Joseph P. Indusi

Shootey: I have to change the hydraulic brake light switch in my 53 Buick often because I use DOT5 silicone brake fluid. i have never had to bleed the brake system when I install a new one. Joe BCA 33493

I scanned the file and tried to load it here, but the file type I created is not accepted here. I will try some other way to put it here. Joe

On the 1953 Specials the Dynaflow cooler hoses run off two nipples on the water pump. They do not "T" into any of the heater hoses as the previous models did. I will scan a copy of the hose routing from my 53-shop manual and try to post it here. These use tens of feet of heater hose and a special formed elbow hose for the defroster to Ranco valve connection. Joe, BCA 33493

Tractor Supply sells a 3EH battery with 875 CCA at very reasonable price. Best I ever had in my Buick. Stay away from Delco repos that just don’t match up to the Tractor Supply battery. Always use a heavy duty cutoff switch for reason stated above but also to stop the clock from running down the battery. Joe

Thanks for posting your solution to the problem. Joe, BCA 33493

On my 1953 Buick Special the hose goes over the heater box inlet on the passenger side and goes inside the tube going toward the front ending behind the grille. There is a clamp on the hose that goes over the heater box inlet. On the driver side the hose goes over the vent inlet on the firewall and is secured with a clamp and goes inside the tube going toward the front. I think the inlets and the air tubes have different diameters so that a hose that fits over the inlets, as mine do, cannot fit over the air tubes. Joe

I think it will fit but the nuts on the volume control and station tuning may have to changed because they may be either too long or two short. The nuts I am talking about are on the radio shafts and go up against the back of the dash panel. Then there are nuts that hold the radio in place that go on the shafts after the radio is mounted in the dash. Joe

Stay away from the DELCO antique style batteries, they are not worth the cost. I like the long 6 volt battery sold by Tractor Supply that is a little bigger but still fits the Buick battery box. This battery is rated 875 CCA that is better than a standard 2E. Their number is 3EH. Price is reasonable too. Joe

The Dynaflow transmission fluid (use Dexron III) can be changed including the torque converter. Follow the directions in the shop manual. Many phone chargers will work with 6 volt input through the cigar lighter since the output to the smart phone and other devices is 5 volts DC. When you rebuild the carburetor be careful to not disturb the switch on the side that actuates the starter relay for the "accelerator actuated starter" system. Joe, BCA 33493

If I recall correctly, the internal gears or the "pumpkin" will interchange up to 1955 models. The best would be if you can find a good 4.10 or 3.90 ratio. I have my own theory of why Buick used the 4.45 for the post war years in the Super and Specials. The Olds and Cadillac had the Hydramatic since 1940 and 1941 but Buick did not get the Dynaflow automatic transmission until I believe 1948 and then only on the Roadmaster. With the 4.45 and for most local driving you could drive around and not have to shift once in third gear because of the high torque of the Buick engine. Of course coming to a stop would require the operation of the clutch and shifting into low or first but sometimes you could start in second on a flat road. The problem was on the open road where you would want to get to 55-60 MPH. However, back in the day, as stated above, the speed limit on most parkways, not modern interstates that did not exist then, was 45 MPH or so. Also, back in the day with the suspensions, bias ply tires and handling of most cars, the parkways often had many scenic turns and twists so 45 MPH was all you would want to go. Do any of you old guys remember what I am talking about? Joe, BCA 33493

All of the above is good advice. I have a 53 Special 2 door hardtop with power steering that now has 67,000 original miles. It is happy at around 60 MPH but can go to 65 OK. I won't repeat what the others have stated except that you should change the oil and filter and put in Shell Rotella 10W-30 or 15W-40 and warm up the engine. Follow the procedure in the 52 shop manual and adjust the valves even though they are hydraulic. When you are done when you start up the engine it will likely run rough as the lifters fill up with oil and then it will smooth out and assuming all else is good, it will idle very nicely. I run whitewall Diamond Back radials on my Buick because they are safer for stopping and for handling. Buy a heavy duty 160 degree thermostat and flush the cooling system. The heavy duty thermostats have a larger opening when fully opened and these type work best on these engines. Be sure you have heavy battery cables of at least "0" or "00" gauge with clean connections at the battery, the ground and the starter solenoid. It goes without saying that the brakes have to be in good working order. Post on this forum if you need help or have any questions. Good luck and enjoy it for what it is and the era it represents. Joe, BCa 33493

Kestrel: Thursday nights were when executions were scheduled. The lights dimming is a legend or myth. My grandfather operated a pasta factory to supply the Italian-American communities along the Hudson River with pasta and other products that he imported. He also used to hold contracts to supply Sing Sing prison with certain food products. He was friendly with warden Lawes who would allow trusted prisoners to celebrate their birthdays with their families. He wrote a book “20,000 years in Sing Sing” about the prisoners whose total years of incarceration added up to 20,000. Several movies used scenes filmed at Sing Sing including “Kiss of Death” starring Richard Widmark and Victor Mature. Over the years there were a few prison breaks signaled by the prison blowing a loud , probably steam driven, whistle to warn the Ossining residents to lock their doors. Best to stop here as this is getting too long. Joe

I use a Battery Tender 6 volt model and use it to restore the charge in my 53 Buick 6 volt battery after each use of the car. I disconnect it once the green light comes on indicating it is fully charged. For long term maintaining the battery charge I use a Battery Tender hooked up to a garden variety lamp timer set to charge the battery for about 1 hour each day. Many battery maintainers claim you can leave the maintainer connected to the battery and it will maintain the charge. In my experience I found that you cannot trust a maintainer or charger connected as it will eventually cook off the electrolyte in the cells. The best 6 volt long style battery I have found for Buicks is the one sold in Tractor Supply. It is rated at 875 CCA and beats all the others including the reproduction Delco type units. Joe

NY State plates back in the day were also "School Bus Yellow" and black. I believe they would have yellow background and black letters for a few years and then switch to black background with yellow letters for the next few years. They eventually stopped issuing new plates every couple of years and went with a little painted steel tag in the upper right corner that denoted the year. Also as John D. states the NY DMV says restored plates are a no-no. Old Tank did a great job on his plates, the best I have ever seen. I don't know about Texas, but New York license plates were manufactured in the state prisons, most notably Sing Sing Prison, from my hometown Ossining. I was born in the old Ossining hospital that was located a few hundred feet from the walls of Sing Sing. Now one should not make any inference connecting Old Tanks work to those done by the guests staying at Sing Sing! Joe, BCA 33493

The horn internals consist of an electromagnet near a thin steel diaphragm. The horn blows when the electromagnet goes on and off rapidly that flexes the diaphragm to create the sound waves. To cause the electromagnet to go on and off rapidly (basically vibrate) there is a set of points that make and break and the armature of one point is pulled off when the electromagnet is on creating a strong magnetic field. When the points open the magnetic field collapses and the points then close again repeating this cycle many times a second. Now the electromagnet is basically an iron core surrounded by many turns of copper wire. The coils of copper wire are an inductance and when the current is suddenly cut off the there is an inductive kick, or high voltage created as the magnetic field suddenly collapses. This voltage can be much higher than the 12 volts supplied to the horn and this is high enough to be felt as a shock. You can put fingers from each hand across the battery terminals and not feel a shock because your skin resistance is too high to cause an appreciable current flow. An ignition coil is similar except there is a second coil of wire with many more turns of copper wire surrounding the inner coil of fewer turns. The second outer coil of wire provides the high voltage to fire the spark plugs. Joe, BCA 33493

Walt: Great post. I also prefer a printed page or book in my hands when available over something on a screen that may be hard to read or of poor overall quality. I find that I do use the web to look up something but I have to consciously do it whereas my son automatically checks the web on his smart phone for anything. I am a firm believer that a manual or reference book or special tool is always worth buying even if you just use it once because you can waste a lot of time working without the correct information or tool. Best regards. Joe Indusi

One other possibility comes to mind. I assume when the needle dips negative the headlights also dim a little. Check the generator drive belt. The reason is that headlights will dim whenever the generator output drops, for example driving along at night and then waiting at a red light at idle speed, the lights will dim. If the belt is slipping every so often, the needle will move into the discharge zone and then move back to charge when the belt is not slipping. Should be an easy check to do. Joe

In addition to this, Pete’s work and articles in the Buick Bugle are without peer. It’s not easy to put together a quality publication like the Buick Bugle every month. My hat is off to Pete for all he does for the BCA.

In the June 2020 Buick Bugle my article on LED conversion for my 6 volt 1953 Buick Special contained a table for replacing the original incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. I have run with the LED bulbs for well over a year now (I did the conversion first and then submitted the article) and have had great success. From the table I would suggest you replace bulbs 51 and 55 with SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.com LED # BA9S-WW4-32-6VAC. I also list bulb 63 not 63-L. I am not familiar with 63-L or 81-L. What does the L signify? For the 63 I suggest you use LEDLIGHT.com # 68798WWBA15S#63, 9 LED and for bulb 81 I suggest LEDLIGHT.com # 78845#1156 BA15S, 6-24 V. In the article I explain how each supplier denotes their replacement LED bulbs. They typically use the basing diagram of 12 volt bulbs to denote the base of the replacement bulb as in the 1156 in the number for replacing bulb 81. The major differences you will notice is the much reduced battery discharge at idle with the lights on and the much brighter light output. Good luck with the your conversion. Joe Indusi, BCA 33493

This is the Sedanet or the jetback model that is very good looking but eventually fell out of favor with buyers back in the day, partly because of limited trunk space. Also, the 2 door hardtops were just coming out in 1949 and were very attractive also. They made the same model in 1950 but the production was way less than the 1949 models. I believe there were no more made in the Roadmaster series after 1950. My question is what year in this model is more sought after today, the 1949 or the 1950? I am talking for restored stock models not modified cars. Joe, BCA 33493

Most of the wiring under the hood suffers from the heat from the engine and radiator. You can make your own harness by purchasing the correct color coded wire, connectors such as spade lugs, rubber covers to go over the connectors and the correct black tape or loom cover if you are good at soldering. Even the connector strips for the headlight/park lights are reproduced. Most likely the splices of the under hood wiring harness is along the inner fender on the drivers side. I am not sure if you can purchase just the under hood wiring harness. The wiring under the instrument panel may be in good condition but you should check. Joe

I did not understand from your prior posts that the starter operates when the ignition switch is turned on. This would definitely indicate a problem with the carburetor switch. The relay on the firewall is activated by the carburetor switch and the pull in coil gets +6 volts from the carb switch and the other end of the coil gets -6 or ground from the GEN or ARM terminal of the generator. This is because when the generator is not turning the ARM or GEN terminals are at ground potential. When the coil is energized the points close on this relay and send +6 to the solenoid allowing the starter to operate. Once the engine starts these generator terminals have about +6 volts on them and the relay coil does not have enough magnetism to. hold the points closed therefore the relay points open and do not supply +6 to the starter solenoid thereby stopping the starter from operating. I think you are getting close to resolving this problem. Joe, BCA 33493

The Buick accelerator starting system has a switch on the carburetor, a relay usually on the firewall, and a solenoid on the starter. From your messages I suspect that the carburetor switch is OK. The relay may be chattering but if is loud it is likely the starter solenoid on the starter that may need service. Sometimes they can stick in the start position and then the starter will continue to crank the engine; you determined that you have to move the key switch to OFF to overcome this problem. Check all grounds, all your positive cabling in the starter circuit and then remove the solenoid to rebuild or replace it if it is obviously not in good condition. It is also possible that the relay may be sticking but in this case the engine would continue cranking but unlikely to have a loud chatter. Good luck. Joe, BCA 33493

I converted nearly all the lamps in my 53 Buick Special to 6 volt LEDS The flashers sold for LED turn signal lamps function on some cars but not all. See the June 2020 issue of the Buick Bugle for my two page article on the conversion I did. I also give the names of some suppliers and the numbers on the replacement lamps I used. Overall I am very happy with this conversion as the LEDS give more light with much lower current draw. The only incandescent lamps in my car are the sealed beam headlamps and the front park/turn signal 1154 bulbs that allow the flasher to function without adding resistors. I designed and bench tested a three transistor flasher that I plan to install to allow me to replace the front 1154 bulbs with LEDS. Joe, BCA 33493.