1940 Buick 4 door restore

[Garyr1016]

I'm getting a 1940 buick 4 door soon. Full restore was done 20 years ago, driven for 6 months then parked in a barn untouched till now. No body work needed but need to do service on all moving parts. Where to start???? Tires are rotted and maybe some of the rubber hoses and belts. Probably need to remove and clean fuel tank and lines as well as brake system. Clean and service oil pump, fuel pump, carb, cooling system, etc. I'd like to avoid disassembing the engine except for needed replacement gaskets. Your Thoughts???

[Guest imported_MrEarl]

Gary,

Welcome aboard,

the first place I'd suggest for someone that's about to begin restoration of any early 40's Buick to go is here....

Matts 41 Century

[Matt Harwood]

Thanks for the kudos, <span style="font-weight: bold">MrEarl!</span>

At any rate, I'd start with all the fluids--completely drain and flush all of them and replace with new. The gas tank should have a drain plug so that's easy, too. Drain the diff, crankcase, radiator, transmission, bleed the brakes, etc. Then I'd replace all the hoses & belts and lube the chassis. I'd guess that the fuel pump diaphragm will be shot, so rebuild the fuel pump, too. Pull the spark plugs and squirt a little oil in each cylinder. Gently turn the engine over by hand using a wrench on the crank pulley--this will tell you if everything inside the motor is still free and turning. If so, replace the battery, prime the carb, install some fresh spark plugs and try to start it (you may want to crank it for a few seconds without the coil connected to help prime the oil pump and get oil to some long-dry parts on top). Expect a lot of smoke and sputtering, but if everything is new inside, it should eventually run pretty well. The carb may need rebuilding because of sitting for so long, but this is not a difficult job. Once you have it running, put a new set of tires on it and do some shakedown runs to evaluate.

You may need to replace some gaskets, but probably nothing major. The valve cover and side cover use cork gaskets and these may have deteriorated. The rest of the gaskets will likely still be OK. The water pump may need some attention, but there's no way of knowing until you fire it up and start moving water through it. The radiator may need flushing (in fact, I recommend it) because of rust and/or sediment settling to the bottom. Basically, if you think it can wear out over time, expect that it has.

I'd be especially careful with the brakes before driving it--double check the condition of all the lines and hoses, check the master and wheel cylinders for leakage, and check the shoes for contamination. I'm guessing it'll need everything replaced after sitting so long--brake fluid tends to collect moisture which will rust the parts from the inside and replacement is the only alternative. Fortunately this is not expensive and parts are readily available from suppliers like www.bobsautomobilia.com or www.kanter.com.

Good luck and enjoy your new Buick!

[Garyr1016]

Thanks for the help MrEarl.

[Garyr1016]

Thanks, great advise. Glad to hear that I will probably not have to disassemble the engine. Couple of other questions.

I'm thinking I'll need to remove the oil pan and clean/inspect the oil sump.

Where's a good place to go online that I can find engine and body info. Type of sedan I've got, tune-up info, recommended tire size, etc..

Thanks again

Gary

[Matt Harwood]

If the car's a Special, it has the 248 cubic inch engine. Some specs can be found here. The body data tag on the passenger's side cowl under the hood will tell you what model it is (probably model 41, a Special 4-door sedan), the original color and interior codes, etc.

I'd suggest acquiring an owner's manual and a shop manual (Kanter.com sells reprints of the shop manual and there are owner's manuals on Ebay all the time). That will give you a lot of the information you seek.

[Charles2]

It's not a Model 41, there are vent windows in the back doors. On the Model 41, there are no vents on the rear doors but there are sliding vents just behind the rear door opening.

[Garyr1016]

Thanks Charles2,

The 1940 Buick I have has crank wing windows behind the rear door windows. So that makes it a model 41 correct?

Also, a couple other questions

Tires

---Any other source for tires other than Coker? The quote was $151 each for 650x16 with tubes and shipping.

---Will tubeless tires work on the original wheels?

---What other wheels will fit the lug pattern of the 1940 Buick, need some cheap wheel/tire combo to use to load the car onto a trailer and then move it around in the garage while I'm working on it.

Value

---What's this car worth?? 1941 Buick 4-door (model 41) complete. All body work in good shape. No rust found in body, floors, doors or truck. Told it was a good runner when parked 20 years ago in a barn. Interior looks to be a little worn but not bad.

Thanks for any help

Gary