Gene Brink

Nice to hear work on the house is progressing well, Matt. Great pictures of some nice iron...

Very nice, Gary. Enjoy!!

Willie, Worth supporting although not to protect the exhaust pipe (it will take it). Best reason is to keep the angle more horizontal on the back of the engine so mating the transmission when putting it back will be easier. If you let the engine down the angle is such that the transmission will have to be tilted quite a bit when mating up and that is a bit tricky. (Also, the motor mounts may not like being twisted either). Air conditioned, lift, help, correct tools - sounds way better than the front driveway, car raised just enough to clear the bell housing when the transmission was on the ground (23 inches if memory serves me correctly) and very little help. (That is how I had to do it over and over and over and... when I was young, dumb and could not keep my foot off of the floorboard in my '54. Still loved that car!) Have fun!

Welcome aboard, dbrink. GBrink

Welcome. Nice ride.

Welcome to the group! Seems to me that if it has been running week to week (for how long?) that Tommy is most likely correct that it is a fuel problem. Quick (and brief) squirt with starting fluid will determine it that is the case. Remember, if the car had been sitting for any length of time before you got it the fuel pump could be bad, fuel filter plugged up (gas tank corrosion has plugged the filter) or bad gas. Lots to check - just on the fuel side. If the car does not start after starting fluid you will then need to start checking the ignition system until you find what isn't right. Not quite certain if you are indicating if the starter motor is turning over as quickly as it did previously or not. If not check all electrical connections first and then if no improvement I would pull the starter motor and check the brushes, clean things up, reassemble and try again. Nothing complex and given the car was running before it should not be much of a problem to correct (afterall it is only 58 years young!). Good luck.

Ben, To add to Matt's response - it is such a low mileage car it would be a shame to not restore it (dispite the small crack in the block! ) but it is your call. I do think Matt is right about the returned value should you sell after completing either way - restored will be worth more money (but, alas, probably not very close to what you will have in the beast). Noticed the '55 grill - just waiting for a car to put it on?

Paul, Liquid is not compressible so for your brake pedal to move the fluid has to move somewhere. Good guess that the master cylinder was rusted up solid but as you have discovered it does move with the line open. The only other place where movement is required for the brakes to work is at each wheel cylinder. If any of them moved the brake fluid from the master cylinder would have been displaced when you pushed the pedal down so I vote for the cylinders being rusted solid. Don't assume you need new ones - once disasembled they can be cleaned up pretty well (even when they look real ugly) and rebuilt kits are easy to come by. Enjoying reading of your exploits and it is good to see that you are not getting discouraged. You will be driving your '38 soon... Happy stopping!

Len, How did this turn out? Is your friend's '56 back on the road again?

Remember reading about Bill from time to time when I was much younger as he did a good bit of sports car racing around So. California in the mid 50's through mid 60's and then in the late 60's through early 70's was involved in drag racing sponsoring some very quick GS's. LA times ran a nice obituary Bill Murphy

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Most consumers would say "Any car that's crummy enough to need tariff protection I don't want". Adding tariffs to "import" cars (most of which are made here anyway) would do more to add a mystique to them than it would an incentive to buy (what is already) the "cheap stuff". </div></div> Actually millions <span style="font-weight: bold">DO</span> want cars that need tariff protection - Japan is very protective of it's home market and our cars have heavy tariff's applied for the few imported to Japan and Americans seem to love the Japanese marques. Maybe our government should just mirror the tariff rate on those cars still shipped here (would at least spur building new plants here with a lot of additional jobs...) <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Now if GM would only add a truly modern car like the Prius (you'd have to own one to know) to their line they'd be set. </div></div> Amen!

My brother special ordered Charcoal Mist on his '72 GS Stage 1. Color was not available on Skylark/GS at that time and paid around $150 extra. Might be why you have a non-stock color on yours. Nice looking GS (I've never seen the color on one that I can remember).

Did the same thing on a '64 Chevy pick-up w/283 V8 my dad owned years ago. Turned out to be a faulty distributor cap (tiny crack that filled with enough under-cap crud to conduct electricity to the wrong terminal so a plug would fire while an intake valve was still open). Idled just find but when the engine was running around 2500 rpm or so - pop, pop, pop... Good luck.

Hmmm? and now this from a pessimist (me). Seems to me that this sale may not actually be a bad thing in the long run for the following reasons: ? It probably would have taken a sale (deal if preferred) to sway a number of people to buy American rather than an import because of long entrenched beliefs that improving ratings would have taken years and years to have changed ? Although there will be a negative rebound (when the price goes up again [which it will] it will follow that a prospective buyer will wonder why on earth he/she should pay that much for an American car when an import will cost the same/less and be better) those that bought new cars will, hopefully, be impressed with the improved quality and when faced with another car purchasing decision will actually consider American ? at ?normal? prices because of that experience. Does not mean GM will ever return to previous "king-of-the-hill" status but could stop the downward trend of 40 years.... This is a long term gamble and the stakes are high but the end result could be a good thing. Time will tell but I do not think keeping the price "where it should be" because the product is worth it will sway anyone to buy GM product in great numbers. Heck, if I keep up this kind of thinking someone will think I?m an optimist!

Les, I believe you drove to NY for the National meet. What did you have to do to get the transmission working properly?

If you have a period correct distributor cap style you will not be able to adjust while running with an allen wrench (know what you mean about shocking oneself, Joe -- ouch!) but I've always set with a feeler feeler gauge (aiming for the largest setting so as it wears you stay in the proper range over a longer period of time) and then checking with a dwell meter. If it needs a bit of "fine tuning" I pop the cap and move just a hair and check again, etc. until it is where I want. Dwell can make a tremendous difference on how the engine will run so unless you are a tooth off on the cam to crank setting on the timing chain I'll bet it is the dwell. Good luck.

My 12 year old attempted to tell me about Fix It Again Tony (<span style="font-weight: bold">FIAT</span>) (which she heard on a recent "King of the Hill" episode) which got me telling her about... Fix Or Repair Daily (and the above for <span style="font-weight: bold">FORD</span>) and Might Go (for <span style="font-weight: bold">MG</span>) so I thought it might be fun to see what other word streams folks here might have using the car name as an acronym. Any others? Have at it.

Nice Special, Bruce. My cousin and her husband had it's twin in 1965 and it was a fun car to kick around in. They still think fondly of it and wish they had it still.

Just think of the splinters you could have gotten if it had been your woodie. Glad you are okay with only minor damage to you and the '47 (by the way how is it running now?)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Engine plant productivity in terms of hours per engine showed a large spread, from Toyota Georgetown, at 2.97 hours and Honda Anna at 3.18 hours to DaimlerChrysler at 5.19. In stamping, Japanese automakers also lead the way. Honda was first in vehicles per line and tied Nissan for first place in average die changeover time. Toyota led in pieces per worker, hours per vehicle, hits per worker, and average number of die changes per line per day. <span style="font-weight: bold">The spread here is huge, from Honda, with 10 press lines and a 10-minute die change, to GM, with 315 lines, and 32 min</span>, DaimlerChrysler, with 94 lines, and 52 minutes, to Ford, with 137 lines, and 72 minutes.</div></div> No real surprises however if the measurement is in labor hours <span style="font-style: italic">and overtime is charged at 1.5 hours per hour</span> the plant efficiency would appear to be worse than it actually is. If this is the case I'd say the plant is trying to operate beyond it's actual capacity given the number of workers. Might be a bit misleading... Also possible engine type (V vs in-line) mix might factor in (one head to machine vs 2, block decks, etc.) if machinery is not capable of doing multiple operations at the same time. Would be curious to see some of the raw data from which the conclusions were drawn.

Matt, Looks like you've got another Buick you could share pictures of as well in that WONDERFUL "SMALL" garage (I'm jealous of the space!). Would not mind seeing the Mopar's either. Interesting collection...

What can I say, Dave? I am happy for you but envious at the same time! Happy motoring...

Ditto to Bill's remarks, Matt. Many diverse points of view is not a bad thing and yours come across as well thought out. Draw a deep breath, tighten the belt up and keep the opinions (as well as "factoid" tips) coming.

Congratulations, Paul! Looking forward to your further adventures...

Les, Do not have a '53 manual but both my 54 & 55 manuals indicate that the first thing to check is the linkage adjustment. Would imagine the process would be similar/the same for your '53 and if it would be helpful I could scan and e-mail to you as an attachment. Good luck.