SpecialEducation

You will probably need to buy straight tube off the shelf and fab it yourself. You can buy brake likes that are straight but already have the flares and b-nuts so all you need is a little tube bender. Sounds like the guy who did it previous bought a straight line that was too long, so bends were added that sent it over to the exhaust (no, I wouldn't drive it either). Kanter *might* be able to help you out, but when we ordered new lines for our '56, they stalled for months before admitting they couldn't help us. Maybe they can actually do a big body '55, I donno...

That is 100% normal operation for every car I have ever had that didn't have amber turn indicators.

Oh, and don't waste your time trying to change front shocks without a nut splitter. I don't even try to back the nuts off anymore, I just go straight to the splitter.

I was about to say a multimeter is a must. Even a cheap Chinese one is useful in most cases. For dialing in a voltage regulator, the ammeter side of most multimeters is useless. Even the pricey ones are only good to 10A for 30 seconds or so. Since '56s use 30 amp generators, you'd probably want a 50A meter for headroom. You can put one together for about $10 on eBay (clamps are worthless on DC). I also have a tube tester, which was handy when I repaired the old Sonomatic 20 years ago, but I picked up a dead radio at a swap meet for $20, gutted it, and put a solid state amp in there. Anyone else have a tube tester?

The funny thing is that I can put it on bi-level and it will switch the floor vents on, but still no dash vents. The recirc door also seems to work as intended. That makes me think the failure is between the control center and the door, or the door itself. If it's an electric actuator, that would narrow it down pretty quick. Now I just need to figure out where the door in question is located.

*LOVE* this!

"Corn-hol" burns cooler than real gas, so that's not too surprising. I know guys who run stoopid amounts of boost but are set to run on E-85. It takes a lot more E-85 to do the job, so they have giant injectors to make up for it. That said, the soft parts of our fuel systems weren't designed for ethanol. With E-10, we were putting a new diaphragm in the fuel pump every spring. No alcohol, no problem. The Century got the high compression engine already, and shaving the heads didn't help. Altitude also makes a difference. In Kansas, we have denser air than the mountains of Colorado, so we have 87/89/91 here where along I-25 you would find 85/87/89. I wouldn't feed that thing anything less than pure gas in the highest rating typical for your area (I can find 105 here, but that's not typical so that doesn't count).

To make it better, when I left work today, everything worked great. After 3 miles on the highway, the dash vents quit but cruise never missed a beat the whole way - adding to my suspicion that it's not a leak causing my cruise issue.

One of these days I'll get around to writing up a 'Me & My Buick' post on this 1989 LeSabre named Ruby that followed my dad home a couple weeks ago, but for now, here's what I know: 235K miles, runs and drives pretty nice. Nearly everything works, but shortly after getting the car my dad observed a funny noise so he gave it to me to shake down. I've put over 200 miles on it and I haven't heard any concerning noises, but the cruise control and air conditioning (electronic control) is driving me bonkers. First thing in the morning, everything works great, although I have noticed that cruise control does do a bit of oscillating when set around 45 mph. The drive home, however, is consistently a different story. I can set cruise, and it will work for a mile or two, then it just quits trying. The light stays on like it thinks it's engaged, but it isn't. If I hit the button to reset, it will grab for a second, then let go again. Once this happens, cruise control is done for the day. The light comes on, but no one is home. Also, the door that puts the air through the dash vents doesn't play nice in the afternoons. Sometimes it will pop within a minute of startup, sometimes it won't actuate at all. When it does pop, it is the noisiest air door I've ever heard. Bi-level and defrost both seem to work fine. With both problem systems being vacuum actuated, the first thing I did was check the condition of the vacuum lines. Everything looks pretty good, and I even pulled the line from the firewall can and there was still significant vacuum in reserve several minutes after shutdown, and this is after an afternoon drive with neither system functioning. That makes me think the two issues are coincidentally independent. As noisy as the air door is when it finally opens, it makes me think it's just sticky. Add to that the fact that there is sufficient vacuum to grab the throttle momentarily when I try to reset the cruise, it seems that its slipping condition isn't caused by lack of vacuum. Anyone out there have much experience with these systems?

I had a '97 Malibu with a CD/Radio head unit and the remote tape deck down below. It seems to me that my factory service manuals gave me the pinouts so I could steal the audio inputs from the tape deck and route them to the out of an iPod, I just never got around to it. I think there's a serial link between the tape deck and the head unit, so I would have needed to put in a dummy tape to trigger the head unit to pipe the tape input into the power amp, or at least jumper a switch in the tape deck to get it to send the right signal. Not exactly easy and straight forward, but not outside the realm of possibilities. I just never got around to hacking the tape deck to do it.

My wife and I test drove a convertible once. On the streets, it was just fine, but on a hard decel from highway speed we found ourselves driving blind in a cloud of our own blue smoke. The wife (who was behind the wheel), straight freaked out. She stopped as soon as she could find a shoulder and indicated she was done. Before getting behind the wheel, I popped the hood and checked the oil. It was WAY over the full mark. I returned the vehicle to the dealership and we bought something else.

Note that the morning shelf is on the bottom, because that is more convenient when you come crawling in...

Welcome to the forum! We've had our '56 over 20 years, and for over 20 years my dad has said it will never be "done." That's just the way a driver is; some things have been "done" two or three times now...

I don't know about '57 specifically, but earlier years had heat shields so I'd assume you should, too. Can you expand on the "starter not wanting to turn the motor over?" Am I understanding that the starter engages just fine, but it just doesn't have the guts to rotate the engine? I've got a SBC that does that from time to time. It seems to be fairly common on Chevys, based on forum posts I've read, but I've never taken the time to really track it down. The typical answer is heat soak, with the resistance in the starter/solenoid going up with the heat. Some have said a simple shield or blanket has done the trick. Others have said that a small adjustment in ignition timing has helped, but I don't think I'm sold on that one. The third theory is carburetor related, with heat soaking the carb causing fuel to expand and dump into the non-running engine. I know my carburetor is not healthy, but I wonder if there could really be that much fuel in the bowl to jam things up like that, and if so, how have I not blown or cracked something yet? The fact that it looks like someone has been in there recently suggests that someone else chased the same problem. While replacing old bad parts with new bad parts happens from time to time, I'd look elsewhere first. As JohnD suggested, I'd check your grounds first. Heat=resistance applies here, just like everywhere else. Pull them all lose, clean 'em up, and put them back together. You could also try temporarily adding a ground strap to bypass the frame and simplify the path.

I was at the salvage yard yesterday to get some parts for the wife's car, and I liberated some potential keychains from their cadavers while I was at it. A hood ornament is a bit heavy & bulky for a keychain, but I thought I'd give it a shot. After a couple attempts to tie it off, it was obvious that I was going to have to modify it, so I took it to the grinder and removed the flange from the pin. Now Ruby has a custom keyring too...

One of my daughters has been making and selling paracord bracelets. Looking for opportunities to expand her product line, I gave her the keys to the 'Hawk. In it's unfinished form, everyone was calling it 'Buick man.'

Dad's '89 LeSabre has an accent light over the headlight switch, but nowhere else across the dash...

I suppose in Austin it's illegal to have a garage without a trap set, isn't it?

An Electra from a few blocks north showed up a bit later, as well as an '80s Regal. I think we have the Electra owner on the hook for our October show. Had never met the Regal owner before, but he seemed excited about the opportunity to join the BCA and help our chapter put on the show. Dad lost a copy of the Bugle to the guy, but that's ok. After dinner we took Ruby home and put about 20 miles on the '56 driving up & down the river...

An '89 LeSabre named Ruby followed dad home yesterday, so the wife drove it tonight. The Reatta is Chuck Kerls', and dad's '56 is in the background...

I'll throw this one out there from 2009. The older girl just finished her second year at the Jr. High in the background, and the younger doesn't even remember this day:

See that. I didn't even know that thread existed. I've got a pedal car I was working on for Springfield. I ran out of time and the project got parked. Now my compressor is down, so I can't do any sandblasting, but when I get it wrapped up I know where to post the pix!

$7k would be a BARGAIN if that FITTY FO had some nice SCALLOPS painted on it! Sorry to steal your thunder, Dale...

Inspired by Dale in Indy...

Greetings, Wayne! You're not the only one here who has decided to save something others would have parted, so I'd say you are in good company here.