Wheelnut

Hey, Hillsborough is just down the road from me! And to think I drove all the way to northern Ohio to get mine! Ironic. Looking forward to seeing it!

I sure like that color! Almost makes me want to change the color of my 49 to that.

The picture is a little dark, but if one examines them carefully it can be seen that the brake shoe linings are of different lengths. The shorter one is to the left. However, that means that they are installed wrong. The shorter lining is supposed to be installed to the forward side, not the rear.

Just polishing the plastics will do nothing to remove the deep internal crazing and cracking. Further, use of any kind of fine polishing compound, toothpaste, etc. will drive the polishing media into the cracks and cause them to be even more visible. It will then be nearly impossible to clean it out.

Originally just 1 wire to the radio, it's just mono AM right? And then the speaker frame would have been grounded to complete the circuit. For a modern ungrounded 2-wire replacement speaker just pick either wire and tie one to ground and the other to the radio.

I know it's an old thread, but the previous poster had it a bit wrong. This car is an MG Midget, not an MGB. G: MG A: Small capacity (originally A series engine) N: Open two seater sports car (A+N = Midget) 6: 6th series of this car, 1975-1979 = 1500cc U: USA version H: Model Year 1977 19164: car number. 1977 model year starts at 182001 (August 1976 build date). OP must have left out a digit. G: Abingdon

Two of the new wheel cylinders I just installed on my '49 have those 10mm metric bleed screws. They are made in China. The 2 new ones for the rear had correct SAE bleed screws and are made in the USA. I have to grit my teeth every time I install a Chineese made replacement part. Its an insult to the car. I wish the parts vendors would list country of manufacture in their catalogs.

This is how I'd try to clear up the lenses. If the plastics are made from acrylic, then that is soluble in acetone. If you can get some acetone to penetrate the cracks, that may weld them shut a bit and reduce them. The acetone will not get along with the testors enamel however if the cracks go all the way through. After the cracks are sealed up and dry, then wet sand with 600 and spray a coat of automotive clear urethane. I've done this with modern plastics, but not with any old Buick lenses. So I don't know for sure how the plastic will react to the acetone.

It's been 2 weeks since I ordered one from them for my 49 and they still haven't shipped it. I think they had to order it from China first. They happily charged my credit card the day of the order though. What's your plan for repairing the floorboards? That looks like a big job. Have you found a source for replacements?

Thanks for the encouragement and advice everyone! I noticed that this thread is missing engine pictures. Today was so nice out (80 degrees!) that I took the opportunity to wash down the engine. I sprayed it with some orange-clean degreaser and then hosed it off with water. That took a lot of the oily surface grease and dirt off. So when I went to start it, it wouldn't fire up. I figured that the ignition was probably wet, right? So I got out my leaf blower to dry everything. That's when I learned about oil-bath air filters... I found out that a 150 MPH leaf blower is not the best way to dry off an oil-bath air filter. I'm sure glad that I had more of that orange-clean left because I had to do the whole thing over after bathing the entire engine compartment in sludgy muddy looking oil. But I'm looking on the bright side. It was a very effective motivator to get me to clean the air filter and put in fresh oil. Oh, back to getting the engine started. I pulled the distributor cap and saw that it is in pretty bad shape--about the worst I've seen on a running engine. I'm surprised that the engine even runs with that. The rotor was totally rusted and the carbon button in the cap was completely eroded away.

PM doesn't let me upload picures.

Steve, I've got the dash badge. It's the only part I have left from my Skylark. I was saving it for you.

Thanks for the tips on the rheostat. I figured that's what the rotating headlight switch was but turning it didn't do anything. I imagine that 6volt systems must be very dependant on low resistance connections. -Jer

It is called a 'crescent wrench'.

Yeah, I think the .020" oversize on the master cylinder is a bit much for long term reliability. There is some "lore" out there that says that's about the max allowable, but I did find one old military document from 1944 that says .004" is the max allowed under its spec. http://www.90thidpg.us/Reference/Manuals/TM%209-1827C.pdf The Buick shop manual permits no oversize. Also, by adjusting the brake pushrod to move the back cup forward of the remaining bad spot in the cylinder, I may be interfering with the function of the compensation port at the front cup. According to that old Army manual, the spool needs to be all the way back against its stop, and there should be some free play in the linkage. I've got a new one on order and will swap it out. But this one gives me functional brakes so I can move the car right now.

Red and green... just in time for Christmas! Looking very good!

Woohoo! Got to take my first test drive! After pulling cautiously out of the garage and down the driveway, I decided to take it up and down the street. Made a turn around at the cul de sac, taking up the entire circle to turn, and headed back toward the house. Those finger grips in that big steering wheel are not just there for looks! Anyway, it was stopping and going pretty good, so I kept going. It was about 8:30PM last night, and I went the mile or so to my brother's house. I pulled up in his drive and honked the big ol horn. :cool: After mulling it over for a few minutes (or maybe 30 seconds), we decided to take it out for a more serious test drive. The dash lights are not working, or I don't know how to turn them on. So my brother held a flashlight to the gauges so we could see how fast we were going. First we went down a windy road for a mile or so at about 45. It was a bit wallowy on the tighter turns. I think the shocks are going to need some attention. But the handling was reasonably good. It tracked straight and the steering felt as tight as it should. The engine pulled well, and fairly smooth, but there was just a hint of roughness. I haven't touched it yet as far as tuning goes. It's burning very clean--no trace of smoke from the exhaust. The Dynaflow... well I guess you don't talk about how they shift... it just goes. The good thing is that it goes. We took it out on a highway and got up to about 55 and it rode pretty smooth and quiet. There were a couple of random interior rattles when hitting bumps in the road but it's pretty tight overall. The heaters worked Yay! We put the old radio on an old station for a while -- it picks up a lot of stations! Turn signals are hard to get used to with the lever being on the right side of the column instead of the left. Now for the bad. Going around tight left-hand turns, like pulling a U-turn at the light, the transmission slipped badly. I'm pretty sure it's just low on fluid. What fluid do they take? The manual just says "add Special Buick Oil for Dynaflow Drive". What the heck is that? Then the brakes started squeeling under use. I think it's the front right side. I had them a little tight to start with, assuming that they'll quickly need readjusting, so they were a bit on the hot side. I didn't turn the front drums either, so maybe the surface is not the best for bedding new shoes. I'll have to pop that drum off and check it out. The engine temp stayed below the 1/2 mark on the gauge the whole time, if it can be trusted. Headlights and charging system (still 6 volt) seemed to be working pretty good. When I got it home and parked I saw a nice trail of red tranny fluid where I backed it into the garage. All in all, nothing unexpected for first run-out of a 64 year old original car.

I got tired of waiting for Cars to ship me a new master cylinder, and I had a rebuild kit on hand, so I decided to go ahead and give a try at fixing the original. First step was to ream it out with an adjustable reamer. I reamed it out until the reamer marks looked about as deep as the remaining pits. Then I finished it with a brake cylinder hone in a kerosene bath. Finally a bit of finish with 600 grit. I got most of it cleaned up pretty nice after opening it up to 1.020" (20 thou oversize). There are still a couple of deep pits near the end that I knew would take too much to clean up, so I left them. I'm hoping that they are outside the range of the cups. When I first installed it and bled the system I noticed a few drips from the boot end. That's when I also noticed that I had forgotten to adjust the pushrod and lock it down. So I adjusted the pushrod to move the rear cup just ahead of the remaining pits... I hope. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it holds up. I used the DOT 5 silicone brake fluid. The brakes feel pretty good after getting them bled, with the help of my wife. That's one job she's getting pretty good at after numerous cars. She pumps the pedal for me. I got the system primed with a vacuum bleeder, but it still takes a bit of old fashioned manual pump/bleed to get the last of the air out. The whole system took just a bit over one 11oz bottle of fluid to fill. I probably bled about 1/2 a bottle through it though, so it takes 2 bottles to do the job. Nice thing about all the new plumbing is that the fluid came out totally clean. Oh yeah, I got the entire brake system overhaul done without breaking a single rusty fastener! I was actually able to clean up and re-use all the fasteners except for expendable stuff like cotter pins, and brake hardware. Only one bolt, on the parking brake cable clamp, was stuck bad enough that it needed a little help by heating with a propane torch.

Did you buy it already? It says sold!

How about a bit of aluminum tape on the backside of the holes, then paint over that?

My plan to rebuilt the master cylinder isn't going to happen. This one is too pitted. I really like the "Made in Dayton USA" on the casting. Too bad I can't keep that. The replacement will probably be blank or say "Made in China" I'll keep this one around though and maybe get it resleeved for that frame-off job someday.

My understanding is that the Dynaflow option included the hydraulic lifter engine by default, and that manual trans cars of this year came with solid lifter engines. I don't know why.

Until I saw a nice example of one of these recently I had been looking for something in the 1951-53 range. My wife wanted a '54 convertible, light blue... and something about the deed to a platinum mine. I'm just hoping to get this one drivable before her birthday next week.

I think it needs to be warm enough to 'ferment' the molasses. So room temperature is probably best.

The painting does help to hide the holes. Looks much better!