[1966 Buick LeSabre Help!]

20 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said:

 

Here are a few considerations.

If I saw it right, there's 48K on this car?  Is that right?   If so, it is highly unlikely that there is a problem with the rear axle.

Is there evidence that the rear axle leaked it's fluid?  If not I would be surprised if there is a problem with a 148K rear axle.  But anything is possible.

Are the tires new?  And are they a quality tire?  Tire whine can be mistaken for rear axle noise.  Two quick stories:

 

My Father in law changed the rear axle housing and all on his 70 Malibu.  Then put the same recapped tires back on and the whine was still there.  New tires later and it disappeared.

 

My neighbor wanted a shorter set of gears for his trans am.  There was nothing wrong with his original set and he is experienced with rear end set up.  So he buys a set and the rear end whines.  So much so that he pulls it and re installs the gears again to make sure he did it right.  It continued to whine.  Finally he pulled it and replaced the original gears and it stopped whining.  The point being, it may be best to let a sleeping dog lie. 

 

Yes, you did see it right. I believe the story that I was told was that the car came from North Dakota. An old lady was the original owner, she blew the master cylinder on it somehow and when that happened, she hit a tree. I dont remember if I have a pic, but the front passenger fender had a huge dent in it. Either way, she garaged it until the guy that I bought it from got it from her. The guy I bought it from said that he had put new tires on there,  they are General Alti-trak rt43s. They seem new, and I opted to not buy new ones because they were so new. I think it is a gears thing, ill try and get a recording, although it is a faint whirring noise. It isnt a huge deal, but eventually I would like to take it for a drive to my college Illinois State University. I am from the Chicago burbs so it would be around 2.5hr drive. I just dont want to chance it and break down. This would be one trip, not a regular thing. 

 

[1966 Buick LeSabre Help!]

17 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

 

I LIKE the caps. That little old, white haired lady supported herself with a grocery cart and came all the way across the grocery store parking lot to tell you, didn't she. Those people are out there. ( An old woman came over to me in a grocery parking lot a couple months ago and asked me the year. Then called out to her husband in a rusty minivan. She said he had one a long time ago but it was nicer. He would have come over to point out flaws in mine but his oxygen hose wouldn't reach.)

 

John and the others are right about the brake conversion. I think it is mostly a peer pressure mod.

 

I was your age when I dropped a rear end third member off for a new ring and pinion. The guy claimed to be a professional mechanic. He did it completely wrong, swore it was right, and I took it home to do myself. You can fix yours. Don't worry about a dial indicator, blueing, or that stuff. Just now too tight, not too loose, a 20 year old can tell.

 

You picked a good durable car, one you can enjoy thoroughly.

Bernie

Well as many of you know, the whole "damn young kids resto-modding" classic cars is looked down upon at my local cruise night, the problem for me being that I did not want a gigantic baby blue land yacht. I think that the disc conversion is a little over hyped, as I mentioned below, the brakes work great! They just squeak after like 5 miles of driving and it only gets worse as I drive more and more. Hopefully someone here can remedy that. Otherwise, I am pretty thrilled with the car, I think it is something different that no one else at my town's car show is remotely close to my age. I actually have college/high school kids even some older couples! come over and ask me how I got into classic cars. I love it every moment I go further into the "money pit" haha

[1966 Buick LeSabre Help!]

18 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

Welcome Brad, and nice Le Sabre.  

 

It looks to me like your car has power brakes.  If so you will find this community split on the benefits vs cost to a disc brake conversion.  While disc brakes are preferred by some,  as you indicated, there may not be a conversion kit readily available.  But there are some vendors of the parts on the internet and chances are they have spindles and parts available to make the conversion.  However, the aluminum front drums with the standard shoes will work nearly as well, if not better, when properly adjusted.  When you consider that brake shoes are available in the $20-$30 a pair range,  it may not be effective cost wise to pursue the swap.  Why do you feel that would be needed? 

 

Can't help you with the factory rear axle ratio.  Except to say I doubt it is anything in the 3.0 range or shorter.  I imagine it would be 3.08 at the shortest.  More likely in the 2.56, 2.95 range.  What problems does the rear axle display?  Is it noisy?  

Thank you! 

So the rear end seems to have a whirring noise as I am on and off the gas at higher speeds. I do not intend this "land yacht" to be doing burnouts or anything crazy, so I dont want to spend tons on it. I do think it drives fine currently, but after getting the transmission/drivetrain looked at for some leaks, I was told that the rear end was pretty worn out, and that they could not find any match. The shop has been pretty knowledgable so I dont want to doubt their expertise, but I cant imagine there being "NOTHING" available as the mechanic said. 

[1966 Buick LeSabre Help!]

13 hours ago, Thriller said:

They may not be all that well-adjusted, but I’ve locked up the wheels on my 1966 Wildcat relatively easily and unintentionally...the one time I recall was in the city in a 50 km/hr (31 mph) zone.  I can’t speak for you, but I can say I’ve been comfortable stopping my Wildcat with drum brakes.  The first time we drove it anywhere after getting the engine rebuilt and body done was to Rochester, MN in 2006.  Our children were riding in the car at ages 6, 8, and 10.  I didn’t feel we were putting the family at unnecessary risk (wife was driving while I primarily drove the 1962 Special convertible, which wasn’t as well sorted).

 

As NTX noted, brake fade and such will likely be better than with drums, but if we drive our cars cautiously, then drum brakes will most likely meet our needs.  We can’t fix stupid people cutting us off or turning immediately in front of us.

 

Good luck coming to a decision.  It’s a great car.  Enjoy it.  Thanks for the dash photo...it’s the same as the Wildcat and it brings me warmth on this chilly winter day.

 

Yes they are not horrible, as I replied below, the main issue is that they seem to squeak horribly. I cannot seem to get it to stop, I have had them adjusted and they dont stop. It is obnoxious at this point.

[1966 Buick LeSabre Help!]

12 hours ago, lrlforfun said:

OK Brad: I have 4 66 Le Sabres so I think I can chime in with some experience.

 

Power Brakes?  Excellent as hell when operating as designed. Not hard or expensive to bring them up to the highest  factory standards.

 

 The rear end? Take it to a QUALIFIED" shop where they specialize in rear ends. Have  them put it up in the air and get an inspection and evaluation.  Go from there.

 

The motor? A 340 with the 2 speed trans is actually much peppier than the 400 package which is a 4 barrel and a turbo 400 transmission. It is NOT a great motor so keep the oil clean and run Marvel's Mystery Oil in the crankcase.

 

Mitch

Awesome! Thank you for the advice. I believe they are power. They do work well, but I find that they they will not stop squeaking! I believe that the person before me replaced them, and the shop I took them to adjusted them correctly so they work well, but after like 3 stops, they just consistently squeak. It is quite obnoxious to be honest and I hate rolling up to shows with them sounding like I have no clue how to work on a car! 

 

[1966 Buick LeSabre Help!]

Good Afternoon Everyone! 

I am quite new to the AACA forums, so I hope that I get some good info back on my car! I am currently a college student, and I decided this past summer to take on my first classic car project. I bought a 1966 Buick LeSabre 4dr. It has the lovely 5.6l 340, with a 2bbl Rochester on it. It has the 2 speed auto trans. Below are some pics of the car. I am VERY aware that it is not stock color, and I am not looking to restore back to showroom, just looking for a decent driver that I can take for a cruise or to some local shows. 

 

I believe that the car is mostly stock besides what I have done to it since last summer. I do have a couple questions regarding some mechanical aspects of the car. Hopefully you all can help! 

 

1: I was told when I brought in the car that the rear end gears were not in the best shape. I dont know if this is something that I can leave alone ( I drive only to car shows and local spots nothing huge)? I believe they said it had 393 gears or some sort.. Like I said, I am relatively new to this car world and slowly learning so if anyone knows the stock gear setup, that would be great. 

 

 

2: The car has stayed fairly stock in terms of mechanical modifications, all I did was put glasspacks on it. I was wondering if there is a set "Disc Brake" conversion just for the front of the car??

I cannot seem to find a lot of info about these cars, I am aware they are not super popular. Hopefully someone can give some advice on this.