drhach

I use mineral spirits to thin One Shot. You don't mix it with the paint though. I keep a separate cop of mineral spirits and a portion of straight paint. Load the brush with paint and then dip the tip of the brush in the mineral spirits. The wet out the brush on a sheet of magazine paper. You'll feel when the brush stops dragging. You'll also feel when you've gone too far and it gets sloppy. Also, to reduce dry time, you can add a product called "Japan Drier". It won't take much and if you do go too far with it, you'll start to lose the glossy finish and it will turn flat. The paint formula has changed. They used to use lead in the paint. They can't do that anymore. It was called "one Shot" because you got coverage in "One Shot". No need to do multiple coats. The lead was a significant factor in that.

I made a new set of plug wires and a new negative wire for the coil. I also pulled the valve cover. I just wanted to see hew messy it is in there. I have to go under the car this weekend to check trans fluid. My plan is to pull the oil pan while I'm down there to ensure the sludge is cleared out. I noticed paint on the top of the valve springs. I'm curious if this is a factory thing or if the head has been off and someone painted them. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Last of all, I got my exhaust pipe from Waldron. I may try to get that installed too. If all goes well, I might be able to take a longer drive this weekend. I'm very nervous about the tires. They seem to be pretty old. But a few spins around the neighborhood should be ok. This assumes it's drivable I don't really want to buy tires until I feel like I'm in a position to actually use them.

The saga continues, I've moved over to the other side of the car. The engine has three different types of plug wires, also, with all of the old frail wiring here, I found that the coil wire from the negative side to the distributor has very poor connections at both ends. I'm sure this isn't helping the spark situation. Surprisingly, the points look pretty new. I have a new set as well as a new ground wire. Those will go in.

Great work. The car looks fantastic. The details make the difference.

Ugly girls need love too.

Thanks Neil, I hadn't seen this before. I've only ever heard good things about Waldron. But mistakes happen. I'll definitely be on the lookout for this. Hopefully it will go right the first time. Regards, Dan

Time for a few updates. This is a very busy time of year for me and my family. So, I've had to pick away at the car the best I could. I have to say it's been quite a saga. I discovered that the front carb was the wrong size. The tag said "528S". But when I took it apart for rebuilding, I discovered that it has a 1-1/16" venturi. The 528S has a 7/8" venturi. Probably this is from a 320 compound carb setup. But who knows? The metering rods were mismatched and the carb just generally sad. I sorted things out the best I could and put the units back on the car only to discover copious exhaust leaks. It turns out both exhaust manifolds were cracked. I took them in to get welded, but the guy was pretty hesitant to do it. There was already a repair on one of them and he said in all likelihood, they would crack again. For $600, I really didn't want to roll those dice. I found a nice set from a gentleman here (Thanks Greg). He also set me up with a flapper valve for the back carb. The "Y" pipe is another issue. I ordered the correct one from Waldron and I'm waiting for it to get here. In the meantime, I cobbled the one on there now just to get the car started. But it still leaks. The car is still very hard to start. In fact, it won't start without Ether. Once it starts, it runs pretty good (not great). I'm going to look at the ignition system and be sure everything there is up to snuff. I suspect a weak spark. I also haven't done a compression check, so that's on the list too. Plenty more to do. But she's getting there. I pulled it out of the driveway and drove it to the corner. The car is very unfamiliar to me and i don't really trust it. So I was very tentative and didn't want to go to far until it is starting reliably. Just in case I brought starting fluid and a fire extinguisher. Once I got it back in the driveway, I took a short video Still lots to do, but every little bit helps. I found a proper 528S and that is on the way. So, I'll go through that and get it installed. Probably in the next week or two, I'll get my new Y pipe and get that on it.

Wow, what an ambitious project.

I have to qualify this by saying that I didn't do this to a Riviera. Also, I had a column shift unit. I don't know the interchange of the various Riviera floor shifters. But I would think you could swap the 63/64 unit with a 65 unit. I'm sure someone will have an opinion about why that won't work. My car is a 62. I was planning to use a shifter from a 65 and make it work in the 62 Wildcat console. In the meantime, I used a shift quadrant from a 66 and used the same column shifter with a new linkage. It works quite well. I still have not sorted out the backup switch/starter issue. Again, I think if you were able to use a 65 Shifter, the problem, would sort itself out. Honestly, I don't think I would do this again. At least not for a stock to mild performance application. The difference is not night and day. It was fun and I learned a lot. But really there wasn't a huge bang for my buck. One of the things I can say that I gained was that there's a ton more product support and knowledge around the 400 platform. I was able to put in some upgrades to the stock transmission and it should outlast the car; and probably me. I was concerned that if I ran in to a problem with the Dynaflow, it might be hard to source some obscure part or talk to someone who really knew what they were talking about. This concern was probably amplified because I decided to do the rebuild myself. It didn't turn the car in to some kind of street terror though. I think I improved my fuel economy a little too. But I offset that by installing dual carbs I wouldn't discourage anyone form doing this swap, but don't expect miracles. The issue with the ST400 versus the TH400 is specific to the pump and the Torque converter. You can buy a brand new pump and torque converter for a TH400. Unless you can find NOS, everything for the ST400 is used or used/rebuilt. I don't think it's a huge deal but again, as an inexperienced rebuilder, that might be a concern for me. I measured everything 2-3 times and felt confident that what I was reusing was good. But if I had a bad pump gear or housing, it would have meant trying to source a good used one. That would be the only real consideration for converting. I think the ST is almost a smooth as the Dynaflow (very close). To me that suits the Buick and justifies trying to keep it ST specific. I think that's a taste or preference thing though. I actually had an ST300 torque converter rebuilt and installed in the car. The stall was too high for me. I didn't care for it. I ended up going back to the 400 converter. Again, it's a preference thing. I find as I get older, I like a little more civility in my cars. Nailheads make their torque down low. I built the engine for that. So, to have the stall converter come on late seemed contrary to the engine's purpose.

You probably also could just convert the 64 unit to a regular TH400. I think among what's been said, you would also have to swap out the valve body. I converted from a Dynaflow to an ST400, it wasn't too big of a deal. Is the 64 shift quadrant different as well?

Doesn't the manual say not to use gaskets?

Could you just swap the whole transmission if you have both?

1938 buick running board molds - auto parts - by owner - vehicle... (craigslist.org) I don't know if these have any value, but there they are. $50

That is a great looking car.

Someone should start a classic auto parts non-profit. They can hire disabled veterans and the people making donations get a receipt for the full value of the parts.

TA has been great the few times that I've dealt with them. The Machinist I used had nothing but positive comments as well.

I'm curious to know why you're scraping the paint with a razor blade.

I didn't notice until I clicked on the Craigslist link. I was about to post something about it "already being sold", when I looked at the date of the original posting.

Only listed 2 years ago

You're supposed to wait until they're done before you give them the beer.

I think if you can't lift it without a hoist, it's a "big" block.

I understood "big block" "small block" as having more to do with bearing journal size and specifically as it relates to Chevy. I suppose Ford fell into that camp too. The FE's were often referred to as big blocks. But those started as "352's". So, it really isn't displacement.

Part arrived yesterday in great shape. I know Greg has a few other items for sale on the forum, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him as a seller. Thanks Greg!

Every car I've ever owned has been my "forever car" . No worries, you should do whatever you want. It's just stuff. I recently bought a 42 and I'm having a ton of fun with it. I totally get the draw.

Sell the Corvair instead