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Aaron65

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  1. The seller has upped the starting bid to $1000 for some reason. I'm lucky to live in Michigan where we have several Turbine Cars on display in various museums: The Henry Ford, Gilmore, and the Stahl Collection. Chrysler owns two, but their museum closed several years ago, so those cars only come out for car shows. Either way, they're beautiful cars, and I'd love to own a set of gauges, but that's a little steep for me.
  2. I did the same thing with my '63 Riviera last year: I got a 4-row aluminum radiator from Champion because they work fine and they're inexpensive. After realizing that I'd have to hack up the radiator support, I took my original radiator to the nearest shop for a recore, which cost about the same (maybe a little more) than the new radiator.
  3. One thing that's nice about the car for sale is that it's a Torqueflite car. Mine's got the non-synchro A-903, which is fine, but second gear is too short and it's got a 3.23 gear in back. I believe the automatics came with a 2.94, which would be a lot better for today's traffic. I drive mine at legal speed limits, but if you do the math, it's running well over 3000 rpm at that speed. It's fine, but I imagine that the piston speed on that long-stroke 225 has to be pretty high. A 2.94 would be more relaxing for the driver, if not for the engine.
  4. Oh man, great cars! This is my "winter beater" that I bought from Wildcat Mopars in Oregon for $1500. I found a good slant six on the floor of my machine shop to replace the tired 170, and it came with a good clutch to replace the oily worn one that the car came with. I've been driving it on nice, dry days for my old car fix during the winter months for the last 10 years.
  5. Beautiful car! The second line on AC cars is for a fuel return. Your car should have a fuel filter with a second hose nipple, which returns fuel/vapor to the tank in order to reduce excess pressure in the fuel system when things get hot. If all the return lines are still present, you'd probably want an AC tank. It's certainly helpful on hot restarts with modern gasoline, but it's not a big deal if its missing. Then you'd get a non-AC tank and sender.
  6. You could also try the Corvair Ranch; they're great to work with in my experience.
  7. Have you tried asking around at corvaircenter.com or corvairforum.com? Cocktail shaker is the name I've always heard for those cylinders.
  8. Wow, $39 grand for a '53 Skylark? Maybe I'll be able to get one yet!
  9. I don't think the Dynaflow would bother me as much as the subframe. Who knows how well it was installed; you'd probably be in for more problems as a result of that than you would be in regards to the transmission. There are enough stock '53 Buicks for sale out there that I would hold out for one that hasn't been modified (unless that's what you want). With that being said, there's no way you'll be happy with this car if you expect it to have modern performance. I regularly drive slow cars in traffic (Corvair, slant six Dart, '53 Buick with a straight eight and Dynaflow), but I live in a middle-sized Midwestern town with no hills. My Special keeps up OK with the Dynaflow (that has less power than the Super), but there's no doubt I'm using more pedal than I would have back in 1953. People in traffic see you as a rolling chicane these days if you're even driving the speed limit, so you'll be pushing the car harder than you might want to if you're using it as a regular commuter. And of course your mileage will suffer as a result if that matters to you. So, as many have said, a '53 Super is certainly capable of being a daily driver, but there are some drawbacks to doing so. The fact that you have experience in a Dynaflow car and are this unsure if you want to repeat it seems to answer your question for you (IMO). Maybe a good compromise would be to find a '53 that has been upgraded to a later Buick powertrain.
  10. I've got a hardcover 3rd edition of this book in good shape (not 100% perfect, but close). It looks like they're selling on eBay for about $50, so I'll ask $40 OBO plus shipping to the continental US. Thanks!
  11. I think you're right, Bloo. The headlights of the second car in the picture must have subconsciously influenced me.
  12. If you're asking me, Dan, I did the work myself...no shop involved. The kit cost about $210 shipped. They gave me a lot of good advice and asked me a bunch of questions so they could send me the right pieces. It only took me a couple hours to repair the actual crack.
  13. I stitched a crack in my '53 Buick's block. We're two years in and it seems to be holding.
  14. No, the red engines are small blocks (based on the 215 but cast in iron instead). For several years, the small block had valve covers that imitated the Nailhead's, even though the engine had little to nothing in common with it. What IS interesting about the picture is the valve covers on the 340s: I had thought the Nailhead-style valve covers had continued through '66, but this picture seems to refute that. The valve covers look like the '67-style to me. Interesting.
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