1940 buick

[dei]

Congratulations on getting her running Morgan!

 

Getting there is half the fun isn't it?    

Some of the best things that happen for me are about my cars and my DAD which you are capturing too on video!   Savour Those.....

While I don't know much about Wild Turkey here, I will have a glass of Canadian Club to share with you!   

[Morgan Wright]

Thanks. I don't have a garage at my house, by father lets me keep it in my Mom's old parking space (she passed away in 2012)

 

My father is 93 and drives a '95 Buick Century faux ragtop.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Morgan Wright
not a convertible, cloth on metal (see edit history)

[JohnD1956]

Sorry to hear of your loss Morgan.

[NC-car-guy]

Whats the latest on the 40?

[Morgan Wright]

Whats the latest on the 40?

It runs perfectly. It starts right up every time, doesn't smoke, none of the cylinders miss. Now that the engine runs I took it out for a spin and was delighted to find out the transmission is perfect, as are the clutch and brakes. And steering. Right now working on lubricating everything.

 

Got new tires for it. The original size is 6.5 x 16 but they don't make that anymore. Using the modern millimeter / percent / inches nomenclature I would be good with 195/80/16 but they don't make that. I settled for a set of 205/70/16. The result is the car sits about an inch lower but it has steel belted radials now so it's better than original.

 

With the old 6.5 / 16's on it, I could crawl under the car on my back, just barely. Now with the 205/70/16's I can't get under it without running it onto some 2 x 12 boards.

[dei]

COOL 

 

Does that mean you have taken Dad out for a ride?

What does he think of her now?

[Morgan Wright]

COOL 

 

Does that mean you have taken Dad out for a ride?

What does he think of her now?

 

Not yet, can't take it out until I get it to pass inspection, which will be awhile because all the lights are out. Brake lights, turn signals, headlights, everything. Even the dome light is out.

 

Today I lubed 17 grease fittings in the front end and other grease fittings like the ones on the brake and clutch pedals, the one on the distributor shaft, added a quart of 90W to the rear end, drained and filled the tranny with 90W (it was empty), and added about a pint of 90W to the steering gear box. I oiled the starter and generator oiler caps, and inspected everything underneath. All the parts under the chassis are solid as a rock, this car needs nothing but cosmetic work now......seats, door handles and window winder knobs, stuff like that.

 

But I still need to pack the wheel bearings. Not sure how to do that.

[Buicknutty]

 To grease the wheel bearings, you have to lift the front on the car, and support it, of course. It's easier to take the tire and rim off, but if your back and biceps are up to it you don't need to. With a large screwdriver or two, pry the dust cover off of the hub. There you will find a large nut with a cotter pin through the middle (I sure hope!). Take the cotter pin out and take the large nut off. It is not on very tight at all. Then carefully pull the inner race and roller bearing out, then you can pull the brake drum off. Careful not to damage anything as you pull it off it will be very wobbly once the outer parts are off. Then you can wipe the old grease out of the races and ball bearings, and work the fresh into the ball bearings and the races. Also there is a grease seal on the inner part of the hub, this often needs replacing. There are a few vendors that sell these if you need one. This important, as when it leaks the brake shoes will slowly get covered in grease.

 Also, sometimes there is a ridge of rust on the very inner edge of the brake drum, and this can stop the drum from pulling off. The solution is to back off the brake adjustment enough so that you can get it off.

 Assembly is the reverse, but the adjustment of the large lock nut is important, just tight enough to take up the slack, then put a fresh cotter pin in.

 There must be some you tube videos on this, maybe easier than my instructions.

 This is kind of the thumbnail version, but I think that it about covers it.

 Keith

Edited February 29, 2016 by Buicknutty (see edit history)

[Morgan Wright]

Your description sounds exactly like greasing the wheel bearings of trailers, or any basic vehicle with a simple axle and hub. I guess in 1940, cars were still that simple. A dust cover on a hub that can be pried off with a screwdriver, and a big nut with a cotter pin? That's like the generic wheels you can buy at Home Depot or Tractor Warehouse. Wow. I can do a job like that with my eyes closed.

 

Thanks.

[smithbrother]

A good friend had packed hundreds of wheel bearings in his very successful business. He puts a large wad of grease in the palm of his CLEAN hands, then drops the bearing in the grease, and like kneading bread he rotates the bearing as he squeezes grease into the

bearing. He does this for several minutes, then with a lint free towel removes the excess.

He never has had issues, and doesn't use one of those cups and a grease gun.

I'm NOT saying there aren't other methods, but this works for him.

Dale in Indy

Edited February 29, 2016 by smithbrother (see edit history)

[Buicknutty]

 Morgan, the Buick is basically the same as trailer bearings. If you can do one, you can do the other. The only kind of tricky thing is not to have the bearings too tight. More modern cars, at least ones that don't have fully sealed, not repairable bearings usually have a higher preload on them, and this will burn out the old bearings.

 Keith

[old-tank]

Some of that old grease is not compatible with new greases.  If all traces of the old grease is not removed both greases will liquefy.  Wipe clean, soak overnight in mineral spirits, blow out remnants of old grease, repeat as necessary.  Your service manual will have instructions on setting the preload on the ball bearings.  

[Morgan Wright]

Got the front bearings. Shoes looked new, bearings were good. Now the rear ones.

[Morgan Wright]

The rear hub has a dust cap with a hole shaped like Texas. How can I get the Texas hub off without a tool shaped like Oklahoma?

 

 

[avgwarhawk]

The rear hub has a dust cap with a hole shaped like Texas. How can I get the Texas hub off without a tool shaped like Oklahoma?

 

 

Do you have your repair manual?  I suspect the axle will need to be opened at the pinion/ring gear to access the C clip that hold the drive axles in place or remove the drum and see if the there are 4 bolts that hold the drive axles in the axle housing. 

[dei]

Morgan,

My experience is with 1958 Buick's so likely talking apples and oranges here but to me you need to take off the wheel then the brake drum. At this point (in my case) you will see four bolts on a plate at the backing plate which you would need to take out and then pull the axle, bearing, axle seal and plate as a unit. I usually take off the brake linings as it makes it easier to gain access to those four bolts. 

The bearing is pressed on and off and you should also plan on changing the axle seal at this time (and watch out for any differential oil on the axle shaft as you pull it out - messy ).

Again, this is my Buick but believe the C clips on the shaft inside the differential is a chevy thing but can always be taught something new now and again. 

 

One way to verify would be to look at your differential. If it does not have a bolted inspection cover on the back side, then the axles should come out as described above. 

 

This info should be in the Chassis Manual if you have one.

 

[Buicknutty]

 Usually the rear bearings are lubed by oil splash back from the diff, and so they don't use wheel bearing grease like the front's do. If your seals are fine, and I cannot remember if you said you changed the rear oil or not, but just do that, and it will be fine. If there are issues, of noise, roughness or leakage, then it will have to be opened up like described above.

 The old bearings are usually broken off of the shaft when they're replaced, and the new ones, as mentioned are pressed on. Much more of a chore than the front's for sure.

 Keith

[Morgan Wright]

Since the front bearings are fine and the rear is not making any noise, I'm not going to mess with the rear ones. They are fine. And I sort of thought they were lubed by the differential oil. Thanks for the info.

 

I got the front parking lights to work today. Now for the other lights.

[dei]

Thanks Keith for chiming in.

You are so right about the noise or roughness issues regarding the bearing. The only real reason for Morgan would be like you stated to check for leaking down the backing plate from that axle seal. 

At this point as long as the oil level is up, drive it and enjoy it for awhile and pay attention to anything unusual.

 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

  I THINK you will find the rear bearings are packed. They are in 1950, and rear gears are interchangeable. Chris is correct. "c" clips must be removed inside rear end. At least on a '50. I believe '56 is the first one oiled from rear end. 

 

  Having said all that, my car had 97,000 + miles showing. My bearings looked good and were not dry. Seals were iffy. By the way, there is a seal on BOTH sides of the bearing.

 

  Ben

[Morgan Wright]

The shop manual says to pack the rear bearings with grease every 10,000 miles, front every 5,000.

 

Hmmmm.

[smithbrother]

And they say, "THEY DON'T BUILD THEM LIKE THEY USE TO DO".

Our 2002 car has 179,000 miles, same plugs, original exhaust, no greasing wheel bearings, tranny lubed for life, brakes 3 times, no engine work, 'period'.

Had I needed to back wheel bearings every 10,000 miles, I would have done it 18 times, NO THANKS, hehe

Dale in Indy

[Morgan Wright]

And they say, "THEY DON'T BUILD THEM LIKE THEY USE TO DO".

Our 2002 car has 179,000 miles, same plugs, original exhaust, no greasing wheel bearings, tranny lubed for life, brakes 3 times, no engine work, 'period'.

Had I needed to back wheel bearings every 10,000 miles, I would have done it 18 times, NO THANKS, hehe

Dale in Indy

 

They DON'T build them like they used to. We don't lube them like they used to. Doesn't mean they weren't good. You just had to lube 'em.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Morgan Wright (see edit history)

[smithbrother]

 I totally understand, I wasn't being negative, just pointing how 'TIMES HAVE CHANGED', we have PROGRESSED. 

 

I love my two Buick's, the 41 Limited, and 46 Roadmaster, big difference TODAY is that we drive a ton more than we did in the past, so 10,000 miles back then was a long time in coming.  

 

Dale in Indy

[Morgan Wright]

My father (92 years old, the old dude in my video here) says cars never went over 100,000 miles back then, they usually burned oil at 80 or 90k. He had a 42 Plymouth which by 1949 had worn out so he had to replace the engine with a '49 Dodge engine. He says many cars were scrapped during the war for metal. I'm glad my '40 survived the scrappers

[DonMicheletti]

Interesting.  The '38 Buick manual says to drain the rear end every 10,000 miles and replace the oil. It also says the axle bearings are lubricated by the differential oil - nothing about grease.

 

Pretty sure that this was rarely actually done. As far as greasing the axle bearings, you'd have to tear into the differential to get the retainer clips out so you can pull the axles to grease the bearings.

 

Your dad is right. Not uncommon an engine would be burning oil at even 60k miles. Never heard of a 100k original engine back then.  (I can hear the comments on that).  My '41 lightly used Plymouth was burning oil and needed rings at 49K miles and had a hell of a ridge. (No not 149K)

[Buicknutty]

 This is what I remember, and what my Dad told me too. He had a '53 Pontiac and it was worn out and rusted out with about 75,000 miles on it in about 1962.

 When I started driving in 1969, at the age of 16, here in Ontario was rare to see a 10 year old that wasn't nearly rusted to bits, and if one hit 100,000 miles without major repairs, it was quite a milestone. There were a few exceptions, to this but not many. My Grandfather had a '56 Roadmaster which he bought new, and drove it till he died in late '68, which had about 150,000 miles on the original engine, and it still ran very well. The body had been repaired twice, and was due for more work.

 My 2002 Buick Rendezvous has about 190,000+ miles on it (we use kilometers here, that's a rough conversion) and runs well, and not a rust spot on it.

 Keith

Edited March 17, 2016 by Buicknutty (see edit history)

[JohnD1956]

Back in the 1960's 100K was a death sentence for a car.  So much so that folks would regularly turn the odometer back to mimic a lower mileage, then delude themselves into thinking the new number was original. 

 

I know of one guy who drove a 65 Electra to 90K and then his father had the odometer turned back to 45K  and then the same fellow drove the same car to 100K again, and this time kept on going up to around 35K .  It was the original, unopened engine, with one rear main oil seal replacement, two carb rebuilds, one replaced trans and three sets of motor mounts.  It's one of the few Buicks I knew of which had more than 110K that did not need a timing chain and gear replacement.

 

At the current time I have a neighbor with a 2003 Chevy MonteCarlo, powered by the 3800, which is pushing 250K without being opened.

[Morgan Wright]

Back in the 60's the way I remember it, the only cars that regularly went over 100,000 miles were 6 cylinder cars. Chevy Nova with a 6 was good for 100 k as was Ford Falcon with a 6, Rambler with a 6, and the best one was the Valiants and Dodges with the slant 6, they were good for 130,000 miles easy. But you had to add oil every 300 miles. None of the V-8 engines from those days would make it past 100k as I remember it. In the 70s all my cars were 60's cars that's all I could afford. I did have a 1950 Dodge Coronet in 1975, it was a total rust bucket but it still ran. Of course it had a 6, the Chrysler L-head 6 was just as good as their later slant 6...same engine but not slanted. That car had a fluid clutch which amazed all my teenage friends.

[Morgan Wright]

Front parking lights work now, needed new bulbs, license plate light working now, entire fixture rusted to heck and bulb blown.

 

Turn signal lights already were working, never tried them with the key on. Turns out they worked all along. BUICK left turn EIGHT right turn. Beautiful.

 

Headlights came on once, high and low beam fine, but just once. Now not working again. Probably a rusty headlight switch so I bought a NOS switch on ebay. Interesting thing, during the one time the headlights came on, some dashboard lights came on.

 

Still can't get brake lights to work though. Bulbs are fine.

[Morgan Wright]

Latest video, car all fixed up as a daily driver, with plates and 10-day inspection sticker. Got 10 days to get all the lights working.

 

https://www.youtube...._id=W5Lu4A_-BHE

[avgwarhawk]

Latest video, car all fixed up as a daily driver, with plates and 10-day inspection sticker. Got 10 days to get all the lights working.

 

https://www.youtube...._id=W5Lu4A_-BHE

 

 

Kind of strange.  Your youtube link takes me to my 3 speed transmission repair video.   

[Morgan Wright]

Try now.

[avgwarhawk]

Same.  Really strange.

[Morgan Wright]

Works fine from here. Refresh your computer.

[avgwarhawk]

Works fine from here. Refresh your computer.

 

 

Did that and tried a different browser as well.  Got me...

[GARY F]

takes me to google

[Morgan Wright]

How hard is it to rebuild horns for 1940 era Buicks? The wiring to the horns is good and the relay is good, but the horns just click. Both of them. When I hot wire them from the battery, same thing.

I opened them up and have no idea what I'm looking at so I'd like to send them out to an expert. Weird coils of wire and contact points, but everything looks in good shape.

[Morgan Wright]

These guys any good?

 

http://classiccarhorns.net/proc1.html

[Morgan Wright]

I contacted the classic horn guy and he only does 12 V horns