Terry Wiegand

Here is a photo of the fuel shutoff fitting like the one on the bottom of the vacuum tank on my '16. The male threaded end goes into the bottom of the tank and a 90 degree elbow goes into the bottom of the fitting. As I stated earlier, I have not had any problems with fuel seepage and/or leakage with the fittings on this end or the float bowl end of this line. I was very careful while putting things together and so far everything has worked just fine. That's my story and I cannot add a thing to what I did. The elbow does away with a bend in the line. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

When I was setting the engine together for my '16, when I got to the intake manifold with the vacuum tank in place and the carburetor installed, I used soft copper for the connecting fuel line. If my memory is correct, both ends of the line were flared. I'll post a photo of the extra shutoff valve that I have that is on the bottom of the vacuum tank. I have had absolutely no problems with the connections seeping or leaking. I always shut the fuel valve off on the bottom of the vacuum tank when the engine is not running to keep the pressure off the needle and seat and cut the chances down of any leakage at that point. I am familiar with tube bending and how to do it without kinks and deforming the line. The external oil lines on this engine are a different story. They are brass and relatively heavy gauge for their intended purpose. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

These headlight buckets are what the fellow is needing and looking for. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

For all practical purposes the D-Series Buicks for 1916 and 1917 were supposed to be the same. However, there were minor changes in the two model years production. The 1916 models were introduced in late Summer of 1915. Those cars had headlights that were mounted on forks that attached to the frame rails. Those cars also had flat fenders. I do not know at what frame number the fenders were changed to a crowned style, but at that point the headlight buckets mounted to the inside of the fenders like what is shown in the two photos of the car above. My 1920 K-46 has the inside fender mounted headlights like the car in the photos above. Here's where things start to get somewhat complicated. The headlight buckets on my 1920 are not of the same shape or style as what is on my 1916 D-45 that was built in October of 1915. My '16 is a known early production car with the forks and flat fenders. The car in the two photos is a 1917 model because of the rocker post configuration on the engine. Another way to determine what headlights a car should have is if there are no fork brackets riveted to the frame, then that will tell a person what style of headlights the car should have along with the car having crowned fenders. WW1 threw a huge kink into the automobile manufacturers plans due to material requirements for the Military. That was the reason the 1916 models were carried over into 1917 because nobody could introduce a new model and get new material to build it. My advice would be to get with someone who has a 1916 or 1917 with the fender mounted lights and get photos of them so you will know what to look for because they are different from the later ones on the fenders. I hope that this has helped a bit. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Lahti35 sent me a couple of the little springs that he used in the vacuum tank on his Nash. He did a fantastic job of matching things up exactly. I knew that these were coming so I held off with opening up the tank again. When we drove the car yesterday it only ran out of fuel one time for us. I really believe that this fix is going to solve the problem. Photos when things are opened up. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Gary, that looks like a pretty nice rig you have there. Did those motorhomes use an Oldsmobile Toronado front wheel drive power unit? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I am curious about one thing and that is your choice of wood for the body. We have a '16, '20, and '22 Buicks and all of them have bodies that were built by the Fisher Brothers. White Ash was commonly used in General Motors automobiles while wood was still being used a lot. I cannot tell from your photos and I was wondering if this was your wood of choice for this project? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

The odometer turned 136 miles this afternoon. We took the car for a short drive and Barbara fixed a really nice picnic lunch and we just had a grand time. There wasn't much traffic in town (everybody has gone to the lake) so we had a nice leisurely drive to a comfortable little out of the way spot to enjoy our lunch. The car is an attention magnet wherever we go. People will honk and wave and thumbs up are all over the place. I want to get the vacuum tank looked at in the next few days. It is really running good. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

One quick question for you - the U-Joint looks almost like what is on my Buick. When I finally got things cleaned up the name 'SPICER' was stamped into the body of the unit. Would your joint happen to be SPICER also? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Wow! can I ever relate to what is being done here. The brake shafts on the rear axle of my Buick were so gunked up with dried petrified grease that one wheel had not had brake action in decades. This old dried grease and other crap does not give up without a hard fight. Hang in there Jason, you're making some seriously good progress. Been where you're going and it does get better as time goes by. I had to keep telling myself that or I could have sat down and cried a few times. There had ought to be a number that guys like us could call and talk to other members of the support group for mental encouragement - there were several times that I could have used that service. Hang in there my friend, you're doing great. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I can relate to every single problem that Lahti35 has run up against. It just seems like that if previous owners would have paid more attention and taken better care of these automobiles back in the day we wouldn't be having all of these problems right here and now. The vacuum tank issue is exactly what I am looking at right now. Instead of trying to push a pin back into those ears I am going to use a miniature stainless steel machine screw and carefully double nut the end so as to hold things in place and be a permanent fix. This gentleman is after my heart with the way that he is addressing the details. Excellent work my friend! Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas aka Doo Dah America AACA Life Member #947918

It would be great if you could post some photos of the car. I am thinking that the car has a Rex top based on your description. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

The hydraulic jack setup in the one photo is a very viable way to get things done. I have gone that route a couple of times and it works. As was mentioned, a person has to be careful so as not to bend a rim. The other point is the condition of the tire. Mounting split rims into new tires is a piece of cake compared to working with 50+ years old, hardened rubber tires. I have used corn starch on the tubes and tires proper to help things move and/or slide a bit and I am here to say that this approach works and works really well. I personally cannot speak about mounting painted split rims. I do know a bit about working with Cad plated rims. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Hugh, Thank you for the explanation about the vacuum operation. If you go back to the top photo of the vacuum tank cover and look at the pivot pin the pencil is pointing to you will see where the problem is in my system. I believe that this pivot point is sticking sometimes and it is sticking when the float is high and shutting off the vacuum to the tank. The fuel that is in the tank is used and it momentarily runs out of gas. The float then drops and the engine is back to operating as normal again. When things are operating as they should the engine runs absolutely perfect. What I am going to do is take the pin out and lightly sand the ears on the post to relieve the swelling of the old diecast material and this will allow free movement of the brass piece and allow the vacuum shutoff needle to open and close as it is supposed to do. When I can run for miles and then all of a sudden the engine dies, we coast for a bit and then all of a sudden the power comes back on, this tells me that there is a fuel supply problem. I think about two hours time and very careful use of the Dremel tool and the new gasket and things will be as they should be. Will let you guys know about the next drive. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

We put another 21 miles on the car early this morning. We are going to change our route tomorrow afternoon and add a few more miles this time. I am going to deal with the vacuum tank issue before our drive. The gaskets that I needed from Restoration Supply got here yesterday afternoon and now I can open and close the tank with no problems. The engine continues to run so nicely. Once the break-in oil is changed out I am absolutely positive that there will not be any thing to mess up on the Red Flag Tour. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I have a 1922 Model 48 and it does indeed have a dash-mounted fuel gauge. There is a piece of piano wire that runs from the tank mounted float assembly to the back of the dash mounted gauge. I believe that Pete's 1921 Model 46 has the same setup. Pete's car was the first year for this (meaning 1921 model year) as our 1920 Model k-46 has the tank mounted gauge. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

We covered our same route as yesterday and when we pulled back to the shop there was almost 105 miles on the odometer. I'm keeping a close watch on engine temperatures. The packing nut on the intake side of the water pump checked 134 degrees. The housing side packing nut checked 155 degrees. The top tank on the radiator checked 184 degrees. The cooling system is operating absolutely perfect. We could barely see any Red in the MotoMeter tube. I will keep a close eye on the cooling system for a while longer just to be on the safe side. The car is really happy at the 25 - 30 miles per hour clip. It rides smooth and everyone is comfortable. I want to get the vacuum tank issue squared away as soon as possible. I'm pretty sure that I know how to fix the problem. I don't think that I want to mess with those little springs. They are pretty delicate and things could get really ugly right now if the needle should get stuck in an open position. We're over half way with the break-in oil and that's pretty good since the first drive was on July 15, 2022. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I am posting a couple of photos of the vacuum tank lid (or cover) assembly to show exactly what I am describing inside the tank. The first photo shows the pivot pin and post that I believe might be still hanging up and causing the needle to become stuck in the closed position. If this is the case then the tank will not have any gasoline pulled from the tank at the rear of the car. The second photo shows the needle that causes everything to work, or not work, and have the tank function as was intended. The material in the lid is the old diecast, or potmetal, that has the tendency to grow over time and has more than likely contributed to the sticking. The lid assembly in the photos is an extra that I have that is used for illustration. The pin will be knocked out and a miniature, stainless steel threaded screw will be used to hold things together. This is the only thing that has become known that is causing any problem whatsoever with the engine. Getting the car out on straight road it seems to be really happy at 25 to 30 miles per hour. We are going to do a repeat of our route that we did yesterday and we should have a tad over 100 miles on the odometer when we get back to the shop. This time we will do it in the early evening. Non-ethanol fuel is $3.80 a gallon as of this morning here in Hutchinson. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas bka Doo Dah America AACA Life Member #947918

We put 21 miles on the car this morning. We went to the southern edge of our county before heading back. Drives like this help get things sorted out. There were two instances where we think the vacuum tank might have acted up. When Luke helped me get the carburetor adjusted properly it was discovered that the vacuum line from the manifold going into the tank lid was not being shut off properly by the needle. I sent the lid assembly back to John Wolf because the pivot pin was tight and not letting the springs close the needle into the seat. If the needle is sticking shut and not letting the tank refill, then running out of fuel is going to be the result. I want for this to be working properly before the Red Flag Tour. The car ran perfectly otherwise. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

The 100 Year Medallion really looks nice along with the 100 Year Plaque from Horseless Carriage Club. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I am glad that Morgan will get the photos for you because the 1918 set-up is different than what is on my 1916. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I really did not take all that many photos while I was there. I was busy answering questions and talking to people about Wind Wings on the Buick. I did get this photo of the Sears for my friend, Sandy, down in the Dallas area. Folks just do not realize how big the Marr V-12 car is. It is a BIG automobile. Hope you enjoy these few photos. In the second photo, our car is the fifth one down. I know, it's not a good shot of the car. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

I'm back home from the meet and it really was a great get together. There were a lot of folks there asking a lot of questions about all of the cars. I got to meet some of the people that frequent the forums and a good time was enjoyed by everyone. I was pleasantly surprised that the Buick won an award. Less than 30 days since the car was driven the first time in over 46 years and it brings home a really nice trophy. It really makes a person forget all the times of laying on the floor underneath it while getting it all together. I now want to get the miles on it so that the break-in oil can be changed out before the Red Flag Tour. The AACA President gave the 100 Year Medallion to me on Saturday. The thing that really had me baffled was the questions about the car. People were absolutely amazed about the wind wings on this car. Forget about the engine and the beautiful upholstery and top - they wanted to know all about those wind wings and the story behind them. Who woulda thunk? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

Mark, please be careful with how you say things like that about this old Buick. There are folks out there who will equate this restoration with the 'trailer queens' like so many of the BCA 'trophy hunter' members lust after. It is true that we have some dollars tied up with the engine rebuild, some sheet metal work, and Gary Martin's beautiful upholstery and top work. These are things that I could not do myself. I did just about all of the machine work that was done on this car myself. I will be the first one to tell any and everyone that there were no corners cut anywhere with this car. I am a perfectionist and it has to be right. With that said there are no apologies due for anything. I am going to have it judged just one time and then it's drive the wheels off. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Member #947918

There have been several private email messages asking why we are doing this at this particular time. It is really quite simple. The car has around 80 miles on it right now and the engine is still relatively clean. We know that when the miles start adding up this car is going to do what all Buicks of this era were really good at - they will slobber, ooze, leak, drip, and find a whole host of other ways to become covered in oil and grease. We simply wanted to give the readers on the forum a pretty good idea of what this car would have looked like on the day that the new owner drove away from the dealer and headed down that dirt road to wherever home was. We will do our best to keep it as clean as we can along with driving it as much as possible. The car will be in East Moline on Thursday morning and that will be its official coming out for the world to see as they say. This has been a long time coming and our family is extremely happy with the way things turned out. If anyone from here on the forum should happen to be at East Moline, please stop by and say hello. I'm sure a good conversation about all things Buick will be had. Terry and Barbara Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas AACA Life Members #947918