apb

That's pretty straight forward. Is it really that simple?

No, it really is discharging. I took it to Cruzing Grand last night and coming home it was a good thing I had a good freshly charged battery as the old needle was really drooping. It does come up a little when the revs increase but not nearly enough to get to positive ground. I'll try to look at the brushes today and perhaps drill the rivets and look at the regulator.

The point about brushes is good advice. I'll have to check the condition. I tried to separate the contacts but they are well and truly stuck. I thought about heating with a soldering iron but suspect that one is gone.

Aaron, Thanks for the link. It looks like what you are doing is establishing the polarity of any iron in the system. I was not aware of that need. I suspect that is OK on my system as it charges a little, just not enough. The guess of the regulator is probably a pretty good one. I tried to pull the cover to check the contacts and it seems to be installed with rivets. I have a spare but it has a welded contact. I also have a spare generator of dubious functionality. I'll just have to keep peeling the onion.

The car does show discharge when running, even at a pretty good clip (I don't have a suitable Tach). I am not familiar with polarizing the regulator so I will need to figure out what that's all about. I haven't had this car on the road much so I'm not sure how bad the problem is yet. The charge seems to come up a bit when up to speed but doesn't get above horozontal. I don't think there is any discharge when off and there is no additional load added to the car. I'm going to Cruzing Grand (the local Friday night thing) for the first time tonight so I shold know more tomorrow.

I'm far from an expert on these cars but my understanding is that the '55s did not come with duals and it's a major project to convert them as there are several things in the way including the master cylinder.

Sorry no proctologisis in the circle. I'm pretty tool enabled but don't have a bore scope. I do have a very small TV camera that I use in guitar repair that would probably show the thing but I'll probably just use a feeler of some sort. In feeling the ring with my finger it feels a little rough so perhaps I'll apply a little scotch brite while it's jacked up.

Here hear to that. I am very aware that you can never tell what you really have on some of these cars that have been patched together. At least I don't think it came from Cuba.

I'd say it depends on the orifice size and viscosity. Sounds impressive though.

Does anyone know of modern instruction for testing the charging circuits for generators / regulators? All the procedures in the shop manual uses pretty old equipmement. I know I can reproduce some of it with modern instrumentation as a voltmeter today is better than it was then etc. The mystery of the Allen tester etc is what are the switches connecting? I would think that modern instruments would allow one to trouble shoot the system by measuring voltages and perhaps some resistance. I am pretty familiar with electronics and know for instance that I should be able to measure the resitance of a field coil and not have to connect 12V and measure the current. In this case the resistance can be calculated from the current specified at 12v. As one may guess from all this ramble I have a generator system that is not charging.

I see. I'll have to check that out. That could explain why there is no part there now. I would think if it is large enough to catch and break the brush I would be able to feel it if I rotate the wheel a full revoloution.

Actually the first character is not a 1 but is the letter i. The list shows a - between the last numbers but I don't have that. I believe the engine has a pully on the front and not a harmonic damper, that said the engine is not without some vibration. I had written that off to not having the proper balance weights on the torque converter and the trans has been replaced but could it be a combination? The paint on the pully does look like it has been with the engine for some time.

Thanks Ed, I am aware of that site but can't find anything that seems to match up. Perhaps I'm not looking at it correctly and someone can explain it to me.

I have a nailhead in a '55 46r with a block sn I can't figure out. Based on the distance of the manifold bolts I think it is a 264 or a 322 but not sure which. The car should have a 264 but I was told it is a 322. The block serial # is I3074204

As usual, great info. Thanks I expect that Wheatbelt will have the part. I checked the continuity from the end of the wire and the slip ring as good so I would think the ring might be ok. I would hate to have to pull the whole assembly apart to get that working.

Well the top part (AI) is pretty easy to fabricate but the lower piece (AC), which I am also missing, is a little more difficult. Does that part cross to anything more modern or avaialble? I put in a call to Wheatbelt to see what they might have. Any other ideas / suggestions?

That's exactly what I thought. How does the wire connect to the end terminal? Is it a set scew or did they solder it? It may be easier for me to make those parts than find them. I would assume that the end terminal is made of brass and the insulator could be nylon or what ever? Where do I find the drawing you show? I have been looking for that sort of detail and it has eluded me. I have the Buick shop manual and the Motors repair and parts book but they don't show that kind of detail. Thanks again for the great help.

Well so much for diligence. I just found the horn button section in the manual. This manual still suprises me. Things I expect to be there aren't and then I find detail I did not expect. Is there susposed to be some sort of pin in the steering shaft that the wire connects to? The manual talks about adjustment but does not show the connection details. That makes sense for if the part was in there it would be pretty simple. Found a picture of a pin and insulator on a Caddy and wonder if the Buick is missing something like that. I'll have to study the parts I have vs the manual illustration in the daylight and see if I can make sense of it all.

while I was working on the turnsignal / brake light issue I have the steering wheel off and should probably fix the horn button while I'm in there but I don't understand all I see. There is a wire inside the steering shaft as expected but there is nothing to connect it to. Should there be a ring or something between the spring and cup to connect the wire to? Any pics of what should be in there?

After writing the above I dedided that the switch can not possibly work with the ball in there so I took them out and Volia, brake light and turns signals work! I can't understand how they got in there in the first place but could someone please confirm that they don't belong?

Can someone please explain how the turn signal switch contacts are susposed to work? It seems like the brass contacts in the moving block should make contact with the brass pins in the base plate which has the wires attached to it but the balls which are between the contact and base plate are large enough that only one end of the brass contact can touch at a time. What is the purpose of the balls? It seems like it would work better without them.

After a bit more searching in the misc. parts that came with the car I did manage to find the retainers and some bolts. I thought the bolts did not look like original Buick. Interestng that the blocks are a modification. I assembled it withe the blocks and I may leave them in as my other half is pretty small. Thanks for the response.

What does the front seat mounts look like on this car? The rear mounts on a wooden block with cap screws into nuts in the floor. The fronts have similar blocks but nowhere on the seat for the cap screws to go through. There seems to be some sort of cap that goes on top of the block and captures the seat bracket. Does anyone have a pic or description of this?

I guess that eliminates all doubt. Thanks for the advice and info.

I'm thinking it is not worth getting as about it's good for is internal parts. He's asking $200 and it's susposed to have about 500 miles on the rebuild. It was replaced by a 350/350 drivetrain.