sweetpotato

JUST TO BE CLEAR, AS THE POLITICIANS SAY, I'M TALKING ABOUT THE LOWER SHEET METAL COVER, NOT THE BELL HOUSING. BOB

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE PITMAN ARM BUT THE CARS CATALOGUE SHOWS A DUST COVER FOR THE TIE ROD ENDS. PART EC372 $3.72 ea.

I KNOW IT IS NOT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY BUT I NEED A GASKET FOR THE FLYWHEEL COVER- '53 STRAIGHT 8. IT HAD ONE ON IT WHEN I TOOK IT OFF. CARS DOESN'T SELL IT. ANYBODY KNOW A SOURCE? IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE HARD TO CUT ONE AS IT IS CURVED. THANKS, BOB

Thanks! It does help a little to polish the "varnished" areas with crocus cloth. They slide a little better then. I actually may have solved my future parts problem since a couple of weeks ago I found a derelict 2 door '53 Special straight 8 in a small town very near me. What are the odds of that? It is not a great candidate for restoration but has most of it's "stuff". Now I have to convince my wife it would be a good thing to haul it up here to add to the rest of my boneyard.

About an inch of sludge in the low part of the pan. I didn't see any obvious problem with the push rods. The biggest problem with refurbishing the rocker arm shaft is getting the eight soft metal brackets off without damage to them or the shaft. They have a slot which allows them to bind on the shaft when the longer bolt is tightened but I could see no good way to put anything in the slot to open them up enough to easily slide them off. I just carefully drove them off with a piece of wood and a lot of oil. I do have a good set of ratcheting box ends and thought maybe one of them and a wood stick lever to push up on the pan bolts might work to reinstall the two hidden ones.

Well, I finally tackled removal of my oil pan today. All the bolts are easy including the 4 front ones accessible through the holes in the crossmember. But, there are two directly above the crossmember with no holes to get at them. I couldn't get at them with a socket and u-joint and finally got them with an end wrench a very little at a time. I have no idea how I will start these two when I put it back on. If anybody has a thought I would appreciate it. I am going to clean the screen on the oil pump and when I took the pump off there was no gasket where it meets the crankcase. The shop manual says there is a gasket there. I might have better pressure when I reinstall with the gasket. I got my rocker arm shaft cleaned and that was a job well worth doing as it was almost completely plugged with sludge. The new plugs for the ends that Pirate gave me fit perfectly.

I once thought I would increase the effectiveness of my pressure washer by hooking the input water hose to my laundry room hot water faucet. I discovered that the machine has some kind of temperature sensor which won't allow this. Anybody know how to disable this feature?

I would be interested in seeing Old Tanks website on that also. I might like to try it on my 53 Special shocks. I looked at Old Tank's profile and didn't see a website.

Thought I would let you all know that Pirate sent me the rocker shaft plugs for my '53 special. He wouldn't even let me pay for the postage. There are a good bunch of Buick people out there! Thanks Pirate and a great new year to all. Bob

Thanks Oldwood. I have seen those before. Never used them though. When I get to that point I may be contacting you.

Found this in an old thread January 2005

Thanks, I haven't taken it out yet so cant mike it. Bob

Been there, done that. Bob

That's good stuff shadetree. I had thought about drilling a hole in one and maybe putting a hook in it to pull it out and then soldering or welding the hole to re-use it.

Thanks Pete. Do you happen to know roughly the diameter of the channel down the rocker arm shaft. Could it be cleaned with a gun cleaning brush if I found the right one or is it too big for that. Also there is a plug on the end which I assume would have to be removed and replaced to clean the inside of the shaft. I don't find those in the Cars catalog. Maybe someone knows where to get them. Bob

All that makes sense. Thanks to all for the feedback. Just wanted to set my mind at ease that I didn't leave something off. As I was watching it run before I took it apart I saw that a lot more oil was coming out of the area where the line sticks into the rocker arm shaft than anywhere else. Guess that is the designed pressure relief.

THE LINES ARE AS YOU DESCRIBED THEM, OUT OF THE FILTER, INTO THE SIDE OF THE HEAD, OUT OF THE HEAD WITHIN THE VALVE COVER, BOTH OF WHICH ARE THREADED. BUT THE ONE WHICH COMES OUT OF THE TOP OF THE HEAD THEN CURVES UP AND DROPS DOWN INTO THE ROCKER ARM SHAFT. IT IS AT THIS POINT WHERE IT SEEMS TO ME PRESSURE IS LOST WITHOUT SOMETHING TO SEMI SEAL IT. I HAVE BOTH THE 52 SHOP MANUAL AND THE 53 SUPPLEMENT AND THERE IS NO HELP THERE.

I have a question about the small oil line that goes from the top of the block to the rocker arm shaft through a small spoon shaped baffle that slips over the line. Is there supposed to be an o ring on the line where it meets the hole in the shaft? Without an oring or gasket I was wondering how the shaft could be pressurized enough to get enough oil to the rocker arms at the back of the engine. I took the rocker arm assembly off to clean the sludge and wondered if I might have lost an o ring or if someone else had left it off. Thanks, Bob

Thanks for the heads up oldwood. I will look for that.

Thanks again Shadetree. I guess I will just do the top and leave the bottom the way it is. I will try to get some pictures up before long of this old Special. It is pretty ugly but I have high hopes for the old girl. It is a real solid Arizona car. I am sure happy I found this site and will probably make a nuisance of myself with posts as I go along. I just finished my 1930 Model A Town Sedan last year and was looking for another project when I found this Buick.

I removed, cleaned and painted my oil filter canister black. I also applied the decal I got from Cars. Then, too late, I started seeing engine pictures here and elsewhere that look like it probably was Buick green with maybe an orange top. If so, I may still may repaint the top orange but since it is not a show car will probably leave the bottom black ( I don't really want to buy another decal). Am I right in assuming it was green with an orange top? Thanks

Thanks. I think I didn't spend enough time trying to get up through those holes.

How do I get at the front oil pan bolts? Do you have to temporarily lift the front of the engine to give better clearance from the cross member?