D0C Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 On 2/5/2022 at 9:04 AM, 61polara said: Rubber mats were standard on the base Special and are most likely original. The biggest problem with them was that they trapped moisture under them and rusted out the floor. Ya, seems to be a common trend for these cars to have rotted floors due to the standard rubber mats... not cool Buick, not cool. I had a good bit of carpet left in the car, but the mats obviously withstood the test of time and rotted it all. boo.. On 2/5/2022 at 9:51 AM, avgwarhawk said: The rubber mat is NOS and on eBay. Just the front. I was fortunate to get a NOS mat that was pliable. This one states it pliable. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Floor-Mat-for-1954-1956-Buick-40-series-special-Century-front-contour-mat-/284414961896?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0 My oem ones are actually not in bad shape strangely enough. I may use them in the back seat and the trunk still actually 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buickbrothers Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Oldbuickparts.com has the lock cylinders and lot's of other parts you are going to be looking for to restore your car. I have compared their prices to many other vendors and 95% of the time they are lower. One lesson learned. Bulk order in batches of part at a time (don't just order online a few parts as needed) by calling them and giving them a list and they provide a discount on the shipping. Otherwise, they charge a flat rate of 10% on the cost of the part in the order (some heavy items will have extra shipping charge added plus the 10%). I ordered by subject I was working (frontend/undercarriage, then engine, then transmission, then door parts/seals after I painted, then firewall, etc.). This way you consume the parts for the subject you are working because you don't want to sit on the parts long in case you need to return something due to being an incorrect fit or a quality problem. I finally at a stage of reassembly on my 1955 Roadmaster Sedan - vary similar to yours. Had to learn to paint a car as well to keep the cost down. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 What a stunning color combination. My compliments to you for painting it yourself. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buickbrothers Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Thanks, drhach. The paint was the only place I didn't stick with the "original" colors. The car body was all white, but the interior was blue and white. Since the dash cap and metal on the front door was a metalic blue, I decided to pull that outside and leverage the value of the Buick trim to go two tone. Quotes from paint shops ran $25-$30K and I just could not spend that along with all the other costs of the restoration (engine rebuild, trans rebuild, interior, etc.) as you will soon discover - lol. I've learned a lot, and have a long list of "first time ever" activities with this car. So, best of luck to you - yours looks a lot like the condition of mine when I started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D0C Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 Love that color combo as well BuickBrothers. Very classy and well done for someone learning! Very inspirational. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D0C Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 Welp, first Sunday actually working on the car. Jimmy'd the trunk open and found a free gift. 1982 Zenith tv! This baby had 82 channels complete with remote control! 🤣 Cleaned the trunk out, found a 95% solid floor underneath! Only a couple spots no larger than a quarter that have rusted out. Aaanddd that fully intact a/c sitting pretty in the back! Even a surviving finisher panel on the pass side Even found some spare rocker shafts and pushrods, lucky me! The lady pulled the driver door apart, cleaned it all up and removed the frozen up regulator. Not ready to pull the vent window and such out yet 😬 She even got the rest of the headliner out and cleaned the roof. (She wasn't thrilled about the fiberglass rain she incurred while doing this but she's a trooper) With her busy, I decided to check out and prove that there's decent paint underneath the garbage. See results below: BEFORE: AFTER: Even the poorly Repainted door cleaned up a decent bit Some of the chrome may shine up a bit too. The taillight housing test spot gave me hope. The bumper may be a bit of a different story, test spot wasn't great but I also didn't spend a whole lot of time on this. Just making sure there's "Shine Potential" in there more than anything else OH! and those extra parts I found? Lucky me right? ... Hah.. Nah... And this is why this gem was parked in 1989 friends. Guessing a catastrophic failure of some kind happened and someone made a half-valiant and fully-organized attempt at figuring it out. Time, experience, brain power.. whichever one that the poor soul may have been lacking ended up with this thing sitting with the valve covers off of it for the last 30 years 😒 Prior to my purchase, the valve covers were sat back on and now the whole scene makes sense. The partial disassembly made me worry a bit when I first saw the car but couldn't figure it out. I figured parts were robbed off of it or something. But here we have it, and it didn't take any pesky kids and scooby doo to sort that mystery out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 2 hours ago, D0C said: catastrophic failure of some kind happened Not necessarily. Maybe a stuck valve or rocker. Simple fix back then, not so much now. Pull the heads and and see if it will turn over to check the cylinders, then free up the valves; clean and free up the rocker assemblies (I have some pretty good ones). With it siting with all the valves closed there is a better chance that the combustion chambers are in good shape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D0C Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 1 hour ago, old-tank said: Not necessarily. Maybe a stuck valve or rocker. Simple fix back then, not so much now. Pull the heads and and see if it will turn over to check the cylinders, then free up the valves; clean and free up the rocker assemblies (I have some pretty good ones). With it siting with all the valves closed there is a better chance that the combustion chambers are in good shape. Ha, I suppose the wording I used was a little dramatic. I know what you mean. Not completely condemning the engine or anything. I'm going to yank the heads off anyway, as they are absolutely caked full of dirt and who know what else. I'll let you my findings. I almost tagged you in my message this morning anyway haha, I was going to tell you I was making a new list of parts I need and was going to be bothering you with it soon 😅 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 On 2/5/2022 at 8:11 AM, Rusty Heaps said: When checking my other keys for a match to the lock for the glove box I got out of the junkyard for my ‘52 Special, I couldn’t get the key from my ‘55 Chevrolet to even go in the slot. But my older Chevrolet keys would, but did not work the lock. Odd, as these all use the Briggs and Stratton/Rochester Products B-10 blank. The key did not change from 1935 to 1966. Any competent locksmith can rekey any cylinder you find for that car to match the existing door handle cylinder/glovebox/ignition cylinder. Easiest is to remove the glove box lock, typically during these years. DO NOT let a locksmith tell you they need to remove-destroy the decorative escutcheon on that glove box lock to get the code. They need to be picked, but not hard to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I hope you didn't hurt that trunk lock/cylinder. Stupidest thing I saw recently on TV was American Pickers' Rob beating a truck lock open on a Chevrolet convertible in great shape. Now they have to repaint the trunk lid. TV drama, idiots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D0C Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 1 hour ago, Frank DuVal said: Odd, as these all use the Briggs and Stratton/Rochester Products B-10 blank. The key did not change from 1935 to 1966. Any competent locksmith can rekey any cylinder you find for that car to match the existing door handle cylinder/glovebox/ignition cylinder. Easiest is to remove the glove box lock, typically during these years. DO NOT let a locksmith tell you they need to remove-destroy the decorative escutcheon on that glove box lock to get the code. They need to be picked, but not hard to do. My glove box lock and pass door lock are all that are left on the car. And they're unlocked. I'll make aire the glove box one comes out nicely in one piece. 1 hour ago, Frank DuVal said: I hope you didn't hurt that trunk lock/cylinder. Stupidest thing I saw recently on TV was American Pickers' Rob beating a truck lock open on a Chevrolet convertible in great shape. Now they have to repaint the trunk lid. TV drama, idiots... Ya, I've seen such terrors in TV myself. Very cringey. My trunk has no cylinder. Only the latch. Took a little fiddling around to sort out the latch and get it to turn and open. No locks were harmed in the makings of my build 🤣😅 cant say the same for that poor chevy convertible 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drhach Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Wadded up aluminum foil and Windex is a great chrome cleaner. The chrome is harder than the foil, so there's no scratching. It's a good way to clean out some of the pitting in the metal without damaging the remaining finish. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usnavystgc Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I love seeing the AC intact in the trunk. What a great find. A shop called Graveyard Run Restorations did a YouTube series on the restoration of a 54 Roadie with factory AC. In talking to the owner of the shop, he told me they tested the AC in a small room overnight and that room was 39 deg the next morning. They charged it with R12. I'm not sure how they set that up but, that is what he told me. I hope you can get the engine sorted out. 322's may be more plentiful in TX than here in AZ. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buickbrothers Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I'm interested in your AC as well. My 55 Roadmaster, the blue/white pictures up at the top of this chat subject, has the factory AC as well. Do you have the clear tube's in the back window? I haven't started to work through how to restore the AC yet, it's last on my list since I can attach all the AC last in the restoration. I have cleaned all the copper braded hoses, took the evaporator apart to evaluate the condition, and have been evaluating all the other components. I've been pondering how I could set-up the entire system out of the car in or to test/trouble shoot problems/line pin holes etc. Some sort of pressure test of the full system. So USNAVYSTGC's comment about "Graveyard Run Restorations" room test caught my eye and I try to find on YouTube. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D0C Posted February 16, 2022 Author Share Posted February 16, 2022 4 hours ago, drhach said: Wadded up aluminum foil and Windex is a great chrome cleaner. The chrome is harder than the foil, so there's no scratching. It's a good way to clean out some of the pitting in the metal without damaging the remaining finish. I've heard of this cleaning method myself though I have never tried it personally. I may give it a try, I'm curious of the results 2 hours ago, usnavystgc said: I love seeing the AC intact in the trunk. What a great find. A shop called Graveyard Run Restorations did a YouTube series on the restoration of a 54 Roadie with factory AC. In talking to the owner of the shop, he told me they tested the AC in a small room overnight and that room was 39 deg the next morning. They charged it with R12. I'm not sure how they set that up but, that is what he told me. I hope you can get the engine sorted out. 322's may be more plentiful in TX than here in AZ. I'll have to check them out on youtube. Thanks for the resource Navy! Eh, I'm sure it's a rebuildable core regardless. I'll yank the heads off this week/weekend sometime and see what's going on. 6 minutes ago, buickbrothers said: I'm interested in your AC as well. My 55 Roadmaster, the blue/white pictures up at the top of this chat subject, has the factory AC as well. Do you have the clear tube's in the back window? I haven't started to work through how to restore the AC yet, it's last on my list since I can attach all the AC last in the restoration. I have cleaned all the copper braded hoses, took the evaporator apart to evaluate the condition, and have been evaluating all the other components. I've been pondering how I could set-up the entire system out of the car in or to test/trouble shoot problems/line pin holes etc. Some sort of pressure test of the full system. So USNAVYSTGC's comment about "Graveyard Run Restorations" room test caught my eye and I try to find on YouTube. Love the copper resto. I haven't seen any copper lines in mine yet. Most of the lines on mine look like big and very dated hydraulic hoses and jic fittings. Yes, I do have the tubes in the back window, it was one of the main reasons I had to look at this car when I saw the ad. As far as testing the system outside the car, I'm not 100%. I'm sure it would be quite the process to make a rig to make it work. Maybe the youtube channel has the answer for us! I haven't even seen service ports yet (haven't looked yet specifically either though). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buickbrothers Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Glad you have them and they look to be in usable shape. Haven't run across any, in my search for parts, so they would be tough to find. FYI - there is a solenoid to the AC system on the frame over on the passenger side near the heater core, on my car. It's one of the potential problems as to why my system is not working, could be others for sure. There's a bad/broken wire that would have been easy to miss based on its' location and the fender covering it up. Best of luck moving forward and I'll share whatever I learn on trouble shooting the end-to-end system. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usnavystgc Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Here's a link to the first video in the restoration. I don't think you will find the setup of the ac testing in the room. He shared that info with me during a conversation I had with him. I do suggest you call him however, he seemed more than willing to share his knowledge when I called. The whole series is a great watch for anyone trying to restore a 50's Buick. What they did to this car is amazing and honestly, I got exhausted just thinking about how much work went into it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avgwarhawk Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 45 minutes ago, usnavystgc said: Here's a link to the first video in the restoration. I don't think you will find the setup of the ac testing in the room. He shared that info with me during a conversation I had with him. I do suggest you call him however, he seemed more than willing to share his knowledge when I called. The whole series is a great watch for anyone trying to restore a 50's Buick. What they did to this car is amazing and honestly, I got exhausted just thinking about how much work went into it. Car went on to win a few awards. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I have two 55's with factory A/C: I got you covered! One owned since 1976; the other since 1980. They have always functioned for even cross county trips in the summer with a happy wife. Both have been resealed and one rebuilt from the ground up. seal replacement from my website 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted February 17, 2022 Share Posted February 17, 2022 The glove box lock comes out of the door easy (or should). It is trying to open it up to read the code, if it is not stamped on the outside you can see, some locksmiths treat them like the outside door lock where the bezel/escutcheon is destroyed opening them up to change the tumblers, but, the code is clearly stamped on the outside! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Heaps Posted February 19, 2022 Share Posted February 19, 2022 These are sitting in a local junkyard that I frequent. The 4dr was tagged in 1990. The 2dr is amazingly solid, other than the floor pans. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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