Dads 53 Buick project off to a start! Taking any and all advice! Here’s where I’m at...

[Dan hosman]

Hey all! I am new to the classic car club. I just began my dream project- bring back my dads 1953 2-door Buick special that’s been sitting in garage for 20+ years. Last I remember being in it driving, I was very little. Like before 7th and 8th grade for sure maybe 6th grade. I am 32 now. I’m a building engineer in the field of hvac and through my job experience over the past years I became very mechanically inclined. I became a big diy er and have done all/most work on our cars. I take much pride in it. I drive a 89 Toyota pickup. Did a clutch job on that and a bunch of front end stuff. 2000 crv a bunch of front end stuff as well when I had to get something in addition to my wife’s car to hold a baby seat. 

 

ANYWAY...I have no experience whatsoever until now on classic Buick’s! So this is where I’m at now...(and thanks to a coworker who used to be a mechanic himself, I’ve gotten solid direction on where to start off) The motor spins! I broke it free with a socket after lubing it up some through the spark plug holes and oil fill. Then we hooked up a digital display schumaker battery charger/engine starter (200amps. Using in place of battery right now). Buick I have is 12v. It took awhile for the unit to get to ready position for us to test starter and spin motor electrically but we eventually got it. I had to jump out starter with screwdriver in order to do so. Cleaned ground up a bunch and that seemed to help to get the thing to “ready” position more. We tested for spark at distributor- with a screwdriver while I spinned motor and didn’t get one. My guys saying that means you need a coil. So I went reading manual a lot more and read about how wiring could also be an issue instead of faulty coil. I got back into it, and again took forever to get the engine starter to ready mode and get that power to starter for spinning. I cleaned up wiring connections to starter and to junction block and also to starter relay and to the ignition coil hoping to get better connection and spark. Still no go. I’d really like to solve this first issue here going forward to not have to always fiddle like crazy with the clamps to get a solid connection anytime I want to spin motor. I now want to see if replacing the wiring in the cranking system will help and I will get a coil (only 25$). Down the line when I am further committed to the car overall and know it’ll run well, I’m told the hei distributor is a great upgrade. I will note that the radio seems to be on or the speakers make a crazy sound in the car, like static, when this power is connected. I’m pretty sure I turned it off but not 100%. I will check next time I get into it again. The antenna plug is just hanging disconnected and when I touched it a bit the speakers reacted to that. Will replacing the cranking system wiring help repair get a good connection and get the engine starter to “ready” position?? I am grounding straight to the engine block and putting positive straight to junction block (old battery is in place and cables connected as a safety I guess for now). Also will this help get a spark at distributor? Why could the key ignition switch not be working? I read in manual about pressing gas pedal. I need to try that still. 

 

 

[MCHinson]

Dan,

 A moderator moved your original post to the Buick Post War Technical Forum. By essentially repeating your question here, you are going to get people answering in two places, making it more difficult to follow the discussion, and making it confusing as some answers will appear in only one of the two and some will get repeated in both. I would urge you to try to do a methodical check of the systems following the factory service manual and ask questions in the Technical Form and follow the advice you receive there. The accelerator pedal start system is a bit different from what you are used to, but the service manual should explain its components so that you can understand how it works and how to trouble shoot it if there is a problem with it. The first unknown that you really need to figure out is if the car was actually converted to 12 volts or not. Is the battery a 12 volt battery or a 6 volt battery? Are other components original 6 volt components, or have they been changed. Is the starter circuit the original accelerator start system, or did someone convert it to a push button under the dash somewhere. The answers to those questions help you determine where you are and which direction you need to go to get the car back on the road.