Gene Brink

Don,<P>Re your lack of oil circulation to one side, et al. I'll dig out my '55 shop manual (or the '54 if I find it first - been a long time since I looked at either) to refresh my memory and give you a blow by blow for how to start up a fresh engine as well as looking at a diagram of the oil flow (a lack of which could be caused by a head gasket installed upside down - or defective [missing an oil hole]) to see if there may be anything of use to you. If what I find is involved, very lengthy, etc. and a copy of the pertinent pages would be of help I would be more than willing to copy and mail to you.<P>Stay warm (glad I don't have to put with 32 degree days here in So. Calif.).<P>Gene

Been following this with interest daily and it seems to sum up as follows.<P>1) Olds has bitten the dust because their product is bland and does not inspire anyone to purchase it. (I don't agree feeling as though their recent cars are pretty decent.)<P>2) Controversy here - foreign auto makers are doing a better job of building quality, fun to drive automobiles. (I agree that a number of highly ranked marques do have a better build quality and a number of imports handle better when the criteria is going around corners or through curves quickly BUT American cars do handle better than ever and are NOT bad rides. I would like to see more red and half-red dots in Consumer Reports as I think their statistics are much more meaningful than J.D. Powers' rankings since they cover long term ownership.)<P>3) GM decision makers have their heads in the sand... (I agree in that they seem to fall short of the mark an enthusiast would set and worst of all seem to fail to reach the same standard that Toyota, Mazda and Honda reach all too often. I fail to understand how the plastic in GM's car does not look and feel as good as Honda's UNLESS it is a cost issue. A few dollars saved isn't worth it and I am sure everyone would gladly pay a bit more if the quality justifies it. It would be nice to see some people in charge with car backgrounds rather than MBA/finance type folks.)<P>I'll stick with my first posting conclusion - people WILL buy well built cars regardless of who builds them. American cars are better today than ever BUT I don't LOVE them like the old ones but do like them and feel they are better able to compete in a world market today than they were 10 years ago and will be even better in 10 years. It took a number of years for the imports to capture a large market share and it will be hard to recapture market share lost. Does GM have the will to do this? Who knows. I hope so.<P>Gene

Centurion, J. Chapman, Don, et al - lots of interesting comments, many heart felt. Seems to me that one of the missing elements in GM cars is that they are too much alike for people to perceive a real difference between a Cadillac-Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac-Chevy anymore. Engines have become "corporate" (with some exceptions) crossing traditional (now old tradition) boundaries between marques. I used to be able to go into my local machine shop and they could, with a glance, tell I had Buick heads for them to do a valve job on but that does not happen any longer. Sheet metal still looks different but underneath the hood they are not. Couple that with both a real and perceived quality deficit and it isn't hard to see why market share has been lost to imports from across both oceans. It will be tough to do but I am convinced that WHEN BETTER CARS ARE BUILT... people will buy them (both young and old) and hope some real car guys at GM will start making the right decisions so that BUICK will be building them.<P>Gene

Gie,<P>I think you probably left the headlights, etc, on while the engine was off, when you refilled your fuel tank. Right? If so I too would expect that the battery (a new one) should have been up to the task of supplying enough current to start the car but assuming the car started right up with a jump it isn't. Could be any number of things and I would check out the voltage regulator to insure adequate charge rate, alternator output, connections, etc. It also may be that the batter is not of sufficient capacity. If everything checks out okay you had better shut things off when gassing up.<P>Your 225 must be a pretty rare car there! Enjoy it.<P>Gene

Just an update so nobody would think the Buick folks did not answer again. They did yesterday. Generic "we received your message - it has been forwarded to another group - they will contact you if they have anything to say - thank you for your interest in Buick" type of message. At least there was a timely response.

Rick,<P>Correct, in the converter. I would pretty much second Gearhead's comments although I have pulled more than one Dynaflow by pulling the axle back enough to separate the splines by looping a come-along around the axle and rear cross member of the frame and then "jacking" the axle back enough to clear things. Was able to leave everything connected EXCEPT the shocks. (This on a '54 Super back when a replacement from the bone yard was all of $25. It may well be that a '56 will not allow one to do it this way.)<P>Good luck, Gene

Sent a similar e-mail to Buick several months ago without response (disappointing)and thought I'd post here to see what sort of responses it triggers. With the higher compression ratio and power output (not to mention much higher rpm ability) it would be interesting to see both normally aspirated and supercharged versions - say a really hot GS (and maybe a sleeper LeSabre too?). Anyway here is the message and website reference to check out Coates.<P>Any chance of Buick utilizing any advanced engine developments like those cited by Coates Engineering? I have sent an e-mail about this previously (several months ago) and it was not answered (most disappointing). Check out website <A HREF="http://WWW.COATESENGINE.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://WWW.COATESENGINE.com/</A> to see what I am referring to.<P>I would appreciate an response to this e-mail (preferrably from someone in engineering). It would be nice to know that Buick is on the leading edge of engine technology and development (something like the Coates head and valve system or ???). The thought of this type of head with supercharging seems like it would be most interesting.<P>Thank you, Gene Brink

Rick,<P>Been longer than I care to remember since I last crunched a Dynaflow but I'd bet you have several broken stator blades (the broken pieces are kicking around being turned into smaller pieces - once they get small enough you will find plenty in the pan). My experience has been one where you don't go very far before you have a whole bunch of "neutral" gears to go with park. Should be fun finding an intact transmission to use for parts (or to rebuild). Hopefully someone else out there will have more knowledge than I and will have a happier answer.<P>Good luck, Gene