60FlatTop

I just came in from the garage and found this; makin' my little heart thump. Same age as me. I'd be up late putting a shine on that one tonight! Bernie

I hadn't seen that second link. A four door Riviera as a series? A sub-series, maybe. Portholes on a Riviera series? Again, maybe a sub-series, and then only three? Who the hell is running that company? I saw they just put in a purchase offer on that old Flint building. Are you sure they aren't making it a Starbucks? I'm seriously looking at Packard, Nash, and Hudson. American cars the government let fail on their own. Even one the Romney family helped extinguish. Maybe my next post will be in "Buicks For Sale". Bernie

I haven't done my Riviera yet. I have done Caddies. It is fussy work. Use straight dish washing liquid as a lubricant and break up some pieces of shingle shim stock to use for "poking in" tools. They like to pucker around the pivot points. Lynne Steele lists them. That would be my choice. The other company told me my Riviera had been in an accident and both sides of the roof had been shortened 2 inches when their roof rail rubbers didn't fit. If it doesn't say Steele you paid too much. Bernie

Just speculating; those heat risers shift exhaust flow through the intake manifold to warm the fuel charge from the carb during the first 3 to 7 minutes on a cold start. It keeps the car from stumbling or stalling when you put it in gear and pull out of the garage by aiding vaporization of the fuel. Now that cars are generally fuel injected the fuel can be made less volatile since there is a high pressure atomization right into the cylinder on most. As FI gets more advanced those of us with old vacuum pump engines might find cold starting a real PIA. A working heat riser will help. To the flapper restricting exhaust flow, the factory designed it to handle 5,000 RPM's worth of gas flow. My boats might see 4,000 RPM once a month.... maybe. They aren't hard to keep working and do more good than bad. Better to keep them maintained if you can. When numbers of owners learn to live with the stumble or stall there is a perception that "Oh, all those '60's cars do that." It detracts from an otherwise nice car and the future may make it worst. Bernie

Fuel is not much of a problem when compression testing. The small amount will usually pool in the manifold and evaporate while you work. You can cause damage to the coil by pulling off plug wires or unplugging the coil wire. I usually put an alligator clip on the end of the coil wire and ground it to the engine. This reduces the resistance from infinity to zero and doesn't tax the coil capacity. Its the old E=IR thing again. You don't need that rare occasion when a coil might fail when you are testing some other problem. I like the screw in hoses with a quick disconnect attachment for the tester. Bernie

There are some who honestly don't know how much they want for their car. They inherited it or got it really cheap and just don't know. I have run into that over the years with cars and parts collections. That's when you sit on the porch step with them and ask "Well, if you had some extra money is there some special thing you'd like to buy?" If they say a Kawasaki 900 or a new washer and drier you can say "I know how much they cost. I'll pay for one and throw in an extra $50 to take your wife out to dinner." You know that I know it works, don't you?" Around 1984 there was a nationally advertised 1935 Nash Advanced Six Victoria, one of two of this two door model known. Jim Dworschack would remember it. The owner lived near me. The ad asked $3500 at the time. I looked the car over and offered him $1700. His wife needed a washer and drier. He wanted to buy a 30 megabyte external hard drip for his Apple computer (Remember when computer stuff was expensive? I have 16 gig in my pocket right now). Anyway, he had enough plus and nice dinner from the sale. Some sellers are just more fun to work with. Two cars I wish I hadn't sold, that was one. Bernie

Just a check for whatever the guy who couldn't fix it charged will be fine. Well, that's what you tell the mechanic the charge was. On the richness, the low vacuum from no advance might be opening the power valve slightly. Give it a little more advance and see it the richness clears up. Glad to help, that's why I joined the BCA in 1978. Bernie

With the engine cold pressurize the cooling system to about 20 PSI and crawl back there. You should see it. Stant makes an adapter for the reservoir tank. Bernie

2,3,5,8; that is the two center cylinders on the right side and the front and rear on the left side. Look at the casting of the intake manifold and see how the runners use that configuration to maintain an equal length. one jet does 2,3,5, and 8. The other does 1, 4, 6, and 7, just the reverse. Sounds more like a dead spider body in one jet to me and starving that runner for fuel. Time to gently lift that airhorn off. Bernie

Spraying the base of the carb will suck a little fluid in around the throttle shafts. Better to take the valve covers off and spray a little at the base of the valve springs. Then you are open to watch the valve action with a timing light strobe, too. On a "new to me" car I would pop the rocker arms off and press my finger on the top of the valve stem to see how much they wiggle. That shows worn guides. If only one wiggles a lot just fix that one. The meter you need is an inductive KV meter, not easy to find. A local geek with an oscilloscope can help. Did the mechanic take the airhorn off the carb and peek around? Did he check the rubber fuel hoses at the frame rail and at the tank to make sure they didn't suck air with the fuel? How much younger than the car was he? I had an impatient friend that I did a lot of work for in the 1990's. His wife commented on that once. I told her "With my patience and *****'s money we can do anything." Guess how she responded to that! Bernie

I agree and understand the person is trying to sell a car. The last time I saw something a little dopey I created a thread in the General Forum called "How much is that car? I ain't telling you." That divorced the comments from the owners attempt to sell his car with a secret price. Here's something interesting. After owning way more cars than any sane person, I have found that the personality of the previous owner carries over to your relationship with your car. Those ads carry indicators of the sellers personality and I know the ones to avoid. I have four cars: One came from a really nice guy that I always enjoyed talking with and I liked a lot. The car has been my "friend." One came from a person I have known all my life and never liked. He was mean and unfriendly when I was 12 or 13 and wanted to see his cars. That car I don't drive much although it is nearly perfect. One car is a rescue job, benevolently neglected by its previous owner. Not to cosmetic deterioration, but multiple mechanical issues. Fixing them made the car perk right up and I think the PO would be as happy as the first owner. One car is sometimes unfriendly and we "get along". The owner listed it for sale after giving up in desperation. Then developed an attitude toward me because others offered him more than he asked me. He felt cheated and the car is a bit bitchy even though I have spent money like a drunken sailor on it. They all reflect the previous owner. I'm sure thankful none were stupid. I'd hate to own a stupid car. Bernie

David, I'm glad you caught the topic exactly. I got into this hobby in 1959 and here we are at 2013. There has been a never ending flow of junior judges at shows, at the gas station, in parking lots. Now you would expect these nit pickers to be just plain civilians, not other car hobbyists; wrong. Watch at the next show or cruise. Another car guy will ask "When are you going to fix this? or Did you know you had a this or that?" When you ask some of them about their car you know the answer; it's home, it's not finished, I'm saving for it, the list goes on. So what's the use of writing this in a car hobbyist forum? Some of you guys are guilty of it and should know better. Make 2013 a season where cars shows celebrate the fact a car was driven to the event and that the owner is maintaining a level of preservation they can achieve. The owner doesn't need a whiny little voice pointing out a scratch in the fender. When you catch yourself starting to say it, look down in your at your hands. If you aren't carrying a clipboard zip it. Your comment is unnecessary. Blind people at car shows? That's a stretch. You see a few but there are no where near as common as the people who think "Wow! A car show day. I bet my dog would really like to go see the cars. I'll put him on a leash and we can go look together." Looks like I got the oil on the wrong day, huh. Bernie

The weather is great and I had my convertible out. I stopped by the parts store and picked up a five quart jug of Texaco oil, in my mind helping the people of Texas. The guy from the parts store came out to look at my car. The conversion required a panel to be fabricated and fit between the deck lid and top. Since it didn't get factory baked finish there are a couple of blisters in the paint next to the third brake light. The older counter guy came out to look and was immediately drawn to the small paint blisters. He reached over and touched them and looked at me with a very concerned expression. He had found a flaw that I may not have noticed. Perhaps the paint blistered while I was buying the oil and I had not noticed yet. Touching seemed to reassure him. I imagined that possibly his vision might be impaired so he needed to use his sense of touch to confirm the reality. I knew that although the oxidation had actually moved and lifted the material, and would continue to, the movement was too silent for him to hear. Being 25 year old paint the smell was gone as well. As he leaned over to touch I kind of cringed at the thought of him trying to taste the experience of the flaw. He told me he did detailing on used cars so he always checked for things like that. I thanked him for bringing the imperfection to my attention. I must have overlooked it while we had the subframe out for cleaning and repainting before reinstalling the rebuilt engine and transmission. Of course the car was off so he couldn't listen or smell any issues I may have overlooked. As I left it was interesting to ponder the acute sense of touch automotive spectators develop and seem to rely on so heavily. It was almost like a one man car show. I think there are five counter guys there. Maybe I will take one of the other cars up there when he has a day off and check the propensity of one of the other employees. Bernie

If it is not running yet, use a small funnel with a flex hose to put a teaspoon of gasoline into each cylinder. That will help you overcome any low vacuum problems from sticky stuff and puddling in the long cold manifold runners. If it jiggles and farts (tech terms) you might have to do it a couple of times. Don't get too froggy (another tech term) with the spray start. It explodes instead of burning and is like whacking (more tech) your pistons with a hammer. Bernie

I have a high voltage clamp on pickup for secondary ignition wires with an analog meter, an oscilloscope will work as well. I check the secondary voltage on each wire and record it. Typical is about 6,000 volts. The reading is influenced by the air fuel ratio. Its that old E=IR thing where R varies with the condition of the electrical components and the richness or leanness of the mixture at the spark gap. A lean cylinder might show 9,000 volts or so if the valve stem is worn and leaking air into the cylinder. Spray a little starter fluid around the valve springs to see if you can enrich the charge and drop the voltage. This kind of test helps you pinpoint internal problems. A 55 year old car with 100,000 miles had to be sitting around a lot. With average use it should be over half a million miles. Concentrate on "sitting around" problems. Watch the valve action with a timing light for anomalies. Consider a dead spider body partly blocking a carburetor jet. Look at the four questioned cylinders an figure out if they were all at the bottom of the stroke at the same time while sitting. The bottom of the stroke has the least wear and those four sets of rings could have been compressed and are sticking; leaning out the cylinder from the crankcase. Cars that sit around have special problems that mechanics don't anticipate. And you can buy some pretty neat tools with the money an inexperienced mechanic might charge to learn about your car. Bernie

I had XM radio in my Enclave. It was as boring as the 200 TV channels. Did something change? Bernie

Maybe a '59 could squeeze in: Bernie

I wouldn't get near that thing, especially stand under it. And I wouldn't be surprised if the AACA could be held liable in a death or injury suit just by allowing the information to be displayed with or without a disclaimer. There are other options. Bernie

I've had the body off mine a couple of times. If it wasn't so hard to align the fenders and hood I'd put quick release fasteners on the body and work from the top. Actually I guess having my car on a lift in 1978 and 2009 kind of shows the wisdom in buying a Buick. Bernie

I don't think it has an adjustment. Step on the brake and the lockup disengages. I've had my car apart pretty good and haven't seen anything. Bernie

I saw that. It made my skin crawl. I keep telling my wife that restraint is my least recognized attribute. My intent was to use a little. Who ever raised the car or authorized it was certainly not the one who did the work up was my first thought. Looks like a scene for the drooling masses of old men who stare at the so called History Channel. If they are not braiding their senior warrior pony tail they are changing the band aids from dragging their knuckles. If the owner had J C Taylor insurance they could send that picture as part of the appraisal. I bet it would go viral in the insurance world. Now see what you did to all that restraint I had an hour ago. < There's an example of a rhetorical question. Bernie

That's a scary picture. My car has been on a lift twice. Once in 1978 when I got the new exhaust system and that was a drive on lift. and once about three years ago when we put the Hushpower mufflers on it. It was the same lift and the same mechanic. I have a good 3 Ton floor jack and quality jack stands so I wouldn't hang my car off a two post lift. I don't tease rattlesnakes either. Bernie

Full Size 2D cardboard M1 tank Bernie

Dave, I think you spotted it; on Ridge Road (104) in Spencerport, a couple of doors from Robinson's Motorcycle Shop and almost out to Basil's Hot Dog Stand. When it got illegal to sell regrooved tires we sold you a wheel and gave you the tire. If one tire was a little taller than the other I would mount the tall one ob the right to compensate for the crown of the road. I could change a 10X38 rear tractor tire in less than 20 minutes. And my Grandfather taught me to never take a man's last dollar---- up to, but not including. Bernie

Isn't this the company that reissued all new stock and left their old stock holders with worthless paper? I had some of the old stock. Words can't describe the sentiment. Look up "indigenous stockholder" in your new world order handbook. Bernie