Garysriv Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Well, I think I've sorted out what I need to to go for a road test tomorrow. The last time this car was under it's own power on the road was in 1975. Tomorrow, if all goes well it will be again. Finally got the power steering working, went over the dwell, timing, idle mixture and put in some new plugs today. Idles well in gear and goes okay on the driveway. I know I have at least 2 gears! I am running open exhaust manifolds, so my first trip will be to the exhaust shop. Really looking forward to that because this nailhead is the loudest stock engine I've ever heard! My 455 GTO with open exhaust is silent in comparison. After the exhaust it's on to fixing the rear end ding, and getting an AC compressor and charging the system to see if it will work...bit by bit. Thanks to the forum and especially Steve Lorenzen for getting me this far. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J3Studio Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Best of luck tomorrow. I hear you (hah!) about the unintentionally loud exhaust—I've been there. Earplugs are your friend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crowvet Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Good luck, looks a lot like mine, even the rear dent. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telriv Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 Has the A/C system been open for ALL these yrs??? IF it has been your going to need pretty much ALL new A/C parts except for the evaporator & besides the compressor. AND IF it has been open for ALL these yrs. the system will NEED to be evacuated for at LEAST 24hrs. to help get rid of the moisture in the system. IF you take a chance at least install the die into the system to help locate ANY potential leaks there may be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garysriv Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 10 hours ago, telriv said: Has the A/C system been open for ALL these yrs??? IF it has been your going to need pretty much ALL new A/C parts except for the evaporator & besides the compressor. AND IF it has been open for ALL these yrs. the system will NEED to be evacuated for at LEAST 24hrs. to help get rid of the moisture in the system. IF you take a chance at least install the die into the system to help locate ANY potential leaks there may be. No, its been closed, actually still had a bit of pressure when I took it apart. I have replaced the condensor, drier, and did the STV conversion. I was encourage by the insides of the STV, super clean. I also flushed all the lines and evaporator, then sealed it up until I can get it pressurized. Will need a new compressor and main compressor lines. Reran all my vacuum lines, all the doors work so fingers crossed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr914 Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 wow heavily optioned car! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J3Studio Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 1 hour ago, dr914 said: wow heavily optioned car! Can you tell from all the switchgear or is there some other giveaway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garysriv Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 Well, after the first drive here is what I found. 1. Once warmed up it stalls when trying to accelerate after stopping. Repeatedly. Try more choke? 2. The front drums must be way out of round. When applying the brakes it shudders to a stop, not thru the pedal but thru the wheel. Will try having them turned. Surface looked okay when I had them apart.... 3. No speedometer function Transmission worked good, went down the road smooth..... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telriv Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Gary, The aluminum front drums can be warped OR the pull back & hold down springs have gone bad because of being over heated OR the drums warped because of wheel weights hitting the fins when tightening the wheels or the inside register is too small for the hubs of the drum. You don't notice this at 1st.& gets worse with time. The way you call tell IF it's front or rear is to drive the car at 25-35 MPH & step on the emergency brake. IF it doesn't shake now the rear drums are OK & the vibration is coming from the front drums. IF it still shakes the rear springs could be bad also. In the past a few times I was able to get the aluminum front drums much better by bolting on a steel wheel & tightening the lug nuts in a star pattern. Torque them down to 50ft. pds. 1st, then 75 pds, then 100pds. Remove ALL the lug nuts & turn the wheel to put them on 2 studs to the left or right. Do this 2-3 more times & it may help & IF it does now the drum won't have as much "meat" to turn to get them straighter. This will ONLY cost your time as NO $$$$ are involved. IF it lessens the vibration you can have the drums turned. MAX diameter is 12.090" NOT 12.060" as some will tell you. After the car is warmed up stalling has NOTHING to do with the choke settings. I rebuild AFB carbs. Also do distributor rebuilding, re-curve the advance rate & install electronic ignition. The speedo can have a broken cable OR the driven gear has gone bad OR when the trans. was taken apart they didn't put the driving gear on the outlet shaft OR the speedo itself is bad/broken. Tom T. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garysriv Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 1 hour ago, telriv said: Gary, The aluminum front drums can be warped OR the pull back & hold down springs have gone bad because of being over heated OR the drums warped because of wheel weights hitting the fins when tightening the wheels or the inside register is too small for the hubs of the drum. You don't notice this at 1st.& gets worse with time. The way you call tell IF it's front or rear is to drive the car at 25-35 MPH & step on the emergency brake. IF it doesn't shake now the rear drums are OK & the vibration is coming from the front drums. IF it still shakes the rear springs could be bad also. In the past a few times I was able to get the aluminum front drums much better by bolting on a steel wheel & tightening the lug nuts in a star pattern. Torque them down to 50ft. pds. 1st, then 75 pds, then 100pds. Remove ALL the lug nuts & turn the wheel to put them on 2 studs to the left or right. Do this 2-3 more times & it may help & IF it does now the drum won't have as much "meat" to turn to get them straighter. This will ONLY cost your time as NO $$$$ are involved. IF it lessens the vibration you can have the drums turned. MAX diameter is 12.090" NOT 12.060" as some will tell you. After the car is warmed up stalling has NOTHING to do with the choke settings. I rebuild AFB carbs. Also do distributor rebuilding, re-curve the advance rate & install electronic ignition. The speedo can have a broken cable OR the driven gear has gone bad OR when the trans. was taken apart they didn't put the driving gear on the outlet shaft OR the speedo itself is bad/broken. Tom T. All very interesting stuff. Pretty sure the vibration is on the front drums but will try the emergency brake test soon. The trans has never been apart, gonna pull the gear and see if it has teeth and at the same time put a drill on the cable and test it that way. I rebuilt the AFB. Been having this same problem for awhile. Pulled the accel pump and the one I got in the kit was crap so I ordered a better one but not much change. I have 87 octane in it now, you think 93 would help the situation? If not I may be edelbrock bound.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telriv Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Gary, Send it to me I'll fix IT!!!. Tom T. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm63 Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Tom got my AFB working after I futzed around with it several times. Man knows his stuff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Carl Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 (edited) 19 hours ago, Garysriv said: I have 87 octane in it now, you think 93 would help the situation? WARNING : The octane police are watching !! The unsophisticated high compression engines of the period MUST use the highest octane gasoline available. The 10:1 '70 Cad I had about 20 years ago greatly preferred the 100 or 110 octane I could treat it to in Los Angeles at the time. IIRC, that fuel cost $5/gal. 91 octane was less than a buck. I understand that the wealthy car collectors there could get up to 128 octane for their 13:1 Ex-race Ferraris, etc. I wonder what that cost ? Hey, even if it was $40 a gallon, that would mean less to those lucky guys than a Nickel to me ! Even modern engines with computers controlling everything perform better on high octane at sea level. Mighty fine looking Buick, Gary. Well preserved, you'll get it sorted soon. I love waking up sleeping beauties. - Carl Edited April 23, 2019 by C Carl Add the octane police warning (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garysriv Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 1 hour ago, C Carl said: Mighty fine looking Buick, Gary. Well preserved, you'll get it sorted soon. I love waking up sleeping beauties. - Carl Yeah, to go for the test drive I used the gas I keep for my lawn tractor. Once I get it going I'll fill it with 93. For sure this car was worth saving, good honest 2 owner car that just sat in a garage in Indiana for 44 years. I have more into it than I planned but not underwater yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Stoneberg Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 I have an A6 compressor you can have for the cost of shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimm63 Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 Check the coil. When I first got mine it would die when I stepped on it. Bad coil. Recently had the replacement go bad (18 years doesn't sound like a long time). Car warmed up but was running bad, spitting and cutting out. Bad coil. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garysriv Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 On 4/24/2019 at 10:00 AM, Zimm63 said: Check the coil. When I first got mine it would die when I stepped on it. Bad coil. Recently had the replacement go bad (18 years doesn't sound like a long time). Car warmed up but was running bad, spitting and cutting out. Bad coil. I had thought about that but dismissed it. I have an extra I know is good, I'll give it a try. It does still have the original one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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