JoelsBuicks

Joe, what is a Battery Tender? Thanks, Joel

Matt, I'm glad to hear your comments on the value issue. The Packard Rod is not my thing at all although I respect the talent it takes to do this. Your picture of the 36 Limited is one I've seen before and is exactly what I want to do with both my Roadmaster and Limited. I don't plan on selling my restored cars but I don't want to do something stupid that destroys their value. Thanks again,

I'm hearing lots of suggestions to stay with 6V. I'm fairly new at all of this and had no idea that a subtle switch to 12V would affect the value of the restored car. In fact, it seems to me that these old cars that get the power steering, fancy suspensions, hot V8, etc., are bringing lots of money. I'm not in this for that. I want this to be as original as possible but reliable and driveable. I too, would find a modern alternator to be out-of-place but on the other hand, I would enjoy having an overdrive in this car. I really appreciate the input. It is different than what I was expecting because it seems that everyone I talk to says to convert to 12V but don't tell me why. Thank you,

I am quickly coming to a point in the restoration of my 36 Roadmaster where I need to decide if I'll stay with the original 6 volt system or change to 12 volt. And, I don't feel that I know enough about this to base my decision. My goal for this car is to create a reliable and driveable car that is as close to original that I can get. However, I want to be able to drive this daily and if a 12 volt system offers reliability or other advantages without much peril, then I'll do it. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages? I suppose I'll have to get a 12 volt generator or have my original generator changed to 12 volt (is this even possible?). What about things like the guages, clock, horns, light switch, ignition switch, and radio? Are all the bulbs in this car available in 12 volt? I've read that the starter will be able to handle 12 volt as is. I'm also considering the electronic ignition - wish I knew more about it as well. All advice and input is welcome. Thank you in advance for your help!

I've got a 36 Roadmaster with rotted wood and I also have a hobby woodshop and sawmill. I'm just about finished with the four doors and I'm using white oak and cypress for their rot resistance. As far as the original wood goes, I've seen maple, red oak, white oak, and pine(or fir, hemlock, spruce-can't tell) just in this one car. This is a slow process but I love doing it. Perhaps it could be the same for you?

Upon doing this jumpering, did the horn buttons make the horn sound or did they honk when you touched the connections? Do you know if this system is based on the ground wire making contact with ground to activate the horn? I've not had my 60 apart but I once had an old ford that was this way.

My bet is that it came that way. Both of my 36's have the rear window roll-up shade. My 37 was in too tough of shape to tell.

Last night I got a chance to remove the power booster off my 60 Electra in preparation to send it to Booster Dewey for a rebuild. I immediately noticed it had a lot of liquid inside - yep, brake fluid. I couldn't resist taking the thing apart myself. It looked pretty easy and indeed it was. There was about a cup and a half of brake fluid inside. Surprisingly there was very little rust inside although there was a little discoloration of the plating. The rubber diaphragm was in excellent condition and cleaned up nicely. After drying for a day, I put it all back together and back on the car this evening. It worked great and try that I did, I couldn't make the pedal stick. I am hoping that my master cylinder rebuild stopped this leaking and that this fluid accumulation is a remnant of a previous problem. I do not know enough about the mechanics of this operation to tell you exactly what was happening. My guess is that fluid was impeding the flow of air at atmospheric pressure which is needed to overcome the vacuum and return the pedal back to normal. Thanks again for all of your help. It made a big difference!

I can't answer your question but a recent pump replacement on my '60 401 was cast aluminum.

Well how 'bout that? You guys stayed until we got this figured out. And then, you provided me with a contact that will do the work. Thanks so much for your help. I hope that someday I'll be able to return this favor. Thanks again!

Well I just ran a little test. First, I wanted to confirm that I could cause this condition without the car moving and I did. Second, I removed the vacuum hose from the booster and then tried to cause the condition and I couldn't under any circumstance, rolling or standing still. Probably a good indication that the booster is the culprit. One last test that I ran was to create the condition with booster activated and then disconnect the vacuum to see if the brakes released. Doing so didn't release the brakes which is consistent with the results I got earlier. If it is the booster, why would the pedal return to normal upon bleeding the pressure off the line? Sounds like I need to look at the booster. I will report back. Thank you very much.

Here's something else I thought of. When the brakes are locked and the pedal is down, I try very hard to pull the pedal up. It feels like I am pulling against a very stiff spring. That is, I'm able to pull it up about a 1/2" or less against an opposing force pulling it back down.

I did hone the wheel cylinders and the master cylinder. They all appeared to be in excellent condition with only minor staining. I used a standard brake hone with brake fluid as the honing fluid. I followed this honing with a polishing step using 800 grit sand paper wrapped about 1-1/2 times around the brake hone. They all looked great. The pistons looked to be some sort of alloy and I think you are right about the whiteish stuff being a salt derived from the corrosion of the pistons - perhaps something like magnesium oxide. I did check the fit of the wheel pistons after cleaning them but I don't recall checking the fit of the master cylinder piston - which did not have any of the white stuff. One thing to add, on a couple occaisions, I could release the brake pedal by striking it soundly with my foot. This technique no longer is effective in getting it to release. Another thing I noticed was that the brake light switch must have been change because the wire connectors looked to be some aftermarket job. I'm not smart enough to be easily insulted, learning stuff the hard way seems to be my mode of operation. So please, keep the questions coming and thank you for your help.

Good question. I bought the car last year with 57K miles on it. It had been stored in dry dark storage for 31 years. The previous owner inhereted the car but didn't drive it. I called him and asked him about the brakes sticking and he wasn't aware of the problem. He did a little work on the car to prepare it for sale. The work included a new water pump, battery, fresh gas, and new exhaust. He did tell me that he would not drive the car very far because he felt that it needed brake work and that a person could lose all brakes if something failed. I noticed the problem on the second day that I had the car. It took a while to figure out to relieve the pressure to get it unstuck. The car seemed to be only braking on one or two wheels and so I quickly put the car on blocks and did the brake work. The master cylinder had nearly a half-inch of sludge in the bottom and I removed and cleaned it all up with solvent followed by compressed air drying. I will go out on a limb here and say that the brake system looked original to me. That is, the wear on the shoes and the overall crudiness of the system was consistent with 57K miles. All but two wheel cylinder pistons were stuck with a whitish material resembling cement. I made a wooden dowel to hammer these loose. Of course, all of that was thoroughly cleaned before assembly. After the brake job, I tested it by stepping hard on the brakes and the problem was still there as if I had done nothing. Except for this, the car brakes evenly just as I'd expect. I did not dismantle any of the power booster portion of the brakes. I hope this helps, thanks again!

First, thank you all very much for the input and discussion. This sticking problem was the reason I decided to do the brake job in the first place. I honed and polished all wheel cylinders and the master cylinder and all recieved new kits. The drums were all turned and the brake lines flushed with the new fluid. I did my best to keep things oil and water free. However, I did not replace any brake shoe springs. To me, the mystery is why I cannot pull up the pedal when this locking occurs. Indeed there is no connection between the cylinder piston and the push rod and I don't see why I can't pull it up. Does this mean the rod is binding somewhere? And if so, why would relieving the pressure remedy this? Keep in mind that normal driving and braking is fine, it's just when I have to get on the brakes that this lockup occurs. Thanks again and I'm back in the saddle for a while now.

On the single circuit drawing, what is the purpose of the "inlet valve?" I'm also confused on why I cannot pull the brake pedal up to its normal position when the locking condition occurs? Thanks again for the help. I'm on the road and slow to respond so please be patient. Joel

My brake problem may be a little different. My pedal doesn't fall to the floor. If I am making a hard stop, I reach a point in braking where my wheels lock up and stay that way until I use the line wrench to bleed the pressure. At the point just before the brakes lock up, it seems as if another force (sounds rediculous) takes over and sucks the pedal down to make the wheels lock up. This is rather unsettling because I lose most of my control with the wheels lock up. Somehow, pressure in the line coming from the master cylinder is not being relieved after a hard stop. And, with all my strength I cannot pull up on the pedal to "reset" it. It sure points to the booster. Maybe I'll unhook the vac hose and see if I can duplicate the problem. I'd sure like to narrow it down before I start on this.

I've got radials on my 60 Electra and no problems.

I have sort of the same question. My 36 Roadmaster was originally black and I am going back with the Francis Cream yellow color. Now, I can't distinguish what was black because of the color of the car from what was black on the underneath areas of all cars. Thanks,

Regarding the booster, I haven't done anything to it at all. I can tear into it but I'm not sure what I'd be looking for. I'll check my repair manual. I have tried removing the vacuum hose on the booster to see if it helps it relieve quicker and it doesn't. When I bleed the fluid pressure in order to get it to release, the pedal always returns to its up position (although I haven't witnessed it because I don't have direct sight whilst relieving the pressure). I have not changed the three rubber hoses and probably should but I wouldn't expect a bad hose to cause all four wheels to lock up. My recent brake job did include polishing all wheel cylinders, new shoes and turned drums. I'm somewhat puzzled by the fact that I cannot just reach down and pull up the pedal - almost like something is blocking a relief passage. Any other thoughts? Thank You!

Regarding the booster, I haven't done anything to it at all. I can tear into it but I'm not sure what I'd be looking for. I'll check my repair manual. I have tried removing the vacuum hose on the booster to see if it helps it relieve quicker and it doesn't. When I bleed the fluid pressure in order to get it to release, the pedal always returns to its up position (although I haven't witnessed it because I don't have direct sight whilst relieving the pressure). I have not changed the three rubber hoses and probably should but I wouldn't expect a bad hose to cause all four wheels to lock up. My recent brake job did include polishing all wheel cylinders, new shoes and turned drums. I'm somewhat puzzled by the fact that I cannot just reach down and pull up the pedal - almost like something is blocking a relief passage. Any other thoughts? Thank You!

On several occaisions when I had to really get on the brakes, my 60 Electra brakes locked up and stayed that way for a while. These are power brakes and I thought that a thorough brake job with master cylinder kit would do the trick but it didn't fix this. Whenever this problem occurs, I am unable to pull up on the brake pedal to unlock it, I usually take a line wrench and loosen the brake line from the master cylinder to bleed the pressure. Doing this will release everything to return back to normal. Otherwise, it takes about 5 minutes of waiting for the brakes to release on their own. Has anyone experienced this or know what I should be looking at next? Thanks!

On several occaisions when I had to really get on the brakes, my 60 Electra brakes locked up and stayed that way for a while. These are power brakes and I thought that a thorough brake job with master cylinder kit would do the trick but it didn't fix this. Whenever this problem occurs, I am unable to pull up on the brake pedal to unlock it, I usually take a line wrench and loosen the brake line from the master cylinder to bleed the pressure. Doing this will release everything to return back to normal. Otherwise, it takes about 5 minutes of waiting for the brakes to release on their own. Has anyone experienced this or know what I should be looking at next? Thanks!

Thanks for the info. Dave or Dynaflash, do you know the name of the 2-part rubber molding compound you used? My boards are in terrible shape with more rubber gone than left. Maybe I'm not seeing things correctly but it looks like a flat mat that is square on the ends and doesn't wrap or anything except lay flat. Each end of the running board contours around the fenders, but those places are painted and not covered with rubber. My 37 Special is different in that it appears that the whole running board was encapsulated in rubber. Hunley has a mold for the 37 but not the 36 roadmaster. Thanks again for the help.

Thanks for the info. Dave or Dynaflash, do you know the name of the 2-part rubber molding compound you used? My boards are in terrible shape with more rubber gone than left. Maybe I'm not seeing things correctly but it looks like a flat mat that is square on the ends and doesn't wrap or anything except lay flat. Each end of the running board contours around the fenders, but those places are painted and not covered with rubber. My 37 Special is different in that it appears that the whole running board was encapsulated in rubber. Hunley has a mold for the 37 but not the 36 roadmaster. Thanks again for the help.