JohnD1956

Hey Old Tank, can you describe what you mean by shimming the upper ring? JohnD

You're welcome. Let us know what you find. Are you new to these forum pages as well as the car?

Looking for a needle in a haystack. Does anyone have a factory CD player for a 1993 Buick Regal? Please e mail offline at jld1972@empireone.net

I don't think you have a starter switch problem. The starter should not engage if the key is in the off or lock position. The fact that the starter DOES engage shows you the carb switch is okay. I'd look at the wires on the starter. There should be the battery cable and two smaller wires. I suspect one of these smaller wires is touching the battery cable. JohnD

I hope Tommy 1927 doesn't see this.... Ran both cars today, and the curse has passed me by ( for now). Might have something to do with the bug guts all over the windshields? JD

Note the options, and see the first post above.

another one

Another

Finally have some pictures

Here's some thoughts: I try to stick with a brand of oil once I have a car. On the sweetheart's 93 Regal 3800 ( which I bought new), we always have used Penzoil brand and Fram filters. It currently has 144K and still feels strong. These cars have oil pressure guages, and this car consistently has more than 60 lbs when it is cold and continuously runs at over 45 lbs of pressure when warm. By way of comparison, one of my sods bought a 93 Regal GS with the same engine, but I don't know the cars history. I do know he bought it with less than 70K and right now is just over 100K. And my other son just bought a 94 Regal GS with the 3800 at 99K. Again we don't know the prior owners and it's history, but both of those cars consistently run at 40 lbs of pressure. So I guess oil brand may have some importance, but not significant importance. I think it is much more important to maintain a schedule for oil changes that is appropriate to the use the car gets. And always change the oil filter too. JohnD

Wow!!! You're right Centurion... That is some bid history. I always liked wagons, and these 57's are real works of art ( IMHO) and this one being a California car seems to be beautiful. Sure wish I could afford it myself... JohnD 3757

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> put the clutch in, crank it, and it tends to start. ... once the clutch was in and i shifted into third, everything was fine... </div></div> I would suspect that your car has a dirty connection where the battery negative cable is attached to the frame. On a 56, the negative cable is attached to the motor mount, on the frame side. Don't know where it's attached on your 52, but I suspect the clutch movements cause the motor to rock thus cleaning small bits of this connection which causes things to work better for a short time. I was involved with an MG once. Had the slow starting symptoms like you. One day trying to get it going I accidentally leaned on the manual choke cable and got burned. We realized that that choke cable was doubling as the engine to body ground strap. And it just wasn't big enough. Luckilly the parts car we had still had them, and this cured the problem. JohnD 3757

Is this the 4 door Riviera ( ie: Hardtop) or the Sedan? JohnD

Hoy Boy!!! Me thinks I'll should wait till next week to warm up my Buicks. Can't afford these troubles. JohnD 3757

Hoy Boy!!! Pics of things to come I'm fraid!! But we gotta get through this to get to the next driving season. Hand in there Norb. JohnD

$180.00 You can buy a lot of vacuum hose and a rebuilt fuel pump for this. Sorry... I couldn't resist JohnD

Greg, Welcome to the wonderful world of tools... And congratulations on "making your bones" off the old girl. Remember these few words of wisdom. * If you don't have one, get a manual. Even a reprint is better than nothing. * If you don't have the right tool, get one. Nothing hurts worse than a twelve point closed end wrench stripping the edges off a six point rusted on bolt. * Use a suitable penetrating oil on rusted nuts and even on rusted bolts. I recommend PB Blaster for every time you need to do a job, and multiple applications over the span of a week before trying to turn a rusted nut. * Lastly, stand your ground. If a future mechanic wants to do something other than what you want on the car, drive away. Keep your car true to your vision for it, so it will always be "your" 53 Special. Hope to see you and your car at some of the upcoming National shows...or in pics you post on this site... JohnD

I think I missed your return E mail. Are you still selling these parts? Do you have any pictures yet? JohnD jld1972@empireone.net

Better late than never... Happy Thanksgiving to all, from Schenectady NY.. JohnD 3757

I don't recall that intersection from the Centenial meet. Actually, Linda and I really like Flint. It seems so , relaxed... The people really seems approachable when we were out there. As a matter of fact, we really like just about everything we ever saw in Michigan. We didn't get around too much, Flint, Saginaw, and some areas inbetween, but we loved their approach to history. We thought CrossRoads village was teriffic when we saw it in 1994. It's still nic now, but in 94, there were a lot of character actors in the village. we missed them in 2003...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A gentleman ...lost TWO camshafts one right after the other,and with a NAME BRAND oil (which will remain nameless at this time). </div></div> Hey, Mr. Buick... Name that oil. It may or may not have been the problem, but inquiring minds need to know...

What year is this limo? I can't imagine no carb return spring, or a mechanical hookup on the brakes. Is this something special because it is a limo? JOhnD

I don't know what's involved for the electric motor. The motor at least, a switch, a few wires? I thought someone had put up a post on this in the forum a few months ago. It would certainly make the wipers more reliable. I know this, For close to 10 years I worried that the wipers on my 56 were not reliable. I was always worried when taking it for annual inspection but most times they asked if the wipers were okay and I simply said yes. Then when driving to Flint in 03, it rained most of the way and I found out they worked just fine except the blades were not lying flat on the glass. But then I really don't expect to let my kids take the car on a daily basis either. You'll have much greater need than I to have reliable wipers, so I think the electric are a good idea. JohnD

Sure wish I had half the energy in this series to help out with my Electra... JohnD 3757 56 Super 2 Dr 1969 Electra Limited 2Dr 1969 GS 400 Conv. 95 Riviera 93 Regal custom

Randy; That picture from Judd is great. What you don't see however is that there are two ports on the bottom of the fuel pump. These are the vacuum ports I mentioned earlier. One of these attaches to a pipe that goes directly to the wiper motor. The other one attaches to a pipe that goes to the brass "T" block on top of the intake manifold in front of the carburator. According to my book, the line going to the wiper motor is the "intake". I still can't get unde r the hood of mine. Perhaps Judd can tell you which of these lines goes to the wiper? According to my manual also, if you hook a vacuum guage up to the intake side of the pump, and run the engine from an idle to a RPM equivalent to 20 MPH ( which I am guessing is 15 to 1,800 RPM) you should have 10 inches of vacuum. If not, this part of the fuel pump is bad. Kanter auto parts in NJ sells these rebuilt for $105, just as a guage against what others would charge. I am sure you can get them less expensive. I know I saw several vendors at the BCA Centenial selling these NOS for under that. I just can't remember who these vendors were. John D