60FlatTop

This is scary. It makes me think of all the stuff on the inside of my arteries. Don't pour "stuff" into your engine and loosen up all the crud. Especially if it replaces oil with fluids having no lubrication value. Not a Buick, anyway!

I have exactly the same issue with my 1960 Electra. Some research discovered that there is some wear between the plates of the pump. When they are tight the surface tension of the of the transmission fluid holds the prime. The wear causes the prime for the pump to be lost overnight. The car has been doing it for the 9 years I have owned it. Who ever gets the car from my estate will probably fix it.

Bob, Thanks for the comment. I can see you roaring down Route 36 in it now. That old sports car shop just north of you is begging to see the car. Actually, it is too much work at this point. the proceeds from the sale will go into a couple of Buick deferred maintenance jobs and the balance set aside for the next Jaguar. I have sold three of them and had to have another as soon as it was gone. I know it will be the same this time. Hopefully gas prices and the economy will help me get a real nice one.

Hi Angel, Sorry, this is all 3.4 engine stuff and separate body and frame. Here is the place for you to look around: Jag-lovers - the Jaguar Enthusiasts' premier resource on the Internet Bernie

Here are a few of my favorites from Junkyard visits:

I have always liked this picture.

That car is supposed to ride and handle well enough to pry $4,333 out of a well off person's hand in 1963 dollars. Only 8 years before we had the technology to put a man on the moon.That had to be a pretty smooth ride. What can happen over 48 years is a lot of expensive deterioration. Anything rubber cushioned, anything with wiggle room, anything with cycles of compression, anything a "mechanic" can screw up is suspect. Mine has been completely apart. When you are punching those lower inner front bushings out you are at the starting point to making it nice.

Angel, Take a look at my list of cars. Three Buicks and a Jaguar. That is a very good ratio for happy motoring. You can always drive one of the Buicks. I recently bought a 1995 Buick Riviera, just because I ain't quite right. I have put about 1,000 miles on it and yesterday we did a grueling 120 miles ride over unpaved roads in New York's Southern Tier. At dinner I told my wife "You know if that was a 1995 Jaguar we would have been towed home at least once." My 1953 Jaguar is my fourth Jag. It is a restoration project that may never be done. They are expensive cars to restore and hard to sell. The '60's S type is probably one of the lower choices on the Jaguar desirable list. My bet is that you will disassemble that Jag and find out there at roughly 300 $100 jobs in the reassembly; I can make that list. The real problem is that your first "cheap" Jaguar makes you really uncomfortable when you sell it and don't have one. It is an incredibly helpless feeling. And it is too late for you now, you bought the first one. If you are good you will clean that car just the way it is and flip it on Craigslist. Save the money until you see a Jaguar under motion driving down the street, chase the owner down and buy it. I guarantee you buying a running one will minimize a problems of ownership. Remember I'm the guy who told you what it was. Prices? I would say $8,000 to $12,000 for an S type. Check Ebay "completed sales". There is a check box for it.

Those surfaces are nicely machined. Both my '60 Electra 401 and my '64 Riviera 425 use no gaskets. I used gaskets once a long time ago and the gasket failed.

Gee, I'm pretty sure the '86's had four headlights. It is one of four collector cars I own plus a work truck, an everyday car, and then there is my wife's car. It is safe to bet the PA will only be driven on sunny days. Lights unimportant; originality a plus.

I just got the rear end back under the car today. The mass of the closed drive shaft rear end appears to have masked a severe u joint failure by making it sound like a small annoying squeak. I am glad we did the job. Here are the before and afters.

I would figure if no one else has saved a 1929 Buick for posterity it wouldn't be a good idea to modify it. But I'm pretty sure a couple have been saved, go for it, just let form follow function.

They never look quite right with the top up and this picture is a bit weird. The top on my car will only be up enough to keep it from shrinking.

Easy to work on for sure. I like all the ways mine opens up.

It is an S type S-type Jaguar - Home The BW suffix means a Borg Warner transmission. The 9 suffix in the engine number means 9 to 1 compression. It is left hand drive, so it was made to export to the US. Bernie

I see a 1959 Chevy headlight rim in there. First Batman and Robin Ice Cream, Then Bat Skin and Robin And not Baskin-Robbins? I'm not enjoying the the thought of licking a big scoop of Bat Skin. Neat car!

I have posted a couple of pictures of the removal of my 1960 Electra read end to repair a squeaky u-joint. After reading the string about the '58 catastrophic failure and its stuck front joint I am glad I'm a little fussy. The undercoating on my car was original and still in pretty good shape. We decided to scrape off the loose stuff, brush brush, and clean the bottom. My nephew uses some self etching undercoating and today we redid the job and made it look nice. Next Weekend the rear end goes back in with new tires. The exhaust is on the way and new shocks will be installed. That should wrap up the planned work this year. Here are a few pictures:

They needed to make two movies. One with two '59 Chevies hitting each other and a second with two Malibu's hitting each other. Then you would have a demonstration of something that might have a 50% of really happening.

Let's see the Buick is 14 years old and you want a new Korean "Whatever". I would be happy to pay you what that new Korean will be worth in 14 years. And you can drive the new car until 2025. Bernie

There is also a great difference between the Chevy X frame and the Buick X frame. when I was doing my '64 Riviera I visited a frame off restoration of a 1964 Chevy. It was surprising to see how much more material and welding went into the Buick frame. It was boxed and gusseted way more than the Chevy. It is still an X frame and would probably suffer a lot from a corner hit compared to a perimeter frame. I remember a couple of guys who staged an explosion of a Chevy van for a news story. Maybe they did this clip with Chevy, too.

Oh, I know the underside of my cars. Here she is resting on the perimeter frame rails. No X on this one. The rear end comes back detailed April 1st, so I have a few days to get intimate under there to make it nice for the Nationals.

If they had used a Buick I bet it would have done much better than the X framed Chevy. Bernie

oooooh, the picture link didn't work. ;( It was a belt buckle with giant horns sticking out.

We confiscated this belt from Jimmie Joe when he quit doing engine compartment wiring and started judging. We are still trying to get his wire cutters and electrical tape.

Here's the original style.