dibarlaw

Ralph: Great car with tremendous potential. I wish my father had been a car guy. When I was 14 (1969) I never saw these cars around to be worked on. But at 15 I bought a 1937 International Pick Up to get running by the time I would get my license. All my father wanted for me to do was for me to get rid of it. He didn't believe in resurrecting the older cars. I teach Tech Ed at our high school and also wish some of my students had your enthusiasm for this hobby. All the advice presented so far is sound. We will look forward to hear more from you about your projects. And help when we can. What model is the 1922? Many on the forum have these cars and are quite knowledgeable. Best of luck and keep in touch. Larry

rgwinn1: I have been looking for a gage for my 1925-25 since I bought it 2 years ago. Very simple wire rod and cork float. I had to make a new knurled bezel. The old one was crushed by someone trying to remove it with a pipe wrench. Also had to try to get the threaded neck close to round again. I was lent a gage from a 1924-45 to try to pattern one after. It is close but larger in diameter. I believe there is a reproduction service that does the domed gage face. I did find it on e-bay and believe they wanted over $200 for it. Way out of my price range! This is what I have done so far. The first photo is a sketch of what I believe will work. 2 is of the newly made Bezel. 3 and 4 are of the borrowed 1924 2 1/8" unit which is too large. In the mean time the wood stick works. #5&6 pictures my friend Leif in Sweden sent. Last an out of focus example from an impeccably restored 1923-39 sport roadster.

Last week I got to drive Terry Wiegand's 1920 Coupe on our way back from the Nationals. Then after returning home took our 1925-25 Touring for a 22 mile limbering up cruse. I had rebuilt the clutch before we left to go to Portland. Now a joy to drive. Today we drove our 1937-41 out to visit a gentleman near Gettysburg whom Dwight Romberger and I helped to get his father's 1925-45 running last year. He had done some more work on it to get it running better. He invited me to drive it today. I never pass up an opportunity to drive an old Buick. Scary ride. Hardy any brakes and very loose steering. Still needs more work!

Thanks for posting these as most of my pictures did not turn out as well. We did most of these sites on our way out to Portland.

Photo taken during the presentation at the Forum Brunch.

Kevin: Looks like you have quite a project on your hands. This is the place for the help you need. We were just to the Buick nationals in Portland and on the way we visited "HENTZEE" in Illinois who is finishing up a 1924-45. I worked on a 1925-45 for a fellow near me in PA. I am sure others on the forum will ad to the discussion to hopefully get you sorted out. Larry

We are still on the road staying over outside of St Louis and will visit with "hentzee" in Ill. tomorrow to check out his 1924-45. Possibly another 2 days back to Pa. We spent the last 2 days visiting Terry Wiegand in Hutchinson KS. 6,350 miles so far. My "tush" is getting tired. First photo . Terry Behind the wheel of his 1920. 2nd. Terry gave me a turn at the wheel with Terry as passenger. A real thrill! 3rd. Terry and I after inspecting his 1916-45 in the trailer before he takes it to get the new top done. 4th. My wife Joan, Barbra and Terry showing off their new siding. Last. Terry, myself and Joan touring McPhearson College restoration facilities.

Pete : Check back on the forum as I posted a lot about how I rebuilt mine for the 1925-25 and then made a sealed bearing unit for it.I also found the Patent information for it. Nice to see you at Portland! We are still on the road heading home. Larry

We have been driving since Friday from Chambersburg PA. So far 2,600 miles. Doing Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore etc. did use up some extra time. We followed these two guys in a 1973 Centurion for about 100 miles from Marshal Minnesota on Route 90.

Mark: OK with me. Only concerns are the same as stated above. We are still on the road. Tonight we made it to Boise Idaho and hope to arrive tomorrow afternoon. Larry

After the month long clutch replacement adventure, our 1925 standard touring is back on the road! Drove it 6 miles and the clutch works smooth as silk. 70 degrees and watching the sun slowly in the west cruising at 35 mph with the top down... True Buick Bliss!

Leif: Us silly Americans have a habit of sometimes naming our cars. Particularly if there is a long term relationship with that car. Joan and I chose to name the 1925 "Beulah". Actually the Beulah we think about was a character on an old American radio show from the late 1930s-40s "Fibber McGee and Molly". I believe it is more polite to name the car than to use curse words directed at it. As I most surely needed to do over the last 2 1/2 years.

Mark: That will really make our trip worthwhile to Portland! Now.... if I buy lottery tickets in every state we pass thru on our trip.....

My 1937 Special also cranked slowly when hot. It was amazing what a difference it made after re-cleaning all the contacts and redoing the positive cable clamp, taking the stranded end, spreading the strands, scraping them clean and carving out the clamp for a better fit. Spins fine now. I was so impressed that I did the same on my 1925 Standard. She spins better now also. While I was redoing the clutch did some other things and the cables were one. Larry

Jim: I had checked the universal output bushing and it was around .005. So far no vibration. But!!!! Yesterday the wife and I got the rear axle in so I spent the remainder of last night cleaning the spring to axle clamps, greased them as required and bolted them back up. Reconnected the rear brake rods and set Beulah down on all 4 wheels since June 14th. The wife gave me a pitying stare as I came in from the garage at 1:00 AM. This morning after breakfast I put only 2 of the floorboards in so I could watch the clutch action with the inspection cover off. We drove about 4 miles doing errands getting acquainted with our new car. It surely felt like a new car without all the fussing around I had to do before to get it under way. The clutch worked smooth as silk! Another day of Buick Bliss!!! Today I made up 2 transmission mount studs. They were about 2 1/2" long and cleared the flywheel by about 1/8 inch or less! Also both ends were 3/8-16 the outside thread should be 3/8-24. I hate it when fasteners were mixed to just make do. Also ran out of all my old style lock washers replacing all the broken ones as I would remove a bolt or nut. Thankfully I did not strip out any fasteners. I really wanted to get her back together before we left for Portland. As I did not want to return home to that monumental job. Now to clean the garage... So maybe "Beulah" and us will finally become friends.

I thought that there were seals from the transmission but there are none. The oil is supposed to ooze out over the input shaft spline. Just a bit passing thru the ball bearings. The oil from the engine is controlled from the oil pan rear main cork seal. Then the bottom flywheel cover has a sheet steel plate with a felt seal which slows the leakage. I riveted a seal of felt like carpet padding and oil absorbent matting. I will see how it works. There are holes in both the flywheel cover and transmission bell housing for oil to escape. Considering that these cars only rarely saw paved roads I don't believe the engineers were all that concerned with all the oozing and dripping. After all it did kept the dust down. I guess I will have to be more vigilant in cleaning every so often the accumulation of oil from the crankcase above the rear main. But, in my case the oil damage to the clutch came from the throw-out bearing. Best Regards: Larry

Gladly buy you a pint for a ride in that lovely automobile. Congratulations!

Success!!! Reinstalled the transmission tonight. I installed it by myself with my wife watching in case I needed help. Dropped it down from above. It was amazing how much lighter it was with the shift tower, universal, torque ball, and main-shaft removed. I had thought it better to flush out the case and check bearings and such. Bearings appear good but of course the gear teeth show some wear. Something I will have to live with. I made new gaskets and put in fresh 600W. Now she clutches, de-clutches and shifts without any clashing! It was magical to start her up in neutral, put the clutch in and have it drop silently into 1st gear! Next to get that torque tube and rear axle back in

Sorry about the previous post. I had captioned all the photos and when I uploaded the post the text placement was changed. In the meantime I cleaned up the rear of the engine and painted. Today I finally reinstalled the clutch. Now for the big job of getting the transmission and rear axle back in! Larry

Finally getting back to the clutch work. I would like to get all put back together before we leave for the Nationals. I had to take care of the transmission assessment and some general cleanup of the rear of the engine. I removed and cleaned the throw-out bearing assembly and re-lubed. Ring of grease around the bell housing. Manufacture. The Bearings Co. Lancaster PA. Cleaning up and checking universals and torque Ball. Cleaned and lubed throw-out assembly. Worn and torn release lever boot. I took a break from degreasing to do a little sewing for a new boot. Polished up torque ball and cover with new seal I had previously removed a handful of shredded clutch from the flywheel housing. Prior to the clutch's failure packing. There was no gasket. No wonder it leaked it was getting more difficult to engage the starter. Now I know where the rest of the facing went. A lot of so badly. picking with a sharpened hardwood stick to clean out! More work ahead today.

Next installment of progress. Terry Wiegand sent me 8 NOS facings 2 weeks ago (THANK YOU TERRY)! After much clean up and testing of surfaces all has come back together. New facings on outer cover and first double sided plate. Press I made from a heavy gear puller. Last plate on flywheel side all rivet heads to flywheel. Had ti take a cut to true up throw-out contact surface on my lathe. Original facings made by RUSCO. All double sided plates alternate rivets. Note set pattern. Tested for warp using parallels. Second facing grease soaked and others ready to come apart. Drill press riveting set up. Re-assembled stack.

This is what I was greeted with when I removed the transmission. Filthy greasy mess. Definitely over lubed throw-out. Other facings ready to depart. Comparison between Standard (left) 8 facings. Master (right) 10 facings and 1/2" taller. Center plates had some heat discoloration. Going down thru the pack and finding more facings ready to go.

This weekend we drove the 1937 around town and to church just to give her some exercise. I don't believe she has sat for more than 2 weeks not being driven since we put her back on the road in September 2012. We have racked up over 3000 miles since then. The previous weekend we drove to the AACA museum for the Cadillac La Salle Club meet. Great bunch the CLC group! Did 140 mile round trip. Larry

Pete : On my 1925-25 Standard it is 15/16". I bought 2 - 7/8" Tool kit thin wall type sockets at Hershey which were very sloppy fit on my 1937s plugs. I probably looked at hundreds of these over the years but never a 15/16". So I want to try to heat them with a torch and open them up to fit. One for me and one for Dave Blaufarb's 1928-25. Yes the engineers did not provide much space for a socket. You should see the cobbled device I made to check compression. Best of luck: Larry

Dave: I did "plastigage" my mains and rod bearings on my 37 248 cu. Took out 2 shims at most to bring it back to spec. Also rebuilt the oil pump with new gears. My pressure runs around 45lbs. I am running 10W-40. The only time it dropped below 20lbs was when I was on the return leg from South Bend last year and drove continuously for about 7 hours in 90 plus heat. After a 120 mile trip yesterday it was the same at around 40lbs. Has 106,242 miles now. Larry