SpecialEducation

Winter is when I get work done. Firewood to heat the shop is cheaper than the electricity for a/c.

‘56 was the first yeat for permanent (ethylene glycol) anti-freeze. There was a service bulletin in late ‘56 that explained that with the change, customers were complaining about running hot, because the water temp needle was buried in the red. Buick engineering’s solution: Remove the red from the gauge. If it’s not boiling over, it’s not overheating.

Most torque specs have a range. Use the higher end of the range if you are worried about the flex of the extension. If a range isn’t given, it’s a pretty safe bet that +\- 10% is acceptable. Put the crow’s foot or torque adapter 90° to the wrench centerline and you don’t have to do math.

Looks like the pix are broken...

I wish you well, those things are horrible. We had a local welder that's good with aluminum patch ours back up. That was fun to watch. I think there's a thread on here somewhere by someone who fab'd one from scratch. If I had it to do again, and didn't have time to fab one, I'd probably try patching it with HTS-2000. Dad has gotten pretty good with that stuff. If there's not enough left to patch, I'd probably cut the top & bottom off the original and weld or braise in a new aluminum tube in the middle with the HTS-2000. If you are game for that option, but can't find the aluminum tube, I've got a local yard that probably has the material in stock. I could go get a piece and mail it off to you.

Vogue sells whitewalls with and without the gold stripe (and also blackwalls), but when most people refer to putting Vogues on a Buick, I imagine they are usually talking about the gold stripe version. Since Vogue has been around since 1914, there could be lots of applications that should be perfectly acceptable. Since I remember my grandpa having gold stripe tires on his Caddy in the 80's, I don't think it would be fair to say a gold stripe would be period incorrect on a Reatta. His were Uniroyal Royal Seal tires, with the gold stripe in the center and the whitewall outboard; Vogues are often reverse of that... Of course, what a judge would be looking for depends on what class you are being judged in, but here's the wheel & tire guidelines. Note that "(Mandatory deduction) " is only used in a couple places, and tire brand is not mentioned once: i. Tires - Type Check tires for correct type (radial/ bias-ply). Radial tires were first offered as an option in 1967 on all models. One point is deducted for each tire which was not a factory authorized option for model and year. j. Tires - Size Check tires for correct size and whitewall width for year and model. A non-authentic type tire must also receive a deduction for non-authentic tire size. If neither the standard nor alternate tire size is currently being reproduced, the next closest tire size up or down may be substituted without a deduction. A non-authentic tire size includes an obviously incorrect (more than 1/2-inch variation from factory) whitewall width. One point is deducted for each non-authentically sized tire. k. Tires - Condition Check tire tread pattern; tires should match in pairs. Spare tire need not match any pair of tires on car, but if two spares are carried, they must match. 1 or 2 points should be deducted for excessive wear, dirt, or damage. Non-authentic tires (type or size) are not judged for condition. l. Tire Carrier and Cover Check for correct hardware, covers and accessories for trunk, sidemount or rear spare tires. m. Tire Valves / Stems / Caps / Covers Check for correct type for year of manufacture; valves, caps and stem covers (early years). Points should be deducted for painted stems and weights. Hubcaps and wheelcovers must match and be correct for year and model. 1932: First rubber valve stems. 1951: First plastic valve caps. n. NonAuthentic Wheels (Mandatory deduction) Check for correct wheels and / or rims for year and model. On newer cars sport wheels may be on car, but spare may be original steel rim. Incorrect wheels result in a mandatory 10 point deduction. o. Wheels / Trim Check condition of wheels. Points should be deducted for cracks in wood wheels, pits in metal, particularly on snap rings and steel spokes, for excessive paint chips and spalls around the rims. Beauty rings, pin striping, etc. should be correct for year and model. https://www.buickclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/bca_judging_manual.pdf [My internet connection dropped when I tried to post this 5 hours ago. I wasn't going to retype all of this, but when I relaunched my browser *POOF!* it was here!]

Our ‘56 didn’t have throttle start when we got it, so swapping in an alternator was easy. Generator bracket was cracked, too. Had to do something... lol

Unless the car was modified to something other than the factory vanilla 3800, premium is not necessary.

What is the goal for this kill switch? Theft protection? Stuck relay? There's no need to interrupt the high current side if all you want to do is disable the starter. I have had starter stuck on before, so I do understand the desire to kill the flow of juice quickly...

HA! I usually get emails on those, but I guess it hasn't caught up to me yet!

@dons56 just told me: “Let’s go...” You should probably tell him how much money to bring! lol

Does the relay click when you hit the horn? Have you tried applying voltage directly to the horn? I have had a horn burn out before...

'56s are bigger. I think our '56 was 2 & 2 when we got her... lol

Measure the center emblem diameter and I'll tell you if they are '55 or '56...

If you need some shed room for this, I'm sure my dad could slip it past my Skyhawk and get it into his shop... He's never driven a car older than him. He'd be happy if someone lent him something, but it probably wouldn't take much to talk him into making a purchase! lol

Here’s my photos: https://mcsquaredimaging.pixieset.com/buicknationals2019/

If I recall correctly, at least part of that scoop came from @NC-car-guy I think dad has more money in that scoop than the whole front bumper. He’ll be glad to know someone noticed... lol Note: It’s an early scoop with the open mesh. Later they replaced the mesh with a solid plate painted to look like the mesh. I think the other ‘56 had the later design.

Looks like this year’s WTF team earned a DNF...

The option is in the parts catalog because we share the platform with the Riviera, which was available without. If someone wanted to get rid of the TEVES system, the easiest thing to do would be to convert everything to the Riviera non-ABS components. Unless someone has already done this on your car, you have ABS.

I'd like to think that they didn't know I was the one that brought the car, or they would have been less obvious (maybe). I just don't understand the need for people to rub their greasy mitts all over my black paint! lol I was given some 1962 stuff at a swap meet a few years ago. It was free to me, so I just wanted to pass it along. I intentionally sought out a '62 that was cared for but noticeably less than perfect, found the owner, and asked if he had any such articles. When he said "No," I simply said, "You do now," and shook his hand. I'm not sure how better to spread good will through the club. I wasn't too worried about bringing Pepper down because I knew there would be nicer examples of '90 Reattas there, but it was kinda fun to have the nicest '56 Riviera in the lot (only because it was the ONLY '56 Riv in the lot)! The one thing the meet convinced me of is that I REALLY need to get Stringfellow to a national!

I don't think I was in the lot 5 minutes and I had people telling their friends, "Wow, you gotta come look at this," and not in a nice way. It's a mostly original driver with dents, bondo, and rusty rocker panels. No, it's not a 400 point car. Probably not a 100 point car, but you know what? I drove it 300 miles last week, it ran perfect, and I didn't cry when it got rained on. lol

Yeah, I’m not sure what I would call a class for our ‘56, Ben’s ‘50, or Willie’s ‘55. “Looks stock, but is far more useful?” Kinda wordy. “Factory on the outside, party underneath?” ”Built to drive, not to win?” ”Less polish, more fun?” ”Stock-ish?” lol The fact that I put 300 miles on an unrestored, original engined, 63 year old car and it never missed a beat is probably reward enough. That, and the smile on the faces of one of my favorite professors, his son, and his granddaughter when I took them for a ride on Sunday before heading home...

YOU GOT YOUR GAS CAP BACK!!! Any sign of the hubcap? I should have nominated you for a hard luck award! lol

That’s one of the great things about the Olds platform, you could stick a ‘68 455 cam from a 442 into an ‘85 307 if you wanted to (and the factory did!). The number 1 thing that woke up the Olds powered Buick I drove in high school was the installation of a “high flow catalytic converter” (a.k.a. “Test Pipe”). lol

Sorry, I’m saying that we had the 403 Olds with the THM400 transmission. Did we ever figure out what rear end you have? The 403 is pretty potent, so if you think it’s lethargic, it may just be a gearing issue. Funny you should mention T/As. I’ve got a spare 403 that a friend pulled from a ‘79 so he could drop in a Poncho 400. He says it was a wasted effort. Not worth the time/money he spent scrounging up parts. Perhaps @Ben Bruce aka First Born needs to come down and help you install fuel injection? 🤣