1946 Buick Super Model 51

[Robuick46]

Hello dear Buick fans.

My name is Robert and I live in Germany. Last year in June (2023), I bought a 1946 Buick Super from an older workshop master (a car mechanic with an additional training). He told me that he had bought the Buick himself in the Netherlands from a dealer. Previously, the Buick was owned by a Dutchman who had started to restore the car. But he died before he could finish the project (I hope that was not due to the many worries that the car caused him). The workshop master has finished the restoration. I have already read many reports in this forum and am always enthusiastic about the skills of the members, the stories and restoration reports. I am happy about every new report and especially with which I can learn something. I have little experience in repairing cars, but I am highly motivated.

Robert

Edited July 31 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[neil morse]

Welcome to the AACA forums, Robert!  That's a great looking Buick you have there.  It's the same model and same color as my '41.  I'm sure you will get a lot of enjoyment out of it, and it must really turn heads in Germany!

[JohnD1956]

That is a Super car!  Congrats on your purchase!  I love the Supers amongst us.  How far have you driven it? 

[EmTee]

Ausgezeichnet! 

[Elpad]

Congratulations!

[Robuick46]

Thank you for your welcome.
The Buick is in a good condition. The underbody is only provided with a beeswax layer as underbody protection and I have not discovered any rust there (I still have to take some photos and post here). Nevertheless, there are of course some tasks I have to do. I got a shop manual with the purchase and read again and again in the topics to bring my knowledge in order.

I renewed all the fluids and oils, filled the steering gear and also greased all the moving parts with lubricant, except the oil of the rear axle. I still have to check the oil level of the rear axle.

The former mechanic had (for whatever reason) installed a can with brake cleaner and a hose that went directly to the carburetor to make it easier to start the engine in a cold start. I dismantled it and put the cold start automatic back into operation, which was totally adjusted. I have rebuilt the old oil bath air filter system with a suitable dry filter.

[Robuick46]

After a few trips, smoke suddenly penetrated the interior of the car. I noticed that when the engine was under load, smoke leaked from the crankcase inlet breather cap. I talked to some mechanics and was advised to close the breather cap and to install a hose that directs the smoke directly into the air filter. The problem seems fixed, but it comes with heavier load of the engine blue smoke from the crankcase outlet. I suspect that the piston rings and the oil scraper ring are worn or defective. For the time being, I can drive the Buick like this, although this is of course only a temporary solution.

[Robuick46]

22 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

That is a Super car!  Congrats on your purchase!  I love the Supers amongst us.  How far have you driven it? 

I guess have driven about 700km so far. Of course, you get a lot of attention with this car and get many thumbs up. It's a wonderful car.

Edited January 21 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[Robuick46]

I adjusted the carburetor (as well as it went with the manual) and also renewed all parts of the ignition, except the ignition coil (I ordered the parts from Rock-Auto). I have to pre-pump gasoline as usual and after the second start attempt the engine usually runs. After about 5 minutes, the engine runs cleanly on all eight cylinders and also takes the gas well. The idle speed is also fine.

[Robuick46]

I bought an original 1946 (first edition) manual from E-Bay US, which I had missed.

Ups, I made a mistake, my Buick is a model 51 (bad mistake).

 

...and neither of you reprimanded me

 

Edited January 23 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[Robuick46]

After about 4 months I knew about how the engine should sound in normal operation and noticed the rattling and clattering noises when the engine got warm. The noise came from the crankcase. So I ordered a valve cover gasket, pushrod cover gasket and oil pan gasket (all big gaskets and some small parts) from Cars. The prices of the spare parts are actually okay, but the shipping costs and the customs really hurt.I pay 50-70€ each time. This is almost always as much as the spare parts cost.

[Robuick46]

When the seals arrived, I opened the crankcase with the help of a friend and we checked the valve lash together. We removed the spark plugs. I turned the engine on the rotor into position and the other guy measured the valve lash at the rocker arm. I knew from the instructions that we need a gap of 0.015", but the feeler gauge did not fit into any gap. We tried for a while and noticed that the valve lash was set incorrectly. Someone had set the lash to 0.006" (about 0.15mm) instead of 0.015" (about 0.35mm) and we fixed that.

[Robuick46]

An adjustment thread was unfortunately damaged and the lock nut could not be tightened. We have installed a thick washer (in the thickness of the nut). After that I did a test drive and the noises with warm engine were much more pleasant. I also had the feeling that the Buick drove better.

[Andrew_Latvia]

Very, very nice car!👍 Congratulations!

[Robuick46]

Thank you very much, I love this car.

My dad had a 58 or 59 Oldsmobile, I have some black and white photos of him and his car, but that was before I was born.

Ok, next project. I couldn’t lock my trunk. The problem was that I could only push the key halfway into the lock. I found a thread on the AACA page on this topic and that really helped me to disassemble the lock. So I knocked out the pin and disassembled the lock into its individual parts. Someone had drilled the lock cylinder into unusable. I removed several bent or destroyed springs, bent the "partition walls" and made everything passable again until the key could be pushed back in. Of course, it no longer has the original security level, but it works and the trunk can be locked again. A spring is missing and I made a retaining ring from a key ring. The first photo is from the thread. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the disassembled trunk lock.

 

Edited January 30 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[drhach]

Those tumblers are readily available on Ebay and you can rekey the lock to your key's code. It isn't hard at all, I did it :). 

[AGHodge]

Robuick46,

 

Ihr Auto ist einfach Wonderschoen! In welchem Teil Deutschlands bist du? Ich hoffe, das Sie Ihr Auto in Ordnung bringen, damit Sie viele Stunden Freude am Fahren haben.

 

Tschuss!

 

Greg

[kingrudy]

Great looking car, glad that the fix was as easy as setting the valve lash to the correct gap. Best of luck with your "new car".

[Robuick46]

On 1/30/2024 at 11:50 PM, drhach said:

Those tumblers are readily available on Ebay and you can rekey the lock to your key's code. It isn't hard at all, I did it :). 

Thanks for the advice, is there already a post about customizing the door lock or do you have a guide for it?

[Robuick46]

On 2/12/2024 at 3:27 AM, AGHodge said:

Robuick46,

 

Ihr Auto ist einfach Wonderschoen! In welchem Teil Deutschlands bist du? Ich hoffe, das Sie Ihr Auto in Ordnung bringen, damit Sie viele Stunden Freude am Fahren haben.

 

Tschuss!

 

Greg

Vielen Dank für die Glückwünsche und die tollen Beiträge. Ich wohne ca. 1 Stunde von Stuttgart entfernt. Ich versuche mit der Hilfe von diesem tollen Forum, meinen Buick so gut wie möglich herzurichten. Ich versuche ihn aber auch, so weit es mir möglich ist, in den originalen Zustand zu bekommen. Es ist noch ein langer Weg, aber ich habe keine Eile, da der Buick funktioniert. Ich lese hier im Forum sehr viel Beiträge und schreibe mir die vielen Tipps von den Mitgliedern auf, um sie an meinem Buick umzusetzen.

 

Many thanks to all members of the forum for the nice greetings and the great advice in the various posts.

[Robuick46]

My current project is the driver’s door lock. As you have already seen in various photos, the door handle falls down as soon as you lock the door with the key.

[Robuick46]

So I removed the complete interior trim of the door, the door handle and the door lock. The previous owner used a wrong screw to fix the door handle, so it had always been wobbled although the screw was tightened.

 

Edited February 14 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[Robuick46]

I degreased the parts with brake cleaner and then I rust them with a brass brush. At the door lock, the retaining spring of the door handle mechanism was broken.

[Robuick46]

...after the cleaning and brushing.

[Robuick46]

The brass lever of the door handle wobbles a lot, I minimized the gap with a brass wire, which I then soldered. Let’s see how long this will work.

Edited February 14 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[Robuick46]

I ordered a repair kit (and other small parts) at Bob’s (again about 70€ shipping costs with customs fees - ouch again). The new spring of the door lock bolt did not fit and I mounted the old spring again (from today’s point of view, I should have adjusted and installed the new spring).

[Robuick46]

I painted the whole parts with rust converter primer and then lubricated them.
Everything works so far.

[Robuick46]

The socket for the door lock is heavily worn.The door lock rotates very far before the closing mechanism is actuated.

[Robuick46]

I covered the bolt of the door lock with adhesive tape and fixed it to the socket.
I poured the shell-shaped socket with liquid metal epoxy glue. After drying, I could easily pull out the lock and then stuck the upper surface. After removing the adhesive tape, the bolt fits perfectly into the socket.
In the pictures it looks as if the door lock was fixed diagonally, but I had aligned it at a right angle.

[Robuick46]

...now I only want temperatures above 10°C (50°F) to be able to work in the garage again (and also want to work). Before I can install the door lock and the interior again, I still have to align the window of the driver’s door, because it jams in the upper area in the guide rail.

Then I know if I did everything right.

[Buicknutty]

 That is a lovely car, and I have a '41 Canadian built Roadmaster which is the same colour. These are great driving cars!

We are all waiting for Spring so we drive these beautiful babies again.

 Keith

[Robuick46]

The adjustment of the driver’s side window somehow does not work properly and the mechanism when cranking is very heavy. Since the door panel is dismantled anyway, I removed and restored the door window regulator.

[Robuick46]

The guides are made of leather and in the meantime porous, probably the first guides that were installed in the factory.

[Robuick46]

Time to be cleaned again.

[Robuick46]

...and some color won’t hurt either.

[Robuick46]

I brought leather pieces from a saddler and made new guides with my punch.

[Robuick46]

I put the leather rings into water and pulled them over the bolt heads.

[Robuick46]

...then I disassembled the mechanics.

 

...the bushing is fine because it is hardened, but the tread is indented.

 

...the teeth of the gear are also worn.

[Robuick46]

I tried to solder the teeth with brass gloss, but I have never done this before and therefore it was way too much solder on the teeth 🙈. With a Dremel and a file I fixed the teeth again. It’s better than before, but unfortunately not like new.
I made a spare parts request in the buy/sell section.

 

If someone has a gear left, please write me a PM !

Edited March 17 by Robuick46 (see edit history)

[Machine Gun]

Very nicely done!