JohnD1956

While I too would love to see another Buick 2 door sport model, it's really not hard to understand. There's only a small population of the market segment that would consider two door cars. The much larger part of the market is not concerned and or prefer 4 door cars. So if a 4 door American car is already expensive to produce, imagine the cost of a two door model, and then GM is afraid they can't produce a car worthy of the competition at that price level. Sad isn't it? This from a former leader in the market alltogether. Here's something eles to ponder, and I would like to hear an explanation for. Yesterday I saw a 2010 LaCrosse. A CX model which with additional equipment but no sunroof, listed for $29K. My 06 La Crosse which is the middle line model ( CXL) with everything including a sun roof was only $26K. Here's the part I don't get: If GM , through bankruptcy, shed it's underperforming assets, and eliminated it's legacy debt for health care, and reduced wages of blue collar workers, and shed countless thousands of workers, And shuttered factories, and eliminated virtually all former debt, why is this new car with less equipment not less money than the 3 year old model?

The arm looks kinda longish to me, like for a 59 or 60 with that wide angle windshield. I had a 57 a long time ago, a convertible but I can't recall if the sunvisors hooked to the mirror side or not. I know my 56's do not have hooks. The mirror brackek would go on before the inside window trim I think, so it wouldn't have hooks for the sunvisors integrated.

Thanks for the compliment on the house Bryan. I always liked what I think would be called the California Ranch ( or raised ranch in this case) , with that big overhang. But in Upstate NY it's kinds out of place. This place sat vacant for almost a full year before we happened upon it 12 years ago. I'm kinda worried that would happen again if we tried to sell it. I was thinking if I added a deck across the front at the level of the upper floor it would look like a swiss chalet. That might sell better in this snowbelt area. Meanwhile the place was built in 1965, and it could use some work right about now, if I can just stop putting all my dough into the cars for a while.

I'm proud of you kids ( men actually) ! Too bad we couldn't keep all those cars, although some of them, and more than a few of the others, did keep us a bit too busy at times. Thanks for the kind words. I'll sleep good tonight!

I'm going out on a limb here and hopefully I am wrong, but I think you will find you have a crack in the head, or block, around that cylinder with the bent push rod. I think the valve stem rusted causing the push rod to bend. If so the question becomes what caused the valve to stick. It could be that the engine sat for a long time in one position and moisture from the atmosphere invaded the cylinder through an open valve. But you mentioned this grey liquid. Even though I can't see it, this sounds like an oil and antifreeze mixture. That would mean some sort of compromise in any of several places. Head gasket blown, timing chain gasket compromised, or a crack in a cast iron piece. You did have that low compression reading. Have you checked to see if the valves on that cylinder are closed? I'd remove the rocker arm from that bank of cylinders and then redo the compression check. Note, when you remove the rocker, if you pull out all the pushrods, you may want to keep them organized to reinstall them where they came from.

Great thread, bringing up lots of memories. For me the test was in 1968, on Dads 65 Electra custom 4 dr hardtop. Can't recall much more about the test except passing it the first time. Back then NY took 3 days to mail you the result if you passed. Two days if you failed. Loved that Electra in Maroon with black interior and vinyl top. And drove it relentlessly too. But I was a bit disturbed with Dad because I had already been practicing in the neighborhood with his 55 Special ( stick shift ) for at least two years, and I so much wanted to drive that car on the open road. But he sold the 55 and got the Electra just about the time I turned 16 and got my permit. Oh well, although I never had the Electra in my name, all my brothers and sisters knew the Buick was John's car.

That 63 is going to be the hit of the club when you're done Louie. Meanwhile the GSX Reunion looked like a fantastic time too. Was there more than just GSx's there?

Rich, That is looking so nice. Beautiful. Are you gonna drive it when you're finished?

Here's one for you Sintid. Happy B'day!

I recommend you contact the Director of the Long Island Chapter of the Buick Club of America. Perhaps there is a person in the Chapter who has a similar car and can offer advice? www.freewebs.com/longislandbuickclub/

BTW, I should have pointed out that braking vibration can come from the rear drums too. I had to replace the rear drums and shoes on my Wagon before I eliminated this problem.

The number one cylinder is the one in the cylinder bank that is most forward, behind the radiator. I believe on a nailhead it would be the one on the passengers side. For the guages I'd check the fuse first, and then check to make sure the wires at the sender units are making good contact. My GS had no oil light operation untill I replaced the connector at the sender unit. Lack of wheel weights will not materially affect braking. Many times tires are balanced without putting weights on the outside of the rim for appearance sake. Braking vibration is going to be warped drums. By passing the heater core will eliminate the leak but I think you'll be surprised at just how much you'll miss that heater. In my former 69 Electra the heater core was removed from inside the car. The cover for the core had a bunch of bolts you can see from the inside and then 4 screws which actually came from the engine compartment side, and holding on the shell for the A/C evaporator. The A/C evaporator did NOT have to come off, but in my case I was changing it out anyway. If you do remove the covers, be sure to seal them up again. I found a window caulking material at the hardware store. It was a pliable caulk, not silicone, and it resembled the material used on my car. I went overboard because I did not want carbon monixide leaks into the car from the HVAC system. I was not sorry for that decision.

Patina is just another word that has unlimited definitions in this hobby. In my personal view, I would define it as a full coat of paint with minor defects, such as cracking, delamination, orange peel, chips, and or dulling. Everyone else probably has a different definition. As to repainting a vehicle, from my own perspective, several factors would come into play. 1) am I working on a rare and unreplacable part of history? 2) would repainting significantly improve the metal protection? 3) Would repainting ruin original paint that was serviceable? 4) Did I have the money to do it right, or would I be forced to cut corners? I'm certain others can add to this list, but the answers you give, based on looking over your own project, are your own. Meanwhile, that's a fine looking car. Good luck with it.

I thought 64's had the radiator with a tank on the top, and a tank on the bottom ( top flow) . I know the 65 had a with tanks on the left and right side ( Crossflow) . Not sure which you have. If its the top flow, the transmission cooler is in the bottom tank and you have to remove those lines from the bottom of the car. Note, these can be stubborn. You generally need to use a line wrench to avoid rounding the nuts. It will help if you spray the connections every day for one week with some PB Blaster rust penetrant. Then you have to finesse the line. Can you take a picture of the area and post it here?

Since shortly after my June 20th post, I have been chasing a miss in the wagon. I think I posted about this once already but as a reminder, I replaced everything on the engine that was electrical, except the coil. Then with the same miss and bucking still plaguing me I went to my friend who races GM products. He simply started the car and said I had a fuel delivery problem. That had never occured to me. After a test drive he thought I had dirt in the carb or a sinking float, and recommended I put in a new gas filter now, and rebuild the carb first chance I get. I also made a mental note to replace the fuel line as a precaution. Someone previous to me had bypassed the original fuel line using 3/8th inch flexible fuel line, for the entire length, tank to pump. Even though I had no external gas leaks, I figured if I was getting debris then maybe the line was disintegrating internally. While ordering a carb kit I found out NAPA could get me the Thermostatic Vacuum Control Switch which had also been broken before I got the car. Previously they, and the Buick Dealer, told me it was not available anymore. This switch on this car controls the heat riser valve, and in the broken state I found out the heat riser was not opening. I also put STP Gas treatment in the tank, and I continued to drive the car to work for the last two weeks with this miss. The more I drove it the better it seemed to get, but on several occasions it was bucking as bad as it had been earlier. My friend said he could take the car and rebuild the carb this week, so I got down to business and finally replaced the fuel line. Lo and behold, the bucking and miss cleared up. I've put roughly 100 miles on it since replacing the fuel line and it runs pretty good. I gotta see what happens tomorrow morning but if it continues to run this good I'm going to put off the carb rebuild and buy the new battery for the 56. Yahoo!

I can tell you are excited about the car, as well should be. This is a really nice automobile. I hope it's everything you want it to be. I don't know how difficult it is to find the brake drums. Also, considering how far you might drive this car each year, I'd argue against the pertronix. The points and condensor in my 56 is still running right after being installed in 2003. Same for my GS. For the money you may find a new coil to be all that's needed, although both my cars are still runing very well on their original coils. Good luck and please be sure to post some pictures in the me and my Buick forum.

I just did this job on my 78 Estate wagon with the 350 Buick Motor. Your engine is virtually identical. Here's some things to watch for. Remove the distributor cap and rotor. This will add some clearance at the front of the motor. Remove the carb. I would not have been able to get the torque wrench onto the intake bolts near the carb with the carb in place. In my car I also had to remove the egr valve, but you don't have one of those. Drain the entire radiator. Otherwise you will have anitfreeze leak out of the intake and down into the motor. The intake is heavy. Very heavy being cast iron. In my car I had to step inside the engine bay to get close enough to get the thing off. You basically need a helper then to grab it from you. If you have a helper you may find it easier to have two people to both lift it out and set it back in. The gasket ought to come with black RTV sealant. You need to install the end seals first, and then put a thin coat of sealant around the water jacket ports on the bottom side of the gasket. Then you install the gasket ( see next note) and put a thin coat of sealant on the top side of the gasket AND a blob of the sealant in the four corners where the heads meet the block. The gasket should be a big one piece unit with a full valley pan between the two heads. It only goes on one way. If you look closely you'll see 4 small cutouts two on each head side of the gasket. These are below the holes for the ports. These cut out go down into the motor, and they will catch the lip of the head. This holds the gasket in place while you drop the manifold on. You may want to first practice installing the gasket in place without the sealant, just so you become familiar with this feature. If you can, use two people to put the manifold back on. It is heavy, and you want to try to drop it straight down into place to avoid knocking the end seals off the block. When the manifold is resting in place use a mirror on the back side of the engine to be sure you see the lip of the rear most end cap seal. If you don't see it, you need to pull the manifold off and reset the end cap seals. Torque is supposed to be done using clean bolts threads, lightly oiled. Also I recommend torquing in several stages. 3 stages ought to be enough. torque first to 15 lbs per bolt, then 25, then 45. This will help pull the manifold down evenly across the new gasket. Try to envision the job before you start. Generally the intake manifold gasket is good for one torque down. If you have to subsequently remove the intake after torquing chances are you will have to get another gasket. However, that being said, I had caught a bracket between my manifold and head and had to loosen the entire manifold to get it out. I never moved the manifold, just loosened it and then I re torqued and I was lucky to get a good reseal. I believe I spent 3 hours working on this, and my car has A/C which complicates things a little. Figure what your mechanic charges per hour and you'll know what to expect.

While slack in a timing chain will impact valve timing, I do not think that would be the cause of low compression. If the chain had slacked that far I don't think the car would even start. Was the compression low in all cylinders, or just one or two?

That disk is just a stone. I would not use more than compresed air on it in the reverse direction of flow.

In my experience with a multitude of Buick engines from 1965 through 1993, is that between 80-120K the timing chain and gears will need to be replaced. I have had over a dozen of these cars and it happened to every single one of them. The program is it will start one morning and then as soon as it comes off of fast idle it will die, and not restart. In every case I found changing the gears and chain fixed the problem but I never had a gear that actually lost the nylon. Yet the nylon will break off and fall into the pan and block the oil pickup. I just recently found your posts here so I don't know how long you have had your car and how much you have driven it. If you have had it running for 6 months or more, and if it is over 120K, then I suspect the gears and chain have already been replaced. Unfortunately I know of no way to actually determine this unless you pull the timing chain cover to check. One thing you can do however is check the slack in the chain. You do this by removing the distributor cap and using a breaker bar and socket, rotate the engine in the direction it would normally turn. As soon as you see the rotor move, stop and reverse direction till the rotor moves again. You may have to do this several times. You don't need to go any further than the first movement of the rotor. If the rotor moves immediately as you reverse direction, then there is no slack in the chain and chances are you already have new gears and chain. If, however, you get more than an inch or two movement of the end of the breaker bar handle, then you probably need a new chain and gear set installed. Note: not all breaker bars are the same. A two foot breaker bar will have more movement than an 18inch breaker bar. I would suggest you also consider posting your inquiries on the Buick Club portion of this site. Nothing wrong with this section but you may find more Buick experience lurking over there.

95's are a tough breed to keep running, but they are so nice when going that you tend to forget the bad parts. As to the supercharger, there are a few things to check. First remove the one belt and the twist the supercharger pulley by hand. You should feel a small amount of play when rocking it back and forth. If more than a 1/4 pulley rotation then the connector inside the nose of the s charger is going bad. If you cannot turn the pulley at all, then the bearing in the nose cone is going bad. If you can turn the pulley and you have the small amount of play rocking the pulley back and forth, then you may have an idler pulley issue or a tensioner issue. If you have 99K or more you may also have an harmonic balancer issue. If it rerally is the S charger, do some foot work before buying that thing. I noticed that there were several remanufacturers who advertise through e bay and one of the S chargers rebuilt usually goes for less than $600.00. Next, make sure it comes with the gaskets and if so, change it yourself. Just make sure you have enough supercvharger oil on hand when you do this. You cannot run them dry.

Very nice Oldwood. That continental kit looks cool in those pictures.

Dave, lDave, Dave : I called it like I heard it , but just to clarify, I said: the go kart sounded better than the BMW.

Nice, VERY nice!!! Love that 65 Skylark.