I love 50 Buicks. I recently found a 50 roadmaster convertible that comes with a 50 just like yours for a parts car. Sure would like to have that roadmaster but it needs a lot of work.
Are you bagging the stock frame? I ask because I am planning on bagging my 50 sedanette, and using the stock frame. Post some pics of how you did it, if you took any. Thanks
Those are always a favorite. The horn button is a piece of art all by itself. I had a 49 Super and it was as big as a bus. What a great car. I've always wanted another from that era.
Just saw this thread. Great Build !! Love Buick Sedanettes, ALL years. I have a 49 Sedanette I am working on. I too will be placing the Ol Buick on air. I went with the Willwood Disc Brake system and it was a nice bolt on setup. Haven't done the proportioner valve yet. Having the power steering setup is a bonus. As stated earlier, someone already did the hard work for you. There are a few places for the dynaflow if you decide to shop out vs working on yourself. AACA Buick is a good forum for questions and ideas. Look forward to seeing your progress !
Just a quick update. I was going to have the original wheels sandblasted so I could powdercoat them but as we started to blast one of the front wheels the inside of the rim was waaay to rusted and probably wasn't safe to ride on so I decided to ditch them. I called up Coker tire for a set of 15x6 5x5 smoothie steel wheels but they are back ordered to who knows when. I'm basically just waiting on parts to get here. The air ride kit should be here tomorrow if the tracking is right. Wheels are on back order. For simplicity sake I decided to replace the 'original' hard lines from the ps pump to resivor with braided line/an fittings so I'm waiting for those fittings to show up. The high pressure hoses from the pump to the steering box are done and installed. The oil Pan gasket, oil filter media, shop manuals, and a few others things are here from Bobs' Automobilia- great guy by the way. The tourque ball retainer seal kit is here from eBay- creekside2, also a very helpful guy. And the 2 1/2" dropped uprights are here via Fatmanfabrications - Very nice pieces. I'll post lots of pics when I get some stuff done. Also, I couldn't resist this.... Yes it's going to be on the stock frame/suspension. I'm going to try not to cut it up but it's going to need some work. I'll post tons of pics of the install. Thanks! I love everything about this car. I've been looking at that disc brake conversion.. Did you upgrade from the stock master cyl? AACA has been a big help, just checkin out the archives has answered almost all the questions I had. Thanks!
I haven't gotten that far with the disc upgrade. But im sure I will be updating the MC. If you want a rim I may a have a pair stashed away. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Power steering hoses are done. I just need to bleed the system. Hopefully there aren't any other leaks. I may not have groceries for a couple months but by God I have car parts!
Started on the rear bag brackets after work. I've never messed with air suspension and there's no instruction manual for baggin a 64 yr old buick so I came up with this sophisticated blueprint and made a lot of changes as I went. One down 3 to go. With the axle on the bump stops as low as it will go (without any modification) there is 7 1/4" from the top spring plate to bottom plate on the axle. My spring cups are 2" tall to allow the bolts to drop and take everything apart if I have to. With both spring cups 2" and the bag fully compressed (has internal bump stops) is 3", that's 7" so I don't think I'll have any issues there. I don't want it to lay frame. I want to cruise the shit out of this car and if there is a failure I want to be able to get it back without scraping the whole way. If it's not low enough I can always build new lower spring cups and cut everything up.
here is how I bagged the 52. should be the same as a 50. http://www.teambuick.com/forums/showthread.php?23763-airbag-install-52-special
Rear bags are in. I decided to remove the larger bump stops and made my bottom spring cups 1" tall instead of 2". Should be nice and low now. Still plenty of clearance for the torque tube
My '50 Buick Special Sedanette rear fenders would not let 235-75-15 tires slip up into place. Not enough room between bodywork and brake drum.
We got the buick up on the lift. I replaced the torque ball retainer, gaskets, shims, and mount. What a pain in the ass! Now I know why the previous owners just let it leak. I didn't take a bunch of pics because it was taking long enough already. The torque ball and inner retainer had some scratches so I polished them up with scotch bright pad. After about and hour a piece I was able to get most of the groves out and a nice polished look. The old paper gaskets were mummified to that inner retainer so it took a wire wheel to get that off and then alot of polishing. Anyway it's all back together with new fluid and no leaks so far!
Man you are starting a similar project like The one I am just now finishing up. 1950 Roadmaster Riviera more door with the chassis and lower body caked in mud,oil, grease etc. just got mine road worthy this weekend. You can remove the oil pan with the motor still in the car but keep in mind that the lower lip of the timing cover mates to the front lip of the oil pan. Pretty easy fix really, the Buick engineers were nice enough to put some holes in the front crossmember to gain access to the front four pan screws. The only downside is the total number of pan screws and the fact that the pan doesn't fit in most parts washers haha. I can relate to all the scrapping, I had eight hours on the oil pan and trans scraping just to get to the hardware Have fun and keep posting pics Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Anybody happen to know the torque specs/sequence for the oil pan bolts on the straight 8? I cant find anything on it
Great lookin sled man! Congrats on getting her back on the road! Do you have torque specs on the oil pan bolts?
When I did my oil pan on my '50 Super I just started going around crossing over back and forth. Little by little. I never had a leak except torque tube seal.
Thanks, That's exactly what I ended up doing. Started in the middle in a criss-cross pattern. I made the first pass at 8ft-lbs and the second pass at 18ft-lbs. Looks like the only leaks I have left are the power steering box, rear torque tube seal, and both differential seals. Anyway here is a clip of it running.
I made up my valves Made a mounting plate 1/2 way done with the frame Im going to mount the tanks to. This will bolt to the deck behind the rear seat. Everything ties into this frame. The valves are suspended 6" above the tank mounting plate for air line clearance. And the compressors will be suspended below the valves about 7" below the plate the tanks are mounted to. Should look cool and be easy to work on! Something like this
Not much progress lately, I'm waiting for the new sand blaster to get here to blast some parts before paint and final assembly of the air ride system. When taking the front end apart pretty much everything was worn out so I sourced a rebuild kit. Greasy Old and new Painted the trunk Almost done I stumbled upon this '58 Electra at work the other day.. It's sat for a very long time and Interior was really bad but the body was straight as an arrow. It had "NOT FOR SALE" written all over it : (
Those terrass roofed -59 Buick's are way cool,if ya really want it,try my way:call owner every day about 3 months! When i hunt my not H*A*M*B frindly -69 big block vette conv. seller think it was real funny at the end... Good work done on jetback anyway Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Sandblasted the frame Painted and ready for assembly I mounted the tanks, valves, and compressors. Then I ran the air lines from the tanks to the valves. Pressure tested and bolted down in its new home! These are the brackets I made to keep the trunk deck from flexing due to the weight of the air ride setup, the back one was a real bitch to tighten down.
Coming along nicely. Make sure you put rubber grommets where the airlines go through the frame to avoid sudden decompression when you loose air and secure them every 12". After reading this I might start mounting my tank, compressor and hardware soon and making brackets when I recover from surgery.
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