sweetpotato

My 263 exhaust manifold is broken clean in two. I have access to a 248 at a local wrecking yard. Will it interchange?

Good looking car. My 53 Special has the radio antenna on the roof. And, my door emblems say "Special" so I don't know what is going on there. Does the VIN tag on the right cowl under the hood show it to be a 41D? I know it is hard to describe a noise that doesn't belong there with words. One man's rattle might be something altogether different to someone else. Could it be something outside the transmission rattling because of resonance at higher rpm?

A short length of pipe would serve the same purpose, much like anti-hammering chambers in your house plumbing.

Filled up with avgas today. It had about 1/4 tank of mogas. Drove about 60 miles, no gas smell and when I parked it, no boiling. I'm sure the valves liked it too. I have a big halon fire extinguisher in the back seat now so all is good.

It took awhile but it finally clicked.... Starship Enterprise

Great blog Jon. That just about covers everything.

Makes me feel some better to know I'm not the only one with this problem. It is a little nerve-wracking to think of fuel dripping on a hot manifold. I will be carrying a fire extinguisher (which is never a bad idea) from now on. During the restore I did add an electric fuel pump and a manual switch.

Those are all good thoughts. I don't know if the tank on this car is vented or not but it does have an after-market cap which may be allowing pressure to build up. The idea of trying 100LL to see if it is a volatility issue had occurred to me. I never had a vapor lock in 40 years of burning 100LL in my 182 but after getting an STC to allow burning car gas I did have one on the climb-out from Phoenix once. Not sure if the new FBO at my airport will sell me 100LL but it is worth a try.

I drove the 53 straight 8 about 50 miles yesterday. Toward the end of the drive I began to smell fuel fumes. When I shut it down at home I removed the air cleaner and fuel was being spit up out of the barrel at about 5 second intervals with the engine shut down. Some fuel was also coming out of the throttle shaft and dripping on the manifold. This is a recently rebuilt Carter 2bbl. The carb was very warm to the touch but I don't think it was unusually hot. During the drive temps were normal. I can only get ethanol blended fuel here and I understand that it is more volotile. I know liquids have a lower boiling point at altitude also and I live at 8000 feet above sea level. Does anyone have any other thoughts on this ?

Thanks Pete

Where can I get a synchronizing drum for a 53 series 40? I pulled the transmission today, took the top cover off and discovered that the forward synchronizing drum has one of its tabs broken which allowed the retainer spring to come off and get chewed up into small pieces. I had been noticing the poor shift but that wasn't why I pulled the transmission. I was having some pretty bad leaks so I wanted to replace seals and gaskets. I can get everything I need , including a new input bearing which I also discovered was bad, but no one seems to sell the synchronizing drum and retainer. If anybody has one laying around or an idea where I might find one please let me know. Bob

A possible leak area is the rubber strip on top of the cowl that the closed hood rests on. The push pin holes that hold it down go straight into the under-dash area. While the mounting area for this strip is slightly raised for drainage, in a downpour water can come in there if the bottom of the strip is not caulked. Bob

Thanks Pat, I sent my shocks off for rebuild today. I found that removing the brake drum made moving the knuckle around a little easier due to the reduced weight. I'm going to try the seals from Bob's. I noticed before I started taking it apart that the knuckle support wasn't close to being centered fore and aft between the control arm.

I got it off with a lot of fine tooth jockeying with the floor jack. Removed both clamp bolts and bushings and unscrewed the pin with a 1/4" allen wrench. Blocked the wheel up and tied the top off so as not to put pressure on the brake line. I can see that the re-assembly is not going to be easy. If anyone knows a good way to get both the inside and outside threads started on the front bushing simultaneously please let me know.

Thanks Joe, I should have said "knuckle support" instead of control arm. Do I just loosen the clamp bolt and unscrew the bushing on that end? How does the pin come out then? Bob

Before I screw something up I thought I had better run this by somebody who has done it. Can I remove the shock arm from the upper control arm without affecting caster/camber. The description and illustrations in the service manual are not detailed enough to suit me. I don't understand all I know about how the bushings, the bolt in the middle (which I guess is the adjustment bolt), the clamp bolt , etc. work to just start lefty loosey'n this thing. I see Bob's has the seals I will need to reassemble. Any help appreciated.

Got it all back together and I have about 200 miles on it including a long Fourth of July parade today. No leaks. I sleeved the balancer hub, used a Best gasket rear seal kit and a new front seal. Carefully trued the pan, especially around the bolt holes which had been seriously over-torqued in the past. My 1949 Delta table saw top makes a great surface for straightening oil pans. Took the oil pump cover gasket out and threw it away. Good pressure now. I think the Buick was more popular in the parade than my Model A, especially among geezers my age who seem to identify better with 1953 than 1930.

Ran the '53 in a long Fourth of July parade today. Carole drove the Buick and I followed in the Model A. Taking that cover gasket out of the oil pump was a great move. Pressure was much improved. Don't have a proper guage on it but the Buick guage runs good in the white area at hot idle. Never came close to that with the gasket in.

Probably not what you need to hear but mine came off without a puller a couple of weeks ago, just slid right off.

Thanks, I took the gasket out. Haven't installed yet so don't know the result but I'm beleivin'.

impact wrench did the trick but only with my larger air compressor.

David, A lot of good info there, including the side seals. Thanks.

I'm trying to increase my oil pressure. I have the pan down to replace rear seal so I took the oil pump apart to check specs. The clearance is good between the top of the pump body and the top of the helical gears. The book says it should be .004. One gear is .004 and the other is .005, However, it had a gasket between the body and the cover and it measures .009. The book makes no mention of a gasket or whether the recommended .004 clearance is what it should be when the cover is on. Obviously my clearance with the cover on and using that gasket is going to be .013 or .014. So, should I install the cover without a gasket , cut a very thin gasket , or use the gasket that it has now? Will it work without a gasket?

Well, I guess I will go ahead and install the rubber seal. This is a straight 8. I'm getting so good at dropping the pan I'll go to plan B if it doesn't work. I'll install the pan with the block side of the gasket dry so I can do a quick change if necessary. At my age labor is not an issue. If I wasn't working on the Buick I'd be watching old movies on TCM.

Now I'm getting worried. I've already ordered it. Could you elaborate on that Mike? What do I look for?