1952 Special Deluxe Project

[Guest Peter Bird]

Man, that is so nice to see that car on the road in those youtube videos. Was wondering how you managed to keep the camera so steady and then I realised, of course, it's a Buick! Well done and great to see.

I had to sell off my old 55 Century, sadly, but, went to a good, caring panel beater all the same. These things happen, but I am really delighted to see your progress!

[Guest shadetree77]

The ol' list is growing smaller and smaller every day! I wrapped up my "body work" today and I think it came out pretty good. If you'll remember, my car had some pretty serious damage on the drivers side. The bottom edge of the fender was completely rusted away and the door was punctured and dented. The car spent a good portion of its life in a barn and I'm assuming the damage was done by a tractor attachment. At least, that's what it looks like. This encounter left the door seriously mangled with giant 3 inch deep dents and some badly twisted up gouges. See the first picture for an idea of what I was working with. Now I do have a replacement door and fender, but they are green and look completely out of place on the car. It's going to be at least a few years before I'm able to paint this car so I decided to do some temporary repairs to my original sheet metal in the hopes that I could make it look decent enough to drive and show off a little.

DISCLAIMER

The methods I have used here are in no way to be considered "correct". This work is meant to be a TEMPORARY band-aid to last a few years until I can get my car done right and painted. I used several methods where I could have probably gotten away with using just a few but I did so purely for a learning experience. I had never cut my own metal patch panels (as a matter of fact I had never cut any large pieces of metal). I had never welded (much). I had never used fiberglass. I had never used body fillers. I had never aged paint. I can now say that I've done all of these things and I feel I have advanced my automotive working knowledge by a lot. Again, the things seen here are amateurish at best so please view the following with that in mind. On with the show!

I began by taping off the cut lines on my old fender. I used a cut off wheel to slice those off clean. I got some sheet metal, traced out my patterns, and cut them out. It took a few tries to get the panels right. Trial and error and a lot of measuring and re-cutting. I started out wanting to butt weld the patches. I did so on the small rectangular patch. I had a lot of trouble with the welder blowing through the thin sheet metal. Should have gotten thicker metal. It helped when I bought gas for my welder and stopped trying to use that crappy flux wire. I finally got the smaller patch welded in and ground down. Looked pretty rough but it held in there.

I had problems fitting the lower patch and my Dad suggested that I cut a larger one and lap weld it. I did so, but this didn't work out too good and left a large gap between the patch and fender. At this point I was out of sheet metal and out of patience so I was NOT going to cut a THIRD patch. I made the decision to try something I've never done. Mostly because I just wanted to learn how to do it. I decided to fiberglass over the welded in patch panel thus eliminating the large gap. With the help of my Wife, I successfully fiberglassed the fender and it came out perfectly shaped and hard as a rock. I sanded down the fiberglass and put a thin layer of body filler over it to smooth it out (my first time with body filler too). This was followed by some red primer and a topcoat of blue paint. In the end, I discovered that the original edge of the fender had an S-shaped curve to it that fits the chrome sweep spear trim along the rocker panels. My new patched fender had to be "slightly modified" with a cut off wheel to fit behind the chrome. Oh well, live and learn right? Looks good if you don't get right down and study it closely.

Next was the door. Heavy, heavy damage on that thing. I bought a slide hammer and went to work pulling out some of the large dents and hammering down some of the bumps. Not an easy task and I'm going to bear a scar for the rest of my life on the side of my hand where I pinched it in the damn slide hammer, but I got it looking better than it did. I then filled the holes and some of the larger dents with a product called POR-15 Epoxy Putty. This is some heavy duty stuff and works amazingly good. I used it to fill trim holes and floor holes on my old T-Bird years ago and it hasn't failed yet. It dries rock solid and can be sanded, drilled, tapped, pretty much anything you want to do with it. I then sanded this down even with the door metal and put a few thin coats of regular body filler over it to smooth everything out. It still looks bumpy and wavy in spots but considering what I started out with I think it looks good. There was no possible way to get that looking perfect without cutting out the damage and patching it. Something I would have attempted had the damage not been so close to the door edge. I have no way to roll a piece of sheet metal around the edge to make a new door skin.

I primed and painted the door just like I did the fender. I then got busy trying to age the newly repaired (maybe "repaired" is too strong of a word, "bettered" perhaps?:rolleyes:) panels to match the rest of the car. I used varying grits of sand paper to sand the paint. In some spots, I sanded through to the red primer to make it look like the rest of the car. So how did it come out? I would say pretty decent considering what I started with. I think that I accomplished my goals and I think it will last as a temporary measure until I do it right, on down the road. At the very least, it looks better than it did before and that's all that I wanted to begin with. Hope you had as much fun reading this as I did doing it. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.

[Guest Rob McDonald]

Excellent, creative work! There's a saying in the antique furniture conservation trade, "Intervene only so far that the repair does not catch the eye." I'd say you've accomplished that. There's very little in your work that jumps out and screams "I've been fixed". Your paint aging technique is very clever and the result is far better that how it all started. I'm truly inspired for when I tackle some rust repair on my Road Toad Valiant.

[Buicknutty]

The repairs look good, and of course is a huge improvement, plus the "ageing" looks great.

Keith

[Guest shadetree77]

Thanks guys. Rob, that was my goal exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself. Just keep that DISCLAIMER in mind before you start tossing the fiberglass around!

Got a few items to share. I got my rims and drums cleaned up and painted over the last few days. I removed all of the tires from the rims by hand. That was quite a task but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad. I used a couple of pry bars and my Dad taught me a trick to break the bead seal. We used a bumper jack on my old Tbird. Set the bottom of the jack on the tire and jack the car up until the seal pops loose. Worked perfectly. I put all of the tires back on the rims by hand too. I fought with it for a long time before I figured out the trick. You have to put the tire on the ground and stand on it. Then it goes on in minutes.

One other thing I that I did a little while back but never posted about was a little upgrade to the air cleaner. The extremely large oil bath air cleaner sits on top of the carb. and goes across the valve cover. It sits on a bracket that is welded to the valve cover. Being that both the valve cover and the air cleaner are freshly painted, I did not want it to get all scratched up. So I came up with a solution. I bought some velcro strips with adhesive backing. I took the soft part of the velcro out of the package and installed it around the clamp and on the bracket surface. This way you can set the air cleaner down on the bracket and clamp it down with no damage to the paint. Best part is you can't see any of this.

A little spoiler for you while I'm at it. I'll be taking Lucy on a journey to Chattanooga, TN today. I've completed several test drives and all were successful. Only problem I've noticed is a small oil leak on the oil pan gasket. I think I overtightened two of the bolts and pinched the gasket. Anyway, it's a 102 mile round trip on the interstate. I'm going to keep her at around 60 and make a few stops to check everything. Why am I going to Chattanooga you ask? I hear tell of a fellow up there that sells tires. I'm gonna' go see what he can do for me and Lucy.:cool: I'm hoping all goes well. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous. Wish me luck!

Edited September 13, 2013 by shadetree77 (see edit history)

[avgwarhawk]

She'll run fine. Enjoy the trip!

[Guest shadetree77]

Looks like you were right Chris!

http://forums.aaca.org/showthread.php?t=358872&p=1214600#post1214600

[avgwarhawk]

Just read that thread Robert. Got to have faith in your mechanical abilities and stopping to read the repair manual. Faith that the engineers in 52 understood how to create and make'em run without much issue. Nice work. Enjoy the road!

[Guest shadetree77]

Poked around at my shop a little bit today. Got a battery disconnect switch hooked up to the negative post. I don't like leaving the electrical hooked up for long periods of time. 60 year old wiring=not trustworthy. I got my new headlight shades in the mail today. I know a lot of people don't like them because they're not factory, but I love the way it makes the car look. Damn near sliced the tip of my thumb off putting them on though!! Things are like razor blades and I bled like a stuck pig! I took a few pictures (of the CAR not my bloody thumb!). I found my old fender cover that my Grandpa gave me back when him and my Uncle gave me my first car. He said he didn't remember exactly when he got it but he knew it was old. It's a cloth cover and says "Rented From Mechanics Laundry This Side Up". I've never seen another one.

[Guest Rob McDonald]

I like your shades. They not only extend the fender line nicely, they make the car look like that pinnacle of Buick styling, the '57! Nice blanky, too.

[avgwarhawk]

I like your shades. They not only extend the fender line nicely, they make the car look like that pinnacle of Buick styling, the '54!

Corrected. Thanks!

[buick840]

Corrected. Thanks!

That's funny ......

[buick5563]

Corrected. Thanks!

Like

[Buicknutty]

The shades look neat, Robert. I admire you for re and re of your tires. I did that once on the first '56 Buick I had in the early '70's, and it was such a pain in the ..., that I've never done it since!

Keith

[Guest shadetree77]

Not a whole lot going on lately. Lucy has several more successful test drives under her belt. Still going strong. I had to replace the oil pan gasket due to a massive leak that developed near the back. I didn't use any sealant when I put it on. In a perfect world where your gasket mounting surfaces are perfectly level you shouldn't need sealant. Being that my engine is 60 years old and my oil pan is a little warped, this time I used sealant on both sides of the gasket. Guess what? Still have a small leak on the back part.:mad: Well, I think it's the pan leaking. I haven't gotten back under there to check yet. I'm hoping that it's just the pan plug. I put an o-ring on that instead of a gasket and I'm really hoping it's causing my leak. I really don't want to put ANOTHER gasket on that pan. Three times is enough. Got my transmission dip stick leak fixed too. It still had the original rubber coupling and tower top clamps on it. I replaced it with a piece of rubber hose and modern style clamps. Found a small leak on my master cylinder. It appears to be leaking from the piston side which I think means there is fluid getting around the cup on the inside. Will it never end with these d@mn brakes?? I swear, if I take that thing apart and find out that Hagen's put the cup in there backwards I'm going to drive to Washington state and place a boot firmly in someone's.....:mad:. Fixed a leak on my fuel pump too. It was weeping fuel around the drain plug on the bottom. I managed to get a wrench in there and tightened it a little. Hopefully, that fixed it. Geeze, what's up with all of these leaks?? At least my Dynaflow is still bone dry. Wait....maybe I shouldn't have said that. Excuse me while I go find some wood to knock on.

Edited September 28, 2013 by shadetree77 (see edit history)

[SonOf2Buicks]

I enjoy watching this build thread keep going. Love the Patina look of your Buick !! Enjoy the fruits of your labor.

[Buicknutty]

Robert;

That's the way it goes sometimes with these old cars. I got couple of oil leaks on my '41, and I went through the same stuff, clean the surfaces perfectly, etc., etc., and I still got a leaks.

But that said, you're doing great work. Nice to hear your Dynaflow is going nice, and I'm knocking on wood for you too!

Keith

[Model56s]

Robert, she just wants to make sure you love her My 49 has several leaks, all minor. For now, I make sure that fluid levels are correct but eventually I'm going to put it up on my neighbor's lift and tighten bolts. After a test period I'll check them again and then decide what to do - but not a high priority right now. My next project is to re-connect the heater control valve, heater and defroster cores and finish freeing/adjusting all the duct butterfly valves for the winter.

Isn't this why we got into these cars in the first place? We 1) had too much spare time, 2) needed to develop our perseverance and 3) needed to appreciate modern transportation.

[Guest shadetree77]

Thanks guys. I did a little more investigating under there and found some disturbing evidence. I believe that my rear main seal is leaking into the bell housing. The oil pan is bone dry. The oil is coming from around the edges of the bell housing access covers and it is definitely NOT transmission fluid. Correct me if I'm wrong, but to change that rear main seal I would have to take the engine out and basically take apart the whole bottom end, right? If that's the case, that ain't happening. I'll just keep an extremely close eye on the oil level and add as necessary. The leak isn't very bad yet. About a half dollar sized spot in a 24 hour period. I know that the seal will continue to disintegrate and eventually it will become a necessity to replace it.

I inspected my master cylinder too. I pulled off the rubber boot and dried the fluid off of everything. I pushed in the piston by hand while checking for leaks. While I had the piston pushed in I rotated the stop plate around trying to make it leak. Nothing happened and two days later I still don't see any fluid on there. Hmmmm. That's a mystery. My brake function has declined severely though. I did have a good 3/4 pedal. Now I'm down to about 1/4! I bled the brakes again and didn't get any air out of them so that's not the problem. My next step is to check the shoe adjustment again. Maybe I finally broke them in fully and they need a final adjustment.

I'm still debating on whether or not to chance the 600 mile round trip to my Grandparents house this upcoming weekend. I really want to take the car to show my Grandpa and my Uncle. I must have put around 500 miles on it in the last few weeks and so far no major problems. Just a few leaks that I've mostly taken care of. I know if I do go I'm going to take it easy. Probably drive an hour and pull over to rest the car for a half hour. Attack the miles in chunks. Man, I'd be really screwed if something blew on the trip though. I could probably fix just about anything on the side of the road with all of the tools I'm planning to take but in the event of catastrophic failure I don't know how I'd get the car home. I would have a ride seeing as my Wife will be following in our VW. I've got about 4 days to decide. We're leaving with or without the Buick early Saturday morning. Any thoughts or advice on the matter?

[avgwarhawk]

My rear main leaks, Robert. Only when I shut down the engine. Usually about as much as you describ. I just keep a check on the oil level. I accept it for what it is. Brakes should be a concern. However, the Buick in my opinion, will make that 600 miles without issue.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Robert, the rear main seal can be changed without removing the engine. Pan will have to be removed. Willie [old tank] documents the procedure in one of his tutorials. On a '55, but same deal.

I bet when the brakes are adjusted, the pedal will come back. Good luck.

Ben

[Buicknutty]

Robert, I concur with Chris about the rear main. They can go some time without becoming very bad. Just keep a close eye on the oil level, especially after time at highway speeds, as they will sometimes leak worse when the oil gets nice and hot. Likely this is something you can live with for some time though.

To change a rear seal is a bit tough, bit not as much work as you describe. I've done them with just pulling the pan lowered and crankshaft a bit to slide the new seal in over the shaft. Anyway, don't worry too much yet.

About the brakes. do you have a hard pedal, or is it soft, like there is air in the lines? An adjustment might do the trick, as I've found that fresh shoes will require adjustment after some driving.

If you have confidence in your brakes, I'd do the trip to your Grandparents, as it sounds like she should do fine.

Keith

[JohnD1956]

Did you snug up your oil pressure guage port on the engine? On the early v8's this is in the back just on top of the bell housing. I don't know where it is on a straight eight but it's worth a try.

[Guest shadetree77]

I think she'll make it too guys. I guess I still haven't gotten used to it being OK to drive. Every time I ever drove it before there was that unknown factor. Like I said, barring anything CATASTROPHIC I don't think I'll have any problems.

Thanks for reminding me about Willie's tech tip Ben. I had seen that on here before but I didn't know it was for replacing the seal WITHOUT removing the crank. That's exactly what I need. I've read over his procedure several times and I have a few questions for him. I might give it a try at some point. Perhaps next Spring. For now, I'm just going to drive it and check the oil often.

John, on a straight eight the oil pressure line goes into the side of the engine up by the distributor. I don't think there is anything back there that could be leaking other than the rear main. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Keith, it has a hard pedal and it doesn't fade at all. The brakes do work they just take more pedal to do so now. When I first got them working I could have good braking action when the pedal was depressed about 1/4 of the way down. Now that I've put 500 miles on there the pedal has to be pressed about 3/4 of the way down. I really do think it just needs to be adjusted. The shoes probably broke in to the shape of the drums after all those miles. I'll do some adjusting on them some time in the next few days before my trip and I'll let you guys know what happens.

Edited October 2, 2013 by shadetree77 (see edit history)

[buick5563]

Yep. Just adjust them. I am thinking (hoping) that the fluid at the master cylinder is residual drips from the filling and bleeding process. Keep an eye on that as well.

[old-tank]

About a half dollar sized spot in a 24 hour period.

You don't have a leak --- that is about as good as it gets. It leaking when you have a 6" puddle after every stop and the underside is rust proofed.

Willie

[smithbrother]

My 95 truck has a small oil leak like that, I can live with it, but learned NOT to park in most friend's drive ways, THEY don't like the spot it leaves, folks are a lot more concerned with their drives than they were years ago. I understand......

When I have to park in the drive, I have a 1/4" piece of plywood I slide under such.

Looking good my friend's,

Dale in Indy

[avgwarhawk]

Robert, drive it and enjoy it. The more you drive it and witness unrelentless performance, trouble miles, the trust will build. Took me awhile to trust the 54. Today, if asked, I would go anywhere in it. Tinker with small things. The major mechanical stuff is done. Get a security cam. Apparently tires are getting slashed in your neighborhood.

[bhclark]

You don't have a leak --- that is about as good as it gets. It leaking when you have a 6" puddle after every stop and the underside is rust proofed.

Willie

Then I have a leak on my '58!

[Guest shadetree77]

Been a while since I updated. Not much going on lately. Been busy getting ready for our move to Michigan and it's been steadily getting colder outside. My speedometer officially took a dump last time I drove the car. On the way to the Moonshine festival it began to make loud squealing/grinding noises and turn around wildly until it finally stuck. I took it out and lubricated it (process described below) but that did not help as I have apparently got a more serious problem. Looks like I'll be sending it off to get fixed soon.

Here's the process I used to lubricate the speedometer head. It didn't fix my problem but it might help if you're having trouble with yours. WARNING: DO NOT touch the numbers or other graphics on the face of your gauge. The paint is old and delicate and might rub off or smear.

Begin by gently prying the chrome bezel loose from the gauge housing.

Loosen the two screws that hold the gauge to housing.

Gently pry the little rubber grommets out of their holes with your loose screws.

In my case, the gauge was stuck to the inside of the housing with a rubber gasket. I put the tip of the screwdriver in the hole and gently pried until the gauge separated. Don't let the gauge fall out!!

Locate the tiny freeze plug on the back part of the gauge.

I used a center punch to mark the center of the plug.

Then I drilled out the plug with a small bit wrapped in tape. The tape kept the bit from going too far down into the hole and hitting the speedometer shaft.

Thread a small screw into the hole that you just drilled.

Use pliers to gently pry the plug out.

If you look closely, you can see the felt wick inside the hole.

Put 4 or 5 drops of light oil into the hole. I used gun oil because that's all I had but you could also use sewing machine oil or 3 in 1.

Then mix up some JB Weld and fill the hole in the plug. Let the JB set up for at least 24 hours.

Use a blunt punch to put the plug back into the hole. I was able to just push on it.

You have now lubricated your speedometer head. While you're under there, you can also LIGHTLY coat the tip of the speedometer cable with a lubricant such as graphite grease. Don't put too much or it will get squeezed out into the head and mess it up.

[Guest Rob McDonald]

Excellent, clear advice. Thank you!

[Model56s]

Thanks Robert. Did you arrive at this process by deduction, or did tou have access to refeence material?

BTW, I was surprised to learn that you're moving to Michigan - Flint perhaps?

[Guest shadetree77]

Thanks Robert. Did you arrive at this process by deduction, or did tou have access to reference material?

BTW, I was surprised to learn that you're moving to Michigan - Flint perhaps?

No problem. Hope someone finds this useful. I didn't have any official reference material. I found a few bits and pieces of information online and used the powers of deduction to do the rest. It was the lack of official reference that inspired me to put this out there on the old interweb.

Yes, we will be moving to Pontiac soon. Not too far from Flint. Here's the thread with all of the details if you want to read about it: http://forums.aaca.org/f115/life-changes-horizon-359607.html

[retirednow]

Great tutorial! Do you think Lucy is a little jealous of your new acquisition?

[49_buick_super]

Robert, You should post this on a separate thread in Post War Tech with a descriptive title and tags that would make it easy to search.

Nice piece of work and good photos.

Dan

[Dale's Buick]

Robert, I haven't gotten to read the forums for awhile..but caught up on yours this morning....great progress! I've had to discipline myself not to start on the chrome or body work until I've got my 52 Super running...once I start polishing I won't be able to stop! I plan on reading your posts extensively when I get there-you have given a lot of great tips on chrome and I appreciate it. Also, plan to keep up with you since we both have 52's to work with....we'll have to make a road trip and compare when we get done! (ok you're way younger, so come by the nursing home then? lol). Thanks for the posts and keep em coming!

Dale's Buick

[Guest shadetree77]

Dave, I think they'll get along just fine. I parked them side by side today and took the pictures below. You can really tell a size difference between them! Lucy dwarfs Linus. By the way, my wife has named the Kaiser Linus. It goes with the Lucy name and the Kaiser DID have an old blanket inside it!

Dan, I'll do that. Sounds like a good idea. I'll get that done soon.

Dale, thanks! I busted my hump for several months there trying to get her back on the road in time to enjoy some driving before the weather turned cold. With the help of my Dad and my Wife, we got it done! I completely agree about getting it running first. For me, it was much better to have it running and driving first. That way, I can enjoy driving it while working on the cosmetics. Much more fun that way. I look forward to seeing your progress. Have fun!

[SonOf2Buicks]

Always enjoy seeing updates on this thread. Will now be taking my Speedometer apart and lubricated.

[retirednow]

*LIKE*

[Model56s]

So...I missed your Kaiser acquisition - was this posted on another thread? I seriously considered a 54 Manhattan - a car that would be right at home in a Pixar movie. The patina of your two cars is just about "perfect"! And you are right about the size difference - I had no idea.

I am beginning the process of removing my dash to repaint it and redo the wiring harness. I actually may start a thread...

It's always great reading your posts and I'm excited for you & your wife's move to Pontiac.

Geoff