1938 Buick Century Model 61 - Four Door Touring Sedan - Trunk Back

[MCHinson]

This morning, I installed the new rear emergency brake cable assembly. This job would have been a bit easier if I had the new brake cable when I installed the rear brake shoes and could have done it all at the same time. I was then able to reinstall the rear hubs.

 

Next I installed the rebuilt right front shock. The shock body was easy to install. Installing the upper control arm took a little bit longer. When I recently removed the upper control arm from the old shock it came apart fairly easily by removing the caps and then unscrewing the upper control arm until it came out. Trying to reverse the process this morning did not work as well. I could not seem to get the inner section of the upper control arm adjusted to quite the right location by trial an error. I then decided to read the  Front Suspencion secton of the service manual.  As soon as I read that section I realized that I needed to remove the front grease fitting. After removing the grease fitting, an allen wrench can be used to turn the inner section of the upper control arm to screw it in or out as needed. Then the grease fitting is reinstalled.  The rebuilt shock appears to work fine, in spite of having apparently having been rebuilt many years ago. After finishing that job, I touched up the paint on the rebuilt shock. Tomorrow, I will tackle the right front spring installation and will probably go ahead and install the other rebuilt shock to replace the other original shock, even though it appears to be working fine.

[MCHinson]

This morning I installed the two rear wheels. I then installed the right front spring assembly. The installation went smoothly. I then rebuilt the right front brakes greased the bearings and installed the right front hub. I then reinstalled the right front wheel.

[MCHinson]

This morning, I installed the rebuilt left front shock. With the recent experience of doing the spring and shock removal and reinstallation I was able to easily and quickly remove the spring, change the shock, and reinstall the spring. After finishing that job, I greased all of the grease fittings on the front suspension. I reinstalled the left front wheel and took the chassis off of the jack stands. 

 

After that I spent a little bit of time working on the brakes. After several attempts to tighten up all of the fittings on the brake system, I still had a leak in the fitting adjacent to the brake light switch.  I finally disassembled that fitting and discovered that when installed everything with new copper crush washers, one of the new was was a little bit too large. When It went together, it dropped down enough that it did not seal the joint. After I disassembled the fitting and reassembled it with a smaller copper crush washer, I think I have solved the leak.  

[MCHinson]

Today, I disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and tested the headlight switch. It really was not in that bad a shape, but it looks better now. I also took the opportunity to map out the 1938 Buick headlight switch circuits to better understand the confusing headlight circuit design. There are multiple contacts and many redundant operations in the headlight switch, which probably help to minimize failures of the switch but those redundancies make it very difficult to understand or troubleshoot the switch. I still have not figured out all of the redundant operations that happen in the lighting circuits because I have not yet incorporated any analysis of the operation of the dimmer switch in conjunction with the headlight switch.

1938 Buick Headlight Switch.pdf

[Gary W]

Matt;

Here are the two switches I have:

 

The one marked "S" is the restored switch for my Special

The one marked "C" is obviously for another model (maybe Century, Roadmaster, Limited??) as it has a longer base unit.

 

 

The "business end" is nearly identical save the center "triangle" which is larger than the two on the ends.  The Special switch has three identical "triangles"

 

Electrically, they have the same current path when I tested them with a test light.

 

Gary

[r1lark]

Wow......those switches are some complicated assemblies.

[MCHinson]

Gary,

 

I am fairly certain that the longer switch is the 1938 switch and the shorter switch is the 1937 switch. The switches were different by year, not by series. All 1937's used the same part number and all 1938's used the same part number. My guess is your 1937 switch has the wrong center contact causing it to not switch the lights off in the off position. This is only a guess, since some of the contacts are different sizes, so your issue with the switch could possbily be caused by some other issue.  It is a bit difficult for me to visualize how the sliding contacts match up with their corresponding stationary contacts. I am amazed, amused and confused by the design of these switches. There is a whole lot taking place when you slide that knob in and out!

[MCHinson]

I have been unable to dedicate as much time to the Buick project lately as I would have preferred. I have only had a few minutes here and there to work on the Buick Since Friday. On Saturday, Monday and today, I spent the small amount of time that I had to work on the Buick bleeding the brakes using a recently purchased Mityvac MV8000. My first confession is that, with the exception of Model A Ford mechanical brakes,  I have always had a mechanic do all of my brake work. Unitl this project, I had never worked on any hydraulic brakes. On this job, I rebuilt the master cylinder, rebuilt the wheel cylinders, installed all new lines and hoses, installed a new brake switch, and cleaned up and reinstalled all of the original junction blocks with new copper crush washers.

 

I ran a lot of fluid through the system while bleeding the brakes but I kept having a problem getting all of the air out of the system. Yesterday, I noticed that I had a slight fluid leak around the rear axle brake junction block. After tightening up all of the connections on that fitting, the leak appears to be solved. Today, I again attempted to bleed the brakes. When I got to the right rear bleeder valve, I finally figured out why I was having problems. The fittings on both rear bleeder valves had both been rounded off a bit in the past so that a wrench would not fit as tightly as they should. I had been using pliers on the left rear bleeder valve and an adjustable wrench on the right rear bleeder valve. As I was bleeding the right rear wheel cylinder, after tightening up the bleeder valve, I noticed that fluid was still slowly passing through the bleeder valve and into the tubing.

 

I realized that if I was unable to successfully totally close the bleeder valve, it has apparently been allowing air to be sucked into the system. I stopped by a local auto parts store and picked up a pair of bleeder valves for less than $3.00. I installed the new bleeder valves on the two rear wheel cylinders. After installing the new bleeder valves, I was able to finally bleed the brakes successfully.  

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

 Damm, brother, don't believe i'd told that.  Louis grizzard.    . 

 

  Matt, I think we all have done those things. Glad you figured it out.

 

  Ben

Edited November 29, 2017 by Ben Bruce aka First Born (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Today, I decided to disassemble and paint the heater/defroster. The heater itself came apart quite easily. The only problem was the defroster fan blade assembly. The setscrew that holds the blade assembly to the defroster motor shaft would not budge. The screwdriver blade could not bite into the set screw due to someone having rounded off the setscrew sometime in the past. The size and shape of the assembly makes it almost impossible to drill out the setscrew. I spent more time than I will admit drilling that setscrew out before finally getting the assembly apart this evening so that I could prime the bottom half of the defroster fan housing.

 

Before I got the defroster assembly apart, I cleaned up, primed, and painted the heater housing. I was able to clean up the nuts, bolts, and screws that hold the heater and defroster together. I used some simichrome polish in an attempt to clean up the heater center trim strip but with only a minute or two of hand buffing, I managed to only remove some of the chrome or nickel finish, exposing the copper plating.

[MCHinson]

Today, I disassembled the defroster motor in an attempt to see if I can fix it. It is not looking encouraging. I got it apart, cleaned up, and painted the case. I then replaced the power wire on the motor assembly with one that actually has some insulation on it. I then did a tenative reassembly and discovered that the motor still has issues. It might turn out that a replacement motor will be needed but I have not totally given up on the original yet. I gave the heater case another coat of paint this morning and also primed and later painted the defroster housing. Later, I replaced the trim stip on the heater housing and while the plating is not perfect, it looks OK for now. I might consider replating it but hopefully I might find a better piece of trim to replace it later. I took a few photos as I was working on the motor but did not think to take any photos of the recently painted heater housing. I will have to take some of those tomorrow as I reassemble the heater.  

[MCHinson]

It looks like the defroster motor is going to have to be rebuilt by someone who does that professionally or else it is going to need to be replaced. It will probably be easier and cheaper to find a replacement. I don't want to take the time to rewind the coils for the motor. 

 

I did manage to give the heater assembly a second coat of paint and later reassemble it. It works fine and I can live with the center trim strip for now. I might find a trim stip in better condition and swap it out in the future.

[38Buick 80C]

Blower motors are on eBay ALLLLLLLL the time.

[kgreen]

I'm not familiar with the '38's, did I see tube shocks on the rear?  You mentioned that you were looking for a body earlier in your post.  What's up with the body that you have?

 

Thanks for sharing, I see many similarities to the '40 on the chassis and engine, several of the tips that you are getting will be useful to me as well.  

[MCHinson]

Yes, in 1938 Buick switched to coil springs on both front and rear with tube style shocks on the rear and knee action shocks on the front. The car was left outside for over 20 years in Massachussetts after the death of a prior owner. The rust is so bad that, while it could be fixed, it would be much quicker, easier and probably cheaper to swap to a better body. I think I have found a body. I just need to schedule some time in the next week or so to travel about 10 hours to see it and hopefully buy it and trailer it back home.

[MCHinson]

Yesterday I drove my 1937 Century to our monthly cars and coffee event. There were lots of nice cars there. Including mine,there were two of our local 36-38 Buick Club cars were there. 

[MCHinson]

I am running low on projects to do on the Chassis until a few parts arrive from Dave Tacheny. Today I spent a little bit of time preparing the dash and window moldings for woodgraining. I removed the small trim that needs to be removed from the window moldings. I also did a bit of sanding on the dash. I knew that some of the moldings would need to be replaced or receive some significant work. After looking closer at them, there appears to be a little bit more work needed on these than I initially expected upon my previous casual inspection of them. I did find some more nice remnants of the original woodgrain pattern under the small trim on some of the moldings.  

 

The best news though is that I think I have located a replacement body. From the photos, it appears to be in very good condition. It will be a week or so before I am able to coordinate a trip up to see it and hopefully bring it home. If I buy it, I will have an extra 1938 Buick Special frame, Two 1938 Buick Special engines and quite a few other extra 1938 Buick Special parts available for sale. If anybody is in need of any 1938 Buick Special parts, other than the body, please let me know. 

[Gary W]

Hi Matt!  

Good Luck with the body, I hope it all works out for you.  

I was looking at the photo above of the window sweep attached to the inside of the garnish molding.  I see the staples through the sweep, but what do the staples go in to?  It looks like it's all metal under there.

 

 

 

Thanks!  Gary

 

 

 

[MCHinson]

They are stapled through the metal. I really wonder how Buick originally attached them. They are really heavy duty staples but I don't know if they drilled holes and put the staples through the holes or if they were able to shoot staples through the metal window molding. I figure the easiest way for me to attach them now would be to drill small holes and use rivets.

[kgreen]

I couldn't tell you how the auto manufacturers did the stapling, but I would suspect the method was as quick as could be.  I've installed new rubber on mud shields and used proper gauge steel wire pushed through drilled or punched holes on the rubber then folded the ends of the "staple" over.  It all looked official.  You would have to drill very small pilot holes through your new window sweeps to match existing holes in the garnish molding.  You might even consider making the job easier by clamping the new sweep to the window frame, then drill new holes through the sweep and window garnish.

[Gary W]

The difference between your garnish and the '37 that I'm working with is that you have that extra decorative trim on the outside to hide the rivets, staples.....   My '37 is only wood grained.  There is no trim so if I staple, rivet.... through the metal, it'll show into the car.  That's why I'm so curious how these things go on.  

[MCHinson]

Gary, the decorative trim is on the other side of the molding from the sweep. The Centurys have that decorative trim. That is the primary difference between a Special body and a Century Body. The other difference is the captured bolt pattern where the front fenders attach to the body.

 

The staples appear to be made out of 1/16 inch diameter heavy steel. I think that they were simply stapled to the steel window molding by some type of heavy duty press.  The staples are simply sunk  into the surrounding fabric of the sweep material so you would not see them. Hopefully this photo will help you picture how they are attached. 

[MCHinson]

This morning I finished cleaning up the dash and some of the window trim pieces and applied a coat of primer to them outside before the rains arrived. I then took them into the garage to dry overnight in anticipation of starting the woodgraining soon. I have a few window molding pieces that need some metal repair or replacement so I won't be able to quickly finish the woodgraining, but it is a nice diversion since I am waiting on a few remaining chassis parts. Since I will be traveling to pick up the replacement body soon, I will probably wait to see if the fuel tank that comes with the parts car is better than my current tank. There are supposed to be some other additional extra parts with the parts car, so I am not exactly sure what I will be picking up soon. I should know soon, but not quite soon enough for me. 

[Gary W]

On 12/5/2017 at 12:52 PM, MCHinson said:

Hopefully this photo will help you picture how they are attached. 

 

Thanks Matt!  Now I get it!  I always need photos to help me along....  

 

Have a great night

G

[95Cardinal]

On 12/5/2017 at 12:52 PM, MCHinson said:

Gary, the decorative trim is on the other side of the molding from the sweep. The Centurys have that decorative trim. That is the primary difference between a Special body and a Century Body. The other difference is the captured bolt pattern where the front fenders attach to the body.

 

The staples appear to be made out of 1/16 inch diameter heavy steel. I think that they were simply stapled to the steel window molding by some type of heavy duty press.  The staples are simply sunk  into the surrounding fabric of the sweep material so you would not see them. Hopefully this photo will help you picture how they are attached. 

 

I spent most of my GM career in Fisher Body Trim facilities.

 

These "staples" were installed on a wire stitch machine.

The machine used a coil of steel wire. It drove the wire through the material (hardboard, sheet metal, whatever) and folded the legs over on the underside.

The operator controlled the machine with a foot pedal.

We installed "cat whiskers" or door sweeps with these machines, as well as sunshade support brackets and other components.

A typical door trim panel would require 7 attachment points to retain the window sweep to the upper steel panel.

An experienced operator could complete those 7 staple operations in less than 5 seconds.

 

Here's a YouTube video of a typical wire stitcher in operation.

The machines are commonly used in bookbinding, saddlery and other industries as well.

 

Edited December 7, 2017 by 95Cardinal
spelling (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Thanks. It sure would be handy to have one of those in the garage, but I don't think I can afford to buy one or justify the space it would take up in the garage. I think that a few small rivets will be the best substitute for the average home restorer.

[95Cardinal]

On 12/7/2017 at 2:13 PM, MCHinson said:

Thanks. It sure would be handy to have one of those in the garage, but I don't think I can afford to buy one or justify the space it would take up in the garage. I think that a few small rivets will be the best substitute for the average home restorer.

Yep, that's what I typically do on the cat whiskers. Paint the rivet heads black and they "disappear".

[MCHinson]

I just got back home with a 1938 Model 41 that will serve as a body donor for my 1938 Model 61 project. In the past 32 hours, I have driven 20 hours, spent two hours loading a car on a trailer and I think I will get some sleep. I will unload it in the morning and figure out exactly what extra parts I have. Here is a photo of the seller with the car after we loaded it on the trailer, after we loaded up quite a few boxes of parts. It was interesting loading it up with a bit of ice on the driveway. I also took one photo before I turned onto the road from his driveway, which shows the result of recent weather which is why it was important to get it as soon as possible, before any more snow fell. It was a stalled restoration project due to the seller having back surgery and being unable to complete the restoration. It is basically a complete car plus it came with quite a few extra parts. 

[r1lark]

Good deal Matt! I know you are glad to get that body.

 

Now help out a non-Buick guy -- what are the body differences between a Model 41 and a Model 61? Or are they just trim differences?

[MCHinson]

According to Dave Tacheny, who has disassembled more 1936-1941 Buicks than anybody else in the world, the Model 61 and Model 41 body shells are identical except for the pattern of the hidden captured nuts on the body where the front fenders attach to the body. The only other thing that I am aware of is that the window moldings on the Century have some additional bright trim that the Special does not have. It is obviously no problem just switching the window moldings over to the new body, although I do have a small amount of metal repair to do to some of the window moldings from the Century. I might just carefully measure and mark the Special window moldings and cut a number of very small slots in the moldings to attach the Century bright trim to the window moldings. I think that might be easier.

[MCHinson]

This morning, I rolled the 1938 Special off of the trailer and was able to then use my 1937 Century to pull it down the driveway with a rope and into a space in front of the garage. I then was able to roll it into the garage so I can get started on removing the body soon. The body is not perfect, but it is certainly a lot better body than the original Century body. It will certainly be a much easier restoration than the original body would have been. The Special body is nearly rust free. I think the comparison of the trunk photos best shows the difference between the condition of two car bodies. I think that the presence of an original 1938 Jack in the trunk speaks to how complete the Special is. Tomorrow I will have to get started on inventory of the boxes of parts to see exactly what extra parts I have. As soon as I can get the body off of the Special and onto the Century chassis, I will be able to get my modern Buick back into the garage. 

[kgreen]

Wow, that is a great looking body.  The only question seems to be what might be missing?  Anything, it looks complete to me.

[MCHinson]

This was a complete drivable car that the owner disassembled to restore. It should have all of the parts plus some extra parts. The engine that is in it is an incorrect later engine. I guess I should have bought the spare engine that he also had, since it now looks like it was the original engine from this car. He was unable to complete the restoration due to medical issues. I feel a little bad about just using the body of this one since the Special would be a restorable car itself. The incorrect engine does make me feel a little less guilty about tearing it apart to use as a parts donor. I either need to sell the remains of the Special and the extra parts or I might be tempted to do something crazy with it after I finish the Century project. 

[Gary W]

....  I vote "Do Something Crazy!!"

Congrats....  great find!  You'll be making good  progress now.

Great photos.

[MCHinson]

Today, I cleaned the extra parts out of the Special interior so I can soon get started in removing the body from its chassis. I spent a bit of time rearranging the garage a little bit so I could stack the 1938 Special parts that I can't use in the back corner of the garage. I put most of the parts that I expect to potentiailly use where I can get to them a bit easier. I removed the seats and put them aside as I expect to use them instead of the original Century seats, as the springs are in better condition. I also discovered a couple of interesting non-Buick parts. It seems I now have a spare 1938 or so Oldsmobile heater and a 1938 or so Motorola radio to sell. The instrument panel gauges look nice. The floors are nice and solid. The car came with the original Philadelphia PA, "Wilkie" Buick dealership logo that was originally mounted on the trunk lid. If I decide to reuse it, it is going to need some attention and some new chrome plating.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Floore are like new!  

 

  Ben

[Gary W]

Matt.. That body really looks nice and solid!  Great find!

[MCHinson]

This morning, I decided to start taking some stuff apart on the body donor car. After having lightly soaked the body bolts with acetone/ATF overnight, all of the body bolts came out without much effort. The hardest thing to disassemble was the right running board. I figured out why the previous owner had not removed it. I easily removed two of the four bolts holding the running boards to the brackets but discovered that two of the nuts were weathered or worn to the point that the 9/16 socket slipped on them. I discovered a quick trick that really saved me some time. If you ever encounter a nut that should be 9/16" but the nut is worn too much for the socket to grip it, try a 14 mm socket. Apparently a 9/16" nut that has been exposed to the weather for about 79 years on the bottom of a running board perfectly fits a 14 mm socket. They came out easily with that socket. The only other problem is I dropped one of the nuts and have not yet figured out where it rolled. 

 

I am still quite happy with the body donor car. There is some fairly minor, easy to repair rust on the bottom of both rear door frames and doors. There is a relatively small rusted out place in the rear tool tray in the left rear corner of the trunk thank the previous owner had attempted to patch with fiberglass. All of the rust that needs to be repaired in this body is probably about one squre foot or so.  

[MCHinson]

Christmas came early today. I received a shipment of parts from Dave Tacheny today. The exhaust manifold was the primary thing that has been preventing me from finishing the chassis restoration.  The parts look great and the prices were reasonable. I also removed the right front fender. All but one of the bolts came out easily. One of the captured nuts broke loose from the body so I used an angle grinder to remove that one bolt. 

[MCHinson]

This morning, instead of working on the Buick, I attended the local Christmas Antique Car Display put on by some local AACA friends. They have quite a collection of bikes, motorcycles, Model A's, Model T's, a few other Brass Cars, some other American Steel and various small imported cars, which are shown in the first group of photos in and around the Stonehenge Buidling.  Visitors park their antique cars in the adjacent parking lot outside the Extreme Detail building next door.