Eric W
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Posts posted by Eric W
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Not to discourage, but maybe some negotiating points - it's not necessarily from a rust free climate. That's a Washington plate on there. Might be ok, but how long was the hood gone before it was replaced? Why was the hood gone? Anything left under there? There's a head on the front seat so the engine may be gone or toast... Rust showing around the back windows and tailgate doors...
Keep checking Phoenix for Buicks if you're serious - I saw a couple in the last week or two that if my garage wasn't so full already... There is a '55 Century Riviera asking under $3k.... http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/4082298122.html
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It's not letting me post photos now. I cleaned up under there and got some good ones. Anyway, the hardware proves me wrong, and Robert and Ben both right, in a way. The clamp on my car that is wrapped around the breather and fuel lines is not bolted to anything. It's not positioned in a way that it could just fall to that position - more like someone just pushed it around the breather and fuel lines because that extra bump in the clamp made it look like that's where it could go. So I guess I have my "top of the breather tube" clamp. Just have to pull it out and get a bolt in it.
There is a clamp farther back on the breather tube. I'm guessing it's bolted to the oil pan, but I couldn't really tell. But the very back end of the breather tube is solidly held to something with a clamp.
I even got some shots of the frame and rear suspension. I wouldn't say exactly rust free, but pretty good condition. Even the see-through-to-the-ground holes under the driver's and front passenger's feet aren't all that bad. Might be more of patch-the-hole than replace-the-floor.
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I'll get some more photos. I was raising the back end of the car yesterday to start the gas tank removal (and found yet more wasp nests). I know there's been some not-quite-stock repair work done in the car's history with the radiator being incorrect, etc. Though that "incorrect" fuel pump - I guess there's no way to know if that was actually a replacement, or just an on-the-line substitution from the factory because the lines with those original c-clips are configured exactly for the pump.
The way the clamp is installed on the breather & fuel line makes sense to me. One of my jobs for quite a while was designing tube/hose assemblies for jet engines, and it would be structurally desirable to have a clamp point up close to the hose interface on the fuel line like is on my car. So maybe the clamp actually serves more than one purpose - install it at the top end of the breather tube to keep the breather tube from sliding down, and have another one on the lines farther back to stabilize the engine side of the fuel line.
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Robert - thanks for the part numbers. They seem to indicate that there is a front, mid, and rear clamp on the breather tube. See photo #1 in post #48 of this thread, where I was showing the wrench handle on the battery tray bolt. There's the clamp between the breather and fuel line. Maybe it's just missing on your and Ben's cars - but it's clearly a "double loop" kind of shape - a big loop around the breather and a small loop around the fuel line. I intend to look this over more closely from below, but right now there's a pile of oily, greasy dirt and wasps nests under the car that I have to clean out. Well, I guess I don't have to, but it sure will be a lot nicer to get under there if I do...
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Thanks guys. The radiator support in the photo will soon be here. Radiator - I'm going to try local first as those are quite heavy for long-distance shipping.
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Thanks guys. I'll check around from underneath and see if there's a clamp or clip farther back that might have held the tube up. I believe I said - when I got the car, it was held up with a piece of wire between the tube and the battery tray. When I cut that wire, the tube fell right down. As you guys with these cars may know (or at least on my car), the breather tube also acts as a support for the fuel line. Or is it the other way around...
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Thanks, guys. Well, the pan is on the way, and the same guy has a radiator support frame that also probably will be heading this way. So the big part remaining to source is the radiator. Given that the one I pulled off there weighs probably 50 lbs, that's something I'm going to see if I can get locally (within an hour or two drive). It's a shame that pan was hacked. I flaked off the undercoating - and it did its job for sure. The bottom side paint looks new. Here's some photos:
- top side. Light surface rust only.
- bottom side. Looks pretty good, but I flaked off some of that coating on each side.
- here is a little of the coating flaked off. The rest came off pretty easily. Too bad the floor farther back isn't like this...I may have asked before - what holds the crank case breather tube on the "can" on the side of the engine? I saw a photo where I thought I could make out a clamp, but I was also told it's just a set screw through the tube. There's nothing on my car. Tube is 1 5/16" OD.
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Does anyone know - is the radiator core support for '51 - '52 the same part for 40-series as 50/70-series?
Thanks - the one in my '51 40-series had the diagonal and upper cross-bar cut out to make way for a super-thick radiator. Trying to get a replacement core support to bring this back to original. (photo is not the part from my car)
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I too have bought from this guy - excellent to deal with. Unfortunately for me he specializes in 50-70 series items, but I'll take a chance this will fit the 40-series. Studying the photos, it sure looks the same. Thanks for the link!
Checks off 1 of 4 things I know I need (in the rusty-gold rather than repro market) - the other 3 are:
40-series steel wheel for the full-size hubcap from '51. - no hurry on this one, it will be the spare.
Radiator frame w/ triangulating braces. - the braces were cut out on my car to make way for the super-heavy-duty radiator.
Radiator.
Do you mean this pan? http://www.ebay.com/itm/1951-1952-Buick-Radiator-Splash-Pan-50-70-Series-50-51-GM-Buick-Lower-Prot-Plate-/380719177540?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item58a4a19f44&vxp=mtr I've purchased several items from this guy. Reasonable prices and fast service -
Duly noted on the heat exchangers. In the initial stage of get-it-running, I may just bypass the cabin heaters. I know there's been debate on these forums on how to do that, but now that I've compared the diagrams to the hardware, I don't think it would be too hard. So - latest items. It may seem like details of every last little thing, but part of posting these pics is I have found others' pics to be helpful.
Removing the battery tray. 4 bolts to the frame. The one that the wrench is on has a nut underneath. I could reach both the nut and the wrench handle from below.
Cleaning off the frame under the battery tray. Not detailing to paint, but just scrape off the caked-on mud:
Pulled the fan and water pump:
The "splash" pan in front of the radiator was trimmed by maybe 1 1/2" (the radiator is a 3 1/2" core!):
Anyone have this tray? There's 2 on ebay right now - very nice for $175 and 25% rusted away for $17. I'm somewhere in between - all metal there, maybe $50.
Generator and water pipe out:
Front of engine. Was going to compression check, but I only have a metric setup. But the engine turns over pretty easily by hand.
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Added to the list. I'm into enough things around the engine of this car to have started a list to give some order to just going out there and unbolting what I can see...
Eric,From the pics of the thermostat housing your cooling system is in poor shape. Have you considered removing all the freeze plugs and digging out the sediment and scale? Mine had built up and covered the rear plug and finally started leaking from corrosion eating up the plug. I flushed out the block with garden hose and nozzle after digging out what I could.
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Lamar - sent you a PM. You may have some '55 dashboard items I could use... Thanks!
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Thanks for the advice on the engine enamel vs. rust encapsulator. I have those couple of parts in soda soak now, but I'm going to hold off coatings until I can try media blast. With that capability, the vinegar soak may be moot for all but the smallest parts. I've already proven to myself I can shine up some pretty tiny screws and washers on the wheel. A carry-over from the aluminum work - it's a Scotchbrite wheel on a bench grinder (about $70 just for the wheel, from aircraft tool suppliers). Much less intimidating (to bare fingers) than a wire brush wheel - I don't use gloves for the screws, etc. for better ability to maneuver them around. Your finger has to hit that wheel pretty hard to get zinged, and even then it only leaves a hot spot but doesn't break the skin. So pretty nice for shining up bolt heads & washers.
http://www.averytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=3753 - Link to scotchbrite wheel.
Couple of examples of bolts cleaned up on the Scotchbrite wheel. Interesting the lock washers for the coil bracket have ridges along the edge (left bolts in 2nd photo). The bolts in the right side of the 2nd photo are the thermostat housing to head bolts - those are Al crush washers, and they look like they've had some crushing. Anyone have a source for these?
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Thanks - I don't have a can of coating that I'm just burning up to get on some metal (yet). I'm working on a blast setup. I'll just set these aside until I can run them through that. At this point my tool collection is specialized to working with new aluminum, not old steel. But that will be changing. New aluminum? I had been making airplanes until recently. Here's the one I sold that got me into the vintage automobiles:
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Looking at the fuel line - it doesn't look like it's been re-bent. May have been replaced, but the clips that hold the 3 lines together look original (3 clips, very tight). Studied Robert's engine photos - looks like I'm missing the clamp at the top end of the breather tube - that would explain the piece of wire I found between the tube and the battery hold-down bracket - the wire was keeping the breather tube from falling down. Here are the thermostat housing parts. Smaller one was ~30 hours in vinegar. Larger one was ~36 hours or so. Is this about the level where POR15 would work, or should I soak or wire brush them some more?
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I have drilled bunches of holes through hollow things (tubes) from one side only. That way the 2 hole segments you know are lined up - they were drilled with one continuous drill bit. What I was thinking for this case is find the drill size that gives a snug fit for a 3/8" tube, and drill through the manifold with that. On the segment of 3/8" tube, expand it a little on one end. Install through the manifold from the bottom so the bottom end is anchored by the expanded portion, and with it pushed out the top, stake that end so it won't drop out. Because the drilled hole and tube diameter is intended to be extremely close (maybe even hole slightly undersize - put tube in freezer and hit manifold with heat gun before installing), there won't be leakage to worry about.
What I'm trying to figure out is the choke tube. On my car as it is now, the choke tube only goes a little way into the manifold tube. Maybe 1/2", if that. It's a snug fit, so the manifold tube acts as an anchor for the bottom end of the choke tube (well, maybe the rust between the parts is the anchor). If I go with a larger diameter tube through the manifold, the choke tube will be rattling around unless I add a sleeve or something. Hmm. Another way would be to use a thicker wall 3/8" tube and counterbore it to be snug on the choke tube OD. No spacer needed.
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Robert - with the new piece of pipe in the manifold, is the tube to the choke a loose fit? If so, I may try drilling/reaming the manifold so a 3/8" tube will fit and just stake it a little. I believe the tube in the manifold on my car has a leak - as far as I can tell the tube from the choke to the manifold does not go very far into the manifold, so the piece of tube staked or otherwise stuck in the manifold has a hole where I can't see it - allowing exhaust to get up to the choke. (Not that my car's run in the past 19 years, but there was a lot of soot in the choke when I cleaned up the carb...) The tube from manifold to choke on my car is not aluminum.
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Thanks Robert for the heads-up. My car is piling up some evidence that it's been worked on at some point. The pushrod cover on the right side has hi-temp (red) RTV bulging out, and the thermostat fittings were also sealed with red RTV. The reducer fittings in the photos of the fuel pump also have red RTV from when they were serviced or added. I will take a closer look at the fuel line to see if it's been re-bent. The group of 3 lines (vacuum, distributor advance, and fuel) that are clipped together along the top left side, across the front, then down the right side of the engine look as though they've always been together. But there isn't much to say they originated with this car.
On the plus side, when I took the upper heater line loose from the pump, there's still coolant inside the defroster. So it's possible the under-seat heater, trans cooler, and defroster are all still holding fluid. I haven't opened the bottom of the radiator yet to see what falls out, but there's some ominous looking green flaky build-up on the bottom third of the radiator (to let me know where to expect the hole)...
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Pulled the thermostat housing. Kinda crusty. Oh, and no thermostat in there.
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Carb sitting back on the manifold. Taking it one circuit and passage at a time, I got every needle & check valve cleaned out. When I first started, I didn't know what all was in there. The check valve for the acceleration pump over-fill was a little tricky. At first, I didn't realize there's a ball in there. Then I didn't realize there's an extremely fine spring in there with the ball... But I think I got it all back together ok.
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Here's the carb kit. There were some extra of the carb-to-manifold gasket. Very complete. From The Carburetor Shop, Eldon, Mo.
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Using a crowfoot on an extension, got the pump bolts loose enough to angle an open-end wrench in there, then finished them off by hand. On the plus side, here's some evidence that this engine does still have some blue on it.
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Thanks, guys! I found a '50 on eBay being parted out, and there's DVAP about an hour up the road that may have a car or two with this radiator.
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Somewhere in the forum I found a post that listed the exact part number for the radiator for the 1951 40-series with Dynaflow, and what other years interchanged. I wrote it down, then lost what I wrote & can't find the post again. Anyone have that info? I believe it's a common part across 1950-52, but want to check. My '51 does not have the original radiator & rather than restore/recore this mystery part, I need to start over with the right radiator.
Rescue Me - '51 41D
in Me and My Buick
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Trying again for some photos:
Mystery clamp from above:
Mystery clamp from below - not actually connected to anything:
Clamp at back end of breather tube:
Center of frame from right side, under front seat:
Looking back along the right side:
Torque tube, rear axle, etc: