Beemon

Even if it's useless, you should still try to blow it - for science, of course.

Hey Matt, dare I ask what 4bbl came with that 56 engine? Make sure when you find a car to put it in, that you took the driver side single exhaust and stick it on the passenger side for some awesome tri-Y headers with no flapper valve.

Hope that isn't for a long time! Don't know what I'd do without all your excellent posts on the forums here. They're some of the only ones that really make me think about what I just read.

With age comes wisdom

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/d/1960-buick-2-door/6398326151.html I know a lot of people have hearts for the 1960 Buicks. I don't know what it is, but it looks complete and it's only $1600. I would love to have this one, but not having any place to properly store my current Buick, I thought I'd pass it along.

I might be a little confused, do you mean the gasket to the chassis of the radio or the foam that attaches the cone to the chassis of the speaker? Both were paper. Edit: Just realized you must mean the actual foam on the front of the radio chassis. Doh. You could probably just use weatherstrip adhesive. Mine was cracked and damaged, but still in one piece so I let it be when I rebuilt my radio, but I wouldn't hesitate to use a thick piece of weatherstrip.

It really is a shame the season ends on the 15th and my last final at WSU is on the 14th. Dad's been really bummed because I haven't been up yet, so I have to dedicate a few days. He's down in Grays Harbor in the Wishkah valley (more like a ridge). No snow yet this year, but they're expecting some heavy fall here soon. We used to bow hunt the Taneum Ridge and around Liberty back before I was going to school, and before his buddy moved into the Wishkah area. Beautiful country up there. I used to have a picture of the Martian rock, too, but can't seem to find it now.

Your switch does not look too bad at all. Get a thin piece of emery cloth (I peel them off the dollar store nail filer bundles) and run them between the contact points. If memory serves me, the middle wire is hot from the radio speaker transformer and the outside wires are for each speaker? Looks like some nasty corrosion on there. Clean it up first and test it with a test light after attaching the center wire to something like 12V. I've rebuilt every switch on my 56 Buick by just lightly cleaning the junk off the contacts. It just needs a bit of love and a bit of cleaning.

Do you have a RadioShack, Fry's Electronics or any other big electronic super store? Three-way potentiometers are not rare and look the same now as it does in your picture. Finding the right shaft for your knob might be tricky, but still very doable.

Pilgrim, that's why you get two - one for the UK and one for Cyprus!

Having had two engines, one alpine green and one Ford green, I gotta say the Ford green is the better looking color and it matched muy original steel lines.

C Carl, if you ever need to thin that Elk herd, do feel free to let me know.

I borrowed this image from VickyBlue's post because I do not have one to compare, but with the placement of the ignition coil, space for this type of conversion could possible be a little tight. Seems doable, will need some in the field research. Good thing I have some spare 4bbl intakes to test some theories out. I might run up to the local ACE and get some prototype pipe to play with. At the FSAE shop we have a ship mill that would come in handy for creating the part. I looked into using a carb switched transmission kick down switch. To make it safe, it would need a vacuum cut out switch in series with one of the lines to break the circuit under normal driving conditions. The issue now is that during WOT the switch will be opened. On the mechanical switch, the ball cannot fall into contact with the plunger because the notch in the throttle shaft would not allow it to do so. This can be remedied with putting the vacuum switch in series with the vacuum pump on the fuel pump. This of course requires much more tinkering, and the switch for both the vacuum and kick down will run close to $100 combined. So for now, looks like mechanical is the way to go.

Willis, funny you should mention that because it's been lingering in the back of my mind ever since I found it. I know Holley and the Holley clones have had annular discharge for a while now, but it's interesting to see it in an AFB based carb. I kinda view the Edelbrock as a simple man's entry to carburetion where it's not too complicated to get right, and they end up being more economic than the street Holley's with the dual accelerator pumps. The thing I really like about the AVS2 is that the annular discharge rings are made specifically to be metered by that carb, rather than the swapping of boosters in a Holley, which means the carb is designed to handle the change in vacuum signal at the throttle plates. I figure now that the popular fuel injection kits are dropping in price, the carburetor market needs to adapt and the integrated annular booster design is getting closer to the fuel atomization capabilities of throttle body injection kits. If they could angle the venturi in such a way that it creates a vortex at the lip to pull the fuel to the edges of the bore rather than shower down on top of the plate, they would be in the money. Now they just need to refine the accelerator pump to spray a mist into the bore rather than a solid stream and it would help tremendously on part acceleration (no lean bog from the fuel hitting the plates in a glob and then forced to atomize). Speaking of modern carbs, I've refined my modern carb ignition switch. I like your idea of using the transmission kick down solenoid as a switch, but there's no gate to stop it from kicking on every time the pedal is depressed - it needs a gate, which is what the ball bearing is as it's sucked into a little cubby with intake vacuum during operation. John really got me thinking about how to stick it behind the carb like OEM, and I started thinking of clutch linkages to reverse the lever arm. That's when it hit me. If I put a rod cut like the OEM throttle shaft on the end of a lever that is 1:1 the lever on the carb, at the rear mounted off the back studs, then it would work perfectly. Finals are next week, with the first being at 8 AM on Tuesday. Looking hopeful, as I've finished two already this past week and the one at 8 AM is a 4.0 GPA filler class that I took to keep my financial aid. So they real fun doesn't start until Wednesday. I'm armed with energy drinks and junk food to survive this last week and then I get to see my Buick again.

What are you currently running on the car?

Should have looked for Ford Green! They don't sell a Buick Green. Still looks awesome, though. With those wheels, it won't matter anyways.

Is that wheel in the background a hint of what's to come? The wagon is going to look awesome after paint. What do you think of that spin on filter conversion?

Ken, will you post the cost analysis once you've finished? I would be interested to get a ballpark of what you expect here in the next year or so.

So I've been admittedly looking for another WCFB carb, and I've seen a few pop up. The most recent one I've seen has the same accelerator rod (straight instead of L shaped) but the airhorn where the choke bolts to is different. On mine, it's an upside down T, but this model has the choke mounted higher up. Everything else matches up. There's a hole in the choke plate, base is the same, the switch is there.. Looks like the secondary throttle return spring is missing, but I know where to get another. Just curious about this difference. Would I be able to put a 55 air horn on this 56 carb? Pics for reference: What the for sale model looks like: What mine looks like: What are the differences if any? Both my carb and this one for sale have the 2347S tags on them. Throttle arm for comparison:

This is not true, and I speak from experience. You cannot compress the brake fluid in a dual stage master cylinder if one side has blown because air is compressible and you won't be able to compress either side. It needs fluid in both sides to compress. I blew a front line on my 02 Jeep Liberty and had nothing (no pedal) but the parking brake. And it's even worse with anti-lock brake systems. It's just sales pitch nonsense. If you loose the rear wheels, you need to bottom out the rear piston before you can compress the front side and vice versa for if you loose the front. If you get anything at all, it will at the absolute end of the pedal travel. Having been in this situation myself, they simply do not work as they were "intended".

If it were mine, I would have them powder coated. Rusting can cause pre-mature fatigue in the spring. Probably not noticeable, but at least they'd look nice still.

No extra safety involved. I'm not sure where this myth came from. The front and rear circuits of the master cylinder rely on each other to function correctly. As you can see from the diagram, you need fluid in both sections of the master cylinder for it to function. Air is compressible, so guess what happens if you have a leak in either line? You loose braking, whether you have a single stage or dual stage. The only way a true dual brake system works is if you have two different master cylinders working in tandem - one for the front circuit and one for the rear circuit. The dual stage master cylinders, because both the front and rear circuit work together, is also a proportioning valve where it is dictated by spring force and pressure differences between the front and rear circuit. On most OEM applications without a proportioning block, look to see if one tube is larger than the other. This line tells me the seller has no idea how the brake system works in these cars. The junction block, at least in 56, has a 10lb residual pressure valve to keep the wheel cylinders primed and keeps the fluid from back feeding back into the master cylinder reservoir. On disc brake cars, you want about 2 lbs of residual pressure. So unless you take apart that junction block and remove the residual valve and add a 2lb residual valve in-line (if you go with discs), the disc brakes will drag heavily on the rotor because they will be incapable of releasing the pressure in the line. Lots of stuff to look out for here. Just FYI, if anyone was thinking about purchasing one of these kits. Don't get me wrong, the extended brake lever is a plus over the stock (at least 56) system, and is the only benefit to a system like this.

The air plenum and pedal box assembly changes each year from 54 to 56. That seller also lists a 56 factory look alike A.C. system for 54-56. I couldn't stand to loose the driver side plenum with the washer jar (and my brakes work fine with the "ultra premium" shoes), but removing the passenger side plenum box wouldn't be an issue for a look alike system.

To be mounted to the rear yippy would have to use the top most hole on the throttle arm so it would push backwards when the throttle is opened. That is a much longer arm and would require a much larger throw, but can definitely be doable. You just run the risk of interfering with the air cleaner or ignition coil since it would be above the carb and to the back. I would much rather have the switch towards the back. Maybe fab up a z- rod like a manual clutch linkage and then mount it off the back tab? I feel like it would definitely interfere with the coil at that point, though. As far as electrical switches goes, a meter that easures how far something is pushed in or out could be modified to work if such a switch.

Finals are next week and I just finished my last assignment for the semester so I had some time to tinker. As everyone knows, putting any type of modern carburetor is a surefire way to re-wire the starter system. I've come up with an idea, using stock 1/2" ID tubing and a 1/8" flange to make a pseudo carburetor starter switch. Dimensions aren't final as I don't have the parts here, but the biggest obstacle would be overcoming the throttle arm. The original system had a machined flange on an extended throttle shaft that pushed the ball bearing into the switch. This system would require some extra throw to compensate for the lever arm, but otherwise would function the same. A pipe thread would be tapped into the vacuum relief section of the switch with a barbed fitting plumbed to manifold vacuum, so when the engine starts, it would suck the ball bearing into the relief chamber. With the ball bearing gone, there should be at least a 1/4" air gap between the switch and the piston. And of course, the ball bearing would have a positive metal-metal seal after the ball is set with a hammer in the end of the brass fitting. It would be pretty clunky apparatus sitting off the end of the carb, but you wouldn't have to put a lame push button in it's place.