1937 Buick Model 48: RESTORATION HAS BEGUN! (Photo)

[GARY F]

Evercoat Metal Glaze is good stuff. I used it on my two Pontiacs. 

[Gary W]

Terry:  Regarding your 1916  D-45 "Straight-Cut" Transmission gears:  Passing on to you some information I found out:

 

Not to beat a "dead horse" but only for clarification purposes:

 

After all the comments on proper gear oils, I had to do a little research for my own education.  I've been using the MEROPA gear oil for over 20 years in my cars, and after reading all the input here I was getting a little worried that I may be damaging the bushings or anything else that had copper-containing metals.   I contacted Chevron and finally nailed down the specs of the MEROPA gear oil that I have been using.  It IS perfectly suitable for copper, brass, bronze and scored a "1A" in the "Copper Strip Corrosion  ASTM D130 Test.  Sigh of relief.

 

Now, as stated above, the 680 may be too heavy for the Buick, (to flow into the needle bearings and synchros) but I have to tell you, in the Non-Synchro, Straight Cut, "crashboxes", the 680 does a great job slowing down the gears for easy shifting.  (That's MY OWN PERSONAL experience with this particular gear oil.......)  They do make a lighter grade (420?) also,  which may flow better into the bearings... 

 

So, like I stated earlier, not to keep dragging out this subject, but solely for informational purposes:  I did order a classic 140 EP gear oil for the Buick, but I will continue using the MEROPA in the non-synchro boxes.

 

 (PS.. I do not work for Texaco, Chevron or have a horse in this race.  I'm just trying to learn and hopefully pass the information on that I acquired so others can make an informed decision.  I never in my life even heard of the ASTM D130 test, but keep learning as all you guys chime in here.  I really appreciate all the new stuff I'm learning.  Thanks!)

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great day out there!

Gary

[smithbrother]

3M #31180 finishing glaze is great stuff, BUT ONE HAS TO BE SAFE AS IT CAN CAUSE SERIOUS HEALTH ISSUES.

 

I don't know about 100416?

 

Looking good, great pictures,

 

Dale in Indy

[dibarlaw]

Gary:

 Thank you for your info on the Meropa product. It is good to know there are other options for the 600W "Steam Cylinder" oil I am still using in my 1925 Buicks. The reason? I still have a 5 gallon can of it and it should keep me for a number of years.

Larry

[Brian_Heil]

Steam Cylinder Oil is a lard / animal fat based lubricant.  Important for steam engines as it dissolves at high temps and is dispersed by that method within a steam engine to lube it (think of how a 2 cycle engines is lubed but in this case steam and melted lard).  There are far better extreme pressure (EP) petroleum based lubes in a variety of viscosities you should be using Larry. 

 

Sorry to dilute Gary's wonderful restoration post.  He gets more done is a day than I do in a week.  Pretty sure he wears a cape with a script Buick 'B' on it.

[neil morse]

Not to derail your thread, Gary, but I couldn't help posting this pic of what I spotted on the streets of San Francisco this morning.  I thought this might give you inspiration (as if you needed any).   I couldn't get a good shot of the interior because the windows were closed, but I'm pretty sure you would have approved.  Not only was it sporting a beautiful steering wheel that looked like it had been through Mr. Donaldson's shop, but it had a chromed shift lever as well!

[Gary W]

LOVE IT!!!  I Cannot wait for that day!  I really like the side mounts.....How much trouble is that to do?  Can I cut in fender wells or do I have to buy an actual welled fender?

[Gary W]

Friday June 9, 2017:  Re-vulcanized Running Boards Arrived!

 

On January 15 I removed the running boards from the car.  I sent them out to get the bottom blasted free of all that rust and barnacles that 80 years of use will bring.  I was going to buy the rubber mat from Steele and cure it on myself, but the more I thought about it, the task of removing that old dried up, vulcanized rubber seemed almost impossible.  So I decided to send them out to be professionally revulcanized:  

 

So on February 28 I boxed them up, actually using old outdoor furniture cushions over the ends of the boards to protect them on their journey to Canada.  I used heavy duty boxes and "sleeved" them so the walls were doubly protected.

 

Well, today UPS dropped off the restored / revulcanized boards and they look great!

 

January 15, 2017:  Removed off the car

 

Here's a close-up of the condition of the rubber

 

Another shot as it was removed.

 

 

 

 

.

All the hardware removed and the underside blasted clean, ready to boxed and shipped.

 

The last time they will have their original rubber.  I felt this job was a bit too much for me to tackle.

 

 

Today, UPS dropped off a nicely built wooden shipping box.

 

Acting like a kid in a candy shop, I couldn't wait to undo all the screws and open the treasure!

 

The undersides are powder coated "mirror black"

 

The up side..... smooth as a baby's bottom!  

 

The finished product!  Very, very nice job.

 

Here they are, ready to have the hardware re-installed.  

 

The detail is perfect!  I sent all the mounting hardware to my local powder coater, and I got all new nuts and bolts for re-assembly.

 

Job well done!  Thanks to Kris at The Running Board Rubber Company, Mc Bride, Canada.

 

 

 

 

[MCHinson]

1 hour ago, Gary W said:

LOVE IT!!!  I Cannot wait for that day!  I really like the side mounts.....How much trouble is that to do?  Can I cut in fender wells or do I have to buy an actual welled fender?

 

Dave Tacheny could probably sell you the correct welled fenders and all of the attaching hardware, as well as the Sidemount Covers that are missing on the car in the photo.

[Paul White]

Hi All,

 

The conversation concerning transmission oil has given me pause for thought as the '36s gear box drains out...

[LAS VEGAS DAVE]

The running boards look FANTASTIC. I was unaware you could still get that done. Nice job, it will be great on the car.

 

[39BuickEight]

Gary, does/did your car have a radio?  If so, where does the antenna go?  In the running boards?

[Paul White]

My apologies in taking the conversation back a bit. I am having trouble locating a transmission / diff oil that that is both API GL4 and 140. Best I can find here in Australia is GL4 and 110. Any thoughts on suitability for my '36?

 

Love the running boards Garry!

[Gary W]

Hello Paul!

 

Please read through these two currently running threads.  The topic of transmission oil / differential oil is discussed kind of intertwined with my thread:

 

                   MAINTENANCE                 

 

                   41 Limited transmission and rear end fluid change                 

 

 

Hi Billy;

I got the car WITHOUT a radio.  It only had a "blanking plate" on the dash.  I purchased one from Mr. Tachney and it is now being restored and set up with USB /  Bluetooth / AM / FM .  Yes, the antenna is routed to the running boards.

 

Matthew:  Probably a ton of $$ for new welled fenders and all the accessory parts that go along with it....  I really do LOVE the side mounts.  I'll look into it.

 

 

[37 Buick Special]

Yep, that car is owned by a friend of mine. It is spot on beautiful. Interior is maroon and not original in appearance but it looks great. Outside she is perfect. Running gear is modern but not visible to the casual observer. She is his daily driver. The dude lives, eats, dresses and talks 30's and 40's. Quite the guy. Was my inspiration to buy a 37, even turned out to be the same color.

Dave

[LAS VEGAS DAVE]

I was lucky and Dave found an NOS radio antenna kit with the cloth covered wires and all the hardware for ours when I was looking. The radio works pretty good here in Las Vegas as we have many AM stations. Mounting the radio should be

fairly easy if its done before the seat is back in the car.

[Janousek]

Gary,  that Uro primer isn't designed to be sprayed over bare metal.  It needs an Epoxy (best) or a variprime etch style primer sprayed over the bare metal.  I'm sure the painter knows this and will be doing so.  The epoxy does the best job of sealing the metal and allowing the 2k fillers to adhere to it.  

 

Tread lightly telling a painter that "the internet says" but it needs an epoxy or etch before urethane surfacers are used.  I've booted more than one internet expert from my shop.  

[DonMicheletti]

You might not love the sidemounts when you want to work on the engine

[Gary W]

Janousek:  You are correct...There is a "self-etching" primer step in the lineup that I forgot.  Painters talk too fast for me!

[Gary W]

OK......I'm killing myself trying to mount these tires / tubes / rim flaps!!!!

Also, the rim flaps have a hole drilled dead center.   The air stem is off to one side!  So first I drilled a 1/2" hole offset so the rim flap would sit nicely against the tube.

 

I am trying it like this:

 

Push tube into tire casing

Seat rim flap evenly all-around so it lays nice and flat to the tube

A little air to hold the shape

(At this point the air stem disappears under the bead)

Try, in vain, to get the tire seated over the rim.

What's the secret??  I can't see if the air stem is lined up with the rim opening, I can't even get one side to budge!

 

Little help here please.   Someone out there has the "trick" to make these things go on.

 

Thanks Guys!

 

[Gary W]

Sunday June 11, 2017:  Steering Box / Steering Column:

 

I sent the steering box out to LARES to rebuild as it has a noticeable "clunk" and a heavy spot that felt like the gear box was  locking up.  I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the restored steering gear box:

 

 

 

Here's my Steering Box ready to be shipped out.  I didn't ship the pitman arm.  But I did ship the entire steering column, ignition switch attached.

 

I

My Steering column was woodgrained.  I am going to paint in gloss black.  I used the same rope trick that I used on the crankshaft. 

 

Then a finer grit to smooth it out.  You see I left the ignition switch on  because John said "Don't mess with it!"

 

As the wood grained paint, base color and primer came off, the metal underneath is in great shape.

 

Here's the business end!

 

The tag from LARES states the unit is adjusted to factory specs.  So don't touch it.

 

I'm going to paint the gear box gloss black also.

 

So, I have a little more work to do to get it nice and smooth and ready for paint.

 

Before and After

 

 

 

[MCHinson]

Gary,

 

Two suggestions... 

 

1. Take the tires, wheels, and etc. to an old tire shop, preferably someone who works on large truck, and let them mount and balance them. It is money well spent.

2. The Steering column would have been Marsh Brown originally. It should have never been woodgrained. It is just as easy to paint it the original brown as to paint it black. The colors for most of the interior components are listed on the 1937 Buick Paint Chart. You can find it reproduced on page 4 of the attached issue of the Torque Tube II.

VOL 9 No 4 JULY-AUG 2016.pdf

[jvelde]

On 6/11/2017 at 2:50 PM, Gary W said:

OK......I'm killing myself trying to mount these tires / tubes / rim flaps!!!!

Also, the rim flaps have a hole drilled dead center.   The air stem is off to one side!  So first I drilled a 1/2" hole offset so the rim flap would sit nicely against the tube.

 

I am trying it like this:

 

Push tube into tire casing

Seat rim flap evenly all-around so it lays nice and flat to the tube

A little air to hold the shape

(At this point the air stem disappears under the bead)

Try, in vain, to get the tire seated over the rim.

What's the secret??  I can't see if the air stem is lined up with the rim opening, I can't even get one side to budge!

 

Little help here please.   Someone out there has the "trick" to make these things go on.

 

Thanks Guys!

 

I had tube tires mounted recently at Discount Tire - they placed the back bead of the tire over the rim, slid the tube in and had a stick that screwed on the valve stem through the valve stem hole in the rim.  Once they had the tube in place they then seated the front bead.  Hope this helps.

[BuickBob49]

Similar situation for me on my 39 Roadmaster.  A retired old-time tire store owner who now works out of his home garage mounted and balanced the tires. (He's a friend of my mechanic.)  He charged me a very reasonable price for mounting six tires w/tubes. 

 

The job for me was to figure out how to take apart and put back together side mount hardware without clear directions from the shop manual or the owner's manual.

[LAS VEGAS DAVE]

The trick is to take it to DISCOUNT TIRE and have them do it with modern tire machinery. I had them do mine and it went fine. No Scratches or problems. 

[Gary W]

Wednesday, June 14, 2017:   Tire Day

 

I listened to Matt, J. Velde, Bob and Dave.  I had the tires mounted at my local Sunoco Station.  It's a great shop, staffed with the nicest guys and they do everything there.  This morning I stopped by with only the spare to find out if they can mount the tire / tube combo.  "No Problem"   So I left the one tire with them, came back 15 minutes later and it was already mounted and balanced.  So I went home and got the other four rims, tires, tubes and rim flaps loaded in the truck and headed over.   I had to drill a new valve stem hole in every rim flap, as the Buick stem is offset, and the rim flap is only drilled dead center.  So this series of photos describes the whole day of tires!

 

I started by preparing each rim flap by drilling another valve stem hole off center to accept the offset angle of the valve stem.

 

I used an 11/16" bit and it worked great. 

 

At Glendola Sunoco where Russ took care of me.  Nice bunch of guys working there, always treat me great.  Russ let me photograph the process.

 

Rim is mounted on the base, the back bead getting lined up

 

He put a rubber attachment on the end of the rod so the machine wouldn't damage my new rims.  Here's the back bead dropping in place.

 

Then Russ carefully pushed the tube in place

 

And smoothed it out all around the inside of the tire casing.

 

The outer bead was seated next, with a careful eye on the tube the entire time.

 

Slowly the tire is filled with air to be sure the beads seat properly

 

Then mounted on the balancer

 

First spin to determine where the weights belong.  Russ did not want to ruin the look of the tire by putting weights on the outside rim, but Coker Tire told me the tires should have them so...

 

On they went!  Once the tire weights were tapped in place on both the outer and inner rims, 

 

The tires go for a second "confirmation" spin to double check that the balance is within spec.

 

Now at home, I scrubbed off that blue protective ink.

 

What a difference!  I toweled them all dry and let them set in the sun to finish drying.  While they were sitting there.....

 

I decided to paint the weights gloss black to match the rims!

 

Now the weights blend in a lot better and aren't so bad to look at.

 

The next step was to wire wheel all the lug bolts, acetone clean and spray them with a silver colored paint called "chrome"

 

Next, I installed all the beauty rings.  (or trim rings)

 

Hoist 'em up onto the locator pin and center them onto the hub

 

I like to start each lug bolt, then by slowly turning the wheel and tightening each one sequentially, I find the wheel seats nice and flush

 

Front tire installed.  The hubcaps are still getting re-chromed but these are beautiful tires.  

 

And now she's back on all fours again!  They are the whitest white-walls I've ever seen!

 

A good day!

 

 

 

 

 

[dibarlaw]

Gary:

Great photo essay! I am still bummed that the wheels are not Hampton gray. I thought you would have striped them before putting on the new tires.

[LAS VEGAS DAVE]

This just looks great, wait till the new paint and new boards are on it, it will be eye candy and mechanically superb. Surely one of the nicest 37's there is. 

 

[GARY F]

Gary.   I see the car next to your 37 has N.J. plates. Is that where your at? I lived in Ringoes all my life til I retired 11 yrs. ago and moved to SC. Tires and wheels look great. I follow your every post and all the pictures.

[FLYER15015]

Gary,

Just curious about your "beauty rings". I see they are plane (not ribbed), that's good. Are they repos ? Mine are and I got them from "Desert Rose", on the net.

Traipsed all over L.A. and finally figured out that they all come from the same place, China.

And they are a bit thinner and curved a bit different than my OEM's which I believe were nickel plated.

I finally got tired of semichroming those old rings. Now I just wipe them down with a damp cloth.

Here is a picture of the OEM rings, FYI.

 

Mike in Colorado

[Gary W]

Gary..Yes!  NJ born and raised.

Mike..Yes!  Those are reproductions from Bob's.  I have the originals, I put the best one on the spare, but the others are so beat up.  Dings, scratches...would have cost a fortune to fix and re chrome so I went this route for now, maybe if I decide later to splurge I'll have the originals done.  For now, this was an acceptable substitute.  

 

Thanks guys for following along!

 

[Gary W]

Thursday, June 15, 2017:  Another visit from the "Chrome Fairy"!

 

I got another shipment from Paul's Chrome Plating today.  Just thought I'd share some of the results:

 

A few more parts arrived today!   I am very impressed with the quality of the work.

 

Some Before and After photos:

 

Dome lamp switch plate Before

 

Dome lamp switch plate today.

 

Wiper Towers after disassembly.

 

Here we are now.

 

Dome lamp lens bezel.

 

Beautiful.

 

This assortment of of parts went out.

 

The finished product is beautiful.

 I have new plastic knobs.  I'm going to bring my steering wheel to the paint shop and have the color matched so I can paint the new door knobs. Then press them into position.

I also have to restore that dome lens.

 

 

 

 

[DonMicheletti]

The original wheel trim rings are a magnetic stainless steel and can be polished out using a buffing wheel and rouge. On mine. I was able to carefully work the small dents out.

 

Pauls did a really great job on my parts Ioo. However I am choking on the cost to do the grille!

[Buicknutty]

 Those parts certainly look good, esp. considering the condition of some of your originals! That is one thing which separates the good shops from the bad.

 Keith

[GARY F]

I am old and I love chrome. They look perfect.

[smithbrother]

Its been my experinence that rechroming POT metal often results in some detail being lost.   It may be your camera but the wiper arm assemblies seem to have lost some of the depth of the recessed groves.  It appears that before the groves ended square, and now more rounded.  I beiieve they remove the bad/pitted chrome either by grinding/sanding or blasting.

 

Not picking on the work, just wondering if that's what others find.

 

Dale in Indy

[DonMicheletti]

Pauls did my wiper towers. I was concerned about how they removed the old chrome - they told me they chemically stripped them - doing a backwards plating.. They came out perfect

If the parts had pits at the corners, it would be hard to keep them crisp. Plus once the groves are painted black, all the rounded edges will disappear

[MCHinson]

2 hours ago, smithbrother said:

Its been my experinence that rechroming POT metal often results in some detail being lost.   It may be your camera but the wiper arm assemblies seem to have lost some of the depth of the recessed groves.  It appears that before the groves ended square, and now more rounded.  I beiieve they remove the bad/pitted chrome either by grinding/sanding or blasting.

 

Not picking on the work, just wondering if that's what others find.

 

Dale in Indy

 

I think it is the lighting. It is really difficult to take good photos to show chrome or anything else nearly that shiny. The photo of them before replating makes the grooves look deeper due to the difference in color due to paint residue and/or grime in the grooves. I am sure they will look wonderful after the application of the black paint in the grooves. The round appearance looks like it is caused by reflections from the overhead light. 

 

I spent a bit of time today trying to take a photo of a touched up and waxed spot on a fender on my 1937 Buick for an article in the next issue of the Torque Tube II, and it was almost impossible to get a good photo of that fender. Clear photos of shiny stuff is really difficult without expensive lighting equipment, not generally found in the average garage.

[smithbrother]

If you use chemicals to strip, isn't that going to mess with the pot metal?

 

I would think chems strong enough to remove/dissolve chrome would harm pot metal?

 

Dale in Indy

[Gary W]

Friday, June 16, 2017:  Rebuild the Automatic Choke Unit

 

For those following along, I'm having a bit of trouble with this automatic choke unit.  I installed  a "helper" spring on one unit to try to remedy the problem of the choke only partially opening.  While that unit was installed on the engine,  I completely disassembled another unit I acquired and gave a good soaking in lacquer thinner.  I let it soak for a few days and got it back together and installed.  So this series is for those of you inclined to open up your automatic choke unit.  At least you can see what they're made of:

 

Here's the automatic choke unit prior to disassembly.

 

Just another view.  My hope was a good cleaning up would restore the unit to proper function.

 

Part of the disassembly showing how I was able to push the pin out using needle nose pliers.

 

With the pin out and the plate that keeps the piston from dropping too far removed, the guts look like this.

 

And here is the choke unit fully disassembled and ready for a good soaking and cleaning.

 

Fill 'er up..... and let everything soak for a few days.  (Install tires while this is soaking!)

 

The parts cleaned up real nice, and a lot of surface gook came off.  I wiped everything off and laid out all the parts according to assembly sequence.

 

Step 1:  Using an 800 grit automotive paper, I simply polished the walls of the internal cylinders so everything was nice and smooth.  

 

Step 2:   Install the top plate with the long "bellows" looking part.  I used a silicone sealant to take the place of the gasket that was unusable, being absolutely sure none bled through into the cylinders.

 

Step 3a:  Turn the unit upside down and install the bi-metallic coil and the vacuum piston shaft.

 

Step 3b:  Tip the shaft to first get the axle through the side of the casting

 

Step 3c:  Then center the part and push the piston into the vacuum cylinder.

 

Step 4a:  Install the plate with the extended ear towards the piston so the piston cannot fall through.

 

Step 4b:  Tighten the two screws that hold the plate in position.

 

Step 5a: Install the brass fitting to the casting that will center the shaft.

 

Step 5b:  Tighten it down

 

Step 6a:  Install the pin that connects the bi-metallic coil to the "bellows" connecting arm.

 

Step 6b:  Again, I used a needle nose plier to push the pin through.

 

Step 6c:  Here's a shot of the pin fully seated and the internal guts all back in position.

 

Step 7:  Again, I used a very light coating of a high temp silicone gasket maker to seal the bottom plate.  Nice and easy here as it seals very nice without a lot of mess if it is not over applied.

 

Here's the unit ready to have the arm re-installed on to the protruding shaft.

 

With the arm installed, the gasket installed and the automatic choke installed on to the engine and hooked into the Marvel.  Notice, I did not paint it yet.  I want to check the function first.

 

 

 

So, after installing the cleaned unit, I started the engine.  The first thing I noticed was that the vacuum definitely pulls the choke open to about the 60% area.  Already it's pulling open better.  I let the engine idle for 5-6 minutes, but I was in the garage and the place was filling up with exhaust fumes so I couldn't let it run much longer.  I don't know how hot the engine is supposed to get before that bi-metallic coil acts on the choke to fully open it.  Also, even though the engine was idling, and the choke did open about 60% or so, the engine DEFINITELY ran better when I manually opened the choke to full open.  It smoothed out.  When I let it drop back to the 60% mark where it was held by the vacuum, it started to feel like it was "bogging down".  Push the choke full open, smoothed right out.  So I have to figure out how to make that thing open the choke fully about 1 minute into running.  The engine likes it much better full open.  

 

As I stated before, the previous owner simply wired the choke full open all the time, completely bypassing the automatic choke entirely.  I ran it in December and January and it started right up and ran fine that way.  If tomorrow is a nice day, I'd like to roll the chassis outside and let it run for a good 10-15 minutes, let the engine fully warm up and check the operation of the automatic choke unit.  If it still doesn't open fully, I may have to consider another option here.

 

Have a good night guys!