Sean Batiz

I as well, had this exact same problem; VERY FRUSTRATING TO DEAL WITH STUPID VAPOR LOCK!

Too funny! I just clicked on the link provided by old-tank; SAME CHART! Oops

Thank You VERY MUCH for including the picture of that starter splash guard in its mounted orientation! I found mine just lying in the cabin area of my Buick and, this same part was always missing on my other Buick. I was never able to find a single image of it in ANY of the mountain of literature I have, to show it’s correct orientation! Also, I hope that you’ll find the fallowing shop “Pin-Up” chart handy. Something I’ve had for quite awhile; shows the exact length that each section of heater hose needs to be.

Great progress on your latest dissection stage, by the way! I’m still baffled by how many of the original fasteners, especially those found in the regions your getting involved with now, I was able to loosen on my Buick, WITHOUT them breaking! A true testament of the quality of said fasteners? Idk.

I must have just overlooked this little detail over the vast assortment of pictures you’ve provided thus far or, simply forgot about it but, I’ve noticed that from one of the pictures above, that your Nailhead was definitely manufactured within the earlier portion of 1955, if not at the tail end of 54 due to it still possessing the solid styled valve/rocker covers, rather than the revised breather type that were released for production @ mid 1955 and later. I’m still trying to decide on which style I oughta attach to my Nailhead in whichever one of my two Buick’s gets drivable first. Better ventilation of the crankcase is obviously the right way to go to prevent oil viscosity breakdown from hydrocarbon blow-by but, as per originality, how big an issue would this “upgrade” be for use on my early 55 Buick?

Yes. This balance issue is what I recall about this particular topic but, I just can’t recall the exact publication of the TOO MANY items of original literature that was published in 1955, from which I read it from & can’t recall the exact specifics about it, other than this posing some sort of balancing issue if re-married differently. But then again, seeing as I do have other original literature of later Buick models, this might have been more relevant to dei’s 58 or, 56 & up? Idk. Maybe just go by Old Tank’s advice of there being no problem in this regard. I marked mine, “just in case”!

Maybe someone else out there can correct me on this but, if my memory serves me correctly, when you attempt to divorce that nailhead from its dynoflow, you’ll want to be sure to mark, peen, or paint some sort of matching mating locations of the torque converter to the starter ring flexplate for correct alignment of reassembly.

I tend to have this bad problem of thinking that I have a photographic memory, which I don’t! Your latest update montage has been like I was thumbing through my mental pictures of each of these same steps! A refresher! I’ll DEFINITELY be referring back to the various disassembly pictures you’ve posted, in assisting my reassembly process, whenever this eventually occurs, even though yours is a Century.

Fantastic progress! You oughta show a young hipster a montage of ONLY the pictures of everything you’ve done so far and tell’em, “This was what people used to have to do, JUST TO CHANGE THEIR OIL!”

Hello there to anyone who has either previously read my above plea/proposition or, to anyone just reading through it for the first time now, I’m now currently in a good position to continue my attempts of restoration on my projects without any help from a personal loan from anyone so, please disregard the above mentioned information “BUT”, if of course, anyone out there is just swimming in excess cash 💰 that they don’t know what to do with, I’m always available to accept donations for the advancement of said projects‼️

Well, try to remain optimistic about the current state that the body is now in, as I’ve had to do, in that now, being as there’s no longer any layers of parts/materials making direct contact with the metal of the body’s window mounting areas to trap water moisture, what cancer or rust exists will henceforth be greatly minimized from spreading moreover, until such time comes whereas you can officially address its removal, once and for all. Water moisture will from now on, dry up (evaporate) much quicker than before; no place for it to stagnate & fester against the steal. Oh and, GOOD LUCK ON YOUR UPCOMING NEW FOUND WELDING SKILLS ‼️

Hey; what are your thoughts on how to deal with the cancer that you’ve discovered in the regions of the body where the window seals used to be?

White Star Line ship builders was at one point, a very prestigious Scottish company but, we all know what happened when the Scots rushed a project, don’t we? 🚢

Looks like you’v been busy with the task that really tries one’ patients! I likewise, had very similar frustrations with this same task and did not refer to the Body Manual as per Old Tanks’ comment due to the fact that at that time, I wagered it wouldn’t have helped much because of the fact that the rubber windshield seal on my 55 Buick was basically petrified, rock hard rubber! Had to gradually crumble the seal away to free this piece of trim and the windshield itself, which later got smashed by a tree branch falling in heavy wind!!! 😤

Next, we’ll be reading that you’ve obtained a NOS/NIB 55 Buick Century headliner from the Antarctic! Our world 🌎 seems to be shrinking! There’s possibly plenty of old stock R-12 refrigerant for your A/C system, available from Cambodia! Lol

Yeah, considering that I live in Southern California, I figure that when we finally do get hit by the “BIG ONE” (earthquake, that is), that I’ll definitely be impaled multiple times by the numerous Buick accessories and literature that’s overflowing from these wall covered shelves and cabinets in my bedroom! If only we could figure out a feasible method of temporarily shrinking these parts during storage! I have a 2 car garage that’s literally crammed full of parts and tools, giving ZERO space for an actual car, thus far so, I know how you feel! My poor Ol’ Buick’s have to remain stored in my back field, under tarps, for now.

Thought that meant: “Driven Frequently”! Just kidding. Hey, Kosage, you may discover that by the time you finally get the body taken apart to the point where it’s ready to be removed from the Chassis, that you’ll be needing MORE STORAGE SPACE for the very many parts! At least, I sure did.

Three things: 1st) A “Thanks” to you, Kosage, for the detailed picture of that angle iron bracket for the PS Pump! After recently having gone through the eminse inventory of Buick parts that I have, I couldn’t recall if the headbolt with protruding stud was used for that bracket or the generator/engine mounting bracket on the right engine bank! 2nd) To the topic of the 1954 radiator having been used in ‘55 cars: I believe this to be 100% correct, seeing as the ‘55 Buick it belongs to was made in early 1955 (even has the early run of solid valve covers, no breather/oil filler caps. Just the single cap on neck of Valley Pan). It’s serial number being, 5B2009836 from GM “BOP” South Gate, Ca. Assembly Plant. 3rd) After going through some older receipts for stuff I had repaired for my first Buick, I came across the one from back in 2002 when I had my non-A/C radiator (3131177) rebuilt; indicates it was rebuilt with a “4 core” (I previously thought that I had that shop add an additional core to it); I’d still need to de-soldier either tank of the A/C radiator (3133727) to determine the number of cores it contains. These have a baffle in the upper tank, below the fill neck that restricts a clear visual image of the cores directly. Picture is of page from my 1955 Buick Master Chassis Parts Book. Lists radiator 3131177 for both 1954 and 1955 “1st jobs”.

I’m assuming that you discovered quite a substantial amount of debris in behind those covers? Especially the passenger side unit? I removed those from mine AFTER I already had the front clip and engine removed! I’m guessing that you have at least one finger/knuckle that’s a bit damaged now? “No Pain, No Gain”!

So, after going through the sometimes frustrating, rather confusing jargon of part number breakdowns that are listed in the original Buick Master Chassis Parts Book that I have here for the “Model years, 1930 to 1955 inclusive”, it seems to state that your ‘55 Century Model 66R, calls for this same A/C radiator of the part number, 3133727 “but”, the only real measurement difference that I can tell that is truly different between these, is a height of 1” MORE for the core vs. the standard radiator. This said though, I have had my standard radiator (p#3131177) rebuilt awhile back & opted at the time to have an additional core added to its core thickness. Which measures @ 2.75” vs. the core thickness of this A/C radiator which only measures at an even 2” thick. So, I’d be willing to wager that if you just did this same thing of having your original one rebuilt with a thicker, 2.75” core cake, it’d most likely be more than adequate for whatever cooling demands that your Nailhead will require, without any noticeable overheating issues.

Actually, just as I reviewed the previous message and pictures that I posted, I noticed that the actual highth of the cores is different! I really didn’t notice this detail until now! Rather obvious. I’ll head out to make measurements.

Per your request: Here are comparative pictures of the two radiators that I have here; the only overtly obvious detail that I can clearly determine visually between the two of them is, the depth (thickness) of the upper and lower tanks. The one that has its mounting flange halfway loose from its soldiering joint, is the A/C unit. I am curious now to consider de-soldiering both tanks from both radiators to visually inspect the actual cores themselves for any obvious differences. Whatever damages are present in either of these two radiators that can be seen, was already existing before my acquisition of them.

YES! THANK YOU Mr. Greg! I completely forgot to mention that. These ARE located in Riverside, Ca. I still “might” entertain the idea of selling both cars with everything else that I have collected for them, for a ‘reasonable’ offer; I’d just prefer this to be a loan instead, so as to afford me a second chance at possibly fulfilling my original objective of restoring them and being able to enjoy the THRILL of driving them and showing them to others, if at all possible. No bank or lender that I’m aware of, are willing to offer any kind of a collateral loan or, vehicle title loans for ANY classic car, unless the car is already fully restored.

I still “might” entertain the idea of selling both cars with everything else that I have collected for them, for a ‘reasonable’ offer; I’d just prefer this to be a loan instead, so as to afford me a second chance at possibly fulfilling my original objective of restoring them and being able to enjoy the THRILL of driving them and showing them to others, if at all possible. No bank or lender that I’m aware of, are willing to offer any kind of a collateral loan or, vehicle title loans for ANY classic car, unless the car is already fully restored.

This collection of original materials of literature, maintenance, accessories and other related items, is exhaustive and very thorough but, for whatever reason, I cannot seem to figure out how to include the rest of the necessary pictures of these items or, any of the videos I’ve made that covers the whole collection. For now, I’ll just have to probably be sharing these additional pictures or videos directly with whomever out there contacts me about this proposed collateral loan. Again, my number is, 1(951)640-9846. Hope to hear from some of you soon! Thank You!