Projects 1962 Buick Skylark . . . What to do

It's been a while since I provided an update, or anything here. I still have the Buick, but it's been on pause while I worked on some other projects. I was also waiting for the dashboard to get done and shipped back. The big news is - the dashboard is back! And it looks, frankly, amazing. JustDashes did a fantastic job. It's basically new at this point.

I'll get some photos posted later. Tonight, I'm going to move some projects around so I can get the Buick back into the main work area. Since the last post I did pick up the important stuff - like a replacement radio from RetrosSounds radio that looks authentic, but gives a bluetooth connection. Also, a replacement for the dead dash speaker. I'm not adding more speakers at this time, but I like to have at least some kind of working radio.

I'm going to get all of that installed, and get the Buick on the road for the summer. I might even spend some time trying to get the clock to work.

 

I love these little cars. I had a 61 olds, a 62 buick and I am currently building a g***er 62 olds. Keep us posted on your little gem.

 

It's up the in air so I can start tackling the list. Overall, the car is super clean. The floors, etc, are all solid. There's a bit of rust starting, but nothing that can't be stopped before it becomes a problem. The worst areas are on the doors where the window felts would go - that lip is rusted pretty badly. And some other rust spots around the windows. And, as usual, there's a bad area beneath the battery tray.

Almost everything is original as well. Including all of the brake lines except the one running across the rear axle. As far as I can tell, about the only thing I need to address right away is the soft line from the fuel tank to the hard line. It's original and pretty dry rotted. And one of the rubber exhaust hangers is dry rotted away.

And there's a lot of oil leak going on. I think some of it is from the oil pan gasket, and I'm pretty sure the worst of it is from the front of the transmission. At some point I'll have to pull it and put in new seals.

I really wish I could find a transmission filter for it. No luck so far.

Any recommendations on what the best transmission fluid is for the Buick Dynaflo?

For engine oil I'm running the Lucas hot rod / vintage engine oil. 10W-30.

 

If it specifies "type A" fluid, then the modern Dexron/Mercon fluid is the closest replacement, and should work fine.

Does it have a transmission filter, or just a screen? If it's a screen, you just clean it and put it back in.

 

Nice Car!!! Dont see many at all. But.... can we talk about that lift you have it on? That looks awesome!

 

The lift is a QuickJack set. I absolutely love it. They're great around the shop, and you can throw the up on a trailer if you need to swap tires or do work at a track. I don't have the overhead clearance for a full lift, but this gets me what I need. Plenty of room for trans swaps, etc.

 

Here's the dash back from Just Dashes. They also asked me to send along the speaker grill trim, and anything else related to the dash so they could paint it all to match.

 

Of course I forgot to get a good picture of the dash in it's poor condition. But if you look closely at this photo you can see it.

 

Turn it into a G***er!.... With a straight front axle and a Hilborn 8 stack nailhead engine...

 

Oh, I've been quite tempted. If I hadn't sold the last straight axles I had I might have already dived in. ;-)

But my fiance loves the Buick as is. In general she doesn't care about cars. Until this Buick she couldn't name an American car she liked. Her tastes were always European hatch backs. Or mid-80s Mercedes wagon. But she's been asking when are we going to go cruising in the Skylark. My hands are tied.

 

Nice, you have the clock. My ‘62 had the clock as well. It didn’t work though. My dash was worse than yours and I bought my ‘62 in the early 90s. Yours is in fantastic shape.

 

14 inch wheels Ford 6 cylinder mustang maverick to 74 as to brakes they are the as big 60s GM intermediates at a 1000 lb less weight.

 

My clock doesn't work, either. I spent a bit trying to figure out what is wrong with it, and came down to the electric motor. The rest of the mechanism works fine. It just isn't getting driven. Later, I'll mess with the motor and see if I can get it going again.

The Buick is not at a local garage for its New York State inspection. And I'm having them replace the soft fuel lines. From what I can tell, everything under the car is original including those lines. They're nicely dry rotted. I'd rather not have one fail while out cruising.

Anybody have photos of a 62 with the air conditioning installed? From what I've been learning it looks like the AC in this is specific to 62. I found the pump bracket from a rusted out 62 Skylark, and the pump itself is straightforward. I'd just like to see how the pump was positioned, and pulley / belt setup.

 

My limited experience with clocks of that era is that they don't have a motor. They have a solenoid. The solenoid pulls a spring, and that spring runs the clock for roughly a minute, then the switch makes contact, the solenoid pulls the spring again, and the process continues....for about a year, which is how long they were designed to work.

If you know about clockmaking, you can probably do some maintenance on the mechanism (dis***emble, clean, inspect, service pivots if needed, etc) and get it working again. Have fun! I suggest you buy a few spares to tinker with until you get the hang of it.

 

Love these early GM compacts, but boy, they are a pedestrians worst nightmare with all of those pointy bits at the front corners. Sounds like you have a good plan and will be driving and enjoying it.

 

Thanks! Yes, you're correct. I need to find a few spares. The overall mechanism is great. My extremely limited experience with clocks is not helping. ;-) But everything works great when the spring is loaded with power. I need to figure out the solenoid and what's going on there.

 

Driving it is the goal. I even picked up some good looking blankets for the rear seat so the dogs can come along. There's just about enough room for both an English Lab and a German Shepherd.

 

It's finally time to replace the carpet. Now that I've peeled back that layer of the onion, I've found that there's a portion of the p***enger floor that needs replaced. Although the driver's side is rusty, it's still solid and I can stop the rot without cutting out the pan. On the p***enger side I'm able to easily push my thumb through areas, so it's gotta go.

Too bad I can't find pre-formed pans, unless anybody out here knows of a source.

Also - how in the world do I get the rear seat out? I'm used to pushing in / pulling up and popping it out. That doesn't seem to be working here, and I can't find anyplace where it may be bolted down. I might just have to try harder.

 

While I have the seats out, I'm going to have the driver's seat repaired. The piping on the edge has worn through from folks climbing in & out. Overall, the seats are in fantastic condition. This one just needs a bit of love.

 

Push down real hard, then push it back, and let it pop up. One end at a time, the retainers should be about a foot from each end of the seat. Some of them are tough to get out.

Might want to look at the padding and see if it's time to replace it...makes driving a lot more fun if the seats are comfortable. I just took apart the seats on my 62 Vette, they're in pretty bad shape. New springs and foam really make a difference. Most seats don't need new springs, maybe just a repair or two if broken.

 

Thanks, I'm going to get out there and tackle it again tonight.
The seats are actually really comfortable, but I'm taking the front buckets in for some repair. I'll probably have the foam replaced while they're apart.

 

For the transmission filter, try Fatsco at https://www.fatsco.net/, or Northwest Transmission Parts at 800-327-1955.

 

I had a couple of Cadillacs from the mid 60’s and the foam in the seats was turning to yellow dust by the early 90’s. I was constantly vacuuming around the front seat since it was really showing up on the black carpeting. I didn’t want to mess with replacing it since the upholstery itself was nearly perfect.

 

If you decide to change out the transmission to a more modern unit, let me know. I would love to get one of the dual path dynaflows and mate it to a 198 Fireball V6.

As with most older engines, you need an adapter on those "odd ball" Buick bell patterns. 1964 was a great year for Buick. They finally went to the BOP pattern, even though the ST400 transmission continued to use the Buick nailhead bolt pattern. The small new engines were BOP and are easy to adapt to any BOP transmission. Can't help you with an adapter, but I am making several adapters for bolting the old Dual Range hydramatic to various engines, including Nail heads.

 

I'm continuing to dig into the interior and floor of the Skylark. I had to take a few weeks off to complete another project, and get married. I don't know how she puts up with me and my garage time.

Last night, I finally pulled the back seat and the remaining carpet / underlayer. There weren't any surprises. The only area of the floor that needs to be replaced is a small section on the front / right. Everything else is still good and solid.

I was surprised by the condition of the rear seat. I didn't find any mice; chipmunk; rat homes. Nobody has lived in there. It's surprising because I bought this from a guy who had it in a barn for several years. But it's all great.

Now, I'm going to clean up the floor and weld in a patch. While I have all of this space I'm going to replace my speedometer cable, and I'm going to run wiring to the rear for some future speakers that will live in the package shelf. Maybe a small sub, too? I don't know. I'm not a big car audio person, but I'll probably at least stub it out while I have access.

So far the only discovery I've made was a wheat penny from 1950 beneath the rear bench. I'm going to let it live with the car. Who knows, maybe it's been there since day 1?

 

If you ever swap to five lug, a set of Astros would look killer on your Buick.

 

Congrats on the wedding...and finding no vermin remnants under/behind the rear seat. Maybe the previous owner had cats on the farm? Either way, always nice to find things that clean under a rear seat.

That transaxle hump is interesting, too. I guess they used the same floor pan under all three Buick/Olds/Pontiac Y-bodies?

 

I think they all used the same floor pan. I'm not completely sure.

Some day I'll probably do a 5 lug conversion, but it's not a priority for me. It's just too much fun to cruise around as-is. I'll probably end up painting it before I do anything more intensive to the mechanicals.