Beemon

I've heard you're only supposed to use one fan or the other, not both. This could cause air flow issues across the radiator. Also with electric fans, the CFM is important to know, as well as which direction it flows. The HD clutch in my car spins at about 50% water pump speed. Even on the hottest days I have never heard it kick in. I have a 3 core radiator, too. And we also deal with 75% or more humidity. What kind of pump fan are you using?

Some questions: What is the difference between an AC and non-AC generator, except the pulley? Are they internally the same, just with a smaller diameter 2 groove pulley? Does anyone have the actual diameter of the pulley? Will 401/425 3 groove pulleys fit okay on the crank? (water pump should be OK?) Mike, I couldn't find the thread, but I remember you modified a power steering pulley to work with AC. I have a spare one, can you share your wisdom once again? It seems the forum purge strikes again. Thanks guys!

Nope, I have a 6 blade fan on an HD clutch. I have never seen the red of the gauge unless it's been turned off and let to sit for a minute on a hot day.

Doug you have to go so I can live through your experience. I know I won't be going for a while unless next year or the year after its closer to Washington.

Willis, out in the desert college town, "play" may be a little too extreme for forum posting... lol. A buddy of mine that I'll be rooming with just so happens to have a grandfather who kept a hold of his old car, too! His grandfather has two 58 Olds stored on his property waiting for some young hands. One is a wagon and the other is a 2 door hard top. So I think we'll be busy during the off time over there. Also looking forward to the competition, though I think even with the J2, it would still need more to beat a Nailhead. Thanks for the kind words Doug. Yes I started on a 3 year engineering associates degree at the community college that turned into a part time degree that ended up taking much longer than anticipated. To make a long story short, my benefactors fell through and I was forced to make pizzas 5 days a week to make ends meet while going part time, but I endured and I finally got my diploma this year, and was accepted to my school of choice. I'm looking forward to the road ahead, even more so now that I have MY car on the road again.

Despite the 4GC stumble, she pulls pretty hard. We have some steep hills where I live, where truck compression braking is banned. The NAPA store I go to is at the bottom and I'm at the top. Sometimes I forget the speed limit is 35 going up... 7*BTC, premium pump gas and full throttle... you can pull some carriages.

Beautiful car. I like 50s Buicks, but I like 60s Rivieras, too. Hope to have a 68 one day, too!

There's also the fact that he says engine and transmission are numbers matching, when such things didn't really exist until I believe 1958? There are no numbers to match, unless you're taking the casting numbers and cross referencing them to match 1956 production sheets.

Doug, funny you should mention, but one of the piece of my evidence will be putting the parts engine rod and my rebuilt engine rod under a Rockwell hardness tester to see if the metal has been changed or not due to some heat treatment process. I can't wait to get to the 4 year because I feel like at the community college, it's just baby toys we get to tinker and experiment with. Also on the plus side, since we get to work with the machine shop on campus occasionally, I teased the idea of having custom rods made and it is completely do-able for $16/hr. Even though everything is manufactured by the students, all measurements are checked by the instructor before getting the final completion slip. You just have to submit a drawing, and with my prior knowledge of CAD software, I could have one digitally drawn up in a couple of hours. I have teased this thought, but will be no where ready to use them any time soon. On the downside, I won't be a student there technically after the summer, as I will be at the university. I am not sure what their facilities look like, but I know they have an engineering club for making high performance race cars with custom designed parts to go into a bare block motor. You better believe I'll be in that club.

Make sure to open that relay up and check the contact points. I've never used a point file because I've heard they damage the tungsten finish, but a small piece of emery cloth, or very fine nail filer, should clean those points up. I always get odd looks when shopping for contact point cleaners because they come in packs of 20 for $3 in the women's makeup isle at the convenience store...

So I got some numbers for you guys. Today I took my parts engine piston and rod down to the local machine shop and had them press out the wrist pin and mic it to my rebuilt engine rod and piston. Wrist pins are the same, about .947" (I measured by myself .938" but that's with a Harbor Freight caliper). When they centered the press fit machine on the wrist pin, the parts engine rod had a press fit of 1.8 thousandths press fit. Here's the interesting part, my rebuilt engine rod had -.2 thousandths, or .2 thousandths clearance. So the rod in my rebuilt engine was clearanced for the wrist pin and had no press fit. Truly free floating. So I thanked that shop for the measurements and went up to the college. The Engineering department is closed for the summer, so I have to call back tomorrow and get personal contact info from the STEM secretary, but the machine shop at school was open and they collaborate with the metallurgist engineer at the college. When questioning, and being already knowledgeable about specific heat capacities of steel, aluminum and cast iron, I asked him: How could a rod loose it's press fit? When comparing the rebuilt with the original, the original rod still had machine knurling on the wrist pin bore, whereas my rebuilt one was smooth and looked honed out. He said a machine fit is a machine fit and it would never loose it's fit unless it was A. heated past it's expansion point, or B. machined to fit. Since an engine rarely ever sees past 212*F at the most, and this is way below cast iron's annealing point, heat cycling of the rotation assembly can be ruled out. Therefor, he concluded it was either heated for too long before assembly, or it was machined and assembled that way, both of which are the machinist's fault. He told me to get in contact with the engineering instructor at my earliest convenience to move forward. This comes after Friday, where I had the displeasure of running into the defendant at the local cruise in. While being very polite, and saying "I see.", he explained that the rods lost their press fit due to heat cycling in the engine and wasn't his fault. He must think I don't know better, or don't have proper connections. I mean even if that were true, I would think that' John's 56 Buick would have lost the press fit in his engine by now, too. None of the machinists in my area will stand behind me, except the college instructor. With him and the engineering teacher, I think I'll have a bulletproof case.

The century also has 4 port holes instead of 3.

Do you have any more pictures of this install? Both what it looks like under the dash and your custom bracket?

Anything on a 56 Buick? The 54 and 55 dash are about 3-4 inches longer than the flat 56 style. I'm just hoping it won't look like a shelf there lol. I have the AC brackets for a 401 Nailhead, but you lose the spark plug covers. You also need to swap to a 401/425 timing cover with the 401/425 fuel pump or the bracket will not fit. This is a mod I was going to do with the old engine, but I have no plans to disassemble the engine that is in the car currently. Therefor, I figured I could make brackets that are similar to the original 322 bracket, where the front is held on by the water log bolts and the rear is held on with a link from a stud at the intake manifold that goes around the spark plug covers and down to the lowest head bolt between the exhaust manifold. For sake of parts, I would just get one of those aluminum mini compressors, the condenser, dryer and all related parts from the same company and call it good. The local NAPA here has a hose fitting department, so making hoses would not be a problem. I didn't think about a drain for the evaporator, but drilling a hole into the bellhousing bump could be made to work, and sealed, with a tap. Willis, I like your idea of sealing the car. I was going to go to the army surplus store outside Joint Base Lewis-McChord and get some military air craft insulation for the floors. My headliner is still in really good condition, so no messing around there. Edit: based on the information on the Vintage Air website, here's the size comparisons of the Heritage and Mark IV units available. The red line is to the knob of the heater controls. Looks like the Heritage unit would be a better fit, but it's just black plastic with chrome louvers. The Mark IV I think looks better, but it has way too much shelf hanging out.

Has anyone tried these units in a 50's era Buick, or know someone who has? We're in the mid 90s here, probably not as bad as other places, but a huge change for us. The reason I ask is because it doesn't look like it would fit under a 56 dash. The under dash kits look to be the simplest route to go. You could run the lines through a plenum drain hole and through the open vent so you wouldn't have to drill a bulkhead connector, or put one out of sight behind the plenum. I don't have the means to buy and ship 56 ac parts since they're rare and costly when they pop up, but $200 here and there with summits free shipping doesn't sound impossible.

Sounds a lot like both of my sisters. Lol

The only time I ever experience vapor lock is when I shut the car off and let it sit for 5 minutes before starting again on a hot day. Though to be fair, Washington is cooler than most places, but we always push into the 90s in summer time. Makes me wish I had AC, too.

In the description it said seats were restored to original factory, but that's not true. That's all I was trying to point out. Also I got a small laugh out of the numbers matching part.

Don't get me started on auto supply stores. Though, I have noticed by observation that most people my age working the counter seem to be at least somewhat knowledgeable about cars that are mid 80s to early 90s and up, because that's what a lot of people my age drive since they're so cheap on Craigslist. When asking for a starter for my mom's 2003 S10, the guy behind the counter started going off about how it's a 6 cylinder SBC and had the part numbers down like the back of his hand. But when I ask about parts for the Buick, I always check RockAuto or NAPA first, get the part number online and then give it to them to save myself having to go through unnecessary hoops. There was a time I got into an argument with the guy at the same Autozone when buying my rear coil springs. He said it didn't fit the Buick, even though someone here on the forums had confirmed it did. So I went to NAPA, gave them the part number and they ordered it up. Dana products in my opinion seem better than Duralast, anyways. It just really depends on who works there. At the NAPA I go to, I only talk to the same guy every time. There are two old guys from when the cars were contemporary and a young guy. The young guy knows his 4x4s and Japanese cars, but gives you the blank stare when you ask for points. Likewise, one of the old guys there has absolutely no idea what he's talking about, and the other old guy uses the computer first, but when he can't find it, he dusts off the old book and pulls up the interchange. It's really hard to find expertise in any field at the minimum wage level because it just doesn't exist. The company would rather fill the position than pay someone who know's their stuff, which is the sad reality of jobs that pay more than minimum wage, like machinists for example.

The WD-40 white lithium spray works really nice, too, for lubricating stuff like generators and distributors.

I had mine built by a hydraulic shop and hasn't leaked since. It's not braided steel like original, but it works. If I were to do it again, it would be rubber hose and some good barb fittings. CARS sells the line but you'd have to call and see if it's ethanol safe.

Those are not the original seats.

What's wrong with the mechanical pump?

Here's the differences in pulleys between Buick and Chevrolet. Aside from that, both generators are identical.

I picked up the generator today. They marketed it as a Chevy nomad generator, but it was a reman unit so they gave it to me for free... still have yet to save the original one, but now I have one that works. Just need to pop off the pulley. I did some research, all the 12 volt armatures for the big body generators are the same, so it must be pulley sizes for different engine demands and operating ranges. I'm sure windings and field coils improved over the years, too. Maybe the adjustment hole is cocked differently? This one is just like my original, so we're good to go, just in time for the Friday night cruise.