Eric W
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Posts posted by Eric W
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Took a little spin around the neighborhood last night. Thursdays there's a pretty good cruise night (50+ cars in the 100+F heat, 3x that or more in the winter time) about 7 miles from here, but the family just wasn't up for that this week (105F around dinner time). Just cruising around the neighborhood, I was followed. Don't think the follower had any bad intentions, and after the 3rd or 4th intersection where I turned to avoid the main streets, he'd had enough and went back along his way. Ever get followed?
Those ashtray pulls really brighten up the dash. Still on the list are the vent slider knobs, the fan switches, and the parking brake knob...
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Thanks, guys. I'll start another thread when it gets here and I can start to get into it. It's going to be a while, though.
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Writing a check before my wife realizes what's happened...
BJM - I'll be in touch. There will be some shipping involved, but it's going to stay at Roy's for about another month before we'll both be in our respective towns at the same time to meet up with shippers...
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Lap belt only. From Julianos / seatbeltstore.com. The under-the-floor photo in the April 28th posting is the left side outboard attach point. Notice there's a little rib stamped into the floor - I put the attach point as close to that as I could. Same thing on the right side outboard point. The inboard points are as close to the driveshaft hump as I could get them and still be in the flat floor. On the right side, this was up against a little rubber drain plug. The left side, the drain plug was in a different place, so I cut the plug off to get the seatbelt point to be fairly well symmetrical with what was done on the right side. I thought I put in a link of where I posted more detail. Here it is: 1955 Buick Special Custom - 04
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Roy,
Sent you a PM. Found this thread after I was sure it was gone....
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Reading these forums has me motivated to go beyond just fixing the obvious, known things on the car (won't relay that list in this posting), but here's a couple of for-fun things I got done recently:
Scrape ~5lbs of accumulation off each front suspension...
Replacing the handles on the dashboard ash trays (find a source for parts, get the parts, determine what's usuable, PB blast, let it sit, disassemble, soak the screws in vinegar (1 hour, scrub with toothbrush, 1 more hour, 1 more scrub, rinse, dry overnight), disassemble the existing to transfer the parts to be used)...
- The Before.
- Replacement parts as received.
- The After. Ok, you know those aren't the correct fan switches. One thing at a time...
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Got them. Thanks for the parts!
Anyone getting a headlight knob and it comes with the shaft, here's the deal:
http://forums.aaca.org/f162/help-57-headlight-switch-removal-301420.html
I figured there was an easy way to get this done, and I'm glad I took a minute to search the forum for how to do it right... A little cleaning and back on the road:
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Sent you a PM for a couple of things. Thanks!
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'55s don't use a rag joint, so you shouldn't have to worry about this.
That would explain why it was so hard to see.:eek: Checking the shop manual, THAT explains that slop in '55 steering was a more expensive issue.
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The one from NAPA (NOE 6301012) certainly looks like the other one - exact same parts in the photo, photo taken from different angle. Would be nice if someone could verify. The NAPA site says their kit is for 1980-1989 Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, but that may be all they know. When I get to this on my car, I may as well at least give NAPA a try - it's ~1/2 the cost of the other one, and no shipping...
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Todd,
As to the hidden stereo - not sure if it would work for you, but since your car has the radio delete plate, I had seen somewhere that location used to hide the new stereo. Don't know if they used a hinge or if the delete plate is just held in with clips or something. My '55 already had the dash hacked for a new-ish stereo, and they had stuck a lighter in the former knob hole that was too far over to be covered by the new stereo. So I'm using the stock speaker location - as a speaker location. I think what's in there is a 4x7. I found it stuck by the speaker magnet way up under the dash where it couldn't be heard at all, so I made up a little adapter plate to get it into the right place.
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I just did this in my '55 a couple of weeks ago. I'll attach a link below in case there's something there that might help. I went with the Julianos, non-retracting. What I found is the below-the-floor points more or less defined themselves based on where the back-up plates would fit. Since I was retrofitting through an existing fairly recent carpet, I cut U-shaped holes in the carpet for the attach points rather than bolting the belts over the top of the carpet.
To locate where to cut the carpet, I located the back-up plate below the floor, drilled a pilot hole for it with a 1/8" drill, took the bit out of the drill motor and pushed the bit up through the hole until I could feel it pushing up on the carpet, and cut about an inch to either side and an inch forward of the drill bit (use the seatbelt end fitting for reference). This located the cuts in the carpet just right.
Under the cutout, I removed a small square of the pad material that is stuck to the metal floor to allow the belt end bracket to attach tight directly to the floor. This worked out really well. If I'd have been doing the whole restoration myself and put the belts in before the carpet, I probably couldn't have done any better with hiding the attach points.
For the lengths, I mocked-up the lengths using pieces of rope and was able to see that I needed to buy the next longer set for the fronts. They look pretty long in these pictures, but that's with the seat fully slid back. Not that I'll ever drive with it moved forwards, but the belts should allow for that.
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There is a national title search website. I went through this a couple of months back when I bought my car - since I bought over the internet, I wanted some independent evidence that the car wouldn't come up as stolen when I took the old title to the DMV. Start at www.vehiclehistory.gov. Though it's a government database, it links out to commercial "title report" suppliers (who I guess just compile the database info into a nice report for a fee). The one I went with only charged about $3. So whichever car you are interested in, get the VIN (even old ones that aren't the current number of digits) and get a report - that will tell you the state last/currently titled in. I don't recall if it also has the name/address of who it's titled to, but it at least indicates if it was a salvage title or reported stolen.
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I just changed out the brake light switch on my '55 day before yesterday. Yes, it's pretty easy to access from above. The shop light sat real nice on the exhaust manifold, and I could get to the brake line junction from both sides of the steering column.
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While it was up on the lift, got some more photos from down below...
Bump stop was gone on this corner only.
I know, that's not the back of a Buick engine...
Next photo - that's what's left of the column shift. Below and behind that (to the left in the photo) - is that the parking brake?
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Anyone ID this rear end? The previous owner said it was a '63 Riviera. Mechanic doing the transmission said it's Ford 9 inch.
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Got 1 of the fronts in. Found that though I might think I know where I want the belts to attach, the points more or less define themselves by what's under the floor.
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Rear seat belts. Turned out pretty much like I wanted. Have the fronts - not in yet.
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Yes, it will be a while before there's any serious changes like an engine. I've had some light fix-up hobby cars before, but this gives me a whole new appreciation and respect for those frame-off complete restorations - especially the did-it-yourself jobs. Oh - and tons more respect for anything that makes it to cruise night under its own power...
Even though this car was a "driver" since I got it I have already...
-ordered shop manual on CD
-removed funky plastic/chrome screw head covers from all over the interior
-removed a collection of red lights from under the dash - interesting effect, but not my style
-changed up the under-dash gauge mount bracket (if they'd have done it this way, would have saved 4 extra holes in the speaker grille and used the existing fasteners)
-made a front speaker mount bracket and moved speaker from way up under the dash
-safety wired the unconnected parking brake cable to keep it from bouncing off the ground (rear axle isn't stock, so parking brake isn't connected)
-fixed gas tank strap that was falling off
-replaced reverse light lenses (it had red lenses cut down from a larger circular lens)
-removed extra wiring under rear bumper (possibly more little red lights - didn't look like for a trailer)
-replaced radiator cap
-cleaned steering wheel
-made a battery hold-down bracket (battery was just sitting on the tray)
-attempted fix on LH mirror - the glass is all floppy on the arm - these little hotrod mirrors don't cost all that much anyway
-replaced the shift knob (the one it came with was held on by - gravity)
-figured out how to pull out the back seat
-dug out the existing seat belts. determined they're probably not all that safe - single bolt for each set; 2 fronts - 1 rear.
-I need at least 4 sets of seat belts, so installed some new ones from Juliano's (seatbeltstore.com)
-set radio presets (determined radio is functional, even if the speakers are hooked up all wrong)
-checked rear suspension with non-stock rear axle at least looks kinda safe. found rear is lowered w/ u-bolts on the springs
-added gas to confirm - gas gauge works
-got a jack
-tracked down the special socket for the lug nuts (it was not with the car - found a tire shop that had one)
-tire shop showed me the date code on the tires - many year-old tires not safe. ordered tires.
-and I have a list about 4x longer than the above of more stuff that needs doing.
Oh - and I don't really know yet if the engine & trans are any good or if they're just hanging together. The trans is pretty drippy, so that's next after the tires... I figured it would give me something to do, and look good while getting it done...
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350 Chevy with T350 trans from an early 70's van. Reading the forums on here has already given me the bad idea that I need to look for a 455...
Lived most of its life around Chattanooga, TN, was transferred from the original buyer to a relative after 30-40 years, then sold to a guy SE of Cincinnati in Kentucky in 2002 or so. I think he did most of the customization. He sold it to a "flipper" guy who I bought it from. The flipper had it for about 2 months and just shipped it from KY to near Rockford, Il.
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Got this delivered about a month ago. Took a couple more weeks to get the paperwork in order, but it worked out. Will be a bunch of fixes and improvements, but the idea was to have something to drive. Not for the purist, but someday I hope to have Buick power back on board...
55 Special - runner
in Me and My Buick
Posted
Follow-on to being followed, today had the garage door open for a minute. Literally, a minute or less, just pulling up in the daily driver. An older gentleman appears in my driveway. Since I was getting out of the car, I didn't see him walk up, so it seemed he just appeared. He says, that's a nice '55 Buick, is it a Special? So far, most people are doing well to know it's a Buick, but nobody's pinned the year, much less the model.
Anyway, he goes on to tell me about a '55 he had way back when - he had the 3-on-the-tree standard shift. He said he drove it from Nogales, AZ, to Vancouver & back, and got 22mpg. He mentioned a relative of his had the same car w/ the Dynaflow & it got maybe half that, usually less. I didn't realize the automatics were so inefficient. He asked about what engine I had (SBC), and what was done to the suspension. He got down on the ground behind the car and noticed that the shocks were converted (from lever to tube).
He was from the Geek Squad, there to do some work at the house across the street, and just happened to still be in his van right when I pulled up. A minute either way, and I'd have never heard his story and he wouldn't have seen the car...