1940Super

I just went and had a look at your control arm arm, they look the same as mine with the steel bushing. The dirt seal to buy would be https://bobsautomobilia.com/suspension-and-steering/lower-inner-shaft-seal-1937-57-ss-378/ but the only way to get them on is to drill out the rivets. 37 and 38 had steel bushings with smaller bolt spacings on the shaft. I would assume 39 had the same bolt spacings as the 40 and up models but had a rubber bushing which is apparently replaceable. 40-42 had a composition bushing in a steel shell that didn't require lubrication, with a larger spacing in the shaft bolt holes. 46 and up went back to steel bushings. Mine had been converted to the steel bushings but they left off the seals because they didn't drill the rivets. Now that I've seen your lower arm bumper again I see it must but the type that a bolt keeps in place. I bought the original trapped mounted type which requires the again drilling of the rivets to install.

Yes I will do some reading up on the bypass valve and speak to some other Buick owners on their experience. I'm going to flush out the water jacket too, see if anything comes out. I'm not sure what the engine re conditioner did

This is one of the detailed restorations that studied closely. The brake backing plates are cad? plated too. I assume Bill Anderson had access to an illustrated components book for 1941 models. Perhaps different factories did things differently as there are many conflicting differences in finishes between this restoration and the original photographs you presented. After seeing this photo, before re installing my engine i'll flush out the water jacket too

What model is your car? Dropping to 3:6:1 ratio would be great for highway driving and fuel economy but i'd have concerns about it being gutless up steep hills especially if loaded with passengers

As Bloo pointed out there are 3 of them and I believe they lock the pinion in place. It does appear the 1940 manual skipped past the part about these nuts and removal of the pinion. I didn't have to touch them because when I bought the differential carrier from a 53 model Buick the pinion bearings and side bearings had been replaced and set correctly so all i had to do was just simply bolt it onto the axle housing and torque tube.

You're right I must have skipped past that text in the manual. They manual says its because the tube and carrier are matched and lined up during production but I think it may be Buick just being extra cautious. It's pretty common for owners of 1940s Buicks to completely swap the differential carrier with Buicks up to 1955 and I haven't heard of any problems. I didn't take much note of what the manual said because I had just followed the instructions from club members who had done this procedure many times before. I replaced the gasket. I ended up buying it from Bob's Automobillia, it just looked like ordinary paper gasket. Oil from the diff can leak past the pinion bearings into the torque tube and so it stops oil leaking out out the connection. This is something I found baffling in the manual, it shows a bearing puller removing the axle bearings with the backing plate still in place. The backing plate needs to be removed to pull the bearings and seals out

Great photos, thank you. Both exhaust and intake manifolds the engine colour? I know the muffler was coated in lead but didn't know the pipes were painted. It looks like in those photos that the lever arm shocks and steering box are painted black but I have seen really detailed 1940/41 restorations where they painted them a silver metal or cast iron colour. Below is an article on the 1940 model, wish i I find a clearer copy to read it. From what I can tell the water pump pulley is black which I what I painted mine. Only parts of the intake manifold are the engine colour and strangely the rocker cover is black, it was one used for testing?? anyway it definitely wasn't black for production. Not sure if the men are running the engine or not in the photo but if so I like how they do it in their nice suits and tie.

Hi Mike, Thanks very much. No I left the bypass valve as it was. It seemed to make sense to me at the time of looking at it and reading about it in the manual. When you say overpower in the head do you mean before or after the thermostat opening? When I first set up the engine for a test run it was overheating very quickly about 2 minutes after starting it. I thought it may have been the pump but i tested it and the pump was fine. I tested the thermostat and it was fine. What I think the problem was I had the thermostat upside down, I didn't take note of which was it was. I made sure it was the right way but and tested again today and I ran it for half an hour with the temperature sitting around 180 degrees. The little oil screen from the head was already missing. I did think about buying a NOS one but thought with the oil filter its probably not needed.

I mean these. The only way I could see as fitting them was to drill out the rivets, fit in the rubber shaft seals and bump stop and bolt back together. The 39 looks the same?

For the oil filter I used KBS Silver Rust Seal with KBS Clear Diamond finish over the top. I was using the rust seal to undercoat the chassis and thought it looked suitable for an 'Aluminium lacquered' as stated for the oil filter in the Buick Facts 1940. An earlier version of the filter that has a seam at the bottom was painted black according to 1940 Service Bulletin. I painted the gas and vacuum lines are the same finish as the oil filter but when I take them off i'll probably spray them a with something a closer colour to bare steel to differentiate from the filter. The fuel pump is a clear coat of KBS diamond finish over the bare metel

The Parts Place Inc https://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/product/1948/1948-buick-full-size-br-push-in-3-8-spring-clip-for-metal-lines-set-of-10-black/81095 If you order direct from their site you need to spend a $19 minimum but they also sell them through Ebay too. The fuel lines are 1/4 inch but the trailing arms have the armor spring wrap to the clip size is 3/8th. I also ordered some of their 1/4 inch J clips. I found ones I had ordered from Bob's didn't fit properly on the pipe. I had a couple from CARS, they were a better fit.

I thought the engine weight alone would have done it but then I did use a formwork prop to push down on the frame against the shed roof and the roof started to move first so I doesn't surprise me. I was going to ask you how you fitted your bumper stops and seals on the lower control arms because I saw you still have the rivets in place?

Thanks for the response Larry. I had checked the frame with a level and it was pretty level. The reason I assume it would center itself under wight is because of the radius rod. The rod is a fixed specified length and anchored at an angle to the left side of frame and to the right side of axle housing. My understanding is if the springs compress the angle of the rod becomes smaller causing the frame and axle to move in opposite directions. I believe Buick would have determined the length of the radius rod to center the axle to frame under normal curb weight. Matt

I'd like the get the engine re installed on the chassis but I want to set it up for another test run first. When I first removed the motor I had it sent to a re conditioner to rebuild the engine internally with just about everything being replaced with new or NORS parts. Originally the plan was to reinstall the motor after the rebuild but then I got carried away external details of the engine. I wanted to made it look as period correct as possible so I did a lot of research. Some of the little things likes pipe clips, flywheel inspection cover and distributor clamps I made myself because I couldn't find replacements. When it was finished a borrowed a friends camera and edited out the background on some shots. If you can spot something that doesn't look right please me know and i'll try to rectify it.

Brake lines finished, just waiting for the authentic style clips to arrive to install. The 2 lines to the front brakes were fine, just needed a clean. The 3 lines to the back brakes were very corroded and the pipes broke when try to release some of the nuts.

Tonight I'm finishing bending new brake lines then set up the motor for another test run

I assume the body weight will correct the centering of the rear axle to the chassis?

All the rear and front suspension have been re bolted to the chassis. Because there is no weight on the front without the engine using a jack was not enough to compress the front coil so I used to long threaded rod to slowly raise the lower control arm.

When you say the sleeve nut becomes part of the tubing is that by simply tightening the nut causing the tube to compress and expand or is there a tool required to make it do that?

A superb restoration Gary. Have fun driving it in 2019

I tried to get these to replace a damaged nut on the head. Champion have them on their website here in Australia called 'dole pattern' nuts. I tried to buy them buy Champion only deal wholesale and retailers said they could only order them in large quantities so I gave up. I did find some in the states but the shipping cost was 10 times higher then the nut itself so i just used a modern fitting http://championpartsonline.com.au/index.php?route=product/product&path=68_136&product_id=17972

Thank you, it's what were on my car too but most of them broken. I wondered if they were a later replacement as all the ones I see online say there are for 1960s mopar car

All I need to do now is run new steel brake lines. Does anyone what the original clips look like?something like this?

For a while things were busy at work so I hadn't made any progress on the car for about 4 weeks. I have some time off until after new years so I'm making the most of the car project despite the hot weather. I have reassembled the rear axle. Somebody in the club had a rebuilt 4.1 ratio center with NORS ND and Hyatt bearings. I'm hoping i'll notice some difference in RPM for highway driving with the lower ratio. I wasn't able to find any NORS wheel bearings so i bought some China made ones from BOBs. The propeller shaft came off quite easily on the old pinion shaft spline with some light tapping with a hammer. It was very tight on the new centers spline so I clamped some steel up against the pinion gear and then used a jack between the doorway of the shed to press on the propeller shaft. I went very slowly making sure I wasn't bending the shaft in the process.