old-tank

Joe The draft tube can leak oil if the aluminum mesh in the valley cover was dissolved during the cleaning at the machine shop. Or if stopped up, can lead to pressure buildup in the crankcase leading to leaks elsewhere. Like Mike noted, it is probably the rear main seal. Servicing the valley cover and rear main rope seal is detailed on my website under Low Tech tips. Hopefully a rope seal was installed...if a neoprene lip seal was installed, not so easy. Driving with it a little low on oil (one and a half quarts low on the dip stick) will lessen the leak on the road. With only 3,000 miles on the engine, I would drive it a little more to be sure no other issues show up. Also check for leaks further up on the engine: valve covers, oil filter mount, valley cover, distributor, head gasket... Willie

Yellow circle is sending unit on a 61 engine...yours could be at blue circle

Might be easier, cheaper and safer to just get another that does not have these issues. Even with an endless supply of free ones, the redoing is a pain if it does not work.

yes.

I started cleaning mine with mineral spirits about the same time you did your citrus/water torture ...and I have already driven 30 miles. That's what you get for living on the left coast.

I'm cured.

If you go with nuts and bolts, use the appropriate bolts with castle nuts and safety wire. There are a dozen places for things to go wrong. One loose nut between the gear will lock the rear up. Great fun spinning around twice at 60 mph...not so great fun flipping thrice after that. Late 55 used a bolted ring gear with bolts threading into the gear. I don't know if tapping threads into your ring gear is feasible or not. I have a (free) carrier that had the ring gear bolted to it (ring and pinion went to Australia...if that would help.

Weld, braze, or pin it. In the meantime you can get some use out of it with stop leak (only with a recently rodded radiator that will not plug up). You probably found the reason it was parked. Driving it will help disclose other problems before pulling the engine.

... and the timing tab from the 56 and the water crossover manifold from the 55 and everything will function as a 55 with better and more powerful internals of the 56.

I don't know where the factory put it in 53, most was put on by dealers and others. Applying undercoating takes time even for a sloppy job and there is not that much time on an assembly line. You need to see an original without. For judging you probably will not lose any points if you left it off.

Take your old shoes to a brake/clutch rebuilder and tell them what you want...linings having an equivalent stopping capability are available. Off the shelf linings will not stop the car and may be one of the reasons for conversion to disc brakes. When you take the shoes in, take the drums too to turn if necessary and to arc the shoes to fit; that way there will be no break in required.

Some bottles of the stuff say it is backward compatible except for some exotic manual transmissions...then again those making that determination probably never heard of a dynaflow. My transmission builder who does my dynaflows recently did a mult-speed auto tranny from a Jaguar that call for their own special fluid. It performed well on Dexron since in his words "the materials inside were no different than any other transmission including dynaflows". He says to use any Dexron, but never Type-A sold at some convenience stores.

Only put the undercoating where the factory (not the dealer) did it. In 55 for instance, only the rear wheel wells, seams near the rockers, and some of the transmission tunnel had it. After you spend hours and hours removing that nasty stuff during a restoration, you would not want to slather it on like the dealers and other aftermarket installer did.

You may have missing parts on one or both engines. Get them out and together and show us what you have. The 264 has a timing mark on the pulley and marks and numbers on a tab attached to the timing cover. Pictures that show what you need are hard to take of installed engines.

Now you asked a hard question. If the 56 timing tab will not fit on the 55 timing cover, then you will need the tab from a 55 322 since the 264 tab I is different. Then you will need verification that the timing mark on the balancer is in the same position . Or index the 264 pulley with the 56 balancer with a pulley attached and put your timing mark on the pulley and use the 264 tab.

If that 56 322 is going into a 55 use the the 55 timing cover and water pump and the 56 balancer and pulleys.

I know you don't have a dynaflow ( and I don't know how your unit seals the torque converter ) but the dynaflow input shaft has grooves that hold steel sealing rings. This is what keeps fluid in the torque converter from leaking into the pan (and out of every orifice) Even new rings do not make a perfect seal since there is a small gap. This is not an issue if used regularly, but extended sitting will drain the torque converter. If you fix all the external leaks then the overfull pan contents will regurgitate out the dip stick tube when first started. In most cases adding a couple of bottles of STP will slow the leak or fix it. Willie

That car could be the twin to my 55 that I drive all over the country: http://www.buickrestorer.com/centurys/b63/ ... and seems to be mostly original! It would need a lot to make it dependable and pristine, but it already has a lot to work with. I can offer 'free counseling' to anyone who buys it. Willie

Right on Pete, Willis and Keith! Whether I have a car judged or not I can always find the beer and a bunch of 'enablers' to share that camaraderie. Flint is a good idea if put on by the National Meet Committee (with judging), but that would give the members of that local chapter a case of hives or at least a bad rash . Willie

If the eruption happens on first start after sitting for usually days, then the torque converter may be draining back into the pan. When started the pump rapidly fills the torque converter forcing air out causing the overfull pan contents to erupt.

Do the pressure tests (as outlined in the service manual) on the running car. With that info and symptoms, it will give the rebuilder a place to focus his attention. You can't do that on a parts car tranny. I rebuilt a parts car tranny that was very worn and abused so that I could do a quick swap...what a mess! I ended up with the original tranny. Always rebuild a known entity. Use the parts car trannny for parts if needed. Also after doing the pressure checks you may have a diagnosis that does not require a rebuild. Willie

"...wash the filtering elements in a non-inflammable solvent." Carbon tetrachloride was probably used then (not very nice stuff, but my father who was an aircraft mechanic in the 1950's brought it home as a substitute for gasoline for cleaning). Cleaning chemicals today most similar today would be brake cleaner spray. I use mineral spirits which is slower drying, but still leaves no residue. Willie

Change the oil and filter.

See the 'oil bath' section here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_filter Oil bath was probably discontinued due to size of the unit and convenience. Dirty mesh means that it was run with the oil reservoir empty; the oil that is pulled up into the mesh will return to the reservoir with the dirt, but a small amount is pulled into the engine depleting the reservoir over time. I never need to clean the mesh on mine; just add oil if depleted or if a lot of dirt in the reservoir, change it. I tried K&N on a modern vehicle, but the filtered air left a dirty film on throttle body.:eek:...never have any film inside the carb on my 55's. Willie