Daves1940Buick56S

Matt: OK looks good. Model number or something so I can get one? Or source? Thanks, Dave

Never mind the never mind. Tried to reassemble but no luck. The flare is too big to allow capture of the flat gasket, its loose no matter how tight you get it. I am going to have to find some kind of donut to make this work.

Never mind. I talked to Waldron's and the flat gasket I have is correct.

I got a massive leak at the exhaust pipe to valve body connection last week. I took the exhaust pipe down and it was not what I expected. I thought it would be more like my 1940 248 with the ridged pipe. This is flared at the end. (See pic) Pipe OD is 2 1/4". OD of the flare is 2 1/2". ID of the valve body hole is a bit over 2 1/4". Flange is a flat plate. First, is this correct for a 320 of this era? The parts are Waldron and I got them 2 yrs ago but I did not install them. It appear the installer put on some kind of donut that was too long so the excess was dropped into the pipe. (See pic) What is the gasket supposed to look like - is it a flat gasket or donut? If donut I assume it would go valve body -> donut -> flared end of pipe -> flange. I did get a couple of what I thought were the proper gaskets from Bob's a couple of years ago just in case. They are flat with the hole being almost 2 3/4" diam. I don't see how that would work with this setup. BTW Bob's exhaust parts availability seem wanting. Supply chain issues? Comments welcome. Thanks, Dave

Mark Shaw did a great write up on this. Use belleville washers and the copper based hi temp antisieze. Have to look at the tube in my shop to get the name. I used the copper faced gaskets. Worked fine on my 1940 248.

I second all that. Once lifted off the hood is very...dynamic. Two people minimum, 3 is better. Dont set it on the nose as Morgan said.

Nice car! Remove hood. Drain radiator and remove hoses. Remove water pump and bypass housing. Put cardboard or similar on core face to keep from damaging. Remove 6 bolts (3 ea side) holding radiator to body. Tilt top of radiator towards engine and lift out. Takes 2 people.

Others can correct me, but if it's a 248 from 1939 it should be a drop in. If the trans is also from '39, the linkage works differently and you will have to find a 40 thru 53 trans with a 5 bolt cover

WCD carb for a start. Rear end cover shape isn't round so maybe not a Buick rear? Def not a Buick trans of this era. Looks a bit like a Franken setup

When I had the dash out on my '38, I put in 6V bus bars fed by heavy relays with power directly from the live batt circuit and controlled by the ignition switch line. So when I turn off the ignition all goes off but the headlight/park/tail lights and brake light circuit. Edit: and the clock! Forgot about that!

I think they were separate from Day 1. Still separate in 48. I think maybe 49 was the first year they were slaved but there is a separate control for dimming. My 38 had a slide switch, one side for map and the other way for panel. No dimming. I put in a switch that replaces that and allows for 2 brightness settings. I also have a separate swiotch for the map light in the center of the dash. The switch for my 1940 is stock. Center, all off. To the left activates the map light above the ignition switch. To the right, 2 postions for panel lights, one bright and one dim. The 41 and onward has a switch on the center panel for instrument lights with 2 or 3 dimming positions, I can't remember.

The condenser on my 38 died as well. Smoked the points. Less than 2 yrs old. I am seriously thinking of putting in a 0.22 microfarad at 600v capacitor. That will last a lot longer. The current crop of caps are very robust compared to 20 yrs ago.

Mine too! I thought you were up near Bawlmore?

Could also be Series 50. And I recall that the 5 bolt trans was usable on 40 thru 52 Special and Super, and 53 Special only.

A word of warning: with the flapper removed you will get constant heat on the floor of the intake manifold. Better to leave it in, locked in the bypass (deflected downwards) position.

Mark - he does have the column shift on the left side of the column

Nice Terry! Since you are diligently checking temps after each drive, might I suggest keeping a log of date, time, and the temps that you read. That way you can catch a trend, like a slow increase on the packing nuts, and possibly prevent a problem. Sorry, my engineering mind at work. Cheers, Dave

How heavy is each assembly? Can one person move them easily? I am thinking they could lift the car and then jack stands placed and then the jack assys lowered and moved out of the way to enable all-around access True?

I will have to look further for info on the K code I read about somewhere. Maybe it is supposed to be a W. I do know mine was built with a very shallow space where the spare normally resides, and a center support bar making it impossible to put a spare in that space.

I am about 90% sure the engine in my 40 Super is a replacement engine. Painted black with no evidence of 1940 gray underneath. My rod bearings are Babbitt. My serial number is in the correct place. I read somewhere that Buick sent out a stamping kit with the engines so that the dealer would stamp the old number onto the new engines, although this was not always done.

My 1938 66S is supposed to have a K on the plate somewhere as it was built as a dual sidemount with no trunk compartment for a spare.

I have Dback Auburns on my 40. Tubeless. No problems. Ran a 1k trip last summer. Did 100 mi today. No probs. I also have Universal Lester's on my 38, also tubeless. No probs there either.

So with the carpet up you are looking at a large square hole in the floor and you can easily see the pedal linkage going to the clutch and master cylinder (and the ground)? I am not sure about 1950 cars but my 40 and 38 both have a small rectangular metal panel with 2 holes for the pedal shafts with slots cut above them. You slide the cover over the shafts and it screws down onto the floor pan.

Wait. Dumb question. Is the floor board piece around the pedals there? Take a pic with the carpet up.

This is my buddy Irv's car. I assume it is a 233 engine. The carb is a small 2 barrel. Is it a Stromberg EE-1? Throttle linkage on engine side. There is a vacuum start switch on the manifold. It looks like there is a tag, have to get more pics.