Smartin

Black paint finally laid on tonight. Firewall, wheelhouses, and core support are nicely covered. I did the booster and master cylinder last night. It appears on all the big cars that I've had, that the booster is not a real rich shiny gold cad like I see on all the restored A bodies.....it's more of a dull greyish green gold. I emulated that with the one you see in the picture. I got the heads back today, along with one of the exh. manifolds. The other one arrived today, so I get to go BACK to the machine shop to get this one surfaced, and have the bolt holes helicoiled. Both sutds are broken off inside this one. What's another $100? As soon as I can get the intake and valve covers cleaned up, I will bolt the core of the motor back together and paint it. That way, the bolts will be engine color as they are supposed to be. I like the look of a clean bare set of bolts on an engine, but I'm going to correctness on this...so why not take the step to do this? I also twisted my transmission cooling lines right off the fittings tonight. Destroyed...totally. I called Inline Tube and bought a set of universal lines so I could bend them myself....since they don't carry any for the 71 LeSabre. ...and no one else does.

As funny as this sounds, I don't think I've ever really seen a truly cleanly restored engine compartment in one of these cars....I haven't been to many national events yet, though. I figured that seeing a 4 door sedan restored would be interesting, too.

What would it take to push you over the proverbial edge, Keith?

I got someone to work for me this morning at the home show so I could sleep in a little bit. I also got some work done on the car. Basically, I'm looking at a "budget job" here with the engine compartment. I am not spending any morney for plating any parts (except the rear bumper, but I was almost forced into doing that) so I am making due with what I have. Hood latch and master cylinder cover are done with a basecoat of exhaust stainless steel spray and coated lightly with a gold anodizing paint from Duplicolor. I then spray a VERY small amount of red paint on top of that (more or less a dusting) so it gets a little color in it. If you look above in a previous post, the gold parts on the bed are done the same way. They look really good in person. Wiper motor was also finished this morning - not as nice as Jim Lore's X piece, but it will present nicely under the hood of my car. I was unable to save the decal on the base of the unit, so I just wiped it off.. I have finally cleared the firewall of all the crap so I can clean and paint it. I'll probably paint the firewall, then do the same gold cad treatment on the brake booster as I did the other gold parts. I'll then paint the core support and wheel wells at once. My heads are ready at the machine shop, but they aren't open until Monday. As soon as I get them, I will bolt them on, along with the rest of the "red" engine parts, and paint them as a unit, much like the factory did. I will leave the fuel pump and distributor out for this job, though.

Side - by - side of the two types: EDIT - forgot to add picture when first posted.. left is a 65+, and the right one is a 71+ Note the depth of the black parts as they dip into the center on the 65 wheel. Also, as noted above in another post, the center holes are different sizes.

All of this A body talk is not to be confused with the big car wheels, now

Took the heads and passenger side exhaust manifold (singular) to the machine shop for work the other day. The drivers side manifold is cracked, and is being replaced with another from a board member on v8buick. Valve job and cleanup on the heads with new seals, and milling of the exhaust manifold surfaces.. I only broke 3 bolts (all on the pass. side) when trying to remove the manifolds. I broke all three of them in succession. After the 3rd one, I thought I was in for a rough machine shop bill with 12 helicoils!' It looks like I will be putting the car on hold for the rest of the week and through the weekend. I have to work the local home and garden show for our irrigation company...and it pretty much completely drains my will to live. Look for more progess next week sometime!

I never imagined I'd be getting a couple calls every week due to the article on the bakc cover of the Bugle! These guys love to talk! All of them, I have found, do not have internet access...and don't have access to my website. But they are so excited to see another Centurion owner, they had to talk to me I suppose I'd feel the same way if I had never met another "C" owner. I guess I'm too "new" to realize how things were before the internet and email. Everything was done via phone. Luckily, since I am really not a phone guy, I've been able to somewhat avoid too much phone conversations. I can see it now - 30 years from now, we'll all be typing messages to each other from across the table. My suitemates and I used to send instant messages to each other from across the hall. Ahhh....instant messaging - the downfall of the Western civilization...along with tardiness.

ehhh....the comforter gets used in the garage on occasion to cover a car, or a part of a car. So it isn't the nicest thing in the house. Plus, I'm single and I live alone....I can do what I want

These are the only shiny parts I have done so far.. As usual, my guest bedroom becomes my parts warehouse while this project gets going. NOS front bumper and rechromed rear bumper...and the one I just took off the car is in the foreground.. Starting to get interesting!

I can make my 455 very fuel efficient if I drive VERY cautiously, and run about 55 on the highway for long distances. Around town and just general driving, it goes in the toilet. I managed (no joke) 23mpg on my way to Flint in 2003. That was on a stretch of road with construction, so speeds were reduced, as well as aggressive driving. I've never been able to match it.

I saw this car at the Easter show...very nice!

Started pulling parts tonight....I only had an hour to work, so I made the most of it. The core support and battery tray are SOLID! Very nice for a lifetime Northeast car So THAT's how the black is supposed to look! One of the previous owners had used a paintbrush to paint GLOSS BLACK all over the place on the core support. It looks like Rustoleum

It's official - Easter Sunday has come, and is on its way out.....which means I can start on this car. First and foremost, the engine compartment. I plan on doing exactly as I did with Hank's 60 in the previous thread with his car. After the engine work is done, I will go over the body of the car and fix any of the big blemishes still left over from the previous owners' "handy work." If I have time before Rochester, I will get some underbody work done. It's not really bad, but it sure would look nice cleaned up. Now for the obligatory picture posting I'm gonna have fun with this one..

There were Skylarks that could be ordered with a hi compression 350 motor, but it was not advertised as a GS 350. A year or so ago, there was a car for sale that was advertised as a GS455 and had all the badges...even advertised as a 25k original mile car. It looked really good, but there was a 350 in the engine compartment. It had 455 stickers on it.... Factory goof? Doubt it..

No GS350 Stage1's....only 455's

Bryan, that was him The funeral was today, and I gave his 58 convertible some exercise for the processional. I had some family and friends drive my two Buicks, and we probably had close to 30 Buicks in the lineup. Hank was proud, I know it. Today has been very difficult to deal with...thank God for the support from our families and friends. It was a real honor to be behind the wheel of that car, today. After I wiped the tears from my eyes, my sister took a picture with me and the car. ...a few of the many Buicks that shared in Hank's memorial service today...

Yes, Hank was in Plano in 2004. The picture that Keith posted is from Plano when we were cleaning the cars up on Friday morning.

Thank you for posting this, Keith. I haven't had the heart to do it yet. Hank's visitation is this afternoon, and the funeral will be tomorrow. Most of the chapter members will be there with their Buicks to see him off the right way. I have a picture of him the night before his stroke at a trivia night with some friends, but I don't have it on my computer right now. At least we know his last evening out was a good one. We'll miss you lots, bud...

I guess one good thing I can see is that I'll be able to get to work on my LeSabre for Rochester, and I'll be able to take on more work for others as soon as I have the majority of the work done on my car. I gotta make some money to feed the hobby Hank wanted to see me shoot for a future career doing this, too. I can't disagree with him!

I gave up on the power steering vibration. I located a good used hose that has the correct "coupler/restrictor" thing in-line, and it did not fix the vibration. It's not a big issue, so I will let it go with the car. The door is fixed, along with most of the other things on the list. The funding for this project has come to a sudden end, and I'm not sure where this car will end up. I don't see Rochester in its future, unless someone special finds the car a good home. I hope that my hard work on it will be appreciated...it has become an important part of me. More to come later..

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Brian, that's a better buy than a new Hyundia........... </div></div> No kidding! I need a loan and a bigger garage....and possibly a lobotomy.

Price. Please. Thank you.

I'm getting close to the time when I can start ripping into this car to make it look from good to great. I just bought a rechromed rear bumper this weekend. It was a little more than I wasnted to spend (or even planned to spend at all) but it'll make me feel better to know that I have a nice backside I've been stumped with the 60 steering problem lately, I haven't had a chance to really think this car over in a while. It really drives nicely. One of the quietest old Buicks I've ever driven...

Yes, I bought the whole seal kit back in October and replaced the seal inside the "adjuster plug." It seals great now, but something is vibrating when I make sweeping turns with the wheel. I have a strong suspicion that I'm supposed to have a restritor in-line of the power steering hose to limit the flow of fluid at the steering box from the pump. The arrow in the picture is of the car before I tore it apart...and shows the suspected restrictor. Why does nobody seem to know what this is?