Jim Nelson

Cooker and Lester are OK suppliers. I personally have had warrantee issues with Coker. Unless you are going to 'show' your car, putting 'non-standard' tires on your car will give you a safer and smoother ride. ' 'Auburn' from Diamond Back is the series is I bought. I think that there were several WW widths available to get what you want. I got within 1/2" of original WW width. On todays roads, bias. belt tires will 'wander' trying to run in the tire grooves worn in our modern roads. Concrete is hardest and blacktop the softest. Then there is the issue on 'tubes'. `When was the last time you had a flat' with your modern radials. Of course, your rims need to be smooth and not rust coated so they don't leak. JMHO.... I'm a new guy to the pre-war Buicks. I started in 2014 so my experiences are 'new'. My last long trip was over 1800+ round trip. Trouble free just like Buick says. A great car....... Take care and it will take you safely back home.

Details my friend. Bias Ply, Radial , size etc. What car are you putting them on ? On my 3846-s coupe, I put "Diamond Back" radials with whitewalls. Looked like original tires. Great tires with quality construction. I drive my Buicks and traveling on interstates - mean trips of over 100 miles is regular drives for me. I have to have excellent tires. Flats are not authorized - - - Check with them as to available. I got mine in about a week or 10 days. Pricing was around $270 each. (around 3 years ago.) On my 35-58 (2 door sedan Vicky) I found some wire wheels (option on my 50 series )stock and then chose to go with black wall 'Firestone' radials. They had white wall radials in stock but I chose to go this way with chrome rings. My 35-58 has 5-1/2" bolt center wheels and 16" tires. Weird sizes in '35'. So I went with BW tires. My wheels are a cream yellow and I bought it with WW tires but I did not like the WW tire next to the wheel color. (Gray scale was to close - for those who are photographic inclined ). I saw a very beautiful 1934 sedan with fender mounted spares and separate trunk in back. Car was a dark Blue with wide white wall tires and wire wheels color - very light - maybe a yellow. But I personally did not like the wheel and tires almost the same color. Just a personal choice but I like my tires and wheels to be a better contrast between them. Your driving will make your choice. I put around 2000 miles a year versus those who drive local and put less than 500 miles or so a year. Here is my 35-58 with original WW tires with original wheel colors. JMHO

First, 7/16 - 14 is a standard size ( nat. course thread). A good industrial nut / bolt supply house should have them in stock. Bring a separate head bolt you want to duplicate - length etc. Buy an extra, JIC, Does your head use washers? If so, a few extras also. If you need any suppliers of these, let me know as I have several suppliers including a great local nut/bolt shop.

try Richard Bradley ie desoto6x2@aol.com. 1-805-746-9011 in calif. I was looking for 1935 parts and he had some. Give him a jingle and see what he has. Maybe Bill Henderson (BCA# 19590). Henderson_277@msn.com. Just some guys in the '35 Buick' parts maybe - -

Well, I have not personally seen or heard of any failures. Our club (with + 300 members) has not reported failures. My Coker radials (chinese) failed - do to blow out out on the cord on the running part on the tire. It did not fail anywhere the rim portion. The Coker tires were about 4 years old and did not have that many miles. I put about 4k miles on it . My '38' rims were and still are in very nice shape. My Diamondback radials had about 3k miles on them when I sold it (back to the previous owner who wanted it back after I had it for 8 years). All I can say is this is MY experience with my '38-46s over 8 + years of road travel. My Buicks are road cars, not 'hanger queens' so IMHO I will keep my safer - non-chinese - new radials on my Buicks.

I put them on my 38-46s. my rims were good and I ran them for three years with no problems. Tubeless and they looked very nice. I had the 'other' popular brand and they failed spactactullary at night on the interstate doing 65. My front left tire came apart. Put on the spare and got it home and bought the Diamondback tires. I find them a very good tires. I will not use chinese tires ever again..... My 35-58 now has Firestone tubeless tires but has tubes. I had to shop around a bit to find a size that matched the original size. My 35-58 has wire wheels so it required tubes. I had to shop around for the rubber insert to keep the tubes from rubbing on the wire wheels. I'm now just getting the car ready to put on the road so I expect I will treat them like the old design they are but with modern tubeless design. JMHO but tires are critical for safe driving.

The 38 special has 16" wheels. The 38 Century has 15" wheels. The factory 40 series has the 4.44 rear ratio and the Century has the 3.90. With the Century / 3.90 rear the factory used the 15" wheels to compensate for the 3.90 tear. Your car (Special) with the 15" wheels will be slower than the 16" wheels on the Special with standard 4.44 rear - running the same rpm's. ? per chance - have you checked the rear ratio ? You might have the Century 3.90 rear ratio installed in place of the 4.44. That would be a nice change. Desired by most everyone. You should pull the rear cover and empty the pumpkin and check to see which rear ratio you might have. If you don't know how, most of us on the web will tell and show you the details. If you have the Century - 3.90 - you will be much happier. They are hard to find now as they are wanted because the two rear end ratios are changed easily. Back to the wheel issue. First check the rear end ratio issue. Then get the standard 16" wheels. Dave Tacheny (in Minnesota) is our best source of good parts. The 16" wheels are readily available in radial construction. Those are available with USA made (others also) tires. I dumped my china made tires when they failed on the road (at night and 60 mph - (long story). I personally won't use Coker brand - because - - I use Diamond brand out of So. Carolina. They are available with several sized white walls to look like original. JMHO ... We are out there to help out Buick friends. oldbuickjim@gmail.com 1938-46s 1935-58 Vicky.

Personally, if its Chinese, I won't use it. Mexican , Taiwan etc is better quality than chinese 'stuff. I'll pay more for good quality parts - period... I don't want to fix something twice because I bought less expensive rather than good stuff once.

When I restored my 35-58 fuel tank. I first measured it so it would show empty physically. I removed it twice ( on the bench with long wires to dash gage) bent the wire that mounted the float to make sure it would read empty when it just touched the tank bottom. Then mounted the fuel tank and checked it again. BTW, I added a ground wire from the sender all the way to the gage on the dash. The only point that needs to be accurate is when you read empty - your empty ! If your good, you will set the float to read empty when you have about a gallon remaining when your gage reads empty. The rest 'is nice' but I always keep track of fuel used, miles traveled/ refill quantity so I know how much I use ie. mpg. I will NOT RUN OUT OF GAS on the road. Personally, I always had about 3 gallons remaining when I would refill my tank.

Hi Marty, I have had 'driving' Buicks, not show cars. I'm down to only one now and its a 35-58 Vicky. I will add steel bracing under the body to mount seat belts up front. I'm thinking I will use the 'X' frame as my primary mount. What ever it takes. I'm an old timer who grew up prior to factory seat belts. My first car was a '50' Plymouth that I got about 1959 and I put belts in it. I Flew as a pilot for 30+ years so seat belt useage became standard ingrained in my brain. So, since I drive my Buicks, (in modern traffic when possible) that is my first safety device I install before I go cruising. I do like my Buicks.... Hmmm, your a 1943 guy ? Jim Nelson - Clearwater Fl. oldbuickjim@gmail.com 36-38 Buick Club. BCA Club. 47157. 1938-46s Buick coupe 1937-46 Buick coupe 1935-58 Buick Vicky

Greg, I'll take it ! It might be better than mine. Finishing up my rear electrical. Then get it out on the road for 'break in miles'. This time it will be more expensive $2.50 / gallon vs $5.00 / gallon......

As Green shows you, those two (three) bolts forward are bolts you do not want to loosen up. Look in your service manual and you will see that those three bolts hold the pinion bearing / shaft in place. That is not a maintenance item, only when you tear down to rebuild it. The bolt in the back plate that is about 2" up from the bottom, is the 'fill port'. To drain the rear you first get a new gasket and then you remove the 11 or so bolts around that stamped steel cover. Its a bit messy so have a container that will hold over a gallon. Yes you don't put a gallon back when refilling, its so you don't have a 'full' container and spill it while doing it. I had 40 series Buicks so you might have a 'bottom drain' bolt. My old brain just knows what I need so I don't think about it. If you have a 'new' Buick' and you have not drained the rear to check condition of the oil, its something you need to do - maybe every 20,000 miles. :-)) I live in the South and I use 85w140 standard rear end oil. GL 4 is great. I use GL 1 in both my rear and tranny. You find it at (I did) Tractor Supply in 2 gallon containers. Its 'Ford Tractor' 90W gear lube. I have over drive in my Buick and it requires GL-1. Its better than Buick had up and thru the 50's. Yes the modern lube's are very good but I need the GL-1 so I use it in my O.D. and my tranny and the modern GL 4 in my rear end. JMHO.

Hmmmm. you need to - at minimum have front seat belts. Rear belts would be also important. Note the construction of todays instrument panel vs our pre-war steel instrument panels. That should convince you to instal belts all around.

I used Monroe Gas Magnum shocks. P/N. : 28-90094. 34828. ., NAPA. #76992. Used them for years. As Matt says,, they worked to well so they went back to 'lever style.

NO - NO - NO The tubular shocks on the 1938 Buicks were standard. Those are available at a regular auto parts shop. I will look the p/n's up and post them. These are very good shocks and cost way less than lever shocks. The fronts are lever style and those style are used until the muddle 60's. The original tubulr shocks were rebuildable but only were used on the '38 Buicks.

here is a pix of the modified 35 / 38 front to be able to have hydraulics up front. Rear was easy using '37-40 rear end on leaf springs.

If you go the open drive line ? are you trying to mix hydraulic brakes with the modern rear but your fronts - mechanical ? If you go modern - open rear, you need to convert your fronts to hydraulic also.. You can not mix those systems. This is why I went to hydraulic brakes. If you go hydraulic, you will go the way I went. I have lots of pix to show you how. Basically you need '38-40 ' stuff. Every thing from the '38' shock (not the shock itself) down to the lower shock. With the front end stuff including 'knuckles, knuckles supports, backing plates, drums and shoes, you will have the basics ready to modify. I rebuilt the front end with new bearings and the usual drums and matching shoes. You will need to have a good machinist to get things ready - cleaned up to install the new brass bushings etc. It all works with minimal alterations. I spent several months working out how. Again, if you want to go that way, I've been there, done it. oldbuickjim@gmail.com

As long as your mechanical brakes work safely, and you drive in very light traffic, you will be fine. I live in very busy traffic area and would not survive. My local housing / homes - traffic is 35 mph and if you want to go to the grocery store - requires driving on 4 and 6 lane roads put me in dangerous traffic. Just to keep with traffic. So I need dependable , good strong brakes. Mechanical brakes require constant adjusting to TRY to keep them so all four wheels work at the same time and together. ( one always seems to lock up early or lock up late giving me 3 good brakes and one 'best guess' ). So I converted to hydraulic brakes. BTW, having over drive on your original drive train - gives you a change from a 4.88 rear (slow car) to a 3.41 rear moderate speed (keeping up with traffic) car. There is no way to easily get to a faster car . You just accept the original design ( with the 4.88 rear ratio) or put your big boys boots on and make the changes. I chose to instal the 1937 rear to let me get a rear that uses the original spring style and also a faster rear (4.44 ratio). Then to over drive and the best cruising speed but will still have the regular 4.44 - ie 55-60 mph speeds. Then either drive the car with the engine just happy rpm's and 35-50 mph or move to 45 - 70 mph big traffic driving. My friend told me "layes your money down and takes your chances ( results). We are trying to take a 1935 car and operate it in todays - not designed for - environment. I chose to modify and accept the results, increased costs to have a very neat 1935 car that is fun to drive safely and help educate the general public about cars that you can still drive that are 70 - to 90 years old. But, thats my humble opinion.... BTW, my car looks like ( on the outside ) like it did in 1935 and only those who are mechanically inclined who look under the hood, will appreciate the safety improvements that allow you drive - safely - neat mid 1930's cars today.

That is very nice. Did you say you have a 40 or 50 series car? Next, are you going to use the original mechanical brakes ? I have the 50 series Buick. I have changed the cooling system to the 40 system. The 50 series cooling system was - interesting in design. Copy the 40 series system because was the firstborns that matched todays systems. If you want to put hydraulic brake's on your 1935, can be done. I dd .

If you can get the physical dimensions, you can go to an industrial bearing house and find one with the corrct size needed. I owned a Industrial parts house and carried Timkin brand seals and other seal brands. Start with the shaft size and then to the outside dim. lastly, the thickness. I prefer to use 'double lip' seals as they do a better job. I sometimes need to grind the backside to make it thin enough because there was non thin enough. That is not an issue. So go there and look in their seal catalog for the size you need. That will give you a part number and probably a brand that matches your needs.

Sorry for my confusion. I had a '38'. (just sold it to a friend), so the OD in a 38' makes a good option. Ignore my ramblings on the '39' . So if you go that way, my mod's might be nice. E-mail me if you want more details. oldbuickjim@gmail.com

BTW, if your '39' has the same 4.44 rear ratios that the 37 and 38 had, the OD system gives you a 3.11 rear. No problem as you won't use the OD until you engage it around 34 mph. That puts your car in good rpm's as you have already been in third gear.

Option, I believe the '39' rear end is unique thus swapping gears may not work. If you like you car, see if you can find a '38' rear end complete and change it. (BUT, you still need a 3.90 or 3.60 gear set.). Or, for a complete 1940 or 41 rear with a 3.6 rear ratio. I don't know for sure but you would probably not visually see the difference. BUT, you would have a great cruising car. Next option, I put an over drive in my '38-46s' and loved it. cruise 2350 rpm and drive easily 65 mph all day long. Best $2300 spent for drive ability. Again, the only visual that you would see is the push/pull knob under the dash and the turn on electrical button. The fellow who does it is in Circleville Ohio. He has been doing it for years. ( I put one in each of my two Buicks ). My 1935-58 had a normal 4.88 rear so it was a 'slow' car. With the OD, it became a nice car with a 3.41 rear. Now a nice 60 mph cruising car. JMHO but I have experience in this option. I'm prejudice, as I would keep the original '39' rear and run with the OD. ( p.s., I like floor shifters - - -) .

Or just ship the guts and gaskets. Cheeper that way.

My 1935-58 Buick had similar problems. The car had a fuel tank that was leaking badly on the bottom so I sent it out to 'Re-Nuz' dealer. It now looks like new. I had to replace my straps with strapping material and make new strapping ends that had female ends for new bolts to tie it to the frame. Buick was trying different fuel level systems. Mine had a '?' normal level float unit mounted on the top of the tank with an overflo tube only., with the 5 screw mount that we use today. But that was tolerable but the outlet from the tank was from a fitting at the end of the tank about half way up and close to the front of the tank. That fitting had just a pick up line going into the tank going forward to the center bottom of the tank ? ? That outlet then went rigid to the front of the car to the fuel pump. When I rebuilt / repaired the tank I removed that fitting. . I got a more modern combination fuel tank outlet / level unit from Bob's. It was for a ? 39 Buick tank I aligned the float to keep the 'arc' so it remained centered in the tank to minimize the gage from moving around as the fuel schloshed around and the needle on the gage from always moving around . I had to bend the outlet line (carefully so it wouldn't kink) so the line faced forward. I then made a bracket to mount my electric boost pump right next tank and 'low so it would be in the 'flooded suction position. Then I ran new steel fuel lines from there forward to the engine. I ran the electrical wires from the boost pump along side the new line. This guaranteed me a CLEAN system and one that will get me home if the engine fuel pump die's. (been there - no fun). The boost pump got me home nicely. So, don't feel bad about our fuel systems and the 'rust' we find. If you want dependable systems, you sometimes have to replace the original completely.