NC-car-guy Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 My Fisher body manual arrive today then after reading through it some and staring at the car. I still don't feel any better about the last two times I have paid for a supposedly good car instead of buying junk I've gotten screwed. Since I have very little time with my job as it is, I'm just going to send this car to a shop and have them fix all the BS that is wrong with it. Once it is in decent order I will drive it awhile and decide if I'm keeping it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 16 minutes ago, NC-car-guy said: I'm just going to send this car to a shop and have them fix all the BS that is wrong with it. Ahhhaa!!! If anyone on this site is capable it would be you. If you are already in at max market value, I'd say this plan is gonna put you way under water. Look-it, the signals and horn worked when you got it, so it can't be that bad. And the top can wait till Spring if need be. I have faith in your ability to find and fix this problem. BTW, does the car have the factory steering wheel, or did someone put an aftermarket one on there? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 2 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said: Ahhhaa!!! If anyone on this site is capable it would be you. If you are already in at max market value, I'd say this plan is gonna put you way under water. Look-it, the signals and horn worked when you got it, so it can't be that bad. And the top can wait till Spring if need be. I have faith in your ability to find and fix this problem. BTW, does the car have the factory steering wheel, or did someone put an aftermarket one on there? No it's stock the car only has 33 thousand miles on it. It's more about my sanity then value at this point I have very little time anymore I'm so busy with work and such and I spent a lot of money to buy something that was ready to drive and I seriously don't want to sit and work on it. I either sell it as is and take the loss or I have it fixed and see if I might enjoy it or sell it and take a loss that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 15 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said: Ahhhaa!!! If anyone on this site is capable it would be you. If you are already in at max market value, I'd say this plan is gonna put you way under water. Look-it, the signals and horn worked when you got it, so it can't be that bad. And the top can wait till Spring if need be. I have faith in your ability to find and fix this problem. BTW, does the car have the factory steering wheel, or did someone put an aftermarket one on there? And while I appreciate your faith in my ability to fix it the fact is as I'm getting older and I have wasted a lot of my life working working and working and then come home to work on the things that I'm supposed to enjoy having worked for.... at what point do you just stop the insanity? I don't want to fix anything outside of my actual job where I get paid anymore. I want to put in my 50 or 60 hours a week and come home and enjoy the things that I have earned the money to pay for. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 5 hours ago, NC-car-guy said: I'm thinking the turn signal issue and the horn issue might be related. I unhook the radio since it had stopped working I was wondering if it was shorted inside and feeding back to that same fuse since the turn signals and the radio are on that fuse. Sometimes when I turn the key on the horns blow without touching the wheel. So I've had those disconnected since I got the car. I noticed this morning that the fuse for the turn signals and radio blows as soon as you turn on the ignition.... maybe my ignition switch or my steering column wiring has a short? I can't find a good legible 72 Buick B wiring or fuse block diagram online, but this would be the first instance I've seen of a GM car from that time period putting radio and turn signals on a common fuse. Usually radio has its own fuse and turn signals and backup lamps share a fuse. Find someone who knows their way around a 70s GM steering column. You've got a wire pinched or shorted in there or someone has buggered the wiring badly. If this car hasn't been driven check for mouse damage- the little bastiges love chewing plastic. I understand about working too much. Routinely working 70+ hours a week killed my cars and everything else I owned, since even if I hired someone to do any work I had to engineer a day off to be at the house. The day I retired I told the maintenance superintendent whose poor planning caused most of it that that mess ended that day. We'll get you straightened out. Car's too nice. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
364nailhead Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Yes, the car is beautiful! Stay with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 1 hour ago, rocketraider said: but this would be the first instance I've seen of a GM car from that time period putting radio and turn signals on a common fuse. 67 Skylarks are like that too. I know of a 67 Skylark where someone added a jump wire from the power wire to the radio and then for some reason grounded that jump wire to the bottom of the dash board. Naturally the fuse blew instantly every time the key was switched on. But not saying that is what is wrong here. I would still suggest trying the 4 way flashers and checking that all the bulbs are good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 13 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said: 67 Skylarks are like that too. I know of a 67 Skylark where someone added a jump wire from the power wire to the radio and then for some reason grounded that jump wire to the bottom of the dash board. Naturally the fuse blew instantly every time the key was switched on. But not saying that is what is wrong here. I would still suggest trying the 4 way flashers and checking that all the bulbs are good. I have... Flashers are fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 3 hours ago, NC-car-guy said: car only has 33 thousand miles on it. Look at all the things that could need attention if higher mileage. Like worn suspension... Your issues are just "finishing touches". Get the diagnosis and the fix will be straight forward. Put it up and drive your 57 since you seem to have a passion for that car and are more forgiving of things that need to be fixed. I pay to fix modern cars that I need every day, but fix the old iron since no one will touch them (and I don't want them to touch them). And if you fix it yourself you will be the expert that guides someone else with the same problem. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 36 minutes ago, old-tank said: Look at all the things that could need attention if higher mileage. Like worn suspension... Your issues are just "finishing touches". Get the diagnosis and the fix will be straight forward. Put it up and drive your 57 since you seem to have a passion for that car and are more forgiving of things that need to be fixed. I pay to fix modern cars that I need every day, but fix the old iron since no one will touch them (and I don't want them to touch them). And if you fix it yourself you will be the expert that guides someone else with the same problem. In just have a problem putting away something I just bought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
364nailhead Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 https://youtu.be/ykNsi4wY4HA 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daves1940Buick56S Posted November 9, 2021 Share Posted November 9, 2021 With any car that has been sitting it's drive/break/fix and repeat until all of the marginal stuff gives way. It may be annoying but eventually the repairs come with less frequency and you get it all done. If you drive it regularly it will be as reliable as any other 1970s car was at the time. I spent years getting my '40 sorted out, although I started off way worse than you did, and now I can just run out, start it up, and go anywhere I want. You will get there! Cheers Dave 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 IF this was the start of spring of the year, driving the car might take a higher importance than in the fall of the year. I understand about working "a day job" and then working on "a hobby" after work. Been there, done that. But sometimes, you have to walk away and do something else. Whether its due to seemingly insurmaountable issues or more research is needed . . . "pondering" how to fix the issue during all of this. You should have a really good investment in the Centurion, I suspect. A car that should be very useable and enjoyable at the same time. I might suggest putting the car "in a building" and concentrating on "life" for a while. THEN head back intoi "the building" and see just what you might have purchased. Not that you didn't do due dilligence in the first place, but not everybody looks at things in the same manner. Clean it, wax it, piddle with it . . . especially when "stress relief" is needed. No hurry or deadlines, just piddle with it and see what's been done to it by previous owner(s) and how that might be impacting current issues. Eventually, I suspect you'll appreciate the fact that you got the car rather than somebody else. Being a good steward of the vehicle at this time in history. Getting it back to where it needs to be to provide enjoyment of driving and ownership for both YOU and the car. As for the top, clean and lube all of the pivot points in the mechanism and the linkages. More learning experiences and expanded horizons. Run it up and down a few times, noticing what does what or otherwise. How the top folds when it goes down, too. Might have to do some online searching on the correct operation of that design of top, too. By observation, one of the best "fixers" can be "a motivated owner" rather than some "tech" who might work in a shop . . . UNLESS the tech might be a specialist in the particular area. On the other hand, a "specialist" might be somebody who might know just a bit more about something than an owner might, by observation. "Experts" fall into that category, too, by observation. Which means that YOU could become the "expert" too! Enjoy the coming holiday season! Piddle with the car as the fancy strikes you. Hopefully, by the end of the colder weather, you'll have things fixed/sorted so that enjoyable owenrship and motoring are in the future for you and the car. Please keep us posted on your progress. Just some thoughts, NTX5467 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAD36 Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 On 11/7/2021 at 1:15 PM, JohnD1956 said: Ahhhaa!!! If anyone on this site is capable it would be you. If you are already in at max market value, I'd say this plan is gonna put you way under water. Look-it, the signals and horn worked when you got it, so it can't be that bad. And the top can wait till Spring if need be. I have faith in your ability to find and fix this problem. BTW, does the car have the factory steering wheel, or did someone put an aftermarket one on there? 100% agree with JD. Consider stepping away for a few weeks then hit it one thing at a time. Ask yourself whats essential and start there. Small victories. Your list sounds like it’s under 1/2 page. Took me needing a 6 month break after my rebuilt engine self destructed and I left your place with a replacement core. Was in no mood to rebuild another either. It only had 5000 miles on it. Time shapes perspective. This is in your wheelhouse. You got this. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 10, 2021 Author Share Posted November 10, 2021 Thanks for the votes guys.. last night when I got home I tried to start the car the battery was magically dead and it's a brand new battery. Got it jumped and delivered it to the local Classics restoration shop with a list of things I want done and a budget.... here's to hoping! It was actually kind of a relief to come home today and not see it sitting there staring at me like a big expensive problem 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAD36 Posted November 10, 2021 Share Posted November 10, 2021 Smart to give them a budget. Let’s see where things land. Balls in motion 😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted November 11, 2021 Share Posted November 11, 2021 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 On 11/9/2021 at 8:40 PM, NC-car-guy said: local Classics restoration shop the one that got Buttercup straightened out? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 13, 2021 Share Posted November 13, 2021 (Buttercup needed straightening out? Crooked/bent?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 13, 2021 Author Share Posted November 13, 2021 37 minutes ago, MrEarl said: the one that got Buttercup straightened out? No. Different place. That shop only does bodywork 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 On 11/7/2021 at 12:55 PM, NC-car-guy said: Since I have very little time with my job as it is, I'm just going to send this car to a shop and have them fix all that is wrong with it. Once it is in decent order I will drive it awhile and decide if I'm keeping it. Matt, here's an idea for you. it may relax you. It's what I typically do. Whenever I buy a collector car, I take it to my local mechanic to have it entirely checked over. I figure that every car will need something, even if it's been well cared for and honestly represented in the sale. In your case, since you're working long hours, have the mechanic, or automotive electric shop, handle the car's needs. It will save you the stress, and you can then better enjoy your new purchase. Save your little spare time for your family--by taking them out in the car! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 On 11/9/2021 at 8:40 PM, NC-car-guy said: delivered it to the local Classics restoration shop with a list of things I want done and a budget. In 2012 I took my '86 Park Ave convertible to my nephew for an engine, transmission, and pretty much everything mechanical. It was his first job with that amount of work and he was busy with other cars as well as having a full time job. Our arrangement was to settle up every Friday for labor and materials for the week. I did that for both of us. My car was done in a very reasonable time and he learned more about managing his work. I have seen way too many projects stall in the shop. They get pushed aside, pushed outside, or sit in a back corner with stuff and paint dust filling every crack. The most frequent excuse is that the restorer's wife got sick and he had to sit in a bar waiting for her to get better. If you really want to risk losing a car tell the restorer to use your project as fill in work at a lower rate when he is not busy. Their work is worth less then and the owner can save lots of money. You can be incommunicado for decades that way. A while back I helped finish a Bentley that had been in a shop for 28 years. My Buick job worked out very well. It leaves my garage for the storage building tomorrow at 10 AM, 10 years already. If I get involved in another long term job my top priority will be settling up every Friday. A couple of no pay Fridays and the explaination better be a good one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 16, 2021 Author Share Posted November 16, 2021 5 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said: In 2012 I took my '86 Park Ave convertible to my nephew for an engine, transmission, and pretty much everything mechanical. It was his first job with that amount of work and he was busy with other cars as well as having a full time job. Our arrangement was to settle up every Friday for labor and materials for the week. I did that for both of us. My car was done in a very reasonable time and he learned more about managing his work. I have seen way too many projects stall in the shop. They get pushed aside, pushed outside, or sit in a back corner with stuff and paint dust filling every crack. The most frequent excuse is that the restorer's wife got sick and he had to sit in a bar waiting for her to get better. If you really want to risk losing a car tell the restorer to use your project as fill in work at a lower rate when he is not busy. Their work is worth less then and the owner can save lots of money. You can be incommunicado for decades that way. A while back I helped finish a Bentley that had been in a shop for 28 years. My Buick job worked out very well. It leaves my garage for the storage building tomorrow at 10 AM, 10 years already. If I get involved in another long term job my top priority will be settling up every Friday. A couple of no pay Fridays and the explaination better be a good one. This car is not going in for a full restoration it is going in to find out why the turn signals are blowing a fuse and to fix the horn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 I bought a Harley several years ago. I spent months just getting it to run right. I remember coming home from a ride one day and saying to my wife "Good news Honey, no parts fell off this time." It sounds like you're way ahead of that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 It is frustrating no doubt. Let the shop knock out the bug or two. Enjoy it upon it's return. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 On 11/4/2021 at 9:52 PM, NTX5467 said: Perhaps Pontiac and Olds owners might not have been able to replace tops as often as Buick owners could? LOL Maybe not so much that as Olds especially put more detail in all their manuals. Same as the overkill engineering they were known for. My Pontiac and Chevrolet friends often say they wish their manuals were as detailed and thorough as the Olds. A good friend retired as Olds Charlotte Zone service manager. He once told me the worst things Olds and, by extension, GM ever foisted on the service folks were: Comfortron, rear disc brakes, and "that damned scissor top". He said the Diesel engines weren't as much trouble as those three things, because if the Diesel broke, you changed the engine or converted to gas and kept gittin up. The others, you had to figure out as you went along!🤔🥴🤯 When Zone folks tell you that as radical as Toronados were they were relatively trouble-free compared to some of the other stuff...🙃 But unless someone has thoroughly and irretrievably buggered it we'll get this Centurion squared away. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dship Posted November 16, 2021 Share Posted November 16, 2021 3 hours ago, NC-car-guy said: This car is not going in for a full restoration it is going in to find out why the turn signals are blowing a fuse and to fix the horn Matt, I am a little late in reading your topic, but IMHO the problem has to be inside the steering column...wire(s) has to be grounding out. If it has tilt wheel, try to tilt the wheel in various positions (up/middle/down/etc.) to see if in one of those does not cause the problem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 You guys will never believe..... the short that was causing the radio and turn signals to not work..... The little electric solenoid next to the carburetor that kicks up the idle I guess when air conditioning is on, was shorted out and it gets its power from the same spot as the turn signals and radio. LOL 7 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 2 hours ago, NC-car-guy said: The little electric solenoid next to the carburetor that kicks up the idle I guess when air conditioning is on According to the FSM, that solenoid kicks up the fast idle when started. If I remember right, it's supposed to run the engine at 1,700 RPM and I think it is supposed to warm the engine up faster and thus reduce emissions. But I am glad they found it and thanks for the information. I know what to watch for if mine breaks. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 18, 2021 Author Share Posted November 18, 2021 12 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said: According to the FSM, that solenoid kicks up the fast idle when started. If I remember right, it's supposed to run the engine at 1,700 RPM and I think it is supposed to warm the engine up faster and thus reduce emissions. But I am glad they found it and thanks for the information. I know what to watch for if mine breaks. Yep I thought sharing the info here might help somebody else as well. They're also fixing the air conditioning it needed a new compressor however it was also leaking from the condenser the condenser for this car is $400 and I think it really shows the honesty of the shop..... they went out back and measured a Buick Electra that they had and found that the condenser was the same size an ordered one for an Electra for only $175 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 I am tickled to hear the Centurion is coming along and that it's been, for lack of a better term, "stoopid stuff" that's easily repairable. Still weirds me out that turn signals and radio (and an idle speed solenoid🤯) share a fuse. That, to me, is just asking for radio static. 🥴 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 (edited) Typically, many of the "normal suspects" in the wiring issues mentioned do not show up at such low miles on a car that has probably seen limited use. Chaffed wires and such just don't happen that soon, by observation. BUT that idle solenoid is mechanical and were not that substantial when new. Glad it turned out to be something bolt-on and simple. Many people just unhooked them when they failed, as I recall. Might have been that when "Financial" was doing the final approval for the car, prior to going into production, they had to decrease the production cost of the car. At that time, the only real place to cut costs was in things which were easily done. Like deleting a piece of chorme trim or a less expensive tire brand or upholstery fabric. If getting the feed circuit from an existing circuit, rather than a separate harness for the idle solenoid circuit, resulted in a cost decrease, that could well have been what happened in the this and the Skylark situation, I suspect. Glad things worked out better than expected! NTX5467 Edited November 19, 2021 by NTX5467 (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 That's awesome the issue is resolved. Onward and upward. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 Good diagnostics. Put that mechanic at the top of your list. Reminds me of how simple things were before the internet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y-JobFan Posted November 19, 2021 Share Posted November 19, 2021 20 hours ago, NC-car-guy said: Yep I thought sharing the info here might help somebody else as well. They're also fixing the air conditioning it needed a new compressor however it was also leaking from the condenser the condenser for this car is $400 and I think it really shows the honesty of the shop..... they went out back and measured a Buick Electra that they had and found that the condenser was the same size an ordered one for an Electra for only $175 Everything under the hood and basically all mechanical, under dash, electronics will be the same as Electra. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 I would have thought about commonality of under-the-hood items . . . until I got my '68 LeSabre Custom and was in the local wrecking yard looking for parts/trinkets. I found the similar Electra had different horns (and mounting, not the tri-tones, though), a flat pop-up spring for the hood (which the LeSabre had no place to add it on), but the real "score" was a good windshield wahser container. I got it and when I got back to the shop, I was going to swap it out. THAT's when the differences became glaringly apparent! The first thing I noticed was the larger capacity, which I thought was good, but then I was going to install it and discovered that the Electra item's mounting screws were 1/2 hole-width wider than the LeSabre's container. So much for that "bright idea"! Bigger car. more capacity, but the wider screw hole mountings? Just be careful in blanket suspicions as they might not always be accurate. Just some thoughts, NTX5467 2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y-JobFan Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Comparing a 68 LeSabre and a 68 Electra is Totally different than comparing a 72 centurion and a 72 Electra. The cars you noted had totally different drive lines. I’ve had enough of the 72s to know that they are mechanically Almost 100% interchangeable. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 (edited) The other condenser didn't fit. Waiting now for the pricey one to be shipped. The only thing left to make the car perfect will be the dents in the hood and I have a quote to have that fixed and will do so with my tax return early 2022. Edited November 23, 2021 by NC-car-guy (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 Excellent! No need for ac in the winter anyway. But once it is fixed make sure you run it for 5 min per month regardless of the temp. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted November 23, 2021 Author Share Posted November 23, 2021 4 minutes ago, JohnD1956 said: Excellent! No need for ac in the winter anyway. But once it is fixed make sure you run it for 5 min per month regardless of the temp. Here in North Carolina the air conditioning season hits sooner than in New York so I wanted it done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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