Beemon

Title is explanatory. Looking for a set of aluminum 45 fin drums off of a 57 to 60 Buick with 2.5" shoes. These drums had the hubs for BALL BEARINGS and LUG BOLTS. Later 45 fin drums were 2.25" and used lug nuts. They must be useable, fin condition is irrelevant to me.

JD, do you use amber lights for the turn indicators?

The big body Buicks have a different bolt pattern than the small body Buicks. There is only one way to mount the motor. There is an adjustable slide that I used to change the sweep but it went from slapping the ends to slapping the middle. Changing the position of the wiper arms on the transmission had no effect. When conversing with Newport, they said they could decrease the sweep of I shipped it back to them but I had to pay shipping so I passed. Being an engineering major, and having engineering in their company name, I was disappointed this system was not engineered for my car. If you would like to try it out, I'll send it to you for the cost of shipping. Bear in mind you'll need to relocate your ballast resistor, too, since the two cannot live in the same space without interference.

You seem to already be on top of it. The powergen with the lamp post is grounded to the case except when charging so it's perfect for the starter relay. I've wanted one for a while now but haven't been able to justify the $500 purchase. What generator rebuild costs that much?

They did not have Dynaflows in 64, its most likely a ST400. A proportioning valve will do you no good if you don't understand what is going on. The original proportioning block has a 10lb residual valve built into it that keeps pressure in the wheel cylinders. Discs require 2lbs but no more otherwise they drag heavily. You also have to consider the sizes of the hydraulic tubing coming out of the front and rear ports of the master cylinder. If they are different sizes, then the matter cylinder itself is a proportioning valve. Without knowing who made the master cylinder or what it's out of, then you don't know how much its proportioning and what the residual pressure on the valve is. It cascades pretty quickly.

Beautiful valve covers. It's a shame only the original Buick covers and the Edelbrock covers have the same rib style where they curl down the front and back.

Those power brake systems are easy to rebuild. You'll be pumping those brakes in no time! Be careful with the brass T fitting, they can break easy and the remnants can be a huge pain to remove from the manifold.

Are you losing fluid?

Not sure if I want to know!

You can buy solenoid repair kits bit they're hard to come by and maybe just a bit less expensive than an actual solenoid. The armature not spinning is most likely the brushes. You can test the motor directly by grounding the case and applying 12V to the armature terminal (bypasses solenoid). If it still doesn't spin, then it should be inspected and cleaned. If you notice any broken copper wires, the armature needs to be replaced or repaired by someone who can rewind it. Hopefully it's just brushes!

I had looked into it before, it's a 9 hour drive projected. I wouldn't look forward to it either way, but there's a lot less people going that way and having driven my Jeep through the pass in chain conditions, that's a route I'd like to avoid at all costs. Lots of kids coming home for Christmas that have never driven on snow... not impossible for sure but I'd rather not take that chance.

Must be the government chem trials and global warming for these heat wave bursts!

3 car lengths. Lol I really need it, though. Last year I was smart and brought it back during Thanksgiving with the mountain pass storms. It would have never made it, even with chains I think. If in keep it year round, I'll have to go to Vancouver through the canyon and come up I5. I ordered some stone guards for the headlights, though. It didn't happen to me, but last year this guy locally split the glass on his seal beam because of gravel throwing on the pass after snow melt. I have a conversion kit for the headlights that makes them an H4 bulb but they're also glass. The paint I'm not too worried about. Its not perfect by any means and my grandfather already caught his balance on the front fender. Tonight I put on my new pedals. I couldn't find a blue power brake pad anywhere so the pedals are black on the blue floor. Carpet should be arriving tomorrow or Friday, then I can lay down new insulation. I also purchased an exhaust kit from Marty Johnson. The last dual exhaust mufflers he's seen in a while, NOS. I remember seeing a cut away of the Buick mufflers, they're reminiscent of modern turbo mufflers with no packing. I don't know if this is true for 56, but I'm excited none the less. These magnaflows have got to go. Happy 4th everyone! (In the US)

Thanks for the kind words, Kosage! Engine won't be sorted until I have it rebuilt again. I think the term is frame on restoration. or budget restoration... One piece at a time

Rotate the bendix clutch (big drum behind the gear) and check for smoothness. When you're checking the solenoid, there's only really two things to check for and that's if it spins and throws out. Not much more to it than that really. You'd be best to open it up and replace the brushes and polish the armature and commutator. With the bakelite destroyed, you do need a new solenoid.. or at least a new cap.

I was thinking about trying to recreate that picture the other day. A before and after would be pretty cool.

If I was a 56 Buick, would I wear my weatherstrip like this or like this? Also I've forgotten, but does it get glued to the a pillar itself or the a pillar interior trim?

Haha more like "if it were my car I'd clear coat the patina" comments. Next year it's hopefully interior then engine again then chrome. Getting a lot more looks now. I'm really happy with how the paint turned out. In direct light the metallic sheen makes it a lighter blue but in indirect light the paint is almost a perfect match. People give Maaco a bad rep but if you pay for the quality OEM job and not the 600 job, it turns out great. Granted, its all in the shop and who works there. Tonight I put on the new hood insulation. Every old tattered thing I take off to replace just makes the car all the more crisp.

Here you go! Still taking them.

I ran the gauntlet and I've reached the end. You'll notice the antenna is missing... the nylon cord came out again so I'm going to try JB weld and see if I can't get it to stay in. I think I may actually be screwed on the trunk seal.. I'm going to contact some local shops and see if they have spools on inventory before ordering more. And I gotta say, red 3M dual sided sticky tape is pretty awesome.. after the trunk lid fiasco and getting black goop all over the place, I used the tape for anything you can think of and it came out great. And if I ever need to get it off, instead of scraping up weatherstrip glue, I just need to break the tape seal. Still waiting on that first car wash. Oh and I never got back the dash pad ends and the dash pad center trim piece from the shop so that's cool. Gotta go back Monday and see what's up. I opened up a ball of bubble tape that was supposed to be them and it was empty.

I would look for a frame mount and then brace/reinforce the body. Bolting seat belts in without a solid footing can be disastrous in the event of something ever happening.

Well I finally got some answers today regarding my overheating problem and timing issues. I found an old guy with a sun distributor machine and we put the 322 distributor out of the engine and my 401 distributor both on it. The 322 distributor had a Max advance of 45 degrees at 2000 RPM with 10 degrees from the vacuum advance. That's pretty insane to think that I'm getting 90° full advance at the flywheel at 2000 RPM... no wonder the engine was overheating. The 401 distributor had max advance come in around 2500 RPM at about 12 degrees with the vacuum advance around 8 degrees. That's in the range of operation. Going to tear apart the old distributor once I'm done with the car, I'm curious to see what's going on under the breaker plate.

Having similar issues. When the water pump bearing goes out, it doesn't always weep from the hole unless the bearing seal is broken. At speed, the fan can walk the impeller from its seat forward and make pumping a little bit difficult. Worst case, and can't speak for Nails, but I've seen an impeller loose it's press fit and free wheel like a clutch fan even though the shaft is spinning. As someone else said, clean your water jackets. They could be filled with enough rust to slow circulation. T-stat and radiator you say are good... what t-stat are you running? Also how's your ignition system? Is timing correct? Vacuum advance working properly?

Hopefully it's not too different and can be finagled with a cut off wheel and drill press?