DonMicheletti

Not nice. Sounds like a bad needle valve in the carb. When you stop the engine, gas requirement stops, but there is still pressure in the fuel line. That pressurized gas is what is bleeding off and "overfilling" the carb and running off. The good news is that with the big engines there is that overflow line thak keeps that gas from running into the engine. As an aside, you need to be sure that the little check valve in that elbow is working OK and the little ball inside is free

The lawnmower idea is a good one. You'll get the basic idea of how a 4 cycle automobile works and how the parts relate. If you do, get an overhead valve engine (OHV) to work on. They are closer in mechanical philosophy to a modern OHV engines than the old style, and more common, flathead Briggs & Stratton engines.

How does the look on that #8 cylinder? Since the engine is sludged pretty good and the pan and crankcase are so large, that gallon and a half of water may not have done any damage to the lower end - if you are lucky.

An original foot starter involves both the carburator and the voltage regulator. A bit of a Rube Goldberg. There was a switch on the carb and a set of points in the regulator in the circuit. It was pretty common to go to a push button starter if either the switch on the carb or voltage regulator was changed or failed. Finding an original 5 pole voltage regulator for a '38 is almost impossible today There is a little rod in the carb switch mechanism, that if that gets gummed up the switch on the carb may not work. Get a copy of the '38 manual, it is fully described there.

That ring isnt a snap ring. It is more like a large diameter thin belville washer. If you use your imagination it is a vague "V" shaped if you were to section it. It should come out easily - if it is there. Neither of my '38's had them when I first got them. Tey are very easy to loose. Fortunately Bob's Automobilia has them. Sometimes the throwout sleeve is a bit tough to get out if there is a lot of crud between it and the bell housing.

In my opinion, pulling and installing the engine as a unit is the way to go. Getting it in and aligned really isn't that difficult. Yep, you have just a bit of work to do. It will be interesting to see what the bottom end is like.

I'm not sure if you can remove the crank and flywheel as an assembly. I have always taken the flywheel off first - it is easy once that rear cap is off.. One liability with taking the two out together is that is HEAVY. One crappy thing about the Buicks is that the flywheel can go back on 6 ways - It can be put on incorrectly and the timing marks can be in the wrong place. Taking the crank and flywheel out together would eliminate that problem. Assuming it is right in the first place. Buicks are the only engines I have seen this possible. Usually there is a dowel pin so the flywheel cant be put on wrong. On my '38, when I tried to do a tuneup, the first time after I bought it, couldn't find the timing marks for the points - the flywheel had been installed in the wrong place and the marks were useless. I ended up just timing it by ear - no big deal.

Question? Why do you need to remove the bell housing? Is there something wrong with it? Cracked? Otherwise, if you are going to do an engine rebuild, you are going to remove all that required stuff anyway.

The car doesnt look that bad. The engine is pretty grungy (was the carb and valve cover off long?) One thing I'd do, is while the front end is off, or you are going to do engine work, is change the front crank seal to the later type lip seal. You can either get a later timing cover or machine the original to take a modern seal.

I did my '31-67 in 1965, so it has been a while, and I dont remember how the mounts were. To make rubber engine mounts really work you really have to have 2 rubber doughnuts in compression and held apart by a rigid spacer. For that engine I think 1/4" of rubber on either side of the frame would be OK. Hopefully there is someone who can give more accurate advise

All perfect examples of why you should drop the pan on an engine that hasn't run in a long time. Changing the oil on those engines woubdnt have helped a lot and would have led to disaster.

Since there is no head gasket, you can just make them yourself. It is a PITA, but probably a whole lot cheaper. Gasket material should be available at a good auto parts store or there is always Mc Master- Carr

Maybe a bit off base, but the manual on my '18 6-45 says first: PLACE THE SPARK LEVER IN THE FULLY RETARDED POSITION. (Very important if you ever hand crank the car - you dont want to fire before TDC. ) Then time to the 7° mark (approximately 1" past top dead center). So.. given that when the car is running you advance the spark to a more normal position, thus giving you the typical BTDC firing when running. Whatever that might be. I expect your '25 is the same

On an engine not run in a long time, the very first thing I would do is drop the pan to make sure the oil sump is clean and the oil pickup is clear. If the oil pickup is clogged, even a short run may well destroy the bearings

If the main bearing journals, smooth and round and the main inserts good, you could reuse them and just remove shims to get proper clearance

The first time i had this happen was on my '31-67 . The riser casting was a real mess and I ended up having to machine the tube remains out and making custom tubes to put back in! Strangely, when it happened on my. '32-56, it was a piece of cake. Good luck!

Popping out of high usually means a bad bearing on the input shaft or someone left the spring washer that goes against the input bearing out (common) on the last clutch job

Since the engine was running would suggest nothing mechanical wrong, nor timing issues. I had that happen and had it be the tube in the heat stove had failed

Traditionally, if adding oil ups the compression, rings are the problem. If not, then it is valves. However, getting the engine running may well improve things. Even at that low compression, if carburation and ignetion, the engine should start and run.

That is a very rare falure-even once. Photos would help provide a solution. If you mean the bar that goes from side to side, that failure is unheard of

It is probably working fine. That means the battery is fully charged and doesent need any juice. If it werent working right the "amps" would stay negetave with the lights on. That meter can be very confusing. Dont worry... Yet

I had a similar SG experience with my 1918 E-45. When I got the car, the generator was dead and I couldnt find anyone to rewind it. For the first 2 or 3 years I just hand cranked it and used the battery to run the ignition. I finally found a parts chassis that had been sitting in the forrest since 1932. It had no hood and everything was covered with leaves and crap. There was a good sized tree growing up between the frame and water pump shaft! When I got the mess home and cleaned up, the SG worked fine and is still on the car. Surprisingly, once the pump shaft was cut and the rockers were removed, the engine would turn and still had compression on 2 cylinders in spite of the fact it was a rusty mess. That was 1975 and other than the SG, I havnt needed any of the parts from that engine.

Actually, it is not an ammeter, Buick calls it a charge indicator. If you compare the dash "amps" gage to a real ammeter you'll see the difference. At least that is so with my "38. As long as the battery stays charged and the "amps" dont go negative when you turn the lights on, you are OK. As far as the low oil pressure - Buicks are notorious for that. The fix is drop the pan and remove rod and main bearing shims to get proper bearing clearances - good time to clean the pan too.

Dont you think that a design that has been around for a century and was COST EFFECTIVE might be under the hoods of our cars today?

If you have any questions about 1937 or 1938 Buicks and excellent source of good information is the old Torque Tube magazine of the 37 -38 Buick club. Here is an index of articles You have to look around a bit. There is a downloadable by Frank Freda at the top. http://www.1937and1938buicks.com/The-Torque-Tube/The-Torque-Tube.htm