Beemon

When were the fuel pumps rebuilt and how long did they go unused? When ethanol dries up, the rubber pieces become brittle and hard whether it's ethanol resistant or not. After so many years, the pumping action just rips itself apart. In my opinion, you need a fresh rebuild to really diagnose whether the pump is good or not. It's the same with ethanol resistant rubber power valves in carburetors. They work fine until the car sits in storage, and then they swell up and cause all sorts of issues.

Make sure to check your springs. My car had the heads stored in the trunk for 30 years and the rear springs were shot.

In reference to the last three listings you posted. Though I suppose anything is possible with the imagination. Flinstones maybe?

I like there bucket seat design. Are you looking for a driver project, Matt?

Odometer seems to be spot on, then, but will have to do a long drive on a flat stretch of highway because the GPS doesn't account for elevation. If it is the speedometer only, then maybe I should invest in a dash swap at some point.

Even if she has leaky wax capacitors?

I wanted to give an update on this, because I'm still really new to old cars and such with only 2 years under my belt. One of the point sets I bought was warped at the base, but I didn't think to inspect it because it was "new", so between installation and now, that point set had drifted off somewhere and my dwell was at 31 degrees. I never did check timing, but it was way off where it was supposed to be and the car ran like it had a bad ballast resistor (aka how it ran with the original ballast resistor). After I got back from visiting grandma, I pulled the set out and somewhat straightened it. Turns out when I untightened it, the screw allowed it to relax and go back to a neutral state that pulled it back into the 27 degrees per that set of points (reading was about 20, yikes). After all said and done, and checking the point gap both with the dwell at 27 degrees and with a .018" feeler gauge, I put the cap back on and I was back to 34 degrees dwell. You guys know by now that I don't quit easy and I'm all about changing stuff, so I think if it happens again I'll swap in another set of points before putting the old breaker plate back in (or just running a single point). Still sounds really cool, when you put the screw driver to the distributor cap and listen, it's like a sewing machine in there.

So I went for a little jaunt this morning and it seems to be that the odometer is the same as the GPS, but the speedometer is fast. I find this kind of silly because shouldn't speedometer guys calibrate the speedometer to the odometer? Or is this normal for an off speedometer? I'm under the impression, the odometer is also driven by the speedometer cable. In any case, I won't be able to play with speedo parts since I never made it out to the junkyard. Today was my grandmother's birthday, so the family took my grandfather and the car out to see her. Luckily I know the guy who runs the yard on a personal level (friend of a family friend) so I can really go out any time, just at his convenience. There's a few 55s, and one 56 Special - all with the floors rusted out - so I'm hoping I can pull an 18 off the 56 Special and a 20 off the 55.

Willie, as the rains would let me, I finally got under the car and I have a 19 tooth driven gear. If the speedo is reading more than the GPS, then I should maybe find an 18 tooth gear? I'm going to my favorite yard in the morning since they're specifically open on Saturdays without an appointment to pull one off of a 56 Special. With the radio out, I haven't driven the car since the rear axle swap and the rains have been relentless. I used this calculator. I don't know how accurate it is, but when I put in the 8 tooth driving gear, 3.23 rear end with 225/75R15 tires, it comes up with a driven gear of 18.4.

Joe, you're right. It was a typo, oops! In any case, I've checked all capacitors and all are within 20% error of the original schematic. This project has given me some good practice on DC circuits, to say the least.

If so, these 53 Roadmasters have 12x2.5" drums which go a long way further than the 12x2.25" drums that were standard. More surface area and what not.

I wish I could bring home a few parts cars I've seen in the last two years - a 56 wagon with 3 on the tree out by Idaho, a 56 Roadmaster for $500 sitting in someone's yard by Olympia... consider yourself lucky you have the space.

Thanks for the heads up, Joseph. All the condensers have been replaced. I had to make a new buffer condenser by putting a 1kV .01 uF and 1kV .022 uF condensers in series to make a .0068 uF 2kV condenser. In the images above, you can see it - its the blue and brown disc capacitors that are next to each other. I also had to make a 630V .005 uF and a .004 uF condenser by putting two .22 uF condensers in parallel. Apparently there is a 2-3 week wait time for shipping, so I ordered a working vibrator off eBay for $25 that will be here on the 8th. It'll hold me over until I can do the swap, let me diagnose some more, and have a backup vibrator in case the solid state unit doesn't last.

I think we're in the wrong thread....

Did some Supers come with 4 barrel carbs? I only ask because there is a 53 with a 322 and WCFB at my go to junkyard. The script and trim is all gone so I'm just curious.

Only the Roadmaster had the 322, correct? Or did other models have it in 1953?

The 981707 is the Sonomatic, and the 981708 is the Selectronic, the Buick wonderbar radio. It has extra tubes for signal seeking. They are identical on the outside except for the script in the face plate. I can't imagine GM radios being too wildly different on the inside, so if it is different, then maybe based on where it was manufactured, the inside chassis could be out of an Olds or something.

The shop manual only shows 2 - one for the sonomatic and one for the selectronic. Is the third maybe a 55 or 57 retrofit? I would think the chassis would be the same, just the face is different.

The vibrator circuit with the AC wall socket at 40W bulb energizes the coil, not the contact points, so it forces the vibrator to vibrate. They say you should run it for about 30 minutes or until the light bulb shines as bright as a complete lamp circuit. That's when the contacts are clean. My vibrator never got bright after an hour, which is usually indicative that the points are too far gone. I consoled with my uncle, who drove the car from 75-78 to and from college, and he said the radio had stopped working somewhere between there. So at some point, the original vibrator eventually wore itself into the ground. The radio guys say it either works or it doesn't. I would like to have an original vibrator to run the radio, but I've already ordered the solid state unit. In the vast amount of 55s, a 56 and some 57s in the junkyard close to me, I don't remember the radios being pulled out, so maybe I'll go salvage some tubes and vibrators from those old radios. The vibrator in the radio, based on the wiring diagram, has the coil grounded to the case and is energized by the contact points. It's energized by the on switch, so I can't test the 0Z4 until after the vibrator is replaced. If I get the vibrator installed and the 0Z4 doesn't work, you can make a solid state unit by using two 3W 220 ohm resistors in series with two 1N4007 diodes rated at 1A 1kV, where you wire both diodes and resistors from the 3 and 5 pin respectively to the 8 pin, while the 1 pin is grounded to the shell (in this case, the 0Z4 can). (3)---/\/\/\/----|>|---(8)---|<|----\/\/\/\---(5) (1)---[shell] like that. I got that off another website, so credit is not mine on the schematic, but it seems to be the go to setup. I'll take you up on your offer, Willie, if the solid state vibrator lasts just as long as my solid state ignition system, or if all the vibrators at the junkyard don't work out. Thanks for offering! I guess my progress will be updated in 3 business days.

so hey, neat little trick. I took a spare wall outlet plug, connected one wire to a light bulb socket with a 40 watt bulb and ran that to the small pin on the vibrator, while running the other wire straight to the large pin on the vibrator. Read about it on a radio restoration forum. The vibrator came to life and started lighting up the bulb! I guess you need to run it for about 30 minutes or until the brilliance of the bulb is the same if you just wired it in by itself. This destroys the oxidation on the points and I guess rejuvenates the vibrator. I'm curious, however, as I would think both pins would work but only one of the two large pins activates the vibrator. After an hour, with no improvement, it's safe to say the vibrator is dead. I've ordered a solid state chip, so we'll have to see how that goes. Was kind of hoping the vibrator would work, was looking forward to the hum.

Thanks EmTee, been hiding this from the girlfriend since I've had the radio out.

Thanks for the link Matt, I guess I was just looking in the wrong place. Going to go ahead and order it later tonight if I can't get the oxidation off the vibrator points. I'm still a bit skeptical, but I have seen the videos. I guess that's the difference between made in the USA and used to be made in the USA.

Oh yeah, I did some reading on the Aurora products - you can only buy them from vendors, and the vendors I've talked to have said "we'll convert it for $150 assuming it's already working".

Pretty interesting setup, how did you set the tuner dial? Or do you do that from under the car?

Only 2 out of the 11 caps tested positive so they needed to be replaced. That's what I thought about the vibrator, but when I opened it up, it was covered in some type of rubber sheath so I thought it was silent running or something. Where can I find the solid state vibrators? I'm a bit iffy on solid state anything really because the last two solid state products I tried left me stranded somewhere.