Projects '47 Buick Super Sedanette project

I haven't updated this in a while, so...
I actually drove it into town for the local show this fall. Got the 2 miles or so and right in front of the check in, and it started overheating. Left it on the street for the show & drove it home. I took the heads off and sent them to get rebuilt. Didn't see anything wrong with the gaskets, etc., but it had FelPro gaskets, not factory. Hmm... Valve seals definitely needed replacing and might as well do the valves too. Cylinder walls looked great.
Ordered parts to rebuild front suspension & started tearing that apart. A arm bushings, tie rod ends, big block springs, shocks. Might as well make it drive nice for the 2 miles it goes before overheating!

 

Started to clean things up a bit to put my rebuilt heads back on, and found this:

Apparently, it's not the 62K mile creampuff it was touted to be. Or, maybe it is?

 

Still running hot. Apparently, 500 Caddy motors are hard to cool. Rebuilt heads, new gaskets, etc., started up and after a couple minutes running started pissing out the overflow again. Current radiator is brass 28"X19" (overall) 3-row crossflow. Was new, never used before this project. Has an aluminum shroud only about 1" deep, with Spal electric 16" fan. I can't find a "custom fit" radiator for this, and the ones that are close, like same year Chevy, etc., are not really much bigger. They are taller, but narrower. Example: 25"X22" downflow. Would it be worth the investment for the new aluminum radiator? I'm thinking it might not be any different, and I'll just spend time and money for no gain. Suggestions?

 

Big block Cad engines are easy to cool. My 472 in my 49 Super runs at thermostat opening even in 100 degree heat. You need to get the top radiator hose connection above the thermostat housing to get all the air out. Haver you checked for a blown head gasket?

 

Is your water outlet t0 radiator inlet situation still the same, with the engine the higher of the two? Per @rockable 's suggestion earlier, a taller radiator, which would put the inlet above (or at least even with) the water outlet on the engine (and provided the radiator cap is higher than either) would be the first thing I would address. Use that vertical space under the hood to help keep things cool.

Can you raise your existing radiator a few inches, even if the hood cannot close for the time being, to see if that extra few inches of height makes the difference? I think I would also make that long bend the upper radiator hose has much shorter and a smaller radius, too, so there's no high point for air to become trapped.

 

@BJR Fresh gaskets. The old ones looked good too. There was no indication of a bad gasket, and the heads were magnafluxed. The valve seals definitely needed to be replaced, and as long as they were off, got them rebuilt. I have an in-hose filler in the upper hose, at the high point of the system.
@In_The_Pink Yes, the engine is higher than the radiator, but as stated, there's a filler that's higher. The current GM crossflow radiator fits under the fender lip. It wouldn't just slide up. I feel like there's no, or little air in the system. Pretty sure there has been OEM examples of the radiator lower than the engine, but none come to mind.
So, spend the $$ on an aluminum downflow radiator, and re-do all that entails. The upside of that, is I may be able to use a mechanical fan, but I'd have to fab up a shroud.

 

FINALLY, got my new front springs. Didn't think something so common ('70-'81 Camaro Big Block) would take so long to get here. Hoping it lifts the front enough to be able to drive onto my lift without the bumper guards hitting like they were. This thing was LOW. One side back in today. Hoping the other side back together soon. Then, back on the overheating problem. One step at a time.

 

PROGRESS! Outside with the newly rebuilt front suspension. The big block springs raised it enough to make it drivable. Probably needed those for that big Caddy motor anyway. Looked cool on the ground, but the bumper guards would hit my lift when I drove onto it.
And an admission: I'm dumb. After taking all the cooling system apart to try a bigger radiator, I was left feeling like I was missing something. Even with a Spal fan, I didn't think it was moving enough air. I hooked the fan back up & thought it was slow, so I hot-wired it to the battery & it was much faster. So, investigating I found the problem. I didn't use a thermostat for the electric fan, just wired it to an existing dash switch. The one that made the most sense, is labeled "BLOWER". You guessed it. 3 position switch was on low. Buick, in all its 1947 wisdom, has position 1 as high, 3 as low. Common sense says the farther you pull it out, the faster it goes, but its backwards. I put everything back together and it idled for about 45 minutes. I'm happy!

 

Great! Time to go for a drive.
Thanks for the update

 

Congratulations!!!!

 

Great to hear you got that issue figured out. Sometimes it's the simple things that we all miss.

 

Had to put in a new starter, and got the seat moved back so it's comfortable to drive. Still need to sort out the brakes. I re-adjusted the plunger between the master & booster, so maybe? It was building pressure with every pump and locking up the front calipers. Everything is new, so I think I'm on the right track.

Pulled the headliner out. There had to be 200 tacks holding it in. It was in pretty good shape for its age but was stained and starting to get fragile. Glad I did. Cleaned out a mouse nest above the windshield and a lot of dirt & other things rained down on me. The factory insulation was no longer glued to the roof and needed to be removed. I don't think I'll replace it. I'm afraid the peel & stick stuff might melt & stain the new headliner. I've only used that on floors.
I think it's time to get the sewing machine out & start whipping up some interior.

 

More stupidity by me: Decided the dome light needs to work before I put up a new headliner. Had a bunch of time into tracking down why it wasn't working, before I finally called my Bro to take a look. He pulled the single contact bulb out of the dual contact socket & asked me why I put that in? Sometimes I amaze myself on how dumb I can be. Seems to function now.

 

One of the dome light door switches was not working. Pulled it apart and soaked it in CLR. It works now. The pass side wing vent regulator had fallen apart, and pieces fell inside the door. I took that out, repaired & replaced it. Good to go. I think this thing is ready for a shakedown cruise, just waiting on the weather / salty roads. I also purchased some material to start on the interior. More on that later.

 

Shakedown cruise showed another problem. Oil is leaking out of the timing cover or balancer seal. Had it apart once and installed new gaskets & seal. Strike one. Parts ordered. Got some of the interior material delivered. Colors are different than showed on the web. The vinyl is WAY darker than I expected & the houndstooth is more blue than teal. I'll make it work. Waiting on headliner material & hoping it's not this dark.

 

Found the oil leak. When I put it together last time, the front oil pan rubber seal slipped out of position. Easy fix, just hate doing things twice. It's all apart, cleaned up & ready to be reassembled. This car likes to fight back.

Got my headliner material. It's not as "stretchy" as it's supposed to be. I like my headliner cloth to have some stretch to it, so I can pull (most of) the wrinkles out. I'm not a pro at this stuff and don't own all the fancy steamers, etc. you see on TV. If it's got a wrinkle or two - I'm OK with it. It's also darker than I expected, but a shade lighter than the vinyl. It will all work and hopefully look fine, but just a little different than I envisioned. So, I'll be doing some amateur upholstery work soon.

 

It's always something with this P.O.S. Thursday, after I got the engine put back together, I let it sit outside and idle for about 30 minutes. Everything was fine. Friday, drove it to see my Bro, about 3 miles. No problems. Then, took a little longer route on the way home, maybe 5 miles. When I shut it down, it ran on a little, then the geyser started again. Shooting out the overflow. I can't tell what the temp is. I have the original gauge hooked into the front of one of the heads. It climbs steadily to max (220* or so) & a radiator cap with a built-in gauge that read about 160* when it overheated again. I'm about ready to give up and move onto something else.

 

Have you put a surge tank on it yet? Something ala a '64 Ford would do it.

We had a guy with a NASCAR modified some years back, with a 351C that had the heads higher than the radiator. The front header tubes glowed orange.

Or you have a grand-mal air entrapment issue, just my 2 cents.

 

yeah, I was thinking trapped air pocket also. What part of the cooling system is the highest point?
Also, have you tested the thermostat to see if it is opening at the correct temp?

 

I am very impressed with your mechanical abilities. I am 81 now and can't do much anymore ,and this build reminds me of the problems I have ahead with my new project, a 50 Dodge Wayfarer fastback. I am putting it up for sale today.
Best wishes on this cool Buick, one of my all-time fave cars.

 

It will sit & idle with no problems. Original gauge reads about 180*. I took it for another ride today, even farther than before. When the temp started to rise, I headed for home and shut it off. Tried to re-start and it turned over too slow, but it didn't spit coolant out. Let it cool down and it started right up. It's getting hot while driving. So, an airflow problem, or too small radiator? The airflow from the grille into the radiator looks to be pretty good, but there is a big open space between the top of the radiator & the hood. Maybe the air flow is going over and not through while driving? Double checked the little things - timing, etc. What else will make it overheat while driving?
@bobss396 & @RMR&C no surge tank, but an in-hose filler that is the high point. New thermostat. You can feel the hose get hot when it opens up, so I don't see a problem there.
@sololobo My abilities are probably pretty average on this board. I'm 20 years younger than you, but this stuff gets harder to do all the time, and I have a couple other projects I want to get to. I better hurry up.

 

Yeah that radiator sits way too low.
You need a tall radiator like the stock one in this photo. It almost looks like something you’d find in a tractor.

 

The transmission & overheating issues are kicking my ass, so I started sewing up some windlace. Headliner will be the same.

 

I like the color and material, should look nice.

 

If you've done an old Ford interior, you'll see how Buick made everything so much more complicated. Instead of just a tack strip running completely around the door opening to attach the windlace (or windlass), Buick has this metal bracket on the kick panel that holds the cardboard panel and has a channel that the windlace slides into. Makes it easy for the panel, but there is a "paper rope" sewed into the windlace to thread into a slot. Closest thing I could find was some 12-gauge
wire. So, I sewed that in, next to the foam rubber core. It looks like it will work.
Here' the original:

Here's when I was sewing it together:

And here it is being threaded into the slot:

I had to trim the extra fabric back and use a screwdriver to open the slot a little because the wire was just a bit bigger than the rope. I'm gonna pull it back out to shoot another coat of paint on the metal, but I'm happy with the results. Wishing this material had more stretch to it, but I'm using it. After I get these done & installed, I'll start on the headliner.
I'll be replacing the transmission in this thing too. Just dreading pulling it out.

 

If you're like me, and are an expert at nothing, this is how to do a headliner. Use a seam ripper to take apart the old one and use each piece as a pattern. You can trace, can't you? I left a little extra on the edges, just for a little piece of mind. The holes on the ends are obviously for the visors. The hole in the center is for the radio antenna control. Pretty cool feature on these old Buicks.

Then sew them all together and end up with this and hope it fits in the car.

 

Tell me how it makes a difference. Then tell me how this Corvette cools with factory parts. They are made with the radiator lower than the engine.

 

So, the TH400 is in Rockford for a rebuild. It was still WAY cheaper for me to drive it there & return to pick it up, than it was to have it done locally. $2200 vs $795. Waiting for a call this week. It's a long tail and was kind of a bitch to remove. Will be worse going back in, but what ya gonna do?

Moved on to starting the headliner install. It just might turn out to be the worst looking one I've ever done. Blaming that on a couple factors: 1) I ordered the material online, and when it said 100% Polyester, I assumed it had some good stretch to it. It doesn't. 2) Buick has a dumb way of attaching almost everything in the interior with 3 different types of headliner bows & very thin tack strips. 3) I'm a complete amateur.

But here is how far I've gotten. All the bows except the last 2 are hung. Got a lot of tugging and stapling/tacking to do yet. Front is just about where it will end up. Yes, that's the dome light shining through. I haven't cut that out yet.

 

When I did my 49 I had to replace all the tack strips, as the original cardboard ones just crumbled.