DonMicheletti

In your photo, it looks like it is in reverse (or first) and high simultaneously, looking at the shift rail detent slots.

In my personal experience, that problem has always been associated with a bad input bearing, or related to the bearing.

Perfect! Make a problem a feature and charge extra! Marketing at it best.

I hate compression fittings. Very prone to leaking. What I have done, is to clean them very, very thoroughly. Then soft solder them so the ferrule is sealed to the tube with the ferrule coated with solder. While the solder is still molten, wipe the solder off the ferrule. This should leave a thin coating of solder. When you re-install the tube, that coat of solder on the ferrule will deform to match the fitting making an effective seal. The tube and ferrule must be cleaned to bright metal.

The reflectors are attached to 2 arms which lead to the adjstment screws and a fixed mount. The reflectors are held inplace with small clips, in the arms, in the front. Behind the reflecor there are small springs that hold the reflector in place against the clips at the front. Without those springs, adjustment is impossible. Reproduction springs are available I think.

I have fought this same problem with my "38 Buick Special. The only thing I have accompllished is to slow it to an acceptable level by several sealing trys and just thick oil. In actuality, it probably spent most of its life without oil anyway

As I had mentioned above, I had water in the oil on my Special due to that rear bolt / stud issue in the rocker stanchion. What I found was far worse than what Manu has found (photo below - the bottom end looked like that too). His photos suggests the engine has not been run long with water in the oil. I did tear my engine completely down and I found no damage whatsoever. Befrore tearing everything apart, I think I'd check some bearings to see if there is actually any damage. Do your bores look OK. Blowing a head gasket and getting water in the oil isnt rare.

The gasket coolant hole between cylinders 4 and 5, from the left in the above photo. looks suspicious where the dark portion is. Is the fire ring OK? Other similar areas too.

Carb King has said it many times. "Most carburator problems are electrical". It the timing right?

Make sure the 3 balls holding the breaker plate are OK and the breaker plate is free to move. I once had the balls on my Roadmaster come out

It appears that is not the problem. Have you done a compression test yet to see if it might be a blown head gasket? Although that may not be conclusive. Do you know of any overheating occurances?

Once the cover is off this is how that last stud should look without the nut. You can just barely see the temperature sender below the stud. It is important that the threads into the head be sealed There are no core plugs inside the side cover

I am not familiar with the '36 engines, but is the temperature gage connection near the rear of the spark plug cover, similar to the '38's? I had a similar oil in water issue with a '38 engine rebuilt by someone else. On the rocker arm stanchions, the rear, passenger side should have a stud rather than a bolt. That hole is tapped through to the water jacket. If a bolt is used intead of a sealed stud, water will get into the oil. It happened to me and finding it drove me crazy. Since your engine was recently rebuilt, this is a possibility and very easy to check.

The old saying, "Time is money" holds true here. Upholstering takes time to do correctly. Think. What pay would you like to do the work as your primary source of income plus paying for space, utilities, etc? It isnt 1980 any more, and the hobby has become expensive. I am in Northern California and there are good upholstery shops (plural), but they are definitely not inexpensive.

I have two '38's. A Special coupe and a Roadmaster. As mentioned, the RM is noticably larger and also more refined in the ride. The coupe easier to handle. None of tha is surprising since they are opposite ends of the Buick price range (almost)

EmTee, I like your condenser post mortem. I had wondered what was actually inside one. It is interesting. My 1918 Buick, with an original ignition coil, has the capacitor built in and it is not replacable.

It used to be that plugs, points and condenser was a 10,000 mile ritual. Now I wont change an old condenser. Too many complaints these days with new ones. I hope,you keep that "old", working, condenser in the glove box.

The fact that the trans will not do into 2nd with the linkage disconnected (If I read it right), says there is no linkage problem, but an internal probelm. I rather doubt that oil situation would have any affect at all - it goes into other gears.

Small wrist pin? It has a blistering 4.5-1 CR !!

That "while I am there " thing can also cause an "accidental restoration".....Been there!

It will be interesting to hear what you find. This is a very unusual situation. On backing the torque tube away. If you block the brake line, upon disconnecting it, you can get away without bleeding the brakes on reassebly.

Is there a good ground between the battery and engine? Not just to the frame.

Sahan If the engine will run, it isnt that hard to start it with the hand crank. I did that for a couple of years when I first got my car and the generator winding was bad. You would have to develop a safe technique - mainly full retard of the spark and gas in the carb. The engine will run a long time on just the battery. I'd charge the battery after using the car.

I agree with Matt. I have always done it that way with no great issues

This problem is very common on the Buick straught 8's. I wouldnt loosen the other bolts.