Gary W

December 5, 2017: Update: Rear Fenders are now installed

Think about the Model "T" Fords.... The "Driver's Door" isn't a door at all, just stamped into the body to look like a door! The only enter / exit is via the passenger's side. And that carried on until 1926. The Model "A" also locks inside on the driver's door, outside locking handle on the passenger's side. I always thought it was that Henry didn't want people to exit on the traffic side? I think some of the older Buicks (1914?) also had a "dummy" door on the driver's side? (Which was the right side back then...... so ......)

Hi Dave I used the 1/4" welting from Steele Products. They have a 3/16" as well. It's a big car, I liked the larger one. I'm sure someone will let you know the right size. You can certainly use your original as a pattern. This is the fender welt I used. This double-backed tape is so helpful when installing the welt. Holds it nice and firm while you draw down the bolts. Gary

Saturday and Sunday December 2 & 3, 2017: Rear Fender installation / Brake lights / Mud Shields Very busy this time of year getting ready for Santa. This post spans the two days, as my work was more sporadic, squeezing the Buick in between Holiday parties, decorating the house, hanging lights and wreaths... you know the drill! Saturday morning. Getting home from Bob's shop with the newly painted rear fenders. All the cage nuts are tapped with Copper-Eze. All the running board nuts are loose so it can be adjusted fore and aft. Then I cut about 10 small (1") pieces of double backed tape and set them between the cage nuts. I use the double backed tape to start aligning, measuring and cutting the fender welt. By using the small pieces, you can measure, remove, cut, replace, measure..... until it's right. Making the first preliminary slices to start forming the arch of the fender contour. The tape keeps it steady enough to measure it out. I use a sharpie marker to mark the holes and make various notes. After cutting the slices, punching the holes and getting the welt ready for install. Then, I used this as a template and simply cut a duplicate for the other side. Now over to the driver's side. Here, I'm laying out the double-backed tape along the inner aspect of the fender. Now that I have the welt cut, I use a full piece of tape the entire length. Begin setting the welt in place, pushing it into the tape which holds it nice and firm. Finish around the rear section. There are many slices there to make that tight turn. I remove the "tab" between every other slice just so it lays nice and doesn't bunch up. Close-up of the welt taped in position ready for the fender installation. My wife and I were running out to an 80th birthday party, but she still had to get ready so I grabbed my boys and the three of us got the driver's side set in position. I was watching the welt stay nice and straight as my son Kyle began running in a few bolts to hold it steady With the three of us working, the job didn't take more than 10 minutes to get her bolted in. Kyle is pulling the tail lamp wires through the rubber base to get the tail lamp installed. The wires now run through the body, under the fenders and out through the hole in the top of the fender. Wire the base.... Tighten her up! Today, (Sunday), after completing my "honey-do" list, I again enlisted the crew to help me get the passenger's side rear fender installed. Matthew (13) in the back, I was up front watching the running board and Kyle underneath getting some bolts started. You can see him through the gas filler opening. I was on welt patrol, being sure it was staying nice and even while the bolts were being drawn in. It's great watching the kids get involved. Finishing getting the twelve bolts installed "finger tight" to start. I finished up this side by installing the tail lamp. (Why is it lit, you ask?..... I think my brake light switch is malfunctioning) Here it is lit up. Then I went around and tightened up the twelve bolts from front to back. Then it was on to the mud flaps under there. This was January 2017. Here we are today. Nice transition. So, she's looking really nice now! The fenders really dress it up. I have to tighten up the running boards, install the gas filler tube and now try to figure out why the brake lights are constantly on. It is only the brake wire that is live on both sides. The other white wire is dead (Until the lights are turned on, of course) Have a great night out there! Gary

I don't know about '36, but '37 firewall is painted body color.

Thursday, November 30, 2017: Paint Shop Update: January 2017: Condition of the air cleaner. It was pretty dented up. Bob sanded it down, and hammer - and - dollied the dents out of the lid. After removing all the paint Application of the filler to smooth out any remaining dents... Awaiting its final sanding / prime and Super jet Black! Bob started wet sanding the rear fenders this morning. Squeegee to find any spots requiring more 1200 grit wet sanding. When it dries, you can see the spots that need more attention. I'll be picking up the fenders Saturday morning, and dropping off the hood. I started getting the body ready for the fenders by tapping every cage nut using Copper-Eze. I'll measure and install the fender welting tonight using double sided tape so Saturday's install will go easy. Have a good one! Gary

Thursday, November 30, 2017: 50K views! Thanks to everyone following along!!

Question: Did the 1937 Buick come with side view mirrors on the door frames? I was following along as Dave Arthur replaced his vent window glass. The replacement looks great but got me thinking. I got my '37 Special with two side view mirrors, both different styles and the kind that simply is screwed to the door frame via allen screws. When I looked at Dave's side view mirror, it appears like the door has a "cut out" to accept the mirror stem. (Maybe I'm seeing things in the photo that isn't really there) So now I'm wondering if the '37 came with mirrors on the doors, or just the interior rear view mirror? And if they came with mirrors, does anyone have a photo or a part # that is correct? My doors don't have a spot like Dave's for the mirror to attach. Dave's sideview mirror. To me it looks like the door has a cutout where the mirror is attached. My '37 has a "straight stem" mirror on the passenger's side, attached to the door frame and... One of those curved stem, drop-type mirror on the driver's side. I know there is no way it came out of the factory like that! Just curious, for the sake of originality. Thanks! Gary

Wednesday, November 29, 2017: Trunk locking mechanism Today I got the trunk mechanism restored. I think the trunk lid will be the next part painted. Step one, of course, was to completely disassemble the unit. The side that faced the trunk lid (the side you don't see when you open the trunk) was in much worse shape than the side that faced the actual trunk. Took over an hour to wire wheel all the rust and the last remnants of the grey paint. Strangest thing: As I was cleaning these parts, I could actually get a whiff of that horrible mice smell that inundated the car! It was like it was ingrained in the paint! All the hardware wire wheeled and washed in acetone. All the fasteners cleaned up and ready for paint. The hardware first got a coat of SEM Self-Etching primer. It was a beautiful 64 degree day today so perfect to paint. If you've never tried the SEM primer, I recommend it highly. Flows on smooth, no runs... good stuff. I let the primer dry in the garage two hours, then back outside to spray the SEM "Trim Black" to all the hardware. I painted the screws and lock washers in a gloss black. Now hanging overnight to dry. The trim black leaves a really nice semi-flat, satin-type finish. It's a nice contrast to the gloss black that will be under the trunk lid. The flash nailed it, but the detail is not lost. Going forward, I'll be picking up the rear fenders Saturday and most likely work with John Sat or Sun getting them installed. I think they are much easier than the front fenders in that there are only 12 bolts per side, and all go into the rear quarter. Have a great night! Gary

Hi Bill; Here's a few photos: Maybe you can zoom in to see what you are looking for? '38 style "domed" pistons fitted without rings to check clearance between the dome and the head Installing the pistons. You can see how much the '38 style protrudes above the block and there is still plenty of room. Head. Back from my machinist with new valves, guides The last photo just before installing the head onto the block. "Graph-Tite" head gasket. Again, maybe you can zoom in on the head to see what you are looking for? Gary

Dave, Look at my first photo up top: You can see the three rivets through the bottom G

Dave, I apologize if I wasn't clear. I wasn't saying that the entire vent window mechanism had to come out. The Fisher manual clearly shows how this is done on the car. I was only trying to show you the materials that I used to complete the job. I removed all my door panels, hardware, windows...... for the restoration. It all had to be re-chromed, windows had to be replaced, all the interior panels were ruined by mice.... that's why I took my door apart. I hope I wasn't confusing the issue. Thanks and have a great night. Gary

Wow! Randy, thank you for the nice words! That's what keeps me going.... and of course tons and tons of helpful advice that I get daily through this site. This Buick certainly is the largest project I've ever taken on. Restoring Model "A" and Model "T" Fords seem relatively easy compared to this car, but the restoration techniques learned carry through. The chrome recesses: All I did was wipe out the depth with a tooth pick and rubbing alcohol or acetone to clean the groove. I used Rust Oleum flat black in the grooves and wiped it off. I hope it holds up. I'm sure there is an "etchant" or an "adhesion promoter" of some sort that would keep the paint in the grooves, but like you said, this car won't be abused so I'm hopeful that the paint stays. I really appreciate everyone following along, and I hope that I have helped others out there the way the more experienced ones have helped me! Respectfully, Gary

Tuesday November 28, 2017: Update at the paint shop... Rear Fenders Here, the Left Rear fender is in yellow self-etch prime and the Right Rear fender is still getting the skim coat sanded smooth. Both in self - etching prime inside and out. Then the grey build up prime coat is applied, sanded, then sprayed with a skim coat to guide the sanding process As Bob sands the grey primer, you can easily see the color change between the guide coat and the primer Then the underside is sprayed with rubberized undercoat. The next step is three coats of color. Super Jet Black base coat. Tack rag to prepare the fenders for the clear. Once both are wiped clean, it's time for the clear coat. Bob mixes 3 parts Clear with 1 part activator. This is the Activator - Reducer. Then I had to leave because the smell was overwhelming. The fenders will get wet sanded and buffed Friday and hopefully I can pick them up Saturday morning and install them onto the car. Have a great day! Gary

Hi Dave! This is what I did to replace my vent windows: I removed the entire vent window mechanism for re-chroming. You should be able to wrangle the glass out. Mine pulled straight out of the slot. You won't be removing the entire mechanism, but your glass will come out. New glass cleaned up. The re-chromed vent window frames and the glass ready to go in I used this product called 3M "WINDO - WELD" Bob and my local glass shop told me no one uses the tape anymore, they all use this stuff (or similar product) Using a caulk gun, pump it liberally into the frame. You will want to protect your paint for this step. I did this on the workbench so that wasn't an issue. Begin seating the glass into the urethane-filled frame. BE SURE YOU KOW WHERE THE GLASS IS SUPPOSED TO FINISH...How much overlaps the frame,....etc. Again, since you will do this on your car, it should line up nicely to the rubber edge of the vent separator. My glass panes were just even with the edge of the frames, so I let it cure on the edge. As you slide the glass in, the Window - Weld oozes out. Just leave it. Let is set for 24 hours. Use a brand new, sharp blade and trim to the frame edge. The window-weld peels right off and leaves a beautiful clean line behind. Here is the finished product. And now in the metal frames with new rubber and ready to be installed when the doors are painted. Good Luck! (My local glass shop said you can use any urethane from Home Depot with the same results.) Gary

Hi Bill; I was able to successfully install 1938 "domed" pistons in my '37 that had the original "flat top" style. If you have time to read through the first four pages of my restoration thread, there is a lot of engine work performed early on in my restoration. I don't know about clearance of your '36 compared to the '37, but we simply bolted one piston to it's rod (no rings yet) and sat the head over the block with no gasket and there was enough clearance between the dome and the head. I got the pistons from EGGE, but you can also try Terrell Machine in Texas, Bobs Automobilia, CARS, Inc. Like I said, I have a 1937. You came to the right place here. These guys are first-class. Good Luck! Gary NJ (Click the arrow on the top right corner will bring you to page three, fitting the pistons. Or click the main body to read from page one)

Matt; Here are the two switches I have: The one marked "S" is the restored switch for my Special The one marked "C" is obviously for another model (maybe Century, Roadmaster, Limited??) as it has a longer base unit. The "business end" is nearly identical save the center "triangle" which is larger than the two on the ends. The Special switch has three identical "triangles" Electrically, they have the same current path when I tested them with a test light. Gary

The size difference between the two switches I have: I THINK the bottom is for the Century? All I know for sure is that the top is for my Special. And, after using a test light, the internal connections are the same. Difference is the larger center "triangle" in the lower switch. All three are the same "smaller" size in my special switch. I don't know why my lights were on when the switch was fully in, but I'm sure someone here will!

I don't know where to look for a part number, but I think these are the two different switches? My "restored" Special switch is the shorter one. I'm going to crack it open now to check on the internal connectors. Internally, the difference I see is the center "triangle". It is larger in the switch marked "C", while all the "triangles" up top are the same, smaller size. Also, the brass connections in the base.... they are all the same size near the thermo circuit area whereas there are some larger ones in the lower switch. So, I don't know why my lights were on when the switch was in the "off" position, but maybe someone will figure it out. G

Hi Larry! When I dismantled the trunk lid, the previous owner actually ran a separate light bulb from the right rear brake light, draped the wires across the trunk and simply taped the bulb to the lens so it would shine when the brakes were applied. I do like the idea, as drivers today are pretty much trained to look for the third brake light, and maybe I'll put that on my "to-do" list soon. First I want to get all the wiring sorted out as it should be. I think that conversion should be pretty easy. Here's how I got the car: Those two black wires draped across the trunk lit the "third brake light" It was simply wired to the right brake light, and electrical taped to the existing wires. And taped to the license plate holder up top, just under the lens. So it was a free standing bulb, not wired into the original socket. Gary

Impressive and beautiful craftsmanship! A welcomed addition on those cold mornings for sure!

Very nice work!

Friday November 24, 2017: Tail Light / Brake Light and Trunk Light / License Plate Light Restoration: If only I ate a little less yesterday, I could have gotten a LOT more done today! Both rear fenders are in yellow, and I should be taking delivery Wednesday next week so today I finished the rear-facing lamps. These pictures will overlap as I did the both concurrently. Guts of the tail light / brake light assembly. Everything was rusted... Even the rubber seal was rusty! You can see the condition of the wires. There was an extra ground wire attached in there. License plate lamp / License plate holder assembly as removed from the car. Here you can see the paint cracking off the piece. The underside with the bulb base unit removed. Just a long thumb screw holds the lamp base in position. Remove those two screws to free the license plate attachment from the unit. Remove the spring loaded screws that keep pressure on the glass lenses. These parts are left and right as there is a definite top and bottom groove to accept the glass edge. Then I carefully pried the ends of the stainless strips to remove them. I laid the stainless strips out on paper as I removed them and labeled them for future reference. The housings went into Bob's shop already sandblasted. He fine sanded them, shot them with self etch primer, build prime then the base/clear. Ready to have it's guts re-installed! I opened up my bags and tags and laid everything out this morning. This is the innards for the tail lamps. Those paper gaskets are shot. The lights have the SAME body part # BUT different LENS part #'s. Here are the trunk light / license plate light internal parts. Tail lamp socket obviously needs rewiring. Socket housing ready to get the wire wheel cleanup. All the guts were rusted. After wire wheeling off all the crud. Tail lamps. License plate holder internal guts after the wire wheel. All mounting related parts got a prime and gloss black paint. All the "electrical" screws just remained unpainted metal. Step one was to build the sockets. Again, start by un-soldering the "bullets" off the old wire ends and solder them into the new socket wires. I ended up using 14-gauge stranded wire as it fit nicely through the socket insulator holes easily. Solder the bulb contacts first. Then you have to slide on the upper insulator, springs, lower insulator plate then shrink wrap before making the lower solder connection to the base. Then, using gasket paper, I traced and cut out four new glass gaskets, two for each side. A sharp blade made the inside cuts. socket wired and ready to be assembled into the housing. And here you see the lens set in the housing with two gaskets in place and the lower tabs bent over to secure everything in position. Install the socket into the housing. Install the lens cover The view of the completed set up. Test OK! Trunk lamp assembly. I first used a thin bead of black gasket adhesive on the edges of the glass to try to alleviate any rattling. Then I installed the arrow-head keepers into position to hold the glass steady. These do have grooves to mate with the glass edges and go in one way. This is the arrowhead shaped "plunger". Notice the groove is noticeably larger in the upper part of the arrow head. I installed the socket base into the license plate holder, then attached the entire assembly to the housing. The license plate parts were sanded, primed and painted "Trim Black" in a previous post. Every piece of stainless was polished to a high shine, and immediately installed so I didn't mess the order up. I peeled it off my sheet, polished it, and installed it before tearing another off my cheat-sheet. Line them up in the grooves and by using just digital pressure you can easily move the tabs into position on the inside of the housing. One by one until they all are into position. I will paint the groove black and do my wipe technique later on. Too much handling to do it early. I also have to touch up the "BUICK" in the glass with a little chrome paint. But its all wired and ready to go on the car! Have a great night! Gary

Matt: Great job! I will get under there and open it up. That would be nice to find an easy fix. It HAS to be in the switch. All the wiring is to the Buick blueprint. I notice your Century switch is longer than my Special. The whole section where the pull knob connects is longer. The business end looks exactly the same. Thanks Matt! Hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving Gary

Instrument cluster lights and Clock face when you slide it to the left. (4 light bulbs... 3 in the cluster, one in the clock) Map light when slid to the right. Center off The middle post is power that comes in live from the #10 post of the headlight switch. The clock motor connects there also. (the #10 post is live always, being directly connected via an internal "bar" to the thermo circuit unit)