1950 Buick straight 8 head removal.

[Mr. Reed]

So I removed the oil lines from the head but no filter. The drain plug for the block is good and flushed out but will be ran with evporust when it's back together. Yes I have hydraulic lifters and the dynaflow trans. I'm going to remove the lifters and clean and lube them before everything goes back together.

[Mr. Reed]

[Mr. Reed]

The fitting that's on the head in the front is the one that you are referring to right.

[critterpainter]

Yes, but I have also seen a restricter on the side of the oil filter canister (inlet) too!.   By the way, you say its a 1950.  Is it a Special (248) or a Super (263)?

[Mr. Reed]

Super

[Mr. Reed]

On a side note I found the owner of the dealership of price motor company. My cars original selling dealer. His name was Redmond turner price passed away in 2018 and the business opened in 1925 but closed on 1990. I was excited when I found anything about the company. The radio says Dr. Price blown fuse on it. Not sure if it was owned by the family of the dealership or someone who bought it from them and was having a problem with their cars radio and a company fixed radios for that dealer. The internet is full of things to learn haha 

[lump]

Mr Reed, cudo's to you for the work you are doing on this fine old Buick 8! I truly love to see young people enjoying this hobby. 

 

I have one suggestion for you, since you are working on your engine: While you have that fuel pump removed, have a close look at both diaphrams. If they are made of a laminated material, you will likely notice slight separation of material layers. In that case, go ahead and get that fuel pump rebuilt now. Modern neoprene diaphragms are much more reliable, and now is the time to install them. Indeed, even N.O.S. in-the-box fuel pumps with old-style laminated diaphragms will often fail a short time after being installed and driven. Those old laminated diaphragms worked well in their day, but did not age well, and I'm sure that today's fuels don't help that situation. 

 

Good luck. I'm enjoying following your progress. 

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Reed]

I have a rebuild kit for the fuel pump purchased. There is a video of a guy doing it on the roadmaster step by step so I'll review that as I'm doing mine so I know more of what I'm looking at.

 

[Mr. Reed]

So far I'm still waiting for the parts to come back.  Going to remove the oil pan tomorrow night and give that to the powder coating place too.

[Pfeil]

Engine resurrection: Buick Straight 8 rebuild time-lapse

[Mr. Reed]

That's a good video. I'm watching that several times too haha. Thanks.

[Mr. Reed]

  I'm really debating pulling the engine sans transmission for painting it. I'm this far in and there isn't much left on the engine except for the Pistons which I'm not taking out. I think I'll kick myself later if I put it back together with all new painted and new parts with an ugly block. I don't want to remove the torque converter from the engine. Does it stay in the tranny when removed? Thanks.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Mr. Reed
Added word (see edit history)

[Aaron65]

Yes, the torque converter will stay in the transmission if you unbolt it from the flexplate, but then "Might as well..." rears its ugly head.  Should you replace the transmission front seal and converter o-ring while you're in there?  Was the transmission leaking before?  Over the years, I've done my best to adopt an "if it ain't broke..." policy to some extent, but it doesn't always work out.  There are all kinds of personalities and proclivities in the car world...do what will let you sleep at night. 

[Mr. Reed]

It was leaking at the torque tube but thats really common and I had it apart and back together once already haha.

[EmTee]

It seems to me that pulling the motor opens-up a can of worms...  By this point you've removed a lot of hardware from the engine compartment and the engine itself.  I think you could do a pretty good job detailing the engine block and engine bay by just removing any remaining accessories (e.g., starter, distributor).  Drop the pan (if you haven't already) and clean it inside & out.  Once everything is reinstalled and the car has been driven 500 miles, I'll bet it would be hard to determine with the hood raised whether the engine had been removed for the detailing or not...

 

The biggest concern is the ability to manage the 'while I'm in there' temptation that can cause the car to be off the road for much longer than originally planned.

[Mr. Reed]

Speaking of the fuel pump. Was it painted the engine color at the factory. Here's a close up of mine.i think I see the blue turquoise paint under the grime. Thanks Nick.

[Mr. Reed]

Ok so I've been watching the video of the fuel pump rebuild. It's my understanding that this retainer needs to be removed and a new one and seal needs to be put in but it's pressed in and needs to be pried out. Is this the retainer that needs removed? There's a seal or something where my pick is pointing.

[NailheadBob]

Mr.Reed, mark flywheel to torque converter so it be in the same place when reinstalled, other wise you may end up with a vibration, if you remove engine.

 

Bob

[critterpainter]

Yes that looks like the remains of the seal.

 

[EmTee]

It looks like that seal is staked (i.e., crimped) in place at 4 locations.  You'll need to either grind/file away the portion of the casting that's crimped over the seal at those locations, or use a punch to try to reverse the crimp.  The seal should be able to be removed from the casting once that's done.  Reinstall the new seal and try to replicate the crimps using a chisel or punch.

[Pfeil]

On 12/6/2021 at 4:39 PM, Ben Bruce aka First Born said:

My road draft tube is square cut.   Yours MAY be angle cut. The canister referred to is the "box" on the pushrod cover the draft tube connects to.  Indeed, it does contain a brass mesh that slows down oil , letting the vapor exit.  Supposed to any way. the mesh cannot be removed. Flushing with a solvent is about all one can do.  While you are doing that,  remember the inlet, driver side, back , beneath the manifold. Oil fill cap as well.

 

  Ben

Buick is the only G.M. car to my knowledge that has two sources of outside air to the crankcase. The left side of the Buick engine has a filter breather that's louvered. Pontiac for instance uses a breather cap that's stuffed with wire and 1/2 of the cap has an air directing flange to move air into the crankcase and looks similar to the one below;

That air comes from the engine fan and pressurizes the system constantly with fresh air, the system is vented by the road draft tube and the system is called " Pressure / Suction" crankcase ventilation. Normally, but not all cars have the road draft tube cut at an angle, but the best system does. Cutting the tube at an angle creates a low-pressure area under the tube when the car is driven to draw the blowby gasses out of the engine. ALL of these breathers MUST be cleaned every oil change (oil changes in the day were somewhere between 2000 and 3000 miles) and these breathers must be cleaned with (some old manuals say clean with gasoline) kerosene or paint thinner,  then filled with engine oil and allowed to drip dry before reinstalling. The reason is so the oil coats the metal mesh and that takes dirt out of the air stream before going into the engine. If you want long engine life this system MUST be maintained. Interesting thing about the Buick straight eight is everyone forgets about the left side intake filter hiding behind everything.

[Mr. Reed]

Thanks for the information. I removed the breather on the left side and shot it with carb cleaner. The gasket around it was toast. Luckily a new one is made so I bought one. The oil cap has one too and the push rod cover has some mesh in a can like piece where the road draft tube connects to. It was filled with sludge and I sprayed it with carb cleaner also. It was hard to clean everything though. Thanks. Nick.

[Pfeil]

1 hour ago, Mr. Reed said:

Thanks for the information. I removed the breather on the left side and shot it with carb cleaner. The gasket around it was toast. Luckily a new one is made so I bought one. The oil cap has one too and the push rod cover has some mesh in a can like piece where the road draft tube connects to. It was filled with sludge, and I sprayed it with carb cleaner also. It was hard to clean everything though. Thanks. Nick.

What I would do is soak that thing in carburetor cleaner, rinse it out in kerosene, then fill it with oil then turn it over and let it drip dry. Your rinse in kerosene will have to be done over and over to get all the particles out of it and the kerosene runs clear.

[Mr. Reed]

I removed the generator and am having that serviced while I'm waiting for everything to come back to me. It will be about a week and I'll have it done. Fun fact. I thought the bracket to the generator was black but is indeed the engine color also.

[Mr. Reed]

This spring I have a plan to drive the car to the area where the car came from and take some pictures with the car. There are some old pencils of business in the area and I contacted the chamber of commerce in the county of West Virginia for information on them and they were very helpful in providing information on where they and the dealership was and what's there now which is high rise apartments. I found a 7up pencil in the glovebox and story goes that a relative in the family worked there. There was a bottling plant in the area too. Call me crazy but I think the car will make it. I'm really into history and always want to know more of something's history. In this case a 72 year old Buick sedan haha.

[rocketraider]

With a 27 year old driver!

 

Yes, there is a LOT of history in that part of WVa. Not always pretty either.

[Mr. Reed]

Thanks. It's a 6 hour drive one way. I have AAA just in case haha. I asked the man I was talking to whether the area I'm visiting was more on the safer side and he said yes. Just don't want to end up in the ghetto haha. We'll have none of that.

[mike6024]

Very interesting fellow,

 

Redmond Turner "RT" Price Jr.

 

[Mr. Reed]

Yup that's the man I read about. He was very interesting

[Pete O]

On 1/9/2022 at 9:31 PM, Mr. Reed said:

Speaking of the fuel pump. Was it painted the engine color at the factory. Here's a close up of mine.i think I see the blue turquoise paint under the grime. Thanks Nick.

I don't think there was a reply to your question.  Yes, the fuel pump was painted engine color at the factor.

[Mr. Reed]

Thanks. That's one more thing going to paint with all the other stuff. Much appreciated 👍

[Mr. Reed]

My friend at the powder coating shop is getting close to a color match to the engine paint color provided. He's got the orange cap for the oil can done and it looks great.

[Mr. Reed]

Does anyone have one head bolt laying around or know where to find a replacement.  On a side note I've found the freeze or expanding plugs are difficult to find. They are a deep cup and the napa store is having a hard time unless a thinner plug but the same size will work.

[critterpainter]

On the freeze plugs no one manufacturer makes all the sizes you need.   You have to try several.    Bobs Automobilia has the correct freeze plug kit.      They may also have used head bolts.

[Bill Stoneberg]

On 1/13/2022 at 1:31 PM, Mr. Reed said:

I removed the generator and am having that serviced while I'm waiting for everything to come back to me. It will be about a week and I'll have it done. Fun fact. I thought the bracket to the generator was black but is indeed the engine color also.

When the engines were built, they had to make sure they did not leak.  So any bracket or accessory that was required for the engine to run was painted blue.

Generator bracket is a good example as the bolts that hold it goes through the water jacket and could leak.

All other brackets etc that went on after the leak test were satin black.

 

I have always pulled the engine for the work you are doing. This way you can climb in the engine compartment and clean and detail it.

Your engine will turn out looking better and I would rather work on the engine on a stand.  My Opinion.....

Edited January 19, 2022 by Bill Stoneberg (see edit history)

[Mr. Reed]

Finally found the plugs. It took my friend at Napa a couple days to find them but they will be here in a couple days.

[critterpainter]

Hope you get the right ones.  One plug manufacturer used the same plug # that was used in the Buicks in the late 40's and modified it for  small  engine applications    I wish I could remember which brand, but my hunch is AC.

[Bloo]

2 hours ago, critterpainter said:

Hope you get the right ones.  One plug manufacturer used the same plug # that was used in the Buicks in the late 40's and modified it for  small  engine applications    I wish I could remember which brand, but my hunch is AC.

 

You might be thinking of AC LM-46. They are AC brand "46" heat range, no resistor. and a shorter tower on the outside. Does that sound right for the Buick 8?

 

[critterpainter]

Could be.  I know the R-45 is still available as a R-45S

[rocketraider]

Good info on spark plugs but I think Nick was actually trying to find freeze/frost plugs.