Help needed in Finland in Buick Electra

[Guest Miksuka]

First, greetings from Finland and sorry about my poor english, hope you´ll understand.

Here´s our problem:

BUICK 4D ELECTRA Limited, manufacture year unknown, assuming 1979 or 1980. Car was imported in 1980 to Finland for very big forest industry company´s main chief. This car is only one of kind here in Finland.

Has been standing in barn for 4 years and now the owner want´s to go on ride again.

Thanks to birds and bees, around the carburetor was very much dirt and the vacuum tubes from carburetor were in very bad shape.

Unmounting the carburetor, we were not able to mark those tubes.

Now we don´t know what tube goes to where.

Below is picture of the plate that was found in car.

What are those drawing marks, where the tubes go from carburetor and where they locate in motor ?

We are grateful for any answers, that help us to get the car on road again.

[Pete Phillips]

Miksuka,

That drawing shows you where the vacuum hoses go. I do not own a 1979 Buick any more, and the photo you have attached is not large enough for me to read, but all of the information is there. The charcoal canister is the round thing at lower left corner of drawing, and it is located at left front of engine compartment. Attach two hoses to it, and follow the lines from it on the drawing, to see where the other ends attach. The carburetor is in center of the drawing, and the round thing behind it is (I think) the EGR valve, which takes a hose. It is mounted on the intake manifold behind the carburetor. I think the air cleaner that attaches to top of carburetor takes two vacuum hoses as well. That drawing tells you. If you want to send me a larger version of it, maybe I can help more. My email is pphillips922@earthlink.net

Or, maybe someone with a 1977, 1978, 1979, or 1980 full-size Buick can post a photo of their engine with the hoses attached.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Sherman, Texas

[JohnD1956]

Mikusa, Pete is right. The only thing not shown on your picture is the size of the hose. Usually the hose is 5/32nds and 7/32nd in diameter. I don't know what the metric conversions would be for those sizes.

Since the diagram shows a rear distributor, you are working on either a Chevy 350, or an Olds 350 or an Olds 403 motor. I'm certain you have the Olds motor. An Olds 350 would have engine code "R", while the 403 would have a code "K". The Chevy engine is code "L". The engine code is the letter in the seventh position in the Vin ID.

I see the diagram shows a "K" on it in two places. This tells me you have an Olds motor but I don't know which one. Hoses marked with the K probably exist on the Olds 403 version, not the Olds 350.

Also I would caution you to only use information designated for the year of the car. 77-80 was a period of a big changes and many things apply to just one year of manufacture. I have a manual for a 78 and will look up whatever you need but you'd have to consider that it's the wrong year for your car.

[Guest Miksuka]

Thank you for the replies.

I forgot to tell, that the carburetor is Quadrajet and the motor is 5,03 litres, which I have learned that is 307 and we assume that it is Olds.

Our situation is kind of funny, cause my older uncle is repairing that car. He has been working with cars 30 years. I know very little about cars, but I can little english and can handle computers and internet. So, when I get replies, I translate them to finnish and send the answers by post:), cause my uncle doesn´t own computer.

We are very grateful for any information you can tell.

Is there anything in that car (plate, serial number) that could tell us exact year of manufacture ?

If somebody want´s to write direct to me, my email is mika.kaltiainen@telemail.fi

If anybody is interested, here is the link in google maps showing where the car is nowadays: Kivilahti, Finland - Google Maps

[Guest karir]

Is there anything in that car (plate, serial number) that could tell us exact year of manufacture ?

Look VIN (serial number) from Rekisteriote and go here:

Buickgod.com Network - Preserving Buick History for Car Enthusiasts : Top : Buick Resource : VIN & Engine Info : All Models

Good luck with restoration, keep those Buicks rollin'

[Guest Miksuka]

Thanks karir, that was very helpful.

It really is 1981 model, 307ci V8 4bl carb.

This was very helpful information to us. Could you believe that local store and repair center, where my uncle has bought few parts to this car, thought all the time that engine is 350ci ?

Until when he asked me to help, we found out, that it is 307ci, what information was on Wikipedia in internet.

We´ll get that Buick rolling, even the repair information is a little hard to get.

Karir: How did you know that vehicle license is in finnish "rekisteriote" ? I´m just curious.