'52 Roadmaster: A Laundry List

[Cubelodyte]

I haven't checked them out yet, but that's the plan. The wheels will be coming off soon; I just ordered four new whitewall tires from Lucas Classic Tires, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to give the brake system a nice thorough once-over.

Plug for Lucas: they were recommended to me by a fellow down in LA who's a Buick nut, and I have to say that their prices were pretty good, the fellow on the phone knew his business, and the freight charges ($10/tire!) sounded too good to pass up.

[Roadmaster75]

My experience with DOT 5 has been on two vehicles; both

new builds.

1935 Ford 3 window street rod and a 1949 Willys-Overland Jeepster.

In 13 years of DOT 5 in the Ford .... no leaks or issues with rubber components.

In the Jeepster (stock braking system, but all new stuff) the only component

affected prematurely has been the pressure type brake light switch. Have to replace that every two or three years. However, pressure type switches have

always been flaky in my opinion. I use DOT 3 in my 58 Roadmaster, but still end up needing new brake switches every few years.

The brake systems I have with DOT 5 have proven to be exceptionally clean internally upon inspection. I'll continue to use DOT 5 on new builds or major brake overhauls.

Mike

[Cubelodyte]

So I've got new brake hoses. Got plenty of brake fluid. Been reading the shop manual. Got myself a flexible funnel. Ordered some new tires on Wednesday from Lucas down in Long Beach, hundreds of miles away. Figure "so I'll just wait until the tires get here to start really looking at the suspension; it'll probably take a couple of weeks for them to bother to ship, I'll get to it after the holidays..."

I go into the garage tonight to plug the Christmas lights in, and find that baby's new shoes have already arrived. Buh? The wife didn't even bother to mention it! :eek:

I guess I got no excuse to procrastinate now. But I'm curious as to exactly where the best places are to rest the thing on jack stands. I've done it just on the frame itself before, and that seemed okay, but was wondering if there is some better place. The manual is strangely silent on the issue.

[Cubelodyte]

Oh, got the wheels blasted/powdercoated and the tires mounted. Amazing what new tires will do for the look of a jalopy.

Having a hell of a time with the brake lines, though. I'm in the middle of replacing the hoses; before the rear hose finally came loose after several days' application of PB Blaster and elbow grease, I attempted to disconnect both hardlines, reasoning that I could then take the T junction off the chassis and go to town on the hose fitting.

I was only ever able to get the LR hardline loose, however. The RR flare nut is stuck in there so good that not even vise grips will break it free, and it's a little rounder now than when I started.

Additionally, the LR nut now doesn't seem to want to go back into the T at a 90-degree angle anymore. So I'm wondering about the health of the brass T and thinking that maybe I should replace it and run new rear lines. Does anybody have a source for such T brake line junctions? I haven't been able to find them online yet.

[1957buickjim]

Cube,

Try Inline Tube - Preformed Stainless & OEM Brake Line Sets. They make pretty much everything for classic brake systems. If they dont have it, they may give you some ideas where to find it. You also migh check a really good plumbing supply store for fittings. Big box stores have some, but not like you probably need. Hope this helps.

The car is looking sweet...you are right about the new skins on the re-done wheels..nice:)

[Malo48]

I second Jim on Inline Tube; they have a LOT of components and whole line kits, and I've had recent good experiences with them. Also, Napa might have the T that you need.

The car looks really good! Thanks for the Lucas tire tip, by the way.

[Cubelodyte]

Oh, glad to help with the tires. Lucas really is pretty good.

My experience with DOT 5 has been on two vehicles; both

new builds.

1935 Ford 3 window street rod and a 1949 Willys-Overland Jeepster.

In 13 years of DOT 5 in the Ford .... no leaks or issues with rubber components. The brake systems I have with DOT 5 have proven to be exceptionally clean internally upon inspection. I'll continue to use DOT 5 on new builds or major brake overhauls.

Question: If one isn't supposed to mix DOT 3/4 with DOT 5, how do you clean the plumbing? Is it sufficient to merely flush the system until you're pushing nothing but DOT 5 through the bleeder valves, or is there some cleaning agent/action required?

[JohnD1956]

Having a hell of a time with the brake lines, though. I'm in the middle of replacing the hoses; before the rear hose finally came loose after several days' application of PB Blaster and elbow grease, I attempted to disconnect both hardlines, reasoning that I could then take the T junction off the chassis and go to town on the hose fitting.

I was only ever able to get the LR hardline loose, however. The RR flare nut is stuck in there so good that not even vise grips will break it free, and it's a little rounder now than when I started.

Additionally, the LR nut now doesn't seem to want to go back into the T at a 90-degree angle anymore. So I'm wondering about the health of the brass T and thinking that maybe I should replace it and run new rear lines. Does anybody have a source for such T brake line junctions? I haven't been able to find them online yet.

The car looks great with those tires. The brake lines are another one of those things that's a PIA till you do it a few times.

As for the left side not going back in, the first thing is don't force it to go. Unless you start the brake line perfectly square, it will strip the brass threads and the tee will have to be replaced. One thing to do is put the brake line nut up to the fitting and then turn it by hand as if you were taking it off. As you turn it in the off direction, when the line and tee are square you will feel the nut slip in a fraction of an inch. That's generally your clue that the line is square and you can reverse direction and get the nut started. Usually I try to make sure I get more than a full turn on the nut before taking a wrench to it.

To get the feel for this, go to any auto parts store and buy a 6" piece of line with a barrel connector, and then practice a few times to see what I mean.

As for the line that won't come off, it's too late now but we usually cut the line as close to the nut as possible, and then use a six point socket on the nut while holding the "t" with a suitable sized wrench. Of course this means the line has to be replaced.

For the T and for the lines, I use my local NAPA store. Todays mild steel lines are just as good as originals and actually they are soft enough that with some practice you can bend them by hand and get very close to factory appearance. For a few bucks more NAPA has coated lines which won't rust over and according to the counter guy, are even slightly easier to bend. I did buy several varieties of cheaper line benders for the tough curves.

[Cubelodyte]

I'm going to give Inline Tube a call instead of cursing my way through multiple misbent tubes, I think.

In the meantime I was going to clean up the valve cover on the engine, which looks crummy; the paint has deteriorated badly. The turquoise appears to have had a black undercoat (not sure if that is original or not).

So I decided to to start with the filler cap to see what my CARS-supplied turquoise paint looked like. I sprayed a bit of it directly into my overspray box first, just to test, and I'm glad I did: It wasn't turquoise-colored. It was closer to a bluish forest green! I'm sure this is wrong, despite what their labels say. Now I've got two cans of this crap I don't think I can use.

'52 engines were indeed turquoise, right? I seem to remember reading that this darker color was on the nailheads or an even later engine.

[old-tank]

.... CARS-supplied turquoise paint looked like. I sprayed a bit of it directly into my overspray box first, just to test, and I'm glad I did: It wasn't turquoise-colored. It was closer to a bluish forest green! I'm sure this is wrong, despite what their labels say. Now I've got two cans of this crap I don't think I can use.

'52 engines were indeed turquoise, right? I seem to remember reading that this darker color was on the nailheads or an even later engine.

Did you say CARS? Whouda thunk it? Is my engine closer to what you want? I had it custom mixed to match my low mileage original.

Willie

[1957buickjim]

Willie,

If you don't mind answering a few questions, what type of paint? and who mixed it? and do you have the formula / mixing information? If these are trade secrets, I'll understand. This has been an issue for a while, especially with Buick Man and myself, since I have been using Hirsch paint that I bought in 1990, which is phenomonally close to your color, and his is quite a bit more apple green...Thanks for any input you can provide.

[old-tank]

Willie,

If you don't mind answering a few questions, what type of paint? and who mixed it? and do you have the formula / mixing information? If these are trade secrets, I'll understand. This has been an issue for a while, especially with Buick Man and myself, since I have been using Hirsch paint that I bought in 1990, which is phenomonally close to your color, and his is quite a bit more apple green...Thanks for any input you can provide.

It was mixed and painted in 1995 with non catalyzed acrylic enamel. A local auto paint supplier matched a sample that brought (no forumula,but I remember the one who mixed it remarked that there was lots of black to make it 'dirty'). Now, acrylic enamel is a rare bird nowadays, being replaced by polyurethanes (catalyzed). Previous paints that I bought were synthetic enamel, slow drying, lots of overspray, but very durable.

Willie

[Cubelodyte]

Well, now I'm confused. The color on my valve cover, oil cap, and oil pan are pretty similar to this or this. I just got a can of Buick Turquoise from Hirsch, and, well, it looks just like the stuff from CARS, which in turn is pretty much like this POR-15 color sample:

[Cubelodyte]

After some close comparison it seems that the Hirsch stuff is slightly lighter and bluer than the CARS paint, but still neither is as light as what came on the engine.

[Cubelodyte]

Got the brakes fixed, and I finally took it out for a "real" drive today and put the Roadmaster through its paces around the neighborhood, and some nearby straight-as-an-arrow farm roads. I probably drove about ten, maybe fifteen miles or so at varying speeds. I don't really know what my top speed was; the speedometer needle "bounces" around all the time. Boing, boing. It's obviously busted somehow but I haven't the foggiest notion how to fix it. I'm guessing I hit a high speed of 60ish.

When I got back home, I heard what sounded like the radiator boiling, and steam (it didn't smell like smoke) issuing from the valve cover breather cap. Neither seems good- or should I expect the former, at least? Have I just found the next things that need fixing?