JohnD1956

How badly pited is this grill? And do you also have the top grill bar?

If you know the seal is correctly installed, check the bearing. I only did this once in a 65 nailhead engine, so I could be wrong, but I would not think any binding is acceptable. Plus that seal has nothing to bind against. It just sits in place in it's groove, so maybe the bearing is in upside down?

"One outcome of this strategy will allow Buick to lower its age demographics. However, Fraleigh admits the most critical buying segment in the auto industry is the older customer, noting the average age of car buyers is 49. Buick's opportunity is to retain (older) loyal buyers and bring in younger customers, he says. "That's what we're trying to do. We don't want to exclude older buyers." A friend went to a local Buick/ multi GM dealership, where according to him, the Buicks were lackluster. All the LeSabres were "odd colors, no options, and plastic hubcaps like you could buy at NAPA". He asked the salesman if any of the cars had an xm radio at least? and the sales man told him, no way. Our average customer is 61 years old and they don't want to pay for radio service. This is the stupidest thing I've heard and seen from the folks at Buick. Show me a 30 year old buyer who does not want performance and I'll show you a 30 year old buyer who has no brand loyalty and could care less about what they drive. If Buick does not put some effort into performance, you might as well buy a Ford focus! What do you suppose they will put in that Veliete? A smooth 2 cylinder?

Brian, Thanks for the research on this. I'm putting my house up for sale. Who will need it when you can ride around in that!

I suspect you are right about that noise. I failed to get the car out this past weekend, but am going to try for Saturday. If get the noise while rolling and the engine off, then I guess it's rear axle rebuilding time. It may be tough to work on, but I think I'll try to keep it stock. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the suggestions. It can't be the hubcaps, they are not on the car. How do you check the side gears? Is this something that could be done while in the car? Or only upon pulling the rear axle?

I know my rear seal leaks, but I pulled the plug for the rear axel and the fluid level was right. So I don't think I have leakage into the rear axel. I have a set of economy radials on the factory rims. I bought them at an independent Goodyear dealer. I am in Schenectady NY. I am hoping to try what BJR suggested tomorrow. Since I get the noise at slower speeds, after I try slipping it into neutral, I then plan to try and shut the engine down. That should isolate Engine, transmission and exhaust. If I still get the noise, then I am planning to have the rear axel rebuilt and to have the transmission leak fixed at the same time. Just in time for the world to run out of gas I suspect. And gas is already so expensive, it may just be a good year to have this done, and then I won't have to feel bad about not driving it.

Thanks These sound like good ideas. It's snowing this week here, so I'll have to give these a try in a few weeks.

Nicely done. Bu I just have to ask, What happend to that roof? Looks like they were putting it up or down while moving and hit a bridge or something. John D

Hi all, Looking for some ideas where to search for a noise in my 56. This noise sounds like a tire with a broken tread. A flapping noise if you will, not metallic, but more solid, almost like knocking on a wooden door. I've had this noise for several years. It is more pronounced when you let off the gas to slow down. However, under power, if you pass a guard rail or something else to shorten the echo range, I can hear the noise. Here's what I checked and replaced. Water pump and fuel pump replaced. Tires checked, and all brake linings inspected. Front wheel bearings replaced, Rims replaced, tail pipes replaced and all pipes rehung to ensure no frame contact. The Generator has been rebuilt also, but the power steering pump is still original. Also, the outer rear axle bearings were replaced a decade or longer ago, but I have not put many miles on them, Probably less than 10 K since I've owned it in 1974.I did have my shop put it on a lift and listen to the rear axle while the car was running in drive. We never heard the same noise, but they told me the rear was a bit noisy and probably could use a rebuild. Last summer, I was going to isolate the power steering pump, even though the noise definitely sounds like it is coming from the left rear side. In doing so, I found my harmonic balancer was broken. It could rotate it back and forth to the tune of an inch or so. I got a replacement, had it rebuilt by Damper doc, and then put on a new timing chain and gear since I had it open. I finally got it out last weekend, and thought I'd be clear sailing figuring that balancer was the problem but not so. Same noise under the same conditions? It almost sounds like a baffle in the muffler had collapsed, and this may be possible still. The mufflers are over ten years old, but with such little use, they are still solid on the outside with practically no visible rust, so I did not replace them when I had the tail pipes done. Before I sink another useless dime in this car, I was hoping someone else may have had a similar problem and can share their experience.

I would just buy that Riviera. Then I'd sell the van, but I would still use the Lesabre as a daily driver. I say that with the benefit of experience. I've had my 56 Super since 1974, My 69 electra since 1993, my 95 Riv since 1998. My wife has her 93 Regal since 1993. In 02, I bought a Ranger pickup so I had something to wreck with winter driving, and this summer I just picked up a 69 GS 400 convertible with 27K original miles. Whoever said you can't have it all needs to take a course in logic.

I use JohnD1956 here, so delete the Johnny D on your forum please. I guess I'm not so computer savy, and didn't understand the password was coming in the e mail referenced. Still, a nice looking bulletin board and site.

Hi Budd. I am interested in a forum for 56 owners, but registering for that bulletin board caused me some problems. First it told me that the user name was taken, so I tried three others, and finally got one just to get an error message that my e mails address had already been used. I never saw a page or area for entering a password, but it said I already had one. Seems kinda strange operation to me. John D

LOL, at least you didn't get locked in as you said. My most embarassing time was when I had my 1st 56. A Roadmaster model 72. My brother had bought a set of the Kelsey Hayes wire wheels for his car but gave them to me for the Buick. They were a bit rusty, but I had good tires, new tubes and off we went to Jones Beach on long Island. The car looked beautiful with those wheels. Two times during the day I went back just to check on it. It was a hot day, and all was right with the world. Then at 6 pm when we went to leave, I noticed the front tire was flat. Well, okay, I'll have to put on the steel disk spare. Didn't look great, but with an hour's ride to go, I didn't have much choice. Changed the tire and packed up all the beach stuff. Swung the car out of the spot and figured I'd loop around the circle in front of the main building, to give every one a look see at the wheels on the passenger side when...Thump thump thump. The back tire on the drivers side went flat. Now I'm sitting in front of the main building and I havent got another spare. It took the service truck drive about an hour to show up, an hour of hell, with many people remarking how nice the car looked and how sad to have two flats at the same time. I almost wish I had just locked myself in the trunk.

The most embarrasing time in your Buick. Now there's a neat topic for the forum. Maybe even a contest for the Regional meet?

Can you attach any pictures for us to see?

We bought the car in 93. We didn't have a frozen caliper till 1997. At that time, we did the rear brakes only. In 2000, I put new brakes on my 95 Riviera and likes the performance of the brand, so I tried to match the performance by changing all the pads and rotors on the Regal. I still have three of the original calipers and the one replacement. The car has 139K now. And I am still on the set of yr 2000 pads. By the way, my next door neighbor works at the local independent NAPA. He convinced me to put the softest brake pads on the car that he could get. I did this on my Riviera as well. Thse low cost NAPA pads grip like glue. And apparently wear like cast iron. The advantages have been no rotor warpage, no squealing with brake dust and I think superior braking ability. But the Riviera's system is really superior. That is one of the few cars where I can actually feel the rear wheels bring the car down. I don't know what they did, but the thing does not nose dive with hard braking, it sort of squats down and stops in no time flat. The Regal did not match this performance, but it still stops okay. Of course this is just my opinion.

Those drop tailgates are neat. There is a local car in my area, a 72 Lesabre Wagon, with the 455 and the owner put a nitrous system on it. I know it runs as he drives it to the local shows, but I've never seen it run. It is really nice however. The Buick has a crisper set of lines than the others of this group. Good luck

If another carb seemed better, but wasn't, then you may want to look at electrical, ie plugs and wires. How old is the gasoline? And what is the potential that the tank took on additional condensation? Have you tried doubling up on the dry gas? Also what about dried and leaking vacumn lines?

Just do what I do. Don't step on the brakes? (lol) My 93 Regal went over 50 K on the brakes, except the rear caliper on the passenger side froze up. This is a bigger concern for 89 to 96 cars and I am unsure about the 98 Century. I just wash my wheels as frequently as possible and I got a brush that fits into those small slots in the mag wheels to try and get some soapy water into the calipers. Since my first frozen caliper at 50K, we have put another 80K on the car on the original three calipers. Meanwhile, the parking brake cable to the right rear pass side broke ;ast summer, but it was easy to replace.

I'm pretty sure the Special quarters will not fit the Super. I wonder if anyone from the Buicktown chapter has a list of the vendors at the centenial. I saw two sets of 55 rear quarters there, but I can't remember the vendors name.

There was a lot of talk about this Radial/ rim situation on the Riviera club maillist. And I finally saw that article. I'm no longer convinced that this article even applies to GM cars. It appeared all the sources for the article were driving mopars, of early 60's vintage. Call me whatever you like, but I wouldn't doubt that early Chrysler rims were under engineered. But my 56 Buick rims seem quite sturdy, and the Wheel Vintiques wheels seem even better. I called the Wheels people two times on this. I wound up speaking to Don who personally set up and supervised the construction of these remakes over the last ten years. He told me that the wheels are trued using pneumatic screwdrivers. He said the spokes are so tight on these new wheels that they can hardly be twisted by use of a wrench. He also claimed to have no knowledge of anyone having any problem with their wheels and radials. I also called Coker tire, who claimed they never heard of anyone having such a problem with these wheels. Since you had trouble with original Kelsey Hayes wheels, I think I'm going to try the radials again. Bias ply tires seem way out of line in terms of cost. Plus unless you go for a trailer tire, apparently you cannot get a bias ply tire in a blackwall. On the plus side, you can get a trailer tire in a six ply configuration size 225 X 15 ( which Coker said was the closest exchange for my 7.60 X 15's, at our local Firestone dealer for about $80.00 per tire. They are supposed to be bringing one in so I can see what the tread design looks like. But i still think I'm going for the radials.

Here's a thought for you ( just my .02 mind you). If you really want an Electra, then get an Electra. I have both a 69 Electra and a 69 GS 400 convertible. The Electra is really what I wanted when I got it and it still hold a special place in my heart. The GS is super sweet. A 27K car from the third owner, who was a nephew of the original and second owner. I love them both, but the Electra, even though it still needs complete restoration or just a lot of work, is my favorite. The GS is great, but the Electra is just classy perfection in my eyes. If you have room for one car, get the one you really want. Meanwhile, here are some production numbers for the Skylark from the Standard catalogue of Buicks: If it's a : Model 43537, then 38,658 If a 44437, the 35,639 A quick giveaway as to which model you have is the chrome rocker panel strip on the model 44437. John d

I understand that the Jan 22nd issue of Old Cars Weekly had an article on this, but I don't subscribe and I couldn't find a way to get a copy online. I would like to see this and hear what it says. But the Coker people seemed VERY sure that the new skylark rims were sufficient for radials. On my 56, the center of the wheel on my spare tire is rivited to the rim, but the rim itself is welded so smooth I can't see a seam. Maybe there is concern about the rivits giving way under the stress from the radials? I do have radials on these rims. And, I did have a hubcap that kept coming off my front drivers side, but when I changed that cap and put it in the back, neither that one nor the one I put in the front ever flew off again. Then I drove over a rail road crossing and the bead split off the rim. That may have been caused by my antique auto battery . It had overflowed and dripped on the wheel which I hadn't noticed for a long time. I hope you can find the extra information. I was trying to buy a second set of tires so that I can put the wires on for the driving season and then swap them with the steel wheels for the storage season, without all the hassel of swaping tires all the time. I hope someone has some definitive information on this soon, so we can all avoid wasting any more money on something that actually increases risks. Thanks to everyone for their posts.

I feel very lucky to have my wife. She encouraged me to buy my 69 Electra even though it needed a full restoration ( and still does, 10 years later). She refused to let me sell the 56 Super many times, because it's been a part of the family since we were married in 1974, and she told me to get the 95 Riviera, because I wanted one from the day they were introduced. But when I told her about the 69 GS 400 convertible, I thought she was gonna flip. After a few uncertain minutes, she told me to make him an offer. What a sweetheart! Best part is she won't drive any of them. Worst part is I can't make up my mind which one to drive to the golf course. Ain't life grand!!!