55 Roadmaster Rebuild, need machine shop reference

[buickbrothers]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum and looking forward to all the expert help I can get. My brother and I are restoring a 1955 Buick Roadmaster. We are located in Dallas Texas. We are at the stage of needing to locate an experienced machine shop in the area that can work on nailheads. I have decent mechanical skills and I'm willing to learn, but I am out of my depth on the scope of some levels of what will be required. The engine was running when we got the car, but the car was not road worthy. After pulling and inspecting the engine, I found a cracked piston. Bottom line, we know we will be replacing at least one piston but it seems we should do them all then vs. just the one. I also found something odd. One intake valve was concave whereas all the other valves were flat. It was concave like all the exhaust valves. We are highly confident the engine was never pulled rebuilt (plus there was literally 1" of sludge in the bottom of the oil pan which took years to collect). I've been researching 322's for months - ran across Old-Tanks site and the Centerville site so I understand some of the do's and don'ts. Thus, I need a experienced machine shop reference, near this area, to begin the engine work. Thanks.

Edited July 9, 2018 by MrEarl
edit title (see edit history)

[Thriller]

Good luck. There are a number of experienced ‘55 folks in Texas so hopefully you will get the help you need. I’m not sure how close any of them are to the DFW region though. 

 

[old-tank]

On 7/8/2018 at 4:52 PM, buickbrothers said:

Hello all. I'm new to this forum and looking forward to all the expert help I can get. My brother and I are restoring a 1955 Buick Roadmaster. We are located in Dallas Texas. We are at the stage of needing to locate an experienced machine shop in the area that can work on nailheads. I have decent mechanical skills and I'm willing to learn, but I am out of my depth on the scope of some levels of what will be required. The engine was running when we got the car, but the car was not road worthy. After pulling and inspecting the engine, I found a cracked piston. Bottom line, we know we will be replacing at least one piston but it seems we should do them all then vs. just the one. I also found something odd. One intake valve was concave whereas all the other valves were flat. It was concave like all the exhaust valves. We are highly confident the engine was never pulled rebuilt (plus there was literally 1" of sludge in the bottom of the oil pan which took years to collect). I've been researching 322's for months - ran across Old-Tanks site and the Centerville site so I understand some of the do's and don'ts. Thus, I need a experienced machine shop reference, near this area, to begin the engine work. Thanks.

These old engines probably had many "valve jobs" in the past with parts replaced with what was available.  The original intake valves were tulip shaped (concave) and the exhaust valves were flat.  56 exhaust valves were tulip shaped, so a bunch of mix and match to make it work.