned to live with it, and on extended car rides I will stick a small foam ball in there to seal it up. I have not had the space or courage to re-hang my door...

Attaching a new ground wire probably won't fix the issue if it hasn't been fixed by now. The bulb grounds to the socket housing. You are going to need a good bit of scotch Brite or even medium grit sandpaper to polish the socket housing back to bare metal. Then the fit might be off with the made in China bulbs, so you might need to shim or oblong for good contact. Install with dielectric grease to keep from rusting again. Just did this on my 56.

Sorry I mean these holes:

It looks like the original had 1/2 diameter holes for the stamped portion, but you only drilled out the holes through the rubber. Did you have any issues with it squishing or clamping completely? Need to do this soon.

Still no ranco valve fix, but I did pull the 59-60 oil filter housing off the block and put the original can back on. I did an oil change and found out that the gasket for the valve covers came loose and is flapping around the valves... so shame on me, these edelbrock valve covers have been nothing but trouble and not worth the headache. Some wise men on here once told me (more than once, many times) to put it back the way it was and keep it that way. I'm older now and still not listening! Why did I put the oil filter can back on? On the trip to Spokane, my oil pressure kept dropping. The adapter for the 364/401 engines puts the filter straight down, but on a 322, the adapter shoots it at a 45 degree angle right under the exhaust manifold. The filter was getting pretty hot, so I figured I might listen to the old guys and put it back the way the engineers intended, out of the hot zone. The mess has never bothered me anyways, every oil change I've ever done gets messy. I'm sure on single exhaust cars, this probably isn't an issue. Anyways, I'll pull the valve covers tomorrow and see if I've got an extra gasket set tomorrow. But at least I can drive Grandpa's Buick to Christmas. Also I have not been driving my other Buick, the original tires finally gave out. I need to swap my studs on, but I'll do that after Christmas.

They leak just sitting. Landlords hate to see it.

Here are the best shocks money can buy: They are Bilstein manufactured for Race Car Dynamics: Front: 55-R101 Rear: 55-R176 Also found some additional spring part numbers from some old threads, donor car is a 1971 Buick Centurion: Normal: 6363 Heavy Duty: 5383 Progressive: CC611 The factory master cylinder has a weep hole on the front with a little dangling piece of metal that looks like a bent nail. If the seals blow, then it will leak from here: The compensating port allows fluid to pass between the cup and the piston to equalize fluid between the reservoir and line, it's the return path when the wheel cylinder is returned by the shoe springs. If the primary cup is torn, you will get a lack of pedal pressure feel. If the secondary cup is torn, then it leaks through the vent. If the vacuum cup is torn, then you start sucking brake fluid into the intake, and only after the secondary cup is torn (it should theoretically be dry between the secondary cup and vacuum cup). The only sleeving potentially required is where the cup sits in the master cylinder and cylinder plug on the backside between the vacuum tank and master cylinder. The cup seals can be a concern if they were cleaned with anything containing mineral oils as outlined in the Caution note in the manual. Link to the shop manual in case you don't already have it: 1956 Buick Power Brakes Service - Hometown Buick This is the difference between the mirrors: 54-"56" 57-66 I'll have to see if I can dig my old one out. Yeah more or less it was to prevent air cleaner contamination from foreign objects entering through the mesh. I checked the product service bulletin on Hometown Buick, but there was no mention of this anywhere.