My 1937 Roadmaster 80C Four Door Convertible Phaeton

[edinmass]

Matt......just saw this thread. Glad you got the car. Nothing better than a dedicated and enthusiast owner of a car; that improves and drives it. Happy for you...........Merry Christmas, Ed.

[MCHinson]

Today, I decided to remove the "Dual" speaker. To remove it, you simply remove the nut and washer from the stud on the engine side of the firewall and pull the speaker assembly away from the firewall. After you unplug the cable from the radio you can remove the speaker from the car. To disassemble the speaker, you remove the four small screws and also remove the mounting stud form the speaker assembly. I spent a long time trying to open up the speaker assembly thinking that the stud was just attached to the back of the enclosure. After I finally removed the mounting stud, I understood why I had been unable to disassemble it with the stud attached. The stud actually threads into the speaker, not just the back of the speaker enclosure. I have never seen a speaker quite like this one. I am going to have to do a bit of research to figure out how to go from here. I have never seen a speaker with this many wires.  

 

[MCHinson]

The AM transmitter kit that I bought on ebay finally arrived from Canada in today's mail. This afternoon, I took an hour or two and assembled the kit. I then tried it out. It works really well. I now need to figure out how long I can safely run the radio while parked without having a dead battery. I found out that my soldering skills are not as good as they used to be about 35 years ago when I last did any similar work. I slightly burned one finger and some of the solder joints are not too pretty but the kit worked perfectly when I was done. It is important to stretch the antenna wire out fully and placing it near the running board antennas to get it to work well, but I am very happy with the kit. I was going to take a video to demonstrate how nice 40's tunes sound out of the original radio but since I am broadcasting them to the am transmitter via a bluetooth connection from my phone, the smartphone assumes I want the radio off whenever I try recording a movie, so when I attempted to record the radio, it stopped playing. 

[MCHinson]

For anybody who would like to do this without having to assemble the kit, I have now learned that the ebay seller also sells basically the same kit already assembled in a nice neat project box on his website. https://www.retroradioshop.com/collections/frontpage/products/am-transmitter-and-bluetooth-adapter-for-retro-vintage-or-antique-radios-1 Although the assembly was not much work, I would probably prefer to have found that option first since the project box just makes for a much nicer neater version.

[JohnD1956]

On 12/24/2020 at 7:39 PM, MCHinson said:

Today, I decided to remove the "Dual" speaker. To remove it, you simply remove the nut and washer from the stud on the engine side of the firewall and pull the speaker assembly away from the firewall. After you unplug the cable from the radio you can remove the speaker from the car. To disassemble the speaker, you remove the four small screws and also remove the mounting stud form the speaker assembly. I spent a long time trying to open up the speaker assembly thinking that the stud was just attached to the back of the enclosure. After I finally removed the mounting stud, I understood why I had been unable to disassemble it with the stud attached. The stud actually threads into the speaker, not just the back of the speaker enclosure. I have never seen a speaker quite like this one. I am going to have to do a bit of research to figure out how to go from here. I have never seen a speaker with this many wires.  

 

What was the result of your research into the number of wires on the speaker?  It is intriguing though obviously there are several ground wires. May one presume the speaker housing was non conductive composition?  

[MCHinson]

No, the speaker enclosure is metal. I will attempt to explain it as I don't understand it as well as I want to... the dual speaker in a 1937 Buick is an electrodynamic speaker. It requires power to power the electromagnet used in the speaker. These were common before the discovery widespread availability of small strong permanent magnets used in modern speakers. This link might help explain it a bit: https://radioremembered.org/edspeaker.htm

 

I still need to address the dual speaker, but my multimeter has been a bit unreliable lately so I am awaiting the arrival of a new meter that I ordered that should be here soon before I continue with my diagnosis of the speaker. I would prefer to repair the speaker or replace it with another original electrodynamic speaker rather than convert it to a more modern speaker.

[38Buick 80C]

So how exactly is this connected to the radio? is it simply the antenna wire from this goes into the antenna port on the radio? So it's either AM radio or this unless you have an antenna splitter or something I suppose? Correct?

 

and where are you mounting this?

[MCHinson]

The original Buick AM radio is not changed in any way. You can still listen to other AM stations. This is a small short distance AM Transmitter. It does not physically connect to the radio. It simply is placed somewhere near the antenna (laying it on the floorboard near the front seat works for my running board antennas). You turn on the transmitter, push the button on the bluetooth receiver to turn it on, set up your phone to send your selected music to the bluetooth receiver, and tune the AM radio to about 1000 on the dial and listen to your music through the original 1937 AM Radio.  The bluetooth receiver is rechargable by a usb cable. The transmitter is powered by a 9 volt battery. The 9 volt battery should last for a while, but I am not sure exactly how long. 

[Matt Harwood]

I installed a Redi-Rad in the '41 which works well although it requires a hardwire connection to the device being used (phone/iPod/whatever) rather than a Bluetooth connection. The real problem is that the original radio itself doesn't have the power to play music very loudly at speed, so it's only useful around town. On the highway, ambient noise is much too loud to hear anything. The other nice thing is that since it plugs into my phone, I essentially have a speaker phone and it broadcasts GPS directions through the radio as well. I've been pretty pleased with it. This seems like the same sort of device. It plugs into the antenna port and then the antenna plugs into the box--it senses when there's a signal from the phone and when it's absent, reverts to using the standard antenna, so I can still use the AM radio as usual. I believe they may also have a Bluetooth version, I'm not sure. Technology usually vexes me, but this was easy and worked properly from the start. My radio has a buzz that I'd like to eliminate but overall I can't complain.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Matt,

The only problem I see with the Redi-rad is that to use it on a 1937 Buick, you would have to change the antenna cable ends. The photos on that site show a standard Motorola antenna plug, which is not compatible with a 1937 Buick. Does the 1941 radio use that standard Motorola plug? I know that Motorola plugs were used for many decades but I am not sure how early they became the industry standard for car radio antennas. 

[Matt Harwood]

Yes, it's a standard plug. The Redi-Rad was 100% plug-and-play, which was a good thing for me. I don't mind doing some wiring, but on something like a radio I'd be skittish about anything that wasn't stupidly easy just out of fear of screwing it up. I'm so thrilled that my radio works, but I'm always of the feeling that it could give up at any moment so I treat it very gently.

[MCHinson]

I know the 1937 and 1938 Buicks both use the same antenna connectors. It is a bit different from the motorola connector, so obviously they switched to the motorola connectors sometime between 1939 and 1941. The attached photo shows the type of antenna connector used on 1937 and 1938 Buick radios.

[MCHinson]

Over the last few days, I received a right side rear view mirror that I had ordered. It is a reproduction King Bee mirror. I would still like to find an original with a little bit of patina, but for safety, I needed a right side mirror. I installed it, although I did not think to take any photos of the mirror.

 

Also, my headlight reflectors came back from being resilvered. They arrived back from the plater a couple of weeks earlier than I expected. I started to switch from the sealed beam conversion back to an original headlight system. I quickly discovered that my headlight sockets that I had purchased really need to be totally rewired before I install them, so I abandoned that job for the moment. 

 

I decided to check the battery and learned that it needed a bit of water added and the battery terminal of the positive cable had a really corroded replacement terminal. I cleaned up the existing cable terminal so the car starts even better than before. I have ordered a new set of battery cables.

 

After additional inspection, I am thinking that I will probably order a replacement wiring harness for the car. This will also enable me to add turn signals, which I really miss since I am used to the added turn signals on my other Pre-War Buicks. I called Rhode Island Wiring and they have the patterns for a 1937 Roadmaster 81, but not an 80C. I feel confident I can make the Model 81 harness work, but am curious if anybody knows if the rear portion of the wiring harness on a 1937 Model 81 runs over the headliner like the 40 and 60 series cars or if it runs along the frame to the rear of the car as the Model 80C does? I could remove the existing rear harness and send it to Rhode Island Wiring for them to create a pattern, but I really don't want to take the car out of commission long enough to do that. 

[38Buick 80C]

In 38-80 series all models it runs along the frame.

 

PS have you talked to Paul at Harness unlimited to see if he has a 37-80c harness? I've used him on 2 cars (actually 3 cause I'm pretty sure it's his harness in the 30-61 that my father must have bought WAY back). 

[MCHinson]

4 minutes ago, 38Buick 80C said:

In 38-80 series all models it runs along the frame.

 

PS have you talked to Paul at Harness unlimited to see if he has a 37-80c harness? I've used him on 2 cars (actually 3 cause I'm pretty sure it's his harness in the 30-61 that my father must have bought WAY back). 

I suspect that all 1937 80 series use the exact same harness, but would like to confirm it if possible. My prior experience is with Rhode Island Wiring, so they were the only place I called. I will check with him. Thanks.  

[38Buick 80C]

2 minutes ago, MCHinson said:

I suspect that all 1937 80 series use the exact same harness, but would like to confirm it if possible. My prior experience is with Rhode Island Wiring, so they were the only place I called. I will check with him. Thanks.  

I checked his catalog, he lists both an open and closed rear harness for 37-80/90 series (which we know there is no open 90s series in 37), same price for each. The catalog I have his probably 15 years old so price has probably increased since then.

[MCHinson]

I have not posted any update recently. I have a new wiring harness on order from Harnesses Unlimited. It will be a while before I receive that. I will probably wait until the new harness arrives to convert the headlights back from sealed beams to the original system. I found that the battery cables were not in as good a shape as I wanted them to be so I have replaced the battery cables. For good measure, I also installed a new Optima 6 volt battery along with the new cables. The car starts even quicker now. I was unhappy that the clock was not working, so I removed it, disassembled it and cleaned it. I took it to my friend who owns a local clock shop and had him apply clock oil to the approprate locations. I then did a diode upgrade to the winding mechanism to prevent pitting on the winding mechanism points, reassembled it and reinstalled it. After a few hours, I found that it was gaining time, so I used the adjustment on the back of the clock to slow it down a bit. After running for about 8 hours, it appears to be keeping perfect time.  

[MCHinson]

I don't think the top has been down on this car for many decades. Last night, I applied a bit of solvent to the pivot points on the top mechanism. This morning, I was able to pu the top down. We took it to lunch and then took a photo after I got back home. 

[valk]

Been watching “Bugsy” today and this car would fit right in. Great looking ride..

[MCHinson]

Last Sunday, I drove the 80C out to a local park for a photo shoot for a cover photo for my local AACA Chapter newsletter. The editor and I both took some photos. I stepped up onto a short wall to get a better angle for a photo. While I still don't understand exactly what happened, my right ankle twisted when I stepped down from thr wall onto the cobble stone pavers on the ground. After we finished the photo shoot, I drove home, took my shoe off, elevated my foot and applied ice in hopes that it was not the broken bone that I suspected. In about 30 minutes the swelling and pain dictated a trip to Medac. Long story short... I have a broken bone in my right foot. I will be in a boot for a while. The orthopedic doctor thinks it will heal with just the boot and does not anticipate surgery being needed. They will repeat the xrays after 4 weeks to confirm that it is healing OK and does not need surgery. I can carefully drive a modern car, but the 80C will have to stay in the garage for about 6 to 8 weeks since I can't operate a brake pedal, clutch pedal, and accelerator safely with just my left foot. 

[valk]

Sorry to hear this...your car looks great

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by valk (see edit history)

[JohnD1956]

Oh man! What terrible luck! Hope you heal properly in this initial phase and that further remediation efforts are not necessary.  

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Bummer!  Follow Doctor orders.   Alas, I am a bit far away or I would exercise the 80C for you.😁

 

  Ben

[Matt Harwood]

Yikes, sorry to hear it, Matt. Rest up and don't take chances--Melanie broke a bone in her foot and just thought it was sprained and it ended up being major surgery to put it back together. Take good care of yourself first!

[MrEarl]

I still have my chauffeurs hat from the Bob Coker "54 Landau days and will be glad to come drive Matthew around if the occasion occurs.  Sorry to hear, Get well soon my friend. 

[MCHinson]

Lamar,

 

You or any other interested old Buick owner is welcome to come take me for a drive anytime. 

[Marty Roth]

On 3/14/2021 at 1:09 PM, MCHinson said:

 my right ankle twisted when I stepped down from thr wall onto the cobble stone pavers on the ground. 

 

I have a broken bone in my right foot. I will be in a boot for a while. The orthopedic doctor thinks it will heal with just the boot and does not anticipate surgery being needed. They will repeat the xrays after 4 weeks to confirm that it is healing OK and does not need surgery. I can carefully drive a modern car, but the 80C will have to stay in the garage for about 6 to 8 weeks since I can't operate a brake pedal, clutch pedal, and accelerator safely with just my left foot. 

 

 

Matt,

 

So sorry to learn of your injury.

Our prayers for the skill of your doctors, and that you heal quickly and fully.

[MCHinson]

2 minutes ago, Marty Roth said:

 

Matt,

 

So sorry to learn of your injury.

Our prayers for the skill of your doctors, and that you heal quickly and fully.

 

Thanks. I am doing fine now. I have the final follow up with the Orthopedic Doctor next week, but I have been out of the boot and driving my 80C again for about 2 weeks. 

[Marty Roth]

Just now, MCHinson said:

 

Thanks. I am doing fine now. I have the final follow up with the Orthopedic Doctor next week, but I have been out of the boot and driving my 80C again for about 2 weeks. 

 

 

Good to learn ,

stay well, my friend-

we've been on the road most of the past 2 - 3 weeks, what with Dale's doctors, chemo, and then thankfully, the VMCCA Chrome Glidden Tour.

Back home now and prepping for the Founders, and Maryland Eastern Shore Tours.

So nice to be able to share in person again with car folks.

[MCHinson]

On Friday, I received my new wiring harness from Harnesses Unlimited. While I need to install the main harnesses, I wanted to go ahead and remove the sealed beam headlight conversion and return the headlights to their original configuration.  I had previously obtained the necessary parts from Dave Tacheny and had the reflectors resilvered. I also purchased some LED headlight bulbs to try as well as some halogen bulbs. After I finish the total harness replacement, I will decided how I like the LED bulbs and will do some comparison to the original bulbs and halogen bulbs. Someone has installed a headlight relay and otherwise hacked up the main harnesses in the past, so there are some issues with the headlights that the replacement wiring harness should solve, but for the moment, the headlights look correct and also work better than the sealed beam conversion was working. I used a wire wheel to clean up all of the mouting bolts, screws, and other related hardware.  I also converted the parking light assemblies to two filament bulbs and installed the new parking light/turn signal wiring although the turn signals will not work until I install the turn signal switch and complete the rest of the harness installation. I also need to replace the original parking light gaskets as they were very brittle. The first photo shows the sealed beam conversion. The other photos show various steps in the process and the final photos show the results. 

[rodneybeauchamp]

Matthew, nice looking conversion. FWIIW I installed headlamp relays on my ‘38 inside each of the headlamp buckets so they could not be seen. Then used the 6 volt QH globes from Anthony Pearson. However if you find the LEDs suitable you should be fine. Looking good!

Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

[MCHinson]

I have been busy with other things and have not updated this in a while. I still have not installed the new wiring harness but have taken care of a few things that were bothering me. When the dealership put the car on display back in the early 1970's they apparently repainted the engine. The paint that they used was not quite the correct shade for a 1937 Buick engine and the repaint was in poor condition. For some reason, they had painted the generator green. I have repainted the engine with the correct colored Bill Hirsch 1937 Buick engine paint. I repainted the generator black. While I was working in the area, I also installed a new water pump, hoses, correct reproduction hose clamps, heater hose shut off valves, and a new fan belt.

 

I discovered that the bypass valve conversion job had been attempted in the past, but the brass rod had been left in place and a larger hole than is normally used was drilled in the freeze plug. This appeared to possibly be allowing too much coolant to bypass the radiator.  I removed the brass rod and installed a new freeze plug with an appropriately sized hole in the center. Before I started the engine painting job, I removed the push rod cover to install a new gasket. the existing gasket was leaking oil. It appeared to likely be the original gasket. There was only a very small amount of sludge buildup on the inside of the push rod cover. I cleaned that up, painted the exterior side and installed a new gasket, resolving the oil leak. 

 

I also repainted (in the correct black color) and relocated the heater hose bracket to the middle valve cover stud as it was originally in 1937. I think getting the heater hoses lower by mounting the bracket on the front spark plug cover stud as was done with the elimination of the center valve cover stud in 1938 makes the engine look better, but I think that it should be kept as it was originally. I installed a new valve cover decal despite the heater hoses partially blocking the view of it. 

 

The previous owner had installed an electric fuel pump in the engine compartment, bypassing the original mechanical fuel pump. The previous owner had also installed a glass bowl fuel filter just before the carburetor fuel inlet. I did not like the potential for a fuel leak from the glass bowl on top of the exhaust manifold. I installed a rebuilt correct mechanical fuel pump. I removed the gas filter near the exhaust manifold and installed a fuel filter element in the glass bowl of the mechanical fuel pump. I also installed a new vacuum line since the original had been destroyed when the previous owner bypassed the original fuel pump. This enabled me to get the windshield wipers back to work so I also installed new wiper blades. At the first startup, I discovered that the new rebuilt fuel pump was overpressuring the carburetor and forcing gas out of the carburetor bowl vent, actually dropping fuel on the exhaust manifold, which was one of the things I was trying to avoid. I then installed an adjustable fuel pressure regulator at the carburetor gas inlet, solving that problem.      

[dibarlaw]

3 hours ago, MCHinson said:

I have been busy with other things and have not updated this in a while. I still have not installed the new wiring harness but have taken care of a few things that were bothering me. When the dealership put the car on display back in the early 1970's they apparently repainted the engine. The paint that they used was not quite the correct shade for a 1937 Buick engine and the repaint was in poor condition. For some reason, they had painted the generator green. I have repainted the engine with the correct colored Bill Hirsch 1937 Buick engine paint. I repainted the generator black. While I was working in the area, I also installed a new water pump, hoses, correct reproduction hose clamps, heater hose shut off valves, and a new fan belt.

 

I discovered that the bypass valve conversion job had been attempted in the past, but the brass rod had been left in place and a larger hole than is normally used was drilled in the freeze plug. This appeared to possibly be allowing too much coolant to bypass the radiator.  I removed the brass rod and installed a new freeze plug with an appropriately sized hole in the center. Before I started the engine painting job, I removed the push rod cover to install a new gasket. the existing gasket was leaking oil. It appeared to likely be the original gasket. There was only a very small amount of sludge buildup on the inside of the push rod cover. I cleaned that up, painted the exterior side and installed a new gasket, resolving the oil leak. 

 

I also repainted (in the correct black color) and relocated the heater hose bracket to the middle valve cover stud as it was originally in 1937. I think getting the heater hoses lower by mounting the bracket on the front spark plug cover stud as was done with the elimination of the center valve cover stud in 1938 makes the engine look better, but I think that it should be kept as it was originally. I installed a new valve cover decal despite the heater hoses partially blocking the view of it. 

 

The previous owner had installed an electric fuel pump in the engine compartment, bypassing the original mechanical fuel pump. The previous owner had also installed a glass bowl fuel filter just before the carburetor fuel inlet. I did not like the potential for a fuel leak from the glass bowl on top of the exhaust manifold. I installed a rebuilt correct mechanical fuel pump. I removed the gas filter near the exhaust manifold and installed a fuel filter element in the glass bowl of the mechanical fuel pump. I also installed a new vacuum line since the original had been destroyed when the previous owner bypassed the original fuel pump. This enabled me to get the windshield wipers back to work so I also installed new wiper blades. At the first startup, I discovered that the new rebuilt fuel pump was overpressuring the carburetor and forcing gas out of the carburetor bowl vent, actually dropping fuel on the exhaust manifold, which was one of the things I was trying to avoid. I then installed an adjustable fuel pressure regulator at the carburetor gas inlet, solving that problem.      

Matt:

 I remember an old Torque Tube article about a car on tour that had a fire because of the glass fuel filter over the manifolds broke. The clues as I remember had to do with a bit of engine stumble and a Black Pizza shape appearing on the hood above the carb.... I am glad to see that you have installed the correct pump.

[MCHinson]

I have not updated this in a while, but I have been working on the car a bit. In late July, I drove the car to a couple of car shows. One of them was about 30 miles away from home. On that trip, I had a bit of an overheating problem. After getting back home, I figured out that the manifold valve body flapper valve spring had slipped off of the post that holds it in place, allowing the flapper valve to close off the majority of the exhaust from the exhaust system. After a bit of experimentation, it looks like that happens whenever I drive the car at highway speeds, as it happened again at a later car show which was about 15 miles away from home. While driving in town, the exhaust system works just fine. I plan to soon disassemble the exhaust valve body and remove the flapper valve. I also recently discovered that Cars Inc. now sells a copper block off plate to prevent the exhaust gasses from heating up the intake and carburetor area. I ordered a couple of those for this car and another. I plan to install that in the near future.

 

I previously put some evaporust in the cooling system to attempt to help out with any potential rust in the water jacket. I forgot to open the rear drain and totally drain the cooling system before adding the evaporust. I think the evaporust must not interact well with antifreeze. I removed a couple of freeze plugs and using water and compressed air, I cleaned out the minor buildup and also what appeared to be the result of the combination of antifreeze and evaporust that seemed to lightly coat all of the interior surfaces of the water jacket. After installing new freeze plugs, I refilled the cooling system with water and Red Line Water Wetter. The car maintains a nice 180 degrees when idling extensively or driving around town. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

[MCHinson]

I decided it was time to install my new wiring harness. While the old one worked fine, it was clearly a bit frayed and I also wanted to install turn signals. I decided to remove the instrument cluster and headlight switch to make the installation a bit easier. I removed the front harness. I cleaned up all of the contacts on the instrument cluster and headlight switch. It is amazing how much time you can take to use a wire wheel to clean up every nut and square washer on a wiring harness. I ran the new wiring harness through the body openings in the same manner in which the original one was and carefully installed each wire as indicated on my instructions from Harnesses Unlimited.

 

The original headlight junction blocks had seen better days and the original headlight wires were press fit onto the junction blocks, so rather than try to reuse them I decided to install new reproduction terminal blocks from Bob's Automobila. The terminal blocks did not quite fit. I had to grind off the ends of them slightly and also redrill the holes for the mounting bolts which were slightly misaligned. I put a couple of layers of duct tape on the bottom side of the junction blocks to TRY to make sure that the screws did not short out to the headlight pod. After getting the front harness installed and double checking all of the connections, I hooked up the battery cable and found that I had the circuit breaker cycling whenever I turned on the headlights. I checked all of the connections multiple times and removed and reinstalled the dimmer switch and each headlight multiple times over a couple of days. What I eventually discovered was that whenever I installed the right headlight, the problem showed up. I found that the screw for the parking light connection on the right headlight was testing as shorted to the headlight pod, which was grounded when the headlight was installed. Even though I could not see it, the parking light connection screw on the reproduction terminal block was penetrating through the duct tape and causing the problem. As soon as I fixed that issue, the front harness worked fine. 

   

[MCHinson]

I next started to remove the rear wiring harness. I found that the rear harness ran mostly along the top of the left frame rail. Near the back seat, the original harness was apparently attached to the frame with some sort of wiring clip that was not visible from under the car. A short distance from that point, the wire came up under the left rear corner of the back seat bottom cushion on top of the frame rail. The harness then ran under the left rear arm rest panel. After removing the rear seat, I gave up on figuring out how to remove the arm rest panel without damaging it. I drilled a new hole in the floor under the back seat for the reproduction harness and fed the reproduction harness back to the trunk area near the arm rest panel instead of under the arm rest panel. I used black silicone sealer to seal both the old and new hole. I left the short section of the original harness that I could not remove from the car in place and cut out the remainder of the original harness so any future owner who wishes to remove the body from the frame, can relocate the harness to the correct location in that section of the car.

 

While installing the new wiring harness, I removed the tail lights and installed new rubber mounting pads. The original or old reproduction mouting pads fit the tail lights perfectly and were marked "L" and "R". The new ones from Steele Rubber were both identical with no "L" or "R" markings and had to be modified since the holes for the mounting bolts did not line up properly.

 

When I began to wire the tail lights/rear turn signals I discovered that the harness was designed to use separate turn signals instead of the original brake light bulbs as turn signals. I happened to have some aftermarket turn signal assemblies that I came with one of the Buick project cars that I purchased  previously. I disassembled one of those lights and discovered that I could easily drill a hole in the original brake light socket assembly and mount the sockets from the aftermarket lights inside the original tail light assemblies.      

 

I recently had a fellow 36-38 Buick Club member restore another 1937 Buick Radio for me. I installed that radio, and also installed another original 1937 "Dual Speaker" that I purchased from Dave Tachney. The radio and Dual Speaker work as good or better than new. I decided that I did not like using my smartphone and bluetooth adapter to broadcast era appropriate music from Sirius XM radio to the AM Radio via my small AM transmitter because it prevents me from using my phone for other purposes at the same time. I downloaded some 40's music from Sirius XM radio to an old Ipod and I now use the Ipod along with the AM transmitter to provide 40's music to my radio in the Roadmaster.

 

 https://www.retroradioshop.com/products/am-transmitter-and-bluetooth-adapter-for-retro-vintage-or-antique-radios-1  

[GARY F]

Very nice work.

[MCHinson]

Last Thursday, I drove the Model 80C to our local AACA Ice Cream Social. Coming home, I was able to use the headlights. While they did not upset any other drivers (nobody flashed their high beams at me) I noticed that they were clearly aimed too high. Yesterday, I reinstalled some original light bulbs and then I reaimed the headlights to lower them. Seeing how much they were out of adjustment made me decide to retry one LED bulb in one side tonight. The LED bulb is slightly brigher than an original 2320 bulb, but the beam is just wonky enough that I am not happy with it. It is important for the multibeam headlight bulbs to be oriented correctly. By comparing one of the LED bulbs to a 2320 bulb, I discovered that the manufacturer assembled the LED bulbs. slightly off from the original orientation. The LED surface is not quite horizontal when installed in the headlight reflector. This causes the light beam to be a bit wonky. I have ordered some 2330 bulbs which are 32/32 candlepower vs the 32/21 candlepower of the original 2320 bulbs.  When they arrive, I will give them a try and see how they work. 

[MCHinson]

 

Recently, I purchased an Exhaust Valve Body to Intake Manifold Block-Off Plate that Cars, Inc. sells on Ebay. I tried to order it direct from them, but for some reason, at the moment, they only sell it on Ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/174848214914 

 

Today, I decided it was time to remove the “butterfly” or “flapper” from the exhaust manifold valve body, install the block-off plate, as well as install a set of Remflex Exhaust Manifold gaskets. https://catalog.remflex.com/BUICK_Header_Exhaust_Manifold_Gasket_p/13-009.htm and new Exhaust manifold studs and washers recently purchased from Bob's Automobila. I was also prepared to install a new exhaust pipe gasket, but I was able to leave the exhaust pipe attached to the valve body, so that one was not needed.  

A couple of days ago, I applied a 50% ATF and 50% Acetone mixture to the manifold studs and valve body bolts. Today, I removed the manifold nuts, and studs, removed the valve body bolts, and removed the intake manfold and exhaust manfold. With the intake manifold out of the way, I used dremel tool and a sawzall to remove the flapper from the butterfly valve in the valve body. I then welded the previously broken loose weight and spring assembly to the right side of the flapper valve shaft returning it to an original looking condition despite the removal of the butterfly.

 

I then installed the exhaust manifold gaskets and loosely installed the two manifolds. It then was able to insert the block off plate and exhaust valve body gasket. Getting those into position and installing the bolts in the exhaust valve body was the most difficult part of the job. I used a new set of exhaust valve body bolts, to hopefully make removing them easier in the future. After hooking up the gas and vaccum lines, and starter vaccum switch wiring, and reinstalling the air cleaner, the car is running fine.  I tried to take a photo to show the flapper valve in the position where it was causing problems, but the flapper is a bit difficult to see in the photo. I also should have probably taken a few more photos.

Edited August 26, 2021 by MCHinson (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

I am learning much more about Prefocused bulbs. Today, I received some headlight bulbs that I had ordered. I have removed the LED headlight bulbs since, either a design problem or a manufacturing problem made them so that the LEDs are not quite horizontal when installed. The original headlight bulb filaments are horizontal when the bulbs are installed in the reflector. I have an interesting assortment of bulbs either here now, or on order. At the moment, I currently have one 2320 bulb installed and one 2520 bulb installed. I think that 2530 bulbs that I have on order will be what I end up using long term.

    

Despite a lot of conflicting information that I have read online, I think that the bulbs that should work in the headlights are:

 

2320 - 32/21 Candlepower

2330 - 32/32 Candlepower

2520 - 50/21 Candlepower

2530 - 50/32 Candlepower

 

I have also learned a bit about 2331 bulbs which will not work in Buick headlights. I have a friend who owns a Dodge who I plan to give some 2331 bulb to. I ordered them before I did all of my research. 

 

Today, I also received a set of fog lights that I purchased on ebay. While they look almost like new, one of them did not work. I found that the one that did not work had a 2331 bulb in it, so the bulb contacts were not lined up with the wiring contacts. I changed that one to a 2320 bulb and it now works. As soon as I receive a set of mounting brackets, I will be ready to install the fog lights.  

 

I used the garage door and a tape measure to adjust the headlights to the correct pattern this evening. While the camera makes them look brighter than they actually are, the headlights look much more like they are supposed to look now.