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1939 Buick Special restoration


39BuickEight

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  • 2 months later...

Working on the passenger doors, rear door was in great shape, just some minor body sanding and prepping.  On the other hand, though the front door looked just like it on the outside, it was awful on the inside.  Previous repairs, way too much filler, and the door brace was rusted away.  That was odd since my original door, that thank goodness I still had, was not like that at all.  On my original car, the hinges were rusted horribly, but on the parts car, the inside of the door was.  Its always interesting to see the differences.  We are going to swap all of the door hardware to the old door now.

 

The door that looked good on the outside but is rotted on the inside with a very poor previous repair (yes, the whole bottom is filler, and they covered the weep holes):

 

 

IMG_3266.thumb.JPG.707196cb504ff0c95c1af63a5793f9dd.JPGIMG_3268.thumb.JPG.be17894502c16e7c789c82e863391a21.JPG

 

My original door that we blasted and primed before we acquired the new car that we are using now, some minor small rust holes that are easily repaired:

 

IMG_3265.thumb.JPG.0cdfd78130e0a992a4cb8358589988ec.JPGIMG_3267.thumb.JPG.770572f57746d13c5d155bdd41d56851.JPG

 

 

the door we thought was going to be usable without much repair:

 

IMG_3270.thumb.JPG.b2a51e57292dd1e176e5a687ab569e2e.JPG

 

the door we are glad we still have from the original car:

 

IMG_3269.thumb.JPG.4a7e8b56d1192462fb2f080bc90d6588.JPG

Edited by 39BuickEight (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Billy, can you tell me how you adjust the door hinges?  I am specifically interested in the in/out adjustment.  The body manual isn't very clear to me on this.  I understand the left/right and up/down.  I'm working on a '40 which has the same set up.

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There are 2 ways to adjust the in/out.  You can insert shims between the hinge and the door (one of my doors had a very thin shim-requires taking the interior trim panel off).  You can also adjust the striker by loosening the screws on the side of the door that hold it on.  That adjusts how far it goes in and latches when closed.

 

From what I have found, the hinge itself does not adjust.  The holes that attach it to the body are tapered, so there is no adjustment.  It sets itself in place.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Hi Gary, Photobucket apparently wants money now to use their service.  I'm certainly not willing to give them anything, especially since I don't really use it for anything other than hosting photos.  Maybe strength in numbers will have them reconsider legacy-ing in those like myself rather than leaving us high and dry.  I bet their customer service dept is going nuts right now.

 

I can only imagine all of the internet threads that are now like this.

 

Maybe one day when I have a few spare weeks I can redo it.  I have all of the photos stored on my own computer of course.

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It has been a great project from the start, however, I agree with the post above so guess I will miss the finish. So Sorry.

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I will continue the thread with my own uploads, so nobody will miss the finish.  :)

 

Back when I started using the site (and virtually every other car related site/forum) one had to use a hosting site like photobucket in order to show photos.  Forums like this did not allow direct uploads.  Now they do. 

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Today we planned on going fishing until we realized there was a tournament at our local lake.  We weren't going to deal with that mess, so we blasted a running board instead.  The other running board is all that remains with any original rust at all.

 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Wow! What a project! Nice work so far. I recently purchased a 39 Special, too, coincidentally in Sequoia Cream! It also was originally a black car, but that color on top of all that 30's style hooked me. Mine is a decent driver that will never win any prizes, but that's what I wanted.  I reviewed your project to date enthusiastically! I have a lot to learn, and it appears this is the right place for that.

 I see you worked on your running boards. Those are twice the width of mine. Mine are body color, with chrome strips. We're there options? Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Larry Elliott

image.jpg

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Hey thanks a lot!  There was a streamboard option in 1939--your car has those. 

 

I've been building another garage at my house for the past several months, so progress on the car has slowed.  Body work isn't too exciting anyway.   :P 

 

We hope to get it in paint in 2018!

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  • 1 month later...
On 1/7/2018 at 12:27 PM, 70sWagoneers said:

Wow. Super interesting option. Ahead of its time in a way

I met a guy last summer that has a pair for either a 39 or a 40.  If you have any interest and want his name, PM me.

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Progress very slow this winter, father had had some medical problems, my brother has had 2 trucks in the shop he is working on taking up space.   

 

We want the shop empty other than the Buick so we can take it all back apart for paint and lay it all out in a nice, neat, orderly way so it all goes back together better.  Like they say, it takes a one car garage to park a car, but 2-3 to take one apart :)

 

Still planning to get in paint this year.

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  • 2 weeks later...

HI, thanks a lot!  Nice car!

 

I had a parts car, so I was fortunate to have 2 of just about everything at one point.  I used my original pump at first, but it went bad one day while starting it up in the shop, so we swapped out the other one.

 

Mt first idea would be eBay>  I see water pumps on there all the time.

 

Here is a NOS one right now, appears high to me, but just an example:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1936-1949-Buick-Water-Pump-NOS-in-Original-Box-OEM-1393739/162831866999?fits=Year%3A1939|Make%3ABuick&hash=item25e9891c77:g:BtMAAOSwbtNaS3TP&vxp=mtr

 

here is a kit:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1938-1939-1940-Buick-Water-Pump-Kit-K-502-Series-40-50-RARE/391928736604?hash=item5b40c5eb5c:g:zn0AAOSwhVxaD0K3&vxp=mtr

 

Also, of course, there are any number of folks who rebuild them for people.

 

Edited by 39BuickEight (see edit history)
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  • 2 months later...

I just noticed the following line in your signature "restoration thread below, I have no idea what that picture is as it is not my car or in my thread???"

I think you created the link in your signature right after Earl Beauchamp replied in post 3. He posted that photo in his reply. When you create a link, I think the software uses the last photo posted in the discussion. If you were to update your signature with a new link, after posting a photo of your car, I think the link would then display a photo of your car. 

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