buick man

… Ah then grasshopper, you must never of owned a honorable british sports car with multiple SU Carbs ?

… Yes the photo of Mike's freshly painted pan appears the just about right in brownish tone. The TP photo looks like they have taken it a step further and oxidized or aged the paint to look patina. This can be done by spraying your last coat of paint over cured paint by over reducing it to around 50:50 ratio as this will fade lighten the finish. Appears you wisely chose to change from the Ford blue paint to the more accurate turquoise/blue nail head color. Where did you source the paint from as seen in the photo with the oil filter canister and dip stick ?

…. we thinks someone cranked down on the outer wheel bearing too hard as this will always cause hard braking turn out. Jack the front end up, and pop the grease caps off too. Make a chalk mark at 12:00 on each wheel, grab the top of the tire at the 12:00 position and pull the tire back to the rear to spin the tire. Do this just hard enough to spin the tire while you can count the spins. Spin it again, then again. Write down the counts you get. Then repeat this procedure on the other front tire assembly. The results will tell you many things. If not similar, then adjusting of the brake band is in order. If you eventually find that you cannot equalize the 2 tires, then proceed to ether loosen/tighten the outer wheel bearing after removing the cotter key and hex cap. Then repeat the spin tests. A properly adjusted outer wheel bearing and brake shoe band adjustment will allow you to hear an intermittent metal shhh sound in rapped succession as you spin the wheel/tire assembly. You should be able to spin about 8 - 10 rotations per spin cycle before the assembly binds to a halt.

…. guess the folks in Cuba could give a few lessons to all of us on how to keep and modify our stocker. - " …. Yes to keep it running, It may kinda look like a 53 but inside & under it is many years señor ! "

… I would listen to these guys as they speak straight and true. The GM Buick and Cadillac engines of this vintage had a very high silicon/silicate nickel concentrations in the metallurgic composition of the block and head castings making them very hard unlike Fords and Chevy and other Mfr's engine blocks so no worries there. The valves are not tiny the passage way is constructed as to allow for more bottom end torque which compliments the slow duration cam in your engine which in turn provides bucket full helpings of torque. To put this into perspective, you can always tell the guys with the chevy or ford blocks cause they are red lining their engines at the line before the light turns red. The guy with the nailhead on the other hand, only needs to step on the gas when the light turns green with loads of torque at his command.

…. all good information from good folks yet we thinks perhaps Blackpack might be getting a little overwhelmed. So with that said, here is some more overwhelming yet pertinent info read regarding what oil to use and if you are thinking of buying current off the shelf oil including diesel oil as was mentioned above. No affiliation with Swepco whatsoever. Just a user not an abuser : DIESEL SERVICE RATING “CJ-4” The newest diesel engine oil service classification is API: “CJ-4,” sometimes just referred to as “CJ.” The major cause of change for this rating was to meet the 2007 Low-Emission Diesel Engines specifications. The concern once again was due to exhaust emissions. It had been determined that on engines using a DPF (diesel particulate filter), it would be plugged up by the heavy metals in the additive package of the engine oils which were graded up to CI-4 plus. The newer diesel emissions systems can reach temperatures as high as 1,600º F. Heavy metal additives destroy the system. Therefore any engine oil prior to CJ- 4 which is not formulated for these engines should not be used. According to the new specs for CJ-4, the oil must contain lower levels of ZDDP, Calcium and Phosphorous, it must also not have a TBN any higher than 9. TBN is a measure of the oil’s alkaline reserve, which is used for fighting off the damaging effects of acid. Diesel oils which are formulated for “Low-Emission Engines” when used in pre-2007 engines has been reported as having premature bearing wear in as little as 10,000 miles. First showing up on the Ford Power Stroke series 6.0 & 7.3 liter, GM’s Duramax, and Dodge / Cummins 5.9 liter engines. Commercial truck and heavy equipment application reports have not yet come in, but if the precursor is any indication, it doesn’t look good. Furthermore, if any type of oil additive is used to help the friction modification of these oils, including molybdenum disulfide , they will also poison the system in diesel applications. THE BAD NEWS IS: Hopefully, you will realize the gravity of this situation. If you are involved in the servicing of pre 2007 automobiles, trucks or other equipment, you should continue to use engine oil which is NOT rated “SM/ CJ-4.” More than likely it can be the cause of premature wear in those pre- 2007 engines. Actually, as far as engine wear is concerned, it could in fact also cause more wear in the 2007 engines as well, but you increase the possibility of catalytic converter problems when the engine gets to the point in which it starts using a little oil if you use a pre– SM grade. Personally, I would think this to be minimal, and would rather replace a catalytic converter than an engine. Many engine builders when first realizing the problem with wear in low ZDDP oils started recommending the use of a “good diesel oil” in gasoline engines. This recommendation cannot be given any longer unless the diesel specification is CI-4 or previous, and has a full additive package. If the oil is rated SM/CJ, you donot have a full additive package for the older engines. Generally if you see an oil with a label stating “For Low-Emission Engines”, it will NOT have a full additive package which gives the full protection needed for older engines. You have now heard the bad news about engine oil, as the old saying goes “A word to the wise is sufficient.” THE GOOD NEWS IS: A completely unprecedented decision concerning new engine oil specifications by Southwestern Petroleum Corporation with their SWEPCO brand 306 Supreme Formula Engine Oil has been made. Usually in the past when a specification rating went into effect, they have been right in there with the new specs and introduced any changes in formulation into the product when it was time to do so. However, in this case, when the specs went into effect last October, they had held back on re-formulating to meet them. I am very pleased to inform our valued customers and prospects that we will continue to provide swepco 306 Supreme Formula Engine Oil with a full-bodied additive package, rated at SL/CI-4 Plus formula in the following weights: 10W30, 15W40 and 20W50. For engines requiring 5W30, it is rated SJ/CI-4. The TBN on this oil is 10.3, vs. the newer 9.0 max for diesel. The detergent, dispersant and antiwear (zinc) levels are still higher than most other oils on the market rated SL/ CI-4. SWEPCO is not going to introduce a SM/CJ product into the market until more testing has been completed and they are able to supply an oil which will surpass the needs of the specification without sacrificing the protection you have come to rely on with SWEPCO lubricants. In any case, it will not be a reformulated “306” oil. The 306 will remain an SL/CI-4 for pre-2007 engines. ~~~~~~.

…. yes the " floating ball of love " is the magnetic both breaker and contact point. Very simple reliable genius applied here …..

… There has been a small library of posts on this very same question. Suggest you do a complete and exhaustive search on all the forums and take notes. With that said, here are some starter take home pointers keeping in mind, that your straight eight engine is of lifter cam design that has many contact surfaces throughout it's engine components and today's oils are designed for today's modern overhead non contact roller cam designs. Two completely different animals here : - Straight 30 weight conventional DINO Oil if you are only driving it in the spring, summer & early fall. or 15-30 multi. - Stay away from all of today's synthetics or currently any of the rated API oils that have been up rated after 2001 or after a API - L rating. This is not a subjective topic if you truly educate yourself. Again your research will explain how the devil here is in the details. - Do not use today's currently rated oils nor oils that are for low sulfur, low emissions and equipt cars. - Use only oils with known stated high zinc / phos concentrations above 1200 ppm that also have a low ash content. All current off the store shelf oils have been formulated for emissions equipment etc and have low/low levels of these compounds down into the 800 ppm levels. We like what is currently offered by Swepco Oil Company. They make and sell through their distributors a straight weight conventional 30 weight oil that still has these high Zinc/ Phos concentrations (ZDDP) in the 1400 ppm levels with additives to counter the acidic nature of your vintage designed engine.

…. appears it is time for you to paint the gas tank pan area. If you are attempting to maintain pristine correct appearance, then this entire area was painted a rust/brown semi flat from the factory. One of the best solutions for this is to use epoxy catalyzed paint that is a 1:1 ratio. I use Southern Polyurethanes, Inc out of Georgia for my epoxy primer source and found it to be unbeatable. Through much trial and error for the correct color hue is to purchase 1-qt of their black and 1-qt of their red epoxy. Then mix in a design ratio of 12 parts red to 3 parts black. This will get right on the money. The inner trunk pan and wheel well areas are painted in this color as well as is the complete floor pan areas right up to the lower half of the firewall, then it is body color from there on up. The rear axle hub pumpkin front case is painted in this hue as well.

…. well Phil, as you may recall back in April we got a little toasting from some of our fellow brethren regarding buick man's suggestions on how to go about 'contracting' with a shop as well as what to look for when selecting a a Dynaflow transmission rebuilder. We also included the necessity of making sure the rebuilder performs a pre-drop & tear down psi test as well as a post rebuild psi test. But anyways, having said all that back in April, it only leaves you where you are today. Had the post rebuild psi tests been preformed the rebuilder would of been able to determine that reverse operation was faulty. This can still be done with the transmission in the car. However with that said, there is little doubt that a drop and exploratory surgery of the transmission is in order. Perform the pre-drop psi tests first. Then the post op psi tests to confirm all pumps, bands & seals are functioning properly. Incidentally, a properly adjusted and operating Dynaflow, regardless if it has 80,000 miles on it or has just been rebuilt, when shifted into reverse, one will hear a very slight whirl of the pump and then the reverse action response will be almost immediate and quiet even while backing down the street at 10 miles an hour. Transmission fluid is just that. A fluid and not an oil. It's major functional purpose is to transfer heat and also to allow pressure sensitive equipment a means to be functional. It should be red and not brown or gray. Brown would mean burnt fluid and gray would indicate metal filings. Also if the reverse anchor is non functional for a number of reasons, the car will simply not go into reverse.

…. Gee out of those 400,000 plus Buicks built in 1957, guess my Coupe 76A doesn't know if it should feel kinda unique or as an outcast, what with just only some 2,800 built !

… you would think at first glance it was a Caddy, but if truth be told, it really started out as a 49 Buick Roadmaster Fastback. Note the tell tale roof antennae, a give-away if there ever was one.

…. oops you guys are kinda getting a little out there cause in the mid seventies white walls were kinda rare if you would see any at all. Cause if you go wide, well the next thing you know Chuck your gonna be asking us where a good set of Wire Rim could be had and this could be the result : Sock It To Me Baby …..

….. HomeTown Buick has a really cool color configurator setup to select and view how your color combinations will look. Here's the link and have fun : http://www.hometownbuick.com/1957-buick/1957-buick-configurator/

… Victor if you want to be completely and 100% organically correct, the bottom of the car was left in the Buick factory's flat rust colored primer as was the trunk pan area. This presents itself as a brownish/red tint. For example you can do as I did if using 2 part epoxy. My epoxy source was obtained from SPI or Southern Polyurethanes Inc. out of Georgia. After many attempts to match the factory color as the color out of mass produced cans were way off, my final mix formula was found to be 12 parts Red epoxy to 3 parts Black epoxy mixed together. For example in using this mix formula to mix up a given quantity one would add 20 mls of red, twelve times, then add to that, 20 mls of black three times to your mix container. You get the idea. This will give you a correct factory tone to your color. If for any reason someone is reading this and want to just touch up original factory time faded primer, On the last coat reduce your mix amount by 50%. This will result in a faux time faded ( lightened ) overall tone effect that will match the true factory color as it would appear today and match any original good existing factory primer. This is done because the first two coats of non reduced epoxy you applied are actually doing all the protection work while this 50% reduced coat is delivering the time faded look you need to match the original look. By reducing I mean you are adding urethane reducer to the final mix. With SPI epoxies as like with many other epoxies, the paint to hardener ratio mix is 1 : 1. So to that you would add 1/2 or 50% of whatever your 1 : 1 amounts were resulting in a greatly reduced mix that renders the look you want. - Hope this helps out.

Wooly …. just a point regarding just using regular ol steel wool. What you want is not a wool cut but a fiber cut. The greater surface area is what is required for the breather dynamics to work properly. Stuffing fine milled steel wool that one finds off the shelf is too fine and has little to know surface area. We use copper or stainless scrub pads sourced from kitchenware sections of your store, but with the correct wide surface area of each strand. They look kinda like accordions strands. Hope this helps …..

…. if as you say the car has never been painted it is then the original lacquer paint. In addition to this the cross over paint codes cannot match the original factory toners that were used when the car was original as they are no longer available. The toners zero in a color. So with that established, as you say you have tried paint samples and they are too dark then you must be getting premixed colors created with the new toners and or the formulas are off whack as well. The only thing to do would be to find a source that can use today's lacquer which by the way due to EPA uses acetone as a solvent base which is different from the original base used. But one can still work with it and attempt to duplicate the color by custom blending and mixing. The other paint system you could use is a single stage urethane, which through manipulation of the spraying technique and educing the final coat 50/50 one can achieve a lacquer look. The metallic size will have to be determined via analysis of a original paint chip. Yes this a somewhat daunting process yet very doable but many of us have had to do this to achieve an original look in our match ups. Edit: Here is a link to a site where a lot of how to do articles are posted. Scan down and read any and all that relate to painting and perhaps this will get you going in the right direction. http://www.southernwheels.com/archives.htm

Ultra-Nice and the non existent rarer than rare factory Buick floor mats are a real super bonus.

… Good to hear it … One foot in front of the other…Keep going !

Beemon, I do not have these contacts available at present and would have to look that info up. One of them i got out of Hemmings about 5 years ago, which is a Dad & Son team that make these braided DOT 4 Teflon lines in-house and can make them black as well. They also sleeve wheel cylinders in brass or ss. The Porsche community run these lines on their cars both street and strip. I have had them on my 79 wide body Targa since 2001 and work great. Only drawback is you should change them every 4 years or there bouts since their inner teflon linings break down eventually. Braided lines have been around for many years. As mentioned in my previous post, the benefit is a firmer feel to the brake pedal as less give is available to the walls of the flexible rubber hose lines. Just take your size, length, O.D., I.D. and you can find folks to make them up for you. I was posting this to let folks know about them and to be aware that greater brake pedal feel can be had and how.

Wooly … For your consideration, a mushy brake pedal can many times be that the interior "sight-on-seen" area of your brake hoses have broken down. Be advised if replacing your rubber lines one can replace them with DOT 4 stainless metal sleeved lines and can obtain them in covert black as well as shiny stainless. The reason to consider this option is even when rubber brake lines are new they will expand when pressure is applied especially when hot or stressed. On the other hand, the metal sleeved lines do not allow this expansion. You will feel an immediate improvement in pedal feel and response. If you go on to Hemming's dot com, look up for brake rebuilding services. You can buy the complete power master brake setup from the sources found there. We are skeptical of sleazbay vendors in general and some specifically. The information given by Beemon is very correct and especially that regarding having someone "bore n sleeve" your Bendix or Moraine unit for 57 or 58 unit. Just purchase the needed items from these rebuilders. Going to active rebuilders and purchasing their gaskets and brake wares that they themselves use is IMO, superior for many reasons than purchasing off a retail parts vendors only that are not actually using and installing those parts everyday themselves.

…. well Pete u are absolutely right. But for the folks who just want yard art and nothing else this might just be priced right. It's now becoming more apparent I predict that a lot of this ear of cars is just now moving into that category. You know like all those old model T's that are in front of county stores or the vineyard with the rusty Ford T flat bed truck out front with wine barrels in the back. Perhaps this era of cars have arrived just in time to replace all those old stationary relics of days gone by….

…. So take a look at this as I just came across it. A 1953 Roadmaster Coupe with all the fixings & Trimmings !! The place is liquidating a what appears to be 200 car rest home for tired and neglected Buicks. From the photos it appears a buickman 2 or 3 gallons of Marvel Mystery Oil treatment to start with after a good cleaning and vacuuming of course along with a good Tig/Mig setup and grinder would get things humming right along on a road to restoration bliss. Located in Mankato, Minnesota and that's just not that far from Sioux Falls, So. Dakota - 507-386-1726 If that helps ! Photos posted here for posterity to see what some $ 5,400 greenies will get cha. Ya just gotta love it as these places and these cars just like this - are disappearing faster than the " Made In U.S.A. tags " on the things you buy everyday . Well rest assured this one is Made In America and won't be found Walfart - http://www.autabuy.com/Vehicles/Details.cfm?VID=16926830&Year=1953&Make=Buick&Model=Roadmaster

Oh, great point lancemb. I sent my metal rag joint and other steering column attachment components out to be real silver cadmium plated to Van Nuys Plating, in Van Nuys, CA., along with a big batch of other silver cad components. As for the rag joint, and after some research I went to this site http://www.borgeson.com/contact.html , as these guys have been around since before time and make everything right here in the USA as Dorman cannot say the same. Yes so I will be reusing my metal components and just using their rubber. The guy at Borgeson told me it is just the same thing as a side wall out of a tire with all the same ply's and such and even commented on that's where the material comes from. Gee, if I have a crap tire laying around next time and the right size Fostner bits, just might make my own by using the old one as a pattern.

Thank you kindly guys. I think NAPA has one but wanted to se if any real like-kind OEM quality rag sources are out there instead of the china stuff I have seen. Here is a possible good candidate and comes with correct mounting plates : http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-23846-31002.aspx?origin=keyword