drhach

This is what Centerville says on their webpage about HEI distributors. "The HEI units are just plain ugly and not worthy of the a beautiful Buick engine. I call the HEI the "Elephant Mans Head Distributor" They can also cause firewall clearance problems. "

If you look at his order of operations, it may explain a lot :). He said he did the carb but it's also listed as needing to be cleaned, as is the fuel tank. Things that have been done carburetor Radiator Generator fuel pump plugs wires coil points, rotor Things needed Clean fuel tank clean carburetor master cylinder timing

Some time ago, a friend gave a Pontiac Bonneville with around 300K miles on it. I was talking to my Brother and mentioned that I got a "new" car. He asked me how much I paid for it. I said, "nothing, it was free". He said, "that much, huh"? That comment confused me until I'd owned the car for a very short while.

Ok, time for more dumb questions. I'm trying to figure out this fender skirt puzzle. I have the gravel guards that are supposed to go with the skirts. They have stainless trim on them and a body-colored cap that goes on top. I know that the standard gravel guards have a tab that you twist over to secure them to the fender, but these don't. The cap does, but the guards themselves don't. They have some mounting holes, and I was able to line them up with holes in the fender. But I just can't figure out the fastener system. It seems like maybe there was a t-nut that also held the stainless trim? Any thoughts prayers or pictures from someone who knows would be greatly appreciated. The parts manual shows the main parts but not the fasteners. I am stumped. I probably could make something up, but I'd like to find the correct system first.; especially because if these fall off, I'll probably never find another set. Hopefully my pictures don't confuse the issue more.

I'm sorry for your loss. The car sinking in to the ground like that isn't doing it any favors. If you can, maybe try to get it pulled on to pavement or blacktop.

That's a really neat looking car. Hopefully it isn't as bad as you think it is.

If that switch ends up being for a Special instead. I'll buy it.

I thought it looked familiar. What a great piece of history. I hope you're enjoying it.

Was that truck in "Old Cars Weekly" not too long ago?

My only complaint about a Quadrajet is the tiny float bowl that evaporates modern gas in about two days. That's one area where a closed system with a fuel pump has a very distinct advantage over carbs. Some would say that cranking it primes the oil pump anyway.

I get the sentiment behind this belief, but the more I think about it the more I wonder if it is really true. I have a factory dual carb setup and all of my plugs look pretty much the same. Also, the consensus is that Buicks are well engineered. They must have considered this setup. Would they have skimped in the intake department; especially to such an extreme? Even a single carb system has the outside cylinders placed pretty far away. It's a closed system. Anywhere air gets drawn in, there's something there to mix it with gas. That mixture then travels where it's needed. If anything, that long run may cause throttle response issues, but it seems like if the system is set up as the factory intended it, there should be no significant issue with mixture for any cylinder. The carb experiences demand and mixes accordingly, it doesn't care where it goes after that. Just food for thought, my nailhead has basically the same setup. It's a progressive linkage with one carb having only high-speed jets and an idle circuit. So, if it was wrong, Buick did it wrong twice. And they sold thousands of them.

Sold!!

Thanks for the kind words Neil. I'm about 90% back to where I was. Working on the rest. I think I solved the differential puzzle. I found a paragraph in a 1953 manual that talks about axle ratios. The "40" that is stamped in the differential is actually indicating "40 Series". I think if I clean the rest of the housing up, I will find the actual ratio stamped somewhere too. But yes, the real answer is to open it up and look inside. After 80 years you don't know what's been changed and it wouldn't make sense to only rely on a stamp from the factory. I'll pop it open when I do the transmission. I attached the bit from the 1953 Manual that talks about stamps on the diff housings. I fixed the last charging issue (for now). I got my new regulator. I Installed it last night, it didn't work. I opened it up and checked the gap on the cut-out relay, it was way too wide. I closed the gap and it charges fine. Horrible QC, I would have been embarrassed to stamp that thing "Made in the USA". This is a Standard Motor Products VR1 if anyone is interested. Regards, Dan

I've seen the same thing from SMS. It is not the correct fabric. Here's my sample laid over the sample that I had made. I took a black and white picture because she hasn't matched the color yet and it was throwing me off. But the weave is closer than anything I've been able to find. The pattern is quite wavy and everything I've seen is arrow straight. As far as SMS is concerned, it took them two years to send me a set of door panels for another car. They told me it would be one year. I waited patiently for a year and....crickets. For the next 12 months all I heard was "you're next in line". Sorry, but unless they absolutely have something that I can't live without or get somewhere else, I won't spend a penny there. It wasn't so much that it took so long it was more that they didn't seem to care or have the decency to tell me the truth about what they were doing. Bill Hirsch auto has Bedford Cord and others do as well. If it comes down to it, I will go there or maybe just not do the seats at all. But I won't go to SMS. This is the sample that I had someone make. She did a great job of replicating the pattern. The piece on top is my original sample. The one underneath is what she made for me. I took a black and white picture just to highlight the pattern, the colors are not matched yet. But I think that will be pretty trivial.

Lots going on. I don't have many pictures. I got a new set of tires fitted. I wanted to stay with Bias-plies but I get a very very good deal on a set of Diamondback radials. I couldn't pass it up.I also bought a complete replacement harness form YnZ. So, lots planned for this beast. The savings on tires offset the cost of the harness quite a bit and made the decisions to do it sooner rather than later much easier. I'm a little behind schedule. I contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized in February, it waylaid me for quite some time. I was hoping to get the car into the garage and start pulling the transmission for rebuild. Between general recovery and trying to get some strength back, I'm just now getting up to speed physically. As Winter approached, I was fighting a charging issue. I learned a lot and narrowed it down to the voltage regulator. Now it's just a matter of getting a good one to put in. I racked my brain trying to come up with a test fixture that would allow me to test and calibrate the regulator off of the car. That would have allowed me to do it in my basement over the Winter. I couldn't come up with anything. I fiddled with the stupid thing endlessly. I finally got it to charge, but now it won't stop, and it wants to boil the battery. I bit the bullet and bought a new regulator; it was delivered today. Supposedly made in USA. if it doesn't work, I'll return it until they send me one that does. I'm getting pretty good and removing them. I can change a regulator in about 10 minutes. Last of all, I found someone who does custom fabric weaving. I've been having a big internal debate with myself about this upholstery. It's original and I really don't want to change it. But it also is very delicate, and I want to use the car as it was intended. Nothing I've been able to find upholstery-wise matches in an acceptable way for me. So, I found this person who does custom weaving and I think we're on to something. Lots of parts getting gathered, not much work getting done.

Thanks for the feedback. She's telling me that the fabric will likely be 36" wide. She's constrained by the width of her loom. This is not an industrial type operation. Should I be concerned, or should I order more fabric based on this width? I measured from the top seam on the seat to the bottom to get this width. Obviously, the run length can be infinite. Regards, Dan

It's been a while but it looks like I may have found someone who can make the correct Buick Bedford cord fabric. Does anyone know approximately how many yards would be needed for seats and rear armrests? I'm thinking 3-4. This is for Special Regards, Dan

I would suspect those people are in the minority.

Did you get it started?

Maybe the car doesn't need rings and bearings. Do a thorough check of it's condition. You may only need a valve job. If that's the case, pull the head and drop it off at the machine shop. Money, time and effort saved. No sense replacing parts that don't need replacing.

Download Fusion 360. It's free for hobbyists. They ask that you not use it to make money and there's some functionality that you don't have access to with the free version. But I personally haven't felt the need for any of it. From your drawings you can generate a file that can be read by anyone in any industry that uses this stuff. Yes, there is a learning curve but the skills translate to other projects, so it's hardly wasted effort. Regards, Dan

That reminds of the of time I was in my insurance provider's office. I was talking to the Secretary about something to do with a project in my garage. She's said, "if you were my husband, I would never let you junk up my garage". I said, "don't worry, I would never marry you". That pretty much ended that conversation.

I have no good reason for buying one of those, but I really want one.

I think the issue lies more with the age of the owners than the cars. If the car is an antique, what does it say about the guy who was a teenager when the car was new?

My 42 has three terminals and it is correct.