Beemon

Thomas, I've concluded myself that the best way to mount any style of new master cylinder on the car is to put the master cylinder on the firewall where the air plenum is. I went and pulled a spare air plenum off a junkyard 56 and am going to cut a 5x5 square in it and hang a brake pedal. Having a 1x1 pedal ratio for the master cylinder is already a bad choice, but I was also trying to do minimal fabrications. For you being over seas, your best bet if going this route would to be a fabrication of a flat piece of sheet metal to go over the air plenum box and mount directly to the firewall. I've also considered this, but want to keep the plenum in mine so I'm going to try the cutting method first. The 1956 Buick is just weird in the way they did things up until 1957 when they mounted the booster on the firewall in similar fashion I plan to carry out. I'll need to find a place to mount the washer jar, but I think I'll find a way to hang it off the master cylinder mounting hole. If this doesn't work for me, I'm going to reconsider the stock master cylinder...

Bear in mind, when you restrict the flow like that, it creates more back pressure so it's all about what you want. You'll lose performance out of your engine with a constricted pipe like that, but probably won't be noticeable.

I'm also very interested, I'm tired of listening to people outside the car asking me what junk pile I pulled the Buick out of. ... lol

You can try this to figure out if it's the transmission. If the clunk is at 5-10mph slowing down, shift into low and listen around 1-5mph in low. If the sound is at the same place, I would think it has nothing to do with the internals of the transmission except the u joint or torque converter. If it's more apparent in low, or at lesser miles or not there at all, then it's probably the transmission. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Personally if I were going to buy a newly built radio, or eventually have mine rebuilt, I would not spend the money to repair the old tech and rather go to solid state that doesn't fry out when you forget to turn the radio off cranking the engine over. I forget the name of the device, but someone made a solid state kit, I think it was called Aurora? I'm at work right now, I'll try and find it after I get home.

In my spare time, I do some video game work as a hobby. It kind of helps me to keep up with CAD work since there was only one class offered at the college. I came up with this mock-up design for a remote vacuum switch, very rough draft. As I progress, the body of the unit should mount any 1956 starter switch housing. I want to at some point make all of the parts for it using the 3D printer in the lab, the resin paste is good up to 600*, which is more than enough to resist melting from a hot engine. A hole would be drilled in the front for a vacuum fitting to pull the ball up into the upper channel while the lower channel would be vented. A seat will be made for an O-ring to seal the ball against. The lever shaft, since actuated with the throttle arm originally on the carburetor, would be actuated by a clevis with an adjustable linkage. I'm thinking it would mount on the rear carburetor stud closes to the throttle linkage so it can be tied to the throttle linkage on the carburetor directly. This setup would allow anyone who has a faulty switch or a new carburetor to have a gas pedal start. I really think there would be a market for this, probably only for non-purist cars and street rodders.

The car is heavier in the front, it could just be that you're on uneven ground and your center of mass is more towards one corner in the front, so it lifts a corner off the back side. My car sat on jack stands for over 20 years, granted on even ground, and the doors opened and closed fine, but mine is also a 2 door hard top and not a four door.

Rockauto had two different part numbers for the rear pinion bearing, which is why I'm a bit skeptical on what is correct. Both Rockauto and confirmed by napa have the two different bearings with two different specs so I'll just have to see how it goes.

It's too late I called dibs really good looking carb. I just checked mine and it only has the outer hole punch. What's the inner hole punch for?

There was a thread detailing my differential build. Well the shop has been waiting for the kit to get to work. It finally came in, but all the bearings and seals were wrong. I said "Okay I've got this. Call me before 5 if you beat me to the parts." They were waiting on a few phone calls. Well, using EBAY mostly, there were some NOS bearings for the pinion and differential, as well as the front seal. I took those parts numbers and plugged them in to NAPA. Front Pinion Bearing and Race: #HM89446VP,#HM89410VP Rear Pinion Bearing and Race: #PM802011, #PM802048 Differential Bearings and Race: #BR28580, #BR28521 Front Pinion Seal: #NOS19062 Total: $289.91 before tax. These are all NEW, and will be available for pickup tomorrow at 9 AM. I can't tell you how many times I've called around looking for parts that aren't listed for my vehicle, only for me to search the GM part number through the interchange and have a bunch of parts that are NEW AND READILY AVAILABLE ON THE SHELF without the vintage markup. I'll follow up whether or not they're correct, as I'm a bit iffy on the rear pinion bearing and race, but the rest was all through GM part numbers. If someone wants to throw me a GM part number for 1956-1960 rear pinion bearing, group #5.484, I can confirm.

I like the 322, it came with the car and I spent $4200 to rebuild it. I've more or less been convinced to find a twin Rochester 4GC to keep the car at peak condition. I had an extensive chat with CarbKing over the whole carburetion process and he went into quite a lot of detail about why there wasn't a single carb for every engine to make a long story short. Besides, if I find a twin Rochester, then I can take the starter switch out of the second carb and hit the computer in the drafting lab and maybe engineer a module to bolt it on and hook up to a throttle arm to get a gas pedal start without a stock carb. Plus using information that I've gathered from Russ Martin, the 322 is supposedly capable of sustaining 650CFM. Two old Rochesters in a dual quad setup would have approximately 1.5% peak capacity (according to CarbKing) of one of the carburetors, where both carbs are estimated around 450CFM, then the total CFM at WOT would be around 675CFM. Because I'm using adapter spacers, due to Bernoulli's Equation, the larger bore holes at the bottom of the plate will decrease flow velocity, or CFM so to speak. If 450CFM is coming through a bore size of 1.5" (WCFB) and leaving through a bore size of 1.685" (AFB), then the resulting would be 401CFM. So if I'm approximately flowing 401*1.5=601CFM, then that's still an increase in peak performance, albeit at a decrease in efficiency of about 11%. Of course this is all theoretical, peak performance, excluding gravity in a longer atomization cycle due to the spacer, etc, but I don't think it will be a huge issue. Also here's a link to the Holley/MSD merger: https://www.holley.com/news/articles/holley_performance_products_acquires_msd_group/ Self learning EFI is in a strange place right now, where I believe it will become diluted really quickly. There's only so much you can do to increase throttle body designs from the 1980s before you reach a limit where tapping an intake manifold is the solution. I'm still following it with great care and interest, but as CarbKing eloquently put it, any gains to an EFI system over the system engineered for the car may only yield a mild 3% increase in efficiency.

I'm looking for a Rochester 4GC stamped 7009200 in any condition. Thanks in advance!

I'm assuming the carburetor is off the table?

I painted it today, but not the correct color it seems. Funny how the cap almost always matches, but then it's always a shade lighter. I think it needs to be more of a copper color. Talked to my grandfather about why he put one on in the first place, he said it was because while he was in the army he didn't trust his girlfriend (my grandmother, whom he bought the car with) to get the oil change every 1000 miles so he installed it himself. Still have no idea where the return inlet on the block is. No holes drilled into the pan... Also there are no filters made for this unit anymore, they've all been discontinued so it's now an official vintage accessory show piece.

Stopped by the local vintage junkyard, all they had was a 1955 carter wcfb, the tag was still on it. The 56 had the manifold and carb removed a long time ago. If o can find another 55 wcfb, then I'm set but I'd rather stick with the 56 rochester. Search continues, found a yard in cali but it's a 50/50 rochester or carter. If it's a carter, I still need to find a 56 because again 56 broke the mold and is one year... Meanwhile, the shop received the wrong differential bearing kit so no rush at all.

I have air shocks right now but I don't really care for them. I have them raised up so high the rear end is stiff going over any type of bump.

For the most part, yes. But I've heard dual quad can go both ways when done up properly. I've seen FiTech and they look good, but Holley did the swirl atomization first with the annular discharge rings on the Terminator and now with the new Sniper coming out that can do more than the FiTech for the same price, that's the way to go IMO. Built in internal fuel regulator, all internal with no extra CPU mounting block. Plus, Holley just recently acquired MSD in the last year, so their new FI throttle bodies are just as good as using a controlled timing feature as the MSD Atomic. I really think it was their way of shutting down FiTech, but you can't argue with what they're selling, it basically kills all the extra crap that still makes converting a hassle. Still need two fuel lines, but that's not that big of a deal. As far as the 3.91 gears... probably wishful thinking lol. I found out what type of air cleaners I want to use... 6.5" air cleaner base with a Harley-Davidson oval air cleaner cover. They kind of look like the 57+ Mopar dual filters so I think it fits the era pretty well.

CarbKing, I forgot to ask when I called, but if I used 2 Rochesters, would they have to be machined or would the only type of setup required be tuning in the idle screws?

The first time old gaskets were used and the rebuilder put the choke arm on backwards. I was oblivious, but the choke never fully opened so I was having rough low idles. The second time fixed the first time, also the check ball in the ignition switch was missing and the guy (different guy) said he was stumped as to how I was starting the car without it. The third time I had to have it rebuilt because part of the interior flaked off and clogged an idle circuit? That's what they told me anyways. It had been on a shelf in my grandfather's basement since the early 80s and his basement flooded every heavy rain so it was introduced to a lot of moisture that lingered and molded. The rebuilder (third) said it could have damaged the copper idle circuits. I'm completely oblivious. This is my first car lol. I'll give a call tomorrow, I'm working late tonight.

Yeah i was watching the Edmunds too. Like I said, I thought about going period or modern and ended up with the bigger bolt pattern manifold. There's multiple factors I'm considering right now. The first is that this being my only car, it will be my daily for at least two years when I transfer to the four year university next winter. The rochester I have now works well but still struggles with modern fuels even though it was built right. I drove the car all throughout the winter with minimal issues but it bogs on acceleration and going around corners with a lean stalls the car out occasionally, so that's why i was leaning towards the edelbrock carbs, because they're made to handle modern fuels compared to a 40 year old afb. Two or three years down the road I hope to be a full time engineer so I'll hopefully have the money to go to efi, which also needs the large bolt pattern. Plus this stuff is getting harder and harder to find unless you know where to look or have hookups, so cores are expensive and still need to be rebuilt. When I was thinking of replacing the 4gc, I was persuaded to keep it stock. Since then I've had it rebuilt three times, which exceeded the cost of a new edelbrock. If I got some vintage carbs for $400 cores and have them rebuilt for $200 each, then I'm in $1200 for vintage parts that need a lot of additives and varnish cleaning and hoping that the inside holds up from ethanol. The edelbrock carbs are about $400-500 and are made to withstand ethanol and also come with warranties if they do fail. I'm still keeping my options open but I have thought about this extensively. I won't have the cash for carbs until a month from now anyways. By the way, happy Easter everyone!

Thanks for the info! So I should really be looking for a matched pair of 2507 or 2800 AFBs. Do you know what cfm they flow by chance?

Thanks Jon! This intake is not a WCFB bolt pattern, and I don't want to hassle with adapters. Russ had both the WCFB and AFB manifolds and I wanted the AFB one to go to EFI down the road. I thought really hard about the WCFB and get another Rochester 4G in the mean time to keep the gas pedal start, but the AFB bolt pattern IMO was more desirable for what I want to do in the long term. I'm curious, but why would solid be better than progressive? Wouldn't you want less gas in the engine on a Nailhead? I think I actually saw a thread you posted in on the HAMB that stated that Buick engines like less fuel off the line. I'm assuming the driveability comes from having both sides of the engine fueled equally. This is probably also a dumb question, but the gas pedal start was used upwards to 1960, correct? Either way, building this is going to be a fun experience. Admittedly the 322 is the first carbureted engine I've ever owned, and the 56 Buick alone is the first car I've ever legally owned in my name. Running the original Rochester has been quite a pain and the appealing thing to me about the Edelbrocks is that they're made to withstand today's fuels, an issue I've been struggling with on the Rochester. I know there are Buick alternatives out there, but the bolt and play Edelbrocks also don't require much to get them running. Every little bit helps! I don't think I'll tune the 322 more than the 2x4 intake other than maybe tracking down those infamous Telesco roller rockers, if they're ever made again. Here is the manifold, btw: I don't have it yet, and this was the only image I could get off the Ebay listing. I'll post another pic when I get it. Russ said in the listing that one of the ears was repaired and that he guarantees it to last. It also says "Say WHY-AND" on it. I'll keep in mind the carbs. As Carbking stated, the originals may be better to run and they are off a Buick. Do you know what CFM they pull by chance? Also forgot to ask, but will I need more initial timing with 2x4 due to more gas being introduced into the engine? With the MSD package, burning fuel shouldn't be a problem...

Looks like 50s Buick green. I did a quick google search and it looks like they were painted blue and green...

The only online source I've ever found is Waldron's, but I can't comment on how well they do work. If you want some quality mandrel bends, Stan's Headers and Exhaust in Auburn, Washington is very well known for their quality mandrel bent exhaust. Be weary, it is expensive!

What pump system did you end up using? Looks like a one way deal, PWM? I know I don't need to say anything because this is pro work being done here, but I remember my dad had to get a new tank when he was modding his 502 pickup. They didn't flush the tank after welding it up and it filled his injectors with slag.Oops lol. The truck is long gone, but the memories aren't. Edit: Just saw the return inlet.