Buicknutty

Thanks, I'll reset them again leaner and see how it goes. It is getting more more difficult to avoid gas with some ethanol in it these days. Keith

I too generally keep the idle higher than the book says, not sure what it is, but most likely similar to what old-tank has his set at. A weak coil can cause power loss and stalling when hot, though there can be other causes too.

It stumbles a bit right off of idle and when the revs get up a bit it takes off very well. If one tips in quite gently then mats the pedal if works, but if you hit it right away it nearly dies. Keith

Well I guess you should have been with me at the bench, as I didn't check them! However we did get it together last night and got it set up and the idle quality is definitely better and the drivability is better too. It still bogs off of the line, not nearly as bad though and once the revs get up a bit it really pulls way better, you can feel the acceleration now. With a bit more investigation it looks like the vacuum advance isn't working right, but the one off of the parts engine seems to be good, so we swapped that out tonight, and will test drive it tomorrow.

I think that is what I found earlier today, and I'll try it out likely tomorrow. We got the carb back together and on the engine, but the rest isn't hooked up yet. So, I am hoping, thinking, it will run and drive much better now. I found maybe 5-6 things wrong. It was very dirty, but the floats were set wrong, it was missing the accelerator pump spring, also the small spring which goes under the metering rod piston was MIA. The the metering rods were set wrong too. So I hope I've found all the things which a previous person did wrong, and that I have it correct, or at least close. Keith

For whatever reason there is oil leakage from the stud, fortunately I found something nearly the same as the ones CARS sells here. The thing is these days the cross border shipping by whatever means has got really expensive. The ones CARS sells for about $4. ea Can, so $16. for the set are nearly $30 to get them here. I cannot find a cheaper way. So the next time I need to order something from CARS I'll add them to the list. I thank everyone for their input.

That's interesting, as I checked the Felpro set I have and I didn't see them. I appreciate the tip. Keith

Thanks, Chris. I'll have to find something which will work as a substitute. I find it interesting how the design seems to have changes over a couple of years. Keith

As we waiting for some stuff to dry up we decided to have a look at the small oil leak. I had suspected it was coming from the rocker stud, as the one was missing a rubber grommet to seal it. So After looking at again I had this idea the other 264 engine we got from (the late) Doug Ives, and it has bolts and a flat top on the rocker with small washers to seal it, whereas the ones on our engine are studs which come up through the rocker covers, but they also have the little indents length ways on each one, so it looks like they are supposed to be there. This is where I must ask some of you 54 and 55 folks who know more about these engines than I. Could it be a difference between a 54 and a 55 264, or US vs Canadian production? Thanks.

I haven't updated this thread for a long time, as the car is basically finished, and I've just been doing some maint related things to it, though it needs a few more improvements. One of them being the lettering on the valve cover. This is unique to the Canadian cars, as you can see. As I'd mentioned before there seems to be a bit of controversy about the engine colour. The belief is that it was the 1940 Buick Grey, not the Dante Red of the US cars. This is only anecdotal as there are no official records to indicate this. So I painted it '40 Grey, but never did the valve cover as I had not other template for the lettering other than what was on it, so I've been using it for a while, then a couple of years ago I got another cover, and painted it up in the '40 grey, so now at least the engine is all a consistent colour. Then this summer I found a shop which would re create the lettering in cut vinyl for a reasonable cost, so I could use that as a stencil and paint the lettering on. Of course it wouldn't have been paint originally, but this works, and looks good. So here's a picture of it, plus one taken recently in Oshawa, the car's home town. It was built only a few miles from where the picture was taken. Plus the building was at one time a McLaughlin dealership though as you can see it is now the Canadian Automotive Museum, and has been for over 50 years now. By now I've put over 11,000 miles on the car since I got it on the road in June 2012. Keith

Well then, not a lady I'd like to get on the wrong side of!

I'm just bringing this thread back up. Though not much has been done to the car, we have been collecting parts for it in the meantime, and the deal I have with my son about the '55, is that we get as much done as we can on it, hopefully all of the body work, then the Wildcat gets moved into the repair garage for the winter so I can try to get it moving forward again. However I did start it up a couple of weeks ago, and it settled down to a nice smooth, smoke free idle. Keith

Just to prove I merely a grown kid, I suggested we change gears, so to speak and pull the carb off of it tonight before we get back into the body work. As I might have mentioned previously someone upgraded it to a 4bbl Carter WCFB and manifold, but it has never really pulled like it should, though we have never had it on the road, but we do have a 350+ ft stretch of nearly straight driveway which helps to try things out a bit, then it circles back around to the garage . So after roaring around in the '55 a few times, then I let my son drive the '56 and the '55 back to back. The '56 has more horsepower of course, but is also heavier, but it pulled so much better. The '56 is good running car, and is set up well too. So after ignition tweaking on the '55 helped, but it still bogs quite badly. I hoping it just isn't over carbed for that little nailhead. So if nothing gets me sidetracked, I'll open it up tomorrow and take a look. We have a carb kit for it with modern components in it. The throttle shafts feel pretty tight, so it would seem like it isn't a really high mileage one. Examining the gasket it might not have been sealing properly which could be part of the problem. Keith

I'm sorry I don't I ever said what the issue was with the hood. It was bent, it looks for all the world like a tree branch fell across it, and it was partly straightened, but not too well. There are likely folks out there who have the skill set to fix the hood, only I'm not one of them! So I was able to get a better one from a guy in Michigan, not long before the first lockdown as it turned out. I had my suspicions that there would be a few holes once it got cleaned up, but those I can fix, the other one I can't. So it's back in the big garage awaiting some more ministrations from us, and his Mom has her parking spot back!

I finally got a chance to watch your videos, and that's great! I am wondering at John's comment about trans fluid level, as it sounds like it's labouring more than I think it should. Either way it is a huge success!

Here are a few more of the work on the hood. We finished the chemical stripping and then went over the entire surface with a fibre stripping disk, as not all of the factory primer came off with the stripper, and then there were still a huge number of pits. Not a square inch, or even a square centimetre that didn't have something, so I went over with a fine sanding disk which cleaned it up some, then I sandblasted it. As usual, the front had the worst pitting on it and took a little while, and then a section on the front left side developed a bunch of holes, which will need to be fixed, but I wanted to get the rest of it painted first to cover up all that bare steel. So that's what we did today. This was my son's first time with a paint gun and he did alright. He doesn't like to screw up, and gets a bit worried about messing something up, but I told him that this is one of those jobs which even if you screw up, you haven't because it's easy to make right again. Keith

Just a few observations of mine, as I'm also a long term owner of a '56, (June 76 in my case) and I've driven mine over 100,000 miles since then, and it's almost the same as John's. The speedo heads in '56 can give trouble, and that might be your issue, but by all means check out the cable and I hope that will take care of the issue. I did have to have my speedo head rebuilt a few years ago. Acceleration is definitely leisurely with the Dynaflow, using Low to start helps a bit, however if you give it some gas and let it do it's thing you might find it is quite nice! Does take some getting used to especially compared to modern cars. About the dipstick. I have had the same issues others have described with the stop slipping off of the cap. A careful examination of it might show the small lugs which are supposed to hold the cap in place. Otherwise if you are out to sea one of us could measure the distance from the end of the stick to where the cap is supposed to be. A long time ago I put a couple of small bits of weld to stop it from sliding around. Keith

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted anything about the car. As always other things have taken precedence for a while, but we have got back at it in the last couple of weeks. This time we are doing the last major section of body reconstruction which needs doing, and that is the section under the trunk. As with most of the rest of the car it has had some substandard work in the past. My thoughts are the trunk leaked a bit in the right rear back corner and caused the floor to rust out, but just at the very back right above the back frame rail, which is still good. This is a complicated little bit to do, and we were working away at fabricating and fitting it, then the weather got better, dry and a few days of sun and 50-60 degree weather, so we changed gears and decided to get the new to us hood stripped and primed. Here is a shot of me and my son using paint stripper to take it down to bare steel. Keith

I guess I'm bad at picture taking, but I had the Electra out for a short drive on Friday afternoon. Less than 15 miles, and fortunately the heater was working great since the temp was only around 40 F, also the black vinyl roof wasn't a bad thing in this cool weather. Keith

Wow, just amazing work Roger! Keith

No pictures, but today I used the Reatta to do some errands in our countryside, mostly because it was a dry, but quite cool day in the 45 F range. About 30 miles on it all told. It hadn't been driven in a few weeks, and soon they will all be tucked away for the winter. My goal is to have all of them out within the next week or so. Hopefully the weather will hold, if the forecast is to be believed. Keith

Very lovely. Back in the 90's I often saw a gent driving a Claret Red and Tan one, and always wished I could have that car! Never did, but I do have one like the white and red one pictured. Keith

Roger, I have to agree with the others, though it will not be easy I'm sure you will manage to get them made. Keith

This is pretty much how my wife is seeing it. Cleaned up it will be a sharp looking car. I told her she might get chatted up at the gas station in that car....

Thanks John! Your car does look very nice.