Terry Wiegand

Mr. McBuick, My thoughts at this point are exactly as yours. With over 400 miles on the clock, I just cannot see anything else but that spring link being the culprit. Each end of that spring has a very tight bend to fit into the slots of the shafts. I hate the thought of having to drop that oil pan, but it's the only way to get to the oil pump innards. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

After over 400 miles of absolutely perfect running, there seems to be a serious problem with the oil pump in the '16's engine. One week ago today our insurance agent was out to take photos of the car since we have it all back together and drivable. We are doing this because we are going to change insurance carriers. Had the car out on the drive and started it up for Scott. It just ran beautifully for 5 to 10 minutes and when I went to shut it off I noticed that there was no oil going through the sight gauge on the dashboard. This scared the daylights out of me. We are running Havoline 20W50 oil in the crankcase. I do not believe that the heavier oil has anything to do with flow out of the oil pump. I had a good visit with Gregg Lange about the oil pumps on these early 6-Cylinder engines. These pumps are driven with a spring 'link' between the camshaft and the gears in the pump. We are of the thinking that something could have happened to that spring. I pay very close attention to the engine each and every time that it is started. There have been no funny sounds coming from anywhere in the engine. No oil leakage from the bottom of the pump. The output line from the pump that feeds the sight gauge is out in the open with no evidence of any oil loss at the line connection. The line coming out of the sight gauge feeds into the side of the oil pan and keeps the rod dipper troughs filled with oil. Again, there is no evidence of any oil loss at any of the connections. Gregg and I are of the opinion that the oil pan is going to have to be dropped so that access to the inner workings of the pump can be gotten to. During the engine rebuild it was noticed that this drive spring had extreme wear on the one end. We had a new spring made to the original factory specifications. The folks who made the spring have been in the spring business for decades and know a thing or two about these things. I don't know just yet what is going on, but the first order of business is going to be getting the oil drained out of the pan. I want to pull the bottom plate off of the pump and hand crank the engine to see if there is rotation on the drive shaft. IF there isn't, then that means the oil pan will have to come down to get to the inner workings of the pump. I have enclosed a sectional drawing in full scale of the engine and the oil pump area in specific. This has really bugged the crap out of me. How can this engine go from one day running just perfect and then have something like this happen. I will get to the bottom of this. Stay tuned. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Not trying to be a wiseguy here, but I heard my Dad say many, many years ago that things are worth what the buyer is willing to give and what the seller is willing to accept. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Jim, I see that you are a really new member to our early Buicks enthusiast group. You are at the right place for help with your questions. As I have stated many times on here - I am not all that familiar with the four cylinder models. I know enough about those engines to be dangerous. I do know that the Starter/Generator Unit is very near the 6-Cylinder version with the exception of being 2 cylinders worth short. The distributor head on both the 4's and 6's doesn't come out of the body of the unit. The adjustment is done with the timing of the #1 cylinder and the placement of the distributor rotor on the shaft. The only adjustment is with the spark lever in the steering wheel. If you will go back to the beginning of this thread and read things through very carefully (as many times as needed so that you will understand just what to do) you should be able to get your engine timed to the point where it will run really well. I want to add one more thing that I didn't tell Kare about in my original two postings. When you are going through the process of getting the piston at TDC in #1 Cylinder - make sure that the spark lever is in the fully retarded position so that when the engine fires you can advance the timing to full advance. One other thing is checking the dwell with a meter that has a dwell setting once you have everything running well. I hope that I have been able to explain things well for you. If there is something that you don't quite understand, please ask. There are folks here that can do a much better job than I have about getting your engine running well for you. I hope Mr. Heil will tell you what the dwell angle for a 4-Cylinder engine should be. Good luck with you engine and keep us up to date with your progress. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Larry DiBarry mentioned that I replaced the cover (lid, if you will) for the vacuum tank on our 1916 D-45. Yes, I did replace the cover, but not for the reason that you will need to find a different cover. It is my understanding that Buicks first had a vacuum tank beginning with the 1915 models. I am not for sure about the 1914 Big Six. I hope someone who knows for certain will speak up about that. You will want to be very careful about which cover you will try to put on your tank. The vacuum line connection, fuel inlet line connection, vent line connection, and tank fill opening will be in different locations on the various tank models. I am telling you about this and also letting you know that you will want to be very careful when you set things back together. My tank's problem was that the vacuum line needle would not open properly when it was supposed to because the arm that controlled that function was binding, or hanging up in the lid post. The fuel would all be used up that was in the tank and then finally the float would drop allowing for fuel to be pulled into the vacuum tank from the tank at the rear of the car. If you find a different cover, you will want to make sure that the needle is opening and closing properly with the float moving up and down. I am still looking for the proper cover for my tank (the cover I need has the Brass tag as shown in the photo). The cover that I ended up using is one that I had as a spare that was in really nice condition and the float/needle function worked properly. A friend here on the forum gave me two of the proper little springs, and they work just like they are supposed to. To make a long story short, these vacuum tanks are really pretty delicate and if they are working properly life can really be good. Hugh is right on about greasing the threads on the fitting inside the banjo connection(s). I hope that what I have relayed here will be of some help to you and anyone else. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Kare, As I stated earlier, I did not see the second 'single' dot on the camshaft gear. In this particular case you are going to have to pay very close attention to the indexing of the camshaft key slot in relation to the crankshaft gear. Hopefully, and it sounds like you are on the right track, you should be able to get the engine started. I have given you the best and only information that I have about setting this gearset together. If someone else has more information I hope that they will jump in here and enlighten us all. The best of luck to you with this project. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

That's a very good question. I did not see what you picked out of the photo the first time. If he goes by the clocking of the keyway slot in the camshaft gear and puts things like they are in my photo he should be OK. I don't know what he has there. It sure would help to have the photo in a straight up and down position so that things are square with the world. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Kare, The critical thing here is tying the camshaft to the crankshaft in the proper relationship. Put the two dots (one on each gear) together and you are done with those gears. It doesn't make any difference where you put the water pump shaft gear because that is set by the action of the #1 cylinder and the distributor rotor. If you place the #1 piston at top dead center after the intake valve has closed, if the flywheel has been installed correctly, then you should see #'s 1 and 6 on the flywheel looking through the mousehole in the flywheel housing. I went through all this with setting my engine back together. There are 6 bolts that hold the flywheel to the crankshaft flange and the flywheel IS NOT indexed to the crank. This means that you have 5 chances to install the flywheel wrong. This is a really simple engine to set the timing on. The distributor head cannot be adjusted. The only adjustment is the advance and/or retard of the spark. The dwell angle is important to have the engine run properly. If the timing is not right the engine will have loss of power and quite possibly will run hot. I have been told that the dwell angle for a 6-Cylinder engine is somewhere between 30 and 35 degrees. After I had the engine all back together and running well, I checked the dwell and got a reading of 28 degrees. EVERYONE SAID LEAVE IT ALONE! I did exactly that and the engine runs just great. Please do not do what I did and try to overthink everything. If you will follow what I have laid out for you things will come together well for your engine. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Here are some photos showing what the timing gears should look like when you set the engine back together. The only thing that is drop dead important is the relationship between the crankshaft gear and the camshaft gear. The water pump shaft gear can go anywhere you want to put it. To time the engine the number one cylinder should have the intake valve closing and then bring the piston up to top dead center. The distributor rotor is placed to the number one cap terminal and this should get things close enough to start the engine. Pay close attention to the single dot marks on the crank and cam gears - they must mesh together. What is shown in your photos is not correct. If you have any questions, come back on here and you will be walked through things. I hope that my photos will help make things clear for you. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I got the break-in oil drained out of the engine yesterday afternoon. The folks at Abrahams Machine had advised me to run this oil for at least 200 miles. After we got back from the Red Flag Tour there were 366 miles on the clock and this was a great time to change things out. I am running 20w50 Havoline as my oil of choice. Since there is a little bit of the 30w break-in oil left in the dipper troughs I am thinking that I will run this new oil for about 200 miles and give it another oil change so that it can be good for quite a while. The car ran absolutely wonderful on the tour and I can really feel that it is loosening up a bit as it is being driven. I had really forgotten how much fun the car is to drive until we got it back on the road. On the last day of the tour when we went from New London to Brighton, after we had lunch, all of the tour participants were presented with this really nice medallion. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

You need to be more specific about what it is that you are wanting. The D-45 is a 5-Passenger Touring body and the only moving parts to this body are the doors and top bows. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Chuck, When I had the spark and throttle quadrant off the steering column on the '16 to redo the steering wheel, the quadrant is 'keyed' to a slot on the column. This only lets things go together in one position. Your car is several years newer and possibly there were some changes made along the way from what I have. Glad to hear that things are working as they should for you now. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I am going to start this thread in the Pre-War Buick area because a lot of folks have heard it talked about on here and a lot of people frequent this topic. Having lived in Northeast Iowa for quite a few years, we know all about the beautiful country that Iowa has to offer. This tour just showcases that very clearly. The first day of the tour was the longest at 135 miles and took us all the way down to Keokuk. While traveling on The Mississippi River Road we passed through the town of Montrose. I learned something that I absolutely did not know until this point - the Mississippi is the widest from its beginning in Minnesota to New Orleans right there and it's over one and a quarter miles wide. The old man river is quite impressive at that point. A lot of the folks took photos with their phones - I had my digital camera and got a few that way. If any of the tour folks get a chance to see and read this - please post any photos that you may have taken. Barbara and I missed the Friday run because I was sick with a nasty cold and watering eyes. There hasn't been a hard freeze there yet and the corn has not been picked. The pollen was running rampant and I was miserable. Saturday was a much better day for me and the two days that we did travel with the group the Buick just ran wonderful. We want to come back next year. We hope that everyone will enjoy these photos. Terry and Barbara Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Members #947918

I'm going along with Larry on this one. First time I've ever heard this. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Thanks Joe, Others have suggested pretty much the same thing. I'll try just about anything to get a smooth shift from low to second. After having the clutch cone relined it is a whole new ball game with the way that the car is driven. What worked before has been thrown right out the window. Thanks for the kind words about the car. The tour was great and was just what this car needed to help get it 'settled in' as they say. By the time we were ready to put it in the trailer Saturday I really felt like the car was starting to loosen up a bit and really run and drive like it is supposed to. That engine never missed a lick and ran so smooth for the whole tour. We're ready to go again next year. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Here we are on Sunday afternoon and the Red Flag Tour for 2022 is history. I am here to report that the vacuum tank issue has been fixed for good. The car ran absolutely perfect with no issues whatsoever. I do have a couple of things that need to be dealt with, but nothing that cannot be straightened out rather easily. I still believe that there is an adjustment issue with the cone clutch. I can shift the transmission from second gear into high gear with no problem at all. The problem for me is going from low gear into second that really presents a problem. Double clutching simply does not work - no way no how. Shifting fast does not work. I think that there is an adjustment issue at work here and I will get to the bottom of it in short order. This was a really fun tour and as I said earlier the car ran great. I can now change out the break-in oil and get my regular engine oil in place. This was my very first experience of driving a car on an organized tour and we are ready to go again. It is really a wonderful thing to have an automobile that is dependable and won't leave you waiting for the 'trouble trailer'. I do have one comment to offer about the tour. One person was complaining, and several folks heard this, that the vehicles were not being driven fast enough. The person thought that we should be traveling at 35 to 40 miles per hour. Our car runs just fine at 25 to 30 miles per hour. This thought should be kept in mind - these vehicles only have two wheel brakes and the reaction times of the older drivers should not be pushed to an uncomfortable limit. During the course of my putting this Buick back together and getting it back on the road I was really ragged on because I chose to use New Old Stock AC Titan Spark Plugs in the engine. I was told that these old plugs would foul out and not work properly because they were not of the proper heat range and on and on and on. There is right at 400+ miles on the rebuilt engine with the same set of plugs and things have not missed a beat since the original start up. The spark plugs that are in this engine were correct for what was in the engine when it left Flint. I guess you know what I am going to do. If it ain't broke don't go tryin' to fix it. I am all for keeping things as original as possible. I am going to start a Red Flag Tour thread and post some of the photos that we took. We will hope that anyone who was on the tour and took photos will feel free to post any photos that they took. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

We put about 10 miles on the car late this afternoon. It ran beautifully with not a hint of a problem from the vacuum tank. I am being very cautiously optimistic, but I think the problem has been fixed. The Red Flag Tour is going to be the proof as they say. It was only 101 degrees here yesterday and we just didn't want to get out in the heat. We are heading for Southeast Iowa late tomorrow night and we will report when we get back. Terry and Barbara Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Members #947918

The vacuum tank has been put back together and I am satisfied that it is going to function as it should. I want to drive the car on our 21 mile route and know that the tank is working perfectly. We have a slight problem with that right now. Hutchinson is the home of the Kansas State Fair. The Fair started a week ago today and runs through Sunday. I really don't want to get the car out on any street until Sunday. The town is absolutely full of old western Kansas Farmers who are used to driving right down the middle of the road and not giving a crap about who they run off the road. We will wait until Sunday afternoon and give it a good run. I am happy with how this turned out in spite of the broken cover. We'll keep everyone up to date before we leave for the tour. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I got everything back together in the lid. I even applied some LubriPlate white grease on the post and Brass bracket before running the little machine screw through them. With the new little springs in place everything works just like a charm. There is absolutely no hesitation for the needle to close off the vacuum from the manifold - it kinda snaps open and closed like it is supposed to. I'm thinking that the grease is going to stay put for a very long time. A BIG Thank You to Lahti35 for those little springs. They certainly went a long way in helping the situation get resolved. I am anxious now to drive the car and not have it run out of fuel in the vacuum tank. We just do not want it acting up in any way on the tour next week. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

The Brass Tag was used on a lid that was specific for that tag. There are two areas that have extra material for the drilled and tapped holes that accept the little screws that hold the tag on. As soon as I get this posting done I will take a photo or two to show how things went back together. At this time I will ask if there might be anyone out there reading this that has a lid like my original one that they would be willing to part with. I have been told that the Stewart-Warner Vacuum Tanks with the Brass Tag on them were used on the early Buicks. I would really like to keep the car as close to original as possible. Thank you for any help that might be sent my way. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

As promised, here are two photos of the vacuum tank covers. The Black painted one with the Brass Tag is original to the car. The un-painted (replacement) one is going to be put into service until I can get something figured out for a lid that will accept the tag. The critical thing is the placement of the threaded bosses and especially the vent tube location. The vent is very important to the proper operation of the tank. I am hoping that this will be the last thing that will have to be dealt with toward having the car run extremely well and have no problems. We are ready for the Red Flag Tour next week. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Rock, unfortunately the ears just crumbled into a lot of little pieces. The configuration of the bottom side of the lid results in a few really thin pieces that do not lend themselves to strength even when these parts were brand new. The extra lid that I have is in really nice condition and it will do the job until I can figure out what we want to do about sourcing the correct replacement part. Photos to come. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Matt, I will post photos of both of the lids tomorrow. I'm sure I didn't explain that right. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

The folks in Australia are not doing the tank lid that will work on our Buick. So much for that plan. The extra lid that I do have is in really nice condition and it will definitely do the job until I get something figured out about an exact replacement. I will post some photos tomorrow. The original lid has a Brass Tag on it and I would really like to keep that feature if at all possible. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Well, there is not good news out in Doo Dah this evening. Lahti35 sent me the two little springs for the tank lid and they work perfectly at what they are supposed to do. The pivot point still had some slight hesitation to it and I knew that if I put things back together that way I would still have the same problem. So, the Dremel Tool got the one end of the pin buzzed flush and it was time to do some very light tapping with a blunt pointed nail to carefully push the pin out. I got it about 3/4 of the way out and both of the diecast ears broke completely off. I can just imagine that Lahti35 was thinking the same thoughts as I was when that happened to him. I have a spare lid that is going to work in the meantime. I think that I will look into the reproduction Stainless lid from the guys in Australia like he did. That will be a project for when the cold weather is here. What a bummer. I had an extra set of hands helping to hold things steady, I had a small socket backing up the opposite side, and very light taps with a small tack hammer just evidently wasn't enough to keep that old pot metal in one piece. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918