Sean Batiz

Oh and one more thing to consider, if feasible, you will DEFINITELY prefer to have the garage door(s) open in either a split side-by-side barn style track or, swing OUTWARD, so as not to be in the way of your lifts clearance requirements. The types that spool up into a tight space closed cage are also nice but, as far as I know, generally cost an arm and a leg! Either way, glad to read that you’re back in the Buick game on getting some headway (literally, it would seem)! Inspiring me to get out there and do the same, ‘before‘ SoCal here gets hit with summer consistent TRIPLE DIGIT WEATHER!

Howdy! Just reading through these fresh posts and thought I’d toss my 2¢ in this wishing well! Just a thought 💭. This might not really cost more and, may even save you a few bucks. What about having one side as a vaulted, 12’ no attic, for lift space allowance and the other side, 8’ with storage loft above that side? Might have to build a retaining, “load-bearing“ wall (With maybe a set of doublewide pocket doors) down the center stretch but, in the long run, at least you’d be able to keep one side all clean and snazzy for storing your show car with your fancy framed Buick memorabilia on the walls, while the other side can be your grease-monkey side for all of the fun tasks!? The loft storage area could be accessible from the vaulted roof side.

Rather than having a slab, have you considered a FULL SIZED basement, with the ground floor level having open pit type racks for the cars to park on & lifts incorporated above the racks? Sounds incredibly expensive but, really just a matter of figuring out the logistics of getting the soil removed and, proper retaining perimeter brick wall. Your neighbors will initially be thinking you’re putting in a pool!

Seems as though all Buick’s are idle for now.... 😔 Just wish we all already had every new seal &/or parts needed for our Buick projects, so we’d all have something positive to spend our ample home time on! And than, we’d come out on the other side of this crisis with a full fleet of beautifully restored Buick’s to once again, dominate the roadways everywhere!

I’ve likewise done the same with my two Buick’s and was wondering this same thing. If that site has a viewing option, I certainly haven’t been able to find it yet.

Still working on this task in what little spare time I seem to have these days. Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide you with these scans by the end of this week! 😬

One more thing to note on these: the wide sides of the cross-section of the slightly diamond shape of this nylon cord, rides between the WIDE faces of the two pinch/compression wheels, NOT the groove in those wheels! ‘BUT’, if you decide in exchanging your original mast cord with a good weed-wacker nylon cord with a diamond shape (if you are able to get the solid mast rods’ threaded tip removed, CCW, AND are able to gently pry open the tiny crimped FRAGILE aluminum swivel terminal from the old cord), you may end up having to intentionally run the new cord through the ‘grooves’ of the pinch wheels, due to the larger cross-section dimensions of replacement cord. At least, this is what I ended up having to do. You’ll also have to carefully widdle down the tip end of the new cord to as much of a perfectly rounded shape as possible before inserting it into that aluminum swivel terminal. I avoided re-crimping this swivel and opted to instead, coat the new cord tip and terminal’s female with a small bit of “JB Kwic” epoxy; let that fully cure and carefully file or sand down the excess before reassembly. This aluminum swivel terminal MUST ride inside of the smallest hollow tube of the telescoping segment of mast COMPLETELY FREE of resistance, in order for nothing to jam or bind during travel. This can be bench checked before assembly of other sections. GOOD LUCK! 🍀👍🏻

Pointing out what some of us might consider obvious but, possibly not to all readers of this thread, it’d behoove oneself to definitely keep every little part from each of these original units separate from each other, just in case there are any slight, subtle changes to various parts designs. Not everything was made fully interchangeable back in the day; just as with modern car system parts. In too many cases of late model cars, it’s almost required to have to use a vehicles VIN number to obtain the exact right parts. Only after having completely cleaned up and fully inspected each part/piece/hardware, should it be attempted to cross interchange individual parts to construct one single unit, containing the best of all the parts.

Oddly, out of what almost certainly seems like an endless assortment of literature that GM or Buick printed/published during the mid 50’s for just about every conceivable item or accessory, I’ve never once come across a single piece of official instructional literature that’s specifically for the breakdown servicing of one of these power antenna units, yet.... all we seem to have to go by, with our various attempts at rebuilding these, is our own wits and the collaboration of other likeminded wits to assist us in moments of “drawing a blank”. This said, you having available at your grasp, multiple units for comparative purposes, is definitely a major plus! At first, this “simple” project is just that, simple. By the end of that bench work challenge, it can easily change from simple to, SCRAP METAL that’s been tossed against the wall in frustration! Lol! Patience is definitely a virtue, in this case. I believe you’ll get’er figured out for sure.

Kosage, Back to the picture above of your flex plate for a second: the starter ring gear teeth look as if BRAND NEW! I was just going through the latest info on your progress and couldn’t help but noticing that. There’s a high possibility that after whatever major head work was performed on that Nailhead some several moons ago, little to no major time or miles were put on it before it was parked for a few decades! I really can’t even tell which side of that gear, the starters bendix gear engaged (of course it would engage the side facing the engine, just sayin’). New set of seals, bearings, rings, detailed cleaning prep work on the parts and.... she’ll be a dang fine Nailhead for MANY YEARS!

Coming along quite nicely! At least you didn’t have to encounter the explosive problem that I had to deal with in my first Nailhead dismantling; #8 piston had completely disintegrated into MANY unrecognizable aluminum shrapnel fragments, throughout the crankcase and even broke off some sizable chunks of both sides of the lowest end of that cylinder wall! Still not sure if my original block is salvageable via a sleeving job or not. Only time and money will eventually determine this fate. Worst case scenario, I’ll be having the 2nd Nailhead that I have, rebuilt instead, someday....

I’m working on the scanning process in between my spare time. Should have them ready soon. As much as I do know, I also willingly admit to still being rather computer illiterate so bare with me on this task. Should I (if I can figure out how) place only a link on here to the pdf source or, the pdf itself on here?

Aside from that gibberish rant (too much coffee today!), you might wanna consider purchasing BRAND NEW rod/cap bolts & nuts hardware for it! Just a thought....

I’m surprised that you haven’t received any feedback from your questions yet. I’d like to throw some knowledge/experience opinions your way but, myself, I honestly don’t have a good answer for these questions. That said, if that were my crankshaft, I’d probably assume those grounded off areas were definitely due to some sort of final balancing steps, as you were suspecting. As for the metal flash material between the two balancing holes, I “might” consider carefully cleaning that bridge out to a clean edge or, just leave it alone. You figure that that Nailhead was presumably a good/decent runner for the many miles/years of operation it delivered and, the fact that you were able to get it back to running decent/fair before breaking it down, concludes that its crank issues you’ve spotted out, ought not have been a detrimental problem (🤞🏼). It’ll be a fine running engine for many years/miles to come, especially after you’ve finished its meticulous rebuild, whether or not you do anything to that crank, other than the standard polishing of its journals. Take it down to a reputable shop that can spin it to check how balanced it actually is. It just might be perfect exactly as is👌!

Old-tank: Yes, I have more of them. Aside from that original 3-ring binder itself that’s in the pictures above, to which I just recently acquired via eBay, the PSB’s themselves were obtained sometime in 2016 I believe. I do also have a few of these PSB issues that are duplicates (extras), that I’d be willing to sell/trade to whomever but, not until I get around to organizing all of the various extras or, wrong year items to post in the correct “for sale” section here. So, would you (Old-tank) need digital scanned high res images of each of these pages, sent to you via email or, directly posted on here individually? I don’t currently have any of these pages scanned yet so, it may be a little while before I can get that task done first.

Old-tank: I really appreciate the scanned pdf styled list of your PSB’s! After going through the list, I’m wondering why the list begins in March? The pages comprising the first of two issues of January ‘55 is what I’m most interested in seeing (pp. 55 to 60) & I’ve yet to figure out how to properly navigate through that hometownbuick site to find these. But, at least your list did finally solve for me, the mystery of what information the 1st issue of Nov. ‘55, pp. 21 to 26 has on them! Predominantly information pertaining to the ‘56 Buick model year cars, as I’d suspected they’d have.

Mudbone, Hello to you & many props for your fantastic restoration of your Buick Century! I’ve watched every issue of the MANY videos of your progress that you’ve posted on YouTube over the years and have additionally read through all of your thread on the topic; HIGHLY INFORMATIVE! I’ve dug through this site from time to time in an attempt to learn as much as I can, as I go through the steps of “S L O W L Y” restoring at least one of my two 1955 Buick Super 2Dr Riviera’s, now both with the original Factory A/C Systems and, for whatever reason, just know discovered this surprisingly short thread! I likewise, have nearly every issue of these original Buick PSB’s for ‘55 and, those issued in the last few months of ‘54 that contain pertinent information about the ‘55 model year Buick’s. Ironically, the vast majority of these original PSB’s that I’ve acquired, were purchased together from the gentleman that runs/owns/operates the above mentioned website, hometownbuick out of Germany! I’ve even sent him a few high resolution pictures (digital images, of a few of the original 1955 Buick extremely rare documents that I keep well guarded) for him to produce high quality reproductions of! I do concur that his site is FANTASTIC and just LOADED with possibly the world’s best, single source for all things Buick of the 1950’s! This all said, of these originals that I’ve acquired & those I’ve obtained elsewhere, I’d really like to someday acquire/obtain the few remaining issues that have thus far eluded my grasp! The main one I’m seeking being the first issue of January 1955 or, pages 55 to 60, as well as the cover page that’s not page marked more specifically (at least, not counted until Feb of ‘55, from what I can discern). The other 1955 issue I’m missing, would be Nov. pp. 21 to 26. Also, an issue from 1954 of pp. 198 to —? I’m not sure if this issue contains any information pertaining to 1955 or not; I’ll have to check with the above mentioned website. If you happen to have any “extras” to any of these missing issues that you’d be willing to sell or trade for or at least, decent resolution copies of, I’d be interested! Thanks!

I’m curious to see the condition of your Nailhead’s oil pan sump! Sludge? Clean? Wud’ja find in there? Hidden gold coins?

Kosage, I forgot to mention that (from what I experienced) before you detach the upper casing section of antenna body, you should first loosen up the pinch roller spring tension screw that’s on the side of that upper casing. If you’re one of those lucky fellas that actually has one of these with its original nylon cord intact, you’ll want to notate the current position of that tensions set screw and count off the CCW turns required for its removal, so it can later be reset at roughly the same tension. Upon reassembling the unit, the nylon locking nut that secures the pivoting roller oughta be tightened down until seated and backed off just enough to allow that rollers’ axle casting to swivel in & out. It’s level of bite to the masts’ nylon cord, will then be determined by the externally adjustable spring tensioning screw. Just tight enough to eliminate slipping, is where I left mine at. Slippage: motors’ bench tested in either direction and runs fine but, no, minimal or, intermittent movement of mast. After initially marking the position of the tension screw, and loosen it off by say 2 or 3 revs CCW, you should be able to at that point, gently work the telescoping antenna segments back down (the nylon cord will be free to slide into the aluminum tube, if still pliable) if you’d rather, to at least have it in a safer storable length for now.

Store it with your fishing rods for now! Oughta fit, no?

I worked with one 55 Olds PA with a decent mast; slightly bent along each segment that needed rolled out, carefully. Had its cord broken in several points. And one 55 Buick Roady PA with its cord and mast severed off just above where it would’ve protruded above the mount of fender. The Olds PA uses a much larger curled, oval shaped aluminum holding tube; whereas the Buick PA uses the compact, circular aluminum tube.

Yep 👍🏻! You definitely should carefully take it apart to prevent any damage to its nylon cord, given its not already in several segments. Remove the aluminum curled tube from the casing first and slide it from the nylon cord and set it aside. Separate the upper casing that the mast’s connected to. Slide that away from the motors’ middle section casing and the double pinch roller setup will be exposed. You’ll notice that the left one, if looking at the end where both rollers are facing you, has an adjustable swing pivot fastener with a nylon locking nut with flat washer. Loosen this up. It’ll release the tension of the nylon cord and allow you to slide the cord from the casing/motor body. Hopefully, its cord is in one continuous piece! If not, you may have to take the approach that I took of carefully expanding the swivel crimp connector that’s fixed to the end of the smallest, solid rod of the mast &, replacing the cord. I used a stretch of Craftsman weed-wacker nylon cord that had a cross-section diamond shape; it spirals along its length, which causes a bit of a rotation of the cord as it goes up and down but, doesn’t seem to bother the functionality of it. I had to carefully widdle down the tip from having a diamond shape to a round stem that was small enough to insert into the swivel crimp connector on the solid rod. Applied some J-B Quick epoxy to this tip, without attempting to recrimp it (it’s aluminum and VERY FRAGILE!). If you’re able to pinch the solid rod (two small blocks of wood and bench vise), you can remove the mast’s tip (threaded on). This will allow you to separate the solid rod for ease of getting a new cord attached, if necessary. I took mine completely apart (requires de soldering the field winding leads from the brush holder terminals) to get access to the lower bearing/bushing for servicing this (mine was seized up down there!). Works beautifully now, even when bench tested with the original switch inline! Now, just gotta RESTORE THE REST OF THE BUICK! 🙄. This oughta make a perfect winter bench project for you! Enjoy....

I’m jealous! If only I’d performed this same task inside of a relatively clean garage, rather than the outdoors of my back field, the various matting surfaces wouldn’t have accumulated the surface rust it all very much did! Only being sarcastic about jealousy; just sayin’ it’s a heck of a lot better having enough space inside of a garage/building for such tasks vs. outdoors. The general climate in So Cal is such that it makes forgetting to protect metal from the elements, a real problem! Nice and dry for 97% of the year.

I just noticed your message! No, I don’t remember ever taking any pictures of how that smog check arrangement was. I removed whatever was still left of it, that hadn’t rotted away and, had the tube welded back together and holes closed back off.

On a side note to do with the valley pan itself and, the bulky air silencer for these Nailhead’s, you’ll want to be sure to drill out the baffle plate spot-welds of pan to THOROUGHLY get it cleaned up and be able to replace the steel-wool like filter gauze that’s undoubtedly in bad shape after 64 years. As for the air silencer, there’s a tedious method of bending away at the rolled bead of either end of its housing, to accomplish getting into its inner cavity for again, THOROUGH cleaning! You won’t want to have your freshly rebuilt engine, suck up a cloud of rust! It’d be inevitable for the oil bath filter to NOT catch it all.