Gary W

Nicely Done!! Love the contrast in your last photo. Great progress.

Body Update, Running Board Restoration and Accelerator pedal Restoration:

Body update, running board restoration and accelerator pedal restoration:

Remove the column. You have to lift way too high to clear it. only three bolts puts it right back on. It may be easier to remove the transmission lid with the shifter (or simply just remove the shift lever) to get a little more room to work. Matt, you can support the rear with the spare tire bolt and an engine crane. That opens the entire rear up with almost no interference to slide the chassis out from under.

Sunday September 3, 2017: Accelerator Pedal It appears the paint is on schedule and hopefully I'll get the body back in my garage in 10 days. As I'm going through bags of labeled and tagged parts, I found an important one: The accelerator pedal. So here is how I restored it today: January 2017: This is the condition of the drivers controls. The accelerator pedal removed. All the rubber is dry and hard as a rock. The underside is rusty and the dry, cracked and brittle rubber is completely worn. The mounting hinge. I secured the pedal in the vice and began with a wood chisel in the deep cracks. I figured better to start at a weak spot! Once the blade bit, the material began to let go. About halfway done, and about 25 minutes of work already! I turned it and began to remove the other side in the same fashion. The underside had its own challenges, getting into the grooves and cleaning out the throttle linkage. Then I punched out the holes that the original rubber was vulcanized through. I guess it gives some sort of mechanical retention. And finally, scraped out the grooves. All in, about 45 minutes to get all that rubber off. Most came out in large, hard chunks. So heres the underside, all the rubber removed. Next I gave both sides and the edges the wire wheel treatment. This removed all residual rust and paint and any pieces of rubber left behind. OK....Now we're getting there! Looks so much better just getting cleaned up! After an acetone bath and scrub, I dried it with compressed air and painted it gloss black. I allowed it over seven hours to dry. I purchased the accelerator pad from Steele. There is a notch in the rubber that fits nicely over the hinge. The pad was a nice, tight fit all around. I did not use any epoxy because the fit is so tight, but I may glue it down before I install it in the car. I wanted to test the fit first, and it is a perfect fit. Next I addressed the throttle linkage with a small neoprene hose. I cut it to the same length as the throttle linkage hole in the bottom of the pedal. Then simply pushed the hose into the hole, and inserted the throttle linkage. Just needs a cotter pin to finish the job. I was thinking I could simply pump a little epoxy through those holes if I thought the pad needs it. The underside finished. The top side finished. SOME BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS: Top side. The Steele pad has the correct number of ribs and valleys. The hinge area. The throttle linkage and the metal stop. (By the way....does a rubber bumper go in that metal to stop the pedal?) Have a nice Labor Day! Gary

Friday September 1, 2017: Update at the paint shop I stopped by the paint shop after work today. My wood carriage has now been replaced by four heavy jack stands which hold the body high enough for Bob to get under and work on the underside of the floor. First, he fiberglassed two small holes. They were located under the rear seat where all those mice made their home. Then he sanded out the fiberglass and gave the underside a light sanding to smooth out the roughness left by the sand blaster. A coat of yellow "self-etching" primer was then applied, followed by a coat of rubberized undercoat material. He's out of the shop now until Tuesday when the wet sanding of the body will begin. By this time next week the first coat of color should be applied! The body is supported on all four corners by these heavy stands. You can see my wood carriage leaning against the wall over there. The inside is still in self-etching primer. You can see all the creeper marks in the dust on the floor. This height and being nice and open allows him to scoot around and work. This is the product that he used to spray the underside (and the inside) View from the front. The finish is really nice and it's an economical alternative to traditional paint. Plus, it's easy to touch up in the future! Under the trunk and the and view from the rear. Passenger's side door sill and floor pans. Have a great day! Gary

August 30, 2017: Update on the body progress: The "build-up" prime coat is now completely sanded smooth. A 320 grit paper followed by the pad gives the metal an unbelievable finish. Going forward, the plan is to raise the body off the wooden dolly so the underside can be primed with the "self-etching" primer, and then finished with a rubberized undercoat. Then back down onto the wood frame to spray the interior with the rubberized undercoat before the final wet sand and color application. Anyway, I think I have the order of operations correct. All sanded out and ready to work on the underside. This is what the rubberized undercoat looks like applied to the inside of the firewall. Here you can see the undercoat applied to the sheet metal under the pedals.. I tried to get the light on the wall to highlight the smoothness of the sanded primer. It actually looks glossy when it's sanded out so smooth. Thanks so much for following along! To answer a couple of your questions: Spinneyhill: I ordered all 18-8 Stainless from McMaster Carr. Their description says "excellent chemical resistance" and some of the fasteners say "can be used in salt water environments" so I hope they stay nice. (Truth in advertising?) I chose stainless for longevity (hopefully), not so much for the aesthetics. Maybe in 30 years if my son needs to work on the car, the parts will come off easier for him! I also use a product called "Copper-Eze" over the studs which I hope will create a barrier to rust........ We'll See! KGreen: I do drive my cars weekly, usually on Sunday mornings, little 15-20 mile jaunts. We have some great roads around here still posted at 25, 35 mph so it's comfortable. I usually put about 250 - 400 miles a year on my Model "A"'s. Not a lot, but keeps them "exercised". I think I'll be driving the Buick a lot more, as she seems so much more road worthy. I have never done one of those multi-day tours, but maybe some day.... 27donb: I love attending the car shows, but rarely, if ever, enter my cars for judging. Sometimes the judging is so subjective that I can't figure out how the end results are tallied. And I feel your pain spending hours on my back with the touch up kit! Don: I'm thinking that I'll use the bluetooth feature of the restored radio 99.99% of the time so I'm not going to run antenna wires. But thanks for the "heads-up"! Again...THANKS for the comments, for the constant support and thanks for following along! Have a great day! Gary

Hi Matt! Isn't it amazing how fast these cars come apart? Honestly, if you could get a few uninterrupted weeks you can have the car down to it's frame. About lifting the body, If you have a few guys, you will have a lot easier time than I had, but what I did was: 1. Used the hoist with a bolt in the spare tire holder in the trunk to lift the rear 2. Rest the rear down on a piece of 2X12 supported by two strong jack stands 3. Go to the front, use the hoist to grab that piece of wood in the center and raise the front. 4. I used "GO-JACKS" under all four tires to slide the chassis out sideways 5. Then you can basically "parallel park" your wood frame under the body. ** The only difference I see with your frame is that I attached 2 angle iron brackets to each corner to help stabilize the legs. The painter loves it. Very easy to maneuver in the shop. The body is bolted on to that piece of wood up front, and the crane is lifting from the middle of the wood. The wood is pre measured to drop right on to the wood cart. This was delivery day to the shop. Notice the metal angle brackets at each corner. Just helps tie it all together. Matt...you are doing a great job!!! I was where you are just 6 months ago, but I love seeing it all again. Every photo adds so much to the knowledge base. Good Luck and keep up the great work! Gary

Wednesday August 30, 2017: Running Board Restoration: In tonight's post, I would like to document the restoration of the running boards. I looked at it as four separate areas: 1. The Running Board Stainless Steel trim strip that runs alongside the outer surface. 2. The angled iron support irons that bolt directly to the underside of the running board 3. The heavy support irons that actually bolt to those angled iron supports AND bolt directly to the frame and are the support for the running boards. 4. The mud shield that attaches to the underside of the running board at the rear. Enjoy! The condition of the running board undersides as removed from the car in January: Everything under there was rusted. Pretty much every nut, bolt and washer had to be replaced as most of them sheared off upon removal. Tons of PB Blaster hardly helped. Here's the mess of rusty nuts and bolts that came out. And of course the rubber was completely dry-rotted. I had the underside of the running boards blasted clean. Then I shipped them out to be re-vulcanized and powder coated "mirror-black" on the underside. I then had the support brackets and the mounting brackets powder coated, and I ordered all new stainless steel fasteners for the assembly. Here we go: 1. Stainless Steel Trim Molding: The Stainless trim moldings. The rust inside was quite extensive. I first used a wire wheel on my electric drill to remove mostly all the rusty metal and clean the rusty surfaces. You can start to see the difference after treating with the wire wheel. Next I used acetone to clean the inner surfaces. Then I sprayed this Rust-Oleum product to be sure I got in and around all the surfaces in there. Once this dried, a light coat of SEM "Trim Black" to the underside to give it that final protective coat. To deal with the rust blossoms beginning to show through the outer surface, I swapped out my wire wheel for a cotton buffing wheel. I used jeweler's rouge to coat the cotton buffing wheel. Very carefully, and with a steady hand, I began to polish off the rust and blemishes. The trim does have some small dents and such, but they are 80 years old. Here you can see the change from the original on top to the buffed trim on bottom. Then a good hand polishing to remove any residual buffing residue and the trim looks pretty good. Not perfect, but not bad. I replaced 10 trim mounting clips. They are all #10 - 24 screw thread. I got all these stainless fasteners at Home Depot. After carefully lining up the holes, snap in the new mounting clips. Turn the molding up and push all the mounting clip studs through the holes in the running board, flip the board over and.... Tighten up all the stainless steel nuts, lock washers and flat washers using a 3/8" wrench. 2. Running Board Support Brackets: Next step is to mount the support brackets to the underside of the running boards. I had all these powder coated "mirror - black" Here is the list of materials I used, ordering them from McMaster Carr. Notice, I used "Elevator Bolts" for the supports. Worked out fantastic! Every replacement is stainless steel. First I ran a die over all the support irons threads because the powder got in there. Use a 5/16 - 18 coarse thread die. Begin sliding in your carriage bolts, or in my case, the "elevator bolts". Once you slide the bolts into the groove, place the running board support bracket into position and using the fasteners outlined above... Install everything. I did not over tighten anything yet because I'll need the looseness later on to line up the running board once installed on the car. 3. Running Board to Frame Support Irons: The next step is to attach the heavy running board support irons to these brackets. Again, this is the list of materials I used to do this. Install your 5/16" flat washer, lock washer and the stainless 5/16-18 nut. Again, not overly tight at this point until settled on the car. Then, install the mud shield at the rear of the running boards to complete the restoration of the underside! 4. Materials used to mount the running board to the frame: When it comes time to mount the running boards to the frame, this is the list of materials that I am using. Again, everything is stainless steel. Here is the finished restoration of the underside of the running boards. Here's the up side. Another close-up of the up side. I am so happy with the results! BEFORE AND AFTER: Ready for installation!! Have a great night out there! Gary

Monday August 28, 2017: Update on the Body / Paint and some Powder Coated Parts: I made a few stops the last couple of days to pick up the remaining sandblasted parts, my powder coated parts and to check on the body progress. Flashback to January: Running Board bottom. Focus on the bracket there. Another view of the running board bracket when removed from the car in January. That same bracket today. Powder Coated "Mirror Black" Here you see the condition of the mud shield under the rear fender as removed from the car. Here are the powder coated parts. Mostly chassis items that I thought would hold up better from road debris. Update at the paint shop: Bob uses a 320 grit sandpaper over the "build-up" primer in combination with this flexible "scotch brite" pad that gets into all the firewall details. You can see the difference between the "sanded" and "not-sanded" by noticing where the "guide coat" is sanded off. In this shot you can see the cowl section in progress. The Passenger's side is done, the Driver's side still has the "guide coat" (looks darker). The body will be completely sanded out today. Just the small sections under the rear window, under the center of the trunk and the roof need to be done. It really is amazing how smooth the body feels after being sanded out.

"DeJa Vu all over again" Love it! Congratulations Matt! Good Luck! If I can help you at all, please don't hesitate Gary

Matt.. Congratulations on the "new" car and Good Luck with the restoration! You have been such a big help to me throughout my project. If there is anything at all that I can offer or help you with, PLEASE don't hesitate! Sincerely Gary

I did have my brown paint mixed at our local Norwood Parts Supply store. ( See previous page #19, Post # 469) I've used it so far for the steering column, the screw heads that secure the firewall insulator and the heater. I'm going to do the emergency brake handle and maybe the front seat supports as well. The paint is called "SAVOY BROWN". It's not exactly "Marsh Brown", it's deeper. I would say more of a Burnt Sienna... I wanted the column and those brown parts to be a deeper brown so it compliments the mahogany woodgrain and matches the firewall. **** NOTE: The "Savoy Brown" is a metallic paint. Norwood simply mixed it WITHOUT the metallic flakes in it so it came out NON METALLIC. Here's the Brand Code and the Description. Just be sure to have it mixed as a non-metallic paint. I looked through a lot of paint chips before I finally settled on the color. The finished product is exactly the color of the color chip in the book. Here's the finished column. (I just pulled this in from the previous page) Gary

Sunday August 20, 2017: Cleaning and painting interior parts I'm thinking that the main body shell will probably be out of paint in a couple few weeks so I'm prioritizing parts for the build. Today I got a couple of hours to clean and paint some more stuff. The largest parts were the rear window risers and their mounting screws and the metal track. They came out very nice. Then it was the cowl vent mechanism and related parts, the wiper mounting parts, accelerator spring, glove box hinge and mounting screws, door checks.... stuff that I think I'll need to install first. Close-up of the window riser mechanism. Here's my rig. We had a beautiful 84 degree day today so it was nice to get out and work on the Buick. After wire wheel treatment. Already beginning to look nice! Before and after of the window mechanism. The "slash" marks are my way of making sure parts go back where they came from. I have a simple marking system for every part I remove. The metal channels were marked where they came from, but turns out they are the same part number for the left and right sides. (I'll still put them back where they came from!) Everything gets a bath in paint thinner, followed by a bath and scrubbing in Acetone. Everything clean, dried and hung outside for paint. For these window risers and channels, I used SEM "Trim Black". I have to say, I really like the way this product sprays and the finish is very nice. Hanging in the garage to dry overnight. You can see the Trim Black has a nice "satin" sort of "semi-flat" finish. The nuts and bolts that hold the cowl vent arm to the vent itself. After wire-wheeling. The cowl vent arm before... And after wire wheeling. All the parts get a paint thinner bath followed by an acetone scrub to remove any residual oils and prepare them for painting. All the parts arranged for painting. I sprayed all these parts with a gloss black. Now I'll bag and tag them and organize them for step-by-step installation. All these little details take a lot of time, but I'm trying to make as much headway as I can so the build moves along. Have a great night! Gary

You could also check your front coil springs. After 80 years and over 100,000 miles they may have lost their temper. But I would start with the shocks. If they are not dampening the rebound, you'll get the "bounce". Good Luck and welcome to the Forum!

The Body is in Primer now.

Body is in Primer now. Check it out!

Friday August 18, 2017: Body in Grey "Build-Up" Primer I stopped by the Paint Shop after work today. The body is in "build-up" prime now. Here's a few photos: Passengers side. The door threshold came out so nice and the quarter panel patch is flawless. Completely undetectable. Passenger side door jamb. Everything came out so nice and smooth. All the body lines are crisp and sharp. Driver's side. Again, the patch panel repair looks awesome. Here you can see the "guide coat" that Bob sprays prior to sanding. It helps detect any low spots that may need further work. So, going forward: (As far as I understand the process......) 1. Raise the body off the wood dolly and support it up high so the underside can be cleaned, sanded, self-etch primed and then finished with a rubberized undercoat. 2. Entire interior of the car will be sprayed super jet black. (The interior will not get clear coated) 3. Final sand (wet sand?) of the grey primer surface to achieve a super smooth surface for paint. 4. Color coat exterior 5. Clear coat exterior. Have a good night! Gary

Wednesday August 16, 2017: Update on the body / paint progress The Impala with the rotted out quarter panel is now repaired and out of the shop so my Buick has the place to itself! It was great to stop by this morning and see my car centered in the shop and getting prepped for paint. Today Bob started spraying the yellow "self-etching" primer on the inside surfaces of the body. He was decked out in a ventilator mask and headgear. I was photographing by going outside, taking a deep breath, then holding my breath while snapping a few shots...... I didn't stay long. I left him spraying so I don't know how far he got. My Buick is center-stage! Progress will continue uninterrupted now. Bob will dedicate his shop to my car until it's done. Window riser removed from the passenger's side. Driver's side also stripped down and the bare metal cleaned up for the self etching prime coat. The "self-etching" primer is actually grey at first. It takes a good five minutes of constant stirring to scrape all the "mud" off the bottom of the can and get it to disperse in solution. Then the color changes to yellow. First, the entire inside surface is blown off using the compressor. Then, a tack cloth is used to wipe everything down. Begin spraying the primer coat. Here he's doing the roof rails that support the headliner bows. I didn't stay any longer. The smell is an instant headache! A quick note about my color choice: I went to a local car show tonight. This '37 Caddy went cruising by. Cannot mistake those Fisher body lines. Jet Black, Mahogany woodgrain, Tan Bedford Cord upholstery. Classic. Thursday August 17, 2017: Body Update The yellow "self-etching" primer is now sprayed. The inside is covered and will get a coat of black, but not clear. Interior shot. Notice how the firewall data plate is masked. Today the grey "build-up" primer will be sprayed. Bob told me the build up primer can actually fill in all the letters and numbers and I'll lose all the data plate details. Hopefully she's in prime by tomorrow. Have a great day! Gary

It's a NY/Jersey thing! (Cousin Vinny)

I sent photos via my cell phone.. This is the tool we used on the '37's brakes. I don't know if it is an actual "Buick" Tool, but it fits and works perfectly. John calls it "the spoon"

Saturday August 12, 2017: Steering Column Column is finished. Looks very nice and I think the brown color will really compliment the newly wood grained dash. (This was started on Page 14, Post # 341) (Then on Page 17, Post # 403) Flashback to the "rope trick" sanding off that wood grained brown paint. All cleaned up down to the bare metal. Acetone wipe down and then clean with one of John's pre-paint solutions. John spraying the primer. Primer applied and allowed to fully dry for a week. A very light sanding of the primed surface.. Blow off all the dust with his compressor and then a final wipe down with a clean rag. Using this paint, reducer and catalyst.... John mixes it all together. First only a light "tack-coat" is applied. Then the color coat. This is followed the next week with another color coat to really give the paint "depth". Here we are after the second coat of color. And now all the tape removed. Aside...... In the glove box was an original key that fit the cylinder and still works. (This photo is not the original key) I will paint the insets black on the ignition switch like the other parts. Have a great night! Gary

Shore Guy: I really appreciate you following the posts and the kind words. It is a labor of love and cannot be done without a great support team! I get so lost in the history of these automobiles. Often I think back to the guys on the assembly lines building these beautiful machines, and I have a great respect for them. In a way, I feel like my restoration is preserving that part of our history. Dallas Alice: 1. I did remove a couple of small pieces of the insulation to assess the metal underneath. The metal is perfect so the decision was made to simply leave it in place. (If the metal was rotted or rusted under there, it would have all come out.) 2. Cage nuts are readily available from CARS or Bob's. I needed 6 new ones and they fit right in. Look back at previous posts in the body shop. You can see them being installed. 3. Yes, I ground out the rivets from the hood vents. Sent the vents out to be re-chromed and I will re-install with stainless steel machine screws / lock washers / nuts. ( See Page 17, Post # 403. You can see the hood vents delivered from the chrome shop) 4. Bob's Speedometer will recondition the entire instrument cluster. All five gauges, rechrome the frame..... nice job. I really appreciate everyone following along. Got some news today that the body work will continue uninterrupted starting Monday morning so hopefully the build begins in a few weeks! In the meantime......