57 Buick Century to bring back to life

[Stephenca118]

Wow, thank you all.  A lot of great advice and experience.

The Trans:  Well it worked as rocktrader said.  In D, nice and smooth, no slipping and I see how it is not the hydramatic that was in my 58 98.  L is low and works well.  I did not floor it, still babying the brakes.

Ok, the brakes.  Yea I read about that center pin centering issue and I think I am going to have to revisit that.  When I got the car I could not get the LR brake drum off until I loosened the centering pin and whacked it with a mallet.   And it seemed the more I drove it the better the brakes were.  So I will do that before I do anything with the M/C.

The choke stove, the tube goes into the back of the P/S exhaust manifold, and it broke off.  Well rusted off actually.  I have the tube, the spring plate on the carb, the threads are all messed up, I will try to clean them up and will make  a stove and attach it to the top rear of the manifold with a big hose clamp.  And see if that works.

The car runs really well, starts right up, well with a bit of bendix issue, I will deal with that when it is in the air  and I am visiting the brake pin issue.  The front end is sloppy but I am not going to deal with that, I will set the toe as best I can.

I will let you know how it works out.

Thank you all again for taking the time to reply to my project,

Steve

[JohnD1956]

If you used new "over the parts counter"brake shoes then they will improve with use. 

[EmTee]

They'll improve faster and perform best after making the Anchor Pin adjustment. 

[Smartin]

I’ve seen some pretty horrible shoe-to-drum arcs on new shoes lately.  Especially if the drum has been turned a lot.  This is nearly equally important as anchor pin adjustment.  Pull a drum and a shoe.  Put the shoe in the drum.  If it rocks like a rocking chair, it needs to be arc-ed to the drum.  If you can find one locally, a clutch rebuilder sometimes has the tool to do this.  I have a guy locally that does it.

[Stephenca118]

Thank you for the input.  I will try the pin adjustment check first.  The drums are in good shape, only had to replace one that was 120 over.

Now I am working on getting the horn to work.  Here is a few pics of the T/S repair.  I used a #4-40 screw.   It may be hokey but it works.  Just being gentle activating the T/S switch.

I will let you know how the brakes turn out.  The Olds is on the rack now with the gas tank removed so I will get the Buick back on it as soon as I can.

Thank you all again for your valuable feedback,

Steve

[Smartin]

Even with the drums in good condition, the new shoes can be way out of spec on arc compared to the drums.  Don't assume they are ok just because the drum specs out good.

[Stephenca118]

Thank you, I will do the best I can on it.  I don't know of anyone around here that will arc them but I will check it out.  Thank you again for your input.

Steve