60FlatTop

The vinegar can only be applied with a soaked corn cob. Advance auto parts doesn't have them any more and I'm not going to risk the incorrectness of speculating what auto parts might have them. Bernie

I haven't rebuilt engines many times. I always bought Buicks. Of course the cars weren't as old as I am either. I'm imagining an engine on a stand with oil dripping all over the place on the journals, out the bores, dripping into kitty litter on the floor. I'm hoping. How many rods do you have to connect to the crank to get it to stop turning? If it is just one, is it any one? When the rod is disconnected how much force does it take to slide the piston up and down that oily bore? Bernie

Pete, I just noticed that you had a '56 Golden Hawk. I had one when I was 16 and a senior in High School. I drove it with no hood because a gas station attendant had checked the oil for the previous owner and folded it neatly for him. It was a package deal. I got an XK-150 Jaguar drop head, too. That was my second Jag. Prior to that I had bought a Mark VII at an auction. Pretty neat for a 16 year old. There's more. I saw a '56 Packard Caribbean in a hedge row near where I worked. All the windows were broken. The owner claimed he was nervous about the aging wire wheels and quit driving it. Some kids came by and broke the windows. He gave it to me. I searched for a windshield and couldn't come up with one for the 9 year old Packard convertible. So I pulled the dual carbs off for the Studie and scrapped the Caribbean. I sold the carb setup at Dunkirk around 1980. Nice memory jog this morning. Of course a few Packard fans might wish I'd grown up playing Game boy. Did kids do more back then? Bernie

Here is a link to the Team Buick online one. Just print what you need. 1960 Buick Chassis Manual, All Series Convertible top info would be in the Body book, Bernie

What the heck, the similarities are obvious: Bernie

Reading your post gets me all steamed up about my exhaust system purchase two years ago. It has been hard not to name him on here. These guys who make ambiguous and arrogant statements just need to be walked away from. There is more than one resource for any part. The only thing you have of value to these jerks is your money. You have two options; tell them because of their attitude you prefer to take your money elsewhere and you will never bother them again, or just walk and they won't have a clue. Arrogant and oblivious entertains me the most. Bernie By the way, this signature picture is known as my "Mister Know-It-All" picture. Any Rocky & Bullwinkle fans out there?

Using a press, the caps will go just so far and not allow you to swivel the center cross out. That does allow the grease seals to open and make the torching a little easier. If you look back and see the torch user's; one (me) lives in New York between Buffalo and Rochester and the other is "near Pittsburgh" we ain't talkin city here. The torch was bought for fixing the drag or haywagon, maybe adjusting a three point hitch. Bernie

While your are up in there working it would be a good idea to pressurize the cooling system to 15 PSIG and see where the source is. Bernie

There is a pretty expensive Cadillac out there somewhere with 1/2" copper sweat caps on the heater valve inlet and outlet and 5/8" (which is the cap O.D.) slid over them. It looks original and doesn't soak the carpet. Along the same topic, '94 to '96 Roadmasters have awful defrosting, only in the center. When I complained about it to a friend he told me most Buick owners didn't have peripheral vision anyway so full defrosting wasn't needed. Bernie

I replaced all five u-joints in my car right before the 1981 Buick Nationals and the drive to Sandusky, Ohio. (Anyone remember arriving at the show field and watching the roller coaster riders being walked down from the peak?) I had a hell of a time getting room to remove the crosses of the joints. They wouldn't push the caps far enough. We took a cutting torch and cut the crosses out, then knocked out the caps, and smoothly put it together. A fire wrench will do it every time. On the retaining nut, I would press a flat nosed punch against the flats and give it sharp raps with a light hammer, maybe 4 oz., just keep rapping and you will be able to spin it off with your fingers. Bernie

I am in on the replace them now idea as well. Although I am not a metallurgist I remember hearing that age and an uncompressed spring do not go well together; like sitting without an engine. The story was about a Chrysler product with torsion bars. It had been sitting on blocks for a long time and the relieved tension caused some sort of molecular crystallization in the metal. Shortly after the car was brought back into service the bar snapped. This is a second hand story and I have known some of the world's greatest mental masturbators (all engineers) so take it for what it is worth. When my car was 20 years old I was getting compliments of how cool it looked lowered. It is just time to replace that stuff. Bernie

I sure wish you liked closer we would have had it fixed. When I used to get cars in I would pressurize the cooling system hot and cold, do a compression check first, take off the valve cover and match valve action to rotor location, ohm the plug wires, ohm the primary circuit with no power, scratch 'n sniff the fuel, look for squirrels in the air cleaner, and all kinds of weird stuff. I have about 8 days before our next contract starts. Send 'er up. That backing up thing makes me suspicious of the power valve. Bernie

I used to play this ad on a tape in my garage all the time. It's not a Buick, but I am figuring the sound you hear at 2 minutes40 seconds is from 7.10 X 15 biased tires just like the ones on my Riviera: And you know that man is smiling! Bernie

Brian, When you've gone over and over the system maybe one of these places is near you: Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada Just a little test, you know. Bernie

Tony I just went out to the garage and confirmed that I have 75,631 miles on my car at 49 years old. I'm comparing its life to 41 years in Maine. Neither car has had to do much has it? I bought mine in April 1978, two months away from 35 years. As I remember it had something like 58,000 when I bought it (and I was 30). So I have put 20,000 miles on it in 35 years. I remember a few years ago when I took it for inspection and had only racked up about 200 miles during the year. I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I have AADD (Automotive Attention Deficit Disorder). Yeah, always two or three cars more than I need that I fart around with instead of focusing on making my keepers the best they can be and using them. It is a thought that came to mind as I read your last post. I probably don't need to write this, but it is incurable as far as I know. Some have found a little relief from a larger garage. I hope to add two car spaces to my garage next year. On the plus side; I had a tall blonde girlfriend when I bought the Riviera. Married her and kept her, too. Bernie

Old lady's car? About 200 feet from me are four old man's cars. I'm having my wife save vacuum cleaner bags and I'm going to convert them to four old man's barn finds. Bernie

Well if you get near my place we'll sit you right down at the table. We try to provide a "sign" of hospitality....... to Buick owners who stop by: Bernie

I see float level pop up again. Here is some general information to store away. I own a 2005 Chevy Silverado 5.3 Flex fuel truck. When it was new I bought the 5 volume factory shop manual set. Although I didn't read every page I have turned most and looked at the pictures; read what caught my eye. The flex fuel system has a small referencing tank ahead of the fuel tank. It contains a float that measures the specific gravity of the fuel much the way an anti-freeze tester works. The float slides on a resistance element that feeds a voltage signal to the ECM telling in how to tune the engine for fuel of varying densities (Sp. Gr.). A float is a float. I tried using the corn liqueur in my truck for about 3,000 miles around 2010. Mileage varied a lot by tank full, performance was degraded, and I got vent system code CEL's. Variations in fuel quality may have been unpredicted by the 2005 flashed program or the fuel standard is not maintained. The stuff didn't work well with a car designed for it. AND the operation was based on a float sensor. A float is a float. Bernie

Brian, When I read your last entry I got curious about your float. In some rare cases the solder has deteriorated and allowed fuel to leak inside to make them just a little heavy, the way Q-jet composition floats sink. You can test by submerging your float in a pan of hot water and watching for fuel bubble vapor bubble out. When the bubbling stops your can wipe the area with fresh solder and fill a pinhole. Bernie

I have a good picture of the white one. It was used by Bernie Wayne, Bruce's less sinister brother who didn't like annoying music. The Song: http://brockportinternational.com/xjs/Dir5/60%20Buick/09%20-%20Anchor%27s%20Aweigh.mp3 (right click and open in new tab) The car: USN 1967-1971 USS Arlington AGMR-2, USS Soley DD707, USS Gainard DD706

A lot of times we overlook the complexity of our old cars. I once read a 1938 automotive trade magazine that speculated about how under-equipped a garage would be if they had closed in 1928 and reopened in '38. It was a good article. The comment about calling for special tools got me rummaging through some pictures; like the one of my carb tools. I always seem to have pretty good "luck" with those old carbs:

Brian, I have noted a couple of times that there is a cork pad under the breaker point plate,I figure you already checked the vacuum advance. I have usually found the pad dry and black or missing from "work done by others". That lack of lubrication and dragging of the plate can cause hesitation. If it was in my garage this morning I would remove the plate and check. If the pad is still there I would liberally soak in with some 40wt oil and gently work it in with my fingers. Once it feels nice and pliable set it back in place. If it is missing just cut a circular pad from this thinnest cork or absorbent gasket paper you can find and soak that as well. As a test, reassemble with the old points. If this cures the stumbling, depending on the size of your garage, always keep the Petronix set up a minimum of 10 to 20 feet from your car. It should be fine. Bernie

I needed a fan caution decal for my '60. A trip to the sign shop ended up with one on my car and one tucked safely in my shop manual. Bernie

I bought the Sensa-Trac shocks for my '86 PA from Rock Auto and they worked out fine. I like the options when buying from them. I bought a set of severe duty shocks for the Impala. Those came through Amazon and the price was great. I have called Rock Auto and got some really helpful and knowledgeable people. I'm not really that hard to please and they did a lot better job than the slack jawed, gum chewing, knuckle draggers I've dealt with in other places. Sits pretty good: [ATTACH=CONFIG]174651[/ATTACH] It was a little squatty in the rear when I got it: Bernie

I bought the Sensa-Trac shocks for my '86 PA from Rock Auto and they worked out fine. I like the options when buying from them. I bought a set of severe duty shocks for the Impala. Those came through Amazon and the price was great. I have called Rock Auto and got some really helpful and knowledgeable people. I'm not really that hard to please and they did a lot better job than the slack jawed, gum chewing, knuckle draggers I've dealt with in other places. Sits pretty good: Bernie