old-tank

Is that transmission pan stock for that car or did I miss the upgrade?

Smart or lucky that you kept the original carb... Too many times when I bought 'rebuilt' units, it turned out that I was buying someone else's trouble, and especially true of carburetors.

Take a break and go for a drive in your other one...then dive in! Sanding off the guide coat means it is 90% finished.

Have you found the starter relay? Contacts can stick and cause cranking anytime the key is on. High resistance at the rivets inside will result in less than optimal voltage to the solenoid causing those contacts to stick causing cranking without input and even cranking after running. I usually go to the carb switch first, but seldom find a problem there...it is usually the starter relay.

That bumper amplifies the "sad face" look.

I found wires inside and outside the distributor HERE. You have to search or call.

You described a solenoid sticking which is due to a low voltage condition. Be sure all cables, connections and grounds are good. It may even be due to defective starter relay if equipped. Also 6 volt batteries are slow to charge: 12-24 hours with most chargers.

The meat's gonna spoil before you get it home.

Also with Chevy suppliers never ask if it will fit a Buick; never tell them you want to try it on Buick; never tell them you tried and it and did not fit a Buick. The hassle of returns on their end is not worth it for them.

Sure, but everything needs to come out the rear...and the driveshaft separated from the pinion. Fix the tranny leak into the torque tube and any gear oil leakage is easy to fix.

Fix the leak at the torque ball to torque tube interface, drill a hole in the bottom of the torque tube (tap and install a machine screw) at the rear to drain or monitor fluid in the torque tube, change the rear gear oil. Do not try to replace the pinion seal unless you have a reason to service bearings or gears: the whole rear needs to be disassembled. Even with no pinion seal the gear lube will find a level in the torque tube below the driveshaft. Any external leaks can be addressed with a bead of RTV after cleaning. The original lube was 90 weight; I use 85w-140 with good results.

Service manual states to set initial timing at 5*...I set mine at 7*. Set with it barely ticking over (300 RPM)with the vacuum advance disconnected. Bringing up the rpm should get another 10* (approx from the centrifugal advance) and connecting the vacuum advance another 10* with total advance not to exceed 30* unless you have some obscure cam grind and timing. That MSD distributor may have additional instructions.

At 975 rpm the idle mixture screws will have no effect. Idle it down to at least 600 rpm then adjust the idle mixture screws to smooth the idle. If no joy then check for vacuum leaks as Ben noted. Do this of course after warmed up, with it off the fast idle cam. What carburetor?

I don't know but it seems probable because they rebalanced the assembly in 58 such that the splines line up differently on the front shaft going into the torque ball in 58 vs. 57. With 2 universal joints in the system there would have be some way to clock it correctly.

Probably your best bet. I did find the piece on Special 46R, but you could not afford it after I removed all the junk from the car and removed all of the trim. I was saving that chore for when someone needs the rear glass.

So that was you that made miss the light.

What model?

For the exhaust track under the carb, I stuffed (stainless) steel wool and covered with JBWeld.

Search double clutch shifting and floating gears.

Easier to get a different car: back up a few years: HERE or start in 1948 forward.

It is always good to be frugal.

Appears that you were really roughing it.

Do the pressure tests that are hopefully outlined in the service manual. The pressures are lowest at idle and sometime if very low will not come up quickly enough to keep the clutches from chattering when accelerating. Starting in Low will give a different vibration due to the low band slipping.

Is the switch pitch working?