1950 Business Coupe Part 1

[VickyBlue]

The ad read: "1950 Chevy Business Coupe. Restored. Miles believed to be original. New carpet, headliner, interior. Drives nice." Odometer was showing 29625 miles. 

 

After talking with the owner, a last minute bid won the car. He had owned it for eight  years, was a TX car, was a sentimental buy for him, as back in the day, this was just like the first car his Daddy bought him when he turned 15. Title matched the story, trunk was loaded full of trophies. 78 years old, a couple of new hips, two bad knees and driving wasn't in his future any more. 

I wasn't convinced it would make the drive from Memphis to Houston, so I drove and load it up. I drove it up and down the street and from what I saw, it matched the description: clean two stage paint, with couple of minor issues, newer interior, headliner, seat covers, door panels. I was also told at that time, the starter probably had a "bad bendix" as it wouldn't engage properly, it would only start the car after the third, maybe fourth time... I paid the man and left for the drive back to Houston.

 

First thing I did was to buy the Service Manual. From decoding the VIN it turns out this wasn't a Business Coupe, it was a Styleline Deluxe Sport Coupe. One of 78785 made in 1950. I wasn't given much paperwork, so between the GM Classic Center and a lot of help from friends, I was able to piece it together: Car was sold new in Kerville TX, from there it went to Lloyd Pierce, a gentleman up in OKC in 1952 and was sold after his death in 2006 to a guy in German Town, TN.  The guy I bought it from, in German Town, TN had bought the car locally from the same dude he did all the "restoration" in 2007. Typical opportunist, for lack of better word.

 

Here are the numbers:

VIN 5HKF47087

Engine Serial Number HAA689515

TAG ID Style No 50-1027 Body No 3533 Trim No 171 Paint No 432 (Falcon Grey, over Greecian Grey)

Engine Block Number GM3835497-21 CON 3 F60

Head Number GM3835517-19 F 70

Flywheel Number 839754-777

Transmission Number HB282788

Starter number 1117075 OG17

Bell housing GM3688001

Dates are close to each other, which proves to me everything belonged together.

 

Before I did anything I did a compression test. Even though the car had sat for a little over a year, I wanted to get a base line. Compression numbers were:

1 95PSI

2 95PSI

3 95PSI

4 95PSI

5 95PSI

6 95PSI

 

I removed the starter, replaced the Bendix and I still had the same problem, starter would engage only part time. Further inspection showed flywheel ring gear was worn at spots. 139T flywheel, factory oem for 6V system, car had been "poorly" converted to 12V. At that point in time, I realized I had to make a decision: I knew I wanted to keep the car for my personal use. I went back to work and after a month or so I had my plan all sorted out: I was determined to get to the bottom of things. I wasn't going to separate the body from the chassis, I have been down that road before and I didn't like it...

 

Pulled the seats and the new carpet and saw the real reason for all that spray on bedliner underneath the whole car: rear sections of floor pans had pin holes of rust. The front ones looked better, but there were pieces of metal riveted onto the stock floor pans too. No holes but metal was thin. I had to stop again and re evaluate my plan. Took another week off and decided to replace all four sections. I removed the door panels, inspected the door bottoms, inside of doors, other than some worn out window fuzzie’s and dirt, there was no rust. Inner area or rear quarter panels was rust free, dirty, but no rust.

 

 

 

I pulled the transmission out, the clutch was newer and looked like someone had already been there too.  I removed the flywheel and the flywheel ring gear was worn at 12, 4, and 8 o'clock positions. It had also been flipped... "So much for the original mileage" I thought to myself... Bell housing was next, I removed it with the engine in the car, I might ad, as I still had no plans of removing the engine. I was cleaning as much as I could, busting knuckles, bleeding, torturing myself, until one day I said "enough of this!" 

 

I raised the hood as high as I could, removed both fenders, both inner fenders, fresh air intakes, radiator, radiator support, pulled the engine, pulled the front end, steering box, transmission linkage, steering linkage and everything that was attached to the fire wall and within a week's time I was left with just two bare frame rails...

Back to work on the "to do" list. I was torn, as to which direction should I go. I spent a whole month just reading every post known to man about conversions, what is involved, pros and cons, cost involved, parts involved, combinations of engines/transmissions, you name it! I have the tools, the time and I know my limits. I also know when to take a step back and let common sense show me the way. 

 

I decided against an engine swap. Here is why: I had an all numbers matching low production car. Sure, it had it's issues, but nothing I couldn't fix. Sure, a Nailhead would increase the cool factor by a lot, the more popular SBC swap was lower on my list, but I wanted to use as much of the original parts as I could and didn't want to address frame, firewall, engine mount, transmission, transmission mount, steering, brakes, suspension issues associated with an engine swap. My plan was and still is to make it a reliable turn key car, drive the back roads of our Great State with my girls and enjoy it. I was and still am aware of the engine's limits, I respect it and for my purpose it will be fine. I had no plans of flipping it. You just don't dive this deep into something like this and then sell it. I don't think the old man knew what was going on underneath the skin, he bought it for his reasons, he told me the starter issue was something he was dealing with for eight years, he learned to live with it. He told me what he was told eight years ago: Car drove fine, no smoke, no noises, no oil burning and was made to believe this was an old original survivor business coupe. Shiny paint, new interior, chrome valve cover...

Me, on the other hand, have a tendency to hope when I should be scared and be scared when I should be hoping. This was a moment I was hoping... Little I knew the $9250 I spent on eBay August of 2015 would turn into such an adventure. I refused to look at it as a nightmare. Being mad at myself would be of no help. Instead, I was willing to put the time and the funds to make it my own. 

 

Frame rails were wire wheel brushed, primed and painted with Eastwood Extreme Chassis. All the way to the rear bumper. Inner and outer. Fuel tank was dropped, all metal lines removed. 

 

Steering linkage was removed. Drag link was opened, inspected and found three out of four springs broken. After everything was wire wheel cleaned, was painted with Chassis Extreme again, bagged and tagged. 

 

Transmission linkage was removed, box was opened, cleaned, painted.

 

Steering box with column was removed. Steering box was opened and taken apart. Bearings and races were inspected, measured and was rebuilt from the ground up. Dead center mark was used and adjusted according to the service manual. It always helps when someone else has done this before and pictures are available on line for reference. Once the box was done, I painted it and put it away.

 

Front end came apart as one unit. Heavy. I am a one man team, no help from outside, other than an occasional cry for a wrench when underneath the car, to get the wrong one instead, three times in a row, every time. I've learned not to ask any more.

Pictures speak for themselves. What puzzled me beyond anything I have ever seen in my 48 years is the fact that, after the car was put on a lift, the whole underside was sprayed with bed liner, frame, body and suspension, mud and dirt included. After they were done, someone took a paint brush with silver paint and painted over fuel lines, brake lines, sway bar drop link bolts, to make them look new... 

8 wire wheels, 4 cans of oven cleaner, power washer, hot water and Por15 Marine Clean took the front cross member down to the bare metal. Then I did the upper/lower control arms and painted everything with Extreme Chassis. All new bushings and all pieces were tagged and put away.

I decided to replace the front drum brakes with a disc brake kit and replace the oem master with a dual disc/drum master, which meant I had to fabricate a new bracket, again, this is something that I do not take credit for, as I just copied someone else's design. 

 

As I was ordering new parts, I started on the fire wall. I cleaned everything with two wire wheels and after sanding, priming, I painted it again with Extreme Chassis high gloss black. Looked behind the dash through the access panel and saw spaghetti wiring... Old, new and in between. I ordered a 12V wiring kit and added it to the long list. I went back inside the car, what was left out of it and took everything off the dash: cluster, switches, radio, speaker, trim, dash script, glove box, door, cables, everything. 

The heater core was leaking and had damaged the passenger side floor pan. The heater hoses were long gone. There was melted wire, 6V switches, 12V inline fuse, into a 6V heater motor. I took the heater apart, removed the motor, the round heater core was long gone, I pressurized it and was leaking from 6 spots. As I was looking for a replacement unit, I came across a new $350 square unit that was a drop in fit for the round stock set up. I liked the idea, but did not like the price. After measuring, I realized a 6" square unit with some fabrication would fit. I used Spectra part 94544. As for fan, I used a 6.5" 12V Spal pusher fan. A few screws, bolts and brackets and I had what I was looking for. Test fitted in the stock location and after  enlarging one firewall bolt hole, I took everything apart, primed, painted and reassembled. Boxed it and put it away.

I started working on it Nov of 2015. By this time it was already March of 2016. I put the engine on the engine stand. The car had dual exhaust. The exhaust manifold had been cut with a torch at the front section and a round tube inserted and welded. That was the "dual" exhaust set up. Cracks, rust and leaks from anywhere you could look at it. I ordered a new set of Fenton headers from the Filling Station up in Wa. 

Dropped the oil pan. Other than 1/4" of sludge at the bottom, didn't see anything alarming. On the contrary, I was impressed at how clean the crank was, the sides of the engine block, the oil pump tubes and the oil dippers... Since I had no prior history on the engine and since it was already out of the car, I decided to check things out. It looked like someone had been there, it looked too clean, but I had no proof. I removed  the first rod cap, the one furthest away from the oil pump. As I was lifting the cap to check the bearing, I was scared instead of hoping... Bearing looked new! No scoring, no discoloration. Plastiguage showed .001 clearance. Torqued it back to 45 ft/lbs and measured crank end play at no 3 bearing: Came at .004 

I was happy. I gathered all the info I had up to that point: 

95lbs compression cold on all 6 cylinders

Oil pressure was showing 20 psi doing about 2500 rpm, 

No smoke.

No oil consumption.

No knock

New bearings with in spec

Crank play with in spec

Cylinder walls looked clean, no scoring, I could see cast iron Pistons.

This was great news, I was going to do as much as I could, but wasn't going to tear into the bottom end. 

 

I put in a new oem oil pump as cheep insurance. Cleaned up the oil screen, New rear main seal. Flipped the engine over. Removed the rocker panel, removed the valve train, cleaned, measured and rolled rockers against a piece of glass: they all were straight. Put everything back together and torqued it to specs. Since the oil pan was already out, I removed the harmonic balancer and took out the timing cover. I replaced the timing cover seal and did the timing cover mod, so no more dropping the oil pan to get to the last bolt. Timing/crank gear looked good. Removed the distributor, checked the springs, cleaned everything and put it back together. Removed the old oil draft tube and installed a PCV valve system. Using a combination of different sizes of steel brushes, I cleaned the block, de-greased it, put a new oil pan gasket, masked the top end and painted using Eastwood engine paint. 4 coats of paint, 4 coats of clear.

I put in a new flywheel ring gear, had it resurfaced, and then a new clutch kit: new Pilot Bushing, new T/O bearing, new disc. Bellhouse was scrubbed and painted same color as engine. 

Transmission top cover removed, bearings inspected, seals, gears looked new, syncro's appeared new, car was shifting fine. New gasket set, torque tube gasket kit, and case was painted same color again as the engine. Engine/transmission was joint again and put away.

 

I started again working on the front end. By this time, everything I needed had been painted and ready to be installed. Cross member went first, upper/lower control arms, new front end bushing kit, new Detroit Eaton front springs (-3”)  new front shocks, sway bar bushings and new drop link bushings. Disc brake kit, new dual master and all new hard brake lines with 2lbs residual valves up front and 10lbs for the rear. Went to the back end to work on the rear brakes before I pressurized the system for any leaks. I thought I had seen everything up to that point, I was wrong... Rear wheel cylinders were frozen with mud. No fluid whatsoever. Both sides. Took everything apart, had the drums turned by O'Reilly and all new brake shoes and hardware. New T hose, and with my wife's help, I was able to pressurize the system. No leaks. 

April 22nd at noon, I started working on dropping the engine/transmission back into the car. New front engine mounts, side mounts and transmission pad mount. Took me 4 hours all by myself. The feeling of completing such a task, alone, to me is priceless. I looked up in the sky, I said "Thank You" and cracked open a six pack. I was done for that night.

 

I re-wired the whole car. Took out that spaghetti wiring and labeled everything.  Opened the speedo, polished the plastic lens, the replacement option was a glass lens but I was going to lose the center chrome trim ring and didn't want to go that route. Opened up the tumbler, I noticed discoloration on the odometer tumbler, which pointed to the fact the car had sat a lot around 90,000 miles. The first digit, the 9 was almost white, so was the number directly above and below, the 8 and the 0, which indicated to me it had turned over.  I chose to use the same tumbler as I wasn't sure if the replacement was a direct fit, I just painted the digits. New speedo cable, new choke cable, new throttle cable. New Newport engineering electric wiper conversion. I have used their kit before and I am happy with it. Two speed switch in the original switch location. 

 

I decided against the oem fuel pump and instead, I wired a Carter electric fuel pump, P60504 I rebuild the original Rochester carburetor, I modified the original air filter and now it used a dry paper element, I cleaned up the oem glass bowl fuel filter and installed two more, one before the pump and one after. New fuel tank from TanksInc, new fuel sender. A funny story about the fuel sender: After I got the car home, I drove it 20 miles to have the VIN verified for the local DMV. Gauge showed half tank. I left the gas station and on the way home it started sputtering. Long story short, it died 300 ft from an HEB. 98* outside, I pushed it and parked it at the supermarket parking lot. I walked up and down the lot and found a truck with a gas can. I left him a note with my cell number and walked to the pump. Put $20 and walked back to my car. Did the same thing one more time and I the last 5 gal was a thank you for him. I took the note off his window and walked back to my car. Car finally started, now the gauge was showing empty with 10 gal of gas... Least of my worries, I thought to myself. Turned out the brass floater had a hole and once gas got to its level, it sank...

 

Fenton’s went in smooth, I chose to stay with the single carburetor, as I didn't want to burn more time. Summer was approaching, heat levels were rising, plus I had the 8 week vacation trip coming up, a yearly trip back home to Crete, to visit family. Gas pedal linkage had to be modified, as the rear Fenton was in the way. Bent new vacuum lines, new fuel lines, new PCV lines, checked all fluids and on May 21st 2016 she fired right up! Checked oil pressure, checked for oil/water leaks, saw none. Let it run for 5 min, then shut her down. 

 

By this time all the sheet metal had been cleaned up, all the dirt removed and everything primed and painted. All gloss black. Inner fenders, inside of front and read fenders, inside or rear skirts, fresh air inlets. The only piece I had to fabricate inside the engine bay was a piece under the battery tray, it had given up under the battery from all those years. I got a new oem style battery tray and starting on aligning panels and radiator support for the final assembly. Left for vacation June 2nd

 

Came back July 26th. Panels went in smooth, I had drilled pilot holes before disassembly and it did help. I used as many as I could of  the oem  bolts, but most of them were replaced with stainless steel ones. 

 

 

Next was the interior. After we came back from vacation, I started working on the floor pans. I cut out the rear sections with he pin holes ad new panels were welded in. The front sections were the worst. They had riveted one piece of 20g 6”x18” piece of steel onto the original floor pan, on both sides. I cut everything off, I made my own templates and grafted in the new front sections. I seam sealed all the joints top and bottom before priming and painting them. 

Pulled the cover of the rear diff, drained the nasty fluid, I should have looked for the numbers to see what ratio it is, (I have no doubt to believe it is the stock 4:01 unit), but I didn’t. 

 

Each section took me a day, but between work days that took two weeks. I used “reflectix” the stuff from HD as floor insulation, then jute and then new oem pre-cut carpet kit. I did not glue the carpet down, as between the front seat bolts and the rear seat it wasn’t going anywhere. I also run some RCA cables along with power and lead wire for future use. 

 

I finished up the wiring, zip tied everything, cleaned up all the water drains, sanded and vacuumed doors and quarter panel areas and sprayed them with NAPA’s bed line spray. Installed 5 mil water barrier membrane on both doors and quarter panels, and re-attached the interior panels. I cleaned everything up, seats and everything and again, all by myself the interior was done. 

(Continued)

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2016 by VickyBlue (see edit history)

[Pete Phillips]

Nice car and nice documentation of your work, but what is this doing in the Buick forum??????

[MrEarl]

He messaged me with a brief description of the project and explained  that a lot of his car buds are Buick forum members and asked if it would be OK to post Suso they could read it. Noting that he also owns a 56 Buick and that the project sounded interesting, I told him no problem. 

[VickyBlue]

Thank you for allowing me to post in here. I discovered a nasty surprise this morning. I just got back from an easy 100 mile back road drive, the rear main seal gave up, oil all over the underneath. I pulled the flywheel inspection cover and sure enough,  I could see it dripping...150 miles on it. I am so disappointed. I do not know what I did wrong. I measured carefully, I cut carefully, I even sealed the ends. I made sure there was enough material left before I cut and put the main cap back on... I read Willie's posts, the engine was out of the car, I am not sure what happened... This was the seal I used:

http://www.classicchevy.com/chevy-rear-main-seal-set-graphtite-rope-216-235-and-261-ci-1955-1957.html

 

I am leaving for training tomorrow, will be gone till November. I am not sure what to do at this point, as I have other things to worry about. I know what you all going to say... what scares me is that I might listen...

 

[old-tank]

44 minutes ago, VickyBlue said:

I am not sure what to do at this point, as I have other things to worry about. I know what you all going to say... what scares me is that I might listen...

Bummer!  I told you to put a nailhead in it 

When life gets sorted out, pull the pan and check the thrust on the crankshaft...no seal will work for long if excessive end play.  If OK, remove the rear main cap to inspect.

[Bhigdog]

 "finally solving those aggravating rear main seal leaks. No hype here. . . just results!"

 

That's exactly what the guys that sold me a molded rubber seal said. Sorry for your loss.................Bob

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

Dad had a '52 Chevrolet Deluxe coupe.

The Deluxe model had two sun visors, heater/defroster and a clock.

He loved that car, he drove it everyday to work and back

[VickyBlue]

On August 27, 2016 at 11:00 AM, old-tank said:

Bummer!  I told you to put a nailhead in it 

When life gets sorted out, pull the pan and check the thrust on the crankshaft...no seal will work for long if excessive end play.  If OK, remove the rear main cap to inspect.

I finally got a day off... Not done by a long shot, but it is moving along as planned.

 Willie, do you think the PCV for some reason failed and it is pressurizing the crank case and the oil shoots out of the rear main? 

Before I left, the car idled for over 40 min and I did not see any leaks. I am not home to pull some vacuum from the PCV to see what is going on, but could this be possible? 

Ground school is done, starting sim on Sunday.

[old-tank]

I don't know anything about a PVC conversions on these old engines UNLESS it is installed backwards, it will pressurize the crankcase.

Most will not leak just idling stationary...even with no seal present.   When driving oil sloshes to the back and then leaks happen...more readily if very full or overfull.  Gotta pull the cap.

Willie

[VickyBlue]

I am back home... I drove her up the ramps and removed the front chrome piece. I was going do as much as I could today and get her ready for tomorrow. 

I removed the flywheel inspection cover and in my effort to clean the old oil remains from a month ago, I  grabbed a white kitchen paper towel (I was out of the blue shop towels) and started cleaning. The oil was green... it stunk too. Which made me believe it might be transmission gear oil... I took more samples, let it dry a little and after comparing it to en engine oil sample from the dip stick, one was dark brown, the other was light green/yellowish.

When I put the  engine/transmission in the car the first time, I filled up  the transmission from the top fill plug, and then I added some more through he speedo cable access whole, per the manual. I checked the rear end level today too, and it was ok... Torque ball seal is dry too.  The flywheel is squeaky clean, even the rear bearing cap was dry. I don't know what to think.

I changed the engine oil too, I think tomorrow I will start it and see what happens... It is definitely gear lube, I put a tiny drop in my finger and tasted it. Then I did the same with some engine oil. I know, I know... but I had to be sure. I am 99.9% sure it is gear lube.

[oldstyle]

On 8/25/2016 at 8:40 AM, Pete Phillips said:

Nice car and nice documentation of your work, but what is this doing in the Buick forum??????

Agreed

[oldstyle]

We all come here for buick info, news, and talk.

I have friends with Chevy's, Studebakers, and Packards. If I'm interested in what they're up to I call them. I don't post their cars in the Buick forum. Maybe I should.

Of course this isn't my forum either so if everyone here is so interested in this Chevy I dont care if its here. Just seems odd.

Edited October 8, 2016 by MrEarl
removed argumemtative verbiage (see edit history)

[MrEarl]

On 8/25/2016 at 11:40 AM, Pete Phillips said:

Nice car and nice documentation of your work, but what is this doing in the Buick forum??????

 

14 hours ago, oldstyle said:

Agreed

 

2 hours ago, oldstyle said:

We all come here for buick info, news, and talk.

I have friends with Chevy's, Studebakers, and Packards. If I'm interested in what they're up to I call them. I don't post their cars in the Buick forum. Maybe I should.

Of course this isn't my forum either so if everyone here is so interested in this Chevy I dont care if its here. Just seems odd.

 

Raul, I appreciate your viewpoint, but I stand by my comment in post # 3. I and others are finding this thread interesting to follow, although it is not discussing work actually performed on a Buick, the discussion parallels that of the mechanics and working on old Buick's.  I am not going to be the one to tell a fellow Buick owner and long time member of the forum  to take his posts elsewhere just because they don't quite fit our toy box.  Again thanks for posting and  while I appreciate your viewpoint,  I also hope you see mine.  

[Ttotired]

Vicky Blue

Interesting read, I have no idea on your oil leak, but what I am a bit puzzled about is your floor repair.

I didnt see any removable plate to access the master cylinder?

 

 

[VickyBlue]

Remote master fill. Didn't want to cut brand new floor pans, plus a brand new carpet. 

 

Turned out the oil leak was gear oil... Dry as a bone as of 30 min ago. She will go up for sale tomorrow or Monday and the proceeds will get me a nice 63-64 Wildcat Coupe or maybe a Lesabre Coupe, that way I can keep Raul happy...

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

I saw your for sale ad

Good luck with that. 

Someone will get a nice Chevy

[VickyBlue]

As I was trying to figure out how come none of the 240 watchers wasn't wiling to even make an offer, I told myself maybe it is not meant to go... I can't give it away and I really do not need the cash. An ad on local CL showed a rebuilt 1961 235 with a mild cam, fully documented machine shop invoice that was just replaced with a SBC. The 235 has had its first 500 mile oil change. I called the guy and  $1000 later the engine was in my garage.  I bought a new 32/36 progressive Weber and 2 weeks later, the 235 now lives between the frame rails of the little coupe.