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Poppy's 55

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Everything posted by Poppy's 55

  1. Any chance you would sell just the hinges, specifically the upper driver's side hinge ;)
  2. Everything has been sold. Thanks for your interest. Here's what I ended up going to for my resto-mod.
  3. I was thinking, if someone really want the wheels but not the tires we could work something out I'm sure.
  4. If someone wanted them bad enough I would certainly do that. The tires have excellent tread and there's no cracking anywhere but these tires are old. Fronts (215/70R15) are dated the first week of 2002 and the rears (275/60R15) are dated the second week of 2007.
  5. I have a set of 4 raised letter BUICK dog dish hub caps for sale. They are in decent condition. 2 have minor cracks on the exterior chrome, 1 has some spots. I also have the "Beauty" trim rings and 20 clips if needed available. I have the wheels and tires as well but unless someone lived near San Diego I will likely have to figure out some other disposal for those. Caps for $35, rings (I think they are SS) $20, retaining clips $15 plus you pay the shipping. Here's a picture of them on the car. I'll follow up with another post with additional pictures.
  6. So a couple of updates. I ordered my replacement radiator from Wizard Cooling and it's on the way. Looks like a great improvement over the old factory unit. This version also has a trans cooler in the bottom tank. My current transmission has no cooler that I can see so I will figure out how to take advantage of this. I started the front brake conversion. The Wilwood kit seems pretty straightforward. There was a spec problem though as the lugs in one of the rotors were pressed in incorrectly resulting in the inability to fit the provided 0.20" spacer over the lugs. They are sending out a replacement. The kit part number from Summit is: WIL-140-12321. In picture form .. from here to here today.
  7. Thanks again guys. I'm not leaving and I probably should have posted this in the Modified section to begin with. Right now the car is definitely a bunch of work sorting things out and repairing things as I find them but I am definitely not dissuaded. Today I ordered a Wilwood front disk brake conversion kit, which will also resolve my lug bolt versus lug nut issue, the bushings and new end links for the sway bar, a few other small items AND, as I was working under the front end yesterday I got dripped on by what I thought was water tight radiator. NOT! I found a spot that had been previously soldered was breaking down. The "patch" just fell right off. So, I pulled the radiator and then found a few spots in the fins that had obviously been oozing for some time. I figured it would be no problem so off I went this morning to my local radiator repair shop and he tells me he can't help me with it. Doesn't work on these old things anymore. Tried another place and they said the same thing. Something about the construction, the type of fins or coils or something. So, after a couple hours of online research I bought a direct fit unit from a place in NY. It's all aluminum and should do the trick. Sure am glad I have a very understanding and supportive wife! These expenses are a little harder to swallow since we retired.
  8. Thanks for this support guys. Hey, I expected some of this as soon as I found this site. I've been working on cars for over 50 years and have "built" some really awesome ones but never worked on anything like this yet but it doesn't phase me (nor do the naysayers), it just challenges me. I was just hoping for some straightforward answers and not so many opinions. Having said that, there are clearly some very smart and informed folks here. Not to be disrespectful but while I can look at pictures and go to car shows and appreciate fully restored original cars, they are not for me in any way. I'm not very interested in driving around in my grandfathers old Buick. I was looking for a resto-mod and I found one. Now I need to find ways to get it right. This just doesn't seem to be the place to help. I have found some other more helpful forums so I'm good.
  9. Sorry, I explained all this a few weeks ago. I will add it to my signature. The car has a 401 nailhead and dynaflow from a '64 Wildcat. From what I gathered most guys can pick that motor out from a line-up. Sorry for the confusion.
  10. So it looks like this is a new brake booster and double master cylinder. Wouldn't that work for a front disk upgrade? I would want to add a proportioning valve though in the brake line to the fronts though, right?
  11. Just for the heck of it. Here's a picture of the front from below. Anything out of the ordinary visible here?
  12. Okay, this is making more sense. The fronts are probably correct but I'm pretty sure it has a different rear end. I have to admit (and do freely) I don't know anything about "these" cars. For instance, I have no idea what an "open driveshaft" is? So here's a picture of the rear end and driveshaft but I will try to get pictures of the front and rear drum/spindles later and post them here.
  13. So I'm working on this car I just bought. It's a 1955 Buick Century. When it was delivered it ran but barely. I started by getting those issues resolved and now it runs awesome but the front end is kind of a mess. The car was wandering and swaying all over the place. The Idler arm needed replacement along with the shocks and all the bushings. So my suspension shop ordered all the parts based on a 1955 Buick Century and none of it fit! Not the bushings, not the idler arm and not the shocks! We ended up tightening up the idler arm and setting the alignment. It's better but it still sways badly at freeway speeds when I hit a transition or dip. So now I'm thinking maybe the previous owner may have made some other changes up front that I have no idea what is going on. So, I will spend some time researching but next surprise was that the tech told me the front wheel studs were ready to just pull right through the wheel holes! Say what? So I get home and pop off all the wheel caps and to my surprise the rear drums have studs with lug nuts and the front drums have threaded holes and the wheels are held on with bolts. Is this normal on a 1955 Buick Century? So I need to either replace the wheels with ones with smaller diameter holes (although I've never really seen a wheel advertised with different diameter holes) or maybe advance my plans and convert the front to disk brakes. That has me concerned somewhat though if I order a kit based on thinking my front end is a 1955 Century and it's something else? Any thoughts, comments or advice would be appreciated.
  14. I hope more folks post up here because I love these pictures. My humble, modified dash. The guy I bought it from obviously did some changes, not all of which I like. The POS stereo he put in it is so gross and out of place I removed the face plate and will not put it in. Looking for a decent replica to install.
  15. These are exactly what I was going to use, although I was getting them from Juliano's Hot Rod Parts, but what I really wanted to see was where exactly folks were mounting them.
  16. That's exactly what I was hoping for but I guess I'm out of luck. I will return with info on my project for your reference.
  17. So I took out the back seat and I am trying to figure out where exactly to add the fastening bolts for 3 sets of belts. I'm sure someone has already done this so advice would be awesome and pictures would be even better. Thanks PS. I know I need to clean up under there
  18. So Al, where on the frame will I find this stamp?
  19. Hello All, So I recently purchased a 1955 Buick Century or at least that's what I was sold. So, it has a so many Century "tells" but the VIN starts with a "4"? Doesn't the "4" indicate the car is a Special? Also, I found a website for 50s Buicks which has a section where you can enter information from the ID tag and the Body tag. When I do everything seems to show I have a Buick Century Riviera? Okay, I thought it was a Century but a Century Riviera? There's nothing on it that says Riviera. Also, the car has 4 ports on each front fender which I also thought designated a Century over a Special (I do realize someone over the last 63 years could have added a port but if they did you could not tell by me). I know it's not a Super, they have a wheelbase of 127" while mine is 122", so is the Special though Oh, and when I submitted my VIN to get my insurance they also indicate the car is a Special. I'm so confused. Any help figuring this out?
  20. So this is my course of action for now. I have already ordered a new fuel pump from Summit (mechanical BTW) and have about 20 feet of good fuel line sitting in my garage that I will use to replace everything that's there. I do have an air compressor (don't know how you could live without one) and various sized rubber fittings so I intend to pump air through the line to make certain it is clear. If, in the future, I still have sediment in my fuel filter, I will replace the entire supply line. As far as grounding the tank goes .... there were 2 wires when I removed this tank. One was obviously from the sending unit (which I also ordered a replacement) and the second one was just fastened to one of the mounting plate screws but goes forward with the sending unit wire. Are you suggesting to just cut that ground and reground it somewhere to the frame back by the tank. I haven't really investigated where that wire goes but it appears to go to the front of the car. I am still debating what to do with the carburetor. It reportedly only has a little over 1,000 miles on it since this whole thing was rebuilt so what do you think about replacing all the fuel system components, as discussed, and just see how it runs before I either rebuild it myself, have it professionally rebuilt ($250 in these parts) or replace it with a new one ($350). I haven't rebuilt a carb since high school and never a 4 bbl (yikes, all those little parts!)
  21. So after more investigation the reality is that the fuel tank is corrupt. I ordered a new one from Summit which should be here in 2 to 3 days. But now I'm trying to decide if I should replace the entire fuel supply line. I have a source and for stainless steel it's $120, which isn't bad, but I just wonder if I really need to do that. BTW, when I removed the tank and drained it was full of rust. Over a cup of material spilled out with the gas so there was much more still in there. I would have been chasing that issue for ever and replacing the tank is a cheap and easy fix.
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