1955 Buick Century

[Beemon]

Those power brake systems are easy to rebuild. You'll be pumping those brakes in no time!  Be careful with the brass T fitting, they can break easy and the remnants can be a huge pain to remove from the manifold. 

[Kosage Chavis]

Today I recieved a couple of factory power antennas in the mail.I should have enough here to rebuild a good power antenna with a surplus of

parts.  Compliments of Mr Greg.

[Beemon]

Geeze! Good guy Greg! 

 

Did both of them come with masts? If the nylon cable is pulled out (or not yet), save yourself some trouble and JB weld it in place. Just went through this.

 

These units are really easy to rebuild. If you had no issue with your power window motor, this will be even better. 

 

When you play with the set screw after you get it running, make sure you start with it completely out. Run the motor in the up position and tighten the screw until the antenna goes up. If it doesn't come down in the down position, tighten it until it does. You're looking for just enough tension to bring it down but not excessively so it slips when the antenna is either fully extended or fully retracted, otherwise the motor will try to rip the cable out the end of the antenna. 

Edited July 12, 2018 by Beemon (see edit history)

[Kosage Chavis]

48 minutes ago, Beemon said:

Did both of them come with masts? If the nylon cable is pulled out (or not yet), save yourself some trouble and JB weld it in place.

It appears that I have 1 good mast while the other is broken.  Thanks for the suggestions Ben.  They are golden.

[Kosage Chavis]

Today I recieved one of the most illusive pieces on a 55 Buick...the pointer switch for the rear speaker switch.  

These knobs are make from bakelite and do have the set screw on one end.I went ahead and bought 2 types, only because the vendor required a 20 dollar minimum on purchases.  Out of the 2 styles I got, the one on the right looks to be a perfect (or near perfect) match compared to Mr Paul's and Mr Lamar's switch.For anyone who might be interested, here you go...I have to give a lot of thanks to Mr Al.  He found and gave me the website and I am very happy with it.  Rear speaker switch pointer knob, compliments of oldradioparts.com.

[dei]

Now,

 A bit of friendly advice Sir...

 

DON"T do like I have and carefully pack them in a box, label the box and then... 

Put it in a place that you THINK you will remember when you need it.

I'm plagued with that situation right NOW!

[Kosage Chavis]

21 minutes ago, dei said:

Now,

 A bit of friendly advice Sir...

 

DON"T do like I have and carefully pack them in a box, label the box and then... 

Put it in a place that you THINK you will remember when you need it.

I'm plagued with that situation right NOW!

Yes Sir!

[Kosage Chavis]

I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Coker's Buicks today.  They were simply gorgeous!  I was blessed to be accompanied by my Wife and my kids and also was happy to see that both Mr Lamar and Matt were in attendance as well.  All of the Buicks were sold, but for far less than what you would expect.  If I am not mistaken, one gentleman walked away with 3 of them.  I took a lot of pictures so that all can see who wants to.  First set of pictures is of the 55 Buick Century station wagon (clone).  They had a hard time starting this one up, but once they did it ran beautifully.

[Kosage Chavis]

55 Buick Century 4 door sedan.  My youngest son is in one of the pictures.

[lancemb]

Wow, those are beautiful cars

[Kosage Chavis]

55 Buick Century convertible.  Also ran nicely.  My kids are in a couple of pictures again.

[lancemb]

Are your kids excited to see yours progress after seeing those cars?

[JohnD1956]

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 6:53 PM, Kosage Chavis said:

All of the Buicks were sold, but for far less than what you would expect.

 

And there's the catch 22 of this hobby!   You can never guarantee any equity in this field,  no matter what the brand or pedigree. 

I hope the Coker family is satisfied with the results of the sale. 

And thanks for the pictures !  Bob did have these cars in Buickful condition , may he rest in peace!

[Kosage Chavis]

Then there was one that I was more partial to...the 55 Buick Century hardtop.  Started up and sounded like a dream.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Kosage Chavis (see edit history)

[Kosage Chavis]

Finally, my favorite out of all 5, the prototype 55 Buick Century.  Also ran beautifully.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Kosage Chavis (see edit history)

[JohnD1956]

1 hour ago, Kosage Chavis said:

...the 55 Buick Century hardtop.

 

That IS my favorite too!  Awesome vehicle!  Great options! 

[Kosage Chavis]

19 hours ago, lancemb said:

Are your kids excited to see yours progress after seeing those cars?

My oldest son's interest in our Buick is minimal.  Every once in a while, he will ask about or check on me if I am working on it.  My youngest son, who is only 4, is too young to care.  My daughter is the one who cares the most and will literally sit in the car with me as I work.  It's so funny because it reminds me if when I would sneak into my Dad's Buick when I was a little, just to sit in it.

 

10 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

 

And there's the catch 22 of this hobby!   You can never guarantee any equity in this field,  no matter what the brand or pedigree. 

I hope the Coker family is satisfied with the results of the sale. 

And thanks for the pictures !  Bob did have these cars in Buickful condition , may he rest in peace!

Personally, I couldn't care less how much my car is worth to another person.  It's priceless to me and I imagine that's why Mrs Coker sold those cars for as low as she did.  You are very welcome for the pictures.  

[Kosage Chavis]

The auction of the cars begin.Then, the man of the hour...Mr Lamar.  Mr Lamar spoke about Mr Coker here.

[Kosage Chavis]

According to Mr Lamar, Mr Coker was said to be a stickler for being correct when restoring these Buicks.  So well, well, well.  What do we see here?  Looks like we were wrong about that rear speaker switch knob.  Turns out that the rear speaker switch knob is the same style knob you'd find on the Buick AC control panel.  No big deal though, I already have it.  Of course I couldn't avoid Mr Lamar joking with about rear speaker knobs.

[Fr. Buick]

I kinda thought that was the right one...

[Kosage Chavis]

Just got this in the mail today.  Power seat motor, compliments of Matt.

[Kosage Chavis]

Just got this in the mail today.  A power brake vaccum tank.  It was being sold for a good price and I figured having an extra one of these would be good.  No dents, very light surface rust and holds a vaccum.Compliments of Ebay.

[Sean Batiz]

I was actually contemplating on bidding on this same tank for the same reasoning! Glad to see that YOU snatched it up!

[Kosage Chavis]

Today I was finally able to start work back up on the Buick.  I am now at a point in the garage where I can do some other things.  So, here we go...the first thing I removed was the engine fan and associated pulleys.Just remove the 4 bolts on front of the fan.Be sure to grab the pulley spacers when removing.  Here is a shot of the site after removal.The fan, spacers and pulleys after removal.Overall, a very easy task.

[Kosage Chavis]

Next up was the radiator and shroud.Remove the upper radiator hose at both clamps.Remove the lower radiator hose at both clamps.Then remove the smaller radiator hose at the bottom.  Remove 4 screws total, with 2 on each side to remove the radiator/shroud.Site after radiator/shroud removal.The radiator/shroud after removal.Overall, this is moderately easy task.  The hoses were stuck and the radiator with the shroud still mounted is somewhat heavy.  But other than that, pretty easy.  

 

Hope to get some more done next weekend.

[Beemon]

Hey Kosage, great to see you back on the Buick!

When you get a chance and you remove the AC bracket, can you scan it with a computer printer? (Like tape it with masking tape, then tap out the holes and stuff and scan it with a blanket over the top). I'd like to see about making one. I did something similar to this making a oil pan for the formula club and it worked great! All you need is the scan, then you convert it to a DXF drawing and you just take the measurement between two holes to scale it up. Works pretty well! You could make a quality reproduction that way. I guess the hardest part would be getting the side that goes to the head bolt. It also looks like you have the support that goes to the intake manifold, too. Very cool!

[Sean Batiz]

Hey there! Just felt like chiming in here for a second to tell you to treat that radiator with the upmost care, even though it’ll most likely be getting rebuilt before you reinstall it; being that it’s the (or, at least I’m presuming here) correct radiator for Factory A/C! They seem to be next to impossible to find, in ANY condition!  If it is the correct HAR/RI/SON Factory A/C radiator, it’ll have the part number 3133727. Standard radiator is 3131177.

[Sean Batiz]

I can’t remember if you’ve already covered any details about these radiators in the past or not.

[Kosage Chavis]

On 4/1/2019 at 1:31 AM, Beemon said:

Hey Kosage, great to see you back on the Buick!

When you get a chance and you remove the AC bracket, can you scan it with a computer printer? (Like tape it with masking tape, then tap out the holes and stuff and scan it with a blanket over the top). I'd like to see about making one. I did something similar to this making a oil pan for the formula club and it worked great! All you need is the scan, then you convert it to a DXF drawing and you just take the measurement between two holes to scale it up. Works pretty well! You could make a quality reproduction that way. I guess the hardest part would be getting the side that goes to the head bolt. It also looks like you have the support that goes to the intake manifold, too. Very cool!

Hey Ben!  Are you asking me to get the AC brackets printed because you want a set or just for the sake of trying it out.  Just want to be sure I am understanding you.

 

On 4/7/2019 at 10:31 PM, Sean Batiz said:

Hey there! Just felt like chiming in here for a second to tell you to treat that radiator with the upmost care, even though it’ll most likely be getting rebuilt before you reinstall it; being that it’s the (or, at least I’m presuming here) correct radiator for Factory A/C! They seem to be next to impossible to find, in ANY condition!  If it is the correct HAR/RI/SON Factory A/C radiator, it’ll have the part number 3133727. Standard radiator is 3131177.

Hey Sean!  I do not have the AC radiator, but I have been told by people who had both, that they could not find the difference between the AC and non-AC radiator.  Have you found something?  If so, post some pictures.  I am sure there are others who would like to see as well.  Thank you.

[Sean Batiz]

Per your request: Here are comparative pictures of the two radiators that I have here; the only overtly obvious detail that I can clearly determine visually between the two of them is, the depth (thickness) of the upper and lower tanks. The one that has its mounting flange halfway loose from its soldiering joint, is the A/C unit. I am curious now to consider de-soldiering both tanks from both radiators to visually inspect the actual cores themselves for any obvious differences. Whatever damages are present in either of these two radiators that can be seen, was already existing before my acquisition of them.

[Sean Batiz]

Actually, just as I reviewed the previous message and pictures that I posted, I noticed that the actual highth of the cores is different! I really didn’t notice this detail until now! Rather obvious. I’ll head out to make measurements.

[Kosage Chavis]

Got back to some business today and removed both ventilation air duct dash opening covers.Just remove flange screws.  Driver's side has less screws than the passenger's side.  I also used a small putty knife to pry the cover off of the firewall.Also, loosen the single bolt that holds down this arm.This will give you a little more room to remove the driver's side cover.  You will have to finesse the cover when pulling out with both drainage hoses still attached to it.  

 

Removing the passenger's side cover has a similar issue.  Once screws are removed, you will have to finesse it to get it passed the valve cover and fins shown here.Once you get passed this, finesse again to pull out with attached drainage hoses.  Here, showing the site of removal.Showing the ventilation air duct dash opening covers removed from car.Overall,  this was an easy task.

[Sean Batiz]

So, after going through the sometimes frustrating, rather confusing jargon of part number breakdowns that are listed in the original Buick Master Chassis Parts Book that I have here for the “Model  years, 1930 to 1955 inclusive”, it seems to state that your ‘55 Century Model 66R, calls for this same A/C radiator of the part number, 3133727 “but”, the only real measurement difference that I can tell that is truly different between these, is a height of 1” MORE for the core vs. the standard radiator. This said though, I have had my standard radiator (p#3131177) rebuilt awhile back & opted at the time to have an additional core added to its core thickness. Which measures @ 2.75” vs. the core thickness of this A/C radiator which only measures at an even 2” thick. So, I’d be willing to wager that if you just did this same thing of having your original one rebuilt with a thicker, 2.75” core cake, it’d most likely be more than adequate for whatever cooling demands that your Nailhead will require, without any noticeable overheating issues.

[Sean Batiz]

I’m assuming that you discovered quite a substantial amount of debris in behind those covers? Especially the passenger side unit? I removed those from mine AFTER I already had the front clip and engine removed! I’m guessing that you have at least one finger/knuckle that’s a bit damaged now? “No Pain, No Gain”!

[Kosage Chavis]

1 hour ago, Sean Batiz said:

Actually, just as I reviewed the previous message and pictures that I posted, I noticed that the actual highth of the cores is different! I really didn’t notice this detail until now! Rather obvious. I’ll head out to make measurements.

I am not seeing part number 3131177.  I do see 3133727 in the parts book. 

[Kosage Chavis]

Yesterday, I also removed the power steering pump and associated brackets.The first thing that I wanted to do was to drain the fluid from the resevoir.  I didn't have anything small enough to fit under the rear fittings to catch the fluid, so I decided to remove the pump with the fluid still in it.  I tightened the top bolt just enough so the seal would be tight enough to prevent leakage.  I then placed 2 wrenches on the flared fittings to loosen them.  Again, I only wanted these fittings to be loosened.  After this was done, I used my fingers to tighten back the fittings to keep from leaking.  Here's a picture that shows the hose layout (for future reference).I then removed the upper nut/bolt with the 2 lower bolts that mounts the power steering pump bracket.  Keep in mind that loosening the lower 2 bolts also might cause coolant to leak.  Most of the coolant has already been drained from my car, so this was no worry to me.  After the bracket was freed from the engine, I layed the pump down so that the fittings pointed up.I used my fingers to detach both hoses from the pump fittings and moved them to the side.  The pump assembly was then carried to my garage to empty the fluid.  After doing so, I removed the cylinder head-to-bracket bolt to remove the stabilizing arm bracket shown here.Showing the removal site with power steering pump and associated brackets removed.Now showing the pump assembly and brackets after removal.Overall, this was an easy task.

[Fr. Buick]

On 4/14/2019 at 5:24 PM, Kosage Chavis said:

I am not seeing part number 3131177.  I do see 3133727 in the parts book. 

3131177  is a 54 radiator for 50/60/70 Dynaflow cars without AC.

[old-tank]

8 hours ago, Fr. Buick said:

On 4/14/2019 at 7:24 PM, Kosage Chavis said:

I am not seeing part number 3131177.  I do see 3133727 in the parts book. 

3131177  is a 54 radiator for 50/60/70 Dynaflow cars without AC.

Not uncommon to have "54 radiator" on early 55's.

[Fr. Buick]

Interesting!  I didn't think it would have fit...

[lancemb]

On 4/14/2019 at 5:42 PM, Sean Batiz said:

Per your request: Here are comparative pictures of the two radiators that I have here; the only overtly obvious detail that I can clearly determine visually between the two of them is, the depth (thickness) of the upper and lower tanks. The one that has its mounting flange halfway loose from its soldiering joint, is the A/C unit. I am curious now to consider de-soldiering both tanks from both radiators to visually inspect the actual cores themselves for any obvious differences. Whatever damages are present in either of these two radiators that can be seen, was already existing before my acquisition of them.

Look at the top of the core through the tank opening.  See if they appear to have the same number and size of tubes.  If there is a significant capacity difference you can usually tell just by doing that.